Student Testimonials

“Hi Melanie! Just wanted to let you know I got merit in both Stats and Chem exams! Really happy and you helped me heaps so just wanted to say thanks. Now I’m off to Otago! Thanks again!”

Kim, January 2015
Year 13, Chemistry & Statistics

“The tutor was able to help me directly in certain areas of a subject that I struggled with, e.g. certain questions, which allowed me to learn what I needed to rather than go over the same things over and over again. The books with the past NCEA papers were extremely helpful and convenient and they played a good role in this. I find most other tutors, even private, are not very good compared to the tutoring I've had here.”

Richard, January 2014
Year 12, Level 2 Biology, Chemistry & Physics

“Anna was brilliant and knew A LOT about physics. As she knows the NCEA system, she was able to help me plan out how I would answer a question and where to start, something I find particularly difficult in physics.
Something I find annoying at school is that in physics they don't tell you why a theory is the case, we are just expected to remember. Anna was able to explain why more than my teacher.”

Emma, January 2016
Year 13, Physics

“All great feedback!! It was very helpful, he helped me to understand a concept that has been almost completely out of reach for about 2 and a half years. Will definitely be helpful, Many thanks.”

Alice, May 2014
Year 13, IB Physics

“Hi Melanie. Thank you for your amazing tutoring. I appreciated hugely.”

Laura, November 2014
Year 13, Statistics

"Briar was totally chuffed at her results and deservedly so. But the key for me was that it confirmed for her that she was quite capable of working through and understanding her maths, even though she had convinced herself that this was not possible. It seems to be a real issue for maths that so many students think that they are totally unable to comprehend the principles - you either like maths or you hate it and there seems to be no grey area in-between. So the credit really goes to you Melanie for getting Briar over that "useless at maths" label and giving her the chance to succeed - and she did so well! You have a great intuition for understanding how best to explain the subject."

Briar’s mother Cathie, January 2009
Year 12, Level 2 Mathematics

“We have been very happy with how it all went. Sarah was very patient and related really well with Nicole. She went into NCEA exams quite confident which is something I didn't think I would see. Previous to the meeting Sarah she would stress out at thoughts of any test.

She has managed over 80 credits already without even relying on credits from her external exams and is really proud of herself. I know Sarah thought there was always so much to get through in a session and felt rushed but she did a great job and we really appreciated her help.

I have recommended your business to a couple of friends with students heading into exams next year and will be in contact."

Nicole’s mother Alison, November 2013
Year 11 English, Mathematics & Science

“Great tutoring service! Very easy to organise lessons with your tutor! I couldn't recommend more!
Thanks for all your help this year Anna!”

Ellie, January 2016
Year 12, Chemistry, Mathematics & Physics

"My tutor was very helpful and went the extra mile by giving [me] lots of exam papers. I passed all my unit standards and internals - the ones I failed before I started tutoring. It was nice how everything was taught step by step. I had more understanding and wasn't rushed. Thanks."

Nastassja Schoeman, December 2008

Year 13, Level 3 Calculus

"We have nothing but the highest praise for Hannah. She is an excellent teacher and Monny really likes her very much.

I have to say, I was a bit nervous signing up to have students for tutors. I just wasn't sure they would have the skills/ maturity to manage someone not much younger than them and our previous experience with tutors has been with ex-teachers. I couldn't have been more wrong!!!. We are delighted with both Hannah and John. Monny really likes the fact that they are close to her own age as she feels she can relate to them."

Monica’s mother Karen, October 2012
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry & Mathematics

“To our favourite person…
We’ve really appreciated the last few years, couldn’t have done it without you! Tutorials were always a laugh and we’re going to miss you heaps! Whenever we come back to Chch we hope to see you in that little car zooming around. Love from Ashleigh and Cassie”

Ashleigh & Cassie, November 2014
Year 13, Chemistry

"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

Thank you for the help over the past few years. [It] made things a lot easier."

Alex, December 2008
Year 13, Level 3 Biology & Statistics

"Melanie fitted my daughter in an already packed schedule of hers. She went the extra mile to make sure she understood every concept in calculus. The result of her effective approach was a very confident student. My daughter just went from strength to strength, passed her internal exams, feels confident about success in the end of year exams and is absolutely motivated. Thank you, Melanie!"

Nastassja’s mother Henriette, December 2008
Year 13, Level 3 Calculus

"[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

"Anyway, thanks again. And to Hannah and John, they really were excellent tutors for Monica. Perfect match in both cases. Both very fine young people.

I think one of the advantages I hadn't considered when thinking about whether to go with more traditional 'crusty old schoolteacher' tutors or young uni students was the role model aspect. and I think it’s great for Monny to see young people, only a couple of years older than she is who are doing really well at uni, studying hard, but still very cool.

Needless to say, we are very big fans of yours now and recommend you to everyone. We have our fingers crossed for NCEA, but know that without John and Hannah she was really facing a huge challenge to get through maths and chemistry."

Monica’s mother Karen, December 2012
Year 12, Level 2 Chemistry & Mathematics

“I don't know HOW but I got Excellence on my bio internal. They haven't officially given us the results back yet but they put the mark up on moodle (school website) and I just saw it. I don't know how that happened but thank you so much for the help!”

Izzy, July 2015
Year 12, Level 2 Biology

“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

"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

"Daniel was great yesterday, I really enjoyed it and learnt a lot. He went out of his way to make sure I understood things and I thought his style of tutoring was really suited to me and my learning style. Thank you for all your help."

Kitty, March 2012
Year 13, Chemistry & Physics

“I have achieved a Distinction in ICAS and a Year Seven maths award.
I have learnt many new strategies to help me in maths and I think that this is how I have achieved these awards.”

George, January 2016
Year 7, Mathematics