FAQ - Smart Tuition Agency Singapore
Welcome to our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. This is where we list answers to enquiries about Smart Tuition Singapore and also general questions to tuition in Singapore.
The sequence of the questions may be changed due to addition of newly answered questions.
1.0. For Students and Parents- How do I request for a home tutor?
- Can I select a specific home tutor?
- Is tutor XXX available?
- How do you verify your tutors' identities and qualification?
- Can I request to look at the softcopy of the tutor's documents?
- What are the Singapore home tuition fees for different education levels?
- Do I have to pay you (Smart Tuition Singapore) for your service?
- How do I make payment?
- What are the payment methods?
- Can I get the tutor to buy assessment book for my child?
- What do I do if I have a problem with the tutor I have choosen?
- Can I change the tutor after a few weeks or months?
- Why don't you set a bidding system for tutors to apply for tuition assignments?
2.0. For Tutors: Registration- Is there a registration or joining fee to register as a tutor with Smart Tuition Singapore?
- I have already joined another Singapore tuition agency website, can I register under your service as well?
- Can I sign up with another Singapore tuition agency website as well?
- I have no tutoring experience. Can I still sign up with Smart Tuition Singapore?
- How do I register as a tutor with Smart Tuition Singapore?
- What are the criteria to become a home tutor?
- Why is there an error when I try to register as a tutor?
3.0. For Tutors: Account Status and Verification- Can I don't submit my document for verification?
- I'm waiting for my final official transcript/certificate and thus I'm not able to submit them for verification. Can I still apply for tuition assignments?
- What can I do if I have lost my certificate(s)?
- What to do if I do not have a scanner to scan my document?
- What do I do if I have just finished my exams and currently waiting for my certificate?
- What will you do with my submitted documents?
- I have already submitted my documents long ago, why is my profile status still 'pending'?
- I have already submitted my documents long ago, why is my IC or/and qualification status(es) not updated?
4.0. For Tutors: Login Issue- I have registered as a tutor and have been receiving daily assignments updates but why can't I log into the website?
- I have registered as a home tutor and brought to a success confirmation page. However, why is it that I have not received the confirmation email after some time?
- I have registered as a tutor and managed to log in. However, why am I not listed in the home tutor list page?
5.0. For Tutors: Commission- What are the rates chargeable by Smart Tuition Singapore for each tuition assignment?
- How do I make payment to Smart Tuition Singapore?
- Will I receive any tuition fee if I were terminated by the parent/student within the first two weeks?
6.0. For Tutors: Tuition Assignments- Can I get an assignment without registering as a tutor?
- Is tuition assignment xxxxxxxx available?
- Can I know the location of the tuition assignment?
- I have just registered as a tutor and my document submission status is 'pending'. Can I still apply for tuition assignments?
- I have sent an enquiry to show interest in a tuition assignment, but why is there no response after a few days?
- I'm interested in an assignment that has much higher rate than my expected tuition fee. Can I still apply for it?
- Can I know which coordinator is handling a tuition assignment?
7.0. For Tutors: Other Questions- How do I benefit from signing up with Smart Tuition Singapore?
- Will any teaching material or training be provided for tutor?
- How does Smart Tuition Singapore secure my personal contact information?
- I have indicated a very low minimal tuition fees rate in my profile, does it mean that I will be offered only tuition assignments with the same amount of tuition fee rate?
- What happen if I'm rejected by the parent/student after a few number of lessons?
- What are the penalties for violating the code of conduct or creating issues?
1.0. For Students and Parents- How do I request for a home tutor?
You can fill up our online Request for Tutor form and our friendly coordinators will get in touch with you once we find a suitable Singapore home tutor for you within a couple of days. If you are not comfortable with the tutor request form, you may contact us directly via our friendly coodinator - Tricia @ 9621 0701.
- Can I select a specific home tutor?
Yes, you may browse through our Singapore home tutor list and indicate the home tutor’s ID in the remarks section of the Request for Tutor form. However, please note that all our home tutors are subjected to availability and Smart Tuition Singapore deserves the right to advise you on the suitability of the home tutors in order to maintain our customer satisfactory level.
- Is tutor XXX available?
Please help us by filling up the request form with your details and indicate the tutor ID inside. We will need the information in order to confirm with the tutor whether he/she is available and is willing to take up the assignment.
Smart Tuition's working style is to make sure both parent/student and tutor are willing to accept each other. There are many factors that will cause mismatch, such as location and tuition fee. We do not force any tutor to accept any student because it will likely increase the chance of the tutor dropping the assignment halfway.
- How do you verify your tutors' identities and qualification?
We request all our tutors to send us a soft copy of their NRIC & certificates during registration to put them on a higher matching priority. It is a requirement for them to do it upon confirmation of an assignment. For more information, do read our verification article.
- Can I request to look at the softcopy of the tutor's documents?
No. You will only get to see the original certificates during the first tuition lesson, which the tutor is required to bring along. We are proud of our effort in verifying the tutors' documents while all parents and students approach us because they trust us. The reason is you will not like to send your documents to others, except to an agency with good reputation. We respect the privacy of our home tutors.
- What are the Singapore home tuition fees for different education levels?
The tuition fees rates are found in our Singapore Tuition Rates Guide Table. Note that some home tutors may quote for a much lower or higher tuition fee - The actual prices may vary depending on individual tuition assignment due to factors such as tutors' qualification, tutors’ experiences, location of tuition, number of subjects, demand for the tutors and others.
- Do I have to pay you (Smart Tuition Singapore) for your service?
We don't collect any fee unless it is a short-term assignment, which means that you will only require the tutor for a couple of months or even less. We are able to continue with our free service because we take commission from our tutors. There is absolutely no hidden cost and we will tell you the cost upfront if applicable.
- How do I make payment?
For the first two weeks, you will pay your tuition fees to us (Smart Tuition Singapore) instead of the tutor as commission. For the subsequent payment (every 2 weeks or month, depending on the agreement between you and the tutor), you will pay the tuition fees directly to the home tutor you have chosen.
- What are the payment methods?
You can transfer the payment to Smart Tuition Singapore via internet or ATM bank transfer or by cheque. Please refer to our payment page for more details.
- Can I get the tutor to buy assessment book for my child?
Yes. Parent/tutee will have to pay for the assessment book (receipt is to be given), unless the tutor agrees to pay for it. However, we would strongly advise you to allow the tutor to conduct the first tutoring session before he/she can judge the standard of your child in order to get the appropriate book and materials.
- What do I do if I have a problem with the tutor I have choosen?
Please contact us immediately. We will investigate and replace the tutor for you. We are strongly against irresponsible tutors. As a trusted tuition agency by Singapore parents, we are working hard to find the 'black sheep' among the dedicated tutors to blacklist them. By offering your observation and experience with the tutor, you are helping other parents/students and will be greatly appreciated.
- Can I change the tutor after a few weeks or months?
Yes. We do understand that some students are trying hard to communicate with the tutor and even if it fails after a period of time, we still greatly appreciate the effort and patience. Do approach us and let us know about it and we are ready to search for a more suitable tutor for you.
- Why don't you set a bidding system for tutors to apply for tuition assignments?
We believe in looking for home tutors of good qualities for students. Experienced and qualified tutors will not lower down their tuition fees much and therefore the tutor who offers the lowest tuition fee (lowest bidding) will likely not be a good choice. If parents/students have a budget constraint, we are also able to recommend some promising tutors who have less experience among our wide range of registered home tutors.
2.0. For Tutors: Registration- Is there a registration or joining fee to register as a tutor with Smart Tuition Singapore?
No, there is no registration or joining fee. There is no hidden cost and we do not ask for any credit card information. We will only collect part of your tuition fee from the parent as commission after you have conducted the tuition lesson and you do not even need to fork out any money.
- I have already joined another Singapore tuition agency website, can I register under your service as well?
Yes, you are welcome to join us to increase your chance of matching with a student (tutee), for the benefit of both you and all students/parents. It is our mission to help both home tutors and students/parents.
- Can I sign up with another Singapore tuition agency website as well?
Yes, we will be happy for you if you can obtain an ideal tuition assignment through any honest tuition agency in Singapore. Bear in mind that we have a mission to help both parents/students and home tutors. We feel that any tuition agency in Singapore that restricts you to sign up with other tuition agencies is being unfair to you, unless they can guarantee you the number of tuition assignments that you need.
- I have no tutoring experience. Can I still sign up with Smart Tuition Singapore?
Yes. Some of our tutors do not have experience as well. It's okay for you to sign up with us as long as you have the passion to teach. Basically, tutors without experience will quote a lower tuition fee than others, but they can gradually increase their rates over time. There are parents who do not mind engaging tutors without experience.
- How do I register as a tutor with Smart Tuition Singapore?
You can join our team of home tuition tutors by filling up our online Register as Tutor form; it is compulsary.
- What are the criteria to become a home tutor?
You must have at least obtained your 'O' level certificate; however, it is up to individual parent and student to demand for a tutor with a certain minimal qualification, such as diploma or 'A' level certificate. You must also be 16 or above and either a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident (PR) or full-time student.
- Why is there an error when I try to register as a tutor?
Please check if you have already registered with us. It could be due to wrong input of email address. Some tutors have accidentally put ',' instead of '.', while others have accidentally used a spare email to register with us. Contact us with your nRIC, email and contact number and let us know of the problem.
3.0. For Tutors: Account Status and Verification- Can I don't submit my document for verification?
No. As a trusted tuition agency in Singapore, we require you to email us a soft copy of each of your document (I/C, certificates and transcripts) for us to verify your identity and qualification.
We will never recommend any 'anonymous tutor' to our clients.
Please also bring your original certificates along during the first lesson to be verified by the parents/students.
- I'm waiting for my final official transcript/certificate and thus I'm not able to submit them for verification. Can I still apply for tuition assignments?
Yes. Do note that the indication of document submission is to verify that we have received your final official transcript/certificate. Do submit your latest result slip and we will explain to the parents/students if you are selected by them.
- What can I do if I have lost my certificate(s)?
If you have lost your cerificates issued by MOE, you may purchase them at MOE website. For other certificates, you may need to contact your respective institute for them.
- What to do if I do not have a scanner to scan my document?
Do not worry because you are not the only one facing this problem. Simply use a camera to take photos of them, upload the photos to your computer and email them to us. We do not need very good quality pictures but they must be reasonably readable to be verified. Lastly, you can also photostat the documents and send them to us.
- What do I do if I have just finished my exams and currently waiting for my certificate?
Do indicate it in the 'comment to coordinator' column in your profile. Our coordinators will explain to the parents when necessary.
- What will you do with my submitted documents?
We will look through the documents, update our database and keep them for future reference. If parents/students request for your documents, we will seek your permission before sending to them.
- I have already submitted my documents long ago, why is my profile status still 'pending'?
The document submission is different from your profile status. Everytime you update your profile, the status will revert to 'pending', similar to new sign-up, and requires our administrators to manually approve it again. You have obviously updated your profile after logging in.
- I have already submitted my documents long ago, why is my IC or/and qualification status(es) not updated?
There is likely to be some problems with your document submission. The most common mistakes are:
(1) You have submitted to the wrong email address.
(2) Your email client has automatically sized down your images during the process.
(3) Your images are too small or blur.
You should double check your 'sent folder' to see if there is any mistake. Do check out the document verification page for more details.
4.0. For Tutors: Login Issue- I have registered as a tutor and have been receiving daily assignments updates but why can't I log into the website?
The most common problem is that tutors mistake the free daily tuition assignments updates form as registering as a tutor with us. The form solely requires you to fill up your email without even asking for your name. The confirmation email also states clearly that you will still need to register as a tutor even if you have subscribed to the assignment updates. To sum up, you have not registered as a tutor.
- I have registered as a home tutor and brought to a success confirmation page. However, why is it that I have not received the confirmation email after some time?
(1) Check your bulk or spam mail folder. Our confirmation email may be filtered as spam.
(2) Another common problem is wrong input of wrong email address.
(3) Please do not register using your school or company email because some corporate email servers, such as NUS, tend to filter external email with any url included.
Under normal circumstances, you should receive the confirmation email almost immediately after registration. There may be a short delay if the server is too busy. If you fail to receive the confirmation email after an hour, do contact us with your nRIC, email and contact number, and let us know you have aleady checked your bulk/spam mail folder.
- I have registered as a tutor and managed to log in. However, why am I not listed in the home tutor list page?
In order to prevent spamming and bad contents being shown to the public, listing in the home tutor page requires manual approval from our administrators. It will be approved immediately after any of our administrators has verified your profile details.
5.0. For Tutors: Commission- What are the rates chargeable by Smart Tuition Singapore for each tuition assignment?
We require a one time payment of first 2 tutoring weeks.
For example, if you earn $50/lesson once a week, you will be paying us (Smart Tuition Singapore) $50/lesson x 2weeks = $100 out of your income as commission. If you have lessons twice a week, you will pay us $50/lesson x 2lessons/week x 2weeks = $200.
In cases that lesson(s) is/are cancelled, commission will be calculated inclusive of the weeks after.
For example, if you earn $50/lesson once a week, but lesson for the second week is cancelled, we will take into account of the first 3 weeks of lessons: $50/lesson x 2weeks (First and Third week) = $100.
- How do I make payment to Smart Tuition Singapore?
You do not have to make payment to Smart Tuition Singapore directly. We will collect the tuition fee directly from the parents/students at the end of the second (or third) week as our commission.
- Will I receive any tuition fee if I were terminated by the parent/student within the first two weeks?
This is based on a case by case basis. We will at most give half of the tuition fee to you. Our tuition agency should not be penalised due to faults made by tutors, otherwise, we will not be able to sustain to help other people. We would like to urge all tutors to be confident and familiar with the tutoring subject(s) before applying for them in order to reduce such problem.
6.0. For Tutors: Tuition Assignments- Can I get an assignment without registering as a tutor?
No. If you are not intending to register as a tutor with us, please do not even bother to contact us.
- Is tuition assignment xxxxxxxx available?
All available tuition assignments are placed inside the main tuition assignments page and the availability will be stated inside their individual pages.
- Can I know the location of the tuition assignment?
All available information is shown on the individual tuition assignment's page; we will not disclose the unit (flat or condo) or house number (landed property). Some parents are not comfortable with disclosing their block number to us before selection of tutor is confirmed, and thus only road name will be indicated.
- I have just registered as a tutor and my document submission status is 'pending'. Can I still apply for tuition assignments?
Yes. It will take around one or two working days usually for us to verify your documents due to the large number of tutor sign-up everyday.
- I have sent an enquiry to show interest in a tuition assignment, but why is there no response after a few days?
We are sorry that due to the huge number of application for the tuition assignments, we are unable to respond to each individual application, but you can view the application status after you have logged in. If you are qualified for the requested assignment, we will send your profile to the parents/students. However, some parents do take very long time to confirm. Sometimes, we do meet parents who have engaged the services of many Singapore tuition agencies and they feel uncomfortable to politely tell us they have already found a home tutor. We will give some time for the parents to respond before closing the assignment, and meanwhile your application status will still be 'pending'.
- I'm interested in an assignment that has much higher rate than my expected tuition fee. Can I still apply for it?
Yes, you can apply for it, however, do note that both our tuition agency and parent's side would have much higher expectation for tuition assignments with higher rate. If we deem that you deserve it, we may also help you to get a better rate than your minimal expectation - we always try to be fair to both clients and tutors.
- Can I know which coordinator is handling a tuition assignment?
No. We want our coordinators to concentrate on handling the tuition assignments and we cannot afford to let tutors bother them with special requests. If you have any problem with certain tuition assignment, do use the contact us form.
7.0. For Tutors: Other Questions- How do I benefit from signing up with Smart Tuition Singapore?
Other than being able to apply for our tuition assignments, we can alert you directly when there is any suitable tuition assignment. You will also be listed in our home tutor Singapore page (optional) for greater exposure to parents and students, and thus there is a higher chance for you to get a tuition assignment.
- Will any teaching material or training be provided for tutor?
No. We are a tuition agency and not tuition centre. In fact, not all tuition centres will provide materials for their tutors.
- How does Smart Tuition Singapore secure my personal contact information?
Your password is encrypted before it is stored into our database, so that nobody, including our staffs, can retrieve it. Please kindly help us to secure your account by keeping your password safe.
- I have indicated a very low minimal tuition fees rate in my profile, does it mean that I will be offered only tuition assignments with the same amount of tuition fee rate?
No. By indicating a low minimal tuition fees rate, it allows you to be matched with a larger variety of tuition assignments. However, if the tuition assignment that you are taking up worths a higher tuition rate, you will be given the better tuition rate for your effort. We do our best to be fair to all our home tutors and parents/students.
- What happen if I'm rejected by the parent/student after a few number of lessons?
We will investigate it and rest assure that we do understand it may not be the tutor's fault. In cases that the student does not like the teaching style of yours, we will be glad to offer you other tuition assignments when available. However, if you are being terminated by the parent/student for violating our Code of Ethics, we may have to blacklist you.
- What are the penalties for violating the code of conduct or creating issues?
We won't hesitate to blacklist any tutor who has problem in his/her character, including those who go MIA or cancel lesson last minute. We also keep in touch with other tuition agencies to share profiles of black sheep in the market.
If you have other doubts that we have not answered here, feel free to contact us.
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Smart Tuition Singapore has helped my daughter find a caring and effective tutor. My daughter shows more interest in her studies now, especially in Mathematics. Hope you get a suitable tutor through their excellent service as well! - Mrs Ng
Tutor Michelle prepared our daughter successfully for her 'O' Level Examination within a very short period of time. We did not expect her to be able to get into a Junior College with her usual results. We were very pleasantly surprised and thoroughly satisfied with Smart Tuition's Tutor recommendation and would strongly recommend Smart Tuition to all other smart parents. - Mr and Mrs Tan
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