I don't just teach English.
I work out what’s actually costing you marks, and whether the test you’ve booked is even accepted for what you’re trying to do.
Why I understand these problems
Because I’ve sat them. Not once, and not as a demonstration, properly, more than once, across IELTS Academic, IELTS General Training, TOEFL iBT and PTE Academic.
I know what the room feels like, what the timer does to your thinking, where the marks quietly disappear, and how differently the same person can perform on two tests that supposedly measure the same thing. Almost no tutor teaching these exams has sat all of them.
My own exam results
| Test | Overall | By skill |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS Academic | [ ] | L[ ] R[ ] W[ ] S[ ] |
| IELTS General Training | [ ] | L[ ] R[ ] W[ ] S[ ] |
| TOEFL iBT | [ ] | R[ ] L[ ] S[ ] W[ ] |
| PTE Academic | [ ] | L[ ] R[ ] W[ ] S[ ] |
Fill these in with exact figures before launch. You mentioned scores in the 8,9.5 range, per skill numbers like “L9 R8.5 W8 S9” do several times the work of “high scores.” This is the single strongest credibility asset on the site and it’s the last blocking item.
What diagnostic led actually means
Most tutoring responds to a low score with more practice. That only works if the practice is aimed at the real cause, and often it isn’t.
A REAL EXAMPLE
A student came to me stuck at IELTS Writing 6.5 for the fourth time. She had written dozens of essays. We marked one essay against all four criteria separately: Coherence 7, Lexical Resource 7, Grammar 7, Task Response 6. She wasn’t answering both parts of two-part questions.
Two lessons on that one thing. Next attempt: 7.5. The other three criteria never needed touching — and every extra essay she’d written had been practising them.
That’s the whole method. Find the specific thing. Fix that. Don’t sell you the rest.
Why I won't pretend everything needs lessons
Some of the most useful conversations I have end with me telling someone they don’t need me.
A nurse about to book PTE, which her regulator won’t accept. Someone with a deadline who needs a remark, not eight weeks of lessons. A candidate whose English is fine and whose problem is that they booked the wrong version of the test.
Selling those people a programme would be easy and wrong. Telling them the truth costs me the sale and is the reason people send me their friends.
Background
- Teaching and communication background, including phonetics teaching — directly relevant to pronunciation and intelligibility work
- Degree in Mass Communications and International Economic Relations
- Postgraduate Diploma in Education (Sociology)
- TEFL certified
- Taught across China, Europe, the UK, Australia and the US, plus online students worldwide
- Founder of Quick Talk Tutor Ltd, registered in England and Wales (No. 16435617)
Who I work best with
People with a specific goal and a real deadline, who want to know
exactly what’s holding their score back rather than doing more generic
practice. First-timers who want to get it right the first time. Repeat
candidates who are tired of guessing.
And honestly, who I don’t: if you want a guaranteed band promised
upfront, I’m not your tutor. Nobody can promise that responsibly, and
anyone who does is telling you something they can’t know.