How much should a private tutor charge? (2 Viewers)

[HeyJes]

Hi guys
my tutor just finished her HSC last year (2010) and she's got 99.45 ATAR
she got band 6 for English adv. Chem, Math ext 1&2, Economics

now she's teaching me Math ext 2 and chem. for $40 per hour ONE ON ONE. (now i bargain to $35/h)
she does work and prepares well for students at home.
She has a plan for every student and she wants to do as much as she could teach.

But the thing is, she just graduated last year, and she obviously doesn't have that much exp.
well according to her, she knows exactly what we need to do and what she is doing

For me, she sometimes makes some minor mistakes. and sometimes i have to figure out myself
i don't feel like she is that PRO
but she is a very responsible teacher. considerable for her students. really want to help them achieve academic success.

Please make a comprehensive judgment about the question "Is this expensive???"
Looking forward to any reply!!

 

[michaeljennings]

yea thats pretty expensive. How much experience does she have

 

[Bored_of_HSC]

Too expensive unless she is really good at conveying concepts. Average rate is about $25.

 

[HeyJes]

no more than 1 year i think

 

[HeyJes]

i dont think she is really good at conveying concepts
she's doing ok, although sometimes get confused but i figure out after asking her
she could make some minor mistakes
i dont think she's good enough!
ummm maybe i should negotiate the prices with her?

 

[michaeljennings]

Yeah negotiate or try find another tutor. There are plenty who offer tutoring on this forum

 

[slyhunter]

Yeah negotiate or try find another tutor. There are plenty who offer tutoring on this forum

pretty much this

 

[burkefan]

Wow! I've just started tutoring Eng Adv, Eng Ext 1 and Eng Ext 2, and I think $45 is ridiculously expensive. I'm charging $20/hr and in the space of one month, am tutoring six students.

 

[HeyJes]

but for me, she is doing ONE ON ONE
so how much do you think should be appropriate? $30/h ?

 

[Drongoski]

I charge $90/2-hr for 4U and $80/2-hr for 2U & 3U for 1-on-1 at student's home. But I am not a recent HSC graduate.

My dentist just charged me $290 for a straightforward half-hr job.

 

[michaeljennings]

I charge $90/2-hr for 4U and $80/2-hr for 2U & 3U for 1-on-1 at student's home. But I am not a recent HSC graduate.

My dentist just charged me $290 for a straightforward half-hr job.

Sure Drongoski charges the same amount as your tutor but seriously this guy is awesome at explaining things and is probably 100x more experienced than your tutor plus he goes to the students home

 

[zhiying]

Dude just come to me guarantee you better results

but holy crap I could be earning that kind of money :S

honestly to me, if you're going to tutor I think getting band 6 is a given...not something special to brag about. Same goes for high ATAR

 

[Drongoski]

Very kind of you Michael. And congrats on yr great HSC performance.

 

[michaeljennings]

Very kind of you Michael. And congrats on yr great HSC performance.

Thanks mate, you helped me a fair bit on this forum =)

 

[qwerty44]

I charge $90/2-hr for 4U and $80/2-hr for 2U & 3U for 1-on-1 at student's home. But I am not a recent HSC graduate.

My dentist just charged me $290 for a straightforward half-hr job.

If someone has a good reputation then a high price is ok. But without much experience or reputation $40 is too much. By the way you got a point about the dentist lol

 

[jnney]

My tutor charges $30/hr for 4u.

 

[Carrotsticks]

If she she were a school teacher, then $40 per hour is considered cheap. For example, I know some of my school teachers offer 1 to 1 tutoring (but not for kids within the school, conflict of interest), and they charge $70 onwards per hour. The most expensive I've seen is $120 per hour. However, I think sometimes recent graduates are more able to privately tutor than a full-time teacher. Recent graduates are younger and the students will find them much more friendly and approachable, hence facilitating the learning process.... for less than half the price.

However in your case, did she tell you by how much she got E4? E4 in 4U isn't much of an achievement. She could have JUST scraped it due to an incomplete understanding, but you wouldn't know. In most cases, the student can only ever get up to the level of the teacher. Think of the teacher's level of maths as an asymptote.

Granted, we all make mistakes. Sometimes when I teach, I make little arithmetic errors, but never anything so substantial that a student would question how much I know. A student should have confidence in their tutor, such that they can rely on them to answer any questions at all. It sounds like you are losing confidence in her and hence, this will negatively affect your learning process. Next time she teaches you something, you subconsciously won't be 100% confident that it is right, even though it may be.

As for $40 per hour, I think that's too much for someone who just graduated with results less than a month ago. Does she have much teaching experience? I charge $30 per hour for 4U, but I've had experience teaching at tutoring centres, private students, and even students in my own year whilst I was doing the HSC (I didn't charge them though, that's slack lol).

If you have a real problem, then raise it with her. It's probably gonna suck for the both of you, but it will serve two purposes.

1. Make your tutor aware that perhaps her price does not match her teaching capabilities.
2. Allow you a chance to find a tutor who can better serve your needs.

Sorry for this essay of a post. I just can't stand it when I see students getting charged heap by an inexperienced tutor. /rant

 

[HeyJes]

Oh thank you for your essay. I quite enjoyed reading this post, seriously
Thank you for the information you gave me, which is quite useful.

Seriously i don't think she worths $40/h as she is not very experienced and through her class, i could understand concepts better than she does.
I'll go for $40h if i think it worths. But in fact , in this case i do NOT. and i'm not 100% confident with my learning! sometimes i ask her or her boyfriend(who got 99.55UAI in 2008), and i didn't get the exact correct answer. I'm a little bit disappointed at this sad fact.

Im planning to bargain with her to lower the price to $30/h (one on one), and for chem $20/h (two ppl for chem.)
If not, Im not going to her anymore. Ill find another tutor
what do you think of this price so far?

ps. do you still do tutoring?

 

[Drongoski]

First consideration should be tutor competence/quality - you should be satisfied your tutor is good enough. Then you worry about the price.

If you want $20 to $25 /hr there are lots of ATAR 99.5 - 99.95 who just completed their HSC, offering to tutor 3u/4u maths on BOS.

 

[Carrotsticks]

Sorry HeyJes, but I am not currently accepting any more students. I am already on quite a full schedule, since I have other commitments apart from teaching. If I were you, I would use that $40 per hour and go for some of the other experienced tutors on BOS such as Drongoski or seanieg89. I think there are also a few others, but you will want someone who has proper experience, not people who are like

'I got 99.95, therefore I will be a good tutor'. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way.

When it comes to tutoring, you want quality not quantity. For example, if I wanted to be tutored for second year uni (lol sif), then I would much rather have an hour with a professor, than with a Third Year student, you know what I'm saying.

However, this is assuming that professor is one of the decent ones, not one of the ones that just drone on and you're half asleep in lectures

This is not to say that there aren't any excellent tutors who are recent graduates! Some of the people who just graduated here would make excellent tutors!

But this is why most of them offer a free 1 hour trial. If I were you, I would take advantage of this, and take a couple of trials from various tutors advertising on here. Make a pro/con list and thus make your choice on which tutor suits you best. Remember, marks do not mean experience.