Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
  • are private tutors (6th form) worth it? if so, how to find?
  • wolfenstein
    Free Member

    have you had? or having a tutor for your kid? …..just felt helpless whenever I see my kid struggling with some home assignments and knowing I can only do gear ratio of 1×10 set-up better than basic algebra 😐

    looking for math and chemistry tutor really. thanks

    Murray
    Full Member

    I had a French tutor. He was great but sadly my French is still crap.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Before paying out cash speak to his teacher, is he struggling because he is skipping lessons, not doing much work does he go to any revision sessions that are on, does he ask for help. Loads of kids have private tutors when just making some more effort would help more. Having said that it cannot hurt either!

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    iolo
    Free Member

    Why is he struggling? Is it due to his teacher or is he genuinely not getting it.
    If it’s the teacher, maybe a word with the school. As a last resort possibly a tutor.
    If he’s genuinely not getting it possibly it’s just too difficult for him. We can’t all be geniuses.

    wolfenstein
    Free Member

    kid is OK at school GCSE only 2x A’s and the rest is A* .. the transition to 6th form seems not very good as the kid expected and ..mentioning one of kids mate got tutor and is doing very well now in math.

    also mentions to me the teacher is not as enthusiast about teaching it properly.
    kid wants to get into med school, so need all help she can get

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    also mentions to me the teacher is not as enthusiast about teaching it properly.

    This may or may not be true. First call is too the teacher if that doesnt help try head of department and or tutor.

    wolfenstein
    Free Member

    anagallis_arvensis – Member
    also mentions to me the teacher is not as enthusiast about teaching it properly.
    This may or may not be true. First call is too the teacher if that doesnt help try head of department and or tutor.

    actually met the chem teacher today as it is their “school report card thingy day” or whatever it is called here… but nothing really I could do, unless I sit-in to their class.. knowing my chemistry in HighSchool and Uni days all I can remember now is H2O just because I drink it everyday 😕

    ..thats when I thought of just getting a tutor, at least they doing it in my house and I can listen to it in passing

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    Did the teacher not offer any ideas as to why he is struggling? If so did he suggest any support. Many do struggle at the start of sixth form its a massive step up.

    marmaduke
    Free Member

    I remember when I was struggling with A-level Chemistry my parents hired a steady stream of hot chemistry students off the internet. Not sure it helped my hormonal teenage self 🙂

    rene59
    Free Member

    No harm in getting a tutor short term to get back on track in a subject. Ask at the school if they have any recommendations. Problems may arise later though if your kid relies on a tutor to get through the entire year. I.E. what happens the following year and the year after etc etc.

    poly
    Free Member

    kid wants to get into med school, so need all help she can get

    OK, harsh reality check time – if she’s struggling with A-level maths and Chemistry in a school environment she might be really going to struggle in the ‘self learning’ world of University!

    Now, if the motivation IS there and the teacher is genuinely crap, a tutor will obviously help, and if the motivation is not there but a tutor would force activity to happen a tutor *might* help. However in the first case I’d expect a good proportion of the learning to be possible themselves using this new-fangled internet thing.

    I’ve done a wee bit of chemistry tutoring in the past. I like maths. I’m at the other end of the country (I assume) so can’t help out in any structured way – but if your concern is simply that as “a parent” you don’t know enough to be able to help her understand, or to occassionally look over her work and ask some challenging questions.* I’d consider trying to help with the odd ad-hoc question. I wouldn’t want to do it for a child who wasn’t motivated though, and it doesn’t make sense to do it if every single part needs massive hand holding to grasp the concepts (so if GCSE level was learned parrot fashion to pass an exam but not understood there is a massive learning curve).

    * I do recall that I often took a “well its good enough” attitude at that age – and ignored any constructive advice on embellishing answers.

    Does she read books? The key to the maths is probably being interested AND understanding how the concept is actually applicable in real life (e.g. with medical examples since that is where her interest lies). You might want to get her a copy of http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1848878451/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=1848878451&linkCode=as2&tag=polwart-21&linkId=EEDOMIFJZIYY44KV as it covers a wide range of maths ideas in a fun way. If she won’t read that and “get it” then she needs someone engaging with her face to face regularly.

    leffeboy
    Full Member

    Try a couple of tutoring lessons and see if it helps. I did a bit of maths tutoring at one point at maths at that level can be difficult if not taught well. Specifically they might not understand why you do various things and if taught well it suddenly becomes clear. I had a similar problem with one year of a course where I didn’t get it and nearly failed the year. A short book later and it was really easy as I got the point

    Do a couple of lessons as a test. Nothing to lose

    edit: reread the post above and this –

    AND understanding how the concept is actually applicable in real life

    . One you understand why you are doing a particular thing it becomes a bit easier

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    I’m dreadful at maths and was at school. My predicted GCSE from my mock was an E while my otter subjects were A/B. I just can’t get my head around maths and was in a low set were most just wanted to dick around. My parents got me a maths tutor and my grade went up to a C which while still low was enough to get me into FE/HE and have the career I have now. So for that it’s worth every penny.

    I’ve since private tutored in art & design (and been invited to lecture) I’ve had students go from a predicted E to an A, and eek out extra % for BA’s but this only really happens if they want to learn.

    poah
    Free Member

    the tutor will most likely want to know what they are struggling with. I’ve done a fair bit of tutoring for school and university biology. Some kids don’t know how to study effectively, some panic at exams, others just fail to grasp the initial concept which buggers up the rest. My problem at school was undiagnosed dyslexia and I couldn’t be arsed so its not always an actual academic issue

    teethgrinder
    Full Member

    One of my mates tutors Chemistry – where are you based, OP?

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