Overview
We tutor history, politics and global politics, psychology, sociology, philosophy, geography, religious studies, literature and related subjects, from secondary school to undergraduate level. That includes the humanities and individuals-and-societies subjects in IB, A-Level and IGCSE humanities, AP history and government courses, the French HGGSP, SES, philosophy and French literature, and university modules in these fields.
Sessions combine two strands. The first is understanding: clarifying concepts, theories and contexts, such as the causes of the First World War, realism versus liberalism in international relations, Piaget versus Vygotsky, or Kant's categorical imperative. The second is argument: planning essays, using sources critically, structuring paragraphs that analyze rather than describe, and writing timed responses. We use questions, discussion and short practice writing rather than lectures.
Essay-based subjects raise the most questions about acceptable help. Our line is simple: tutors discuss ideas, teach planning and argument skills, and give feedback on practice answers to other questions. They don't write, rewrite or line-edit your assessed essays, internal assessments or extended essays.
Who it’s for and the problems it solves
This is for you if you are…
- Secondary students in history, geography, politics, psychology, philosophy, economics-adjacent or literature courses
- IB, A-Level, IGCSE, AP and French lycée students preparing essay-based exams
- Undergraduates in humanities and social science programs, particularly in first year
- Students studying these subjects in a second language who need support with both content and academic expression
- Students returning to education who need to rebuild essay confidence
Common problems we help with
- Your essays are told they are 'too descriptive' or 'narrative' rather than analytical
- You know a lot of content but can't structure it into an argument that answers the question
- Source and document questions (provenance, reliability, usefulness) feel vague
- Theories and studies blur together, for example in psychology or sociology
- Philosophical texts are dense, and you can't reconstruct the argument
- You run out of time in essay exams or write unbalanced answers
What’s included — and what isn’t
Included
- Diagnostic discussion and a short practice response to identify knowledge and argument gaps
- Concept and content sessions tied to your syllabus topics and key debates
- History: causation, change and continuity, historiography, source analysis and comparative questions
- Politics and global politics: political ideologies, institutions, international relations theories and case studies
- Psychology and sociology: key theories and studies, research methods, and evaluation of evidence (strengths, limitations, ethics)
- Philosophy and religious studies: argument reconstruction, objections and replies, and key thinkers
- Literature: close reading, themes, context, critical perspectives and comparative analysis
- Geography: human and physical concepts, case studies and data interpretation
- Essay planning, thesis statements, paragraph structure (point, evidence, analysis, link) and evaluation
- Timed practice on unseen questions, with written feedback against published assessment criteria
Not included
- Writing, rewriting or line-editing assessed essays, internal assessments, extended essays or coursework
- Providing plans or arguments for a specific assessed title for you to use
- Supplying quotations, sources or references for graded work
What you receive
- Diagnostic feedback
- Comments on a short practice response showing strengths, gaps in knowledge and the main argument-skill priorities.
- Topic summaries and debate maps
- Concise notes on each topic with the key interpretations, thinkers or studies and how they relate to each other.
- Essay skills materials
- Annotated examples (on non-assessed practice questions) showing descriptive versus analytical paragraphs and effective evaluation.
- Feedback on practice essays
- Written comments against your course's criteria on essays you write to practice questions.
- Exam plans
- Timing strategies and question-choice guidance for your specific papers.
How it works
Share course and feedback
Send your syllabus, reading lists or set texts, recent feedback and exam format.
Diagnostic
We discuss a topic and review a short practice response so we can see both knowledge and argument skills.
Understanding sessions
We work through topics using discussion, questioning and concise notes, focused on the debates your exams ask about.
Argument sessions
Planning and writing practice with feedback, moving from paragraph-level to full timed essays.
Pre-exam review
Unseen timed questions, criteria-based feedback and a final revision plan.
How sessions develop analysis
- Socratic questioning
- Asking 'why?', 'according to whom?' and 'how do you know?' to push from description to explanation and judgment.
- Debate mapping
- Visual maps of competing interpretations, schools of thought or theories, showing where they agree and disagree.
- Source analysis frameworks
- Examining origin, purpose, content, value and limitation to evaluate primary and secondary sources.
- Paragraph anatomy
- Breaking down strong analytical paragraphs into claim, evidence, analysis and link, then practicing each part.
- Argument reconstruction
- Restating philosophical or theoretical arguments as premises and conclusions to evaluate them.
- Criteria-based feedback
- Marking practice work against published assessment criteria so you know exactly what distinguishes levels.
From description to analysis
The most common piece of feedback in these subjects is some version of 'more analysis needed'. It usually means one of three things: the essay tells events or theories in sequence without explaining why they matter, evidence is included without being connected to the argument, or the conclusion summarizes instead of judging. We diagnose which it is from your practice work and practice the specific fix.
- Turn narrative into causation: rank and link factors instead of listing them
- Make evidence work: explain what each piece shows and how it supports the claim
- Evaluate: consider limitations, counterarguments and the weight of evidence
- Conclude with a justified judgment that answers the exact question
Subject-specific skills
Each discipline has its own conventions. Psychology and sociology answers are expected to evaluate research methods and ethics; history rewards awareness of historiography and precise chronology; literature essays need close reading of language and form; philosophy values clear reconstruction of arguments and responses to objections. In French-system subjects, the dissertation and commentaire de texte follow specific structural conventions with a problématique and plan, which we teach explicitly. For IB students, Theory of Knowledge skills overlap with this work, and our IB tutoring page explains how we support TOK.
Coursework and extended writing
Coursework such as history investigations, A-Level NEAs, IB internal assessments and university essays are assessed as your independent work. We can teach research and argument skills, discuss the topic area in general terms and give feedback on practice pieces, but we won't plan, draft or edit the assessed piece. For longer-term writing development, one-to-one academic writing coaching may also help.
What the work can look like
Illustrative example — fictional data
Sample feedback on a practice history paragraph
A fictional student wrote a practice paragraph on the causes of the 1917 Russian Revolutions for a question they were not being assessed on. The feedback below is invented to illustrate the approach.
What works
Accurate chronology and relevant detail on military defeats and food shortages in Petrograd.
What to develop
The paragraph lists problems but doesn't explain how they caused the collapse of tsarist authority. Try linking war losses to the army's loss of loyalty, and weigh this against long-term factors mentioned in paragraph one.
Practice task
Rewrite the paragraph's final three sentences so they rank the war against economic grievances and state a judgment. Then compare with one historian's interpretation from your reading list.
Illustrative feedback on an invented practice paragraph. We give feedback on practice work, not on assessed essays.
What you’ll need to provide
- Syllabus, topic list or set texts, and reading list
- Recent marked work or teacher feedback (for diagnosis, not for rewriting)
- Assessment criteria or mark schemes for your course
- Exam dates and question formats
You don’t need everything ready to ask for a quote — tell us what you have and we’ll say what’s missing.
What affects price and turnaround
Price depends on
- Subject and level
- Volume of written feedback on practice essays between sessions
- Session length and frequency
- Exam proximity and any intensive scheduling
Turnaround depends on
- Tutor availability for your specific subject and set texts
- Time needed to review your syllabus and reading lists
- Exam dates
Every project is quoted individually. How we price our work.
Questions people ask before starting
Will you read my essay before I submit it?
No, not an assessed one. We give feedback on practice essays written for other questions, which builds skills you can then apply yourself. Your teacher or lecturer is the right person for draft feedback where your course allows it.
Can you help with set texts in literature?
Yes. We can discuss themes, context, form and critical perspectives, practice close reading of passages and work on comparative essay structure. Tell us your set texts so we can match you with a suitable tutor.
I'm studying these subjects in French. Can you help with the dissertation format?
Yes. The French dissertation and commentaire have specific structural conventions: an introduction with accroche, problématique and annonce du plan, followed by two or three parts with transitions. We teach these explicitly, in French or with English explanations as needed.
Do you cover psychology research methods?
Yes: experimental design, sampling, reliability and validity, ethics and basic statistics, as tested in school and introductory university courses. Deeper statistical content is covered in statistics tutoring.
How much writing will I do between sessions?
Usually one short practice task per session, such as a paragraph, a plan or a timed essay closer to exams. Skill develops through writing and feedback, not reading notes alone.