I got online at 9 AM on a Monday and played around with Tutor.com – the “live help” portion of the website was closed, but there is a quite a lot that it offers in the SkillsCenter Resource Library, including tutorials and practice tests for math subjects such as absolute values and inequality (I tried to read a couple of these and they were way over my head – not surprising considering I haven’t taken a math class since high school), for science subjects (categorized both by grade and also by subject), for Social Studies and also for English. For Social Studies I clicked on “Middle Grades” and then a host of subjects came up – I chose “India” and then four links to websites/articles appeared from various sources on The Ancient River Valley, Buddhism, Hinduism and the history of Bangladesh. Interesting reading even for adults, really.
Also in the SkillsCenter Resource Library is information for State Standardized Tests, including a link to a sample WASL that kids can take. This will be a great reference tool to use for parents wanting to find WASL study guides for their children. Also included in this section – and also incredibly important – are sample quizzes and tutorials for the AP tests, SAT, ACT, GRE and other college entrance and graduate school entrance exams. Great to know for when you’re working at the second floor information desk.
It’s not just young children that can benefit from Tutor.com – Live Help is available for both college students and for adults trying to find a new career. College students can read about and take sample quizzes on Calculus, Physics and a host of other advanced subjects, and adults have tutorials available to them on resume and cover letters, job searching, helping their kids with homework and even citizenship testing. Adults can also upload resumes for proofing, as can college students who want another eye to comb over their research papers (this, of course, is also available to the younger kids who need help with papers, etc).
When I got online later, during hours when the Live Help was available, I was impressed to see that you can start with the most basic inquiry (ie, I don’t know where to begin with a paper that’s due in a week!) to the final editing process (where you upload a paper in Proof Point and have a tutor thoroughly check it for you). I wrote a convoluted thesis statement about Edith Wharton and sent it in to be evaluated but then was asked to come out to a reference desk and had to abandon the experiment. Nonetheless, seems like this is a great service, although I can only imagine what the tutors must read everyday – guess it’s probably not much different from what we experience working in a public library – some requests end up being rewarding, some are just plain weird.
