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- Why Do I Need A Tutor?
If you don't know what you're doing then YOU need a tutor!
That is the simple answer. However, even if you do know what
you are doing, a tutor is a very good idea. Anyone who needs to study or has an exam to sit
can make use of one. I would strongly recommend a tutor for every student -
no matter the subject, the student's level or their ability. I first started tutoring
while studying for my Ph.D. and realised then how much easier the final year of my degree
would have been if I had sought the advice of a tutor. Don't make the same mistake.
If you want to achieve your potential, or just want to make life easier, then find
yourself a tutor.
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- How Can A Tutor Help Me?
A tutor is valuable to you because they can teach you what the education system cannot.
They help you focus on what you need to know - whatever your situation.
Most teachers do not have the time or resources to help students individually. They
also tend to be academic, covering only the subject matter required. This leaves out
perhaps the most important information of all - how to pass the exam!
Knowing a subject inside and out is not enough to pass an exam. The secret is to know what
the examiner wants, in terms of style and content, as well as being able to put it onto
paper fast enough. This is no mean task and should not be underestimated. Before coming to me,
most of my students did not achieve their potential in exams because they did not know how
to address the exam properly. Good tutors know how to do this because they have had a lot
of first hand experience.
Unfortunately, most people think that knowledge and experience is all that is
needed to be a good tutor - it isn't. Good tutors also
know how to discover what you are good at and what you are bad at.
They then use this knowledge to directly address your needs,
allowing you to maximise your marks in your exams.
Deciding to have a tutor can help you realise your potential in exams and life.
At the end of the day, the skills that you learn from your tutor in one subject can normally
be used throughout your education and career - you never stop learning!
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- How Do I Find a Tutor?
Search this site
Since you are here, try going back to the main page and use the links to navigate to the part of the country where you live. Don't forget to look under areas which border where you live. Some tutors are willing to travel pretty far.
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Other ways to find a tutor
Try asking your friends. Someone you know is bound to know of a
suitable tutor. This is how most tutors get their business and is probably the
most reassuring way. Also look for cards in local stores and post offices, try under "Tutoring" in the yellow pages and your local free newspaper. In England, many local authorities maintain a list of tutors e.g. Brighton and Hove's Family Information Service and a few put their list online e.g. Hertfordshire Council. For advice on other tutor websites please also see Use a trusted site below. If you are considering advertising for a tutor then please also see Tuition scams targeted at students.
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Use an agency
When you first contact an agency ask them:
- if they have any tutors in your required subject in your area;
- how they vet their tutors (see vetting tutors below);
- about the quality of service they offer. For example, will you always get the same tutor? If the tutor has to cancel will you get someone else?
Most tutors through agencies cost more. If you go through an agency please ensure that they offer you value for money (see below).
Throughout your relationship with any agency, you should feel that the agency is personally involved with you and that they care about you and the quality of help that you are receiving. Neither you nor the tutor should feel abandoned by the agency.
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Advantages and Disadvantages of Agencies.
Advantages: They do the work of finding you a suitable tutor. If you have a problem with a tutor then
you can easily change to another one. The agency takes care of the employment contract.
Disadvantages: In an ideal world every
agency would belong to a regulated association and every tutor would
be vetted and bonded. Unfortunately this does not happen. I know of no association
and many agencies only ask what subjects a tutor teaches (just like this site).
I feel strongly that most agencies offer a false sense of security (see vetting tutors below) and many do not provide the high standard expected by employment law.
At the end of the day, if you want yourself or your child to feel safe and secure you still have to use your own judgement.
From a financial point of view, the main disadvantage of an agency is that they tend to take �5 an hour from their tutors for, what is essentially, an advertising service. �5 an hour - that's your money! You need to ensure that you are getting value for money from the agency (see below).
Not all agencies are created equal. Local agencies tend to be best as they frequently know all of their tutors personally and, as a result, are able to provide a higher quality service than national agencies (however, this doesn't mean that they do!). Also, every agency has different policies on vetting, qualifications, dispute resolution, contracts, charges... the list goes on. You may need to try a few agencies to find a suitable service. It can be more difficult to find a suitable agency than it is to find a good independent tutor (especially since you are already here!).
Agencies - Value For Money
For many people, agencies which operate correctly and legally can be worth the extra costs. They should be able to make their benefits clear to you and justify the greater expense of using them.
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- How Do I Pick a Tutor?
Be comfortable
Ideally, you should have someone that you can feel comfortable with. The age, sex and attitude of the tutor is vital. The tutor-student relationship must be based on trust and you should not be afraid to interview the potential tutor by telephone first and then either before or during the first lesson (see below).
If you phone an agent, good agents will be able to give you a choice of tutors and tell you what skills and experience they have. You will still have to vet the tutor for yourself (see vetting tutors).
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Questions to ask potential tutors
In order of importance:
- Qualifications and experience with the subject to be taught.
- Get a feel for their interpersonal skills and the other issues mentioned above.
- Travel (most will require you to go to them)
- Fees
- Tutoring experience (not that important and only a guide)
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What are Suitable Qualifications?
Ability. More than anything else it is the tutor's ability to explain their subject to their students, and guide their students through the learning process. This isn't a qualification which comes on paper. Teaching and tutoring are similar but different skills so it isn't as easy as saying that all tutors need a teaching degree to be good. Sometimes a student in the year above will be the best tutor for you. Sometimes a professional with no formal teaching qualifications will be best. Sometimes the best tutor for you will be a fully qualified teacher with a degree in your required subject. However, there are adequate tutors and there are great tutors.
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What Makes A Good Tutor?
I mentioned ability above so let me clarify.
Adequate tutors know their subject well enough and can explain it to you.
A good tutor knows and understands their subject well, can relate to you and your problems (directly or indirectly), can change their language to suit you and guide you through the learning process.
A great tutor is someone that you like and can relate to you. They don't just know their subject well they understand it so well that, if needed, they can explain it to you in a way that they have never heard it explained before. They know a lot about learning and can find the right techniques for you to maximise your potential. They are also able to get you to put in the extra hours of work required to achieve success! Great tutors definitely have experience and lots of it. They are frequently no more expensive than anyone else but they are rare and difficult to find although there are definitely a few on this site!
Before we get to the next question, let be explain how a good tutor can relate to you and your problems either directly or indirectly. Most people specialise in subjects that come easily to them. However, many tutors are better in subjects other than their specialties because those subjects didn't come easily for them. They had to work hard to get through the subject and master it. They then use this experience to explain these subjects to people who also have problems with them (tutors like this relate directly to their students).
However, tutors who tutor subjects which they have always found easy relate indirectly. They only become good tutors because the have both empathy for their students, which allows them to understand where the student is coming from, and experience (they have helped many students with the same problem in the past).
This is probably the biggest reason why there are no suitable qualifications for tutors and why you may need to look around to find one who is best suited to you.
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Initial tutorial
Use this to get to know the tutor. At the end of the tutorial ask yourself if it felt OK. If your instincts say no then believe them and look for someone else. Your instincts are your best guide to finding a good tutor. However, if you want to use your brain as well, ask yourself:
- Did the tutor use language that was easy for you to understand (ignore this tip if it was a French lesson).
- Did they look you in the eye?
- Did they know what they were talking about?
For long term relationships, this site recommends that the first tutorial/meeting is free. This allows the tutor to see if they are right for the student and vice versa! It also takes the pressure off the student (and their parents) to make a choice before they have to hand over their money.
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Can't find anyone suitable?
Then try long-distance
learning. This is not as bad as it sounds. Tutorials can be
conducted using your computer and a web cam. Homework can be posted
or scanned and sent by E-mail. This works very well with students
aged 16+.
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And finally...
When choosing a tutor remember that there is always a balance to be struck.
A physics professor may know a lot about physics but can they tutor you? A
tutor teaches you how to learn a subject for yourself. They do not teach it
to you. That is what school is for. Think of them as a guide or mentor with
expert knowledge in learning and a little more knowledge than you in what
ever subject you need help with.
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- Vetting Tutors
Are A+ Tutors vetted?
"Can you tell me if tutors who advertise on your site are vetted? After all, we do live in a dangerous world and as someone who works with children I feel the net can be an open place for anyone to advertise and I wouldn't be happy to take on anyone who has not been vetted."
I do share your concerns but have yet to come up with a fool proof vetting system and am unable to vet the tutors on my website (see below for more details). Some tutors do have certificates from the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) or Disclosure Scotland. By law, all teachers (and most child care professionals) are regularly checked by their employer. This is why some agencies only take on teachers.
Only taking on teachers offers a cheap way to vet prospective tutors but does not offer students the best range of choice. Experienced professionals are invaluable to the tutoring pool. Teachers alone cannot meet the demand for tutors and some students require the different perspective and experience offered by experts who are not teachers.
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Criminal Records Bureau
The Criminal Records Bureau disclosure service and Disclosure Scotland offer many different levels of checks. None of which are required by law for tutoring. Please see their web sites for more details.
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The Problem with CRB checks.
Criminal Record checks are not infallible. By their very nature they are only retrospective. They only cover the UK. They cost from �30 to �50.
In terms of this website this means: Non-British tutors cannot be checked; The cost is prohibitive to most tutors on this site (who only see the average student 10 times and do not have many students).
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Complaints to A+ Tutors
In the first 4 years of this website I received absolutely no complaints about any tutor on the site. In 2004 I received three complaints, all in relation to tutors not turning up to pre-arranged tutorials. In 2005 I received one complaint and the student didn't want me to follow it up. I have not received any other complaints (June 2009).
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- How Much Should a Tutor Be Paid?
Average hourly costs when there is no travel for the tutor.
| Level | London | Rest of UK |
| Primary | £20- £25 | £20- £25 |
| Secondary | £25- £30 | £25- £30 |
| Degree | £30- £35 | £25- £30 |
|
| GCSE / S'Grade | £25- £30 | £25- £30 |
| A'level | £25- £30 | £25- £30 |
| H' Grade | | £25- £30 |
| Advanced Higher | | £25- £30 |
Please note, the above rates are based on the rates advertised on this site (June 2009).
It is important to note that rates are always negotiable (especially at the moment!). Many tutors charge too much because they
want to be on par with other tutors in their area. However, the amount a tutor is paid should depend
upon tutoring experience (just because someone is a subject expert does not mean that they will be
an effective tutor). The other thing to consider is their rate range. If a tutor charges more
for an hour with one student than they do for another then they must be able to justify the difference.
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- Payment Practices
Avoid Risk
The best payment practices avoid exposing both student and tutor to too much risk. The norm is to pay tutors immediately after each tutorial in cash. For online tuition PayPal and direct payments to the tutor's bank account are frequently used instead of cash.
Do not expect a tutor to do hours of work for you upfront without payment. Also, do not expect a tutor to reserve a valuable time slot for you without payment.
Once you have a working relationship with someone then you can agree on an arrangement which suits you both.
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Is it safe to give out my bank account details?
Yes, it is safe to give anyone your bank account number and sort code. In the UK these are on every cheque that you write. Just ensure that the security details required to access your account (e.g. over the phone or online) cannot be guessed by someone who knows you well or cannot be easily gleaned through social engineering tricks.
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- Tuition scams targeted at students.
Very Rare
Normally, the biggest financial problem in a tutor-student relationship is a bounced cheque, and this is rare enough. However, it is important to remember that when using the internet one must always be careful. This has always been the case but the internet does lend itself, through inexpensive and simple mass communication, to certain scams that many people have not heard of before. The most common scam is an overpayment scam targeted at tutors, however students can also be targeted by scammers.
Currently the most common scam targeted at students seems to be when students advertise for help online, especially with course work. Someone responds to the advert and offers help for payment in advance. The "helper" is paid but never helps. Instead they threaten to "expose" the student as a cheat for seeking illegitimate help.
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Minimise your risk:
Do not advertise for help.
Advertising exposes you to potential scammers. Most tutors do not have the time to go looking for their students. Even if they did have the time, it would not normally occur to them as this is not how tutors have found work in the past. If you must advertise, do not provide too much information about yourself in your advert - just the minimum.
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Avoid making initial contact with tutors by email.
This site strongly recommends the telephone for first contact as it involves direct and personal communication which is more natural than email.
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Do not pay up front.
Until you have a trusted working relationship with a tutor treat them as you would any other business. Make them work for you and then pay them. As mentioned earlier, the norm is to pay tutors immediately after each tutorial in cash. For online tutors you can pay them directly to their bank account via internet or telephone banking and the payment should be with them in a few hours. Please see Payment Practices above for more detailed information.
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Use a trusted site:
- Use a website that specialises in connecting tutors with students.
- Ensure the site is above board and honest.
- By law, UK sites must state who runs them and provide a postal address. Since the UK has strict employment laws to protect you it is best to use one based here.
- Is the site an agency? By law, agencies cannot charge tutors a fee for finding them work. They can only charge you - the employer. Many sites claim to be agencies but are not. Many sites claim not to be agencies but are. Ensure that the site knows what it is doing and sticks to the law! The law is there for a reason - to protect you. Please also see the pros and cons of agencies above. There is a short review of our main competitors, written for tutors, which may also be of interest.
- Is the site a free directory (anyone... can advertise on it)?
- Or does a tutor have to put their money where their mouth is? If the tutor has to pay to advertise on the site, does it present good value for the tutors as well as for you?
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Use a trusted tutor.
See Picking a tutor above. For online tuition, use a tutor based in the UK.
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- Should I Buy Books?
Yes, and yes I have been asked this!
There is no substitute to having a good text book to help you
study. They can provide insight and visual aids which no teacher can provide.
They are also on call 24 hours a day. A good tutor will always have you referring
to your books because learning is a skill which is also an exercise in independence.
The better you can learn for yourself, the lesser your need for a tutor!
Pick the book carefully. I look for books which are well presented and explain
complicated things well. I also prefer books which keep the knowledge to be
learned and example problems separate but easily accessible. Consider the
type of font used and colour books versus black and white books. The better a
book looks the easier it is to use and the more inclined you will be to use
it.
To compare books pick something which you have a problem with and compare
the explanations. The book which is easiest for you to understand is the book for you.
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- I am a university student. I don't need a tutor!
Tutors help everyone!
This may be true but having a tutor will improve your marks. Why? For the same reason that tutors help students at any level. They have been there before and can help prevent mistakes which will cost you a better degree and ultimately a better job.
University is far more difficult than school and there is an assumption that
university students can do it on their own just because they qualified to
get there. University is about improving yourself. Why not take full advantage
of what a tutor has to offer and take some of the burden off your shoulders?
You do not need to see a tutor every week. Once a month is normally enough
guidance to stop you from stepping on big mines. At this level of education,
it is about more efficient work rather than just more work (normally!). Of
course, if you need it, you always have the option to see them more regularly.
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Who to choose?
At university the best tutors need to have a lot more skill and knowledge than
tutors at secondary levels. Look for someone who is at least two years ahead
of you and who isn't so involved in their own life and education that they can't
look back and analyse what would have been best for them and their colleagues
at your level. It is preferable to pick someone who knows your specific course
well but not essential.
It is very important to pick someone who knows what it takes to get a first. This is not the same thing as picking someone who got a first class degree or even first class marks.
Hindsight is a precious thing and anyone who can pass lots of it on to you
is a valuable commodity indeed.
You therefore need to pick someone who can relate to you and your lifestyle
and has the skill and knowledge to guide you in a compatible manner.
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I can't find the ideal tutor that you describe!
Do not despair we are out there! The perfect tutor at university levels is hard
to find but that does not mean that those available are not adequate. If someone
is advertising their services but are not right for you then offer them less
money. Also consider placing an advert on your departmental notice board with
details of the type of person you are looking for. You'll be surprised of the
number of Ph.D. students who will come crawling out of the wood work!
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