History Admissions Tutoring & PreparationWritten work · Interview · Personal statement

I sat Cambridge's college-based History admissions assessment (a comparative source question) and was invited to interview. I have extensive admissions-mentoring experience: as a Cambridge access mentor I supported six sixth-form applicants per cycle through daily guidance and monthly calls, and led sessions on personal statements, written work, college choice, interviews and life at Cambridge — with students going on to offers at Cambridge, Oxford and beyond. I've also led widening-participation history seminars for sixth-formers and mentored disabled and disadvantaged students into higher education. I'd love to help you build a standout application.

I've tutored History and English Literature since 2021, helping students at GCSE and A-Level build structured arguments and express their ideas clearly under exam conditions. For Oxbridge applicants, I focus on submitted written work, personal statements and interview preparation. I sat Oxford's History Admissions Test myself and made it through to interview, and I've since advised two students applying for History at Oxford — helping with personal statements, reading lists and mock interviews — one of whom was offered a place.

I have four years' experience as a private tutor and have worked with a wide range of students. I aim to organise sessions around each student's particular interests and immediate goals, whether that means developing an essay, preparing for an examination or exploring a topic in depth. I have considerable experience supporting university applications, working on all aspects of the process including personal statement reviews, mentoring and interview preparation — students I have tutored have received offers from Oxford, UCL, Göttingen, Heidelberg and Manchester. My academic work has been recognised with the World History Association Graduate Essay Award, the Hamilton Prize from Victorian Review, the Ebor Lectures Award and the Michael Sprinker Essay Prize. My DPhil is supported by an AHRC studentship and my MA was supported by a DAAD scholarship, and I have published work in major academic journals.

I've tutored students in economics, history and politics, and run over twenty mock interview sessions, drawing on resources accumulated over years of tutoring and from speaking to other students and professors about the interview process. I've supported students to places at Russell Group universities including UCL, Durham and Warwick, and coached a student from a B to an A* in maths and politics. My approach is to give all-round support to the student and their family, beyond just the run-up to the interview or admissions test: I genuinely care about my students and I'm available every step of the way, from choosing where to apply, to pre-mock late-night jitters, to post-interview debriefs and everything in between. To me the single biggest variable in an admissions process is the student's approach and confidence — I bring out the best in each student so they can shine in admissions tests and dazzle interviewers.

I've led history study sessions for my college for groups of up to eighteen prospective applicants, adapting each session to the numbers and reinforcing what genuinely makes an application work. One-to-one, I've supported students from my sixth form with their Oxbridge History applications, running interview-style questioning around their personal statement and their approach to the subject. I draw on my own Cambridge application — especially the parts I found hardest, like pushing your thinking and content beyond what's on the page, which is what matters most in the interview room.

I have supported students in Oxbridge admissions through Access Cambridge, a widening-participation programme, a residential Oxbridge summer school and an international school. I have supported dozens of students in personal statement work and interview preparation, for History, Politics and Geography courses at Oxbridge and other leading universities.

I believe preparation and practice are key to a successful Oxbridge application. With students I've helped, I've recommended key reading to enhance their applications, providing foundations for a strong personal statement and relevant discussion material for interview. I've mentored a student through the Oxford application process — suggesting extracurricular material and reading, offering suggestions on their personal statement, and helping them prepare for interview. I applied in 2020, when my college didn't set a written entrance exam due to Covid-19; instead I was tested on a source at interview, in a similar way to the old HAT. I try to be friendly and approachable so students can voice any concerns about the process, and I believe early preparation and regular practice make the whole thing less stressful.

I focus on the close reading, essay technique and interview preparation that History applications now turn on, and I'm a fluent French speaker too — useful for joint courses with Modern Languages. After my First in History at UCL, my master's at Oxford has deepened my research and writing further.

With no written admissions test for History any more, your submitted written work and interview carry the whole application. I offer targeted, practical coaching to help you analyse primary sources on the spot, build tight historical arguments, and articulate complex ideas with the clarity and confidence the interview rewards. I sat the HAT myself before it was withdrawn, so I understand the source-analysis skills it tested — skills that now show up in written work and at interview instead. Having so recently sat where you are, I know which preparation actually helps and which doesn't.