Here’s What to Bring to a Tutoring Session

By Nayra Mendoza on January 29, 2017

Tutoring sessions don’t typically go as expected the first time. Fortunately for you, I’ve already had my first awkward tutoring encounter that you can take advice from.

Tutoring can be offered in several ways at a college. Perhaps there is a writing and math center, peer tutors, or teaching assistants that cover the lecture material at another time to further explain the information. In any circumstance, you should be prepared to learn and study.

While there are the obvious things you should have when being tutored — pencil, paper, highlighter, etc. — here are some other things you should prepare and bring to a tutoring session.

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Readings, Homework, and Personal Notes

A tutor would hope that you’ve already read the chapter so that they can quickly scan the text and get started. How do you expect your tutor to know what you’re working on if you don’t bring your textbook? There are several ways to organize yourself, but feel free to use any of these tips before meeting with your tutor:

1. Scan through the material and homework on your own. (Obvious, but still important to note.)

2. Prepare the chapters and pages that you’ll be working on, are falling behind on, or simply need a run-through on.

3. Highlight what you don’t understand so that your tutor can assess how much you know and don’t know.

4. Print out your math problems, essay prompts, and discussion questions. Pick two or three problems that could potentially help you with the rest of the assignment and ask your tutor for help on just these first.

Note Cards

Practicing on your own time can help you advance in your studying in preparation for exams. As you start learning the re-explained material, prepare flash cards on definitions, concepts, and other useful information. There are many ways to organize note cards, but here are a few personal tips:

•Use color-coded index cards to match similar definitions and concepts by topic. It is not recommended that you try to squeeze too much information onto one card, but matching notes by color can help you memorize relevant details that could get you to the right answer.

•Write down keywords at the bottom of the card to associate them with complex ideas. By creating a keyword, or “stimulus,” and pairing it to an intricate concept or idea, you can memorize the information by association, as James Greeno describes in his book Models of Human Memory.

•Always include your source. Make sure to back your note-taking and studying material with credible sources by keeping track of them.

•Don’t second-guess yourself. If you think the information may be useful, write it down. No detail is too small that it can’t help. I have definitely skipped over some perceivably minor definitions that showed up on the exam; I am left racking my brain for even a single piece of data and wishing I had a photographic memory. Sigh.

•Check with your tutor if they have any other suggestions to remember or study. Pretty simple. Fact-check your material before you spend the rest of your time learning it.

Julia also has these other study tips that you can try with your tutor. (I have personally used Tips 3 and 4 in study groups so I can vouch for her.)

A Respectful and Positive Attitude

There is nothing worse than trying to teach a student with a negative attitude. It doesn’t work. It is just wasted time and money for you, and a miserable work experience for the tutor. While I understand that students have other problems that they face besides the homework from one class, there is a level of professionalism that must be kept between a teacher, or tutor, and the student.

As the student, you have to be willing to listen to a different voice that is telling you the same information as your professor, even when they are just doing it in other words and examples. This is called being receptive. To have a successful tutoring session, bring a ready-to-work attitude and open mind.

Snacks

I imagine that, like me, most people can’t function on an empty stomach. When my tummy is growling, I tend to get lazier about working on an assignment, preoccupy myself with thoughts about food, and calculate how much time I still have left in a meeting before I can go home and cook a meal fit for a family of seven.

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I tend to go for quick and easy snacks that I can throw into a Ziplock bag and munch on easily. Trail Mix and Sensible Portions Veggie Straws are two of my all-time favorite snacks. Here are some other snack ideas that you can pack at home and bring to your tutoring session to boost your energy levels.

Planner

Plan to meet with your tutor again soon. If possible, you should schedule multiple meetings in advance. If you know your exam dates for the semester, plan to meet with your tutor a day or two before to brush up on whatever class material and notes will be on the test.

It is important to clarify that your tutor will not do your homework for you. They are there to teach you, not absolve you of your work. With that being said, I hope you have a successful tutoring session and the information finally clicked in your brain! If you have any personal tips that have helped you at a tutoring session, be sure to let me know through a comment below or by e-mailing me at mendoza.nayra@gmail.com.

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