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Tutoring for ambitious mathematicians
Tutoring for ambitious mathematicians
My name is David Carter. I could well be the right tutor for you if you regard yourself as basically "good at maths" and want to be sure you achieve your goals. Perhaps you're aiming to do maths or sciences at university, and you want to be sure you achieve the A-level grades you need. Or perhaps your confidence has taken a knock with the pace and size of your A-level course, and you want to get a really solid grasp of the material to make sure you do yourself justice when it's time for the exams.
If this is you, I can help you with Maths and Further Maths A-levels, and university entrance exams such as Cambridge STEP and Oxford MAT. I can also help with your GCSE maths if you're aiming for STEM A-levels.
Why one-to-one tutoring?
Why one-to-one tutoring?
Perhaps more than any other subject, making good progress in maths requires thoroughly understanding one topic before moving on to other ones that depend on it. School maths lessons aren't always a good fit for that: people learn different things at different speeds, but the whole class has to reach the end of the course in lock step before the exams. The result is often that students achieve a "good enough" understanding that isn't really good enough. It's like building a house: you wouldn't build the walls before you were satisfied that the foundations were really solid, and you wouldn't start on the roof before you were really happy with the walls. At least, I hope you wouldn't. But with school maths, you often have to. Tutoring can help identify and fill in the missing and out-of-place bricks in a highly specific, targeted way. We work at your pace, in your way, and you are in control.
How I ended up doing this
How I ended up doing this
I went to King's College, Cambridge, on an open scholarship, and was Third Wrangler in 1979. This strange title means I got a top first in maths, and was privately told I had come third that year among several hundred maths students across the whole university. I then switched to computer science for my postgraduate work, gaining a diploma with distinction and a PhD a few years later. Documentary evidence for all that is here. After I finally stopped being a student, I spent 35 years in the tech industry, doing a mixture of research and development at Google, Microsoft, NASA and other places. I worked on problems as varied as speech and language processing, genomics, online advertising and medical image analysis. Among many other publications I have a joint-first-author paper in Nature, one of the world's top scientific journals. You can find the full details on my LinkedIn page if you're interested.
All this was great fun, but I always longed to do a lot more teaching than I had the opportunity for, and to return to mathematics itself rather than just using it when necessary for writing code. So that's what I do now. I currently live in Cambridge, having moved around quite a bit; mostly I tutor online, but if you live near enough I can offer in-person sessions, pandemics permitting.
FAQs
FAQs
How much do you charge?
I knew you'd ask that first. Conventional economic theory says that the answer should be "as much as I can get away with", but conventional economics is based on extremely questionable assumptions about human nature.
I have a default rate which I think is very reasonable, but I'm very aware that what is comfortably affordable to some people is not affordable for others. And I don't want anyone to miss out on the tutoring they need for financial reasons, so I'm very happy to discuss what would be fair in your case. I won't ask for details of your financial situation, and maybe we can do our little bit to reduce the world's GINI coefficient.
Speaking of money, I have a special offer: if you introduce another student to me, I will give you a free lesson once they have paid for their first three sessions with me.
How many sessions do I need to commit to?
Only your next one. Most people book a weekly session; some have more than one per week, and others just ask me to fit them in for a session when they need one. All I ask is that you pay me promptly after each lesson - preferably the same day, and definitely before our next appointment. Of course, you can pay in advance if you like! Payments are by bank transfer; I'll give you my account details when we set things up.
Do you charge for cancellations?
If you give me at least 24 hours notice, then no. If it's less than 24 hours, I'll try and agree another time with you, but I reserve the right to charge if we can't find one. If you don't show up at all, then I will expect you to pay.
What days and times are you available for sessions?
Late afternoons, after everyone gets home from school, are in more demand, so if you have a free period at school that you could use, that would be ideal for me. And I don't usually teach at weekends. But just ask for what you want, and we'll see what we can do.
How well does online tutoring work?
Really well. You don't have to wear a mask, or tidy your house before I arrive, or pay me for my travel time, or clean the mud off your carpet after I leave. You do need to have a computer of some kind with a functioning microphone and speaker (a headset is even better) and a camera. It will also be very useful for you to invest in a graphics tablet such as a Wacom One; they cost about as much as one hour of tutoring, and will enable us to write easily on a shared virtual whiteboard, which I will provide.
What software do you use for sessions?
Mainly Zoom, but that's only because what most students prefer. We can use another platform such as Microsoft Teams or Google Meet if you're more familiar with them.
What if I have computer or network trouble when it's time for our session?
Phone me straight away, and I'll be happy to talk you through sorting it out if you need any help. There are backup options, such as doing the session by phone while looking at the shared whiteboard online. I'll do my best to give you a full hour of teaching even if the gremlins rob us of the first few minutes. Same thing if the connection drops in the middle of a session.
You've been writing software all your life - can you help with my computer science A-level too?
I'd be very happy to. The only reason I don't advertise computer science tuition is that not many people do the A-level, so demand is limited and it hasn't been worth my while to dig into how the course is structured and presented. But if you want to bring me computing problems to look at together, that's fine.
Are you a qualified teacher?
Nope. That's why I don't teach classes, or students doing pre-GCSE maths or who are only doing maths because they have to get their GCSE, or anyone who is only there because their parents have told them they have to be. I am a qualified counsellor, though, so I know how to listen to people and work with them to help them resolve problems. Having several degrees is useful too.
Are you DBS checked?
Yes. I have an enhanced DBS certificate. I can forward a copy on request.
Do you know what it's like to find maths a real struggle?
Actually, yes. Halfway through my undergraduate course I felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount and complexity of the material coming at me and I wondered if I had reached my limit. It was a horrible experience, but I found a way to move through it. This kind of thing can happen to any mathematician at any stage of their career, so if it's happening to you, let's talk about it.
Why "Golden Triangle"?
Two reasons: it's a term for five of the UK's top universities (Cambridge, Oxford, and three in London), and it's the name of a very cool mathematical object. It's got nothing to do with either the tourist circuit in India or the opium-producing region in Southeast Asia. I promise. I've written more here about golden triangles, and why that cluster of five universities isn't really a golden triangle at all.
Do you know any famous people?
What kind of question is that? But yes, sort of. I was at school with Rik Mayall, and I once met someone on a bus whose maths teacher was a friend of George Best's parents. I also used to work for Mike Lynch, though I had very little to do with him directly, and I was off the scene by the time the FBI got involved.
Do you have a cat?
Not at the moment, but every web site should have a cat picture, so here is the picture of the last cat I shared a home with.
Why are you doing this, when you could earn much more working at a tech company?
Because I've written more than enough code in my life, and because I want to be my own boss. But mostly just because I love maths and I love teaching. Corny but true.
Are all these questions really ones that you're "frequently asked"?
Only the first one. I made the rest up, just as everyone does when they build a web site.
Your off-the-wall-but-still-not-very-subtle sales pitch has worked on me. How do I contact you?
See the bottom of this page. Any day of the week and any time between 7am and 9pm is fine to call; if it goes to voicemail, leave a message and I'll call you back. I'm happy to hear from either the student or their parent.
Articles
Articles
Exploring the connections between maths, the real world and a whole lot of imaginary ones. Some of what's here might even be useful in your exams, but don't count on it.
Contact
Contact
Email: dmc@cantab.net
WhatsApp and phone: 07806 753256 (or +44 7806 753256 if you're outside the UK)
Facebook: https://facebook.com/dcmathstutoring
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