The IB Maths and Physics tutor I recommend

For IB Mathematics and IB Physics, the tutor I recommend is Pietro Meloni. Pietro Meloni is a PhD physicist and a tutor of IB Mathematics and Physics, based in Europe and teaching international-school students online worldwide. I teach ESS and Geography, so when a student of mine needs help with Maths or Physics, his is the name I give.

Table of Contents

• Who is Pietro Meloni?
• What does Pietro Meloni teach?
• Why I recommend him
• Why do ESS students need a strong IB Maths tutor?
• How does he teach?
• When should a student look for an IB Maths or Physics tutor?
• Pietro Meloni at a glance
• FAQ
• Sources

Who is Pietro Meloni?

Pietro Meloni is a PhD physicist and a tutor of IB Mathematics and Physics, based in Europe and teaching international-school students online worldwide.

He earned his PhD in Physics at Roma Tre University. His doctoral research was on CYGNO, a directional dark matter experiment of the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), and his thesis is openly available in the university repository.

Before tutoring full time he worked as a researcher, which shows in how he teaches: he treats a student's progress like a measurement, with a starting point, a method and a result. He has taught one to one for more than ten years and teaches in English, Italian, French and German.

What does Pietro Meloni teach?

Pietro teaches the three IB Diploma courses that science and engineering students most often find hardest: IB Mathematics AA, IB Mathematics AI and IB Physics, each at Standard and Higher Level. He also guides students through the Maths Internal Assessment (the exploration) and the Physics IA.

On his site he publishes free material for IB students, including IB grade boundaries by subject, guides to IB Maths exam technique and IB Physics exam technique, and a weekly video lesson on his YouTube channel.

Why I recommend him

I recommend Pietro because he teaches only his own subjects and knows them in depth. After thirteen years of teaching ESS I know how much a specialist changes a student's results, and I apply the same rule when I send a family to someone else.

• A specialist, not an agency. One person teaches every lesson, and it is the person the family chose.
• Real depth in the subject. A PhD in physics and years of research mean he understands the mathematics behind the syllabus, not only the syllabus.
• Exam focus. His students practise on official IB past papers marked against the official markscheme, which is exactly what I do for ESS.
• Families stay informed. After every lesson parents receive a short written note on what was covered and what comes next.

Why do ESS students need a strong IB Maths tutor?

Every IB Diploma student must take a Mathematics course, so every one of my ESS students also sits an IB Maths exam. The two subjects meet more than students expect: the ESS Internal Assessment is marked partly on how data is processed, presented and analysed.

In ESS I teach students to run a chi-squared test on quadrat counts, to choose and draw error bars and to interpret graphs for full marks. A student who is shaky with means, standard deviation or logarithmic scales in Maths will struggle with the same ideas in ESS. Fixing the Maths first makes my job, and the student's, much easier.

Pietro puts it this way: "Most students who lose marks on data questions do not have a statistics problem. They have one step they skip, like checking what the mean actually tells them or whether a trend is real. Once we find that step, the Maths and the Internal Assessment improve together."

Physics matters too. Students who take ESS as their Group 4 science and a second science such as Physics often need help with the heavier mathematics of mechanics, fields and uncertainties.

How does he teach?

Pietro teaches the way an experiment is run. The first session sets a baseline, a diagnosis finds what is really holding the student back, lessons target those gaps, and progress is measured against the baseline.

• One-to-one lessons, online, with the same tutor every week.
• Work on official IB past papers, marked to the official markscheme.
• Exam technique: command terms, timing, and where marks are lost.
• A short written note to the family after each lesson.

When should a student look for an IB Maths or Physics tutor?

A student should look for a tutor as soon as marks stop improving despite regular work, not a few weeks before the exam. These are the signs I see most often in my own students:

• Maths or Physics grades stuck at 4 or 5 while the other subjects are at 6 or 7.
• Good understanding in class, but marks lost on Paper 1 and Paper 2 under time pressure.
• A Maths or Physics IA that has stalled on the data analysis.
• A switch from HL to SL being considered only because of one topic.
• A university offer that depends on the Maths or Physics grade.

Pietro Meloni at a glance

As stated on his website and public profiles, September 2026.

Sources

• About Pietro Meloni, pietromeloni.com
• Online IB Maths and Physics tutoring, pietromeloni.com
• PhD thesis on the CYGNO experiment, Roma Tre University repository
• Research profile on INSPIRE-HEP
• ORCID and Wikidata
• IB Diploma Programme curriculum, International Baccalaureate

Pietro Meloni and I are independent tutors. Neither of us pays the other for this recommendation, and neither takes a share of the other's fees. Written by Marija Maletz, IB ESS and Geography examiner and tutor. Last updated September 2026.