Private physics lessons in secondary school
From science in the first stage to physics in the final year, a coach who teaches your teenager to read a problem, choose the right law and prepare for the CE1D or exams, at home anywhere in Belgium or online.
Why does your teenager fall behind in physics from year 3?
Because the course changes in nature. In the first stage, science is mostly about observing, describing and reading a document. From year 3, physics becomes a course of its own, with quantities, units, formulas and graphs. This is true in French-speaking and Dutch-speaking schools alike.
Your teenager often knows the formulas. What holds them back is the step before: understanding the situation the problem describes and choosing the law that applies. In the third stage, mechanics also relies on maths: shaky algebra costs marks in physics too.
In a private lesson, the coach starts from exercises. Your teenager sketches the situation, lists what they know and what they are looking for, checks the units, then makes sure the result is plausible. They then solve problems alone, with the coach watching: that is where you see whether the method is understood.
See also our private physics lessons at every level, maths in secondary school and all our private lessons in secondary school.
What your teenager works on in physics, stage by stage
Physics does not ask the same of a year 1 pupil as of a final year student. The coach is chosen according to the stage and the course followed: basic or advanced science in French-speaking schools, the chosen study track in Flanders.
First stage: years 1 and 2
No separate physics course yet: physics is part of science, with matter, energy, heat and temperature. In French-speaking schools, it is all assessed in the CE1D science test at the end of year 2.
Second stage: years 3 and 4
Physics becomes a course of its own: pressure, optics, electricity, depending on the school’s curriculum. Your teenager learns to work with formulas, units and graphs.
Third stage: years 5 and 6
Mechanics (forces, motion, energy), then waves and electromagnetism. A solid foundation matters for science, engineering or medical studies, where physics weighs heavily in the first year.
CE1D, exams, resits: preparing for physics
- The CE1D science test, at the end of year 2 in French-speaking schools, combines biology, physics and chemistry in a single paper. It mostly rewards scientific reasoning: reading an experiment, interpreting a table or a graph, justifying a conclusion. From June 2027, students need at least 60% in each CE1D test. The coach trains your teenager on past papers published by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles. Flanders has no such central exam: there, school exams and the end-of-stage certificate count.
- December and June exams cover whole chapters. The coach helps plan the revision period and has your teenager redo exercises from each chapter, without the answers in sight, until they know where to start.
- The resit is prepared from the material announced by the school and the mistakes in the June paper. We target the chapters behind the fail, over a few weeks.
For details of the year 2 test, read our article CE1D science: practising with past exam papers.
How does it work?
Analysis of the situation and goals
A My Sherpa educational advisor gets in touch and analyses the pupil's needs.
Designing the coaching programme
Your educational advisor proposes a suitable programme.
Coach selection
Your educational advisor selects the coach who suits your needs and your schedule.
Coaching follow-up
Throughout the programme of lessons, your educational advisor follows up and remains available.
Other subjects in secondary school
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A private physics tutor, chosen for your teenager
Private tutor, home physics teacher, coach: at My Sherpa, you do not search alone. Your educational advisor assesses what is holding your teenager back, in physics and in maths, sets the programme, then selects the coach who matches it. They remain your contact throughout.
Lessons take place at home anywhere in Belgium, or online, any day of the week, weekends included.
Does your teenager also need help with chemistry? Tell your advisor, who will take it into account when choosing the coach. See our private chemistry lessons.
Physics lessons in secondary school: your questions
Lessons start at €35/h in secondary school. At this level, we recommend 2-hour sessions: time to understand a concept, then apply it alone in exercises. The first three sessions are a trial period: if things do not click with the coach, you continue with another one at no extra cost.
By redoing past papers under timed conditions, then marking them with the official answer key. The test combines biology, physics and chemistry, and a good share of the marks comes from reading documents: experiments, tables, graphs. The coach spots the recurring mistake (forgotten concept, misread graph, unjustified conclusion, missing unit) and works on it first. The CE1D only exists in French-speaking schools.
Not necessarily, but it is worth knowing. In the third stage, physics uses algebra, functions and trigonometry. The coach spots what comes from maths and goes over it during the physics sessions. If the gaps are wide, your educational advisor may suggest maths lessons alongside.
Yes, by targeting. The work starts from the material announced by the school and the mistakes in the June paper, and focuses on the chapters behind the fail. Better to start as soon as the results are out than in the last week of August.
Yes. Lessons are always given in the student’s language of instruction: for a student in a Dutch-speaking school or in immersion, the physics lesson is given in Dutch, by a Dutch-speaking coach. The difficulty then often lies in the subject vocabulary in the other language.
