A new online tutoring service has launched with a simple premise: students should be taught by someone who knows their exact exam board, not just their subject.
Top A Level Tutors offers one-to-one online lessons for A Level, AS Level, GCSE and IGCSE students. Rather than leaving families to browse hundreds of tutor listings, it uses Learning Advisors to match each student with a tutor based on their subject, exam board, target grade and availability.
Why exam boards matter
In England, A Levels are set by several different exam boards, including AQA, OCR and Pearson Edexcel. Two students studying the same subject at different schools can sit very different papers, with different question styles, mark schemes and practical requirements.
That can make finding the right tutor harder than it looks. A tutor who knows one board well may not be familiar with another, and parents often don’t know which questions to ask.
Top A Level Tutors covers seven boards: AQA, OCR, Pearson Edexcel, Edexcel International, Cambridge International, Oxford AQA International and WJEC/Eduqas. Every student is matched with a tutor who teaches their specific specification.
How the service works
Families start by filling in a short online form. A Learning Advisor reviews each application on the day it arrives and matches the student with a suitable tutor, taking time zones into account for students abroad. The tutor then gets in touch to arrange the first lesson.
All lessons take place one-to-one in the company’s own virtual classroom. According to the company, a typical session reviews the previous week’s work, focuses on the student’s weakest topics, works through past-paper questions and sets work for the week ahead.
Families can also browse tutor profiles on the Top A Level Tutors website and request a specific tutor if they’d prefer to choose for themselves.
Two types of tutor
The service offers two tiers of tutor:
- Academic tutors are recent graduates or undergraduates who achieved an A* or A in the subject they teach.
- Professional tutors are qualified teachers with at least five years’ experience and a current or recent classroom or examining role.
The company says it accepts around 5% of tutor applicants. Its selection process includes checking applicants’ grades against their transcripts, an interview, a live teaching demonstration and a photo ID check. Tutors based in the UK must provide an Enhanced DBS check, and all tutors complete safeguarding training before their first lesson.
Pricing
Prices are published on the company’s website. A Level tutoring starts at £45 an hour with an academic tutor and £64 an hour with a professional tutor. GCSE and IGCSE tutoring starts at £38 and £56 an hour respectively.
Academic tutor prices (left) and professional tutor prices (right). Screenshot: topaleveltutors.com, November 2026.
Families can pay as they go, with lessons invoiced after they’ve taken place, or buy a package of lessons upfront for a discount of up to 15%. There are no lock-in contracts, and lessons can be paused or stopped at any time.
There’s no free trial. Instead, the company offers a first-session guarantee: if a family isn’t happy after the first lesson, it’s refunded in full and the student is matched with a new tutor.
Safeguarding and parent access
For students under 18, a parent or guardian holds the account. They can see bookings, lesson notes and messages, and can join any lesson without notice. After every session, the tutor logs what was covered and what comes next.
All lessons and messages stay within the company’s virtual classroom, and tutors aren’t allowed to contact students outside the platform or connect with them on social media.
Support for resits and international students
As well as regular weekly tutoring, the service offers support for students resitting A Levels or GCSEs, starting with a breakdown of where marks were lost.
It also works with families studying British qualifications abroad, with dedicated pages for cities including Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.
Top A Level Tutors launched in 2026 and is part of a group that runs several tutoring brands, each focused on a different curriculum or region.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
