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English Tutoring- Is it worth it? (1 Viewer)

Audranda

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Should you invest your time in English tutoring to improve your skills? What other means could be undergone that could boost your performance in English?
 

strawberrye

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The answer to this question really depends on the purpose of you seeking English tutoring-for example, some people desire English tutors to basically lay out all the information they have to regurgitate in exams because they feel there is so much information and they can't process what is important and how to answer questions, other seeking tutoring as a motivation to work harder as well as assisting in English skills. But getting English tutoring is not a replacement for putting more effort into English, often you will need to be prepared to do more work rather than less, but it will make sure you are working in the right direction-i.e. you are studying smarter. To answer this question, ask yourself the following questions

1)Does your English teacher at school is willing or has time to look over your creative/essays and give you detailed feedback on them, and are you willing to regularly hand in creative/essays for feedback?(I.e. do you have enough self-discipline and time management?)

2)Are you struggling with English skills or understanding the specific English modules you are studying with or both?

3)How much time are you willing to invest in English to improve your mark in it? Have you had any previous experience in English tutoring, and if so, did you find it helpful?

Answering the above questions will certainly assist you in coming to a decision. There are a few main means that can be undergone to improve English performance
1)Read all prescribed and related text as soon as possible, and re-read it if necessary to understand not just the plot, but how the text relates to the module rubric as a whole, make sure you understand the rubric inside out-all questions will come from it
2)Listen carefully in class to what the teacher and other students have to say and formulate your own unique viewpoint through a considered understanding of others' perspectives
3)regularly complete practice essays/creative and get someone that will give you detailed feedback to mark-and for your succeeding essays/creative-you should remember these feedback and take it abroad to reduce the mistakes you are making-improve your skills in analysing, synthesising and responding to specific essay questions
4)if you have time, you should practice under exam/assessment conditions and get a teacher or an experienced English personnel to mark it for you

Repeat the above processes as many times as possible-(use a timetable to schedule your study time for English if you fear it will take too much time as a never ending subject-and with perseverance and sustained effort over the HSC year(including the 'holidays), your performance in English is guaranteed to improve by the end of the year. Hope this helps and my last advice is to go with what you think will work for you-if you are in doubt, and are struggling, why not try it out? best wishes:)
 

angrycookies

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I do English tutoring at James an College, and I must admit:

it is only good if you take the initiative of exploiting the use of their resources and asking them for helping, meaning you constantly give them work to mark and ask questions.
 

phamtom44

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I do English tutoring at James an College, and I must admit:

it is only good if you take the initiative of exploiting the use of their resources and asking them for helping, meaning you constantly give them work to mark and ask questions.
I used to do tutoring at James An for English. Terrible :(
 

Mdyeow

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My short answer is no.

You're better off studying techniques, reading widely, and practising writing on a very, very regular basis.

Almost all the tutors I know (and this includes 99+ UAI's - I was of that generation) simply write essays for their students to upload into the exams. The more advanced ones get their kids to memorise essays, then teach them to "tweak" them to different question wordings. Ethics of this aside, it's simply not that effective and it will severely hurt you after your HSC when you enter whatever university course you enter.

This is a plug but a relevant one: I've just published a book based on tips I figured out for myself in my HSC year. It's called the 5-Minute Essay and basically outlines how I trained myself to get consistent Band 6 responses (and eventually a 100.00 UAI) with no tuition. It's seriously not that hard. Ultimately it comes down to a bit of consistent practice and some smart tactics - nothing you should be paying a tutor $50+ a week to hear. Also happy to answer questions as best I can.
 

enigma_1

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Wtf is a James an college? Is it like the sister school or Ruse or Meehan?
 

Mdyeow

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Times have changed. The English tutor I have right now doesn't write my essays - rather I send them to her, and receive comprehensive feedback on my strengths and weaknesses, thereby I can improve from there. The difference between the old approach (plagarising) and mine is that I still have to take responsibility in working towards the best English mark I can possibly get.

Of course, I agree that you shouldn't plagarise, but that applies only to the idiots who would be daring enough to perform that practice in the first place, therefore doing themselves a disservice come to university.

But for me, there are a number of reasons why I have English tutoring anyway.
I think you're lucky to have an English tutor who does so. That's how I used to teach until I stopped tutoring last year, and if the student is motivated and diligent then the results can be phenomenal. But the majority of my students would inevitable ask me to just "give them the answers", as it were. That's probably why, from my perspective, I'm a bit disillusioned with the whole tuition game.

For what it's worth I think that typically you just need a little direction on what you're doing right/could do better. I didn't have tuition at all in high school but I got a lot of this from my two "mentors" at school, both of whom were award-winning authors. At the end of the day, it's your input and tactics that determine the result.
 

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