Smarthinking

Smarthinking is an online tutoring program that offers 29 courses in various academic topics. These courses are available for grades pre-k through college. Tutors are experienced and available 24 hours a day. Ninety percent of Smarthinking tutors have a master's degree or PhD, which is quite impressive. They also have an average of over nine years of teaching or tutoring experience Online tools are provided to aid in the online tutoring process.

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The Good

• Many courses
• Experienced tutors
• Online tools

Courses

Smarthinking offers 29 courses in various academic subjects. These courses range from beginner to advanced depending on the grade level and ability. Students from pre-k through college can benefit from the courses that are provided by Smarthinking. Not only do they have courses covering most school subjects, but they also offer assessment preparedness. The Online and Blended Learning offered by Smarthinking personalizes education and helps students out where they need it most.

Tutors

The tutors at Smarthinking are a diverse group of college faculty, high school teachers, graduate students, and retired educators and professionals. Most Smarthinking tutors average at nine years of teaching or tutoring experience and are available 24 hours a day. Ninety percent of the tutors have a master's degree or PhD. Tutors use a pedagogical method which tailors to individual student's needs. This ensures that each student is getting the help and attention they need on the subjects they need it in. Tutors are continually reviewed for quality assurance and effective educational practices. This ensures that students are receiving the most effect help they can receive.

Online Tools

Smarthinking uses convenient online tools to aid in the tutoring process. Some of these tools include chat, whiteboard, file sharing, and equation tools. Each of these tools are a great benefit to the students, and makes the tutoring sessions more effective. The chat allows the student to freely text the tutor with questions or further explanations. The whiteboard tool allows both the student and the tutor to draw out problems and examples. File sharing allows students and tutors to swap files with ease. These are all great tools that tutoring programs should provide.

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The Bad

• High price
• Online only
• Not all subjects are covered

High Price

While Smarthinking has some great benefits to using their tutoring services, there are some drawbacks. We found that the price for Smarthinking is higher than average. This may turn a lot of clients away to other companies who provide tutoring at more affordable prices. While their prices aren't a great deal higher, it is still substantially more than others in the industry. We would like to see Smarthinking offer more competitive prices so that more students can benefit from their great tutoring services.

Online Only

With Smarthinking, tutoring is only available online. While some clients may find this to be convenient, others will miss the in-person attention. Some companies offer in-person tutoring as well as online. Some students do better with in-person attention than they do online. Some clients may find the online tools to be difficult to use as well. We would like Smarthinking better if they offered some in-person tutoring services as well.

Not all Subjects Are Covered

Smarthinking offers an average amount of courses, however they do not provide tutoring in social sciences. For students who are struggling with social sciences, this is a huge disappointment. Social sciences is still a subject that is taught throughout almost all of the grade levels. To not include this subject seems shortsighted and non-comprehensive. We would like to see Smarthinking add some courses for the social sciences for students who need the help in that particular subject.

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The Bottom Line

Smarthinking has some great aspects to their services. They provide excellent, experienced tutors to help students of all grade levels. They offer courses in most subjects, and assessment preparedness courses. We also found their online tools to be very helpful for the online tutoring process. However, we would like Smarthinking's services more if they offered in-person tutoring, offered courses in social sciences, and were more affordable. We feel that Smarthinking is definitely worth looking into. Their services may be the right fit for you and your student.