It’s not always possible to find a tutor in advance. Sometimes academic problems are found suddenly and there is not much time left to solve them. In this situation, it is important to choose the right tutor right away. How to do this and what to pay attention to – we will tell you in our article.
When you need a tutor
A tutor conducts individual or mini-group classes in academic subjects. In one-on-one tutoring sessions, the teacher helps you study difficult topics, prepare for a difficult exam, or if the student or his or her parents need to improve knowledge and grades.
A tutor is worth referring to if:
- you attend classes at school and do your homework, but you can’t get a better grade or make sense of the subject;
- you can’t manage to master some skills or understand a topic, and your exams are coming up;
- you seem to understand everything in class, but at home, you systematically fail to do the assignments and turn to essay writing help.
How many lessons with a tutor are required? The answer to this question depends on the purpose of the lessons, the level of knowledge of the student, and the frequency of lessons. For example, to fill the gaps in the knowledge of a “good student” after an illness, it is possible in a couple of lessons, and to prepare a strong “A” student for the school competition can be done in half a year if you practice three times a week.
How to choose a tutor?
Often tutors have a trial tutoring session to get to know the student. It can be paid, free, or cheaper than a regular tutoring lesson – it depends on the principles of the tutor or the rules of the online school. At the trial lesson, the tutor tries to gather the necessary information about the student: what kind of difficulties he is experiencing, what he is interested in, what goal he sets for himself. To get the most out of this first lesson, the student needs to pay attention to a number of factors.
- Age
It is important to understand if the tutor seems solid enough to fulfill his requirements. Or how up-to-date the teacher is, whether you can easily find common ground. You’ll have to study regularly, and it’s important to make sure the lessons are psychologically comfortable for success.
- Teaching Style and Temperament
The tutor can adjust the tempo of his speech and tone of voice within certain limits, but not always an expressive teacher suits a melancholic student. A trial lesson will tell you whether you like a teacher who gestures vigorously about the cathetus-hypotenuse ratios or whether you want a much more cold-blooded teacher.
- Job Profile
Sometimes after several months of lessons, parents or the student say that they do not see any progress. At that point, it turns out that the student is writing the mock exam as poorly as before, but the tutor doesn’t even know that he or she needs to prepare the student for the exam.
At that point, it turns out that the student is writing the mock exam as poorly as before, but the tutor doesn’t even know that he or she needs to prepare the student for the exam.
To prepare for a specific exam, you need a tutor with the appropriate profile. The goal should be made known right away so that the tutor understands his or her task or advises him or her to contact a colleague.
- Recommendations after the introductory lesson
After the first introductory lesson, the tutor gives his assessment of the student’s level of knowledge, names the problems he has noticed, and offers a plan for further work. It is important to listen carefully to everything the tutor says, and if you disagree, express your opinion and ask questions.
For example, the teacher says: “Now you have this level and the goal is to pass the exam with a ” B “. If we study 3-4 times a week, plus homework, we’ll have time to prepare. If a student wants an “A” instead of a “B”, it is necessary to stipulate at once whether the tutor will take on this task and under what conditions. It happens that the parent is not willing to pay for four classes a week, or the student cannot do so much because of another workload. In this case, you either have to lower the bar of expectations or find ways to study more.
How to know if a tutor is right. Checklist for the student
- When you think about the upcoming class you feel positive emotions.
- Your brain is “boiling” in the class, you have no time to be bored, and you feel that you are working at your best.
- You have no problem asking a question or admitting to the tutor that you don’t understand what it’s about, you don’t know how to solve a problem.
- You notice your progress in the subject and can name a couple of things you’ve learned thanks to the tutor.
- It seems that both you and other students have made more progress in studies if teachers were like your tutor.
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