Warwick MMathPhys Expert Maths tutor, 92% of students received AT LEAST an A, enhanced DBS checked, 5 years' experience, >130 successful students

Find out more about Mia

• 1) When did you develop an interest in your chosen field and in private tutoring?

  Mathematics clicked for me when I realised that all my interests were governed by it. When I found my passion for maths, I felt like I had finally found the common denominator among all my previous passions, such as art, music, philosophy, physics, and economics - the exact point of convergence between logic and creativity. Truth be told, even though I enjoyed it, I didn’t always feel naturally gifted at it - I just enjoyed sitting with problems for longer than most people wanted to and thinking. I had previously believed skill in the field was defined by test scores and how quickly you can solve a question, but once I started exploring some basic higher-level maths myself because of my existing interests in recursion and harmony, and also because of my studying master composition in fine art, I quickly realised they both actually reduced themselves down to the same branch of maths. At their core, they were the same.
  
  In that moment, I realised that the heart of the subject is governed by building strong intuition and creative thinking, finding bridges between pillars in a web of unrelated concepts and exploiting those bridges to manipulate any situation presented to you. As a creative, I had never before thoroughly experienced the beauty of maths through such a uniquely appealing lens. I thought about how easy finding my passion could’ve been if one of my teachers had seen that spark in me and nurtured it instead of trying to teach me with the same one-size-fits-all formula. I did well in school, I got good grades, and I even helped my classmates often, but before I saw the colour in maths, I was never a driven pupil. Right then, I resolved to share that colour and admiration for patterns, parallels and simply strangely interesting topics with everyone I could and developed an interest in tutoring.

• 2) Tell us more about the subject you teach, the topics you like to discuss with students (and possibly those you like a little less).

  While I choose to specialise in pure Mathematics, I tutor all branches of Mathematics up to and including sixth form, and the same for Physics, because they’re all very interconnected and I’ve studied all of them up to university level.
  
  I can confidently say that my favourite part of maths to teach is pure mathematics, because it’s coincidentally the part that in my experience most students find very difficult. Because newer concepts like statistics and decision maths, or waves in physics, are presented later in education, students are generally more serious about their studies by then. But because arithmetic and basic maths concepts are taught so early, one single missed topic in primary school like fractions or ratio and percentage change could come back to break a diligent student 10 years later. I pride myself on identifying and filling the gaps they never really “got” through a series of questions and explanations. My lessons are 100% interactive, and they follow the course the student takes, so we have the time for absolutely any questions needed. I really enjoy seeing that little “eureka” moment in my pupils, and having years of overlooked struggle in school being resolved by one lesson.
  
  It does help that I truly love pure maths and can explain just about any concept students in secondary school and sixth form need for their exams, but I do it in a unique, memorable way so they never have to memorise the content. All my students can derive any equation they need to memorise right from scratch, even if not strictly required in their specification, because that is what builds intuition and, in turn, builds the qualities to tackle advanced problem-solving, like those tricky questions at the back of the paper you can never seem to thoroughly prepare for.
  
  
  The key is to develop the skill of handling new information efficiently and maintaining a solid line of critical thinking, which is exactly what they gain through all my derivation sessions. They no longer must question where something comes from and put it into flashcards: they can learn a few basic facts and use those axiomatically to derive the rest of the topic if they don’t remember it, which is exactly how lifelong knowledge emerges. I don’t just want to prepare them for exams, I want to bestow them with these skills for life, so in that moment where they want to move to a different career or they face a problem they don’t know how to solve, nothing is stopping them from thinking “Yes, I can do this”.
  
  I don’t think there’s a topic I don’t like teaching. With every new student, I ask a few clarifying questions to categorise each topic on their specification by their perceived difficulty with it, and then I let my students’ greatest weaknesses dictate which topic we tackle together first. Because of this system I’ve set up, there is never a dull day because I’m always helping someone, which I find massively rewarding, regardless of the topic. I admit, I'm less drawn to the ones that feel like pure rote learning (some statistics topics, for instance). Even then, I try to frame things in a way that helps students connect them to ideas they care about, or just get them to feel a bit more in control.
  
  Besides pure maths as a broad topic though, if my students are interested in a certain fact or topic I teach, I do like to talk to them about slightly more advanced topics it extends up to, like symmetry extending up to the study of group theory and various types of graphs being used to model data in statistics, and how we measure the goodness of fit of a model for a set of data to help us decide if we should use it. I can see it excites them to see the bigger picture and picture people using this maths in the real world, and it makes me happy to share niche areas of my passion with enthusiastic students.

• 3) Did you have any role models, a teacher that inspired you?

  I did! Outside of maths, I’m a classically trained pianist. The most influential figure in my mathematical career was not a mathematician – he was my piano teacher. The reason I got to see maths from a unique perspective at all was because my piano teacher cared for my education and mentored me not only in music but in my career overall. One day, I displayed some interest in harmony, and he lent me his prized copy of Hofstadter’s “Gödel, Escher, Bach” to read over the summer, a book which paints maths, music and art as 3 sections of an eternal golden braid. I was very grateful for such personalised support and decided to give the book a go. I was immediately captivated by all the times I had to stop and think, then continue. I had never pondered over a book like that before; it was an entirely new and rewarding experience. This helped me conclude that I truly love thinking about abstract structures. To this day, I try to have the same supportive, stimulating influence on my pupils that he had on me.
  
  He did also greatly inspire me specifically as an educator, though not always in the ways you might expect. He didn’t necessarily make things easier, but he respected the way I thought and gave me space to work things out, even when I was slow or went off-track. That quality gave me room to be curious and made it clear that effort mattered more than getting it “right” the first time, which really stuck with me when I was deciding on which direction to turn my teaching ethos to.

• 4) What do you think are the qualities required to be a good tutor?

  Besides patience, caring for students and general people skills, which in my opinion are the bare minimum, I think the most important quality required to be a good tutor is versatility. If learning were easy and everyone absorbed textbooks like a sponge, there would be no students who struggle with learning: studying would simply be a menial task, not a difficult one, and the two must not be confused. As every educator knows, primarily in maths, the best way to improve quickly is to fail again and again, repeatedly, doing problems you find incredibly difficult on repeat until you finally get the answer. That is the optimal way to grow as a student, and I can verify this from my experience studying.
  
  However, especially with weaker students or students needing a bit of motivation, this process can be incredibly demoralising. What seems to work for everyone else may not work for you until you figure out exactly how to use it to your strengths. Even though the best way to progress is repeated practice and exposure to the material, people need to practise and read material in different ways that are tailored to their learning style. For instance, I learn a lot better if I draw the concept out on a bit of paper. I have a student who learns a lot better if I make an analogy related to the stock market, because he simply thinks it makes more sense than the algebraic explanation that another student may benefit from or the geometric drawings that I use. A good tutor is versatile enough to adapt to the unique learning style of the student, instead of (much like the education system) expecting the student to adapt to their teaching style.
  
  I think every other good quality in tutors is either a prerequisite to develop this aforementioned versatility, like being a good listener, genuine passion and deep knowledge of the subject, or a direct consequence of this versatility, such as the ability to meet students “at eye-level” or being a relatable figure for them to look up to. Adapting to their learning style instantly makes the pupil more comfortable in exploring this subject with you, even if they initially dislike it. They (hopefully) may even grow to enjoy it!
  
  To be versatile, you must be curious about how a student thinks and not just push your own way of seeing things. A good tutor adapts not only their explanations, but also the practise exercises they offer, their pacing, and even what they choose not to say, in case the student gets muddled up. You also have to care about preparing the student for the long term (by supporting confidence in themselves, independence, curiosity), not necessarily just the next exam.

• 5) Provide a valuable anecdote related to your subject or your days at school.

  I truly started to flourish in mathematics when I began to think in abstract geometric concepts rather than plain algebra on paper. When I started tutoring during the higher end of high school and sixth form, it began without much fanfare, just helping people in my class and younger students too, initially on a volunteer basis. I enjoyed the feeling of spreading the colour and light I find within this subject and witnessing that same spark moment when something difficult became clear to someone else. Over time, tutoring became a way for me to explore maths more deeply while helping others find their way in.
  
  During sixth form, I once spent an entire lunch break with a friend trying to prove a STEP geometry problem… we got absolutely nowhere for 40 minutes. But in that time, I realised how collaborative maths could be: not performative, not competitive, just two people thinking out loud, refining each other’s ideas. That feeling of being stuck, but in a sort of productive, satisfying way, has stayed with me. I try to create that same constructive, friendly atmosphere to facilitate the perfect environment for curiosity in my students.
  
  Because every student is new and unique, sometimes they forced me to pause a little at an unconventional and I found myself proving and explaining concepts I had always grasped naturally for them, and I actually got into the nitty-gritty details of the topic.
  
  Maths is such a multifaceted subject, and I always try to represent concepts in ways that make sense to my students. If they’re great at visualisation like me, I explain everything geometrically. If they’re not so great with abstract reasoning and greatly prefer real-world examples, I parallelise the concept with something they’re already familiar with. Because of my students’ unique qualities, I’ve had the privilege of observing this beautiful subject through so many more unique lenses, so not only do I help them achieve their goals and excel in mathematics, I also greatly enjoy the experience myself because I get to see the world through their point of view.
  
  I honestly found so much joy in these experiences tutoring throughout my school career that I’ve taken on more and more students in my last year of school and subsequently my gap year, really expanding my reach. I ended up having to set up a tutoring profile and charge for my time, because I was hugely overbooked and I needed a way to fund my studies reading Mathematics at the University of Cambridge coming up in October 2025, but I still do frequently visit deprived schools in my hometown area and offer my help to those who aren’t so lucky to receive my tutoring services.

• 6) What were the difficulties or challenges you faced or still facing in your subject?

  A challenge I’ve previously faced is overcoming barriers to quality education, which drives me to make education even more accessible for others by tutoring. I attended state schools in the UK, where I received very little support, until I earned a scholarship to a private girls’ school, and even then I wasn’t offered as much help as other students because I wasn’t struggling academically. In my experience, especially in overcrowded classrooms, teachers have no choice but to focus on the weakest students, leaving other students unattended because they’re easier to manage. Unfortunately, this meant that I had to start all of my studies from scratch, with very little guidance. I really hope to combat this issue for my students by continuing to provide them with personalised study plans and resources they may not be able to access otherwise. Although it made my life really difficult back then, I believe everything happens for a reason, and my difficulty accessing quality support and enrichment as a high-potential student taught me how to support others in the same situation whose teachers at school don’t see their talent and enthusiasm. It’s also taught me to better support students on the other end of the spectrum who find their subjects difficult, because I’m now more empathetic and understanding, and I’ve had to support myself through a variety of skillsets so I’ve had relevant experience with each stage a student goes through when progressing in a subject.
  
  However, ultimately, I think the greatest challenge I’ve faced and am still facing in my subject is navigating the field as a woman, considering how male-dominated it is. I adore academia and want to pursue it as a career path, but it is really difficult having some ignorant people judge your ability just based off gender. Because of this, I’ve always struggled with feeling like I’m behind, especially in a subject like maths where people often assume you’re either “naturally good” or not. Even now, I sometimes catch myself comparing my pace or methods to others. But tutoring has helped shift that mentality into a constructive one: seeing how varied students’ strengths are reminds me that mathematical thinking isn’t one-size-fits-all. I’ve become better at trusting my process and in turn trusting my students’ learning processes too.
  
  I also think my difficulty facing prejudice as a woman has also made me a better tutor, because I never judge my students based off of anything but raw evidence they’ve provided me and I let them define their limits, which I really try to push so they can fulfil their potential to the best of their abilities. Often, I think teachers like to categorise students based on their experiences with different demographics, but I think this generalises the youth of today too sweepingly. I hope a more holistic view of students like the one I maintain is developed broadly so that all students can feel confident and happy when learning and engaging with their subject material.

• 7) Do you have a particular passion? Is it teaching in general or an element of the subject or something completely different?

  I am particularly passionate about maths and exposing others to the joy it can bring, so ultimately, I think my calling is teaching because it fits in everything I enjoy. I like to look to the future and see where that passion can lead me, so I’ve since aspired to work towards a maths professorship after my PhD. In the meantime, I hope to continue to tutor privately, consistently, to gain more experience working with students, and simply because I thoroughly enjoy the process.
  
  By “the process”, I don’t just mean teaching: I also really like the process of learning itself. Not just in maths, but in languages, music, art, writing - the list goes on. I like how concepts build, how with more experience you spot patterns, how you start with a vague idea of the subject material and how it works, and slowly refine your knowledge like a sculptor chiselling away at a masterpiece. Tutoring gives me a front-row seat to that process in someone else’s mind, and I never get tired of watching growth happen in real time.

• 8) What makes you a Superprof (besides answering these interview questions :-P) ?

  While I don’t like to brag about anything or show off really, one quality I am extremely proud of is that I frequently hear from my students and their parents that my passion for mathematics is infectious, to the point where many of my students started out hating the subject and went on to study mathematics further in life, or pursue maths-related fields like engineering and computer science.
  
  I also pride myself on my ability to truly advise students with their workload and their next steps in education. My students know they can always contact me via email or text whenever they’re stuck on a concept outside of our lesson time, and I happily explain it as soon as I get the chance. It makes me extremely glad to see them engaging with the subject out of hours.
  
  I often hear from parents that their child sees me as a role model, because I’m relatively young for a tutor and have recently been through the education system myself, so I get how tough it is navigating school in modern times with the availability of the internet and AI tools. I honestly think that even though students nowadays have more resources at hand, they consequently face a tougher set of competition, and I’ve experienced that difficulty first-hand. For this reason, I truly think my perspective is one unique from a teacher’s at school, which is often outdated, and so my pupils benefit greatly from the fresh viewpoint and explanations which they don’t really get elsewhere. They know they can ask me any questions without judgement or fear of being humiliated in front of the class, and I’d genuinely be excited to answer because questions indicate curiosity. I want to foster that natural spark of childlike curiosity in my students for as long as possible. :)
  
  When the time comes, a lot of my pupils return to me for sixth form or university application guidance, and I really pride myself on the personalised support I offer alongside tuition that makes the tutor-student connection special and rewarding for both of us, but most importantly my student.
  
  I think ultimately my greatest strength is I don't pretend to have all the answers or try to impose some sense of superiority over my student. I show up prepared, but I adapt to whatever the student needs, and I genuinely care about helping students become more confident and independent critical thinkers. I think what sets me apart is that I treat tutoring as a collaboration rather than a performance or a lecture they have to take notes from: me fostering engagement is exactly what I think drives my students to exceed expectations and excel, regardless of their starting ability.