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For GCSE and A-level parents

Choosing a GCSE or A-level Physics Tutor

What to look for in explanations, help with maths and practical questions, with examples for GCSE and A-level.

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Editorial

  • Portrait of Robin GibbonsLead authorFounder & CEO·Latimer Tuition
  • Reviewed byHeather LatimerTutor Matching & Customer Service·Latimer Tuition

Start with the exact course

This guide is for UK families. The detailed assessment examples below use AQA GCSE and A-level Physics in England. Wales, Northern Ireland, international qualifications and Scottish National/Higher courses have their own specifications and assessment arrangements.

  • Name the qualification and specification

    For GCSE, distinguish separate Physics from the Physics component of Combined Science, and include Foundation or Higher tier where relevant. Send the tutor the board, specification code and exam year. A tutor who teaches separate Physics should explain how they adapt content and questions for Combined Science.

  • Describe the problem with evidence

    Share one marked question, the student’s original working and any teacher feedback. “Can substitute numbers but cannot rearrange the equation” gives the tutor a clearer starting point than “struggling with Physics”. Remove names or other private details from work shared online.

  • Agree the outcome

    Choose an observable first goal: converting units accurately, explaining forces without contradictions, or interpreting a graph unaided. Ask how the tutor will connect lessons to school teaching and review that goal.

Choosing a GCSE Physics tutor

GCSE support should connect the physical situation, the mathematical steps and the written explanation. A student who recognises an equation may still need help deciding which quantities it relates.

  • Can they separate a maths slip from a Physics misconception?

    Ask how they teach unit conversions, equation rearrangement, proportional reasoning and graph gradients. Look for questions about the student’s thinking before the tutor corrects the answer. Repeating the same calculation with easier numbers may miss the underlying problem.

  • Can they explain what the equation means?

    For a fixed resistor at constant temperature, increasing potential difference increases current in direct proportion. A tutor should connect this relationship to a circuit diagram, numerical values and a straight-line graph, rather than teach three disconnected facts.

  • Do they teach practical and application questions?

    AQA GCSE Physics includes required practical activities and written questions about practical work. Ask the tutor to teach variables, measurement choices, graph interpretation and conclusions, including unfamiliar contexts. Reading a method aloud is not enough: the student should explain why a measurement or control matters.

  • Will their resources match the assessment?

    Use questions appropriate to the specification and tier. AQA’s GCSE equation-sheet arrangements do not remove the need to choose a relationship, rearrange it, convert units and explain the result. Ask how practice uses the resources allowed in the student’s exam.

Choosing an A-level Physics tutor

A-level teaching needs to make the mathematical model and its assumptions explicit. GCSE tutoring experience alone does not show that a tutor can diagnose these more demanding problems.

  • Can they teach the mathematics inside the Physics?

    Ask about algebra, standard form, trigonometry, vectors and gradients. A strong explanation connects each step to a physical quantity. For a student who struggles to start, the tutor should help draw a diagram, choose a direction and identify known quantities before substituting values.

  • Can they handle linked reasoning and unfamiliar situations?

    Ask how they move from a familiar exercise to a changed context. In mechanics, for example, a student must distinguish velocity from acceleration and resolve motion into components. A tutor who only demonstrates remembered question patterns may leave those distinctions untested.

  • Do they know the exact specification and paper demands?

    Ask which board and specification they teach, how they choose exam questions and how they address the student’s errors in explanations as well as calculations. Where the specification includes optional content, identify the option taught by the school or college.

  • Can they explain experimental evidence and uncertainty?

    For AQA A-level Physics in England, practical skills appear in written assessment and there is a separate practical endorsement based on assessed practical work. Look for help with uncertainty, graphs, methods and the limits of a conclusion. Discuss the endorsement with the school or exam centre; ordinary tutoring is not a substitute for its practical assessment arrangements.

What practical support should sound like

GCSE: explain a measurement choice

For a current–potential difference investigation, ask how the student would collect pairs of readings and interpret their graph. If a resistor’s temperature changes, its resistance may change too. The tutor should connect the experimental condition to the expected relationship, not simply tell the student to memorise “control temperature”.

A-level: judge what the data can show

Ask the tutor to use a set of readings to discuss uncertainty and whether a proposed relationship is supported. The student should explain the significance of the graph, recognise limitations and suggest a specific improvement. “Repeat it to make it accurate” needs further questioning: repetition and a biased instrument reading are different problems.

Practical access: agree who provides it

A shared whiteboard or simulation can help discuss a method, but it does not itself provide assessed hands-on practical work. Where practical access or endorsement arrangements are unclear, especially for a private candidate, settle these with the exam centre before booking tuition on the assumption that it covers them.

Use the first lessons to test the match

  • Listen to how the tutor identifies the difficulty

    Let your child attempt part of a question without immediate rescue. Look for an explanation of the error: subject knowledge, mathematical procedure, reading the question or applying an idea to a new situation. The tutor should be able to tell you what they will address first.

  • Ask for a manageable practice task

    Agree a short task that uses the taught idea independently. At the next lesson, the tutor can use the attempt to decide whether to reteach, extend or move on. The EEF’s secondary-science guidance recommends finding out pupils’ existing ideas, modelling thinking and allowing them to respond to feedback. Applying those principles to tutor choice is a practical suggestion, not a guarantee of a particular grade.

  • Review evidence together

    After an agreed initial period, compare a new attempt with the starting work. Can the student explain their choices and complete more of the task without prompts? If only familiar questions improve, ask for a changed context. If the student remains unable to ask questions or explanations are consistently too fast, discuss a different approach or tutor.

Enquiry wording

A message you can adapt

When this applies

Use this once you have the course details and a sample of work.

Suggested wording

My child is studying [qualification, board, specification and tier/option] and finds [specific difficulty] hard. I can share a recent question and their working. How would you identify whether the difficulty is conceptual, mathematical or about applying knowledge? Please explain what you would teach first, what they would practise independently and how we would review progress. We also need support with [practical questions / experimental analysis]; please clarify what you can provide.

Why this helps

This asks for an approach matched to the student, while making practical support an explicit part of the discussion.

Support and clarity

Frequently asked questions

Straight answers to the questions people ask most often.

Does my child need a Physics tutor or a Maths tutor?

Start with the actual errors. If they can carry out the algebra in isolation but cannot choose a Physics relationship or interpret a diagram, Physics teaching may be the better starting point. If the same algebra or unit-conversion difficulty appears across subjects, discuss a plan for those foundations too. Ask the tutor to distinguish the two before recommending a routine.

Can an online Physics tutor teach effectively without laboratory equipment?

For explanations, calculations, graph interpretation and discussion of practical methods, ask for a demonstration using a shared diagram or whiteboard. Your child should be able to show their own working and annotate it. Hands-on practical assessment and any endorsement arrangements are a separate question for the school or exam centre.

Should I choose someone who teaches my child’s exam board?

Relevant specification knowledge helps the tutor select the right content and questions. Ask how they adapt to your child’s board, tier or option rather than relying on a profile label alone. A tutor teaching several boards should be able to explain those differences and use the correct materials.

Is a Physics degree enough to show someone is a good tutor?

It can provide evidence of subject study, but you still need to see how the person teaches at your child’s level. Ask about relevant teaching experience and listen to how they respond to an incorrect answer. Clear diagnosis, understandable explanation and useful follow-up work make the comparison more concrete.

Sources and references

Sources and references

Official guidance

Research and evidence

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