Finding the best tutor to help you with your needs as a student

Question

How do you effectively evaluate a tutor's backgrounf? Do you look at academic achievements or do you look at real life endeavors?

Answer 1

Here’s a clear, practical way to evaluate a tutor’s background:

1. Academic achievements (the foundation)

These tell you whether the tutor knows the subject. Look for:

Relevant degree or major in the subject

Strong grades or academic performance

Certifications, test scores, or formal training

📌 This matters more for: exam prep, advanced subjects, standardized tests, or higher-level academics.

But academics alone don’t guarantee good teaching.

2. Real-life teaching experience (the real test)

This shows whether the tutor can actually teach. Look for:

Years of tutoring or classroom experience

Experience with the same age group or curriculum

Ability to explain concepts simply

Student improvement, results, or feedback

📌 This often matters more for: school students, struggling learners, and long-term tutoring.

A tutor with average grades but great teaching skills often outperforms a top scorer who can’t explain.

3. Teaching approach & communication

This is the deal-breaker. Check:

Can they adapt to different learning styles?

Are they patient and engaging?

Do they assess the student’s weak points first?

A short trial session can reveal more than a CV ever will.

4. Professional attitude & consistency

Underrated but crucial:

Punctuality and reliability

Lesson planning and follow-ups

Clear goals and progress tracking

The ideal tutor?

✔ Solid academic background

✔ Proven real-life teaching experience

✔ Strong communication and empathy

Answer 2

I think if you're looking for a real, quality creative writing tutor, you should look for someone like me. I have both the achievements and the experience.I was the 5th Youth Poet Laureate of the Southern United States, A Presidential Scholar of the Arts, a scholastic gold medalist, an Americans for the Arts Round Table fellow and National Arts and Humanities month Ambassador, a Young Arts winner in spoken word, a recipient of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, Spring Robinson literary prize, the Lin Arison excellence in writing award, and the International Human Rights Day rising advocate award. I was also nominated for Best of the Net by Rattle magazine. I am a United States Arts Envoy, A McCabe scholar, and the Youngest artist to have poetry displayed in the Parthenon Museum. I am an inaugural intern at the Rich Milner Research Laboratory at Vanderbilt University. 

 I have publications in the New York Times, Rattle, Washington Post, the Tennesseean, National Geographic, Signal Mountain Review, Rigorous Mag, and Ice Colony Jornal. I’m an actor as well as a poet, and have performed my poetry on CNN, CBS, TIME, and many local channels in Nashville. A 2x TEDx Speaker, and a critically acclaimed poet and published author (Walking Gentry Home by Alora Young) with Penguin Random House, my Book Walking Gentry Home was released in August of 2022. It received a starred review in the Kirkus review, and it was nominated for a Goodreads Choice award. It won Best Debut in the Nashville Scene magazine and Ms. magazine. It was a bestseller on Amazon. And I did all this before age 22. (I'm currently 22) I received a Davidson Fellows "Youth Genius Grant" in my senior year of high school and have been acclaimed as "profoundly gifted" by professors and academics all over the country. I am a professional public speaker with the Penguin Random Speakers Bureau, the most elite speakers organization in the country. 

And as for tutoring experience, I am the founder of AboveGround, an organization in Nashville public schools that teaches creative writing and neurodivergent survival education. I have taught at Interlochen Arts Academy and the Sunhouse Literary summer program, I have been tutoring in high school, and my degree from Swarthmore College is in spoken word pedagogy, a new field I'm pioneering that's at the intersection of Creative writing, education, and theatre. 

 Also, I have an IQ of 150.

I'm here to help!

Lastly, I write all my own answers and materials. No AI needed. It's not smarter than me yet!

Answer 3

Hi there! This is a great question.

Finding the best possible tutor for your needs can become overwhelming very quickly. Especially with the many qualified tutors available on Wyzant!

In my experience, knowing/understanding/being able to pass a test on academic content and being able to teach/tutor academic content are not interdependent on one another. In other words, a person with a college degree in math is not necessarily qualified to or capable of tutoring math.

With that said, I believe that focusing on real life tutoring experience will most likely result in a better match. On Wyzant, I would recommend searching for a tutor with good ratings, testimonials, and ideally past tutoring experience.

I hope you found my answer helpful. Please reach out if you have any further questions or if you are interested in scheduling a free consultation!