Tips for Effective Tutoring

1. Be on time. Students depend on having you there at the scheduled time.
2. Make yourself available to the students.
3. Be prepared to answer students' questions. Presumably you already know the subject matter, but you must also know the assignments. The only way to do that effectively is to read them carefully in advance and, where possible, try to work them out.
4. Give students help, not answers. They shouldn't become dependent on you; be pleasant but ruthless about this. Students will beg you for a quick-fix answer, and it's easier for you just to give it than to point them towards finding the solution themselves. Nonetheless, resist the temptation, because students will come to expect you to fix their problems for them. In the long run, that hurts both them and you.
5. Remind students to prepare for a tutoring session by reading and thinking about the subject beforehand; they should be ready to work when they sit down with you.