Hey! My name is Shyam and I am a 3rd year maths student at Cambridge. I have experience teaching younger students during A-levels as part of a charity program known as MathsMakers, where I volunteered to help students catch up with their peers by guiding them to learn and truly understand the mathematics they are being taught rather than blindly accepting rules. I enjoy teaching as it allows to to give back to the world as well as the opportunity to ensure students can appreciate what they are learning instead of memorising content for the sake of memorising it. I attended a non-grammar state school growing up so was not given sufficient help when preparing for entrance tests and interviews and aim to ensure that others don’t have to self-teach and instead can be given the attention and help required to prosper.

Hi! My name’s Adam and I’m a recent graduate with a Master’s in Maths from the University of Cambridge, specialising in Quantum Computing, and starting a PhD soon. I know first-hand how stressful applications to the UK’s top universities can be because I was in this position just five years ago. I remember how opaque the processes felt, especially Cambridge’s – what should I put on my personal statement; which college is best to apply to; what style of questions will they ask me in the interview and much, much more besides. Having received an offer at interview, I then prepared for the challenging STEP exams which must be taken for entrance into Cambridge’s maths programme. Here I succeeded also and was admitted into Cambridge, where I eventually achieved the highest mark in Applied Maths at the Master’s level.

I can say in retrospect that this process was somewhat complicated by the fact that the information released by the university does not necessarily always line up with the realities. The process itself becomes much easier and less daunting when one has a guide who has recently been through it and therefore has up-to-date information. As an example, the decision of which college to apply to should not be taken lightly, particularly for those who are not able, for whatever reason, to visit Cambridge before applying. It is a decision that has considerations both academic and non-academic, one that is best made away from the front-facing veneer of an open day and one that is, once again, made easier with insider information.

The two services I primarily offer at this time of year are advice for applications (for Maths degrees, or similar, at Cambridge and other UK institutions) and preparation for interviews. The interview itself is ultimately run in the style of a mock supervision, where supervisions are the small classes attended by students two-to-three times a week – classes that are fresh in my memory. Using actual past Cambridge interview questions, I conduct interview preparation in the style of these supervisions. With teaching experience under my belt, I’m passionate about communicating Maths and like it when others enjoy it as much as I do.

My name is Yijia Chen (Keira), currently studying mathematics as an undergraduate at University of Oxford. For me, Math is filled with fun, excitement, and of course sometimes frustration. But I always believe that everyone who is genuinely interested in maths can do it well, though sometimes learning could be taxing and time-consuming. But don’t worry! I can share my way of learning math, for you to learn the most with the least time.
Of course, I love math, and teaching is fun. I had a gap year before I came to Oxford. During that time, I worked for educational consultancy firms where I got to teach Year 11 and 12 students to help them with their university applications. I think passing knowledge to prospective students, and possibly seeing them on campus next year is extremely heartwarming!