Question 1

How do you check a tutor before they can teach?

Accepted Answer

Five of them: photo ID, the degree confirmed with the university, a national background check re-run every year, a subject test marked by a senior tutor, and the first three lessons watched. One applicant in nine clears all five.

Question 2

When does the first session happen?

Accepted Answer

Usually inside 48 hours, and about a third of tutors have something open today. You pick the slot off their own week grid — nobody waits for us to assign a match.

Question 3

What if the tutor is wrong for my child?

Accepted Answer

Then it costs you nothing. The first thirty minutes are free, and if a paid lesson misses, tell us within 24 hours of it ending and we refund it.

Question 4

Is online as good as sitting at the same table?

Accepted Answer

For most students, yes — our own grade outcomes track within a point either way. Online suits test prep and essays; a table suits early reading and anyone who drifts on a screen.

Question 5

Who else is in the room for an in-person lesson?

Accepted Answer

An adult, in earshot, for every lesson with a student under 18. Tutors teach in a shared room and never behind a closed door. A library counts.

Question 6

When is my card charged?

Accepted Answer

Never for the free half hour. After that, the morning after each lesson — or once up front for a ten-lesson pack. No service fee on top of the tutor's rate.

Question 7

How do cancelling and rescheduling work?

Accepted Answer

Free up to 12 hours ahead. Inside 12 hours the tutor keeps half the rate, because they held the slot. Rescheduling twice in a row is free either way.

Question 8

Do lessons follow my school's curriculum?

Accepted Answer

They follow yours, not a standard course. Bring the syllabus, the textbook and the last graded test; Common Core and state standards are on file for all fifty states.

Question 9

Is the rate on a profile really all I pay?

Accepted Answer

Yes. There is no booking fee, no membership and no minimum. We are paid by the tutor, out of what they earn, after a lesson has happened — so the figure on their card is the figure on your receipt.

Question 10

What happens to a pack I have not finished?

Accepted Answer

Nothing expires. Lessons in a ten-lesson pack sit on the account until they are used, and they move with you if you change tutor. Ask for the unused half back at any point and it is refunded at the single-lesson rate.

Question 11

Can a tutor raise their rate while we are booked in?

Accepted Answer

Not on a lesson you have already booked, and not on a pack you have already paid for. A new rate applies from your next booking, and we email you the week it changes rather than letting you find it at the checkout.

Question 12

Who pays for a tutor's travel to my house?

Accepted Answer

Nobody. Tutors set one rate and choose how far they will travel for it, so a lesson at your table costs what the same lesson costs on a screen. What varies by street is who is willing to come, which is what the map on Tutors near you is for.

Question 13

Do you charge for the first thirty minutes?

Accepted Answer

No, and we do not ask for a card to book them. A first lesson longer than half an hour is charged for the minutes past it — thirty free, the rest at the usual rate — and the receipt shows the subtraction rather than a rounded figure.

Question 14

What if a lesson is bad?

Accepted Answer

Tell us inside 24 hours of it ending. We refund that lesson, no argument and no form, and open the search again with your subject and level already filled in. It runs at about one lesson in two hundred.

Question 15

What does a background check actually search?

Accepted Answer

County records for every county the tutor has lived in over the past seven years, a state search in each of those states, the federal district courts, and the national sex offender registry. Checkr runs it, and runs it again every twelve months.

Question 16

Does a tutor get my home address?

Accepted Answer

After you book an in-person lesson, and not before. Browsing, messaging and the free first thirty minutes all run on a metro and a ZIP. Cancel the lesson and the address comes off their view that day.

Question 17

Can a tutor message my child directly?

Accepted Answer

Messages run through Saal and the thread belongs to the account holder, who has to be over 18. Tutors never see a phone number or an email address. A tutor who asks for one is a report we act on the same day.

Question 18

Who is allowed to leave a review?

Accepted Answer

Somebody who paid for a lesson that happened. We do not take a review down for being unflattering. We take it down for naming a child, quoting a price nobody was charged, or coming from an account with no booking behind it.

Question 19

What happens to the applicants who do not get in?

Accepted Answer

They can apply again after six months, and the check they failed runs first. About one in five who come back clear it. Anyone who fails the background search is not invited back at all.

Question 20

Are lessons recorded?

Accepted Answer

The first three of every tutor's lessons are, and our review team watches them before the profile goes live. After that recording stays off unless you and the tutor both turn it on, and the file sits in your dashboard for thirty days.

Question 21

When am I actually paid?

Accepted Answer

Every Friday, for the lessons that finished by the Wednesday before it, straight to a bank account. There is no invoice to raise, no minimum to reach before the first payout, and nothing is held back against a refund window.

Question 22

Do I set my own rate, and can I move it later?

Accepted Answer

You set it, inside the band for the levels you teach, and you can change it whenever you like. Anyone already holding a weekly slot with you keeps the rate they booked at until they give the slot up.

Question 23

Is there a minimum number of hours?

Accepted Answer

None, and no exclusivity either. Two hours on a Tuesday evening is a real listing here. Teach on other platforms, in a school, or with students you found yourself — we ask nothing about any of it.

Question 24

Do I have to teach in person?

Accepted Answer

No. Your profile says online, in person, or both, and you change it whenever. If you do teach in person, the rules for where a lesson happens are set by us rather than by you, and they are written out on our trust and safety page.

Question 25

What happens if I fail the subject test?

Accepted Answer

The application stops there and we tell you which sections went wrong. You can sit it once more after ninety days, in the same subject or a different one. Nothing else on the application has to be redone.

Question 26

Who pays for the free first half hour?

Accepted Answer

You do. Nobody is paid for it — we take nothing and you charge nothing. What you get for it is thirty minutes with somebody who has already read your profile, your reviews and your check record, and you can cap how many of them you take in a week.

Six desks. Yours is named before you press send.

Everything we have written down, in one list for once

Say what it is about first. The rest of the form already knows where it is going.

74 hours a week, and two desks that never close

The fastest answer here is half an hour with somebody

Six desks. Yours is named before you press send.

Everything we have written down, in one list for once

01How do you check a tutor before they can teach?

02When does the first session happen?

03What if the tutor is wrong for my child?

04Is online as good as sitting at the same table?

05Who else is in the room for an in-person lesson?

06When is my card charged?

07How do cancelling and rescheduling work?

08Do lessons follow my school's curriculum?

09Is the rate on a profile really all I pay?

10What happens to a pack I have not finished?

11Can a tutor raise their rate while we are booked in?

12Who pays for a tutor's travel to my house?

13Do you charge for the first thirty minutes?

14What if a lesson is bad?

15What does a background check actually search?

16Does a tutor get my home address?

17Can a tutor message my child directly?

18Who is allowed to leave a review?

19What happens to the applicants who do not get in?

20Are lessons recorded?

21When am I actually paid?

22Do I set my own rate, and can I move it later?

23Is there a minimum number of hours?

24Do I have to teach in person?

25What happens if I fail the subject test?

26Who pays for the free first half hour?

Say what it is about first. The rest of the form already knows where it is going.

74 hours a week, and two desks that never close

The fastest answer here is half an hour with somebody