What to do when a Student gets a Bad Result on a test

Your student, who you have been tutoring for a few weeks now, comes to you with a bad result on their latest test. In situations like this, we encourage you to do the following:

1. Focus on the student's emotions. Channel your empathy to understand how the student feels. If they are grief-stricken, make sure to console them and show sympathy and compassion. If they are frustrated, then let them know that one test or exam isn't going to dictate anything. It's incredibly important to acknowledge the student's situation, and we trust you to find the right words to do so.
2. Scrutinise the test. If your student doesn't have the test with them, ask them to bring it to the next session. If they do have it, it's well worthwhile to embark on a journey with your student to pour over the test, analyse the intricacies of the questions, and reflect on their answers. Always remember to couple your constructive criticism with words of encouragement!!
3. Consider what needs to be changed moving forward. Establishing concrete, tangible and suitable plans and goals means your student can walk out of the session knowing the next steps. Formalising a strong study plan for the rest of the year will also help point them in the right direction.

In most cases, the parents would be the more difficult ones to deal with. If parents come asking you why their child's grades seem to have dropped, here are some things you can do to assuage their worries:

• Again, it is also important to acknowledge the parent's stress, so saying something like "I understand why you're worried, but I can assure you [student's name] has shown significant progress during our lessons, so I am equally surprised about this result. However..."
• Let them know that you have, or will be, looking through the test to see what mistakes were made
• Show them that you have a study plan set out for their child
• Assure them that the test is not indicative of their child's progress. You can bring up other instances when the student showed progress, such as in their homework or some practices you made them do during your lesson time

Most parents are just worried about their child, and just want to know if tuition is helping them or not. While we know that exam results are not the best indicators of a student's understanding of the subject, that is the only indication parents get, so try to see where they're coming from and find other ways to show them that their child is learning from you.