MyTutor Review Summary

MyTutor hires students and recent graduates from 60 UK universities to tutor school pupils and undergraduates online in 1v1, 1v3 and 1v6 classes. The company is highly rated, payment is fortnightly, and pay is between £10-£24 an hour after 42% is deducted, prep time is unpaid, and there is competition for bookings.

MyTutor Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Teaching/tutoring experience not necessary
• Fortnightly payments
• Multiple types of bookings (for the most experienced and highest-rated tutors)
• Fair cancellation policy
• High teacher satisfaction with lots of positive reviews

Cons:

• Only students/recent graduates from 60 universities with the right to work in the UK can apply
• Tutors only receive 58% of the lesson price after company fees and VAT are deducted
• Can require lots of unpaid prep time, especially tutoring higher levels
• Mostly school bookings – have to be invited for private tutoring
• Can take weeks for new tutors to receive lessons
• Seasonal, with fewer bookings over the summer
• Must provide/pay for a DBS check
• Students are not required to show their faces on camera

What Is MyTutor and Is MyTutor Legit?

MyTutor is an online tutoring company, founded in 2013. Its legitimacy is underlined by having attracted £38.9 million of funding, achieving triple year-on-year growth, working with The Education Endowment Foundation and the National Tuition Programme, and scoring a Trustpilot rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Where Is MyTutor Based?

The MyTutor headquarters is in London, with the company serving UK students.

How Many Tutors Does MyTutor Have?

MyTutor utilises 20,000 tutors in supporting hundreds of thousands of parents, 1,000+ secondary schools, and delivering over 2 million online lessons since it began.

How Does MyTutor Work?

Most new tutors will work solely on the MyTutor Schools Programme, as this has the most demand in terms of MyTutor bookings. The company works with over 1,000 secondary schools to help deliver online 1v1 and 1v3 GCSE and A-Level tutoring for the following subjects:

• Mathematics
• English
  • Language
  • Literature
• Science
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Physics

School bookings are more long-term and stable than private bookings, typically lasting 6-10 weeks (sometimes longer). They are seasonal, however, with peak demand ahead of exam periods, before dropping off over the summer. These are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis once made available.

MyTutor training is provided and needs to be completed before tutors are allowed to work with school pupils.

Here is a video introduction to the MyTutor Schools Programme:

Depending on the amount of demand there is from parents for a particular subject and level, qualified school tutors may be invited to provide MyTutor private tutoring (selected in order of those who have been with the company the longest). A key difference here is that tutors are in full control of their private bookings, being responsible for corresponding with parents, rescheduling and issuing refunds, whereas the company manages these for school bookings.

The most experienced and highest-rated tutors will be invited to deliver MyTutor courses, which periodically run over 5 days, Monday to Friday, with groups of up to 6 students, focusing on core topics from the school syllabus.

Tutors can also be booked for MyTutor Marking Time where, instead of meeting the student, they are paid to:

• Review an essay and provide written feedback
• Mark past papers or other practice questions completed by the student
• Prepare homework or assessments which take longer than normal prep time

Here is a video guide to the MyTutor teacher portal, where you can also find other MyTutor resources:

MyTutor online tutorials take place on a bespoke platform called the MyTutor lesson space, which is toured in this video:

MyTutor sessions are recorded for safeguarding purposes and to create a revision resource for pupils. Students are not required to show their faces during their tutorials, which can be a challenge for some teachers.

Parents and students may ask for feedback in the form of a lesson report. If requested, after the session you will be required to summarise:

• What you covered in the lesson
• Areas for improvement
• Areas that your student is confident with
• What you will work on next time
• Any general comments about progress

Reviews can also be left by parents/students, and their agreement is required should a tutor request to remove a review.

How Much Does MyTutor Pay?

MyTutor earnings differ across the school and private tutoring programmes, but range between £10-£24 per hour (after fees and VAT have been deducted).

The MyTutor pay rates for school sessions are capped as follows:

Private tutors pitch themselves at one of 6 price bands, ranging from £18-£36 an hour. However, the tutor only receives 58% of this, with 7% deducted for VAT, and 35% taken as a MyTutor commission fee. This leaves a ‘take home’ MyTutor salary of £10-£24.

MyTutor suggests setting the following private prices, depending on the level:

Tutors are still paid in the case of student no-shows, as they are expected to remain for the duration of the session.

Additional income can be generated through the MyTutor refer a friend scheme, which offers £10 for each successful tutor referred.

When Does MyTutor Pay?

There are two MyTutor payment dates each month:

• On the 18th of the month for lessons completed between the 1st and 15th
• On the 3rd of the following month for lessons completed between the 16th and end of the month 

If these dates fall upon a weekend or bank holiday, then processing will occur the next working day.

MyTutor payments are made via BACS, which can take 3-5 working days to reach the recipient’s bank account. In a normal month, payment should therefore arrive by the 21st and the 6th.

MyTutor Hours

The MyTutor timetable runs Monday to Sunday, with tutorials falling between 7am and 9.30pm, though there is greatest demand mid-week after school.

School sessions occur at a regular time, typically over 6-10 weeks, while private tutoring can be less consistent and require greater flexibility.

It will sometimes take a few weeks for new MyTutor tutors to receive their first lesson, depending on demand at that time of year.

How Long Are MyTutor Lessons?

The MyTutor lesson length is 1 hour/60 minutes.

MyTutor Cancellation Policy

MyTutor tutors can cancel a lesson with 24 hours’ notice. Less than this and the session will have to be rescheduled or refunded.

Students can similarly cancel 24 hours ahead of their lesson. A MyTutor no show from a student still requires a tutor to remain in the lesson space for the session’s duration (which is paid for).

MyTutor Requirements

These are the general MyTutor eligibility requirements (no teaching/tutoring experience is necessary):

• A current student or recent graduate at one of 60 top UK universities
• Have A-grades in Maths, English or Science GCSE or A-Level
• Eligible to work in the UK and able to register as self-employed with HMRC
• Access to a laptop, earphones, and a stable internet connection
• Downloaded Google Chrome or Safari browser
• Enjoys working with people
• Love your subject
• Looking for a flexible job

To teach at a particular level, you must possess the following grades/subject knowledge:

MyTutor Application Process to Become a Tutor

To apply for MyTutor jobs, you must first register the following information through the MyTutor sign up form:

• First name
• Last name
• Personal email
• University
• University email prefix and domain (if currently studying)
• Password

If there are no MyTutor job vacancies currently, you will be redirected to a waiting list requesting these details:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Which subject(s) do you want to tutor?
• Which levels do you want to tutor?

Once there are MyTutor vacancies available and you are registered, log in to the website and complete the MyTutor application form by answering the following questions (this should take around 10 minutes):

• What did you study?
  • Qualification type
  • Course title
  • Start year
  • Year of graduation
• What are your school leaving qualifications?
  • Qualification type (e.g. A-Level, International Baccalaureate)
• Which subjects did you take at [Insert] level?
  • Subject
  • Grade
• Which of these subjects did you study at GCSE?
  • Subject
  • Grade
• Do you have additional qualifications? (e.g. university admissions tests, music grades, academic degrees)
  • Qualification Type
  • Title
  • Name of Institution
  • Grade
  • Year Completed
• Are there any coding languages you’d feel confident tutoring?
  • HTML and CSS
  • Python
• Are you eligible to work in the UK?
• What are your personal details?
  • Birth date
  • Phone number
  • Gender
  • Nationality
• Upload a copy of your graduation certificate (if applicable)
• References

Once submitted, it can take up to 5 working days to approve your references.

Be aware that applicants must provide an up-to-date DBS check or pay to have one conducted, with MyTutor fronting the cost of £40 and deducting £4 instalments from the first 10 lessons you complete.

MyTutor Interview Questions

The MyTutor interview lasts around 15 minutes, where you will discuss your background, subject knowledge, tutoring style, and how you would deal with certain situations and explain a particular concept to students. To help with your MyTutor interview prep, here are some questions that have previously been asked of candidates:

• Tell me about your background
• What experience do you have working with children?
• What are your ambitions?
• What and why did you study your subject at university / What got you interested in the degree that you did?
• What extracurricular activities are you involved in at university / Outside of your studies, what interests do you have?
• Why have you applied for this role?
• What made you decide to become a tutor?
• What qualities should a good tutor have?
• What would make you a good tutor?
• Why did you choose MyTutor?
• What method of teaching will you utilise?
• What is your tutoring style?
• If you attempted to explain a grammar point to a student and they did not understand, how would you try to help them?
• What would you do if the student was struggling with a question?
• What will you do if a student gets a question wrong / What would you do if a student makes a mistake?
• What would you do if the student didn’t have a microphone or camera on?
• How would you deal with technical issues?
• What would you do if something came up and you were no longer able to do your lesson / If other arrangements clash with a lesson, what would you do?
• How would you deal with a parent who had expressed interest in lessons but failed to follow up on it?
• Demonstrate how you would carry out a lesson / How would you present a lesson to a student?
• How would you teach [insert topic] to a student?

This video provides some additional MyTutor tips for the interview:

Working for MyTutor Reviews

The MyTutor Glassdoor page gives the company an average rating of 4.3 out of 5, with a whopping 92% willing to recommend them (at time of publication). This is especially impressive considering the large sample size of 570 MyTutor employee reviews, summarised as follows:

While the MyTutor experience of most tutors is positive overall, comments regarding the ‘good pay’ should be considered in context. The MyTutor job review below is the most negative one offered, and highlights that quite a lot of effort goes into tutoring, particularly for higher-level subjects, which can require lots of unpaid prep time:

This position is reinforced by a MyTutor tutor on Indeed:

The MyTutor Indeed page provides a similar score of 4.4 out of 5 (from 40 reviews). These are the most recent MyTutor tutor reviews there at the time of writing:

Conclusion – Is MyTutor Worth It?

MyTutor is a reputable and well-established company providing major links to a large number of school tutoring programmes. Despite this, they still appear to have more tutors than bookings available, with several reviews mentioning difficulties in securing slots. While the lower pay rate is just above the UK minimum wage, it does not include prep time which can be sizeable. MyTutor is unlikely to provide a full-time income, but it might be worth adding them to your portfolio of occasional tutoring options to fall back on.

You can apply to MyTutor here.

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