Dev Patel

My name is Dev, and I study Engineering at St John’s College, University of Cambridge. I tutor Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Economics, and prepare students for the ESAT. I achieved five A*s at A-Level, including the highest mark nationally in OCR A Further Mathematics, alongside eleven grade 9s at GCSE.

When tutoring, my approach centres on developing a genuine understanding of concepts rather than relying on memorisation. The importance of this became clear through my own experience. Having struggled to understand Physics from first principles, I was getting grades I wasn’t happy with despite thoroughly memorising formulae and methods. After countless videos, conversations and re-examining my own understanding, I developed a much more structured way of learning: breaking difficult concepts down to first principles, building intuition, and then applying that understanding through carefully chosen problems of increasing difficulty.

This method eventually helped me achieve grades I was genuinely proud of, and it is the same approach I now use with my students. I want them to understand not only how to answer a question, but why a method works, where its limitations lie and how to adapt it when the problem changes.

My activities outside the classroom have also helped my tutoring. I have worked within large engineering and research teams and mentored younger students on their own projects, which has made me comfortable explaining challenging ideas clearly and logically, and tailoring explanations to each student.

At Mayfair Scholars, I aim to make lessons challenging but approachable, stretching students while helping them grow in confidence, deepen their understanding and become more independent thinkers.