Andrew Dickinson - Private Tutor in Oxford

I have been a tutor since I began my undergraduate degree at Oxford in 2013. I graduated with the highest first class degree in English Language and Literature at my college, Christ Church. At Christ Church I was also an Academic Scholar and holder of a Gibbs Prize for achieving a Distinction in Preliminary Examinations and coming 10th in a year of 240 students. In 2016, I started a Masters degree in English Language and Literature at University College London, where I was awarded the Shakespeare and Rhetoric Prize by Professor Brian Vickers. In 2018, I was awarded a fully-funded place on Oxford's DPhil (PhD) programme by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Since then, I have been a lecturer and tutor at Christ Church and New College, teaching English Literature from the Renaissance to the present. I have also twice been an interviewer for the Oxford admissions interview.

Throughout my time at Oxford and UCL, I have accumulated extensive experience tutoring privately for a range of abilities, from pre-test to university admissions, including undergraduate and postgraduate study. Although my main subject is English, I have a strong interest in other languages and arts. Having grown up in Paris with dual English/Italian nationality, I am a native speaker of English, Italian and French, and can speak conversational Spanish. My interest and ability in History of Art has lead me to teaching the subject for the General Paper of the Eton Oppidan Scholarship. My constant desire to learn and develop intellectually is something which is greatly helped by tutoring, and this passion is one I seek to instil in all my tutees.

My Education & Qualifications

• University of Oxford, 2018 – 2022
  English Literature (DPhil (PhD)): Ongoing
• University College London, 2016 – 2017
  English Language and Literature (MA): Distinction (1st)
• University of Oxford, 2013 – 2016
  English Language and Literature (BA): 1st
• School: Harrow School
  Harrow School is an independent boarding school for boys in the borough of Harrow, London. I was awarded an Academic Scholarship for the entirety of my five years at Harrow and received prizes in English and Theatre Studies. A Levels in Italian (A*), French (A), English Literature (A), Theatre Studies (A*); AS Levels in Spanish (A), Critical Thinking (A). GCSEs: 9 A*s.

My Tutoring & Teaching Experience

I have tutored a variety of subjects across Languages and the Arts, including English Language and Literature, French, Italian and History of Art (for the Eton Scholarship). My main strength resides in tutoring English Language and Literature, particularly for Oxbridge and university applications, as well as at Undergraduate and Masters level. To prepare students' for Oxbridge interviews, I work to deepen and widen both their interest and expertise in the extensive field of English literature. I guide all my students with carefully selected reading lists, rigorous but open-ended tutorials, and detailed feedback. I have been a tutor to Oxford undergraduates in English at various colleges for five different modules (Victorian Literature, Introduction to English Literature, Post-War American Literature, Modernist Literature, and 20th-21st Century Literature).

Over 400 hours of tutoring experience.

Tutored two students from a B to an A in English Literature A Level.

Tutored one student from a B to an A* in English Literature A Level. Tutored one student from a 4 to a 7 in English GCSE. Tutored one student from a U to a 9 in Italian GCSE.

Tutored two students into achieving offers from Magdalen College and Exeter College, Oxford, to study English Language and Literature.

My Approach to Tutoring

The most effective tutors, I believe, listen to their students and learn from them, ensuring that lessons are dialogues and not lectures. This approach is similar to the model of Oxbridge tutorials, in which students learn through formal conversations with tutors. It is a method particularly beneficial to the study of English, a discipline in which an original opinion about a literary text can always be expressed. To draw reluctant students into the study of English, I often use another subject: for example, using a student’s interest in the English Civil War to help their study of John Milton, or their passion for French in their study of T. S. Eliot. This is particularly important for students applying to Oxbridge or other universities, as tutors will want to know how they can use their A Level subjects to help them during their degree. I try to develop contrasting but harmonious intellectual qualities in my tutees: fluency and restraint, confidence and humility, liveliness and seriousness.

Fun Facts About Me

Born in Northumberland to an Italian mother and a father part English, Russian and Dutch, I’ve lived most of my life either in Paris or London. I’m a keen actor, having acted in and directed several plays at Oxford. The piano has been a hobby since I was young, and I frequently go to listen to concerts. Visual art – especially painting, and particularly Impressionism – is one of my passions; when I lived in London, I spent a significant amount of time in the city’s museums and still visit occasionally now. Sports-wise, I love running, cycling, water-sports and any sport which involves a racquet (squash, tennis, badminton).

• English Literature A Level
  "Andrew, as a tutor, was extremely attentive and helpful. His insight and advice was invaluable and helped me to achieve an A* at A Level. Apart from this, his strengths were his passion for the topics and the way he inspired in me a love for English Literature."
• Seminars in Modern Poetry for English MA (Masters)
  "I learnt more in Andrew's seminar on W. B. Yeats than I did in any other seminar run by the English Faculty."
• Pre-test
  "My son has certainly made great progresses and we all acknowledge Andrew's contribution to his exams results."
• Oxford Final Honour Schools in English Language and Literature
  "Andrew's dissertation (on James Joyce) would be a very strong essay in the Oxford Masters course, and is wholly remarkable coming from an undergraduate."
• English Preliminary Examinations, Oxford University
  "Andrew has been the best English tutor I could has asked for in my first two terms of Oxford."
• English Preliminary Examinations, Oxford University
  "Andrew has been the most considerate, inspiring, and entertaining mentor."