Tutoring

Hi! My name is Tom, a Cambridge-educated economics tutor, with 1000+ hours of experience tutoring economics.

I tutor students in:

  • A-Level Economics:
  • IB Economics.
  • Undergraduate economics.
    • This includes core modules (microeconomics, macroeconomics, econometrics, maths for economics).
    • I have also tutored several optional modules. This includes development economics, industry, trade, urban economics, the economics of crime, behavioural economics as well as optional modules. My particular interests are in public economics and labour economics, but I can tutor nearly any optional module provided I receive enough information about the course from the student.
    • In addition, where students lack support from their dissertation advisor, I can fill the role of an additional dissertation advisor where needed. While students should write dissertations entirely on their own, I am able to provide feedback and offer guidance.
    • I have tutored students studying at several universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, LSE and Exeter.
  • Other economics-related requests, including:
    • Head start to A Level Economics or a head start to undergraduate economics.
    • Advising students in their applications to UK universities for economics-related courses. This includes advice on how to write an economics personal statement for top UK universities and how to prepare for Oxbridge Economics interview (including mock interviews).
    • For more resources relating to university economics applications, click the link here.

My goal is to help students improve their economics grades, through improving exam technique and understanding of course content. I prepare a lot for each session, in addition to setting and marking homework.

Key information about my tutoring:

  • Tuition sessions take place online through Zoom.
  • For current availability please feel free to email me. I typically have free slots on one of Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. However I cannot guarantee a slot, as I may be fully booked.
  • You can find tutoring reviews on my old tutoring profiles here and here, as well as on my website here.

You can find an indication of pricing on my old tutoring profiles here and here.

If you are interested in my tutoring and are looking for up to date pricing, please feel free to email me at tomftutor@gmail.com.

I appreciate the tutoring may not be affordable for everyone. So, I spend most of my time providing free resources through this website, with a small amount of bonus content behind a paywall for a small fee.

In addition I have provided guidance below on finding economics tutors and lists of free resources online.

More about my tutoring and resources

About my tutoring

My name is Tom, a Cambridge educated economics tutor with over 1000 hours of economics tutoring experience.

Economics A-level students, with my tuition support, have received on average an improvement of two grades.

I’ve helped students go from a D or E grade to an A. I’ve also helped students go from a B or A grade to an A*.

For students working at the A/A* level, I am keen to push their understanding of economics even further.

I specialise in the Edexcel Economics A and AQA A-level Economics exam boards.

I know these exam boards inside out and prepare extra resources for my students. You can find a lot of those additional resources on this website here.

Previously I studied Economics at Cambridge at undergraduate and Master’s level.

Then I worked as a professional economist while tutoring economics on the side.

Owing to demand for tutoring, I was fortunate to be able to quit my job and tutor economics full-time.

I am very grateful to my students that have allowed me to do this.

While one cannot guarantee a particular result for any student, I hope that students find my tuition helpful.

Reviews and testimonials

For testimonials, please visit my profiles on other tutoring websites. I have linked these tutoring profiles here and here.

I also have reviews on my website here. You can also read more generally about me here.

If I am unable to take you on, I will try to provide contact information for another economics tutor or offer links to third party tutoring platforms that may be able to help.

You can also access my website resources and online courses. Check out the online courses below:

A-level Economics Exam Technique Course | For Edexcel A and AQA

4 most common problems Economics A-level students face – and how to solve them

I believe anybody can improve their grade in Economics A-level. But only if you’re willing to put in the effort required.

For AQA and Edexcel Economics A-level, here are the four most common problems I’ve seen students face:

1) What is the right essay structure?

Do you know how to structure your responses to 25 mark questions?

How about the shorter questions like the 15 markers?

For Edexcel and AQA Economics A Level essay structures, I recommend:

  • Decide on an essay structure.
  • You can either use a structure given by a teacher, one from the examiner’s reports or from my essay structures here (AQA) and here (Edexcel).
  • Do lots of practice questions (past papers, extra practice papers) using those essay structures.
  • Get feedback from a tutor or teacher. Then improve your answer. Then do more practice questions. Repeat.

2) How do you evaluate?

A lot of incoming tuition students do not know how to evaluate.

This can be a grade boosting skill for some students.

To improve your evaluation, I suggest the following:

  • Look into mark schemes and sample answers for your exam board. Find out what counts as evaluation.
  • For sample evaluation points, see the link here.
  • Do evaluation-only practice. Practise making your own evaluation points and essay plans for different questions.
  • Integrate evaluation points into your full essays. Get feedback and improve your answers further.

3) How do you understand the difficult course content?

Economics can be difficult for a lot of students.

Here are some tips to get your head around the course content:

  • Review course notes or videos on the difficult topics.
  • If you don’t understand something, ask people until you understand. Teachers, tutors, other students.
  • Don’t give up in trying to understand a concept. One misunderstanding can make it harder to understand related concepts. Don’t let misunderstandings build up.
  • Practise explaining the concept to others. Also, write essays where you explain the concepts.

4) How to manage time and how to revise

Lots of students run out of time. This is particularly a problem for Edexcel Economics A in papers 1 and 2. But this can also be a problem for AQA Economics. Here are some tips;

  • Create time limits for each question. If you exceed the time limit, then consider leaving the question.
  • Remember the opportunity cost of spending too long on a question. This opportunity cost is the forgone marks on the following questions, because you didn’t leave enough time for them.
  • Do lots of timed practice. This can include full practice papers or past papers. But you can also do timed individual questions.
  • For Edexcel A papers 1 and 2, speed up your section A (try to do more quickly than suggested) and reduce time spent on section B. Section B catches a lot of people out and many students overwrite.
  • As for AQA papers 1 and 2, make sure to spend no more than one hour on section A. People tend to overrun on the 9 mark questions more often than other questions. But it’s also worth practising 25 mark questions specifically, so you can do these in time.

For revision tips, check out the links here (economics specific) and here (general, you can apply to other subjects too).

Free A Level Economics tutoring resources

For students, parents and tutors, here are some A Level Economics tutoring resources that may be helpful:

Microeconomics diagrams – full list and explanations
Economics A Level key evaluation points
A Level Economics resources (free and paid)

How to find economics tutors

To see information on how to find economics tutoring, see the link here.

Where to find other free economics resources

I’ve made a list here of the best available Economics A-Level resources.

For people thinking of becoming an economics tutor

If you are interested in becoming an economics tutor, then I recommend it greatly (with some caveats below)!

Tutoring benefits

Tutoring has been great to me. It has provided the following benefits:

1) Helping students

I have been able to help several students in economics with over 1000 hours of tutoring completed. I have seen students increase their grades, with significant increases in a lot of cases. I am very grateful to the students who have accepted my help over the last years tutoring. Seeing students improve has been immensely rewarding.

2) Quitting the day job

Thanks to the generosity of several students in wanting me to be their tutor, I was able to quit my day job (as an economist). I have been able to pursue tutoring exclusively since then.

3) Location independence

Apart from two tutoring students I had when I started, all my tuition has been online. This has allowed me to move abroad and carry on tutoring. As someone who enjoys learning languages and living abroad, I am very grateful to have this location independence.

4) Calendar design

As a tutor, you decide when you can do lessons. You can plan around commitments, other projects or create more free time, as you please. You can also vary the number of students depending on what you want to do: make good money full-time, cover living costs or just as a side job.

5) Time

Related to calendar design, tuition has allowed me time. Time is one of our most valuable non-renewable resources. It has allowed me to pivot into building websites, like this website here! Being a freelancer in general is a good way to bridge the gap between employment and entrepreneurship in a relatively low risk manner.

6) Learning the skill of teaching

Teaching is a great skill to learn. Or more specifically, being able to explain a difficult concept. It is also reassuring to know that one can always fall back on being a tutor in the future if needed.

7) Economics as a rich subject

Economics is a rich subject to teach. Students come up with new ideas all the time in the sessions.

It is also a subject with methodological and presentational challenges (are economists or politicians disliked more?) and often it is poorly taught in some schools.

All the more opportunity for tutors to help make sense of economics and dispel myths, while acknowledging the difficulties faced in economics.

8) Awesome students!

Ultimately, I have been very fortunate that (almost) all the students and parents have been great to work with. So it has been a lot of fun and a great privilege!

Economics tutoring challenges

Yet tutoring does face its challenges.

There can be a lot of admin work. Emails, scheduling, writing profiles, getting reviews and doing taxes etc.

Particularly when working with third party platforms, these platforms can make things more complicated. For instance, with commissions and awkward messaging systems.

That said, they can also make things easier in terms of finding students and arranging payment.

Getting tutoring reviews is critical to growing demand for your economics tuition. Early on, this can be difficult. However when you have your first few students and if you provide a good service, you can definitely ask them for a quick review.

Economics tutoring advice

That said, being reliable, competent and having a half-decent profile on a tutoring website will put you ahead of most tutors already.

Being a tutor will not suit everyone – you need to be organised, prepare well and have a reasonable grasp on the subject.

You shouldn’t just show up to sessions without preparation (unless you reach a point where you can or you are volunteering).

I was extremely fortunate to have received an education that made this possible. I should acknowledge that it is harder for those without this privilege, on average, to stand out as a tutor.

But education is just one way to stand out.

Writing a great profile, gathering reviews, getting experience and/or having a USP (unique selling point) can set you far ahead of someone who just happens to have been to a good university.

How to deal with not knowing the answer

One big issue is “what will I do if I don’t know the answer”?

It begins with stating “I don’t know”.

I say this a lot to my students.

But that’s not it. I recommend looking for a solution e.g. I’ll look it up and get back to you; or thinking about what the solution might depend on.

The main point is: not knowing is ok, as long as you do something about it.

At some point I may make a post about my past experience as a tutor and advice for new tutors (I will link it here if I do).

Economics newsletter