Halfway through one of the most turbulent academic years in recent memory, many parents are finding that the challenges of pandemic schooling are having a negative impact on their children’s grades. Students who consistently received As and Bs are now getting Cs, and those who were already struggling to keep up before the pandemic began are at risk of having to repeat the entire semester.
Given how chaotic learning conditions have been over the past year, it is no surprise that even determined and hard-working students are suffering. But for those in their final years of secondary school who are planning on pursuing a university education, one bad semester can be disastrous. What can these students do to ensure that they will end the school year strong?
The Role Professional Tutors Play in Providing Academic Support
Support has always been essential to academic success: in order to learn, students need individualized feedback, an opportunity to ask questions, and space to explore complicated ideas with instructors who understand them.
Under pandemic conditions, when lessons happen over zoom and teachers are often stretched by breaking-point, the most effective way to get that personalized help during the pandemic is through companies like Prep Academy Tutors that offer online tutoring services.
Professional tutors supplement to regularly scheduled classes by providing students with one-on-one learning support, giving them a safe place where they can ask questions and go over difficult material as often as they need to. Hiring a local tutor who understands the curriculum can help schoolchildren:
- Take the time they need to master difficult concepts
- Overcome or manage learning obstacles like math anxiety or dyslexia
- Develop problem-solving strategies for dealing with challenging material
Often all a child needs in order to keep up in class is a little extra time working through their lessons and homework, and by offering personalized, student-centered lessons, tutors play an important role in helping struggling students.
Why Tutoring is Particularly Important for Students Studying Remotely
One of the most common complaints from students regarding distance learning is that it is much harder to stay focused. Distractions abound, and children who have a hard time focusing may find their minds drifting over the course of a long day spent sitting in front of a computer.
This causes many students to fall so far behind that even a concerted effort to catch up can sometimes be futile. This creates a vicious cycle in which discouragement leads to apathy, and the failure to keep up caused by apathy creates further discouragement.
Because tutoring sessions are individual, students are personally engaged throughout the session. Tutors help them to catch up on lessons they may have day-dreamed through, while also providing concrete advice on how to focus on their studies.
It is not clear how much of the coming semester will be held online, and depending on which state, province, or community you live in, the restrictions and guidelines may be different.
What is clear is that students who are falling behind need tangible support to help them stay focused during these difficult times, and tutoring is the most reliable way to provide this.