Combined Award or Triple, AQA, Edexcel or OCR. We cover the content, the required practicals and the maths-in-science questions that quietly cost more marks than anything else on the paper.
A student can be genuinely strong at Biology and genuinely lost in Physics, and a single overall grade hides that completely. The three sciences reward different things: Biology rewards precise recall and exact terminology, Chemistry rewards understanding a handful of models deeply enough to apply them anywhere, and Physics rewards mathematical fluency and confidence with equations.
Because our sessions are one-to-one, we can weight the time towards whichever of the three is actually dragging. That is not something a class of thirty covering one scheme of work can do.
Combined Science (sometimes called Trilogy or Double Award) is worth two GCSEs and awards a double grade like 6-6 or 7-6. Triple Science is worth three separate GCSEs, one in each subject, and covers extra content in all three. Both are perfectly respectable routes, and Combined does not close the door on Science A Levels the way parents often fear it does. We teach either — tell us which your child is entered for.
Roughly 10% of the marks in GCSE Biology, 20% in Chemistry and 30% in Physics are mathematical. Rearranging equations, standard form, percentage yield, unit conversion, reading gradients off a graph. Students who are shaky in Maths lose those marks in Science too, and often nobody joins the dots. We treat maths-in-science as its own strand and teach it deliberately.
Combined and Triple Award content, plus the required practicals every board examines.
| Subject | Core topics | Where marks are usually lost |
|---|---|---|
| Biology | Cell biology, organisation, infection and response, bioenergetics, homeostasis, inheritance and variation, ecology | Imprecise terminology in six-mark questions; confusing correlation with cause in ecology data |
| Chemistry | Atomic structure, bonding and structure, quantitative chemistry, chemical changes, energy changes, rates, organic chemistry, analysis, the atmosphere | Moles and quantitative calculations; explaining bonding in terms of electrons rather than describing it |
| Physics | Energy, electricity, particle model, atomic structure, forces, waves, magnetism, and space physics on some boards | Rearranging equations under time pressure; units dropped or mismatched; graph gradients misread |
| Required practicals | Every board examines the set practicals directly — method, variables, apparatus, sources of error and improvements | Students revise the theory and skip the practicals entirely, then lose a whole question |
| Maths in science | Standard form, significant figures, rearranging formulae, percentages, ratios, gradients and areas under graphs | Treated as a maths problem in a science lesson and therefore never properly taught |
Six-mark questions are marked against a specific mark scheme. ‘It goes through’ earns nothing where ‘diffuses down a concentration gradient’ earns two. We drill exam vocabulary explicitly.
The single biggest source of lost marks at Higher tier. It is a proportion problem in a lab coat, and once a student sees that it stops being frightening.
Not memorising them — rearranging them under pressure. We practise until rearranging is automatic rather than a puzzle solved fresh each time.
Every board examines them and most students revise them last or not at all. We cover method, variables and sources of error as core content.
Correct physics, wrong unit, no mark. It is the cheapest grade to recover on the whole paper.
Reading a gradient, spotting an anomaly, describing a trend precisely. Heavily examined, rarely taught as a skill in its own right.
| Plan | Sessions | Price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | 3 × 1-hour sessions per week | £60 / month | Steady support in one subject alongside school |
| Intensive | 5 × 1-hour sessions per week | £100 / month | Exam years, catch-up, or two subjects at once |
Meet the tutor, watch them teach your child for a full hour, then decide. No payment up front and no contract.