This post is not sponsored by Wyzant! Everything I am sharing here comes from a desire to be helpful to my students.
PSA: "Wyzant" is pronounced "wise-ant." I think their logo used to include a cute little cartoon ant wearing glasses.
Why Wyzant Tutoring?
I have been a tutor on Wyzant's platform for seven years, and I've tutored hundreds of students through them. What I like about Wyzant is that it's an easy way to connect with a tutor. It's fairly low risk to try a new tutor and see if it's a good fit between tutor and student. Wyzant has allowed me to connect with students to form a variety of working relationships, from single sessions to tutoring students through multiple classes.
* Contacting tutors is totally free
To contact tutors, you just need to set up a free Wyzant account. There are no fees or charges to start talking to tutors.
* You enter payment information when you are ready to commit
Once you have found a tutor with whom you want to schedule a session, you enter payment information on Wyzant's system. This way, your tutor is reassured that he or she will get paid for the work.
In seven years with Wyzant, I've never had a client tell me that he or she had an issue with payment that could not be resolved. I believe that Wyzant's billing system is safe and secure to use.
* The good-fit guarantee
Wyzant wants you to try tutoring! To make it as pain-free as possible, they pay for the first hour of tutoring if you aren't happy with your session. I think this is a great policy.
For my business, if I feel the tutoring session was not very productive, I won't charge my student. I do this for two reasons. One is that I don't want the student to feel bad asking for a refund. The second is that I don't want a negative review on my Wyzant profile. At this point, I feel established enough on the platform that I don't worry about a negative review. But I still want my students to be happy, and I am sensitive about whether the session went smoothly and provided real value for money.
For my business, if I feel the tutoring session was not very productive, I won't charge my student. I do this for two reasons. One is that I don't want the student to feel bad asking for a refund. The second is that I don't want a negative review on my Wyzant profile. At this point, I feel established enough on the platform that I don't worry about a negative review. But I still want my students to be happy, and I am sensitive about whether the session went smoothly and provided real value for money.
* You can meet online or in person with your tutor
This is useful, during a global pandemic and during normal times. You can prioritize whether it's more important to find the best local tutor or to find the best tutor from a bigger pool of tutors across the nation.
* Vet your tutor efficiently
This is the meat of the post, the part I want to discuss most. The items above are all reasons why Wyzant is a good platform. Here I want to share what I would recommend to streamline your search.
First, check out your tutor's educational background and subject proficiencies. Wyzant allows tutors to provide a lot of information about themselves, so be sure to look closely at what they say about their tutoring business. For example, I have what I consider to be primary subjects (biology and chemistry). These are my strongest tutoring subjects; they are the subjects I studied the most in school and for which I have booked the most tutoring hours. I also have secondary subjects (physics). These are subjects in which I'm not as strong; I might be working on my own proficiency. For physics, I work with students taking high school physics but not college-level physics. This is the approach I took with high school math as well. I started tutoring algebra 1 and geometry; after a few years, I added algebra 2. Now I'm working on my precalc skills with a few students.
Second, for the tutors who interest you, reach out and ask them about specific questions or topics. You can even send them a sample homework to give them an idea of where you need help. Don't send them more than two documents! It's better to send them a small sample and then make plans to meet for a session. Tutors don't get paid for this kind of client communication, and I don't think it's fair to ask them to spend a lot of time looking at your course materials. If you want a tutor to invest time in you, give them the chance to get paid for it. If it's not a good match, tell Wyzant and they'll refund your money.
When students have vetted me like this, and they've sent a sample of the work they are trying to do, I have been able to honestly assess whether my skill set is a good match for them. But for this to work, you have to be pretty specific and transparent about what you need. Sometimes that's really hard for a student to do.
Is it wrong to meet with a tutor and then figure things out? No, not at all! But I want you to understand that it takes time for a tutor to figure out how to help you. It's not a bad use of time, but it does take time, and that's time for which a tutor should be paid.
When students have vetted me like this, and they've sent a sample of the work they are trying to do, I have been able to honestly assess whether my skill set is a good match for them. But for this to work, you have to be pretty specific and transparent about what you need. Sometimes that's really hard for a student to do.
Is it wrong to meet with a tutor and then figure things out? No, not at all! But I want you to understand that it takes time for a tutor to figure out how to help you. It's not a bad use of time, but it does take time, and that's time for which a tutor should be paid.
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I hope these tips are helpful! Do you have any questions for me about Wyzant or finding a tutor? Ask them in the comments and I'm happy to answer them.
