# I'm afraid to sign up for peer tutoring



## SilentLoner (Jan 30, 2006)

As part of my anthropology focus (biological) I've had to take some more math and science classes. I'm currently in BSCI105, intro to biology for science majors. I took 103 (the intro course for non majors) and stuggled through that quite a bit back before I declared a focus, and of course that class is nothing like this one.

I admit I could have reread my lecture notes a little more and in a timely fashion, but still I find the material pretty difficult. We had out first midterm on friday last week. I was suprised at how much I knew, but of course it still wasn't enough. By my estimates (around 21/35) I probably got a D (I'm just glad I didn't flat out fail - 25% of the class did. I've gotten D's on midterms in other classes and used that as a basis to build off of and done okay). 

Now the professor is urging students who got B's to sign up to tutor other students, and other students to sign up. After class I hesistated but moved to join the line of students, then chickened out and left the room.

My problem is a lot of the students in the class are freshmen and I'm a senior. I guess its baseless but I find the thought slightly embarassing. Plus the usual SA issues. I rarely know how to ask questions. Maybe I just need to study obsessively?
Also they're trying to arrange tutors/tutees by dorms or apartments, go figure I live off campus and have little time between my classes most of the week.
I do have the number from an ad of a tutor who teaches both math and biology for 40$/hr and I've been tempted to go for that since I could use math help in the future as well (strangely so far I have little issue in my current math class).

Do you guys think I should get over myself and sign up for peer tutoring?


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## kenny87 (Feb 22, 2009)

> Also they're trying to arrange tutors/tutees by dorms or apartments, go figure I live off campus and have little time between my classes most of the week.


If you don't have time then you really don't have much of a choice I guess, otherwise I would say go for it, its never been hard for me to be around other students because if they are not interested(which they never are) in you its easy to keep it professional and just do what you need to do, you look very young so if you didn't tell them your a senior they have no reason to know or assume.


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## spacefiller (Apr 2, 2009)

Yes, get over yourself and sign up. Because you're not asking a favor of somebody (the other student has already volunteered), you're not risking anything for the potential benefit to both involved.


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## SilentLoner (Jan 30, 2006)

I actually signed up after class this morning. But I'm regretting it - I can't bring myself to email the other student. What if I wind up not asking for help? I should have just gone with the paid tutoring...


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## jaayhou (Jun 20, 2007)

I don't understand...you'd rather pay $40/hr than get the same service for free?

I spent much time at the tutoring center in undergrad and eventually became a tutor myself. Trust me, it's the smart students who visit tutors, not the dumb ones. Peer tutors are generally people who have taken the class themselves, so they're great sources of information. 

When I took general chemistry, they gave us these lab worksheets that were always impossible to get a perfect score on, and it was tough even to get most of the credit. One of the teaching staff that had been there a million years actually created these worksheets that were reused every year, and she had hours at the tutoring center. Just because I showed up, she'd basically give away the answers by walking me through the questions every week. I was able to ace most of these things, and I passed the favor on by tutoring kids the following year.

I say do it. I might be well worth it.


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