Online GCSE Tutoring in Willesden Green
One-to-one lessons for Year 10, Year 11 and resit students, £30 per lesson
Online GCSE tutoring in Willesden Green across every subject we teach. Most students treat the required practicals as the week off from real science. They are worth at least fifteen per cent of the marks, and they are examined on paper months after the experiment has been forgotten.
That gap between how the practicals feel and how they are assessed is one of the most reliable sources of lost marks in GCSE science, and it is entirely fixable with a notebook and an hour.
The first session is free and it is a real lesson, with whichever of the three sciences is causing the trouble.
What Willesden Green families ask
- Whether the practicals count as coursework.
- How many there are.
- What happens if one was missed.
- How they are examined on a written paper.
- Whether Triple means more of them.
How are the practicals actually assessed?
On the written papers, months later, by questions about method and analysis rather than by anything handed in at the time.
Before the reforms, practical work carried coursework marks. It no longer does. Students still have to do the experiments, and schools confirm that they have, but the marks come entirely from questions on the exam papers. At least 15 per cent of the total marks are for practical work assessed that way.
The requirement itself is set nationally. For Combined Science each student must complete or observe at least sixteen practical activities, and for Biology, Chemistry and Physics taken separately the requirement is at least eight in each. The subject content also lists the apparatus and techniques every student must have used.
The practical effect is a change in what revision has to cover. A student who enjoyed the lesson, got a result and moved on has met the requirement and prepared for none of the questions. Those ask what the independent variable was, why a control was needed, which piece of apparatus gave the reading, where the error came from, and how the result would change if a step were altered.
None of that requires a laboratory to revise. It requires the method written down, understood, and tested on paper.
What the questions ask
| Not | But |
|---|---|
| Did you do it? | Why was it done that way? |
| What was your result? | What was the control variable? |
| Was it fun? | Where would error come from? |
| Do you remember? | How would you improve it? |
How do you revise an experiment you did in Year 10?
From the method, in a structured way, and it takes far less time than students expect once the pattern is clear.
Every required practical answers the same set of questions, which is what makes them revisable in bulk. What was being measured. What was changed. What was held constant. What apparatus produced each reading and to what precision. Where the uncertainty sat. What the results should look like and why.
A student who writes that out on one side of paper for each practical has produced the single most efficient revision resource in the whole science course. Twenty-odd practicals, one page each, and the practical questions on the paper stop being a surprise.
The board publishes its own list, and that is the list to work from. The apparatus and techniques are set nationally but the specific practicals are each board’s choice, so revising a list from the wrong board wastes the effort. Ask the teacher for the school’s practical list, or take it from the specification.
Our Teddington page covers the Triple against Combined decision, which changes how many of these there are but not how they are examined.
One page per practical
- What was measured, and with what.
- The independent, dependent and control variables.
- The method in five steps.
- Expected results and the shape of the graph.
- The main source of error, and one improvement.
What if a practical was missed?
Recoverable, and the recovery is academic rather than logistical. Nobody needs to repeat the experiment.
Schools keep records of which students completed or observed which activities, because they have to confirm the requirement was met. If a student was absent, the school will normally arrange for them to observe or catch up, and that is a conversation to have with the department rather than something to worry about privately.
For the exam, though, the requirement and the marks are different things. The marks come from understanding the method, and a student can learn a method they did not personally perform. A borrowed write-up, a good diagram and twenty minutes of questions about variables will prepare them for the paper as well as having stood at the bench.
This is one of the few places where online tutoring is not at any disadvantage at all. We have no laboratory, and the assessment is not in a laboratory either. What the questions test is exactly what can be taught over a shared whiteboard: variables, apparatus, precision, error and analysis.
If a practical was missed
Ask the department
They track who did what, and can arrange catch-up.
Get the method
From the school, a classmate, or the specification.
Write the one-pager
Variables, method, results, error.
Answer three exam questions on it
That is the actual test.
Which GCSE subjects can your child get help with?
All of these, and the three sciences go to three different people.
Biology
Microscopy, food tests, osmosis and the rest of the required list. See GCSE Science tutoring.
Chemistry
Titrations, rates and electrolysis, with the analysis they are examined on. See GCSE Science tutoring.
Physics
Resistance, waves, density and specific heat capacity. See GCSE Science tutoring.
Maths
Which carries much of the analysis in science papers too. See GCSE Maths tutoring.
English Language and Literature
Both GCSEs, set texts included. See GCSE English tutoring.
Computer Science and Business
Programming, case studies and the written papers. See GCSE Computer Science tutoring.
How do practicals work for a science resit?
They travel with the student, which surprises people. A resit does not mean redoing sixteen experiments.
Because the practical work carries no coursework marks, there is nothing to resubmit. A student resitting a science GCSE sits the written papers again, and the practical questions on them are answered from understanding rather than from a fresh set of experiments.
Science is a summer-only resit in any case. The 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding, updated in July 2026, concerns maths and English rather than science, so a science retake is a choice rather than a requirement and worth weighing against what the destination actually asks for.
For a student who needs science for a specific course, the one-page-per-practical approach is the fastest available gain in the whole retake.
Science resits
- Written papers only, in the summer series.
- No practical work to redo or resubmit.
- November covers Maths and English Language only.
- The centre controls the entry.
See GCSE resit tutoring and the exam dates page.
How does an online lesson run?
A video call, a shared whiteboard and paper, with diagrams drawn rather than described.
Send the school’s practical list
Or the board and specification code.
Free one-to-one session
A real lesson, no card details taken.
Build one practical page together
Then the student does the next two.
Test it with real exam questions
Which is how it is assessed.
Reviewed at six weeks
Against marked work.
The full process is on how it works. Term dates differ between community schools and academies here, and the gov.uk term dates finder will point you at the right council.
What does a GCSE tutor in Willesden Green cost?
£30 a lesson, one to one, whether that is Biology, Chemistry or Physics.
Triple Science students often want all three, and each strand goes to its own specialist at the same price rather than to one tutor covering everything.
Set the length beside the price, or an hourly rate tells you nothing useful. Our guide to GCSE tutoring costs covers the market.
What £30 covers
- A full one-to-one lesson with a subject specialist.
- Work on the practicals your child’s board actually set.
- Exam questions on method, variables and error.
- Graph and analysis skills the papers assume.
- A tutor change if the match is wrong.
Tell us which science and which board
That is enough to have the right practical list open before the first lesson.
- Year group, and Combined or Triple.
- Which of the three sciences is weakest.
- The exam board, if you know it.
- Any practicals that were missed.
- Days and times that work at home.
Prefer to talk it through? WhatsApp us, or use the contact page.
Send an enquiry
Frequently asked questions
Are the science practicals marked as coursework?
No. Since the reforms they carry no coursework marks at all. They are done in school and then examined through questions on the written papers, which is a very different thing.
How many required practicals are there?
For Combined Science, awarding organisations must require each student to complete or observe at least sixteen practical activities. For the separate sciences the requirement is at least eight in each of Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
How much of the grade do they affect?
At least 15 per cent of the total marks come from questions about practical work. That is a substantial share for something many students treat as the fun part of the course.
What if my child missed a practical?
They can catch up the theory, and should. Questions ask about method, apparatus, variables, errors and results, and those can be learned from someone else’s write-up if the lesson itself was missed.
Do the practicals differ between exam boards?
The apparatus and techniques are set nationally, but each board chooses its own list of practicals from within them. Revise the list your child’s board actually set.
Which GCSE subjects do you cover?
Biology, Chemistry and Physics separately or as Combined Science, plus Maths, both English GCSEs, Computer Science and Business Studies. Humanities depend on availability.
What does it cost?
£30 a lesson, one to one, across all three sciences.
Do you have a tuition centre in Willesden Green?
No, and no laboratory either, which the practicals section above is honest about.
Book a free GCSE session for your child in Willesden Green
One free one-to-one session, no card details and no obligation. Bring the practical list and we will build the first page together, which is usually the point at which it stops feeling like twenty separate things to remember.