Tutoring services are valuable support resources to help you better understand course material and achieve academic success. Tutoring is offered to you at no cost, but there is a limit of ten (10) hours of tutoring per month for each student. Therefore, it is important that you understand how to use tutoring resources most effectively. Knowing how tutoring works can help to maximize your time when working with a tutor. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions and answers to help you to make the best of your tutoring sessions
Frequently Asked Questions
Click each item to see answers and advice.
Students registered with Accessibility Services no longer need to email to request additional hours for tutoring. As of April 1, 2024, all students have ten hours (600 minutes) of no-cost tutoring services in Tutor.com instead of four. Each student’s account resets between the first and fifth day of each month. For any questions or if you need additional support, please contact Accessibility Services.
Tutors will help define and explain specific concepts, clarify examples from course content, and help you understand a topic more deeply.
Like your professor, tutors do their best to help you understand where you are having trouble within your course. However, tutors will focus on specific questions you have about applying concepts to assignments; students should work with their professors on foundational knowledge from the course materials in a class.
Tutors will also demonstrate how concepts are applied by modelling examples, providing explanation and guided practice to help you master the concepts and move forward in each topic or assignment.
First, stay positive and give yourself the time to learn. New material and skills can take time to master, but tutors are here to help.
Gather what you need for the tutoring session to make the best use of your time with the tutor. Tutors will want to know what you have been asked to do, so you should have the assignment instructions ready to share so the tutor can focus on precisely what is expected of your work.
Be specific in your question(s) to the tutor. A question that is too general or incomplete can take time that could be put to better use. The clearer and more specific your question is, the better your tutoring results will be. For example, instead of saying, “I don’t understand the assignment,” consider something like, “I’ve never done an assignment like this before and I need help with …” and specify what.
Gather your questions in a “bundle” for a more comprehensive session. Work through your entire assignment (readings and homework) and make a list of your specific questions before you start a tutoring session.
Time is of the essence to every student, and a tutor will not be able to explain everything about grammar, a formula, or biological or natural science concepts in one tutoring session, so start with specific questions.
Focus your questions on one or two topics per tutoring session. More than one session may be more effective than trying to cram all information in one session, which could be overwhelming for you. For example, in a live writing session, your tutor will focus on structure first so that your written work has a solid foundation. When you understand how to structure your paper, the tutor will then move on to the next priority, either in that session or a subsequent one.
Take notes during a tutoring session, whether in a notebook or in a digital document.
Do not be afraid to ask for clarification. If you do not understand an explanation, ask the tutor to explain the concept in a different way. There are no bad questions when you are learning.
You might not work with the same tutor every time, but each tutoring experience should build on the previous one. A tutor’s goal is to help you develop the skills and knowledge necessary to be successful in future work.
Tutors are professionals in their subject areas, but they will not edit your paper or work the answers for you; correcting your papers line by line or providing the answers will not help you to learn for yourself and “own” the knowledge. Writing tutors improve students’ writing skills by addressing writing issues holistically, providing examples of excellent writing, and providing clarifying comments on your paper. If you are having problems with grammar, you may also have difficulty with writing introductions or conclusions, organizing ideas, moving smoothly from one idea to the next, providing evidence for arguments, and using language that presents your ideas clearly. Tutors will address those issues first and foremost to help you develop the groundwork for your writing assignment.
For subject tutoring, tutors will not present you with the solution to a question related to your homework, quiz, exam, or major project. Your professor has the primary responsibility for helping you learn the core skills and concepts; a tutor can reinforce and clarify the information provided in lectures and course materials and can provide practice problems and help you on concepts that are difficult for you.
Keep your notes for review and as a “road map” of the progress you are making in your understanding. Tutoring support should be practical, oriented toward your academic needs but also broadly applicable for later use, not just for the most recent assignment.
Remember that all your past tutoring sessions in Tutor.com will be available to review at any time if you go to the "My Account" menu.
Think of your professor and tutoring support as resources to enable your learning. Your goal as a student is to master the concepts of each class and build on each step, taking charge of your academic success.
Tutoring in the Tutor.com platform is available 24/7. You can connect with a tutor right away by going to the "Academic Support" or “Resources” tab at the top of their course page and then clicking on "Tutoring." From there, you can connect immediately with a tutor for some subjects. You can also schedule a session in advance for either subjects or writing, or you can submit written work for review.
In addition to one-on-one tutoring sessions in Tutor.com, UMGC offers a series of group tutoring sessions about specific subjects and courses via Zoom, such as sessions about Excel. Students can access the announcement of each set of group tutoring sessions available by visiting our UMGC tutoring webpage (provided below) and clicking on “Group Tutoring Sessions.”