IB Tutors in Sector 104, Gurugram

Ask for three things in writing, ideally by message so it is recorded. The current draft file with any comments the tutor added. A one-paragraph note on what stage the work is at and what the next step was going to be. And any past-paper or practice material the student was working through, so the sequence is not restarted from scratch. Most tutors will send this readily. The absence of it costs the replacement roughly two sessions of guesswork that you end up paying for.

Some rechecking is unavoidable and healthy, because a tutor cannot plan against work they have not seen. Expect the first session or two to include diagnostic questions across recent topics rather than new teaching. What is not reasonable is a full restart of the syllabus. If a tutor proposes going back to the beginning of the year in November, ask them to justify it against the exam calendar. A good answer names specific gaps. A vague answer about building foundations usually means they have not diagnosed anything yet.

It is a risk, and it depends on what is broken. If the problem is rapport or reliability, changing is usually better than enduring, because a student who has stopped listening gains nothing from continuity. If the problem is that marks have not moved, a change alone will not fix it and the target needs narrowing instead. Late in the cycle, ask any new tutor for a written plan covering the remaining weeks before the second session. If they cannot produce one, that answers the question.

For online sessions, yes, a move changes nothing. For home tutoring it depends entirely on the new distance. A shift within the Dwarka Expressway sectors is usually manageable. A move towards Sohna Road or the DLF phases often means the existing tutor cannot keep the slot, since the evening drive becomes the deciding factor rather than willingness. Where that happens, switching the same arrangement to online is worth trying before replacing the tutor, since the teaching relationship is already established.

Most families settle on the first or second, and a third is not unusual for a narrow HL requirement. Beyond that, the problem is often the brief rather than the tutors. If three capable specialists have all struggled with the same student, look again at timing, workload and whether the sessions are placed after the point in the evening where concentration has gone. Changing the slot sometimes fixes what changing the person does not. Trials exist precisely so this can be tested cheaply.

A short handover is normal professional practice, though few parents ask for it. Useful contents include the topics covered with dates, the work marked and where those files sit, the current position on any internal assessment, and an honest note on what still needs attention. Two paragraphs is enough. Ask for it at the time of notice rather than afterwards, because response rates drop sharply once the arrangement has ended and nobody is obliged to reconstruct months of work from memory.

The trial is a working session rather than a sales call, and its terms are confirmed by the advisor before it is booked so there are no surprises. Expect the tutor to look at recent work, ask the student to attempt something while they watch, and then describe what they saw. A good trial ends with a specific plan for the next fortnight. A weak one ends with general encouragement. That difference alone is usually enough to decide whether to continue.

Rarely with good results, unless they are close in level and taking the same subject. A Grade 6 MYP student and a Grade 11 DP student have almost nothing in common in what a session needs to do, and splitting an hour halves the attention each receives while saving less than expected. Where siblings genuinely overlap, a tutor may agree to consecutive sessions on the same visit, which reduces travel and is often easier to arrange in these towers than two separate evenings.

Raise it after the second occurrence rather than the fifth. Irregular sessions do more damage in the Diploma Programme than a slightly weaker tutor does, because the schedule is what holds the internal assessment work together. Report the pattern with dates through the advisor so it is on record, and ask whether the slot itself is the problem, since a tutor who has overcommitted their evenings will keep slipping. If the pattern continues, request a replacement rather than negotiating repeatedly.