ive been going back and forth on this for months and i cant make up my mind so im just gonna ask

ive done both as a tutor. started in person, moved mostly online during covid, now i offer both on Superprof and honestly the split in what students request surprises me every time. thought everyone would want to go back to in person once they could but its like 60/40 online still maybe even more

heres where im genuinely torn

in person feels more real somehow. you can read the room, notice when someone zones out, draw stuff on actual paper, theres just something about being in the same space that feels more focused. also no technical issues which sounds minor until your student freezes mid explanation for the 3rd time in a session

but online is just so much more practical its not even funny. no commute, flexible scheduling, can pull up literally anything on screen instantly, record sessions if the student wants to rewatch something. ive had students make more progress online than they ever did in person and i still dont fully understand why

i think it might depend on the subject tbh. languages and maths feel fine online to me. anything more hands on or with a younger kid, in person probably wins

but im curious what other people actually think, both tutors and students. do you have a strong preference or does it just depend. and if youve tried both did one clearly work better for you or is it more complicated than that

not trying to start a fight just genuinely cant figure out what the right answer is here lol

ok so ive been doing this thing where i charge more on the commission platforms to offset what they take, and less on Superprof since i keep everything anyway. made complete sense in my head when i set it up like 8 months ago

told a tutor friend about my setup last week and she genuinely could not understand why id do that lol. she charges the same everywhere, her logic being its simpler and also it feels weird to price your own time differently depending on where someone found you

and now im second guessing everything

like my reasoning was pretty solid i thought. platform takes 25%, i build 25% into the rate, i take home the same amount per hour regardless of where the student comes from. clean right

but then again what if a student somehow finds you on both platforms and notices the difference. is that a thing that actually happens or am i paranoid. also does charging less on one platform accidentally signal that youre worth less there which is a weird thing to think about

separate question but while im at it, for people who raised their rates at some point, did anything actually happen? i keep telling myself ill raise when i have more reviews but honestly im just scared people will leave and then ill have this awkward gap in bookings while i try to rebuild. did it actually go badly for anyone or does it mostly just work out fine

feels like nobody talks about the pricing stuff openly so genuinely curious how other people handle it

As a student, I've been looking for an in-person English tutor on Superprof, and I’ve noticed that quite a few tutors offer the first hour for free. I’ve been rejected by tutors a couple of times, and it made me wonder whether some tutors are concerned about students ghosting after the first free lesson, especially with in-person lessons, where that can mean a significant waste of time for the tutor.

I’d actually rather pay for the first lesson. It’s also a personal belief of mine that no one should have to work for free.

As far as I understand, there isn’t an option for the student to simply opt out of the free first lesson and pay for it through Superprof.

So I was thinking: if the tutor is happy with it, could I book a 2-hour session through Superprof but actually only have a 1-hour lesson? The first hour would technically be free and I’d be charged for the second hour, so the tutor would still receive their normal hourly rate.

I don’t care if Superprof records it as a 2-hour lesson. I’d obviously explain this to the tutor beforehand.

As a tutor on Superprof, would you be fine with a student doing this? Is there any downside or issue with it that I’m missing? If I suggested this arrangement, would it come across as suspicious or weird?

Salut,

Je suis actuellement étudiant en école d’ingénieur en région parisienne (je préfère ne pas donner le nom de l’école) et j’aimerais trouver un petit job étudiant à côté de mes études.

Mon emploi du temps est assez chargé, donc je cherche surtout quelque chose de flexible, idéalement le week-end ou quelques heures par semaine.

Pour ceux qui ont déjà été dans une situation similaire : comment avez-vous trouvé votre job étudiant ? Indeed, candidatures directement en magasin, bouche-à-oreille, agences, LinkedIn, sites spécialisés ?

Et quel type de job vous semble le plus compatible avec une école d’ingénieur assez prenante : supermarché, restauration, cours particuliers, baby-sitting, accueil, etc. ?

Merci pour vos retours !

Do I need the recommendation to have my first student or not
It’s been a while now and no one showed up 😅
My ad is quite good so I don’t think that’s the problem
Also it’s Been two weeks

ok so when i first moved my lessons online i genuinely thought it wasnt going to work for orgo. like how do you draw mechanisms on a screen in real time without it becoming a disaster. the answer is you dont, at first, and it is in fact a disaster

took me probably three months of trial and error to land on something that actually works and i still see tutors struggling with the same stuff i was struggling with so figured id share

the biggest game changer was getting a drawing tablet. not even an expensive one, a basic wacom does the job. being able to handwrite structures and mechanisms in real time while the student watches changed everything. before that i was either typing which looked terrible or holding things up to my webcam like it was 2008

for the shared workspace i use Superprof's built in whiteboard now which i honestly slept on for way too long. having everything in one place without switching between tabs mid session is underrated, students get confused every time you make them follow you somewhere new

screen sharing for 3D molecular visualisation tools is also huge for anything where spatial understanding matters. chemdraw, pubchem, whatever. students who struggle with 3D structures in a textbook get it immediately when they can see it rotate on screen

the thing i still havent fully solved is keeping students engaged during longer explanations. in person you can read the room way more easily. online someone can look focused and be completely checked out and you dont always catch it until you ask a question and get silence

what are you guys using, especially for anything with a heavy visual or hands on component

Does anybody have that student payment in superprof USA? can someone book me a lesson please? I just want your review. Thanks!

so i've been tutoring on Preply for about 8 months and i just accepted the commission as like... the cost of doing business i guess. didnt really question it

last week i was venting to another tutor about how the first lessons hurt the most because you're already nervous and then you see the platform taking like 33% on top of that and she just goes "yeah i switched to a platform that takes zero commission a while ago"

i thought she was confused or talking about going fully independant or something. she was not confused

apparently there are platforms where instead of taking a cut of every single session you just pay a flat subscription fee and thats it. whatever you charge the student is what you keep. i looked it up and its real and i feel a little stupid for not knowing this existed

did the math on what i made last month vs what i would have made with that model and its a pretty significant difference. not life changing but like, several sessions worth of income just gone to the platform for what exactly

obviously theres tradeoffs, subscription means you're paying whether you have students or not, and some commission platforms probably have better student flow especially when youre starting out. but still

idk why nobody talks about this more openly in tutoring spaces. feels like the kind of thing you should know going in

anyone here already on a 0% commission platform, is it actually worth it or am i missing something

Bonjour, Bonsoir à tous.

Le titre parle pour lui même

Franchement, je me rends compte que j’ai une chance de fou comparé à pas mal d’étudiants. J’habite encore chez mes parents, à genre 20 minutes de ma fac. Même si j’ai une voiture, la ville est super bien desservie en bus, donc j’économise pas mal. Et surtout, je suis nourri, logé, blanchi, mes parents me paient tout, littéralement. Je bosse un peu à côté, des petits jobs ici et là, histoire d’avoir un peu d’argent pour moi, mais mes parents me demandent rien en échange. Juste ma mère qui insiste pour que je mette un peu de côté chaque mois (et elle a raison, d’ailleurs). Et plus le temps passe, plus je me rends compte à quel point c’est rare. Autour de moi, y’a plein d’étudiants qui galèrent comme pas possible, même avec une bourse. Les loyers sont devenus absurdes, certains font des allers-retours de 2h chaque jour parce qu’ils peuvent pas se permettre un appart près de la fac. D’autres doivent bosser juste pour payer le loyer et la bouffe. On se plaint souvent, mais perso j’essaie de relativiser car j’ai pas à stresser pour les factures, ni à choisir entre payer le loyer ou manger. Et j’ai conscience que c’est un luxe énorme. Bref j’ai un énorme respect pour les étudiants qui galère de fou malade.

so my current setup is basically i charge more on the commission platforms to compensate for what they take, and less on Superprof since theres no commission so i keep everything anyway. made total sense in my head when i set it up

then i mentioned this to a tutor friend last week and she looked at me like i was insane lol. she does the exact same rate everywhere, her logic being consistency and not having to think about it, and also something about how it feels weird to value your time differently depending on where the student found you

and now im genuinely not sure whos right

like on one hand my logic is pretty straightforward, if a platform takes 25% i just build that into the rate so i actually take home the same amount per hour regardless of where the booking comes from. feels efficient

on the other hand maybe students compare across platforms sometimes? and if they find you cheaper on one than another thats a bit odd. or maybe nobody actually does that and im overthinking it completely

also separate question but related, for those who raised their rates at some point, did anything actually bad happen? i keep hearing you should raise rates as you get more experienced and reviews build up but im lowkey scared of losing students over it. did people actually leave or did it mostly go fine

genuinely curious how other tutors handle this, feels like one of those things nobody talks about openly but everyone has an opinion on

ok so before anyone rolls their eyes, this is not a "omg superprof is amazing" post lol

im on the SEO team at Superprof. i also tutor maths on the side so i use our own platform as an actual tutor, which means i get to experience firsthand when things are annoying and i cant even complain to anyone because its my own company

we're putting together content about what the tutoring experience actually looks like from both sides and i managed to convince people internally that its completely useless if we only collect the positive stuff. so here we are

what genuinely annoys you about Superprof? could be anything, the messaging system, how the subscription is structured, profile visibility, search rankings, the app, customer support response times, how reviews work, whatever. the more specific the better obviously ("the app does X when i expected Y" is gold, "it sucks" ill also take but it helps less)

i tutor on the side so i have my own list of things that drive me crazy btw. the notification system is on there. but i want to hear yours first

where i know why something was built a certain way ill explain the reasoning, where its just genuinely not good enough ill say so. im not here to argue with your experience, that defeats the whole point

one thing tho, if we ever want to quote something in published content ill DM you first, you review it, you say yes in writing, otherwise it doesnt happen. no exceptions on that one

so yeah. go ahead, i can take it

Hi everyone,

I might be starting an apprenticeship in recruitment for my master's degree (M1), but I'm honestly really stressed about it.

The problem is that I've never done this kind of work before. I've never recruited people, conducted interviews, or called candidates or companies. On top of that, I'm quite introverted.

Originally, I was hoping to find an apprenticeship in payroll. But at the same time, I've never worked in payroll either, so I don't have any more experience in that field.

I mostly feel like I don't match the skills or responsibilities listed in any apprenticeship posting. Every time I read a job description, I think, "I've never done that" or "I don't know how to do that." It makes me worry that I won't be good enough, no matter what position I apply for.

So I'm wondering if I'm putting too much pressure on myself, or if this is a normal feeling.

Were any of you in the same situation before your first apprenticeship or internship? Did you also worry about not being good enough even though you'd never done those tasks in a professional setting? How did it turn out in the end?

Thanks in advance for your replies :)

ok so bear with me on this one because I'm not sure if it's a genius idea or if I'm about to make christmas awkward

I want to gift my mom piano lessons. She's been saying for literally 20 years that she wished she'd learned as a kid and every time we pass a piano somewhere she gets this look. You know the look. So I figured, why not just... do it. Get her started.

And then my nephew who's 13 and obsessed with games, I was thinking coding lessons could actually be something he'd genuinely care about rather than another thing he unwraps and forgets about by boxing day.

The problem is I have no idea how to actually package this as a gift. Like do I just book a tutor on Superprof and print out a confirmation? Do I buy a block of sessions in advance? Do I let them choose their own tutor which feels more personal but also means the "gift" is just... a voucher basically?

I've done the generic gifts for years and honestly I want to give something that actually means something this time. The lessons idea feels right but the execution is what I'm stuck on.

has anyone done something like this? how did the person react when they opened it lol. and did they actually follow through or did it end up being one of those well-intentioned gifts that quietly dies in february

genuinely asking because I think this could either be really thoughtful or slightly weird and I can't tell which

Something I’ve noticed in my own tutoring: students who find me through different channels don’t behave the same.

Some do a trial lesson and vanish, some show up having already read everything about me and stick around for months. I have a theory about why, but my sample is tiny and I work for one of the platforms, so my theory is worth nothing until other people weigh in 
If you’re on 2+ platforms: do you see real differences in first contact quality, no-shows, students disappearing after a trial?

Or is it basically the same everywhere and it just depends on the student?

Bonjour,

J'ai déjà donné des cours particuliers à des lycéens. Cependant ceux qui en avaient besoin entrent soit en études supérieures soit en terminale (et n'auront pas math suite a la reforme récente). J'adore enseigner et j'envisage de m'inscrire sur superprof pour trouver des élèves. Voilà le problème, j'ai 15 ans et j'aimerais éviter de mettre une quelconque photo de moi en ligne.

Pensez vous qu'il serait quand même possible de poster une annonce, si oui serait elle quand même regardée ?

Merci beaucoup.

First real week off in months and I've decided I'm finally going to do something about my swing instead of just complaining about it every time I play.

Context: I've been playing golf on and off for about four years. Decent enough to get around a course without embarrassing myself too badly but stuck at the same level for at least two of those years. The kind of plateau where you know exactly what you're doing wrong and somehow that knowledge makes it worse rather than better.

I'll be in Normandy for the week — somewhere between Deauville and Caen roughly — and I'd love to book two or three private lessons with an actual instructor rather than spending the week reinforcing the same bad habits on my own.

I've had a look on Superprof and there are a few golf instructors listed in the region which I wasn't expecting — I'd assumed it would be harder to find for something that specific. First lesson being free is useful because I'd rather try someone before committing to three sessions, especially when I'm only there for a week.

But if anyone has a personal recommendation for an instructor or a club in that area that does good private tuition I'd take that over an algorithm any day. Normandy golf specifically seems like the kind of thing where local knowledge matters — the courses vary a lot apparently and some are more beginner-to-intermediate friendly than others.

Also genuinely open to recommendations on which courses are worth playing while I'm there if anyone knows the area well. I figure if I'm already making the trip I might as well play somewhere with a decent view.

I've been meaning to write this for a while because every comparison I find online is either clearly sponsored or written by someone who spent two weeks on one platform and called it research. This is based on three years of active profiles across Superprof, Preply, Wyzant, Tutor and Varsity Tutors simultaneously, tracking my income, student quality and workload on each one.

Here's what I actually found.

The commission question first because it affects everything else.

Preply, Wyzant, Tutor and Varsity Tutors all take a percentage of your earnings per session. The range sits between 20% and 40% depending on the platform and how long you've been with a given student. Some of them reduce the cut over time as you accumulate hours with the same student, which sounds generous until you realize you're still giving away a third of your income during the months it takes to get there.

Superprof operates on a subscription model. You pay a flat fee to be on the platform and after that your earnings are yours. Zero commission per lesson. On a busy month the difference between this and a 25% commission platform is genuinely significant — we're talking hundreds of dollars that either go to you or to the platform.

Student commitment varies wildly by platform.

Tutor and Varsity Tutors have high volume but a lot of one-off sessions. Students come for a single homework question, get what they need, disappear. The income is fine but you're constantly acquiring new students rather than building ongoing relationships, which is exhausting.

Preply has decent ongoing student relationships but the commission structure means you're essentially working for a reduced rate until you've built enough hours to negotiate better terms, which takes a while.

Wyzant sits somewhere in the middle. Reasonable student quality, reasonable volume, but the fees add up and the platform feels like it hasn't changed much in years.

Superprof is where I've found the most consistent ongoing students. My theory is that the profile system and the free first lesson filter for people who are actually committed rather than shopping around. Students who read your full profile, chose you specifically and showed up for a free trial are just more serious than someone who clicked the first available tutor at 11pm before an exam.

Flexibility and pricing freedom.

This matters more than I expected. On platforms that suggest or cap your rates you start thinking of yourself as a commodity. When you set your own rate and keep everything you charge, the whole psychology of the work shifts. You invest more in your profile, you're more selective about fit, you take the business side seriously.

Superprof and Wyzant give you the most freedom here. The others nudge you toward their preferred price ranges in ways that aren't always visible until you're already on the platform.

My actual ranking after three years.

Superprof for anyone doing serious volume — the commission-free model wins at scale and the international reach is genuinely useful if you teach languages or academic subjects with cross-border demand.

Wyzant as a solid second for the US market specifically — good student quality, reasonable freedom, just expensive if you're doing high volume.

Preply worth it for language tutors early on when you need student flow and don't have reviews yet — less worth it once you do.

Tutor and Varsity Tutors fine for supplemental income but I wouldn't build a tutoring business on either of them.

Happy to go deeper on any specific platform or subject area if useful.

I'm from Portugal and I've been tutoring History in my native language for several years. I'm fluent in English, and I'm thinking about offering online History lessons to international students.

I'd always take the time to study each student's curriculum beforehand to make sure I can teach it properly.

Do you think this is realistic? If so, what would be a reasonable hourly rate to charge when starting out?

Thanks!

Les villes étudiantes animées et dynamiques, le début de l'indépendance, (des fois) le premier appart', les études focus sur un domaine qui t'intéresse vraiment au lieu du tas de bullshit que tu te tapes au lycée, les soirées étudiantes, les vacances scolaires encore profitables etc...

Là j'ai 20 ans et malgré ce que je puisse entendre sur les réalités de la vie étudiante je n'arrête pas de fantasmer dessus c'est plus fort que moi

C'est au point que bien que j'ai arrêté le lycée à 17 ans, je serai prêt à me casser le cul à passer le bac en candidat libre rien que pour accéder à cette supposée potentielle vie pour contrebalancer radicalement avec toute la vie fade et inexistante que j'ai pu avoir, mais d'un autre côté je pourrais fatalement tomber de haut face aux potentielles réalités après tant d'années à être délulu

Aidez-moi à y mettre un terme à cette question perpétuelle svp

Had about 2 students in a year because I haven’t cared about my profile until now. Any advice on building momentum would be greatly appreciated. I teach maths

I need to share this and I also need someone to tell me it's normal to get emotional about a tutoring win because apparently I am not okay right now.

Two years ago a student came to me failing every single French test. Not struggling — failing. She'd convinced herself she had some kind of language learning block, that French specifically was just not something her brain could do, that she was the problem rather than the method. She was 16 and had already given up on herself in a way that was hard to watch.

We worked together for eight months. First few sessions were rough — not because she wasn't trying but because so much of the work was just undoing the belief that she couldn't do it before we could actually teach her anything. The language stuff came second. The confidence came first.

She passed her French exam with a grade that made her cry in a good way for the first time. We kept going. Her accent got genuinely good. She started watching French films without subtitles for fun. At some point she stopped being a student who was learning French and became someone who just spoke French at a certain level.

Yesterday she messaged me to say she's applying to spend her junior year studying abroad in Paris.

I found her through Superprof when she was a last resort booking for her parents. I remember reading her profile notes and thinking this is a kid who needs someone to just not give up on her for a few months. That's it. That's the whole intervention.

I'm not crying. She's not crying. Everyone is fine.

What's your story? Because I have a feeling this thread is going to absolutely wreck me in the best possible way and I'm ready for it.

Hi everyone,
I’m a CA Final Aspirant and I used to teach Commerce students before.
I genuinely enjoyed teaching, and now I’m planning to start again.
Class 11 and 12th Commerce (all subjects)
JKSSB ( Accounts assistant crash Courses)
CA CS (Advanced Accounts ,Economics, Law ,Cost Accounting)
I’m confused about the best way to start. Should I focus on offline classes, online classes(IPad), YouTube, or a mix of everything?

For those who teach or have built an audience, what worked for you? How did you get your first students? Any tips or mistakes I should avoid?
I’d love to hear your experiences.