TOP FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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What is the cancellation policy?
Just as the rescheduling policy requires a 24 hour notice, so does the cancellation policy. The first offense will be excused however all further offenses (no call/no-show) will result in deduction of 1 hour automatically from the account and will be paid to the tutor. Please note that all sessions can be rescheduled with timely notice as the hours can be used at the Client/Student’s discretion (note all package hours expire within 12 rolling months). For any emergencies, please contact your tutor immediately always. If you are unable in get in touch with the tutor, please contact Management and we can facilitate communication between both parties or to resolve any disputes.
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How often will I be charged for tutoring?
We make payment simple and straightforward for our parents. Payment is initially made after a Tutor has been selected and you (the Client/Student) has paid for a package of hours. Afterwards, payments are only made when you decide to “Recharge” your account through a purchase of another package of hours – you will be notified when you are nearing ‘0’ hours remaining on your account and all further tutoring will be automatically suspended until the hours are recharged. You are able to track all payments via the Payment portion of your Dashboard (found when logged into Tutortroops.com)
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What is the rescheduling policy?
In order to reschedule a session, you must contact your tutor 24 hours in advance. The first-time violation of this policy will trigger a warning but any subsequent last minute cancellations can be charged full price for the time at the discretion of the tutor [based upon arrangement between tutor and client]. Note Tutor Troops Management is not responsible for assisting with rescheduling.
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How often should my student receive tutoring?
Every student is unique with different needs so we advise our parents on this question on a case by case basis. Please reach out to our Management team at Tutor Troops and one of our Educational Directors will review your account with you to determine the optimal number of weekly hours you need based upon the student’s current status in Class or Test Prep. The hours in your package can be used at your discretion and ultimately the number of hours you receive should be tailored around achieving the child’s academic goals. We recommend having a set day/time on a weekly basis to establish a establish a routine, structure and discipline for the best results.
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How do I request a tutor?
You can send your request directly from our website by clicking on the “Request a Tutor” link found on the homepage. You will have to enter information regarding the tutoring you are seeking for your child including grade, subject, class and goals. In order to make the best possible tutor match, you will also be required to provide preferences including availability and location. To finish off the process, just confirm and submit.
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What happens if I am not satisfied with my tutor?
First and foremost, we’ll be sorry to hear that but if that does happen, its effortless to get re-matched with another tutor. If this happens after the first session, submitting a ‘2’ or lower on the OVERALL rating in the follow-up survey will automatically trigger a search for a new tutor. If the need to replace the tutor arises anytime afterwards, you can always select the “Request Another Tutor” option from the Tutor tab in your Dashboard on any ongoing request.
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Tell me about the tutors you have on your staff?
One of the many factors that make us unique from our fellow friends in the tutoring industry are our tutors. We have a diverse team of tutors that come from different educational backgrounds, experiences, and teaching styles. We require all of our tutors to have strong academic backgrounds, subject mastery, teaching experience, as well as the ability to connect with students and parents. Our high standards account for a selective 2% hiring rate of the total number of applicants. We conduct multiple rounds of interviews, including mock tutoring sessions, and reference checks. Only after a complete vetting process, background check and training are prospective tutors invited to join the Tutor Troops team.
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How do I pay my tutoring bill?
You can pay online on the Tutor Troops platform via Stripe [our secure payment provider] using any major credit cards. No checks/cash are accepted.
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How do I manage my tutoring?
All aspects of your child’s tutoring can be managed via your Dashboard – accessible through logging into your account on www.tutortroops.com. Once in the Dashboard, you can Click on the “Manage” button that appears at the bottom right corner of the respective tutoring request. You will be able to access your tutor’s contact information, upcoming scheduled sessions, and progress reports.
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My child’s subject needs are changing, do I keep the same tutor?
The learning process is much quicker and effective when there is a level of familiarity and bond between the tutor and the student. If your child requires tutoring in an additional subject, and your current tutor is proficient in the new subject matter, we advise you to continue with your tutor, so as to not disrupt the continuity of your tutor’s relationship with your child. You can do this by contacting Management to update your Request subject and continue refreshing your hours as normal. However, if a new tutor is needed for a new subject, then we recommend sending a new request all together (through the same process as the first time) and contacting Management to transfer credits/hours.
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Why Tutor Troops?
What a question! We’d say it’s the great service, ease of use, helpful team, quality tutors, smooth experience, or you can just experience it for yourself.
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How do I know if my child or student needs tutoring?
Watch for the signals: low test scores, difficulty with homework, loss of interest in school, falling behind in class, and other symptoms of a lack of motivation or proper study skills. Remember: early intervention prevents a cumulative build-up of school problems. If you see any of these signals, contact our Educational Directors to check which tutoring programs would be a good fit for your child.
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What can I expect in a tutoring session?
Your Tutor Trooper will arrive promptly and fully prepared to engage your child in an effective tutoring session. Our method of one-on-one instruction, coupled with creating study plans, carefully explaining concepts, and reviewing homework, are highly effective in ensuring our students learn the material and reflect their knowledge through application at school, which consequently leads to better grades. Throughout the learning process, the session is fun and motivating, involving much more than simply completing homework, but rather leaving a lasting positive impression in the student, including boosting his/her confidence and stirring a long-term interest in the subject matter. At the end of the session, your tutor will assign homework to keep your child on track and measure their progress.
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What are the hourly rates for tutoring?
We offer various monthly subscriptions based on your child’s needs and how often you would like your child to work with a tutor. Our hourly rates drop the more hours in the month you decide to pre-purchase. In general, our rates are between $50-60 per hour. If you’re not sure how many hours are needed, dont worry we have your covered. Our Educational Directors will assess your child and provide a recommendation on how many hours are needed.
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Where does the tutoring take place?
Tutoring sessions take place where the Client prefers whether that be their homes, a local library, coffee shop or even distance tutoring remotely. That said, the final location must be mutually agreed upon by the Client and the Tutor.
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How long does it take to get matched with our tutor?
Our proprietary matching process guarantees that your child will be matched with one of our expert tutors within 24 hours. There’s even a countdown in your Dashboard to show you how many hours are left if you haven’t heard from us! Once the match has been made, the tutor will call your to arrange details for the first session. In our world, the first tutoring session can take place on the 25th hour. Why wait to learn!
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What areas do you service?
We are currently in operations across major metropolitan cities in the United States (NYC, LA, Washington DC, Atlanta, Houston) and growing to more each day.
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What is the tutor match guarantee?
The Match Guarantee is our way of ensuring you are satisfied with your Tutor at all times. This means that after you match with a tutor and get started with them, if for some reason you are not satisfied, you can use our system to find another free of charge [your hours will be credited over to your new package].
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How long is a tutoring session?
One session is 90 minutes. We can accommodate longer or shorter sessions depending on the family’s preference. Our Educational Director will work with you directly to determine the optimal session time for your child.
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How do I get started?
Easy! You can send a request from our Homepage or here with all your key information (Subject, Availability, # of Hours needed, etc..) and tutors who are interested from among our Base will apply and appear in your Dashboard to choose. Upon selection and payment, the tutor will contact you to get setup the first session.
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Tell me about the Tutors?
Our tutors are independent contractors that leverage our platform to promote their services; their information, background, experience, and subject expertise are listed on their profiles which will help enable you to make a decision as to the best tutor for you.
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What is the application process to become a Tutor Trooper?
The application process is simple and straightforward – it only takes about 10-15 minutes. During the application process, you will setup your Profile (contains your Bio, Experience, Subjects Tutored, Hourly Rate, Awards/Recognitions, References) which is really an opportunity for you to showcase your abilities to us (Tutor Troops) but more importantly, the Students using our platform. Contact Management if you have any questions during the sign-up process.
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What if I need to reschedule a tutoring session?
In order to reschedule a session, you must contact your student and parent 24 hours in advance to make arrangements for a make-up session; we advise you to reschedule your session to another day within the week so your student still receives the help they need in a timely fashion.
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Is there any training required to become a Tutor Trooper?
There is no tutoring required to become a Tutor Trooper as our expectation is that you, an independent tutor (contractor), have the skills needed to succeed in your craft. That said, our Tutor Troops does provide supplemental support through optional training webinars as well as materials/tools enabling tutors to succeed.
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What is Tutor Troops’ background check policy?
All tutors are recommended to undergo a background check before tutoring – this must be conducted independently through various approved Agencies that offer this service. Upon completion, you can submit your proof/documentation of your check directly to info@tutortroops.com so that Management can review. If all checks out, no pun intended, we will add a “Badge” on your Profile signifying that you have successfully completed a background check for clients to see during the Matching process (this will not only increase your chances of being selected but provides another layer of peace of mind for your students).
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Which subjects can I teach with Tutor Troops?
We specialize in providing the best academic tutoring for grades K-12. We cover all subjects that are taught in elementary, middle and high school including AP and IB classes. A list of all the subjects that you can potentially teach can be found on the subjects page. In order to receive requests for a particular subject, you must pass a qualification test. This ensures that our tutors have a sound understanding of the subject matter.
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How am I matched with new students?
Once you are approved in a subject, you will receive email notification when new students become available. In “Requests” in your Dashboard, you will find all applicable information regarding a student. For each request, you have the ability to accept or reject. Once you accept a student, you will be added to a list of potential tutors who have also accepted – we urge you to be quick with this as Clients/Students see request as they are accepted. Clients/Students have the prerogative to choose their Tutor based upon your Profile (Bio/Experience/Hourly Rate/Rating). You will receive notification if you are selected by the Client/Student. At that time, you must call them immediately (within 24 hours) to setup the first session.
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How do I manage my students?
All students can be managed via your Dashboard which you can access through logging into www.tutortroops.com. Click on the “Manage” button that appears at the bottom right corner of each respective student. You will be able to access of your students information such as but not limited to: hours remaining, upcoming scheduled sessions, stockpiles, and progress reports.
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What if I need to cancel a tutoring session?
We recognize that sickness, family events, or other unexpected occurrences may arise such that you are unable to keep your confirmed session with your student. In such cases, a 24 hours-notice must be provided to the student and/or parent (whomever is designated as the primary point of contact on a request). It is also your responsibility to make up the missed session so that your student receives the help they need.
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How often will I be paid?
Tutor Troopers are paid biweekly with the Pay Period closing Sunday 11:59 EST and Payments issued on/by Monday 11:59 pm EST. The paychecks are processed via PayPal and using this account, you can transfer to the financial institution of your choice (funds arrive within 2 days). Payments are based upon all logged sessions within the 2 week Pay Period. As a reminder, progress reports for completed tutoring sessions must be logged within 24 hours of the session.
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Why should I work for Tutor Troops?
There are many opportunities for an educated and motivated individual, especially in the tutoring industry. Today, as the tutoring industry grows rapidly, there is a constantly increasing demand for qualified tutors. This is why we, the founders, having been tutors ourselves, sought to create a unique tutoring service that would be a highly attractive place for tutors to work. Though we have pivoted many times in our business model, we believe we have achieved something now that is truly valuable for both Students and Tutors, but especially the Tutors! We not only notify/provide Tutors with local tutoring opportunities that they can accepts at their discretion (if the request aligns with your skillset, schedule, and geographical proximity), we totally don’t even micromanage and allow Tutors to set their own rates, hours and manage the entire process online on our site. Furthermore, our team actively offers you support on ongoing tutoring requests through academic advice or supplemental materials upon request; this is in addition to the value our platform brings by allowing Tutors to track progress, manage schedules, message students/clients, and most importantly, receive generous take-home payments (accounting for a minimal Tutor Troops platform fee %). Many of our tutors have gone to illustrious careers, and we have served as a network/springboard for them to leverage throughout their admissions process to medical school, law school, and other professional schools and jobs. We aim for tutors to learn, grow, and launch their careers, if they haven’t already, in which case, we fit right into your 9-5 schedule as most tutoring is preferred in after hours (6pm – 9pm) or weekends. What we are really trying to say is – we’re a great fit overall and we’d love to have you join us on our journey to serve as many students as possible!
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How do I know my tutor is qualified?
Our tutors are only able to apply for your particular Subject’s request if they have completed and passed a proficiency test on our system to validate their qualifications for that subject. Tutors will also only apply on a request if they satisfy all of the request’s criteria in terms of availability.
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Tell me about the tutors you have on your platform?
We’d love to tell you but it’s better if we let them say it for themselves. What we will say is that we do have a diverse team of tutors that come from different educational backgrounds, experiences, and teaching styles. Our tutors are independent contractors who have profiles on our site for their tutoring services. The profiles showcase a tutor’s subject expertise (displayed only after a tutor completes a proficiency test to validate), rating (based upon all previous tutoring on tutortroops.com), hourly rate (set by tutors), bio/experience, and more. Furthermore, tutors with a designated background check symbol have had a background check performed and documented within our records, adding one additional layer of piece of mind. You are empowered to choose among those tutors who apply for your request based upon their tutors – their phone numbers will become available for you to contact the tutor after you proceed to purchase a package. So the choice is yours’ but you do have some good choices!
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What is the refund policy?
For all completed tutoring sessions, no refunds will be awarded. All tutoring package hours must be used within the school year they are purchased; any unused hours by the end of the school cycle [relative to the county school system] will automatically expire with no refund. Early cancellation of services with hours remaining on a purchased package can be rolled over to a new tutoring request in select circumstances, at the discretion of the Tutor Troops management team. If a refund is requested on an account with unused hours, an early termination fee of $50 is applied regardless of the hours remaining on an account. Note: In select circumstances, case by case, at the discretion of Tutor Troops Management, hours may be rolled over to the following school year.
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What is Tutor Troops’ stance on online/remote tutoring?
Distance learning can take the form of video-based learning sessions, or messenger / text-based services, as first agreed upon by the tutor and student/guardian. Our individual tutors registered via TutorTroops.com are encouraged to facilitate distance learning, where suitable and as requested by students. Note: TutorTroops.com does not provide technical support for these purposes. However, we recommend the following technologies as potential solutions for distance learning: Zoom: Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing Skype: Skype | Communication tool for free calls and chat Facetime: Use FaceTime with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch
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When do my hours expire?
All tutoring hours remaining on any active tutoring package must be used within 12 rolling months of purchase. For all purchased packages with remaining hours, no refunds will be awarded. Only credits can be issued on an active tutoring request that can be carried over to a new request [management team must be contacted directly for this to take effect].
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What test prep can I teach with Tutor Troops?
All of the Tests offered through our Platform can be found on our homepage but include the following: SAT, ACT, ASVAB, GED, SSAT, and TJ Test Prep Exam.
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What are typical hours for tutoring?
First and foremost, a majority of clients/students are very flexible with scheduling from what we’ve noticed from our experience over the years. That said, using data collected from our inception, we have noticed that most tutoring takes place M-F between 5 pm – 9pm and Sat/Sun 12pm – 6pm as a general rule of thumb. Of course each tutoring request and student is unique therefore it is best to work out a time that works best for both parties through a dialogue.
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Where do tutoring sessions take place?
Generally tutoring sessions take place 1-on-1 in-person at the home of the Client/Student, local library or coffee shop, at the discretion/preference of the Client/Student. That said, we have noticed a shift in preferences recently (post CoVid- 19) from traditional in-person tutoring to online tutoring (distance-learning). Our platform enables Tutors and Students to succeed via both means. Each request that is sent out on Tutor Troops designates the Client’s preferred tutoring location - we urge tutors to only accept requests that align with their preferences.
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I’m not seeing any requests, am I doing something wrong?
Requests come through the Platform as soon as they are sent by the Client/Student. As such, tutoring is a very cyclical business (peaks in Fall/Spring, downtime in Summer) and is closely affected by the school calendar schedule. This may be one factor for why the volume of requests may have declined. That said, if you see the Requests in your Dashboard but cannot apply to them, it is because you are not qualified to teach that subject - you must take that subject’s Proficiency test and pass in order to teach it on the Tutor Troops Platform. Otherwise if you cannot apply, the Request has expired and no longer active.
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What if my tutor moves/can no longer tutor?
In the event your tutor moves out of the area or can no longer tutor your student, you can always use Tutortroops to find a new one by following through the Rematch process. This begins by clicking the “Request a New Tutor” option on your Dashboard for the active request. Once the request enters rematch, new tutors will apply for your request to choose from and you will follow the same process as before. As a reminder, your existing hours will transfer over with your tutor.
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How do I pay my tutoring bill?
Once your child has been officially matched with a tutor and you have had the opportunity to review/approve, you will be directed to the Review Tutoring page. In this process, we ask you applicable questions regarding the logistics of the sessions and gather information about your child. Towards the conclusion of this process, you will be able to pay using our certified Payment Processer (Stripe) using any major credit/debit card including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover. Tutoring will only take place when payment has been made.
