They worked through a few HSC practice exam questions on annuities during the session. At the start, the student was clearly finding the questions a bit difficult, especially when it came to figuring out what the question was actually asking and which formula to use. Instead of jumping straight into solving it, the tutor slowed things down and helped them unpack the question properly. They went through things like identifying the interest rate, number of periods, and whether it was asking for present or future value, which made the question feel a lot more manageable.

From there, the tutor went over the different annuity formulas, explaining what each one is used for and when it applies. Rather than just telling the student which formula to pick, he focused on helping them understand why it was the right choice. Everything was done algebraically, and the tutor talked through each step, including how to substitute values correctly and avoid common mistakes.

They worked through about three questions together like this, with the tutor checking in regularly and getting the student to explain their thinking. You could see the student starting to feel more comfortable as they went along. Towards the end, the tutor gave the student a similar question to try on their own. This time, they were able to work through it with much more confidence and got to the correct answer with minimal help. It was a clear improvement from the start of the session, and showed that breaking the process down and focusing on understanding really helped.

Lily Powell