How experienced is the tutoring team?
Our tutoring team is comprised of certified tutors, graduate students, and young professionals. We have a combined 6000 hours and 28 years of tutoring experience. We follow a comprehensive standards-of-practice guide to ensure that all members of the team can deliver an exceptional tutoring experience. Additionally, we have weekly checkpoints with individual team members to discuss student progress and tutoring techniques and methods.
How much do you charge?
The standard rate starts at $40/hour and is based on the difficulty of the course. The cost is prorated to the nearest 15 minutes for the amount of time spent with the tutor, e.g. if you schedule for 1 hour and use 45 minutes, we only charge for 45 minutes.
How and when do I pay?
Our Business Venmo is @scottgongtutoring, alternatively we can take PayPal or Zelle! The frequency is up to you, but typically every 2-4 sessions is the norm. Upon request, I can provide meeting summaries that include date and duration of each session.
Will tutoring be in person or virtual?
Our team is a mix of undergraduate students, graduate students, and young professionals. Some members of the team do not live locally and will therefore meet virtually. The members of the team who do live locally will use their best judgement when deciding on meeting in person. Discuss this with your tutor on an individual basis and we will do our best to help you in the best way possible!
How long is a typical session?
Usually an hour, but certain classes call for longer sessions due to the type of assignments and can call for up to 2-hour sessions. We don’t recommend going above 2 hours for any given session. After 2 hours it’s best to take a break and regroup at a different time.
How frequently should I meet with my tutor?
Our rule of thumb is approximately 1 hour per week, per course. After the first couple sessions, the tutor will make recommendations to any schedule changes. There are exceptions to this rule, such as during an exam week, when a student might need additional help. We do not recommend going above 3 hours per week of tutoring for any individual 16-week course.
How flexible are you with scheduling changes?
We prefer that students meet at the same day and time each week and most students prefer this as well, but we understand that students have very turbulent schedules and it’s not always possible to know their schedules far in advance. Therefore, we try to be as flexible as possible with scheduling. Please let your tutor know at least 6 hours in advance when moving or cancelling a session, but the earlier the better. We reserve the right to charge for a no-show or cancellations within 6 hours and will exercise that at our discretion.
What availability do you have?
All of the tutors on the team are either full time students or young professional with full time jobs, and even though we are very busy, we do our very best to accommodate students’ schedules. The team as a whole is available at all times throughout the week, although individual tutors may have varying schedules. We prefer to not meet on weekends or have any last minute appointments. Therefore, in order to serve our students better, rather than flat out rejecting these types of requests, we will charge an extra $10/session for weekend or last minute appointments and will implement this at our discretion. The weekend is defined as Friday after 5pm to Sunday at 2pm. “Last minute appointments” are when students request to meet in the next 24 hours following their request. Again, these are implemented at our discretion and will make exceptions to this policy as we see fit. We understand that life is turbulent and we will do our best to help you in any way we can while still being able to live our best lives too!
What should I bring to my tutoring sessions?
In general, we do not prepare any materials for the session unless you ask ahead of time. Feel free to send any materials that you’d like to cover ahead of time so we can review and make the session go more smoothly. Many students like to write down questions on a sheet of paper during the week while the study so they remember what they want to ask during the tutoring session.
Can I ask my tutor questions outside of the session?
Part of our service includes the ability to ask your tutor questions via text or email throughout the week. While we don’t have a limit to how many questions you can ask, we would appreciate that you only ask questions that cannot wait until the normal meeting time.
Final Exams Policy
Every semester from the Wednesday before reading day until the last day of finals, we implement a temporary scheduling policy. Between those dates, all appointments made during this time are final, regardless of whether you need them or not. The reason for this is to prevent students from over-scheduling during finals week and gives other students opportunities to schedule as well during this busy time. In short, if you do not need the session after scheduling it, you are still financially responsible for the session. Reschedules are permitted at your tutor’s discretion. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!
Scott Gong Tutoring 