Is In-Person Tutoring Inherently Better?

Consider all your options

I’ve been speaking with a lot of parents lately who really want in-person tutoring for the SAT or ACT, either because of their own perceptions of efficacy or because their teens were traumatized by Zoom school during the pandemic. And while I used to be a major proponent of elbow-to-elbow instruction, I’ve shifted Chariot Learning to 99%+ screen-to-screen for individual tutoring.

But isn’t in-person better for the student?

My answer to that reasonable question is almost always NO. In fact, I recently wrote about 7 Strong Reasons Why Remote Tutoring is Better. In most instances—especially for students seeking high test scores—remote instruction with expert tutors is usually better than working at the same desk, at least the way we implement it. That said, there are some important exceptions:

1. The student has certain substantial learning challenges

2. The student lacks an acceptable learning environment or equipment

3. The student requires very high levels of structure

Obviously, preference may also be an issue, but is it really worth giving up the benefits in quality, cost, and convenience of remote tutoring just to be able to smell your tutor’s perfume or cologne? After more than 30 years as an educator, I just find online instruction much more effective.

Please share your thoughts and experiences, positive, negative, or neutral!

APPROACHING DEADLINE: The registration deadline for the May 3 SAT is April 18. Make sure you know how to register and always give yourself at least 30 minutes for the registration process.