Preparing for your first tuition lesson

Now that you`ve booked the first lesson with your tutor there are a few things you should prepare, in order to ensure the everything can go ahead as efficiently as possible. The first thing most tutors will want to ascertain is their student`s current level of knowledge in their subject. If you haven`t already already informed them in Tutor Hunt`s enquiries system, you should let them know what syllabus you are studying, so they will be able to prepare for the lesson.

If your lesson is to be online you should decide where exactly you will be sitting for it`s duration. Try to pick a location where you will be well lit, but without a lot of background light, and ensure you have everything you will need in the way of text books and other documents close to hand. Tutor Hunt uses Zoom for online lessons, and you will easily be able to share any files with your tutor. It would be best if you ascertain the location any images or documents you might want to use during the lesson before you begin, rather than hunting for them once the lesson has started.

Make sure the location you select is relatively quiet. This can be difficult in a busy household, but if you let people know beforehand that you have a lesson, you can hopefully keep disruption to a minimum. Some people choose to have their online lessons in a public place, and if you decide to pick such a location - perhaps a library or cafe - be sure wifi is available. You may also want to arrive a little early, in order to secure a good location.

Decide what parts of the syllabus you want to focus on. It can be tempting for even the best students to spend too much time going over things they already have a good understanding of. Be honest with yourself, and make a list of those aspects of the course that you have a poor understanding of, and relay these to your tutor from the outset.

If you have a specific goal in mind in regards to your lessons, let your tutor know this. Perhaps your are studying to pass an exam, or pass an interview for a university. Maybe your ambitions are not specifically academic, and you want to learn enough Spanish to able to get by in your holiday over the summer. Whatever your aims, be sure to let your tutor know, so they can build your lessons in such a way that your ambitions can be fulfilled.

If your are planning to meet your tutor face to face at your place of residence, make sure you have a location selected and ready before they arrive. No tutor will expect a dedicated study room, isolated from the rest of the building - a table with writing paraphernalia will suffice. Again you should let any other residents of your home know in advance of your lesson, in order to keep disruption to a minimum.

Many tutors find it useful to peruse their students` past work, in order to gauge their level of understanding. Any teachers` comments on the work can be very useful for the tutor, especially on those areas where the student is struggling. Schoolwork will necessarily cover a large span of time, and may be instrumental in helping the tutor pinpoint when certain misunderstandings occurred in the student`s learning. Again it would be best if all the requisite paperwork was brought to the study area before the lesson begins, in order to not waste any time.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that the concept of one to one learning with a tutor may be new for you. For most students the process of formalised learning has only ever taken place in a classroom, in the company of their peers. It can take some time to become acclimatised to being the sole student in a lesson. The benefits to such an arrangement are considerable though, as you will be getting the full attention of a teacher, who will be able to mould and shape the lesson in accordance with your needs. There will be no time wasted with disruptions, and you will have the potential to make great advances in your studies.