What Does an Economics Tutor Do?

An economics tutor is an individual, often a student of economics or mathematics, who helps others who are trying to learn economics. Economics can be quite difficult and involves in-depth conceptual and problem-solving components, so one-on-one or small group tutoring can be very beneficial to some people. An economics tutor generally meets with a student on a regular basis, such as once or twice per week, and offers small lessons or helps the student with work for a formal economics class. In most cases, economics tutors are called upon to help primarily with problem solving, though many conceptual aspects of economics can also be quite difficult, so a tutor may also need to help students with those.

There are several practical factors that an economics tutor must consider before actually giving instruction. First, he must be sure that he has the knowledge required to offer valuable aid to other students. A tutor who does not know the subject matter well enough will likely be useless to a student who hopes to improve his knowledge of economics. It is also important for a tutor to settle the financial arrangements with his students in advance to avoid any confusion. This does not need to involve a strict contract, but both the tutor and the student should be fully aware of how much the tutor is charging for each tutoring session.

Organizing lessons is an important skill for any economics tutor to have. Some students work better with unstructured, question-and-answer-based tutoring sessions, particularly when they mostly need a tutor for help with their regular homework assignments. Others, particularly those who have trouble with conceptual aspects of economics, may benefit from more structured tutoring sessions. In such sessions, the economics tutor could, for example, go over the concepts learned in the student's class that week. Even if new concepts are not introduced, the one-on-one or small-group nature of most tutoring sessions gives the student an opportunity to ask questions and work through complicated points at his own pace.

The most important point for an economics tutor to remember is that he must cater to the needs of his student. The student usually knows what kind of help he needs, and it is not generally up to the economics tutor to decide what is and what is not important. Economics involves many difficult conceptual and problem-solving components, and by spending time on something that the student already knows or is not interested in, the tutor wastes the student's time and money.