Haiwad Rashtia
There are many reasons why you might be reading this right now – it is past midnight on a school night and you have found the motivation to improve yourself in your studies (and in that case, hope you are doing well). Maybe you are a parent wishing to look into the profiles of the tutors here to see what the big deal is about (and in that case, please do continue and read up about all the other amazing tutors here), but in any case, I am sure to make this read a worthwhile one for all of you.
My name’s Haiwad Rashtia and I am a graduate of Al-Faisal College with an ATAR of 99.90. I achieved a state rank in Biology – that is specifically ranking 3rd in all of NSW, and am the head tutor for Biology here at FCT. Now I know, you see a high ATAR like that and you immediately think that it is the only factor that determines what teaching is, but I am here to tell you that it isn’t. But before I get into that I will introduce myself to you a bit more! I am currently a first-year student studying a combined degree of a Bachelor of Science and a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Sydney, and I completed my HSC in 2019 (yes, the ‘test subjects’ of the new syllabus you may have heard).
Having dealt with this new syllabus first hand, I personally went through the struggles that a lot of you, the senior students, may be facing. I felt that frustration in the way the content was laid out, the inadequate help I was receiving, and even more than that, the general lack of direction that you can sometimes face. It was hard, but with time every obstacle is surmountable! It is true that unfortunately a lot of schools fail to adequately teach their students to their required needs. It just simply is not possible – you have such a large number of students to teach in the span of a year – and that is completely understandable. Teaching can seem so distant at times, as the teacher goes on for an hour or two reading from a Physics textbook, but to us the real moment of teaching happens one-to-one. When you are learning a concept directly from the teacher, when you are there as the minutes turn into hours as you try to understand how each step in that biological process actually works and then finally – at long last – that spark.
Unfortunately, our language does not have a word that can properly encapsulate that spark, but it is in that moment where true teaching is made. And that’s what we aim to achieve here at First Choice Tutoring. We are more than just that ‘teacher’, that teacher that is mostly accessible for only 6 hours a day, 5 days a week. We are here for you at any time throughout your senior journey. Above all, what we aim to achieve is not just the position of an educator, but a mentor. A mentor to guide you not just through HSC Biology or Chemistry, but through your entire senior life in school as a whole. And it is in that mentorship, in that spark that I truly enjoy teaching. Hope to see you soon!
-Haiwad