How to Assess Your Students' Needs as a Tutor

By Brittany Loeffler on September 30, 2017

What do your students need? As a tutor, your customers and students come to you because they are in need of assistance to pass a class or learn about a certain topic. This means that the already provided instruction is not doing enough for them to feel confident about the material.

As a tutor, your job is to assess your students’ needs in order for them to get the most out of your services and to successfully learn the topic to pass the class.

via Pixabay

Pre-Meeting Questionnaire

Before your first meeting with a new student, ask them to fill out a questionnaire for you to review. This can be a mixture of questions about them as a person, what they want to learn, and how they think you can help them the most. This is a chance for your new student to assess themselves and explain to you what they think they need the most out of your services. This can be their learning style, certain material, or concepts they struggle with, or what they expect to get out of the sessions by the end.

Pre-Test

Once you get to know your new student a little more, offer them a pre-test. This will determine just how much they know about the topic they are struggling with. The test should not consist of specific questions, but rather broad concepts and topics that are essential to understanding the subject.

Once they complete the test and you review it, it will tell you exactly what your new student needs help in. This information will give you some direction as to how to structure your lessons and what topics and concepts you need to pay close attention to.

via Pixabay

Determine Learning Style

The easiest way to determine your new student’s learning style is simply to ask them. Do they learn better audibly, visually, or comprehensively? If they are not sure what their learning style is, it is your responsibility to determine which one it is.

Once you determine the student’s learning style, it will give you direction for how to teach them the material and help them understand the concepts and topic. Try out different teaching techniques and evaluate which technique worked best for your student and their comprehension of the information. How much did they retain?

Ask Directly

It’s important to be open and to have honest communication with your student in order for you to be a successful tutor. So, instead of trying to determine what your student needs, just ask them. They may have had tutors before and know exactly how they learn and what they need to learn. You will never know this without asking them, though. If they are not sure exactly what they need, then don’t worry. There are many other ways (especially in this article) to determine what your student needs.

via Pixabay

Practice Tests

When you know your student has an exam coming up, give them a practice test based off of the study guide their professor has provided them. Make sure they take the practice test well before the actual exam so that you have time to make it and the student has time to take it and has a chance to review what they are struggling with. This will help your student pass the exam and learn the material that they are missing.

Ask About Goals

Going along with open communication and an honest relationship with your student, ask them directly what their goals are. If you don’t know what they plan to get out of their sessions with a tutor, then you have less direction for how to direct your lessons. When you have a direct goal to work towards, this makes your lesson planning easier and lets your student achieve what they want.

via Pixabay

Assign Homework and Final Exams

After your student has taken an exam ask them to bring it to one of your sessions so you can review what they still need help learning. At the end of reviewing a new chapter or new set of material, provide your own final exam for your student to take. The point of hiring a tutor is for students to completely learn the material so this practice will ensure that your student knows exactly what they need to work on.

Providing homework will also help you determine what they still need to review. After each session, send your student home with some extra work and review what they missed during the next session.

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