IGCSE Maths Tutoring in Japan
Japan's British curriculum sector is small, so the local tutoring pool is smaller again
Which is why most families here end up online, and why it matters whether the person on the other end has actually taught the specification.
What a small sector means in practice
There are relatively few British curriculum schools in Japan compared with Hong Kong, Singapore or the Gulf. Two consequences follow for families here.
The first is that if one subject goes wrong there is rarely a local specialist to turn to. The available help is often a general maths tutor rather than someone who has taught the IGCSE specification and knows how the marks are actually awarded.
The second is that year groups are small, so a child's position in a set tells you very little. Third out of twelve does not mean the same thing as third out of ninety, and parents can end up either falsely reassured or unnecessarily alarmed.
Both are fixed the same way. Assess against the actual specification rather than against the class, then teach whatever that turns up.
Which paper your child is actually sitting
Two exam boards run the international route and they are not interchangeable.
Cambridge International sets IGCSE Maths as Core or Extended, with series in May and June and again in October and November.
Pearson Edexcel International sets International GCSE Maths as Foundation or Higher, with a January series as well as May and June.
The content overlaps heavily with the UK GCSE, which is why UK past papers are still useful practice, but the emphasis is not identical and the tier ceilings differ. A child prepared purely on UK Higher papers will meet Cambridge Extended questions that were never on the UK syllabus.
Worth reading before you buy anything, is IGCSE Maths harder than GCSE and the IGCSE resources guide.
Timing lessons from Japan
Japan runs nine hours ahead of UK winter time, eight ahead once British Summer Time starts. In practice that puts an after school session at roughly four to eight in the evening local, which is seven to eleven in the morning UK time.
That is the useful part. UK weekday evenings are the congested slots, booked out by UK families. Japan after school lands in the quiet part of the UK day, so availability is better and the slot is easier to keep week after week.
The weekend runs Saturday and Sunday, same as the UK, so a weekend slot needs no conversion at all and tends to be the easiest booking to hold onto across a whole term.
Applying to UK schools from Japan
A large share of the international work is families aiming at UK independent and grammar school entry rather than at IGCSE grades alone.
Students prepared here have gone on to The Latymer School, Queen Elizabeth's Barnet, Merchant Taylors', John Lyon, St George's Weybridge and Bradford Grammar. Three went in on scholarships.
Two things catch overseas families out. The first is that each school sets its own entrance assessment, so preparation has to be built round the specific school rather than round a general 11+ course. The second is timing. Registration deadlines for 11+ and 13+ entry usually fall a full year before the child would start, and from Japan that means planning around a school year that may run to a different calendar.
What we actually do
11+ entrance preparation
Aimed at UK independent, grammar and boarding entry at 11+ and 13+, with preparation built round the individual school's paper.
GCSE Maths, English and Science
Weekly one to one or small group sessions built round the topics costing your child marks, not a march through the whole specification.
Self guided Maths Mastery Lessons
Interactive topic lessons that teach the method first, then test it. Answers are built in so you can check work quickly. Some lessons regenerate their questions so the same topic can be practised again.
Mock exam marking
Papers marked by an experienced teacher, returned with written feedback showing where the marks went and why.
Not sure where your child actually stands? A diagnostic assessment finds the gaps before you spend anything on lessons, and free past papers are on the exam resources page if you want to test that yourself first.
GCSE results these methods have produced
Real students, real timeframes. These are GCSE grade movements, including students already inside grammar and independent schools, where getting in was the easy half.
Groundwork started in Year 9 or Year 10 produces those numbers far more often than a panic started in Year 11. Nothing here is a promise attached to a booking.
On the entrance exam side, which is a separate job entirely, three students have won scholarship places at grammar or independent schools.
What it costs
One to one tuition starts from £40 per session, priced on level and exam focus.
Tutoring with Friends is the group option. Bring one or two friends and the price starts at £20 per student per session. Same lesson, same teacher, split cost.
Mock exam marking starts at £39.99 per paper, rising to £69.99 and £99.99 for faster turnaround and a one to one review. Bulk rates for schools on 20 papers or more.
Self guided lessons are the cheapest route in, priced per topic with no subscription.
If you are not sure which of those fits, a free consultation sorts it in fifteen minutes. Booking one does not commit you to anything.
How the online sessions run
Every session is live and one to one, or live with the friends your child brings. Nothing is pre recorded.
Sessions run with a shared interactive whiteboard, so your child works through questions while the teaching happens rather than watching someone else write. Work is saved and sent over afterwards, along with short targeted practice for the week.
Parents get progress updates rather than having to ask. If something is not landing, you hear it from me first.
Common questions
My child is near the top of a small class. Is that a good sign?
It tells you less than you would like. A diagnostic against the specification gives a reading that does not depend on how many children happen to be in the year group.
Is the nine hour difference workable?
Yes. After school in Japan is UK mid morning, which is wide open. It is later Japanese evenings that do not work, because that is the middle of the UK night.
Do you prepare students for UK boarding entry from Japan?
Yes, and the timing matters more than the teaching. Registration deadlines usually fall a full year before entry, so the decision has to be made earlier than it feels natural to make it.
Start with a conversation, not a contract
Tell me your child's year group, the school or exam you are aiming at, and where they are getting stuck. If I am not the right fit for Japan I will say so and point you somewhere better.