About Me
Examiner, former UN economist, full-time Economics tutor.
I teach Economics at GCSE, A-Level and IB, to students in the UK and internationally. I am also an appointed examiner for three separate GCSE and A-Level Economics boards.
From the Isle of Man to the UN
I grew up on the Isle of Man and sat my A-Levels in Economics, Geography and Maths at Ballakermeen High School, before studying Economics at the University of Sheffield and graduating with a First.
After graduating I worked in economic affairs. I moved to Bangkok to work for the United Nations as a specialist on sustainable development and the space economy. My job required a fifty-fifty split between technical understanding and excellent clarity of explanation. In the end, I finished a year of researching North-East Asian space agencies with a newfound passion for communication, not Synthetic Aperture Radar satellites.
Since the UN, I have worked on interesting projects in various government departments, volunteered for three months in Nepal, and moved to full-time tutoring. A substantial chunk of my yearly intake are international students studying across the world or at prestigious independent schools in the UK. My international background is a large part of why I am proficient teaching students who are studying in English as a second language, whether they are Chinese, Mexican, or Emirati.
Why I became a tutor
Working at the UN, the thing that struck me was not who knew the most economics. It was that the people who had real influence were the ones who could think clearly and then say the thing plainly. Everyone in the room was clever. Far fewer could take an argument from start to finish and land it.
That is the same skill an Economics exam is actually testing, and almost nobody teaches it directly. So when I came back to the UK I made a full-time job of it, in the subject I know best.
It still surprises me how far exam technique alone can move a grade. This year a student came to me two weeks before AQA Paper 1. She had averaged a C to D throughout Year 13, had no dedicated Economics teacher, and had never written a 25-mark answer in her life. She finished with a high A* and started at Warwick in September.
What being an examiner actually means for you
I am not guessing what examiners want. When I tell a student their evaluation paragraph is earning two marks rather than six, it is because of my experience, and I know what the sentence that earns the other four looks like.
It also means the feedback you get is written in the language of the mark scheme rather than general encouragement. Work comes back with the band it would have been given and one specific instruction for the next attempt.
Credentials
- Examiner for GCSE and A-Level Economics, across multiple boards
- BSc Economics, University of Sheffield, First Class
- Former United Nations specialist, sustainable development and the space economy
- Close to 2,000 hours of teaching across five years
- DBS Enhanced checked
Last year, in numbers
- 53 students taught across the 2025 to 2026 academic year
- Of the 37 results I have heard back so far, 18 were A star and 14 were A
- Every student went on to their first-choice university, five of them upgrading through clearing
I quote the number I have actually heard back rather than rounding it up, because results tend to arrive in dribs and drabs over the summer.
How I teach
Content and exam technique from the first lesson, together, rather than grinding through topics in order and hoping technique arrives at the end. Working on both at once is the reason students tend to move faster than they expected to.
Lessons are interactive and, I will risk saying, enjoyable. The overlap between students who find Economics dull and students who underperform in it is very nearly a circle, so building some genuine interest is not a nicety, it is the mechanism. The results tend to follow.
Even at the end of Year 13 the gaps are usually the same few, repeated: a command word not properly answered, a right idea lost inside a confused structure, an evaluation that lists considerations without ever reaching a judgement. Those are quick to find and quick to close, once somebody names them.
I reply to messages within a couple of hours, and students can send work or questions between lessons for as long as they are with me. Homework is encouraged rather than compulsory.
Who I work with
Students across the UK and around the world, most often from Singapore, Hong Kong and the UAE, at British boarding schools and international schools as well as state sixth forms. A good number are not native English speakers, and after several years living and teaching in Asia I am comfortable teaching in a way that does not quietly assume a British classroom.
I am equally happy working with a student aiming for an A star and one who needs a pass to keep an offer alive. What I ask for is a decent attitude, a real effort between lessons and an actual goal to work towards. Bring those and we will get somewhere.
Start with a conversation
A short call to go through the level, the exam board and where the marks are going. No obligation, and no charge.