Science Tutoring

Time to get a Tutor

Most tutoring companies find that the majority of students that end up needing a tutor or other academic support during the school year wait until it is too late. Very few parents and students are proactive and take advantage of the Christmas break and the summer holidays to be prepared for the new academic year in September or for final exams in January for most high school students attending semester courses. In most instances parents and students wait until they score low on their first tests or try to hire a tutor the week before the final exam. The problem with the later is that most highly qualified tutors value their time and will only commit to students who are interested in long term tutoring as opposed to short term tutoring. Quite often in January and June, tutoring companies find themselves overwhelmed with parents calling in a state of panic hoping to fit in a few tutorials before it is too late.
However, there are no quick fixes. Learning the content of a course takes time and commitment, and for most students to be successful it takes time to achieve educational goals and learn curricula objectives to an extent that the knowledge can be applied at a deeper level. Quit often it takes time for the tutor and the student to establish an ability to communicate effectively as not all children learn the same way. According to Howard Gardener’s theory of multiple intelligences there are several ways in which children learn best. For example, some learn best visually while others learn best kinesthetically.
In order to obtain the best results from any tutoring program carful planning and consideration must be given towards the overall development of the students individualized education plan. The best results obtained from tutoring programs generally results after at least a few months of routine tutorials at least once or twice per week.
Tutoring success depends on three factors:
• The ability of the tutor to act as an academic coach – motivation, communication, developing enthusiasm, etc.
• Subject content knowledge – depends on the actual knowledge the tutor possess (it is highly recommended that tutors have post secondary education and training in their area of specialty)
• Test preparation – is your tutor equipped to help prepare your son or daughter for upcoming exams and tests, Do they provide practice quizzes, tests, and help teach study habits? If no the chances are that the tutoring program will not be of much use when it is time for assessment which is commonly the main reason to hire a tutor unless your child simply likes to learn for the sake of having fun.

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