Tutoring Groups

(Optional) tutoring groups of roughly 5 students will meet in person (or remotely) weekly for an hour with a TA to work on recitation or HW problems. The goal is to build some friendships among fellow students and a TA to make the learning more productive and enjoyable. After a few sessions, a group is able to provide each other student-tailored feedback and instruction in a friendly environment where everybody feels comfortable sharing their confusion about course content.

Though not required, all students are welcome to get get paired with a tutoring group! Tutoring groups are here to support students who:

  • feel that piazza and office hours alone are not enough to support their mastery of material on HW

  • can commit to joining for at least 2 weeks

    • (It can spoil the vibe of the group if people keep joining and leaving)

How do I sign up?

If you see a group with less than five members in our current tutoring group schedule, please email our course coordinator who can drop you into that slot. Otherwise, to form a new group, please see the instructions on this piazza page.

Note that we cannot gaurantee a tutoring spot to all who sign up due to logistical constraints and TA availability … please provide as much availability as possible in your piazza post to help us match you successfully.

Still not convinced if tutoring is effective?

In the Fall 2023 course, we ran a brief one-day survey of students using the tutoring group program during the middle of the course. Here’s a quick summary:

  • students estimated that one hour of tutorial is equivilent to a bit more than two hours of self study

  • tutorial averaged 8.2 out on a 10 point scale of effectiveness

What are some things that are going well in tutorial for you? What makes it effective?

  • “My tutorial leader is incredible; he knows the material intimately and has the ability to teach us what we need to know. He is organized, communicates well and cares about each person in the group. I have never missed a session. This is has been one of the best experiences at Northeastern so far. It was easy to sign up and it is helping me alot. “

  • “Overall, I’m glad that we have this tutoring sessions, it definitely helps me a lot”

  • “The tutoring sessions are nice because it’s scheduled time to go do my discrete work or study that I otherwise might not have scheduled. I like having the time to do the work with additional help. Also a little bit of review clarifies things I might have missed in the lectures.”

  • “Reviewing concepts and being able to ask questions when I need to. “

  • “My tutor doesn’t just directly give me the answer but rather guidance through examples and scenarios- this really helps me understand the concept and apply it later on when I do my work on my own”

  • “Working through problems as a group is very helpful. I find it useful to see how other people tackle certain problems and this has helped me on both my HW and the exam.”

  • “Being able to connect with peers and do homework together. I like how we can all come up with something we all did not understand and go over the content again with our TA. “

What are some thing that are going poorly in tutorial for you? What can we do to improve?

  • “Honestly overall tutorial is going pretty well, I love how flexible my tutor because sometimes things come up and I can’t make it. I highly recommend it for anyone who struggles in a larger class environment because it allows for more one on one time and make it easier to ask question and express concerns!!”

  • “I hope we can continue to do more of those group lessons!”

  • “I can’t think of anything that is going poorly. I just wish I had a tutorial group for my other courses!”