What Does a Private Tutor Do?
Private tutors benefit all students across the academic spectrum, whether they are a straight-A student or struggle to earn Cs or Bs. Regardless of standing, private tutors help students get ahead, remediate weaknesses, and maintain academic strengths:
- Getting ahead is best for a student who has good grades but wants or needs to be challenged, or they need to work ahead to stay at the top of their game.
- Remediation is for students with low or failing grades that need to be re-taught concepts while keeping them up to speed with current content and classwork.
- Maintaining performance means that the student is satisfied with their current grades but want to stay on track and be ready for future material.
General Academic and our private tutors take ownership of each student’s progress and develop an approach with the student and parent to achieve their goals. We want students to become the best academic version of themselves, and we provide them with the guidance, skills, and motivation they need to make it happen.
Can a Private Tutor Help with Executive Function Skills?
Executive functioning is a set of mental skills that help students focus, plan, and carry out tasks to result in positive, goal-driven behavior. Study skills, time management, classroom engagement, and critical thinking are aspects of executive functioning that are crucial to a student’s success in academic success.
Private tutors instill executive function skills in several ways, including:
- teaching best practices for planning study sessions, organizing notes and other class materials, and improving note-taking skills
- developing and keeping a manageable routine that takes the guess-work out of preparing for quizzes and tests, such as finals or AP exams
- helping the student learn how to prioritize tasks in their very busy schedules and understand the big academic picture
General Academic’s private tutors integrate these skills into every tutoring session, whether it’s subject and test prep, to improve their adaptability to face bigger and bigger challenges in school, college, future careers, and life in general.
What Does Private Subject Tutoring Look Like?
Most private tutors can generally help with core academic subjects like math, science, English, history, and foreign languages.
A typical session includes the tutor:
- building rapport by checking in with the student about what is and isn’t going well for them that week
- reviewing assigned work from the previous session
- reviewing their school portal to identify upcoming deadlines and their progress with grades
- working through current content to shore up weaknesses and work ahead when possible
- recapping the session and assigning additional practice to reinforce what was learned
- improving executive functioning skills by helping plan out the student’s week and prioritizing tasks
- keeping you in the loop by sending you a summary of the session and follow up tasks
General Academic’s tutors are experts in a wide range of subjects, including AP courses, as it is much more efficient for a student to improve under the guidance of a single tutor than with many, especially for standardized test prep such as ISEE, SAT, and ACT.
What Does Private Standardized Test Tutoring Look Like for the ISEE, SAT, and ACT?
Standardized test prep is a process, and private tutors help students prepare for the ISEE, SAT, and ACT by understanding every aspect, including:
- discussing the full timeline for test dates and results deadlines
- setting score goals and the steps to achieve them
- teaching test-taking and time management skills
- developing a practice plan that is consistent and manageable
Students should begin with a full diagnostic to establish a baseline and to demonstrate how they engage with the questions. Diagnostics help understand strengths and weaknesses and define what is a realistic timeline for improvement.
A typical session includes the tutor:
- building a rapport by checking in on their progress and school life
- reviewing assigned practice with a focus on mistakes
- reviewing and teaching tested concepts with an emphasis on test-taking strategies
- working through practice problems with the student to reinforce content and strategies
- recapping the session and assigning practice sections
- helping plan out the student’s practice time and prioritizing tasks
- keeping you in the loop by sending a summary of the session and assigned work
General Academic’s tutors are all standardized test prep gurus and scored in the top 5% on their own exams (we require top 1% for SAT and ACT tutoring), which means that they are experts on all sections and aspects of these tests. Our tutors instill accountability in their students to be consistent and meaningful with their practice and prep through all test dates, and they are supported by General Academic’s market-leading prep material:
- 12 full-length practice tests for ISEE, ACT, and SAT
- 1000s of personalized practice questions
- Hours of instructional videos
The average student can expect these score gains with diligent standardized test preparation for every 7 hours of quality prep (tutoring + practice):
- SAT – 40 points (out of 1600)
- ACT – 1 point (out of 36)
- ISEE – 0.25 stanine (out of 9)
Can a Private Tutor Mentor My Student Since They Won’t Listen to Me?
Private tutors make great mentors since helping students understand the big picture is just as important for academic success as helping them understand their classwork. As a third party, private tutors have some advantages:
- They aren’t you – it’s no secret that students butt heads with their parents whenever schoolwork is involved, and students are much more likely to listen to their tutor due to the simple fact that the tutor isn’t their parent
- They aren’t the teacher – students can have the same conflicts with their teachers, which can be due to not following the teaching style, frustrations with difficult classwork and vague instructions, or the student isn’t able to clarify anything they don’t understand
- They have the student’s full attention – since private tutors meet one-on-one, they are able to personalize the sessions and better understand how they can connect with the student
General Academic’s private tutors made the most of their education throughout their academic careers, and they know what it takes to succeed every step of the way from first grade to graduating college. Alongside executive functioning support, our private tutors use their personal experiences to help their students understand the importance of good grades, building relationships with their peers and teachers, planning and executing on achievable goals, and engaging with the student’s communities.
How Often Should You Meet with a Tutor?
While the schedule depends on each student’s goals and timeline, we typically recommend 1-2 times a week for most students’ needs.
- Get ahead and test prep – usually once a week for 1 hour
- Maintain standing in core subjects like math, science, and English – once a week for 1 to 1.5 hours
- Remediate poor grades – twice a week for an 1 to 1.5 hours each (up to 3 if the student is failing)
General Academic’s private tutors will always assign homework to improve students’ weaknesses and to reinforce what was taught in the sessions, and we will help students plan and set aside time to complete these assignments.
We will be as flexible as possible to match your preferred schedule for these sessions.
Where Do the Tutors Meet?
Private tutoring sessions meet in three formats:
- In-Office
- At-Home
- Online
In-office tutoring has the advantage of providing a conducive learning environment outside of an often chaotic home, free from the distractions of siblings, pets, and gaming electronics. Additionally, going to an office may allow access to more experienced and popular tutors whose schedules are too full to meet in your home. Of course, it can be difficult to get the student to an office when everyone’s schedule is so busy!
The biggest advantage of at-home tutoring is logistics since the parent doesn’t have to worry about getting their student from Point A to Point B to Point C. However, now the private tutors’ busy schedules can limit who can come to the home.
Since online tutoring can be held anywhere, meeting online provides the greatest advantage for students with busy schedules, but it has its own caveats:
- technology problems that reduce a session’s productivity
- lower engagement from the student with the lack of the tutor’s physical presence
- limited tutor options as some prefer to meet in-person and avoid online tutoring
General Academic and our private tutors understand the pros and cons for meeting in-office, at-home, and online, and we have plans in place for their pitfalls. While our spacious office is the perfect environment for getting work done (students love the snacks and ambience!), our private tutors are happy to meet in your home or via video conference to match your scheduling needs.
How Much Does Private Tutoring Cost?
Private tutoring rates generally depend on
- the tutor’s experience and education level
- the location of the services provided, and
- the subject matter at hand
After all, the rate for a private SAT tutor with 5 years of experience and a masters degree from a prestigious university meeting in your home is going to be a lot more than an online, 1st grade reading tutor with no experience.
On the low end, private subject tutoring could cost as little as $40 per hour, while on the high end, private test prep tutoring is going to run closer to $100-300 per hour.
General Academic’s private tutors are highly educated, brilliant, and experienced, and they have our full support, resources, and knowledge as they work with your child. Subject tutoring starts at $80/hr and test prep tutoring starts at $100/hr both for in-office and online tutoring sessions. In-home tutoring is just $15 more per hour, so subject tutoring starts at $95/hr and test prep tutoring starts at $115/hr. We provide discounted rates for small groups, and we offer prepayment options for 10 and 20-hour packages. You can read more about our rates and policies here.
How Do I Choose the Perfect Tutor for My Child?
Matching your child with the best tutor takes research and planning to fit both your child’s educational and personal needs to achieve academic success. Navigating a large pool of independent tutors can be overwhelming and frustrating. When looking for the best private tutor for your child, focus on:
- Education – did the tutor attend or is currently attending an academically rigorous university?
- Skills – does the tutor have deep knowledge of the subject to fully teach the content forwards and backwards?
- Availability – can the tutor work within your schedule?
- Personality – will the tutor get along with your child?
- Tutoring Style – does your child prefer a bubbly or more laid back tutor, or someone who will push them out of their comfort zone?
- Experience – does the tutor have a track record of personal and professional success?
General Academic’s private tutors are able to work with a wide variety of students with different academic backgrounds, motivations, personalities, and goals. We want to know your child’s learning style, student habits, hobbies, interests, and personality so that we can match them to the tutor with whom they’ll have an instant rapport. Again, our tutors don’t work in a silo – when you work with one of our tutors, you and your child are working with a full team of experts who care about your child’s success.
Why is General Academic Houston’s Best Private Tutoring Company?
For over 21 years, thousands of discerning families in Houston and across the globe have entrusted General Academic and their team of brilliant and charismatic tutors to help their children achieve their full potential. We are the premier publisher of standardized test prep content for the ISEE, SAT, and ACT, as well as math & ELA 5-11 content through our education platform, Piqosity.com.
Our tutors are in the top 10% of the top 1%, and they are thoroughly vetted (including background checks), extensively trained, and continuously supported by our management team who know Houston’s academic scene. Our team is research and analysis-driven, and our tutors are experts in all K12 subjects, AP exams, ISEE, SAT, ACT, and college admissions.
We pay our tutors well (often 50-100% higher than competitors), and all tutors are W2 employees. Many of our tutors are with us for 4 or more years, and we guide and support them when it’s time to move onto grad school, med school, or the next stage in their careers. After all, happy and supported tutors means your child will be the same.
If you are ready to get started, then schedule a phone consultation today!
