Whether you are a FYP alum, or have just begun to dip your toes into the program over the past few weeks,  a key aspect of the year of books you will know well is the tutorial system. King’s is not shy about the origins of these small daily discussion groups: a prestigious institution across the pond. 

The tutorial system has been a cornerstone of pedagogy at the University of Oxford for hundreds of years. I spent the winter semester of last year LARPing as an Oxonian myself, sequestered away in  one of the libraries of their 39 Colleges, and participating in weekly tutorials for eight of the most intellectually stimulating weeks of my life. 

If you’ve ever wondered how FYP tutorials measure up to their mothership, you’re in luck. To tackle this juicy question, I will attempt to compare and contrast both systems by examining some key differences between both FYP and Oxford tutorials in less than 750 words. Godspeed. 

First and foremost, at least back in my day, FYP tutorial groups averaged around 15 people, whereas Oxford tutorial groups typically range from one to three people. This certainly begs the question of whether smaller or larger tutorial groups are more effective. 

My short answer to this question is a boring and overstated but entirely true assertion:  regardless of group size, what you get out of tutorials largely depends on the work you put in. Before I can say any more, some more context about the structure of the Oxford tutorial may be necessary…

Both of my classes, referred to at Oxford as tutorials, were entirely one-on-one with the professor for the duration of the semester. Instead of attending lectures to retain course content, I would show up to a weekly meeting with an essay in hand (yes, physically), having developed a thesis and argument from an assigned set of at least two primary sources and sometimes multiple secondary sources. 

If you have experienced a FYP tutorial, you will notice a glaring difference here. There is no get out of jail free card when you’re feeling uninspired by the text or lecture. Or, if by some stroke of poor time management or crisis with your King’s crush, you didn’t manage to get the reading done on time. What a one-on-one tutorial obviously entails is a consistent ability to discuss the texts assigned in great detail.

Given that my Oxford tutorials happened once a week, it would be impossible for me to sit here and judge my first year self for missing a few readings here and there. If anything, I am grateful that FYP allowed me that leeway at a time of such heightened self-discovery. 

What I can speak to, however, is the quality and depth of the tutorials themselves. And when I compare the discussions and dissections that took place in my daily tutorials in FYP with my weekly meetings at Oxford, there is a clear standout in terms of which gave me a greater understanding of the content. Being forced to speak is quite a rude awakening, but, as you might imagine, an intellectually impactful one. 

At King’s, as much as we all love to pose as experts, even when we’ve rolled up to Thursday morning classes plagued by the after-effects of gin of the purple variety, we often get away with doing a lot less work. 

So, which system is legitimately better? At the end of the day, who’s to really say? I guess it all just depends on what you fancy 😉

Comparisons aside, I suppose the way this all made me feel might be of interest to some people. As much as I’ve poked fun, studying at Oxford was no joke.

I’ll never forget how it felt to sit down in an office surrounded by books stacked on the floor for my first tutorial on Irish and English Plays, and being asked first to explain what I thought it meant when the protagonist uttered a colloquial old Irish phrase on a random page. 

But at the same time, I’ll always remember how rewarding it was to raise a glass of wine in a toast with my tutor, who, after just eight weeks, had become my greatest academic confidant to date. 

As I’ve said to friends and family over giddy and occasionally teary phone calls, my intellectual output was truly at an all-time high. If FYP awakened an intense love of learning in me, Oxford provided the ultimate test—and I’m proud to say that I smashed it.