AIBU to think this tutor has an attitude?

I bet the tutor thinks you’re a nightmare.
They are giving you good advice regarding your son choosing A level History ie he shouldn’t !

Bold War? That washing powder advert?

Gold War? That broken jewelry ad?

Mould war? The shower spray one?

Hang on…. ROAD WARS! Reality tv at its finest. Well done DS!

Listen to DH....Lord.

He's not frustrating, he's frustrated with you! The revision technique your friend uses is basic! Your son should be able to do that by himself which leads me to believe his basic knowledge of the subject is not there.

Yes, but all those skills build up from a foundation of subject knowledge. We are focusing on step 1 here ... namely, distinguishing the topic from other parts of the syllabus. Next stop knowledge, then understanding, then revision and exam skills.

A tutors job is to teach subject matter.

School, at some point, should have taught him different methods of retaining/learning content.

Two teachers have told you history really isn't for your ds, yet still you persist.
I would be encouraging him to consider other A levels rather than flogging a dead horse

Why does he want to take it at A-level? He doesn't sound interested in it - now that could be partly the syllabus he has, in that he's not keen on that bit of history, but you don't get a choice about that - it's down to AQA or whichever board it is.

It is a subject where you need to take in a lot of information, and if he is not managing that at GCSE, he'd be mad to do it at A-level, even if he got a high enough grade to be allowed to. He'll be limited in the number of subjects he can do at A-level anyway - he should do things where he does remember more easily and pick it up.

If he really enjoys history (doesn't really sound like it,) he doesn't have to do it academically. Go to museums - I was a junior member of my local museum and spent my holidays going to museums (still do.) He can read the many, many books on myriad different areas of history without having to write about it. Take exams in subjects he's likely to do better in.

And of course the tutor needs to take a baseline assessment. He needs to know if he's aiming to get someone from an 8 to a 9, or a 4 to a 6, or just a 3 instead of ungraded. There's going to be a different focus on how he does the tutoring accordingly.

As a teacher, the tutor is giving you sound advice here. Listen. You sound really over bearing. It's too late to be taught how to revise in year 11.

The fact that he didn't know it wasn't the Cold War he was studying is worrying.....

Definitely do not do History at A Level.

Her tips are that she has always attended all lessons and lectures; done her reading and made copious notes. Then as the exams approach she re reads her notes from lectures or lessons, and condenses the key points on to index cards. She then reads those and then condenses further until all the course key quotes dates are on a small set of cards. I used to test her on these cards (Alevel) and she would know everything . She would also do timed essays at home from past papers as the exam approached.

This is an excellent explanation of basic revision techniques which I myself followed. I became the absolute mistress of the 45 minute essay until I could have written a 1st class answer in my sleep. Examination skills are as important as subject knowledge. Its not simply about remembering dates and facts. Key skills are reading the question carefully, identifying keywords, planning your answer, and communicating your knowledge clearly. Time management is also fundamental.

Exactly this. You could not waterboard such information about my son out of me. No way would I be so readily and enthusiastically sharing the fact that my son is a complete eejit to the rest of the world.

I’d be dying with shame and furious with him that he can’t even manage the complete bare minimum of distinguishing between two completely different significant time periods or wars in history, yet blames everyone else for his inadequacies.

Just tell your son to find any school bus and just get on it. For the love of God.

Surely if your son is doing really well in other subjects, then he already knows how to 'revise efficiently'?

But you know it's not just a case of revising efficiently, it's a measure of aptitude too. Different subjects require different skills - You say your son writes creativity, so it's no surprise he's doing better in English than he is in Math.

GCSE (and by extension A-Level) History isn't about remembering dates. There won't be a question asking when the Treaty of Versailles was signed, and there's rarely a question with a right or wrong answer.

History exams at GCSE test your ability to research, understand and explain different perspectives, analyse and interpret sources, apply critical thinking and make reasoned arguments. You can't learn that from mind maps and flash cards.

Respectfully, if your son has significant knowledge gaps at this stage then the tutor is right, he's going to really struggle with GCSEs, and A Level History is a huge step up.

Cold War = Carnivore? Cold sore?

Biology tutor needed!

Are you sure they didn't simply run for the hills?

Oh OP. No wonder your son is struggling. Even you can't be bothered ensuring he's ready to be taught. Sleeping in, no chargers, being late due to time zones... if you can't be arsed about the basics for learning then it's not surprising your son isn't. Apple and tree springs to mind.

I agree with the others, change subjects not tutors.

"We scheduled a lesson for later that week, but DS was running a little bit late as he'd woken up late so we only had 30 minutes of a lesson with the tutor "

😂😂😂😂😂 You are absolutely the problem

Brilliant.

Well that was the bit where I got the giggles...

"...and that was when DS realised he hadn't actually done the Cold War and he'd gotten the name confused with something else"

There's no way way that this is real FFS. You're making your son sound like a bloody idiot.

I saw the response where you said that you had "sent the tutor an example of a mind map to show him what you mean".
You are asking a professional with specific skills (in this case, subject expertise in History) to tackle GCSE questions systematically, and are now unwilling to accept this expertise; it isn't his remit to teach study skills as such; that could be undertaken by another tutor. If this tutor does this job regularly, they will have a good idea of where the student should be if they are in with a chance of passing,
Your friend who is a teacher has shown you what works for her English classes, so why not follow her advice, now you know how it's done?
If the school have intimated that your DS is on shaky ground, where is his "Right, I'll show them?" spirit; up bright and early, laptop at the ready, ready to prove his point , work with a tutor so that he will do well enough to go on to A-level? Or is he specialising in the mediaeval era by emulating Ethelred the Unready?

i feel like the focus keeps drifting away from the key issue which is about how DS is revising and whether he's getting real, structured guidance. That's all I care about. It's upsetting to feel like people are questioning my motives rather than the actual problem here.

The problem lies in your refusal to accept that the tutor may well know more than you about what the key issue is, which is your DS's lack of basic knowledge of the history syllabus. It's pointless teaching him how to revise when he doesn't have any notes to revise with, doesn't know what he's doing in class, and apparently isn't interested enough even to do his own background reading and research from the textbook and other resources that are easily available.

It sounds like things aren’t going well and you need a new plan.

If I was in your shoes I’d:

• Sit down with my son and talk about why he thinks he’s finds history difficult - teachers methods don’t suit him, subject matter, lacking revision techniques (although it sounds like he can revise ok for other subjects), lack of effort on his part… perhaps having overheard teachers telling him he isn’t good enough etc
• Make a time to talk to his history teacher, explain the difficulties he’s having and ask for their advice on what your son needs to do to do well in history

Depending on what you discover you might like to:

• Sit down with your son and go over possible revision techniques he could use
• Talk to your son about where he is at and what he needs to be able to do if he wants to do A level history. If he’s serious about it he should have known where his charger is and know what he’s learning in class
• Buy some study guides to help if it seems like he may be having trouble getting the info in class, so he can make his own notes from there. Or get the tutor to help here
• Ask your son questions about what he learnt in history that day. Ask to look at his notes. Try to come across as interested and helpful rather than micromanaging and checking up. If my son was really keen I’d try to learn the material along with him

The problem here isn’t the tutor. It’s really bad that he wasn’t prepared for his first session and doesn’t know what he’s covering in class. Learning new revision techniques isn’t going to help him if he doesn’t know what to revise.

My son’s teacher tells them that after school they should revise what the covered in class that day and make notes. They should look at those same notes a week later and then again a month later to help them retain the info. Little and often is the key. Another thing that really helps is before going to bed at night getting everything ready for the next day.

Your son has no aptitude for history. The tutor is trying to introduce you both to this reality, which you have some awareness of in your OP. All very odd.

Say you have a racehorse that is not winning races.

You can change trainers and jockeys until you are blue in the face, but if the horse doesn't have the determination to win, then he won't succeed. You also have to consider the inescapable fact that he may not be fast enough anyway, and that maybe the trainer was right about doing show jumping instead.

I wonder if tutor no. 2 was taking you seriously about wanting them to concentrate on revision techniques, and was using different periods to show your son how to apply those techniques? If this just confused your son, it demonstrates that the current teacher is right about his lack of underlying knowledge.

I'm a tutor
Tbh you sound like a nightmare
My students' parents just leave me to do my job.
You can't revise what you don't know.
No quiz or mind map will help with that