Tutoring: One time vs. Regular sessions

Given that summer is approaching, this is probably the best time to assess if your student/child/young adult will need tutoring for the upcoming year.

My tutoring clientèle fall generally into two categories:

• one time sessions

• weekly/routine sessions over time

I personally don't mind one time sessions. Students generally have an idea of what they have trouble with and if it's right after a long break like Christmas, or Spring Break, it's understandable.


The most difficult one time session is the last minute kind right before an exam. The only reason why is because of the upcoming exam, it dictates that I have to cover a lot of information over a short period of time and it generally doesn't lend itself to assessing how well the student understands the processes. If the student understands some things, but not all, that's better. If the student does not understand the material at all, a one time tutoring session can only help so much.

One time chemistry tutoring sessions lend themselves best to:

• self sufficient students
• those who can grasp most concepts (Chemistry has a variety of different concepts so it is okay to get one and not another)

Regular chemistry tutoring sessions are better for:

• students who have issues with math and mathematical processes
• students who have issues with deciding what is important to study and what is not (they'll generally try to read entire chapters)
• students who struggle in most of their other classes
• students who struggle with abstract thinking

Chemistry is generally perceived as hard by most. Most students are not motivated enough to practice problems on their own and sometimes having someone there to check over their work makes a big difference. Whichever kind of tutoring group you can see your student falling into, plan in advance as the amount of material covered in high school chemistry is massive and it's easy to get behind.