People are spending hundreds of billions of dollars on private tutoring, which is a growing industry. Is it, however, worthwhile? And how does one choose between all of the options?

If you're thinking about hiring a tutor, here are five things to consider.

Make recommendations for students from elementary to university level as a former high school math teacher, current Ph.D. candidate in math education, and veteran online tutor in math, science, and humanities.

Determine your goal.

Do you need to pass a test or a class? Or are you genuinely attempting to learn something?

A performance goal is when all you want to do is pass a test, a class, or get some other short-term result and be done with it. However, understanding an idea and being able to transfer it to different situations is a learning goal.

While parents may have both performance and learning goals for their children, learning should always take precedence over performance. Learning will lead to improved performance, but at its own pace.

Be aware of the pitfalls if you decide to use tutoring to achieve a performance goal. If a student requires excessive test prep to pass a class or gain admission to a programme or college, the student may be setting himself up for failure in whatever follows.

Pay close attention to the private tutor's actions.

Tutoring is more than just the tutor teaching the student. In order for tutoring to be effective, students must actively participate in the process rather than simply sitting silently while the tutor speaks.

When a tutor is working with a student, there are a few things to keep an eye out for:

Is it customary for the tutor to say "Good!" and then move on when a student does something correctly? Or does the tutor occasionally ask follow-up questions to check understanding? It's preferable if there are follow-up questions, because students sometimes draw conclusions that help them get correct answers on the current type of problem but then cause mistakes on the next types.

Does the tutor say, "No, do it this way" if the student makes a mistake? Or does the tutor ask, "Tell me why you made that decision?" Having the student explain their choice allows the tutor to gain a better understanding of how the student approaches problem solving and to identify any errors in the student's thinking.

Does the private tutor assist the student in practising how to deal with confusion and errors? Students learn the most when they make a mistake and recognise it. A good tutor will not intervene to prevent the mistake from occurring, but rather will allow the mistake to occur and then assist the student in identifying and correcting it. This method teaches skills that the student can use when the tutor is not present.

Don't forget about the free options.

Before parents invest in paid tutoring services, they should look into free alternatives.

Afterschool assistance from classroom teachers, peer tutoring programmed at school, professional tutoring from outside companies that the school pays to come in after school or on weekends, and tutoring programmed in city libraries and community centers are all free options.

One-on-one tutoring, small group tutoring, and online tutoring are all paid options. These options are provided by tutoring companies that employ a large number of tutors as well as individuals such as college students and teachers.

The old adage "you get what you pay for" does not always apply to tutoring. Volunteer or peer tutoring can be extremely beneficial. The cost of a product does not predict its effectiveness.