GoStudent Review Summary

GoStudent provides online 1v1 tuition to school and university students in 30+ subjects across 22 countries. It pays English speakers $20/£13 per 50-minute session, offers bonuses, and requires only high school qualifications, though you must commit to 6 hours weekly availability and prepare your own materials.

GoStudent Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Only a high school diploma (and no experience) is required to apply
• Company assigns students to tutors (no competitive marketplace)
• Generous bonus schemes
• Some pay received still for student no shows
• Autonomy over how tutorials are conducted
• Opportunities to tutor most school (and some university) subjects

Cons:

• Unable to set your own pay rate 
• Minimum threshold before pay is released
• Heavy fines for teacher no shows
• Lack of materials takes up unpaid prep time
• 6 hours availability during peak hours limits flexibility

What Is GoStudent?

Founded in 2016, GoStudent is an EdTech company providing online tuition in 30+ school and university subjects to students located across 22 countries. It utilizes over 20,000 tutors to deliver more than 150,000 sessions a month.

Here is a video introduction from GoStudent’s founders and management:

Is GoStudent Legit?

GoStudent has been responsible for teaching over 1.5 million lessons since its inception in 2016, growing to a valuation of €3 billion as of 2022. It also acquired Tus Media Group in 2022, which includes the tutoring platforms FindTutors and Classgap. GoStudent’s legitimacy is bolstered by a Trustpilot score of 4.5 out of 5 from 5,221 reviews, and the company has also featured in prominent international publications such as Business Insider, The Economist, and the Financial Times.

Where Is GoStudent Located?

Founded in Vienna, Austria, there are currently 22 GoStudent countries where the company operates:

1. Austria
2. Germany
3. France
4. Spain
5. Italy
6. United Kingdom
7. Netherlands
8. Greece
9. Russia
10. Turkey
11. Bulgaria
12. Mexico
13. Canada
14. Poland
15. Colombia
16. Chile
17. Brazil
18. Sweden
19. United States
20. Czechia
21. Portugal
22. Israel

How Does GoStudent Work?

GoStudent tutoring is conducted one-on-one with students, primarily between the ages of 6-19 years, via 50-minute Zoom classes. GoStudent vacancies are assigned by the company, meaning tutors do not compete for students (as they would in teacher marketplaces).

GoStudent subjects include:

• Biology
• Chemistry
• German
• Dutch
• English
• French
• Humanities
• Geography
• History
• ICT
• Latin
• Mathematics
• Physics
• Law
• (Electrical) Engineering
• Economics
• Spanish
• Italian
• Statistics
• Accountancy
• Irish
• Welsh
• 11+
• Portuguese
• Art History
• Finance
• IB Higher Level
• Photography
• Arabic
• Korean
• Primary
• Science

GoStudent Salary Information

The base GoStudent tutor pay rate is $20/£13 per 50-minute session. This is paid out automatically via direct deposit between the 12th-17th of the following month, once a minimum threshold has been reached (the website says $150/£100, though this document says $250/£200).

There are two main GoStudent bonus schemes available:

1. GoStudent Frequency Bonus – A one-off bonus applied after a certain number of tutoring sessions are held with the same student, i.e.:
   • 10 sessions = $15/£10
   • 20 sessions = $18/£12
   • 32 sessions = $37/£24
   • 48 sessions = $57/£37
   • 75 sessions = $89/£58
   • 105 sessions = $115/£75
   • 145 sessions = $169/£110
   • 200 sessions = $231/£150
   • 250 sessions = $238/£155
   • 300 sessions = $423/£275
2. GoStudent Loyalty Bonus – rewards long-term cooperation after 6+ months and 150+ tutored sessions:
   1. Bronze (6 months and 150 sessions) = $385 / £250
   2. Bronze+ (6 months and 300 sessions) = $770 / £500
   3. Silver (12 months and 300 sessions) = $770 / £500
   4. Silver+ (12 months and 600 sessions) = $1,540 / £1,000
   5. Gold (18 months and 450 sessions) = $1,155 / £750
   6. Gold+ (18 months and 900 sessions) = $2,300 / £1,500
   7. Platinum (24 months and 600 sessions) = $1,540 / £1,000
   8. Platinum+ (24 months and 1200 sessions) = $3,080 / £2,000

Student no shows (after 15 minutes) still pay $11.50/£7.50, though there is a fine of $23/£15 if a teacher misses a session (£25 if it is a trial).

GoStudent Hours

GoStudent tutors must be available for 6 sessions a week during the peak times of 3-7pm, Monday to Friday, and 10am-3pm Saturday and Sunday. Classes last 50 minutes.

As tutoring sessions are personalized to the student, no lesson materials are provided, which will require some unpaid prep time.

GoStudent Requirements

GoStudent guidelines require tutors to:

• Be qualified at high school diploma level or above
• Commit to a minimum of 6 sessions per week
• Own a laptop (or PC) and stable internet connection
• Have knowledge of the school system, exam board or curriculum of the country being applied for
• Possess a bank account in that same country

How to Become a Tutor for GoStudent

The GoStudent application process usually takes between 5-10 days. To first register, visit the GoStudent careers page and fill out the online application form by providing the following information:

• First name
• Surname
• Email address
• Phone number
• Date of birth
• Gender
• Highest completed level of education
• Current occupation 
• Subject(s)
• Which school system are you most familiar with? (country)
• Are you able to teach your chosen subjects at a primary school level?
• Do you speak English at a native or fluent level? (C2 minimum)
• Availability per week (6 hours minimum)
• An attached Resume/CV
• Are you allowed to work with minors?
• (US only) A declaration of no convictions or current charges under the Criminal Code of the United States
• (UK only) Whether you have a valid DBS Certificate (the company can help you acquire one)
• How did you find out about GoStudent?
• Accept GoStudent’s terms and conditions and data protection guidelines

The next step requires you to complete a short quiz on your chosen subject(s), taking around 20 minutes on average. A practice quiz (for English or Mathematics) is available here.

GoStudent Interview Process

If you successfully pass the subject knowledge quiz, you will be invited to a GoStudent group interview to assess your pedagogical and behavior management skills. This is conducted through Zoom and lasts around 1 hour.

GoStudent Interview Questions

Past questions that have been asked in the GoStudent tutor interview include:

• Tell us a bit about yourself
• Why would you like to work with us?
• Why do you want to teach?
• Describe your tutoring experience to us.
• Why should we pick you?
• What is your greatest strength?
• What are your passions?
• Describe yourself by comparing yourself to an animal.
• Describe a debate you had and how you came out of it.
• What are the things that make a good online teacher?
• How do you imagine today’s tutor? / What are the characteristics of the online tutor nowadays?
• What is the difference between teaching a foreign language to students aged 6 to 10 and teaching it to older students or adults?
• What do you think are the differences between online tutoring and distance learning offered by schools?
• How would you structure your first lesson?
• Which book would you want to use as a resource?
• How would you react to a student who fails the same exercises 3 times in a row?
• How would you deal with a child that is not paying attention to your lesson?
• Do you have a good internet connection?
• How did you find out about GoStudent?

The final stage involves a background check and GoStudent online onboarding, where you will be briefed about the the company and how to use its platform, before you can start tutoring.

GoStudent Reviews – Is GoStudent Good to Work For?

The GoStudent Glassdoor page gives the company an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5, from 336 reviews, with 91% willing to recommend them (at the time of writing). Here is the summary of these GoStudent employee reviews:

While the most common complaint made is against the minimum requirement of 6 sessions a week, there are several people who are deterred by GoStudent’s fixed pay rate of $20/£13 per hour. Multiple reviewers believe that the company is a good opportunity for students, or those new to tutoring, but less so for experienced teachers. However, the majority of views are still positive, praising GoStudent’s loyalty bonuses and the tutor’s ability to have autonomy over their lessons.

Conclusion – Is GoStudent Worth It?

While GoStudent’s rate of pay may be considered low for highly-qualified teachers, for a less-experienced tutor it is reasonably competitive compared to what many online companies are currently offering. Bonus schemes are also increasingly hard to find, and GoStudent offers two which can become quite lucrative, though it will take time, effort, patience and perseverance, and there are no guarantees. With a low barrier to entry, they are definitely worth considering for most people, so long as you can commit to 6+ peak hours a week and are willing to prepare your own materials.

You can apply for GoStudent jobs here.

A list of other online tutoring companies can be found here.