Brilliant Grades Review Summary

Brilliant Grades hires experienced UK and US graduates to tutor children 1v1 and 1v4 via Zoom. Payments are weekly, they offer $/£12-20 an hour, and existing tutors review them positively, though they only hire when needed, you must commit to 10 hours a week for 4 months, and some unpaid prep is required.

Pay (per hour):$12-$20/£12-£20
Native / Non-Native Speakers accepted?US & UK
Degree / diploma required?Yes*
TEFL / TESOL / CELTA required?No
Adult / child students?Children
Class size:1-4
Minimum hours (per week):10
*or currently studying for one

Brilliant Grades Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Quick pay rise available
  • Weekly payments
  • No teaching demo
  • Freedom to teach in your own style
  • Lots of positive reviews from existing tutors

Cons:

  • Only hire when required
  • Several stages to the application process, including both pre-recorded and live interviews
  • Must commit to a fixed schedule of 10 hours a week for 4 months
  • Unpaid prep time often required, though basic teaching materials are provided
  • Must navigate multiple systems/portals for teaching, scheduling and communication

Is Brilliant Grades Legit?

Brilliant Grades is an online tutoring company and microschool serving students located in the United States and the United Kingdom. Founded in 2020, their legitimacy is underlined by their work with over 400 schools and a Brilliant Grades Trustpilot score of 4.6 out of 5.

Brilliant Grades tutoring is conducted via Zoom, either one-on-one or in groups of up to 4 students aged 6-18 years, for the following subjects:

  • English
  • Mathematics
  • Science and STEM
  • Exam Prep
  • Coding
  • Spanish

How Much Does Brilliant Grades Pay?

Brilliant Grades pay a starting base rate of $12 or £12 per hour for one-on-one tutoring (depending on your country), though tutors quickly receive a one-off pay rise of $2/£2 once they have received positive reviews and bookings from 5 students.

There is an additional $2/£2 for every extra student you tutor in the same group class, capping out at $20/£20 an hour.

Teachers for the Brilliant Grades Microschool receive a higher rate of $25 per hour, though this comes with additional qualification requirements in terms of teaching certification.

Brilliant Grades payments are issued weekly via direct bank deposit.

Brilliant Grades Hours

Most Brilliant Grades tutoring hours are available in the afternoon/evening. For US teachers these mainly fall between 1-8pm (Eastern Time), though some morning hours are available (more so on weekends).

Time zone differences are minimized by American and British teachers only having to tutor students in their own country.

Brilliant Grades classes last 50 minutes.

Brilliant Grades teachers must commit to opening a fixed schedule of at least 10 hours a week. They are matched with students who will then be tutored regularly at the same weekly time. Unless there is an emergency, schedules remain fixed for 4 months, though you can reschedule up to 3 times if you give two weeks’ notice.

While the company provides basic lesson plans, a number of Brilliant Grades tutors mention having to spend unpaid prep time supplementing these with additional materials. You must also send 1 paragraph of feedback and set homework after every tutoring session.

Brilliant Grades Requirements

To become a tutor for Brilliant Grades, you must meet the following requirements:

  • hold (or are currently studying for) a Bachelor’s degree in the intended teaching subject
  • have taught/tutored for at least one year
  • commit to teaching at least 10 hours per week for a minimum of four months without interruption
  • be a rigorous and diligent professional regarding responsiveness, timeliness and attention to detail
  • able to prepare detailed, engaging and structured sessions
  • willing to send (1 paragraph) progress updates and set homework after each session
  • have access to reliable internet access, a computer, camera, and a quiet room

While tutoring is done virtually, you must still be based in either the US or UK.

Teaching certification is not required unless applying to teach with the Brilliant Grades Microschool.

Brilliant Grades Application Process

Brilliant Grades tutor jobs are advertised periodically through the company’s Indeed page.

There are 4 main stages to the Brilliant Grades hiring process:

  1. Initial application
  2. Pre-recorded video interview
  3. Up to 2 live interviews
  4. Background check with 2-3 references

Upon submitting an application, the company will usually respond within a few hours via email, providing a video to watch and questions you must record brief responses to.

During the Brilliant Grades live interview, you will be told more about the company and questioned about your teaching experience, strengths and weaknesses, availability, and how you meet their requirements.

One specific example of a Brilliant Grades interview question that has been asked is: ‘What are the 3 dealbreakers for you when looking to be hired by a new company?‘.

There is no teaching demo, though previous candidates have had to create an overview of a lesson plan including an objective.

Brilliant Grades Reviews – What Is It Like Working for Brilliant Grades?

The Brilliant Grades Glassdoor page gives the company a score of 4.1 out of 5, with 83% willing to recommend them, though this is averaged from just 13 reviews (at the time of writing). Here is a summarized list of their comments (note some difference in opinion regarding the quality of the pay and teaching materials):

  • Advantages:
    • ‘Great’ pay
    • ‘Robust curriculum’
    • Fun work with nice students
    • ‘Nice’ and ‘great’ management team that is well-structured, organized, punctual, consistent and transparent
    • ‘Amazing’ communication, replying by the next business day
    • Remote, part-time work
    • Set your own hours
    • Fast weekly payments
  • Disadvantages:
    • ‘Less than average’ pay
    • ‘Low quality teaching materials’
    • Not good for earning a full-time wage
    • ‘Significant’ prep time that is unpaid
    • Inflexibility in changing hours once set – company does not like rescheduling sessions
    • Slow to acquire students
    • Student no shows
    • Not enough room for growth

The Brilliant Grades Indeed page provides a greater number of reviews (56 currently), which are overwhelmingly positive, producing an average rating of 4.8 out of 5. They cover similar points as outlined above, but here are a couple of recent examples in full:

Brilliant Grades Indeed review
Brilliant Grades Indeed review

For balance, this is the most negative Brilliant Grades tutoring review posted there this year, along with the company’s response:

Along with the unpaid prep time, this Brilliant Grades tutor, sharing their experience in a Facebook teachers’ group, mentions how they did not like having to work and communicate across multiple systems:

Conclusion – Is Brilliant Grades Worth It?

Brilliant Grades is a promising emerging player in the online tutoring space. Though the company exhibits some challenges associated with being a relatively new startup, with improvements that could be made to their teaching materials and administrative systems, the plus-side to this is the freedom to teach to your individual strengths, while they are efficient in communicating and paying weekly. Their pay rate is competitive once you combine the easy rise with group classes, though you have to be alert for when they post new jobs as they only recruit when needed.

To apply to become a tutor, check the current Brilliant Grades jobs listed on Indeed.

A full list of other online teaching companies can be found here.

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Dr Daniel Spence

Daniel Spence is the founder of Online Teaching Review. He has been an international teacher since 2008, an award-winning academic, author of two books, and holds a PhD, MA, BA (Hons), and TESOL.

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