The Four Best Places to Find a Tutor

Update: I've added a link to Northgate High School's peer tutoring program.

Are you looking for a tutor? Our capitalistic economy provides a dizzying array of educational options, and part of my job is to help you sort through them, even if you end up working with someone else as a result.

Why would I purposefully direct you to tutor who's a better fit for you? Most of my business comes from word of mouth, and I believe that following the Golden Rule and giving to others will benefit me indirectly. (Check out this animation about win-win scenarios.) What's best for you is often what's best for me.

Full-time tutors start at $45/hour, and tutors with perfect SAT and ACT scores are $180-600/hour. Use the guide below to evaluate your options.

Peer Tutors

Most schools offer free or low-cost peer tutoring. I used to work as one of those tutors when I was in eighth grade. That's the lowest-end option and is suitable for help with homework, since those tutors are likely to be most familiar with the local curriculum.

If you go this route, you'll probably want to do sessions multiple times a week to stay caught up in school.

Using peer tutoring to get A's in math and English is an excellent way to prepare for the SAT and ACT and will reduce the number of sessions you'll need with a test prep specialist.

Similarly, you can get a peer tutor multiple times per week for an AP class and wait until March to hire a test prep specialist to help you prepare for the corresponding SAT Subject Test and AP exam.

You can find your school's peer tutoring page by searching Google for your school's name plus the word tutoring.

Northgate High School's peer tutoring program meets in the Multimedia Center.

I also have students with perfect SAT/ACT Math and Calculus BC scores who currently work as private tutors. They're good options at the high end of the peer tutoring spectrum.

Tutoring Companies

Medium-sized companies (JC Education, Lafayette Academy, Zenith Tutoring) and big companies (Kaplan, Princeton Review, Tried and True Tutoring, Compass Prep) charge two to five times what they pay out to tutors. They offer tutoring in the range of $45-250 an hour.

You'll be getting a lower-paid tutor, but the service is convenient, as those companies are one-stop shops for help in all subjects, including college admissions counseling.

In general, the larger the company, the more standardized its product will be. I personally go to huge corporations for commoditized services where I want predictability: gasoline (World Oil), book delivery (Amazon), and health food (Odwalla). Standardization is less of a benefit in situations where you have to learn a skill like swing dancing, writing, or math.

Mid-Tier Independent Subject Tutors

You can also hire independent educators through Web sites like Thumbtack and Wyzant, and you'll also find some advertising on NextDoor. You'll probably get more for your money than if you go through a big company.

A credentialed teacher who can tutor in most school subjects will run you about $70/hour, depending on the area you live in.

$70/hour is theoretically a bit low in California: the average high school teacher makes $75,000 a year. In order to be incentivized to tutor full-time, which is 20 hours a week of tutoring with 20 hours of driving and prep, the teacher needs to make around $75/hour AFTER paying business expenses and the extra taxes involved in being self-employed. That could end up being more like $90/hour gross of expenses, but I use $70/hour as an average because that's what I tend to observe in the market.

Of course, there are great tutors who charge less than $70/hour, just as there are great teachers who make less than $75,000 a year. (Un-unionized private school teachers - I used to be one - come to mind.) Just be aware that in general, you get what you pay for, and if you want something great at a relatively low rate, you have to be willing to evaluate a number of tutors to find the diamond in the rough.

Top-Tier Test Prep Specialists

Finally, there are independent specialists, each of whom focuses on one academic area and does it very well.

For example, I have a master's degree in chemistry from Stanford and perfect scores on most standardized tests, so I tutor mainly SAT/ACT, Math Level 2, calculus, and AP Chemistry. Audrey Slaughter specializes in college admissions counseling and spends a large portion of each year visiting college campuses and keeping up-to-date with changes in her field.

Specialized tutoring runs up to $600/hour and works best to address specific needs rather than as a long-term solution to raise grades. You may want to consider hiring a peer tutor to come multiple times per week and then supplement with a specialist two months before the AP test or four months before the SAT.

Tutors with perfect SAT and ACT scores are relatively rare, as they could be working at Google or founding startups instead of spending their weekends with high school students. They're usually high-value educators with multiple qualifications.

My own tutoring service compares favorably with other top-tier options. If you'd like to have ACT score gains of 5-10 points, SAT score gains of 180-350 points, or perfect scores on Subject Tests and AP tests, please contact me so I can help you create a study plan.