3 Things To Look For In A College Peer Tutor

By Danielle Wirsansky on September 13, 2016

Sometimes, we all just need a little bit of help. Whether this comes in the form of assistance from your family or support from your friends, we sometimes need someone to prop us up.

As students, we frequently need help in our classes and sadly, that is one area your family and friends often cannot help you (unless you happen to have a family member or good friend in the same class or major as you). In those cases, you must find yourself a college tutor. Usually, it is someone just like you and just your age that recently completed the same course and excelled.

But you want to choose your tutor wisely because your choice could influence whether or not you excel in the course as well. Here are some things to look for in a college peer tutor so that you can learn as successfully as possible.

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Upholds Commitments

We all have busy schedules, right? We are students with a million things to do and a million more pieces of homework and tests to complete and study for. So when you plan your week and set aside a specific time to study and be tutored in your problem area, you want to actually meet with your tutor and be helped.

But you can’t do that if your tutor constantly cancels sessions (usually last minute), is sluggish to schedule sessions with you, or comes to your tutoring sessions tardy. You made the commitment to be there and so did they so you should both be there when you are supposed to. Unless your tutor is having an emergency, there is no reason they should cancel, especially last minute, and especially if it has been a long standing appointment. They have known about this appointment a long time and there is no excuse for scheduling something over it or that interferes with the appointment that they have made with you.

You do not need to be strung along and you certainly do not deserve it. If your tutor can’t get their affairs in order so that they can keep their commitment to tutor you then you do not need them! There are plenty of fish in the sea and there are plenty of tutors as well!

Patience

There is nothing like the sound of a pen being tapped impatiently against a desk or repeated exasperated sighs to disturb your concentration and focus while studying. So why would you take on a tutor who does not have the patience to actually tutor you?

Some people do well with negative and destructive criticism but the majority of us do not. You might already be feeling unconfident because you did not understand the material and had to find a tutor in the first place. You do not need a tutor who belittles your effort and your understanding when you are doing your best to grapple with new and complicated material. It might not be the best choice to work with someone who believes that there is such a thing as a stupid question and is willing to identify which of your questions fall into that category.

You want to work with someone who will be patient with you, recognize that you are trying, and be excited to help you achieve understanding. Support is more often than not a more useful tool in succeeding.

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Enthusiasm

Aren’t the best teachers the ones you remember all your life for the positive impact they made on you, the ones that were the most enthusiastic about their subject and about teaching itself? They bring a sort of light to their topic and their excitement about it leaks and spreads to you, drawing you in. When you are enjoying the lesson more, you will often understand it better and more quickly, not to mention actually retaining it better.

So make sure you do not find yourself paired with a tutor who is already jaded by their turn on the circuit. If you do not get a concept, they will not push as hard through the hard times to help you make sure you understand. They will give up a lot more easily on you which can make it seem like you are failing and doing a whole lot worse than you actually are. That is not the kind of attitude you need to be working with.

Instead, find a tutor who is bubbling with passion and excited enthusiasm. A fresh faced and bright eyed tutor who is excited to be there alongside you and is rooting you on can really make the difference between getting through a class and excelling in it. They also lend themselves to be good role models, and we could all use a little bit more enthusiasm in our lives.

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