17th January 2014 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Tutors and students are currently in the post-Christmas haze, leaving the holidays behind and coming to terms with the fact that work looms once again. For students this can be a particularly difficult time of year, as many have January exams that they now have to rush to prepare for. The Christmas holidays offer an extremely welcome break, but heading into the New Year with a huge pile of work waiting can be quite daunting. It is no coincidence that tutors and tuition agencies receive a spike in the numbers of tuition requests at this time of year. But January is not just a difficult time for students; it can also be a challenge for tutors.
Firstly, most tutors are not sitting back waiting for work to come in. Most tutors are very busy helping their students prepare for GCSE and A’ Level exams, and come January are under a lot of pressure to help their students revise and achieve the best results possible. This is probably the most panicked time of the year, as students relax over Christmas and leave exam revision and coursework till the last minute. Meanwhile, tutors have to meet the demands of students and parents who require extra sessions, and make frenzied calls about coursework help and deadlines. Added to that, many tutors will receive new requests from students who have realised that they need urgent help.
In the end, neither tutors nor students enjoy this time of year very much. But there are certain things that can be done to ease the pain of getting back to work in January. The most important thing is to face what has to be done. Tutors can help students do this my making a list of what needs to be written or revised, and prioritising activities. The next step is to break the work down in manageable chunks and set realistic deadlines which the tutor can monitor. Overall, tutors can help their students by reassuring them that with a disciplined approach, they have not left it too late to catch up.