Do you teach AQA, OCR or Edexcel?
All three, and separately, because they are different exams. AQA 8525 sets a two-hour Paper 1 worth 90 marks and a one-hour-45 Paper 2 also worth 90. OCR J277 sets two papers of an hour and a half, 80 marks each. Edexcel sets 1CP2. Batches are single-board, and one to one follows whichever board your child is entered for.
What if we do not know our board?
The school office does, and finding out takes five minutes. It is genuinely the most useful five minutes available in this subject, because revising from another board's past papers means practising the wrong paper length, the wrong mark distribution and the wrong command words.
How much does the tutoring cost?
A batch of five to eight students is USD 100 a month and one to one is USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars, the same figures in every country we teach outside India. No enrolment fee, no minimum term, and the first class is free without a card.
Which programming language do you teach?
Python, which is what the overwhelming majority of UK schools use for this GCSE. If your child's school teaches something else we work in that instead, because consistency with what they see in class matters more than our preference.
My child follows the lesson but cannot start a question. Is that common?
It is the single most common report we get, and it is exactly what this course is built to fix. Following a worked example and producing an answer from nothing are different actions, and only the second is examined. Every programming session here starts from a blank page, on paper, before anything is typed.
Is Paper 2 really as important as Paper 1?
Yes, and families routinely underestimate it. It is half the qualification, and its extended-response questions have the widest mark spread on either paper. It is where a prepared student gains most ground, and it is the paper most often left until the spring of Year 11.
Are the classes live?
Every class is live, one to one or in a batch of five to eight students, taught from India to students worldwide. We do not sell recordings in place of classes, because a recording cannot watch a student trace a loop wrongly and stop them in the moment.
When should we start?
Year 10 gives the best outcome by a clear margin, because programming fluency and trace-table habits take months rather than weeks. A Year 11 start works, and one to one is the right format for it, but we will be honest that we are improving a grade rather than covering two years.
Do you mark past papers?
Yes, against the published mark scheme rather than against what the student meant. Students routinely write a correct idea in words the scheme does not credit, and discovering that in January is worth far more than discovering it in May.
How is this different from Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science?
UK GCSE grades 9 to 1 and generally expects coding answers in a real language, usually Python. Cambridge IGCSE 0478 grades A star to G and requires pseudocode for most coding answers, awarding no marks for program code outside one specific question. A student moving between the two has to unlearn a habit, not just learn content.
Can you help with the school's programming project?
We teach the skills and question the design. We do not write code that will be submitted as a student's own work. Where a school sets internal programming tasks, our job is to make the student able to do them, which is a different service from doing them.
My child is home educated and sitting it privately. Can you help?
Yes, and one to one is usually right for that, because there is no school scheme of work to align with and the whole specification has to be covered deliberately. You will need to arrange a centre for the entry itself, which is separate from the teaching.
How much work is there between classes?
Programming practice and past-paper questions, marked by the teacher. Two to three hours a week in Year 10, more in Year 11. Work that is not marked is not worth setting, which is why batches are capped at eight students.
What happens in the free first class?
A short diagnostic rather than a sales call. Usually one small programming question from a blank page and one binary conversion, because between them they show whether the risk is Paper 1 or Paper 2. You get a straight assessment afterwards, including if the honest answer is to wait until Year 10.
What happens after we send the form?
A mentor calls you at a reasonable hour to arrange the free class. Nothing is charged and no card is requested. Have the exam board to hand if you can, because the honest recommendation depends on it more than on anything else you can tell us.
