How to Manage Tutoring around Exams

Overview

As a medical student with a pretty intense exam period, I completely understand the stress of tutoring around this time. It may seem overwhelming as you may not feel you have enough time to plan/carry out the sessions. I have a few pieces of advice on how to manage tutoring around exams which helped me through exam period…

Use tutoring as a break!

Although the exam period can be pretty intense I thoroughly enjoy tutoring through it. This is due to the fact that taking breaks while studying is crucial. Nobody can be productive all day. In order for our brains to take in and learn new information, breaks are integral. I liked to see tutoring as a break from studying. This is because it meant I could go home from the library and do something which was different from my course!

Organisation – obvious but key

One key tip in tutoring around exams is being organised. For example, you may have overlap between exams and tutoring sessions. If this is the case, make sure you know and acknowledge this from early on so if needed you can make the necessary changes to the lesson(s). If you are unable to tutor for a whole week then another option is that (if okay with the student) you could double up the lessons in the week prior to make up for the session you will be unable to attend the next week. Do not forget that it may also be exam period for the person you tutor, and therefore in order to cause the last amount of disruption for student as well as yourself being organised is crucial!

Another reason it is important to be organised is when it comes to planning your tutoring sessions. It is important to set aside sufficient time to plan your sessions as your exams should not impact the quality of your tutoring. Although it may feel like there is not much time to plan sessions in exam period as it can be very hectic, utilise the time that you do have; examples of this could be when you are on the bus ride home etc.

Bonus tip – be responsible!

Also, I also did not pick up any more taster sessions in my exam period to reduce the stress. However, everyone is different. If you feel that the extra breaks in revision would be more beneficial to you, then go for it! Just do be mindful when you are picking up taster sessions and students to tutor throughout the year as although you may have more time now you will have to also tutor them through the exam period so do not take on more than you can manage. I do think that, as mentioned before, tutoring can be very beneficial during exam period. This is because it allows you to break out of what can be a really repetitive and boring studying cycle.

Hopefully, this has given you some gold nuggets to take away and you can better manage tutoring around exams!