If you’ve decided tutoring is the right call, the next question is which one — and this is where families most often go wrong, choosing on brand or price rather than substance. Here’s the bar to hold any tutor to, before we point to a worked example.
The bar to demand of any tutor
Don’t settle for less than all of these:
- Qualified teachers — people trained and experienced in teaching, not just high-achieving older students reciting how they passed. Teaching a child is a different skill from being good at the test.
- Genuinely small classes — enough attention for your child to be known and helped, not one of thirty.
- Written feedback on work — specific comments that explain why something is wrong and how to improve, not a row of ticks and a mark.
- Real progress tracking — evidence of how your child is improving over time, not vague reassurance.
- A proper diagnostic first — a real assessment of your child’s strengths and gaps before anyone recommends a program. A tutor who prescribes before they’ve diagnosed is selling, not teaching.
The red flags
Walk away from guaranteed places, promised scores, or pressure to enrol today. No one can guarantee a selective place — selection is competitive and relative, and there are no published cut-off scores. A tutor who is honest about that, rather than selling certainty, is showing a good sign, not a weakness.
Test Academy as the worked example
Held against that bar, Test Academy is a useful illustration of what “good” looks like:
- Qualified teachers and small classes, in person and online.
- A real diagnostic to find where a child actually stands.
- Instant, criterion-by-criterion written feedback through WritingHub, plus exam-realistic testing with percentile ranking so progress is visible over time.
- A parent dashboard that makes that progress transparent.
That combination — qualified teaching, small groups, specific written feedback and genuine tracking — is exactly the standard you should demand from anyone. Read the reviews and weigh the broader question in is selective tutoring worth it before you commit.