Making the Most of Every Tutoring Session

Come Prepared

Nothing derails a session faster than a student who arrives with no idea what they struggled with that week. Before each session, spend five minutes reviewing what you covered last time and note down:

• Where you got stuck
• What you did not finish
• Any questions from homework or class

Hand this to your tutor at the start. It makes the session immediately more productive.

Be Honest About What You Do Not Understand

The biggest waste of a tutoring session is nodding along when you are lost. Tutors are not mind readers. Say "I do not follow this" the moment you lose the thread. A good tutor will immediately adjust.

Do the Work Between Sessions

A session every week with no work in between produces weak results. Even 20–30 minutes of independent practice between sessions makes a significant difference to retention and pace.

Ask "Why" as Well as "How"

Knowing how to solve a problem is useful. Knowing why the method works is what lets you apply it to unfamiliar questions. When your tutor explains a method, ask for the underlying reason. This deepens understanding and makes revision more efficient.

Test Yourself Before the Session

Doing a short test on the material before your session — even informally, by trying a past paper question — reveals the gaps your tutor needs to address. This is far more valuable than arriving with a vague sense that you need to "go over" a topic.

Review the Session Afterwards

Within 24 hours of a tutoring session, spend 10–15 minutes going over your notes. This is when the consolidation happens. Without it, you will have forgotten a significant portion of the session before you next meet your tutor.