FAQ

(These are genuine questions I have received)

Question 1: What time are your tutorial sessions?
Answer: 6pm (UK time) on Thursdays for GCSE students, 7pm (UK time) on Thursdays for A-Level students. For joining instructions, click here: https://physicswithkeith.com/joining/

Question 2: What day are your tutorial sessions?
Answer: … Thursdays.

Question 3: I usually study in the evenings, starting at around 11pm. Would you still be awake?
Answer: No, I am offering tuition at 6pm (UK time) for GCSE students and 7pm (UK time) for A-Level students on Thursdays.

Question 4: My son/daughter is studying IGCSE Physics. Do you cover that?
Answer: Yes. The GCSE sessions cover IGCSE as well, and any other equivalent qualifications. Similarly, the A Level sessions are appropriate for the Scottish Highers, and other equivalent qualifications.

Question 5: May I join the class at 6:20pm?
Answer: Of course you may. The GCSE sessions start at 6pm (UK time), but they are all recorded so you can watch them back – although you will not be able to interact with a recording. A-Level sessions start at 7pm (UK time)

Question 6: What do you charge for 1:1 tuition?
Answer: I do not offer 1:1 tuition.

Question 7: How do I access your tuition sessions?
Answer: Sessions use Discord and YouTube. Go to https://physicswithkeith.com/joining/ to find out how to sign up.

Question 8: How do I ask you questions?
Answer: There are two main ways of asking me questions. If you want to ask questions in advance, you can do so via the Discord server: https://discord.gg/xdq22NRwQG. The other way is to ask questions during the session, which you can do by using Discord (you will need a Discord account and be a Patron of the appropriate tier to use this feature. For joining instructions, click here: https://physicswithkeith.com/joining/).

Question 9: How do I join in on Discord?
Answer: First of all, join the server here: https://discord.gg/55gQQfpq7K, then go to the channel called ‘#✅request-to-join‘. Just leave a greetings message there. The message will be immediately deleted but I will have a record of it and respond as soon as I can, switching your account to ‘spectator’, so that you can send messages.

Question 10: Why such an involved process to get involved? Why do I have to give you those details? Why not just make your Discord server open to all?
Answer: In order to safeguard myself and others from online trolls and other potential miscreants, I have set up the Discord server with tight controls to make it easier to monitor what is going on. But don’t worry, it is easy to join in, just follow the steps mentioned above.

Question 11: Here’s a question [sends a question], can you please answer it for me?
Answer: In my experience, these requests tend to come with a sense of urgency from the person sending them. After a little probing, it usually (almost always) transpires that the individual is doing some sort of assessment and wants me to help them cheat. There are two crimes in academia that are unforgivable: plagiarism and fraud. I will never help people cheat, and I would take a very dim view of anyone who did.

Question 12: You mentioned plagiarism, but you sometimes use images that you have not created. Are you not committing plagiarism?
Answer: I take care to use images, video and audio clips that are under the Creative Commons license or are royalty free and copyright free. I have contacted the major exam boards to seek permission to show clips from exam papers, and I have permission to show software such as VPLab. If I accidentally present something that you own the copyright for (perhaps, for example, I got it from somewhere that claimed it was under the Creative Commons license, but it wasn’t), then please just let me know and I’ll happily remove it. I am taking all steps to try to ensure I do not plagiarise, and I am not trying to profit by stealing other people’s work.

Question 13: Would you like me to design your website for you?
Answer: No thank you.

Question 14: Would you like to join my tutoring agency?
Answer: No thank you.

Question 15: How can I get hold of the resources you make and use?
Answer: Patrons can get access to the resources via Discord. Others who wish to use my resources will have to buy them here: https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/PhysicsWithKeith.

Question 16: Why are you doing this? Why are you offering tuition?
Answer: I believe that everyone should have the same access to a quality education, regardless of how much money their parents or carers have to spend on supporting them. I believe all young people should have the right to get the support they need. I am in a financially comfortably situation in my life right now, so I would like to spend some of my spare time supporting others, just to make the world a better place. This is what I can do to help other people, so that is why I am doing it.

Question 17: Why charge money?
Answer: From the start, I wanted to make sure everyone could access Physics With Keith support, regardless of their families financial situation, which is why I offered my tuition for free; however, some folk perceive a service with no cost to have no value, and participation numbers varied a lot. I’ve had a few participants ask how they can support what I’m doing financially. By using a subscription model with such a low price, I can still offer support to those in financial difficulties. If you wish to participate but cannot afford the £10 per month subscription, please do contact me via email and let me know. I do not want anyone to miss out for financial reasons! The only reason I am charging is that participation is more likely when students have attached some financial value to the sessions. There are approximately 36 sessions across the year, and £10 per month works out at £120 per year, so I am essentially charging £3.33 per session, which I think is good value.

Question 18: I want to pay you to say thank you. How much is appropriate?
Answer: Whatever you want, and I really mean that. If a participant from a wealthy background pays very little, so be it. There’s no judgement at all from me, I just want to help. From what I’ve seen online, small group tuition for physics online tends to be priced around £5-£15 per hour. Subscribing via Patreon is approximately £3.33 for a 40-minute session, which is equivalent to £5 per hour.

Question 19: Setting up the website and buying the equipment must have cost you. How much have you invested so far in Physics With Keith?
Answer: So far, £238.19 (as of 2022-07-07)