Conflict: Tutoring vs Self Study

[man0005]

Hey guys

Just wanted to get your opinion on tutoring/self study. Up till now, I've going about year 12 with the morale that as long as I dedicate lots of time on self study (i.e. read ahead, start practice exams), I wouldn't need tutoring on a weekly basis. As such I have spent the majority, if not all these holidays, getting ahead of all my subjects and finishing the course/starting practice exams for my Unit 3 subjects.

However after speaking to some people, I've been hearing that schools tend to miss stuff due to an obvious lack of time to cover everything in depth, particularly for subjects such as Chemistry and Physics and now I am a little conflicted. The idea of going to tutoring every week also sounds a little time consuming and might even be better spent learning concepts by myself. Of course, money is also a huge factor. I know this will yield very mixed responses, but any input will help as I obviously do not want to mess up so early in the year, particularly for my Unit 3 exams.
Thanks.

Also the subjects Im currently doing are: Specialist, Chemistry, Physics, English, French

[werdna]

A little bit of tutoring won't hurt.. learn as much as you can, and benefit as much as you can from your tutor, but the key is to also ensure that you apply that learned knowledge and do your own individual study to supplement. A tutor that literally spoon-feeds answers, writes essays and so on, isn't exactly a good tutor. Tutors will steer you in the right direction, it's ultimately up to you to apply everything. And also I think with your subjects a tutor would be quite helpful - particularly French and Spesh.

[Water]

English Tutors are best, a must have.

Espicially when you have a classroom English Teacher who can't teach.


Just to add on top of that, by having Language Tutors in general, they will see mistakes that otherwise you wouldn't, which is often the case with English.

[lexitu]

Yeah, schools miss stuff, but so do tutors. It's sort of the learner's quest to understand everything that they need to understand whereas sometimes the teachers only learn for what they need to cover. I think the autodidacts get a lot out of the exercise of learning and researching - you as a student actually need to know this stuff so you'll do your best to master it. I'm deviating a bit from the topic but I think students are sometimes more qualified on a subject because they go to exhaustive efforts to learn about it and need to consider every little implication of the topic.

Back to your question. Even when you receive tutoring, it is on you, to an extent, to bring them the material that you want to cover. As a tutor it's really hard to be comprehensive in an area if your student doesn't inform you that they need comprehensiveness. Otherwise, just like a teacher, they will skip over content because there is not enough time. A good tutor will at least be mindful of this. But why not just ask your teacher? Or learn the concepts yourself, like you said. For the capable student, a tutor is just someone that they can conference ideas with. They're not entirely necessary - you can either conference ideas with yourself, or with your teacher. Keep going with the self-directed learning I say!

[man0005]

thanks for the help so far
@werdna, yeah i agree. i currently do tutoring for french as i feel its necessary to constantly practice the areas which my teacher cant really go into depth individually like oral and listening ability. But maths and science subjects, I just have a feeling it would be better to just motivate myself to do a little work, i.e. checkpoints, practice exams each day rather to rely on a tutor to get high results. Just worried whether this way of thinking will hinder me come exam time.

Any of you guys know the lowest mark you could get for a Unit 3 exam, and still do well? :S

[andy456]

if your worried about missing stuff just look a the study design... If theres a point you dont know research it. Tutors are definately not necessary.

[The Detective]

I'm in the same boat, self-studying is way better for subjects like chemistry.
If you find yourself struggling than considering a tutor would be a good idea.

Anyways goodluck!

[Russ]

Any of you guys know the lowest mark you could get for a Unit 3 exam, and still do well? :S

Define "well"

I got a B/A+ combination and got 37 for my year 11 subject (protip for year 11s, working in a 3/4 is more important than spider solitaire)

[nacho]

there's no trouble in trying tutoring
if you think you find some concepts difficult to understand, or need extra-harder work then sure, go for a tutor
Self-studying is also fine, just make sure that you know everything you need to know.
my advice be not to go to one of those big companies like North Shore, TSFX, JAC etc if you just want to 'try' something out

Any of you guys know the lowest mark you could get for a Unit 3 exam, and still do well? :S

Define "well"

I got a B/A+ combination and got 37 for my year 11 subject (protip for year 11s, working in a 3/4 is more important than spider solitaire)

You played spider solitaire excessively?