Finding the right tutor can be hard. With so many platforms and advertisements targeting you, it's easy to want to just select the cheapest tutor, or choose a test prep plan with a big company with a familiar name even though the reviews aren't great. So when it's results you want, a careful five-step approach will ensure you make the right choice from day one.
Step 1: Consider your Learning Challenges and Test Goals
Whatever your ultimate goal is, you’ll need to find the right assistance in order to reach it. If you have test anxiety and want to learn how to best manage it before your LSAT exam in 8 weeks, you wouldn’t want to go to a tutor who isn’t capable of helping you manage your test anxiety, nor would you want to work with a tutor who can’t commit to you for the duration of your test prep. It is best to narrow down what exactly you are looking for before choosing someone to work with.
Step 2: Set your Budget
Rather than looking for the cheapest tutor because you feel like you can’t afford an expensive tutor, keep in mind that quality results are better than a large quantity of ineffective hours of help. Tutors or companies that charge higher rates may do so because they have highly experienced tutors who can nearly guarantee the score improvement you’re looking for.
However, others may have a high price tag because they are only devoting a certain number of hours a week to tutoring and have a set goal in mind of how much they want to make per week...
As a result, it’s critical that you review a tutor's offerings and any reviews carefully.
Research your options so you can get the best quality tutoring that falls within your budget. If you can spend $950 on tutoring, maybe it can buy you a $50/hr tutor for 19 hours, or you can spend it on 9 hours of tutoring at about $105/hr. This can allow you to think differently about what you can and can’t afford.
Step 3: Do your Research
Locate three to five individual tutors or companies that can discuss their experience or results working with students with your learning challenges and learning goals. Read about their offerings and success stories.
Step 4: Contact Prospective Tutors
Large companies often have someone available to answer your questions or sell you a package if you call them directly, while smaller boutique companies or individuals tutors may offer free phone consults or respond to your voicemail. Whichever way you make contact, you’ll want to find out about hourly rates, discount packages, cancellation policies, and anything else you can discover when you do your initial research. By asking these questions, you’ll also get familiar with the company or tutor’s customer service.
Step 5: Make a Choice and Commit to it
You can’t operate under two different companies or tutor strategies at the same time. You’ll end up wasting time trying to speculate which one is better than the other, which is an anxiety inducing task. Commit to a system, fully complete it, and then assess your results. If it didn’t work, then try a different route the next time.
If you have questions about tutoring options available to you at Ginsburg Advanced Tutoring, we’re here to help. Give us a call today at 240-630-1425 or schedule a free phone consultation with us here.