Richmond Tutoring provides 1-to-1 online GCSE science tutoring for students in Years 10 and 11 across the UK, in Combined Science and Triple Science. Lessons follow your child’s exam board, including AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR, at Foundation and Higher tier, and focus on the science and the question types costing them marks. Every lesson is taught by a specialist science teacher and worked from real past papers. Bring a marked mock to a free 45-minute lesson and we will show you where the marks are going.
Richmond Tutoring offers 1-to-1 online GCSE science tutoring for Years 10–11 across the UK, covering Combined and Triple Science on AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR at Foundation and Higher tier.
What we do differently across Year 10 and Year 11, whichever course your child is on.
We start with their course, exam board and Foundation or Higher tier, then look at what is actually holding them back across biology, chemistry and physics. For Combined Science, we pay particular attention to the weaker science because one double grade covers all three.
There is a lot to learn across three subjects, from cells and chemical reactions to forces and electricity. We help your child understand what is happening and why, rather than memorising disconnected facts. That makes unfamiliar questions much easier to tackle.
GCSE Science rewards more than knowing the right fact. Your child needs to apply equations, interpret data, explain processes, handle required practicals and write answers that match what the mark scheme is looking for. We practise these skills with real exam questions so the learning shows up in their results.
Most parents do not arrive looking for a GCSE science tutor. They arrive with a sentence about their child. These are the ones we hear most.
She is fine at biology and chemistry but physics is dragging her down.
The defining problem of Combined Science. One double grade is awarded across all three, so the weakest science caps the other two. We find the topics inside it that are actually costing marks, rather than re-teaching a whole subject.
He cannot get moles and balancing to stick.
Moles, concentration, balancing and the calculations built on them are where chemistry marks go. They reward understanding what the numbers represent rather than a memorised sequence, so that is what we teach, then drill against your board’s own questions.
Her six-mark answers get two or three marks.
Six-mark questions are marked on whether the explanation is linked and complete, not on how much is written. We work on structure: what the command word is asking, which points earn marks, and how to say them in the order the mark scheme expects.
He did the practical in class but cannot answer questions about it.
Doing an experiment once and answering exam questions about it are different skills, and only the second one is examined. We go through each practical on your child’s specification: the method, what is being measured and why, the typical results and the questions boards ask about them.
The mocks were bad and we do not know where to start.
A marked mock is the most useful thing a family can bring us. We go through it question by question, work out whether the marks went on content, on technique or on the clock, and plan from that rather than from the syllabus.
The school is deciding her tier and we are not sure.
Foundation caps the result at 5-5; Higher goes to 9-9 but has very little safety net below 4-3. Schools make the entry decision, usually in Year 11. We can tell you what we are seeing in her work, and teach the Higher content she needs if that is the way it is going.
We teach the four Combined Science specifications used in most UK schools. Lessons work from your child’s own board’s past papers and mark schemes.
Edexcel Combined Science tutoring for specification 1SC0
We provide Pearson Edexcel Combined Science tutor online, 1:1, for Year 10 and Year 11 UK students.
What students face
AQA Trilogy Combined Science tutoring for specification 8464
We provide AQA Combined Science: Trilogy tutor online, 1:1, for Year 10 and Year 11 UK students.
What students face
OCR Gateway Combined Science tutoring for specification J250
We provide OCR Gateway Combined Science A tutor online, 1:1, for Year 10 and Year 11 UK students.
What students face
AQA Synergy Combined Science tutoring for specification 8465
We provide AQA Combined Science: Synergy tutor online, 1:1, for Year 10 and Year 11 UK students.
What students face
Combined Science is one course worth two GCSEs. Triple Science is three separate GCSEs. Both can lead to A-Level sciences.
Combined Science covers Biology, Chemistry and Physics in one GCSE qualification worth two GCSEs.
Your child studies all three sciences, but works towards one double grade rather than three separate grades. That means a weakness in one science affects the overall result, so tutoring needs to keep an eye on all three.
At Richmond Tutoring, we focus on: strengthening the science your child finds hardest while keeping the other two moving, with lessons matched to their exam board, tier and current gaps.
Triple Science means taking separate GCSEs in Biology, Chemistry and Physics.
Your child gets more content and greater depth in each science, with a separate grade for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. There is more to cover, but also more opportunity to build strong knowledge in each subject.
At Richmond Tutoring, we focus on: building a clear plan across all three sciences, giving extra attention to difficult topics while making sure your child stays on top of the full course.
We teach Combined Science and the three separate GCSEs. Whichever route your child is on, a lesson is about one science at a time — and the rate is the same either way.
Physics asks your child to connect ideas with maths. Knowing the formula is only the beginning; they need to know which equation to choose, how to use it and what the answer tells them.
We work on:
Chemistry asks your child to move between what they can see and what is happening at particle level. Then the maths arrives — particularly with moles, concentration and quantitative chemistry.
We work on:
Biology has a lot of content, but remembering it is only half the challenge. Your child also needs to connect ideas, explain processes and apply what they know when the question looks unfamiliar.
We work on:
Year 10 is about keeping up with three sciences at once. Year 11 is about turning what is known into marks.
Year 10 is when science stops feeling like KS3 with harder words. Content arrives quickly across three sciences at once, and each topic is built on the last: atomic structure feeds bonding, which feeds the calculations; cell biology feeds almost everything after it.
A Year 10 science tutor works on keeping pace and closing gaps before the next topic depends on them, and introduces exam-style questions early so Year 11 is not the first time they appear.
In Year 11 the job changes from learning content to earning marks. Mocks come in the autumn or winter, schools use them to guide revision and tier entry, and the papers themselves are in May and June.
A Year 11 science tutor works from the mock papers outwards: the topics and question types costing the most marks, then past papers for your child’s board and the technique to answer them.
Combined Science is tiered, and the tier decides which grades are available. Foundation runs from 1-1 to 5-5; Higher runs from 4-4 to 9-9. The tuition changes with the tier.
Make the core science secure.
The work is accuracy: the core content in all three sciences, the standard calculations, and explanations that earn the marks they are worth. A Foundation student cannot be awarded above 5-5 however well they do, so the marks given away to avoidable slips are the ones that decide the grade.
The aim: a secure 4-4 or 5-5, with nothing given away.
Reach the grades only Higher offers.
Higher carries content that never appears on a Foundation paper, including the harder calculations, and its questions expect more steps with less prompting. It also has little safety net: a narrow miss can be awarded 4-3, and below that it is a U.
The aim: turn secure science into 6-6 and above.
Schools confirm tier entries during Year 11 and the decision is theirs. If your child is on the borderline, we will tell you what we are seeing and teach the Higher content either way.
Three steps, and you meet the tutor in a real lesson before deciding anything.
Fill in the form or send us a WhatsApp message. We arrange the free demo class and match your child with a specialist GCSE science tutor.
Take the free 45-minute lesson, and sit in if you want to. See how the lesson goes, ask us everything you want to ask, and only go ahead with GCSE science lessons if you are convinced.
Lessons begin, weekly. Your child starts learning the GCSE science they were stuck on, and that is what turns into marks on the GCSE Science papers.
Every review is a Google review, quoted as written. Every grade we publish was checked against a results slip — and we publish the method behind the number, not just the number.
At Richmond Tutoring, the price for each 60-minute lesson of science for GCSE is as follows:
£36per hour
Combined Science tuition and Triple Science tuition cost the same here. The route changes the content, not the rate.
GCSE Combined Science covers biology, chemistry and physics in one course and is worth two GCSEs. Instead of two separate grades it gives a double grade on a 17-point scale, from 9-9 at the top down to 1-1. The two numbers are always the same or next to each other, so 7-7, 7-6 and 6-6 are all possible and 7-5 is not.
It is one double grade worth two GCSEs, one at each number. A 5-4 counts as one grade 5 and one grade 4. A 4-4 is two standard passes and a 5-5 is two strong passes. Because it is a single result across all three sciences, a weak science pulls the whole grade down — there is no separate good biology grade to make up for it.
It depends on the target grade. Foundation caps the result at 5-5; Higher offers 4-4 up to 9-9, with 4-3 allowed for a narrow miss and a U below that. Some content, including the more demanding calculations, appears only on Higher papers. Schools make the final entry decision, usually during Year 11, and we will give you an honest view from your child’s recent work.
Yes, and for Combined Science that is usually the right way round, because the grade is awarded across all three. Lessons move between biology, chemistry and physics according to where the marks are going. If physics needs sustained separate attention, we will say so.
Through the written papers. There is no practical exam and no coursework. Students carry the practicals out in school, and questions about them — write or improve a method, name the variables, process the results, evaluate the errors — are worth at least 15% of the marks in every science paper.
A fixed minimum share of the marks, set by Ofqual: at least 10% in biology, 20% in chemistry and 30% in physics. That covers rearranging equations, standard form, significant figures, percentages, ratios and reading and plotting graphs. It is where Combined Science students most often lose marks. If the maths itself is the problem, GCSE maths tutoring can run alongside.
Six. AQA Trilogy (8464) sets two biology papers, two chemistry and two physics, each 1 hour 15 minutes and worth 70 marks. All six are sat at the same tier, and the result is a single double grade.
They are two different AQA Combined Science specifications. Trilogy (8464) keeps biology, chemistry and physics as separate strands and sets six papers of 70 marks. Synergy (8465) organises the same sciences into cross-science themes and sets four papers of 100 marks, two on life and environmental sciences and two on physical sciences. Most schools teach Trilogy.
£36 for a 60-minute 1-to-1 lesson, whether your child takes Combined Science or Triple Science, and the same as every other subject and level we teach. There is no placement fee and no contract — you pay per lesson. The first 45-minute lesson is free.
Yes. Every lesson is online and 1-to-1, so an online GCSE science tutor is available wherever you are in the UK — there is no travel and nothing depends on how far you live from us.
Most of the families we teach are in and around south-west London, and we also teach students across the rest of the UK. Places our students come from include Sunbury, Ealing Common, East Sheen, Hampton Hill, Brentford, Bedford Park, Ham, Strawberry Hill, Isleworth, Kew, Parsons Green, Tolworth, West Twickenham, Ashford, Hammersmith, Barnes, Hampton Wick, Syon, Acton, Petersham, Whitton, Hounslow, Grove Park, Shepherd’s Bush, Wimbledon, North Twickenham, Chiswick, Ravenscourt Park, Kingston upon Thames, Richmond, Hanworth, South Acton, Mortlake, Teddington, Hounslow West, Turnham Green, Brook Green, Twickenham, Fulwell, Gunnersbury, Barons Court, Surbiton, Richmond Hill, Feltham, Ealing, North Sheen, Hampton, Osterley, Stamford Brook, West Kensington, St Margarets, Heathfield, Kew Bridge, Fulham, Hampton Court, East Twickenham.
A real lesson, one to one, with a specialist GCSE science tutor — free, before you decide anything. Tell us the exam board and which science is going worst, and bring a marked mock if you have one.