Tutoring
Hi, my name’s Collin, and I’ve been tutoring ever since I finished VCE in 2006 with an ENTER of 99.00.
I got my first preference at the University of Melbourne, where I study an Engineering and Commerce double degree, and have continued to achieve outstanding results — achieving Dean’s Honours awards every year (ranked in the top 3% of students).
Ethos
Contrary to most success stories, I achieved this with an average of only 2 hours of study a day. I focused on introducing structure and consistency, while letting my brain do what it’s already good at — learning conceptually, discovering patterns and absorbing lots of knowledge.
I can be your mentor — unlike older tutors who have lost touch with the system, I only did the VCE in 2006. I was in your boat just a few years ago. I’ve transferred my knowledge to other students year after year, and for myself, I’ve never strayed from using the same system for remembering vast amounts of knowledge! And I’m also a student entrepreneur — I like to be involved in things, and challenge myself. I can talk to you about your career plans, challenging the norm, and goal-setting.
My core belief in teaching is to make sure the student understands the concepts correctly. This cannot always be achieved in classroom situations, but as a private tutor, I am able to focus on your thought process, and closing the gaps. By identifying the underlying misconceptions, I can then easily correct the mistakes that your mind makes.
I’m not a believer in rote-learning. It is an inefficient style of learning. Whenever possible, I promote self-learning, conceptual understanding, story-telling and pattern-seeking to make the topics more relevant, enjoyable and memorable to the student.
Through my methods, I have improved the ability of many of my students to recall key ideas from memory. Many of my students have a better understanding of the subject under my tuition, which prepares them for the unexpected questions that can come up on exams.
Services
I tutor the following subjects for VCE:
- Maths Methods (Units 1 to 4)
- Chemistry (Units 1 to 4)
- Specialist Maths (Units 1 to 4)
- Physics (Units 3 and 4)
I can teach, help or mentor, depending on the student’s needs. Tuition sessions have very little structure — they can be weekly, fortnightly, once-off, or random! It’s completely flexible.
I generally operate at the State Library of Victoria, due to its central location.
I charge $40/hr (or $30/hr per head if done in groups of two).
Contact me if you are interested, or have any questions at all!
Experience
I graduated from Melbourne High School in 2006 with an ENTER of 99.00. I’ve tutored over 30 students over my three years of tutoring experience.
I obtained raw study scores of 45 or above in all of the subjects that I tutor, which all scaled up to scores greater than 47 (the highest one being 53.16 for Specialist Maths). Study scores have a maximum of 50, and a maximum scaled score of 55. A raw score of 45 and above ranks you in the top 2% of students who studied that subject.
Testimonials
First, I want to share some of my favourite success stories:
- I tutored a student who got a perfect ENTER of 99.95. She now studies Medicine at Monash.
- I tutored two students (in a group) who both got a perfect raw study score of 50 in Chemistry.
Academically, I don’t think I offered them much that they already didn’t know (because they were already top students), but in hindsight, I noticed I coached them quite well. I got them to play the right mindset in an exam — the one that unlocked their full potential.
An arguably prouder achievement was when I tutored a student from a difficult background to an ENTER of 95.55 in 2008. He got into his first preference course (Chemical Engineering & Pharmaceutical Science at Monash). I’ve done this with various students over the years, helping them to achieve their first preference.
A top tutor Collin is; one of his strengths is that he ensures that a student is thorough and comfortable with a concept before it can be applied appropriately to VCE-orientated questions and scenarios.
– Rithin, who achieved a perfect study score of 50 in Chemistry in 2008.
Collin’s tutored me this year and I have nothing but positive things to say about him. He’s extremely accessible on MSN and via text (SMS), scheduled tutoring sessions are lenient, and has answered every single question I’ve had for him, no matter how difficult it is, in a clear and understandable way. He’s also a nice guy, and I recommend him!
– Luke, who achieved his first preference of Science at University of Melbourne in 2010.
Collin tutored me this year in Specialist Maths. He’s really good. The amount of times I nearly gave up with it, from disappointing SAC scores earlier in the year… but with his help, and going through everything I messed up and practice exams, I became much more confident and gained some handy skills from him. I feel that I went much, much better than I would have done in the Spesh exams, thanks to Collin!
– David, who achieved an ENTER score of 95.40 in 2009.
Collin Li is fantastic – that is all.
– Harry, who learnt Chemistry Unit 3 in the 2010 summer break.
Collin is a great tutor, who taught me parts of the Unit 3 Chemistry course for only six lessons, yet what would have taken me much longer to learn on my own. He gave me a solid head start into the curriculum and huge motivation for Year 12, but best of all, I was able to choose the topics I mostly had trouble with, and not have to waste hours going through a program for topics I already understood.
Additionally, Collin gave advance exposure to various tips and tricks for future examinations, as well as easy to understand conceptual based explanations for many of the difficult topics. He is very accessible outside of class time and is very flexible with lessons to balance out other commitments, so there are no semester long contracts! I definitely recommend him as when I have any problems throughout the year with any of my maths or science subjects, then I know where to look!
– Camberwell Grammar School student, who also learnt Chemistry Unit 3 in the 2010 summer break.
Thanks to all of my students for their praise and support. Without them, I wouldn’t have the confidence to continue providing the help that I can.
Contact
Let me know what subjects you need to be tutored in, what kind of help you’d like, and when you’d like to begin.
Please provide a proper e-mail address in order to get a reply. Thanks for your interest.
