What happens in a session

[Pidgythe2nd]

Hi, I’m paying for my year 5 son to be tutored once a week to prepare him for an entrance exam at a selective independent school.

He seems to spend a lot of the session doing exam questions or writing tasks. The tutor is watching him and answering questions if he asks. There are some slides that are used but it doesn’t seem the best use of time (and the sessions are expensive!).

Not really sure what to expect and whether this is normal. I might suggest he does the papers in his own time and they use the sessions to run through and go over gaps.

or is this the way tutoring works?!

At that age DD’s tutor gave her a practice paper for homework each week and would then go over it with her at the session. He’d pick out the things that she’d struggled with, explain where she was going wrong and would then attempt some similar questions with her until it ‘clicked’ in her head

It sounds like supervised homework. I would expect more. Like homework set to be done before tutoring and revised during tutoring.

Thank you. That aligns with my thinking.
I’ll have a chat with the tutor.

I tutor 11+ students and sometimes (although certainly not always) I want to see my pupils working through questions in front of me, rather than just set homework and assume the pupil understands and can do everything they answered correctly. This is for two reasons - firstly, watching a child working allows me to see how quickly and confidently they tackle each type of question and where they hesitate or stop to do additional/repeated working out. It also helps me to incorporate appropriate exam techniques into my teaching. Secondly, I cannot be certain how many of the correct answers done for homework have been calculated completely independently.

In my experience, it is not uncommon for a pupil to have either asked a parent for help, or used a calculator/online help to get the correct answer. There are also some well-meaning parents who will check their child’s homework and get them to correct it before sending it to me. This prevents me from addressing key learning points to ensure the child can do each type of question independently in the test.

Having said that, a good tutor will work with a parent and child to establish trust and rapport so they can find and use the most effective teaching methods for each child. It’s definitely worth talking to your child’s tutor.

Good idea to have a chat with the tutor, however it may be that the structure of these sessions is suitable. There will be a large element of 'teaching to the test,' and aspects like test technique can be crucial for an 11+. I wouldn't expect the tutor to be teaching concepts at this stage and a pupil talking through their thought process as they work through their answers can be a lot more useful that just going over the answers on one which has been pre-completed.