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For Parents

Deciding about a maths tutor, without the sales pitch

Most of what is written about choosing a tutor is written by people selling tutoring. These guides are the answers Tahira gives parents at a first assessment — including the situations where the honest answer is that you do not need to hire anybody.

Written by Ansa Ameer Tahira, MPhil in Mathematics, from seven years of one-to-one teaching across the Cambridge, Edexcel, AQA and OCR specifications.

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The thing worth knowing before you hire anyone

A mark can only be lost for four reasons: the topic was not known (knowledge), the topic was known but the wrong approach was chosen (method), the approach was right and something slipped on the way through (arithmetic), or the question was never reached (time).

Only the first of those is repaired by teaching the topic again. That is the reason a capable child can revise for months, be taught conscientiously, and watch the grade sit still — because revision, and a great deal of tutoring, treats every lost mark as a knowledge gap.

Everything in this section follows from that. It is also the reason a tutor should establish what is actually going wrong before quoting you for lessons, and why you are entitled to ask them to.

Parent Guides

Six questions, answered properly

Free to read, no sign-up. Each one explains the reasoning rather than listing tips, because the reasoning is what lets you judge a situation this page has not anticipated.

The parent guides are being updated. In the meantime, the full FAQ covers most of the same ground.

Due Diligence

Questions to ask before choosing a mathematics tutor

These are worth asking of every tutor you speak to, including this one. Under each is what a considered answer sounds like — and, in the interest of not pretending to be neutral, what the answer here would be.

01What is currently costing my child marks, and how do you know?

This is the question that separates a tutor with a process from one without. It is hard to answer well without having assessed the student, and impossible to answer well with a sales pitch.

What a good answer sounds like

A specific, evidenced observation about mechanism — “she knows the trigonometry, she is choosing the wrong rule in the first thirty seconds” — rather than a topic name.

Our answer

The free 40-minute diagnostic exists to answer exactly this. Every lost mark is classified as knowledge, method, arithmetic or time, and the ranking is what decides what the lessons contain.

02Which specification is my child sitting, and what is distinctive about it?

“GCSE maths” is not one thing. AQA, Edexcel and OCR phrase reasoning questions differently and provide different formula sheets; Cambridge IGCSE 0580 and Edexcel International GCSE 4MA1 overlap in content and differ in paper structure.

What a good answer sounds like

An immediate, confident answer, and a reason it matters for your child specifically.

Our answer

Cambridge IGCSE 0580 and 0607, Edexcel International GCSE 4MA1, AQA 8300, Edexcel 1MA1, OCR J560, Cambridge O Level 4024 and Additional Mathematics 4037, Cambridge 9709 and Edexcel GCE A Level, plus AP and the Pakistani boards. Past-paper practice is matched to the actual entry.

03What will I receive in writing, and how often?

This is what you will use in three months to judge whether it is working. A tutor with a real process has an answer ready; one without will offer to keep you posted.

What a good answer sounds like

A named document at the start, and a stated reporting rhythm you can hold them to.

Our answer

A written Mathematical Progression Roadmap within 24 hours of the diagnostic — the gaps found, the order they will be closed in, realistic milestones — then a written report every two weeks measured against it. You keep the roadmap whether or not you book lessons.

04Who will actually teach the lessons?

Worth asking directly of agencies. Continuity matters more in mathematics than in most subjects, because the value builds on knowing exactly what this student got wrong last month and why.

What a good answer sounds like

A clear answer, and a clear policy on what happens if that person is unavailable.

Our answer

Tahira, every time. The person who runs your diagnostic teaches every subsequent lesson and writes every progress report. There are no assistant tutors and no group classes.

05Can you guarantee a grade?

The right answer is no, and how it is delivered tells you a great deal. Too much of an exam result sits outside a tutor’s control for a guarantee to be honest.

What a good answer sounds like

A plain no, followed by what they will commit to instead.

Our answer

No, and nobody honest can. What is promised instead is a real plan, consistent teaching, specific reporting, and a straight answer whenever you ask for one.

06What would make you tell us we do not need you?

The most revealing question on the list. A tutor who has never told a family their child does not need paid lessons is either not assessing, or not reporting what the assessment found.

What a good answer sounds like

A concrete example, offered without hesitation.

Our answer

When the difficulty is two weeks old and still settling; when the real problem is exam anxiety or reading comprehension rather than mathematics; when the school is already providing the right intervention. All three get said at the diagnostic stage rather than in results week.

07How much will this cost, and what does it include?

A confident quote before any assessment was not based on anything about your child. Ask what is included as well as what it costs, because add-ons are where the number moves.

What a good answer sounds like

A refusal to quote before assessing, followed by a clear account of what a fee covers.

Our answer

Nothing is quoted until there is a plan to quote against. There is no registration fee, no materials fee and no minimum term; worksheets, past papers, lesson recordings and the fortnightly reports are all included. How pricing works.

08What happens between lessons, and how is it checked?

More predictive of the outcome than the number of sessions. Attempting problems unaided is what builds retrieval; a lesson is where difficulties get diagnosed, not where learning is completed.

What a good answer sounds like

A defined practice set, and a stated method for reviewing it that is not simply marking.

Our answer

A targeted practice set matched to the topic just covered. The next lesson opens by working through it to find where the reasoning broke — reviewed rather than marked, because the score matters less than the point of failure.

Ask these of us directly if you would rather — every message is answered by Tahira personally.

The Next Step

What the free assessment gives you

It is an assessment, not a sales call — and the output is yours whether or not you go any further.

Forty minutes, one-to-one, at no cost. Your child works through targeted problems while Tahira watches how they approach them, not whether the answer comes out right.
An answer to the question above. Which of the four causes — knowledge, method, arithmetic, time — is actually costing the marks, and in what order.
A written Mathematical Progression Roadmap within 24 hours. The gaps named against the specification, the order to close them in, and realistic milestones. Yours to keep either way.
A straight answer about fit — including if that answer is that your child does not need paid tutoring.
No card details at any point, and nothing quoted until there is a plan to quote against.

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Quick Answers

Questions parents ask first

How do I know whether my child actually needs a maths tutor?

The useful question is not whether your child finds mathematics hard but whether the gap is self-correcting. A difficulty with brand new material usually closes on its own. A gap in something foundational does not, because every following topic leans on it. The most informative signal is revision going in without marks coming out, because that means the effort is aimed at something other than what is costing the marks.

What should I ask a maths tutor before hiring them?

Ask what is currently costing your child marks and how they know, which specification your child is sitting and what is distinctive about it, what you will receive in writing and how often, and what they would tell you if tutoring were not the right answer. The quality of those answers separates a tutor with a process from one without.

Should a tutor guarantee a grade?

No. Too much of an exam result sits outside a tutor’s control — the paper, the day, the marking — for a guarantee to be honest. A guaranteed grade is a warning sign rather than a reassurance. What can reasonably be promised is a clear plan, consistent teaching and a straight answer whenever you ask for one.

How soon should we see progress?

It depends what the assessment found. Method-selection and timing problems can shift within weeks. Rebuilt foundations show up first as fuller working and faster, more confident attempts, and reach the score later. Percentage scores are a lagging and noisy measure, so the composition of the errors is a better early indicator than the mark.

How much does mathematics tutoring cost?

Learn with Tahira quotes each student individually after a free 40-minute diagnostic assessment, rather than publishing a headline rate. The quote reflects which gaps are real, how many sessions a week the written roadmap calls for, and how long support is likely to be needed. The diagnostic and the roadmap cost nothing.

More in the full mathematics tutoring FAQ, or read about the tutor.

The Next Step

Let’s find out where the problem actually is.

Forty minutes, one-to-one, at no cost. You will know which of the four causes is costing your child marks, and you will have it in writing within 24 hours — whether or not you book a single lesson.

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