You’ve been assigned an extra tricky essay question for English and you just don’t know where to begin. You’ve spent almost an hour on the last question to your Maths homework and you still can’t solve it.
Study and school work can be really overwhelming. At times, it can be challenging to even sit down and brainstorm a few ideas for that thesis. Tutoring offers a formative solution to this problem - not designed to write the thesis for you but rather help you develop fundamental skills that can be applied across tasks and topics to make the learning process a little easier.
The benefits of tutoring are myriad, extending well beyond a few extra marks on an exam. With the right help, students can transform their attitude and approach to learning. By clarifying difficult concepts, providing examples of how to solve questions and suggesting more effective and productive ways to learn and understand content, tutoring can ease that (all too familiar) study burden.
1. Personalised help
Tutoring offers a unique individualised learning experience that is not always accessible in the classroom. An understanding of students’ strengths, weaknesses and learning style allows tutors to tailor their help and maximise qualitative and quantitative improvements for students (whether that be an improved study routine or 10 extra marks on a biology exam - regardless both go hand in hand).
That is why we value our free 30 minute study skills consultations. Although often overlooked, it is so important that a tutor actually gets along with their student. After all, tutoring is a team effort so that is why building a good team relationship is the number one goal in our initial lessons. A good tutor will also understand their student’s past performance, identifying areas for improvement, and equally, strengths that can be nurtured. Finally, tutoring facilitates the goal-setting process, holding students accountable through a clear plan of attack. By helping set weekly goals along the way, this process seems a lot less daunting and gives students a better shot at kicking these goals faster and more effectively.
2. Someone who has been through it before
Receiving help from someone who has once been through the same experience offers more than just a prescriptive teaching plan. As tutors work off personal experience, they foster a relatable environment so students can comfortably share their challenges and successes.
3. Guidance = self-guidance
From its Latin roots, tutor means ‘to watch or guard.’ In this sense, tutors are there to guard the student’s learning process through their careful guidance and watchful eye. It is this mere guidance that makes tutoring so important. Guidance allows individuals to understand their abilities and identify what works for them so they eventually reach a state of self-guidance. No longer will they rely on their tutor to show them how to balance that really hard chemistry equation or structure that confusing essay question. Rather, they will guide themselves through the process, drawing on the skills they have learnt.
4. Routine routine routine
Tutoring allows students to structure a study routine around weekly sessions, working towards these mini goals. As content starts to become more familiar and certain student techniques become second-nature, students can make the best use of their time. Ultimately, the key is routine - not motivation. A tutor might motivate you to put in the effort but on a cold, rainy Wednesday at 9pm, when your bed seems a lot more appealing than your desk, it is not motivation that keeps you going. It is instead the routine of working until 10:30pm, every night. Tutoring allows you to (1) recognise the study times and techniques that work for you and (2) give you something to work towards so it is easier to choose the desk over the bed.
5. Improve confidence and inspire a better study mindset
Finally, tutoring is there to offer support and instil confidence in you and your own learning process. Naturally, we have the tendency to second guess ourselves. With some clarity that we are in fact on the right track, we can back our abilities and develop a more positive attitude to learning and study. Moving up the scale of thinking allows students to harness a positive relationship with study - something that is fulfilling rather than frightening! This confidence is likely to proliferate as students start to see material improvements in their grades and their general attitude to work.
And from there, it is only up! 📈
