Academic Coaching and Mentoring
Academic coaching and mentoring
Some students don't need another subject tutor. They need someone to fix how they work: focus, structure, motivation, self-belief, and performing when it counts. And someone to guide where they're going: the reading, competitions, internships and ambitions that shape what comes next.
I'm Mehdi Naqvi, elite tutor and accredited transformation coach, with formal training in performance psychology and NLP. I know what it takes to perform under pressure because I've lived it: I competed as one of the UK's top-ranked junior tennis players while completing my Mathematics A-Level at fifteen, achieving an A* two years early, before graduating from UCL with First Class Honours in Economics. It's the same skill set whether the arena is Centre Court or an exam hall: preparation, structure, and composure when it counts.
As a mentor, I've guided students beyond the classroom too: into Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL and Imperial, and onwards into careers, including a McKinsey full time position. I've seen the whole road, and I know what it takes at every stage.
To arrange a session or simply ask a question, contact me on WhatsApp or fill in the form. I reply to every enquiry within 24 hours.
Contact me
Meet your Coach
My Education:
University:
University College London, Economics Bsc, Grade: First Class Honours Degree
Coaching and performance training
Accredited transformation coach (Animas Centre for Coaching)
Formal training in performance psychology and NLP
Background in sports psychology from competing as one of the UK's top-ranked junior tennis players, training and performing at a professional level
Student Experience
12 + years of teaching and tutoring experience
Established and ran the A-level Economics and Further Mathematics departments at a prestigious private sixth form college in London
Founded one of the UK's leading tuition centres/agencies, working with families and schools (state and private) for exam success
Privately contracted by renowned private colleges in London for intensive crash courses during the exam season
Worked privately one on one with students for 12+ years, students from all backgrounds, learning styles and abilities
Professional experience:
Strategy consultant at EY-Parthenon, one of the world's leading strategy consultancies: I've been through elite graduate recruitment myself and know first-hand what firms like this look for
That experience now informs my mentoring: application strategy, interview preparation, and the profile top employers notice
Where my students have gone:
Students I have taught and mentored have won places at Oxford, Cambridge, LSE, UCL and Imperial, including Economics at Oxford and Cambridge, PPE at Oxford, and Natural Sciences at Cambridge
Beyond university: mentored students have gone on to top firms, including McKinsey
Other interests:
Top ranked junior tennis player in the UK and played tennis to a professional level, competing in tournaments across Europe, Asia, and Africa
Fluent in English and Italian
Coaching
I'm passionate about my work. Every student is a project in their own right, and in coaching my job is to build the person behind the grades: how they plan, how they work, how they see themselves, and how they perform when it counts. Whether it's a student who has lost motivation, one who is capable of far more than they're producing, or a high performer who wants the mental edge, my approach rests on four pillars:
Diagnosing How They Work
Every engagement begins with a careful diagnosis: how the student currently plans, revises and organises, where the friction lies, and what's really behind the underperformance. It's rarely laziness. It's usually a missing system or a quiet loss of belief.
Systems & Habits
We build revision timetables that actually get followed, effective techniques like retrieval practice and spaced repetition, and organisation that removes daily friction. The goal is a student who runs their own week, not one who needs chasing.
What you can expect
Confidence & Self-Belief
Trained in performance psychology and coaching, I work deliberately on the internal dialogue that caps performance. Interest returns, confidence grows with every success, and students begin raising their own expectations of what's possible.
Performing Under Pressure
Before teaching, I competed as one of the UK's top-ranked junior tennis players. I train exam performance the way athletes train for competition: routines, visualisation, breathing and focus, so the work shows up on the day it matters.
Coaching changes more than grades. The skills a student builds here, discipline, self-belief, organisation, performing under pressure, are the same ones they'll draw on at university, in careers, and in life. What parents typically notice:
Independence: a student who plans and runs their own week, works without being chased, and takes ownership of their own results
Discipline and efficiency: less time spent working, more actually done; procrastination replaced by routines that hold up on bad days too
A stronger belief system: "I'm just not a maths person" replaced by a student who backs themselves, in the exam hall and beyond
Renewed curiosity: school stops being something done to them; interest in subjects, and in learning itself, comes back
Composure under pressure: exam nerves trained the way athletes train for competition, a skill they keep for every high-stakes moment in life
And the visible result: grades that finally reflect what they were always capable of
Mentoring beyond the classroom
Mentoring is the longer game. Where coaching builds how a student works, mentoring shapes where they're going: the guidance an ambitious student needs from someone who has seen the whole road. Many families combine the two: coaching to fix the present, mentoring to build the future.
Building the profile top universities and employers notice
Essay competitions, olympiads and super-curriculars chosen for the student's target course, not scattergun
Reading and thinking beyond the syllabus
What to read, watch and explore to develop genuine intellectual depth, the kind that shows in interviews and personal statements
What you can expect
Internships and experience
What's worth pursuing, when, and how to secure it
A trusted adult in their corner
Honest conversations about ambitions, setbacks and direction that students often can't have with parents or teachers
Mentoring shows up in a student's trajectory. Over an engagement, families typically see:
Direction: a student who knows what they're aiming at, and why, instead of drifting towards whatever comes next
A profile that stands out: essay competitions entered, olympiads attempted, the right reading done, chosen deliberately for the target course rather than collected at random
Sharper applications: a personal statement with genuine intellectual depth behind it, and interview answers grounded in real thinking, not rehearsed lines
Doors opening earlier: internships and experiences secured because the student knew what to pursue and when, years before their peers work it out
Rising ambition: targets the student once thought were for other people, Oxbridge, top firms, now treated as theirs to win
And a lasting asset: the judgement to keep making good calls about their own future, long after the mentoring ends
Testimonials
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As a parent of two athletic sons, finding a tutor who could structure their studies was crucial. Mehdi masterfully coached our elder to exam success, and our younger is on a promising track!
Parent, home-schooled students (Mathematics A*, Economics A*; younger son on track, age 14)
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"Mehdi supported my son from A-Levels through university, and prepared him for the interviews that won him a summer internship and then full time position at McKinsey. The change in his confidence, and in what he believes is possible, has been remarkable. Worth his weight in gold." — Parent, UCL Economics student (2:1, McKinsey full time position)
Parent, UCL Economics student (2.1, McKinsey full time position )
Coaching and Mentoring Fees
One to one online coaching and mentoring: £150 per hour
Sessions are run with complete efficiency: no time is wasted and nothing is stretched out. My aim is simple: real change in how the student works, and results that show in their grades.
Coaching and mentoring typically runs as a weekly session with accountability in between. It works as a standalone engagement, or combined with subject tuition.
Payment is by bank transfer, at least 48 hours before the session to confirm the booking.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Coaching fixes how a student works: systems, habits, confidence, performing under pressure. Mentoring shapes where they're going: competitions, reading, internships, and the profile top universities look for. Most engagements blend both, weighted to what the student needs.
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No. Coaching is practical and performance-focused: systems, habits, and mental skills. Where a student needs clinical support, I'll say so and recommend the family seek it.
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Tuition builds subject mastery. Coaching builds the student: how they plan, work, think about themselves, and perform under pressure. Many families combine both.
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Yes. Coaching is subject-independent: I work on how the student plans, works and performs, which strengthens whatever subject tuition they already have.
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Closely. I plan around the school's term and assessments, work from school reports, and where families wish and schools allow, I can join parents' evenings online so my advice matches exactly what teachers are seeing.
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Noticeable change typically shows within 4 to 6 sessions; lasting habits are usually built over a term of weekly sessions.
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Yes. I have extensive experience supporting students with ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning differences. Coaching's structure and confidence work often makes the biggest difference for exactly these students.
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I have worked with high profile families throughout my career, including well known public figures. Privacy and discretion are absolute.
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All payments are made at least 48 hours before the first session, in order to confirm the lesson slot. Payment is by bank transfer.
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Lessons cancelled within 24 hours of the session are charged at the full rate, as this doesn't leave enough time to offer the hour to another student.