Let’s face it.

In-person tutoring is painful. It’s inefficient, troublesome, and painful in so many ways. And it has been for a while.

Everyone has a different experience with in-person tutoring. We’re willing to bet that most have a horror story about a tutor who was simply a waste of time and money. All of us here at StudyGate have heard these stories, and we’d like to tell you about five of the worst tutoring pains—and what we do to cure them.

Pain #1: Embarrassment and Confession

Admitting you need help is difficult. Academic culture around the world links academic achievement with positive or negative feelings of self-worth. You should feel proud when you get an A on that grueling statistics exam…

But it’s also easy to feel worthless when you get a D.

Think about it: getting a tutor means that you’re finally willing to admit to a complete stranger, “I’m supposed to understand this material, but I just don’t and I need your help”. It can be embarrassing, especially if you normally do well.

StudyGate understands that, and totally removes that element from the tutoring experience. Instead of feeling ashamed to find someone and ask for their help, we empower students to put their questions out into the world and discover a community of people who are eager to help them.

Our Homework Emergency feature allows students to post any homework question, set their price range, and watch tutors worldwide offer their help. Isn’t it a beautiful thing when you feel lost and someone gives you a hand? With StudyGate, help will always arrive.

Pain #2: Learn Less, Perform Better

Why do we send our children to Kindergarten? Is it so they can get amazing grades and get accepted to a top college by the age of 10?

No.

We send them so they can learn basic skills and develop their ability and desire to learn new things.

But as our children grow, this goal shifts in a very troubling way. By the time a student reaches high school, learning and understanding take a backseat to scholastic achievement and attracting colleges. That’s great, but this mindset trains students to study hard for standardized tests just so they can jump through the hoop and make it to the next level. Even worse, it motivates tutors to teach to the test, and only to the test. StudyGate puts the focus back on learning so that a student can focus on understanding concepts so they can increase their knowledge. Our Group Meeting feature allows students to study together as their questions are answered and teach one another. This service allows students to focus on understanding and learning together, rather than cramming alone.

Pain #3: Chatty Chat Chat

This one really hurts.

Imagine you’re a student who meets with a math tutor once a week. You sit down with them, take out your books, and prepare your questions. Your tutor asks how you’re doing, and you begin to tell him…

But then he launches into a 15-minute detour about your life choices:

• He tells you to stay out of a relationship until you finish school.
• He tells you that a career in (insert career field) is the ONLY worthwhile career, and anything else is a waste of time.
• He goes on and on about how marriage isn’t worth the trouble and you should look out only for yourself because a partner will only bring you down…

All that is nice, but it’s NOT WHAT YOU’RE PAYING FOR.

StudyGate tutors are here to teach, period. In our live online sessions, you only pay for every minute you use, and every minute is used to answer your questions. That’s all. Seriously, take a look! We skip all the unsolicited life advice and get to work!

Pain #4: High Learning Curve

Lots of people get their friends to tutor them. The problem with this is that they’ll often solve problems the way they are used to, or solve them without much explanation. It’s frustrating and demoralizing. A tutor should teach, not show off. StudyGate tutors teach to your needs. They reach out to you, so you can go as fast or as slow as you want, which means that you learn the way you want to. They’re here to help you, so take your time and get the help you need.

These pains have been a problem as long as tutoring itself has been around. Here at StudyGate, we strive to take this stress out of your way so you can focus on what really matters. Find out for yourself!