| Frequently Asked Questions |
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| Qn. |
How are you DIFFERENT from other online tutors? |
| Ans. |
| We like to call ourselves Conventional Tutors,
using an online delivery method. Here is why we are not just another online tutor: |
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We DO NOT handle tutoring as a call center operation where the
next available person answers your request. |
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In addition to your tutor, you will have a mentor
who plans with you for your long term success, not just tonight’s homework. |
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You will have the same tutor for all your classes for a subject. |
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We have more than a decade of conventional tutoring experience
in the US and our online program is to give more convenience to our students
and to make it more affordable. |
|
| Qn. |
Who are the mentors? Why do we need them? |
| Ans. |
Imagine you walked into a tutor’s office.
You would discuss with her/him about what your learning goals are, where you stand now and how to achieve your goals.
We apply the same principles for our online tutoring. Your mentor will be a person with intimate
knowledge about the school systems, curriculums and teaching strategies employed in the US.
All of them are conventional tutors themselves who understand what it takes for their students to excel.
Students and parents will have direct access to the mentor through email or telephone.
Your mentor will be the coordinator for Student-Tutor-Parent communication. We would like our students
to work as independently with their tutors as possible. However, our experience has shown that a
mentor adds a lot of value for our customers.
|
| Qn. |
Who are your tutors and what are their qualifications? |
| Ans. |
Most of our tutors are located in India. All our tutors have
Masters Degrees in their respective subjects and also have teaching certification. They have gone
through a thorough selection and training process to ensure high standards on communication, teaching
and subject skills.
|
| Qn. |
Who will be my Tutor? |
| Ans. |
When you call us, you will talk to one of our mentors who will
discuss with you your goals and help you understand what we can offer to help you and how. We will setup
a free class for you with the most appropriate tutor. You have no obligation to purchase anything from
us or make any payments. If you like your trial class, we will assign that tutor for you for all your
classes on that subject. Over 95% of the time, our students were happy with the tutor assignment. If for
any reason you are not satisfied with our service, please let your mentor know and we will do everything
we can to adjust our service to meet your needs.
|
| Qn. |
Do I get a free class to try out your service? |
| Ans. |
Yes. Your first class in free.
|
| Qn. |
When will be my classes? How long will be each session? |
| Ans. |
You and your mentor will together decide on the time and days
of the week when you will have your classes. Classes are not for fixed duration. Although each class
will be scheduled for 60 minutes by default, you and your teacher can decide to end it early or continue
for longer.
|
| Qn. |
How do you charge for your service? |
| Ans. |
We let you buy tutoring time online. The time you purchased will
be credited to your account and it will never expire. Each time a class is scheduled for you, time will
be deducted from your account. At the end of that class, adjustments are made to your account if the class
was over or under the scheduled duration. You will have access to review all your account activities.
|
| Qn. |
How much do you charge for your service? |
| Ans. |
We have two different charges for Elementary level
subjects and Middle School or higher level subjects.
Click here
to see the details.
|
| Qn. |
How do I make secure online payments? |
| Ans. |
All your payments will be handled by PayPal (leader in online
payment processing business). You can pay using your PayPal account or using any major credit card.
|
| Qn. |
How do I get started? |
| Ans. |
| Call us at one of the following numbers and we will be happy
to assist you in getting started: |
| 1-800-201-5647 (Toll Free) |
| (972) 377-9415 |
| (972) 395-7712 |
| You may also contact us through e-mail at: |
| enquiries@tipstotop.com |
|
| Qn. |
Do I need to buy any equipment for online tutoring? |
| Ans. |
Other than your computer and a headset with microphone, you do
not need any additional equipment. If you are using a Laptop with built in microphone, you may not need
a headset. However, we recommend that you have a headset with microphone as this will help greatly with
sound quality.
|
| Qn. |
Do I need to download and install any software on my computer? |
| Ans. |
You do not have to install any software from TipToTop.com on your computer.
All you need is an internet browser on your computer. For screen sharing and voice communication over internet, we
use GoToMeeting.com©. You will be asked to install this tool on your computer when our technician walks you through
the setup. The setup will take only a couple of minutes on a broadband network. This is a onetime setup.
|
| Qn. |
What setup do I have to do before the first class? How do I do it? |
| Ans. |
All you need to do for the free class is to
Register
(no credit card required) with us. You can complete your online registration in less than a minute. An activation URL
will be sent to your email address. Once you click on that URL link your account will be activated.
|
| Qn. |
Why are you not providing 24x7 tutoring service? How do I do it? |
| Ans. |
We had two options; (a) provide 24 x 7 service with a call center like
arrangement or (b) operate as a conventional tutoring service, with scheduled classes and ‘one teacher for one
student’ model. Being long time tutors, we were convinced that for our students to truly master the subject, we
have to work closely with them on more than just homework and assignments. We are still very much conventional
tutors with just an online delivery mode.
|
| Qn. |
What if I cannot attend a scheduled class? How do I do it? |
| Ans. |
If you can inform your mentor or tutor at least 24 hours ahead of time,
you can reschedule your classes without charges. For classes that are rescheduled or cancelled with less than 24
hour notice, an automatic deduction of 30 minutes will be applied to student’s account.
|
| Qn. |
How will I reschedule a class? |
| Ans. |
For all types of schedule changes, contact your mentor.
|
| Qn. |
Will my classes be 1-on-1? |
| Ans. |
Yes. All our tutoring classes are 1-on-1.
|
| Qn. |
How do I get technical help to setup my computer for online tutoring? |
| Ans. |
A technician or your mentor will walk you through the setup process before your
free trial. They will check to make sure that we can establish two directional voice communication with your computer.
|
| Qn. |
Explain how a tutoring session works? |
| Ans. |
| Following are the steps involved in the setup and delivery of a typical online tutoring session: |
| 1. |
Mentor schedules your session ahead of time based on your input.
You and your tutor will get email notifications. |
| 2. |
At the time of the session both student and tutor logs in to their respective accounts and launches
the session. This will connect them both online through GoToMeeting®. |
| 3. |
When both parties are ready, the session clock is started and the tutor and student share their screens and engage
in voice and visual communications. Tools in GoToMeeting® make it easier to draw on the screen and share ideas. |
| 4. |
At the End of the session, the clock is stopped with mutual consent and student’s account balances are updated if necessary. |
NOTE: Once you enroll, you will receive a Student handbook with details on how our online tutoring session works. |
|
| Qn. |
How do I share a document with my tutor? |
| Ans. |
Students can upload documents up to 5M at a time to share it with their tutors.
Alternatively, they can open the document on their computer and share their screen with the tutor.
|
| Qn. |
Is there a way I can get urgent homework help? |
| Ans. |
. Yes. We understand that at times you cannot wait until your next scheduled
session to get help. All you need to do in such cases is to upload your question to us (you have up to 5MB space).
With the click of a button, you can alert all available tutors about your request instantly.
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