Student Testimonials

"I am from St Andrew's College and have received tutoring from Melanie for the past two years, in Chemistry, Physics, [Mathematics] and Calculus in NCEA levels 2 & 3. I have found it very helpful to revise work that I was unsure of and for practical problem solving. I Found Melanie easy to relate to, and she had a wide knowledge of all the above subjects."

Tom Whitehead, December 2007
Year 13, Level 3 Calculus, Chemistry & Physics

“I think that without the tuition I received, I wouldn't have been able to get the grades that I did. For example, through tuition, I learned how to write NCEA answers in a concise way. This helped me to save time on the exam and gave me extra time at the end to re-check all of my answers.”

Ellen, January 2014
Year 13, Level 3 Biology, Calculus, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics

“The tutoring is excellent and the regular communication from AHeadStart to check up and make sure it is going well is very good.”

Alex, January 2016
Year 13, Calculus

"I understand Algebra better after having Melanie as a tutor because she explained everything I needed to know in simple steps before continuing onto more complicated and merit excellence questions. I felt that after having tuition my marks were much better and I felt more confident in what I was doing."

Lucie, December 2008
Year 10, Mathematics

“The most helpful thing about tutoring is when I don't get something my tutor will explain it in another way until I understand it. It is also useful to be able to ask as many questions as you want to.

In chemistry I found it really useful to be able to have someone explain directly a concept I didn't understand in class. I enjoyed eventually feeling confident with chemistry!”

Laura, January 2014
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry & Mathematics

“I would highly recommend AHeadStart to anyone because the tutors have experienced the NCEA system and know it better than other tutoring places I have been to.”

Emma, January 2016
Year 13, Physics

"Thanks and thank you, you really helped me!"

Ngaio, January 2009
Year 13, Level 3 Biology

"Hi Melanie. You will be pleased to know that I passed all of my maths papers and even managed two merits for graphs and sequences. There is no doubt that these results stemmed from the tutoring you gave me so thanks again for your help."

Briar, January 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Mathematics

"I thought I would just flick you a short one to tell you that the lessons are great and going really well & Gemma is a fantastic tutor! Very patient and thorough, making sure I understand every step we go through. Thanks Briar (:"

Briar, May 2011
Year 12, Level 2 Mathematics & Physics

“I couldn't speak more highly of AHeadStart and my tutors, they were so friendly, so helpful and they both truly wanted me to succeed in English and Mathematics by continually giving me every opportunity to improve and prepare. Even in English when I first started tutoring in Level 1 - I went from getting 'achieved' in internals to suddenly getting 'Excellences' for the rest of the year and for Level 2 I received all Excellences for all of my internals and passed all of my exams.”

Mikayla, January 2016
Year 12, English & Mathematics

“Just a note to thank you very much for all your help with supporting Daisy via Helena again this year. Daisy’s confidence and love of science due to Helena’s expert and engaging tuition has blossomed. From the Year 10 girl I called you about two years ago, starting to lose her understanding of concepts and needing support, to the confident Excellence level student we have now, has been a transformation. Daisy has always loved science and that love has grown ten-fold in the past two years. She managed to gain 100% Excellences in all her internals this year… not just for her 3 sciences but in all 6 subjects and is already way past the 50 Excellence credits needed for her Level 2 Excellence endorsement, and only 6 credits shy of gaining her second Gold Bar at St Margaret’s (70 E credits).

Many thanks once more. Please tell Helena that Daisy will be in touch with her when she gets her results in January!”

Daisy’s mother Lorelei, December 2015
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics

"Hey Mel, just thought I’d tell you I ended up getting a merit in human evolution and achieved in gene expression and patterns of evolution :) thank you so much for all last year’s help. Hope you have a great year!"

Sarah, January 2012
Year 13, Biology

"I passed all my maths and science papers with achieveds and merits."

Kieran, January 2009
Year 11, Level 1 Mathematics & Science

"I learnt how to take a question and work through it simply and correctly. I was taught how to properly use the formulas given, to understand and answer selected questions. I was taught the information which I needed to know for the exam which I had not been properly taught."

Danielle, December 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Physics

"AHeadStart was an amazing find! I wish I'd found it sooner! =) It helped me so much, it gave me confidance in maths!! made science interesting!!! and above all improved my school grades, to a level at which I'm winning an award for exellence in science! I came top of my class this year, and AHeadStart helped me there. I can't believe I'm typing this, but I now enjoy maths and science = P Thank you very much!"

Year 10 Student, December 2009
Mathematics & Science

"[My son] found going over the specific areas that he didn't understand [helpful]...again the ability to personalise teaching to his specific learning needs."

Mother of student December 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry

"I think my tuition helped me understand the basics of the topics [and] then learn how to put that understanding to use when given a question. Over all it helped me to understand what questions I was going to get asked and how to solve them the fastest way without making lots of silly mistakes."

Kate McDonald, December 2008
Year 13, Level 3 Statistics

"[Tuition] helped with motivation and preparation for exams and exam study. Learned better study techniques. Got a lot more done throughout the year and coming up to exams than if I hadn't done tutoring."

Year 13 Student, December 2009
Level 3 Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Statistics

"Everything that Mel went over with me is so much clearer now. She went into detail to help me grasp the concepts I was struggling with. I felt a lot more confident going into my exams as a result of Mel's help. I am also fairly confident that my NCEA marks will have improved from my mock exams when I hadn't had any tuition from Mel."

Alice Christensen, December 2008
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics

“I learnt techniques on how to approach complex calculus questions, exam tips but mostly I learnt the methods required for answering questions. Calculus went from being the subject I struggled the most in compared to others and only getting achieved in the internal to me receiving the award for the top Calculus student in my class, getting all prelim exams at merit and passing all of my external papers.”

Alex, January 2016
Year 13, Calculus

“We are very happy with Claudia’s lessons and that her test results in class have improved considerably, with her end of year report and conversations with her science teacher supporting her growth in this subject.  Claudia’s confidence has grown heaps! 

Claudia is a quiet student who struggles to ask for help when she needs it, so the one on one lessons have been amazing for her.  Marwah is fantastic and Claudia just loves her, which makes her lessons a delight rather than a chore. 

Thank you for our short time with you last year and we really look forward to 2014 with AHeadStart.”

Claudia’s mother Trish, January 2014
Year 11, Mathematics & Science

"[Tuition] gave me a better understanding of things. John made everything clear unlike my teacher. He continuously went over the questions I found hard so that he knew i could do them well and always explained the process really simply....thank you so much for all your help, John really helped me to understand everything it was such a big help and really made me feel great when I got back tests that I actually passed."

Kate, December 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Maths & Physics

“Hello Melanie. I just want to thank you for the excellent tutorials you provide.”

Ariam, July 2014
Year 13, Biology, Chemistry, Physics & Statistics