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Psychology Private Tutor: Not Good! What do I do?

Hi guys,

So I decided to try a private tutor for Psychology A-Level as my school teachers did not know any of the content and simply replied 'I don't know, look it up' when we asked them questions. I've never had a private tutor before but I thought I would try one as the lessons were awful. I have paid the tutor £55 an hour for 10 lessons, and they are not very good either. I live far from them and have to travel to their house on top of this. They don't mark any of the work I give them and reply 'it would take too long' when I ask them to. The lessons aren't great, we don't do much. What do I do?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions :smile:

Reply 1

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by ok2

Say you have decided to drop psychology altogether and so won't be needing the lessons any more, so can you have your money back. Worth a try.

Reply 2

The Tutor Pages

Official Rep

Original post by ok2

Hi there! That's a tricky one. It depends on what kind of contract you have with your tutor as to whether you might be able to get your money back. Do they have a cancellation policy? £55/hour is above the average rate for tuition. We've got a page on our website with a report about private tuition rates if you're interested (http://www.thetutorpages.com/private-tuition-fees).

I'd definitely advise talking to your tutor about your concerns and perhaps asking them about their plan to help you improve - a good tutor should be able to spot the weaknesses in your understanding of a subject and target work to address these.

We have a lot of free articles on A-level Psychology on our website, which you may find useful:

http://www.thetutorpages.com/a-level-psychology-tutors

Good luck with your studies!

Reply 3

ok2

Original post by The Tutor Pages

Thank you, the links are really helpful.
I do not know of their cancellation policy, we haven't discussed this. I feel like it would be awkward to bring it up anyway.

I will talk to them in our next lesson, thank you.

Reply 4

iammichealjackson

Original post by ok2

If you've already paid the money then you've been robbed essentially, and i dont think they'd need to give it back legally. I would recommend trying firsttutors and tutorhunt to look for tutors, they have ratings for each teacher and £55 is above average per hour so you could get a much better deal (never heard of The Tutor Pages, may not be as good!). I've done teaching off of FT and its worked out good: the main things is that you dont pay in one lump sum otherwise there's no motivation for the tutor to work harder for you to stay a customer :wink:

Reply 5

RodneyRaver

Original post by ok2

you have been taken ill. after two weeks contact the tutor and say that you will have to be resitting next year. Apologise empathically and request a return of funds less one hour tuition for the trouble. If you have no written agreement my old dear says they have no legs to stand on!

Reply 6

tuitionleigh

Hi there have you thought about trying online tutoring?

Reply 7

Blackstarr

Original post by tuitionleigh

Hi there have you thought about trying online tutoring?

Is that any good/ better than face to face tutoring?

Reply 8

tuitionleigh

It depends what exactly you are looking for. I currently tutor A Level Psychology and Sociology online and find it works very well as it is all done via Skype. It minimises time spent travelling to and from lessons and also works incredibly well for storing essays/file sharing etc.... My partner teaches A level Maths at a local grammar school and also tutors and charges £35.00 an hour so I do think the fee you have paid seems rather steep; especially if it is not working for you. Tutoring should be a partnership really with you stating what you would like from each session and chatting through any issues.

Have you requested your fee back?