Follow These 7 Tips to Ensure You Get the Most Out of Tutoring

Private tutoring is a great way to help students improve their academic performance, develop better study skills, and become independent learners. However, the success of your tutoring session doesn’t lie in the hands of your tutor alone. Tutoring is a two-way street, and what makes it effective is the relationship and readiness of the student and the tutor. This means that just as tutors come prepared with their materials, supplies, and strategies, students must also do the same to make sure they get the most out of tutoring.

Below, we’ve listed more helpful tips to help you maximize the benefits of private tutoring and ensure your learning success.

How to Get the Most Out of Tutoring

Private tutoring aims to help students become independent and effective learners by guiding them through the learning process. It can give students the clarity, encouragement, and motivation to push past challenging materials and emerge as confident learners. However, private tutors are not magicians, and getting the results you want requires you to collaborate with your tutor and put in all the necessary work for every minute of your tutoring session. These seven tips will show you how to prepare for and get the most out of tutoring.

1. Always come prepared.

Aside from making sure you have all your learning supplies ready—pens and paper within reach, laptop or tablets are charged—you must also bring all relevant textbooks, notes, syllabus, and assignments. If there are items in an already-graded test that confuse you or homework you’d like some help with, have them with you as well so you can bring it up to your tutor and have your questions answered. If your tutor assigned an activity beforehand, work on it before the next session.

Your tutor will let you know in advance what material you’ll cover for the next session, so do some reading prior to that and list the topics you’d like to focus on. Doing so will let you and your tutor get right to work on the content you need the most help with, saving you a lot of time and even money in the process.

2.  Share as many course materials as possible with your tutor ahead of time.

Your tutor needs to know exactly where you are in your classwork to create a specific learning plan. By sending your course materials (past homework, tests, syllabus, projects, activities), you can give your tutor a clearer picture of your current level of understanding of your course and your skills. This way, they can formulate the most effective strategies and develop an individualized learning plan to address your areas of weakness.

Another important thing you must share with your tutor is how you approach problems. When facing a challenging topic, your tutor will ask you to explain your thought process before guiding you to the solution. This allows your tutor to see what you’re doing right, where you are making mistakes, and how they can help you fix them.

3. Be specific with your goals and know what’s expected of you.

Let your tutor know exactly what you want to achieve with your tutoring program as early as possible. Specify your goals during your assessment and in-take process—whether turning your Cs to As in Physics or preparing for your AP classes for the coming year. In doing so, your tutor can design a learning plan that’s tailored to help you achieve those goals.

Similarly, at every tutoring session, you must have a clear understanding of the things you want to accomplish and communicate those with your tutor—whether that’s mastering the concepts covered in your homework or focusing on reviewing topics that will be included in an upcoming test. By taking a more active part in your tutoring sessions, you also learn accountability and take ownership of your own academic journey.

At the same time, speak with your tutor about what concepts you’re expected to grasp and what skills you need to have developed by the end of every session. By knowing where you are and where you need to be, you can make better use of your study time by focusing on filling in learning gaps.

4. Ask questions whenever necessary.

Part of coming prepared for your tutoring session is studying or reading about the content to be covered in advance. When you do so, there will likely be topics that will confuse you, so it’s a good idea to take note of these and write down questions to ask your tutor later. The same is true for when you’re in class and are struggling with a topic being discussed by your teacher. It’s hard for some students to ask questions in front of their peers, so make it a habit to list questions you can ask and discuss with your tutor.

It's also important to ask questions and clarifications during your tutoring sessions if you’re stuck with a certain topic. At Stemly, our private math and science tutors make it a point to create a safe and comfortable learning environment for our students so that they feel free to ask questions at any time.

Asking each other questions can also be a form of feedback, which is a crucial aspect of tutoring as it opens lines of communication between the tutor and the student, improves rapport, and keeps students interested.

5. Stay engaged and reduce distractions.

Tutors understand that not all topics will be interesting to students, which is why they make an effort to connect their students’ interests with the course material to make them more relatable. Allow your tutor to get to know you better so they can develop activities and strategies to help the material make more sense to you.

Reducing distractions can also help you stay engaged during your tutoring session. Make sure that your learning space is quiet and conducive to learning, and stay away from things (your cell phone, TV, and other unrelated class materials) that can draw your attention away from your task.

6. Put in the work before, during, and after your tutoring session.

Your tutoring session isn’t meant to replace your study time. This means that your work doesn’t stop once you and your tutor say goodbye and log off. Mastering concepts require practice, practice, and more practice. Once your tutoring session is done, set time aside to reinforce what you’ve just learned and apply them. Studying on your own helps you identify your weaknesses and, in turn, allows you to ask your tutor more specific questions and target those areas of need.

Likewise, it’s important to remember that your tutor won’t do all the work for you. Your tutor can help you make sense of a concept and show you how to find the right solution, but they won’t give you the answers to your homework. Your tutor can help you achieve your learning goals, but they can’t do that on their own.

7. Seek help early.

Some students and parents don’t see the need for a private tutor until the child is only one more F away from completely failing the subject. It’s true that most students who seek private tutoring do so because they are struggling in school, but tutoring is for every kind of student and can support you in all your academic needs.

Tutoring is most effective when it’s done as early as possible—as soon as you begin to have difficulties or expect to struggle in a subject. A proactive approach to tutoring can help students stay on track, prevent learning gaps, and avoid the stress of needing to learn a whole semester’s worth of material in a short period. While instances of cramming for tests are unavoidable, it is commitment and consistency from the beginning that ultimately leads to better results.

Virtual Math and Science Tutoring with Stemly

Stemly Tutoring offers comprehensive virtual one-on-one STEM tutoring for all students. Our friendly, highly trained, and professional math and science tutoring experts understand what it takes to maximize the benefits of every tutoring session. It is important for our tutors to ensure that our students get the most out of tutoring and stay on track to achieving their learning goals.

Our math and science tutors are experienced in teaching a wide variety of students and have extensive knowledge of local curriculums.

Stemly’s math and science tutoring services include Pre-Algebra tutoring, Algebra 1 tutoring, Algebra 2 tutoring, Geometry tutoring, Trigonometry tutoring, Pre-Calculus tutoring, Calculus 1 tutoring, Calculus 2 tutoring, Multivariable Calculus tutoring, Statistics tutoring, General Physics tutoring, Mechanics tutoring, Electricity & Magnetism tutoring, General Chemistry tutoring, Organic Chemistry tutoring, General Biology tutoring, and Biochemistry tutoring. We also offer AP math and science tutoring, including AP Calculus AB tutoring, AP Calculus BC tutoring, AP Physics 1 tutoring, AP Physics 2 tutoring, AP Physics C tutoring, AP Chemistry, and AP Biology tutoring.

Reach out to Stemly Tutoring today to learn more about how we can help!