Types of Tutoring Compared: Which One Suits Your Child
Five formats, sold as if they were the same product. They are not.
"Tutoring" covers formats with almost nothing in common. A HK$200 on-demand app and a HK$800 one-to-one hour are different products solving different problems, and families routinely buy the wrong one.
The five formats
| Format | Best at | Bad at | Rough cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| One-to-one | Content gaps, compressed timelines, coursework such as the IA | Value, if the problem is only exam technique | HK$400-1,200/hr |
| Small group (3-6) | Exam technique, hearing others reason, sustained motivation | Students far behind the group | HK$250-500/hr |
| Large class (8+) | Cost | Everything the school already does | HK$150-300/hr |
| On-demand homework help | Unblocking a single stuck question tonight | Building anything, because there is no continuity or plan | Subscription |
| Self-study platform | Drill volume and instant marking | Diagnosing why a student keeps making the same error | Subscription |
Match the format to the actual problem
Diagnose first. Look at a marked past paper and categorise the lost marks.
- Content the student does not know → one-to-one, at least at first. A group moves at the group's pace and a student behind it falls further behind.
- Content known, marks lost anyway → small group. This is technique, and technique is learned faster with other people's mistakes in the room.
- Stuck on tonight's homework → on-demand. Do not buy a term of tutoring for this.
- Not enough practice → a platform, or just past papers. Paying a human to supervise drilling is expensive supervision.
- Coursework: IA, Extended Essay, personal statement → one-to-one. There is nothing to share with a group.
Where families waste money
Buying one-to-one for a technique problem. The most common error and the most expensive. A student who knows the material and writes poor answers does not need more attention, they need a taught answer structure and other people to compare against.
Buying a large class and calling it tutoring. Eight students and a whiteboard is a lesson. The school supplies those already.
Subscribing to a platform and assuming use. Ask for the usage stats after a month before renewing.