Alice M

My Passion & How I Inspire

My first inspiration for tutoring came at school, when I helped a student in the year below me prepare for her upcoming GCSE maths exam. We worked through problems together, and I could clearly see her confidence with tackling exam questions grow - both as a result of having more practice, and working with someone she could personally relate to. In the end she achieved a grade A, two grades above her predicted grade of a C. Ever since then I've really enjoyed seeing all my students benefit in the same way from 1:1 tutoring.

More recently, working in the international ATLAS collaboration has really cemented to me how important it is to inspire young people across all countries and cultures to pursue science from an early age, and this is something that I try to inspire in my students. The links between the topics they study and their real-world applications can sometimes seem nebulous, so I always make an effort to highlight these during lessons.

My Experience

I have experience tutoring several students preparing for their GCSE and A-level maths exams (AQA, OCR and Edexcel exam boards). All my students gained confidence in answering exam questions on their own and improved their grades.

During my PhD I assessed undergraduate physics and maths courses, including a science communication skills course. In addition, I supervised laboratory sessions and invigilated exams.

In addition to teaching, I have many years of experience in science outreach, including:

- taking science exhibits to schools in Scotland during my degree in Edinburgh - including two memorable trips to Orkney and Islay;

- guiding tours of CERN while I was based there during my PhD, and speaking to visiting school groups about my career as a woman in STEM;

- leading international particle physics masterclasses remotely, with schools from all across the world;

- being a featured scientist in the March 2020 edition of “I’m a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here”.

Subjects That I Teach

  • Maths
  • Maths - A-Level
  • Maths - Undergraduate
  • Maths - Further
  • Physics
  • Physics - A-Level
  • Physics - Undergraduate
  • Physics - Further

My Qualifications

Postgraduate: PhD in High Energy Particle Physics, UCL

- Included 1.5 years based at CERN while I worked on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider

Graduate: Physics MPhys (Hons), First Class, University of Edinburgh

- Awarded the Margaret Campbell Scott Scholarship for the best entrance qualifications in Physics

School: Devonport High School for Girls, Plymouth

- A-levels (Physics A*, Maths A*, Further Maths A*, Chemistry A)

- AS-levels (Biology A, Italian A, Modern Greek A)

- GCSEs (9A*, 2A, B)

- Mathematics Team Challenge: 4th place, South West finals

Fun fact

I learnt to dance the Argentine Tango in a disused church in Buenos Aires!