Never had a math tutor before? You might be wondering what kind of duration and schedule you should have to make the most of it.
For most students, I recommend our tutoring sessions to be 1 hour long.
An hour provides a right balance. It gives enough time to give you a good comprehensive lesson.
It is also not too long that you’ll continue after being mentally fatigued from thinking about new challenging math concepts. After enough time, you might be hearing the lesson, but not comprehending it. So the time is not being used effectively.
A tutoring session, done properly, should be a time of intense focus for you. And no one can study math intensely forever.
In other words, there are diminishing returns.
However, what if you feel you need more help?
The solution is to have more frequent sessions, such as multiple sessions per week.
There are a few benefits to this, compared to having one long session:
- Between the sessions, you can use what you’ve learned to study and practice on your own. Ultimately, tutoring is about guiding you to be able to do questions on your own. Practicing by yourself is essential to learning. You can’t cover everything with your tutor!
- Spaced repetition. Evidence shows that learning is more effective if it is spaced out over time. That is, 3 hours studying on a single day is less effective than 3 one-hour sessions over a week. This means more learning in less time.
Are there some exceptions? Yes. For example, if you’re urgently cramming for an exam, sometimes it’s better to do a 1.5-hour or 2-hour session. It’s not ideal, but sometimes it’s necessary.
In summary, math tutoring sessions that are 1 hour long strike the perfect balance between being comprehensive and avoiding mental fatigue. If you need more help, it’s better to have more frequent sessions.