Three signals that tell them apart
Three questions, answered honestly, are enough.
- How many subjects the problem covers — One — almost always a gap in the material and work for a tutor. Three or more at once — the way of studying, because having gaps everywhere simultaneously is hard.
- Whether the child understands in the lesson — Understands at school but cannot learn it in the evening — that is the way of working. Does not understand from the start, despite paying attention in class — that is the material.
- How long the evening takes — The material does go in eventually, but at the cost of three hours? A tutor will add a fourth. That is a case for changing the method, not for extra lessons in the subject.
What each one gives you
An honest comparison, including where tutoring is the better tool.
Tutoring works faster
With a specific gap the effect shows after a few sessions. No amount of work on the method will make up misunderstood fractions at that pace.
Learning how to learn works wider
The change covers every subject at once, including the ones still to come. In exchange, the first results arrive more slowly.
Tutoring can become a prosthesis
If it runs for years and across every subject, it is a sign the child is studying on someone else's work. Then the cost rises and independence does not.
Learning how to learn needs work at home
Without ten or twenty minutes a day you are left with a weekly session and not much else. A tutor is less demanding in that respect.
The deciding test, in one evening
Six steps, after which it is usually clear where the problem lies.
- Pick material the child understands
A topic they have a decent mark in. The point is to rule out missing knowledge as the cause.
- Give them half an hour to learn a passage
Without your involvement and without hints. Your job is the clock and a quiet room.
- Watch what they did with the time
Read it over and over? Copied it out? Highlighted everything? Here the method matters more than the result.
- Check with the book closed
Four sentences about what they studied. If those come out, the method works and knowledge is missing in other topics.
- Repeat the check the next day
That settles whether the material merely passed through the head or actually stayed.
- Draw the conclusion
Understood it, could not learn it, and nothing was left by the next day — that is the way of working. Did not understand it from the start — that is tutoring.
Sometimes the answer is “both”. Then it is worth starting with one subject with a tutor and sorting out the way of studying alongside — but not adding four extra hours a week all at once.
Two homes, the same maths mark
A C at the end of term in both cases. The answers differ, because the fault sits in different places.
The first home — this is a gap
- A C in maths only; B's and A's in the other subjects.
- The child says they have not followed the lessons since being ill in November.
- Evenings run their normal length and the other subjects take care of themselves.
- The evening test: given a topic they understand, they learn it in half an hour and remember it the next day.
- Conclusion: the method works, the knowledge of one topic is missing. That is a maths tutor for a few sessions, not for a year.
The second home — this is the method
- A C in maths, and in biology, geography and history as well.
- The child says they understand in the lessons but cannot learn it in the evening.
- Evenings run three hours with the phone on the desk.
- The evening test: given a topic they understand, they read it over and over for half an hour, repeat two sentences in the evening and remember nothing the next day.
- Conclusion: the knowledge goes in during the lesson and does not stay at home. A tutor will add a fourth hour to three and change nothing about what happens in between.
These two homes differ in one thing the report card does not show: how many subjects the trouble covers. The mark looks identical and the route is the opposite.
The deciding test — one evening
It answers the question in the title better than any conversation. You need an evening and a quiet room.
- Pick material the child understands
A topic in a subject they have a decent mark in. The point is to rule out missing knowledge as the cause — otherwise the test settles nothing.
- Half an hour on a passage, without you
Your job is the clock and the quiet. No hints, no looking in, no “maybe try it another way”.
- Watch what they did with the time
Read it over and over? Copied it out? Highlighted everything? Here the method matters more than the result.
- Check with the book closed, and again the next day
Four sentences about what they studied — today, and once more tomorrow without warning.
They understood the material, studied for half an hour and nothing was left the next day — that is the method, and a tutor will not change it. They understood, studied sensibly and remember the next day, yet the marks in one subject are still poor — that is a gap in that subject and work for a tutor. They did not understand material they were supposed to understand — go back a step and pick another topic, because the test started from the wrong place.
Do not do this in a week with tests, and do not announce it as an exam. It should be an ordinary evening, only observed.
What the research says
Two papers on why the way of working changes results across every subject at once.
Dunlosky et al., 2013 — a review of ten learning techniques
The highest-rated techniques — self-testing and spacing — work regardless of subject. That is exactly the difference: a tutor repairs one subject, the way of working touches all of them.
Roediger and Karpicke, 2006 — retrieval from memory
Material retrieved from memory lasts longer than material read several times. That is precisely the difference the evening test shows: two homes, the same half hour, a different result the next day.
These studies looked at learning techniques, not at the effectiveness of tutoring or of our course — we found no research comparing the two routes and we are not pretending it exists. The test on this page is practice, not proof.
The most common mistakes in this choice
Four misjudgements that cost a year and a noticeable amount of money.
Tutors for every subject at once
Three sessions a week is not help, it is a second school after school. If the problem covers several subjects at the same time, it is almost never a subject problem.
Tutoring that drags on for years
If it is in its third year and the results drop the moment it stops, the child has not closed a gap — they are studying with someone else's head. That is a moment to change, not to book another year.
Working on the method a month before an exam
Changing the way of working needs several weeks before it starts paying back. Right before a deadline a tutor for the specific topic makes more sense.
Choosing without checking where the fault is
The test on this page takes one evening and answers a question that is otherwise settled by instinct — and instinct usually points at the subject, because the mark comes from a subject.
What to choose in which situation
The three most common set-ups and the shortest route.
| Situation | What to choose |
|---|---|
| One subject, a clear gap | A tutor for that subject |
| Several subjects, long evenings | Work on the way of studying |
| An exam soon and a gap in one topic | A tutor now, the method after the exam |
Check whether it is attention
The free cognitive test shows memory, attention and reasoning. Sometimes long evenings come from interrupted work rather than from the material or the method.
Open the free testshort test, about 7 minutes · no sign-up · instant result
Why we write about tutoring too
Because some parents come to us with a problem we cannot solve: the child does not understand a maths topic and needs someone to explain it. We say so plainly at the first conversation instead of signing them up — signing up in that situation ends in disappointment on both sides.
Parents' questions
Can we do both at once?
You can, but it is rarely worth starting both in the same week. The calmest version is one subject with a tutor plus work on the way of studying, rather than four extra sessions.
What do the two cost?
Tutors are usually paid by the hour, and the rate depends on the subject and the city. Our classes are group ones — the manager will tell you the cost and the next group after you leave a request.
Are group classes weaker than one-to-one?
For making up material, yes — there one-to-one is what counts. For learning a way of working a group helps: the child answers in front of others and sees how their peers do it.
How do we know tutoring is not working?
By the fact that it has run for a year and everything returns to the starting point without it. That is a sign the gap is being filled but independence is not being built.
Will learning how to learn help a month before an exam?
Partly: a revision plan and work on past papers can be introduced straight away. It will not make up gaps in the material in a month — a tutor is faster there.
From what age does learning how to learn make sense?
We work with children from 8. Before that most of the work is led by a parent anyway, so the changes are worth making at home.
Pages that help you decide and get started.
Effective study course for kids
Learning as a skill: planning, review and self-testing in class.
How to study effectively
Where exactly studying breaks down
Homework takes too long
Timing the evening before you decide
How to teach a child to study
What work on the method looks like
Looks like the method rather than the material?
On the study-skills course the child builds a weekly plan and learns to revise on their own material: 90 minutes once a week, in a group of 5–10. Leave a request and we will tell you about the next group.
Request a callWe write this as a school that teaches the way of studying — which is why we also set out the cases where a tutor is the better choice.