Thoughts On Emergency Tutor Requests

Hi there. In this education post, I share my thoughts on emergency or short notice tutoring requests.

Recently, I have had a few offers to take on a few math students. These two students had different scenarios but both want a short term math tutor to prepare them for a final exam. One was at risk of failing and the other older student wanted a few sessions for Grade 12 Data Management (Intro Probability and Statistics.)

Short Term Mindset

Requests for tutors are typically at a high when a test or exam is near. It could be worth it for some households to hire someone to get tough questions answered before a test. There may be one session or a few sessions before a test.

Students will vary in skill level, attitude, work ethic and learning ability. Some students learn faster than others and some may need more time. A high performing student may not need many sessions for good test preparations. A struggling student may need more sessions than requested to do well in the course.

The Tutoring May Be Too Late

The student offer I had where the student is at risk in failing the course did not go through. My availability did not match their Thursday request for short notice tutoring over Saturday and Sunday.

I was told that this student had around a 58% average before the upcoming test. It is not known what the student knows, doesn't know and if he does any math homework. Expecting an A grade from a D+ average is not realistic. Two one hour sessions may help in covering some concepts. If the student's number sense and algebra skills are not great, then two weekend sessions is likely not good enough for the student to be proficient enough for a math test.

In a few cases, I think parents could be a problem for a student's learning. The parents themselves may think that cramming works but it does not most of the time. Building skills over a long period time and long term thinking does not exist with some parents.

If a student has a few problems to go over then it is okay to have a few sessions to clarify topics before a test. Students that have deeper issues or have not done much work are likely not too benefit too much from short notice tutoring sessions. Too much time has passed.