For Matthew Gardner tutoring A-level students is not just about passing exams: “I think one-on-one support serves them well as we get the chance to question them beyond exam boards to make sure they can really understand and solve the problems.”

Gardner, 28, from Birmingham, volunteers as a physics tutor with the Access Project, which helps students from disadvantaged areas improve their grades and chances of getting into top universities: “The aim is to provide a little extra support to those capable and motivated students who wouldn’t otherwise be able to access tutoring. 

“In my own field as a clinical scientist working in the NHS, I also hope to break down a student’s perception that if you’re good at science then studying medicine leads to the only viable career. There are so many other options to apply science in healthcare that students may never have heard of.”

It was in March 2016 when Gardner decided he wanted to tutor: “As part of my work I help out with science outreach events in schools. Whilst this is a passion of mine and something I think is very important, the downside is that we visit a school for a day and may never see those students again. So we cannot provide ongoing support to interested students and may never know what effect we’ve had. 

“With tutoring I get to see much more of the impact of volunteering – that is the growth and development in a student and their increased confidence going into exams, where this extra support can make a big difference. Then of course the grades and university place that follow for them.

“Tutoring can be a challenge, as I have to remember back to my A-levels but we get a lot of support from the Access Project. One time a student brought a very difficult physics problem as a test for me. We spent the whole tutorial trying to solve this problem, and after much discussion and reviewing the topic the student worked out the solution. The moment of seeing the breakthrough in understanding ended up being one of my favourite moments.”