One of the most underestimated skills in tutoring is not explaining – it’s listening.

Allot of the time I have found students to not fully understand a topic that I am discussing, and whilst I will be the first to assume that the blame is on poor explanations, there is often a deeper cause. That cause stems from conceptual misunderstandings in the topics that I am attempting to explain to the student, more often than not it is the reason why they have taken up tutoring in the first place. In this case, it can be something slightly embarrassing to admit. It is the tutors job to go back through that topic that the student is less sure of, if the student struggles with calculus, it may be algebraic structure that is the root problem. Putting that reinforcement learning in place is a powerful tool and a tutors job.

Luca Smith