Testimonials
November 16, 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
Christian Stephens was a student at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School for several years, completing his VCE in 2004.
Christian is an extremely gifted and committed person who excels at anything he sets his mind to, and his approach to VCE was no exception: he achieved outstanding results as a result of his natural ability and his highly organized and conscientious approach to his studies.
Christian greatly appreciated the support and encouragement he received from fellow students and teachers at the school, and as a sign of this in 20005 he offered to run Study Skill Seminars for the current VCE students. These were conducted on two occasions with 40 students attending each time and they proved to be extremely popular and highly effective in motivating and enabling the students to fulfill their potential in their studies. His presentations were imbued with humour and the benefits of recent first hand experience of the demands and opportunities of VCE studies.
I highly commend Christian as a highly motivated and committed person who has a great deal to share with others based on his own individual thoughts and experiences.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Howard
Class 12 guardian and VCE English Teacher
20 November 2005
I am a Year 12 Student at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School, who attended Christian’s talks on how to prepare for exams, exam techniques and efficient study.
His talk spanned many realms such as attitude towards studying, goal setting, exam techniques and the difference between active and passive learning.
Christian, having finished Year 12 successfully last year made him on the same wavelength as us, thus enabling him to understand our concerns and difficulties.
He explained to us how attitude played a major role towards studying and he visually showed us a graph of brain memory in relation to revision, thus showing us the importance of re-reading material.
Another important quality that Christian brought to this talk was humour, which helped us believe that Year 12 can be an exciting challenge. He talked to us about the difference between active and passive learning, he gave us examples of reading out aloud and being aware of what you’re learning.
Overall, Christian made sure that his audience had a clear insight into studying and how to change your attitude towards studying. He did this by sharing his insight and making jokes which kept us alert and by being the bouncy person he is! Good work.
500. Smalley
Katherine Gillespie
66 Merrill Cres.
Waranwood
Victoria 3134
PH: 9733 1685
Wednesday, 28th December 2005
To Whom It May Concern:
RE: Christian Stephens’ presentation to VCE students 2005
Christian Stephens spoke to my class, Year 12 2005 at the Melbourne Rudolf Steiner School, on a number of occasions this year.
Each time he presented an insightful, interesting and helpful speech, offering suggestions regarding the VCE, which can sometimes be a mystifying and trying year for students in the midst of it.
Having so recently completed his own VCE (in 2004), Christian has the hindsight to see what worked and what didn’t, enabling him to offer advice and ward against common pitfalls. He is in a great position to motivate and inspire students, as he understands what current students are dealing with.
He offered suggestions for study planning, revision, and exam preparation, staying focused and generally remaining motivated, which I found to be very useful. His personal anecdotes, humour and quick diagrams on the blackboard all contributed to my remembering his advice as relevant and practical. His definition of the acronym T.V. is a classic for students!
Christian’s age, far from being a barrier to his credibility, is actually an asset. To my mind, he is an authority on VCE from where it counts most for students: from their perspective. I wish him every success in his future endeavours.
Yours sincerely,
Katherine Gillespie
17 November 2005
The preconceptions and pressure of VCE were extremely daunting for me and having Christian come and speak put it all into a different perspective. He gave the class a starting point and yes it was scary; the thought of ordering all your subjects already and looking at past exams. I think what he spoke about was really beneficial to many of the people in my class. Because he said that for him he didn’t set out to get 99 but just to have no regrets. I think this made people see that you don’t have to kill yourself just try your best.
Having Christian speak, motivated me to really get down to it right from week one. He referred to Checkpoints books with past exam questions and using them, especially for chemistry was really helpful. I think that what was so successful about Christian’s talks was that we could easily relate to him and him to us, because he had just completed his VCE and done extremely well, we know that what he said was valid. His attitude to the whole daunting year made it not so scary and his talks were funny as well – not dry teachers.
In summary, I found Christian’s talks inspiring to complete my VCE without regrets. All the little tips like have enough sun, have free time and give yourself rewards were really helpful. Thank you for the tip not to go in the sun before exams.
Your truly,
Jessica Moraes.
Francis Iezzi
26 Omeo Pde
Warranwood, 3134
0421 253 523
To whom it may concern.
I have known Christian Stephens for about two years now and he has been tutoring me in Maths Methods, Specialist Maths and Physics during my last year of school. He is extremely reliable and knows his subjects back to front.
Below are just a few things that have inspired me about Christian’s tutoring.
He studies the topic prior to each session and prepares comprehensive and clear notes.
He writes, in general point form, each topic, with examples so that I can apply them to any question.
Simply the fact the he has fairly recently completed year 12 means he knows what sort of questions the examiners ask and, more importantly, what sort of answers they’re looking for.
He is able to assess common errors that I tend to make and can refer to specific examples relating to these.
After each session I have pages of notes that I can take home for my own reference.
During the year, these sessions helped me to build up my confidence and keep me on track.
I would recommend Christian to anyone, as I feel he would be as much help to them as he was me.
Yours sincerely
Francis Iezzi
