Sydney tutor in English, Essay Writing, English Literature, Creative Writing, English Language, Law, Business Law, Communication, EAL, Economics, ESL, IELTS, ISLPR, Legal Studies, LSAT, OET, PTE, Reading, Special Needs, Study Skills, Teacher Training, TOEFL, Legal Studies, English Extension 2, English Extension 1, Law, University Law

I travel to these locations
Sydney region, Central Coast, and Remote tutoring via zoom

4.9  (9 student reviews)

Approach

As a state-ranked English tutor, University of Sydney Law student, and seven-year private tutor, I push my students beyond the school curriculum to build the depth of understanding that separates Band 6 students from the rest. For English, this means grounding students in critical theory and literary concepts that transform their analysis. For Legal Studies, I teach the research methods and exam techniques that consistently maximise marks.

Availability

All lessons are conducted online via Zoom. In-person lessons are also available on campus at the University of Sydney for an additional $30 travel fee. I take on a limited number of students each term to give each one full attention, and I currently have a small number of spots available for Term 4 and 2027.

Contact

Please reach out via email at sophiayonastewart@gmail.com to arrange a consult call 😊. In your first message, it helps to include your child's year level, the subject you're seeking tutoring for, and when you'd like to get started.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Contact

Experience

Experience

I take on a limited number of students, which allows me to invest genuine time and attention into each individual I work with. My students benefit from more than just weekly lessons: they gain access to a mentor who is responsive, reliable, and genuinely invested in their success, particularly during the high-pressure periods when timely guidance matters most.

Every study plan I build is tailored to the individual student and their school, because I know how significantly internal marking priorities differ between schools and cohorts. I aim to align each student's preparation with what their specific teachers value most, which is why my students consistently improve their internal ranking, with several moving from mid-cohort into their school's top 5. Whether a student is aiming for their first Band 5 or already sitting at Band 6 and pushing for a state ranking, I know how to meet them where they are and take them further.

Because I limit my roster, my students can also reach me between lessons for quick questions on their drafts, approach, or last-minute clarifications. During Trials and the HSC period itself, I make myself especially available for strategy sessions, essay refinements, and any support students need in the days leading up to their exams. Many of my students choose to stay with me for the full duration of their senior years, and several have continued working with me into their university studies.

Beyond marks, I care deeply about helping students walk into their exams feeling calm, confident, and prepared. I have taught across nearly every module and prescribed text on the current NESA English syllabus, which allows me to bring depth and familiarity to whichever combination each student is working with.

English

I specialise in English Extension 1 and 2. My own state-ranked Extension 2 major work, an exploration of magical realism, gave me an intimate understanding of what separates truly exceptional major works from the rest, and more importantly, how to guide students towards producing work that meets NESA's highest standards. In the 2024 cohort, multiple students of mine achieved 99 in English Advanced and 49/50 in English Extension 1.

Legal Studies

I am completing a Law degree at the University of Sydney with a High Distinction WAM and have taught Legal Studies extensively at the Year 11 and 12 level. My particular expertise lies in legal research essays and exam technique, where I walk students through full papers, teaching them how to structure and execute responses that maximise marks under exam conditions.

Selective and Test Preparation

Alongside my HSC tutoring, I also specialise in Year 5 and 6 selective school preparation for NSW's Selective High Schools Test, as well as the Victorian equivalents such as the Selective Entry High Schools Exam and ACER scholarship tests for independent schools. My preparation covers reading comprehension, thematic essay writing, and creative writing, all mapped to the specific expectations of each test format.

I also support students preparing for the UCAT for undergraduate Medicine and Dentistry admissions, focusing on the verbal reasoning section where strong English comprehension skills make a measurable difference. For students preparing for international university admissions, I offer support with the SAT and ACT Reading and Writing sections, including essay strategy for the written components.

Qualifications

Qualifications

About Me

I am a state-ranked English tutor and current University of Sydney Law student with a High Distinction WAM. In my own HSC, I ranked 10th in NSW for English Extension 2, achieved 49/50 for Extension 1, and 99/100 for English Advanced, holding first place in my selective school cohort across all English subjects up to 4 Unit. My Extension 2 major work was published in NESA's 2020 Young Writers collection and mentioned in the minutes of NSW Parliament at page 2507.

You can view my published reflection here: https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020_psychological_refugees.pdf

Parliamentary mention: https://files.parliament.nsw.gov.au/fileapi/ParlFiles/GetArtifact/97-Min-20211019-Cor.pdf?serverRelativeUrl=%2Fhp%2Fhousepaper%2F18041%2F97-Min-20211019-Cor.pdf

I have seven years of experience tutoring HSC and Year 11 students in English Advanced, Extension 1 and Extension 2. I began teaching at various tutoring centres across Sydney, where I picked up a wide variety of experience working with students of different levels, learning styles, and school backgrounds. At several of those centres, I was hired as a senior teacher to design resources and lesson outlines for their classes, which gave me a strong grounding in curriculum design and the kind of structured, syllabus-aligned teaching that consistently produces results. I now work exclusively in private one-to-one lessons. In my 2024 cohort, multiple students of mine achieved 99 in English Advanced and 49/50 in English Extension 1. Many of my students have also gone on to achieve their HSC goals of entering competitive university degrees such as Law and Medicine at the University of Sydney, and I have continued teaching several of them into their tertiary studies.

My Approach

My priority is ensuring my students genuinely understand the material they are studying, not just well enough to pass, but deeply enough to engage with it confidently and independently. Too often, students are taught to memorise essays or rely on formulaic responses that crumble under the pressure of an unfamiliar exam question. I take a different approach.

I build my students' foundations in critical analysis, literary theory, and conceptual thinking. I teach them how texts work, why certain techniques matter, and how to develop original arguments that demonstrate genuine insight. When they walk into an exam or sit down to write a major work, they are not relying on memorised paragraphs. They are equipped to think for themselves and respond to whatever is in front of them. This deeper understanding is what consistently separates Band 6 students from the rest.

Alongside this, I take a highly comprehensive approach to structuring my students' work. I set out weekly schedules of homework and clear targets for what students should achieve each week, guiding them steadily through high school and especially through the demanding HSC period with certainty. Parents and students can trust that every week has a clear direction, and no aspect of the course is left to chance.

Texts

I teach across the full range of prescribed texts on the current NSW HSC English syllabus for Year 11 and Year 12 Advanced, Extension 1 and Extension 2 (2027-2030 prescriptions, examined in the HSC from 2027).

English Advanced Year 12 - Texts and human experiences:
Jessica Au, Cold Enough for Snow; David Malouf, An Imaginary Life; Henry Lawson, The Penguin Henry Lawson Short Stories; Rosemary Dobson, Selected Poems; Gwen Harwood, Selected Poems; Samuel Wagan Watson, Love Poems and Death Threats; Richard Flanagan, Question 7; Michael Gow, Away; Rachel Perkins, One Night the Moon

English Advanced Year 12 - Textual conversations (paired studies):
Barbara Baynton, Bush Studies with Ali Cobby Eckermann, Inside My Mother; William Blake, The Complete Poems with Olga Tokarczuk, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; John Keats, The Complete Poems with Jane Campion, Bright Star; Shakespeare, Hamlet with Emily Dickinson, The Complete Poems; Shakespeare, Julius Caesar with Machiavelli, The Prince; Virginia Woolf, Mrs Dalloway with Stephen Daldry, The Hours

English Advanced Year 12 - Critical study of literature:
Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice; Michael Ondaatje, Warlight; Louise Glück, Poems; W.B. Yeats, Poems selected by Seamus Heaney; Shakespeare, Othello; Shakespeare, King Henry IV, Part 1

English Advanced Year 12 - The craft of writing:
Short texts drawn from the syllabus list, taught alongside students' own creative, discursive and persuasive compositions.

English Extension 1 Year 12 - Literary Worlds (five electives):
- Confessional worlds: Anne Brontë, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Joan Didion, The White Album; Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters; Katherine Mansfield, The Collected Stories; Tennessee Williams, The Glass Menagerie; Wes Anderson, The Darjeeling Limited
- Historical worlds: W.H. Auden, Selected Poems; A.S. Byatt, Possession; Edmund de Waal, The Hare with Amber Eyes; Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South; Kazuo Ishiguro, An Artist of the Floating World; Sofia Coppola, Marie Antoinette
- Hybrid worlds: Evelyn Araluen, Dropbear; Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey; William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Tracy K. Smith, Life on Mars; David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster; Christopher Nolan, Memento
- Natural worlds: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Complete Poems; Alistair MacLeod, Island; Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems Volume One; Shakespeare, As You Like It; Ali Smith, Autumn; Tyson Yunkaporta, Sand Talk
- Shakespearean worlds: Sulayman Al Bassam, The Arab Shakespeare Trilogy; Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed; Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice; James Shapiro, 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare; Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead; Adam McKay, The Big Short

English Extension 2 Year 12:
I prepare students for the Major Work and also for the new exam component on Author and Authority, which is first examined in the 2027 HSC. This component involves a close study of one of Henry James, Haruki Murakami, or Alexis Wright, with students evaluated on their analysis of the author's influences, techniques, reception, and literary significance.

If a student is studying a related text that I have not worked with before, I am always happy to read it and prepare tailored analytical materials, essay plans and quote banks around it, so they feel just as well-resourced for their related texts as they do for their prescribed ones.

Note on Year 11: There are no NESA prescribed texts for Year 11 Advanced, so I happily work with whatever text selection the student's school has made. For Extension 1 Year 11, schools select the text studied in Texts, Culture and Value, which I also tailor to.

Resources

I share an extensive collection of resources with my students, including:

Band 6 essays, discursives, and creative pieces, including full-mark exemplars
Text-specific analytical guides
Practice papers and questions

Rates

PRIVATE TUTORING:
$100 per hour - INDIVIDUAL TUTORING for primary school students
$130 per hour - INDIVIDUAL TUTORING for High School students year 7-year12; $230 for 2 hour sessions
Feedback sessions for high school students: $80 per 1000-word task for HSC and Yr 11; $60 per 1000 words for Year 7-10 & $40 per 1000 words for primary students.
$50 discount for 5 classes paid in advance. $100 discount for 10 lessons paid in advance.

Working With Children Check

Yes, I'm cleared to work with children in New South Wales until 30-Nov--0001 (details available on request)

Gender

Female

Registered

Joined Tutor Finder on 08-Jan-2021 (updated profile on 06-Oct-2026)