How it works

Oxford and Cambridge are famed for their tutorial system: small-group teaching that uses the Socratic method to move beyond rote learning and develops critical and independent thinkers, primed for whatever is next in their academic journey.

These tutorials equip graduates from Oxbridge with lifelong skills that are sought after by any top employer.

The Oxbridge method

We work with students who want to study at top UK and US universities, such as Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard and MIT. With weekly 1-to-1 tutorials students develop into independent learners, can critically appraise evidence, and understand their subject at a level far beyond their peers. All these skills are essential for success in university applications and their subsequent university learning.

Dr Tranter draws on his extensive Oxbridge connections to match students with one or more DBS-cleared and safeguarding trained subject-specific academics who have sat on admissions panels and trained by Dr Tranter. Unlike many other education providers, we never match our students with other students who have no real admissions or teaching experience.

Example tutorial package

All packages are bespoke and designed by Dr Tranter to ensure the very best support and built around the student’s requirements and interests. No two packages are the same, but this is an example of what we could build for a Biomedical Sciences applicant.

Dec 24 to Feb 25: Fundamental scientific concepts

  • Learning to understand and critically appraise scientific papers

  • Developing a scientific eye for data

  • Developing university level knowledge on an initial specialist subject

  • Guidance on EPQ

Interviews at Oxford and Cambridge will almost always present data to their candidates, asking them to critically appraise and review the data, in order to draw sound scientific conclusions from data. This includes discussion complex statistics, data collection techniques, and study design. This is an area that students frequently perform poorly on, and therefore forms the basis of our preparation for interview. Throughout the programme if expanded we work on more unseen data in order to prepare for interview. In this area we also work to develop an initial area of expertise, and work together to enhance current A-level scientific knowledge to be at university level.

Apr 25 to Jul 25: Developing the specialist subjects

  • Choosing between 3 and 5 specialist subjects to build upon, with weekly tutorials at university level to give a rounded knowledge of the key underpinnings of the biomedical course (physiology, pharmacology, biochemistry, neuroscience, pathology)

  • Continuing to build upon critical appraisal and data interpretation skills in different areas of biomedical science in order to expand their ability to process novel information that would be presented in interview

Performance at interview comes down, ultimately, to confidence in the material that you could be presented with. Students applying with solely an A-level depth of knowledge and ability to interpret data will naturally struggle more than students who have started to cover the same areas of science interviewers are asking about. Developing university level knowledge in these five key areas of biomedical science help equip the student to have sufficient transferable foundations to a very wide range of questions.

Aug 25 to Oct 25: Honing the university application

  • Overall admissions support

  • Building the personal statement

  • Preparation for admissions tests

  • Focussing down on interview topics and style of questions

Throughout this period we work together to ensure their application shows their skills in their best light and ensures that preparation for any admissions test is optimised, with support given as required. We will, parallel to this, start to move towards some interview focussed sessions to ensure the student is in the right thinking mode for the real thing come December.

 

Nov 25 to Dec 25: Final interview preparation

  • In this final phase we focus on the interview and ensure the student’s ability to answer a very wide range of Oxford questions is honed.