Peer Tutoring
Are you looking to strengthen your understanding of course content?
The ERC Peer Tutoring program gives BU students an opportunity to connect with a fellow student and ask questions related to course material. Peer Tutors are BU students just like you, and understand how intimidating certain courses can be. They are here to guide, encourage, and support you in your learning process. All tutors are undergraduates who excelled in their course and are recommended by BU faculty. For a list of courses we tutor, please click here.
Our services are FREE to all BU students!
Single Appointment
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Individual tutoring
(1-on-1)
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In-person or Online
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1 hour, one-time appointment
- just want to try out tutoring
- have a few specific questions
- prefer working 1-on-1
- want flexible scheduling
Guided Group Appointment
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Group tutoring
(2-3 students)
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In-person or Online
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1.5 hours, every week, all semester
- want consistent material review
- enjoy collaborating with your peers
- can commit to a set schedule
Recurring Single Appointment
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Individual tutoring
(1-on-1)
-
In-person or Online
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1 hour, every week, all semester
- want consistent review
- prefer working 1-on-1
- can commit to a set schedule
Drop-in Tutoring Appointment
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Group offerings
(size varies)
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Various times, locations
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Fall and Spring semesters
- are enrolled in CAS CH101/102/203/204 or PY105/106
- and have a few questions..
- Check TracCloud for hours and locations!
*Single appointments book up quickly prior to exams, so plan ahead!
ERC Peer Tutors know the challenges of your course because they’ve been through it themselves.
Peer Tutors are here to help solidify your understanding of core concepts, to guide you through challenging problems, and to provide personalized study tips. You will get the most out of your session by thinking through what concepts you want to focus on and bringing specific questions. Peer Tutors are not professors and do not prepare lesson plans, so please bring questions and practice problems with you.
What does a tutoring appointment look like?
We offer a wide range of tutoring appointments, giving you the flexibility to ensure that your needs are being met. A tutoring appointment will look different depending on the type of appointment you choose, and sessions are tailored to fit your academic goals. In a tutoring session, you can expect your tutor to collaborate with you to answer some of your questions around course material. Tutors will also encourage you to engage in the learning process by contributing your own thoughts and ideas to the session. Your will find that your active participation is the key to having a productive tutoring appointment!
How do I prepare for my appointment?
Some things you can do to prepare for your appointment are:
- Write down questions you have from lectures. Are there specific areas you’re struggling in? This is useful information for your tutor to know.
- Highlight places in your notes where you may have missed something.
- Bring in the problems you’ve been practicing but keep getting stuck on.
- Let your tutor know what you want to focus on ahead of the appointment, so that they have time to prepare for your session!
Is there anything I should NOT expect?
You should not expect your tutor to have all the answers to your questions. Your tutor is a student just like you, so they are not experts in their field! If you seek clarification on concepts that your tutors may not be able to help you with, you may want to ask your professor in office hours.
Be sure to bring your textbook and your notes. Since textbooks and course material frequently change, please do not expect your tutor to have these materials on hand.
Also, please do not expect your tutor to work on homework/problem sets before you have submitted them for a grade.
Is ERC Peer Tutoring the only resource for me?
ERC Peer Tutoring is definitely not the only resource available to you. We encourage you to take full advantage of your professors’, teaching fellows’, and/or teaching assistants’ office hours. Additionally, there may be other services offered by a particular department. Some available services are highlighted in our
Academic Resource Guide.
General Questions and ERC Policy
What courses do you offer tutoring for?
The ERC Peer Tutoring program primarily offers tutors for 100-200 level courses in a
variety of subjects, including biology, chemistry, economics, math, physics, and more.
In most cases,
humanities and upper level (300 and above) courses are not offered because
of the type of material and the limited availability of tutors.
For a sense of
which courses we typically cover, you can explore our
Academic Resource Guide and select the subject
you are looking for. The guide also has information regarding support for written assignments.
What do I do if I can’t log into TracCloud?
First, you’ll want to make sure you are using Firefox or Safari since TracCloud tends to work best on these browsers. If you’re trying to log in, but the site is slow to respond, please take a look at your web browser’s progress icon – this is a good indicator that it is loading and might take a few extra seconds.
If you continue to have trouble logging in, please use our
Contact Us form to let us know, and we will work on getting this resolved for you.
Am I going to meet with the same tutor every week?
This depends on the type of appointment you sign up for. For a Group or Recurring appointment, you will meet with the same tutor every week. For a Single (one-time) appointment, you will not necessarily meet with the same tutor again. However, many students get to know their tutors and talk directly with them about setting up additional Single appointments. If you’ve met with a tutor and want to make additional appointments specifically with them, talk with them, or send them an email directly to see if they are available.
Modern & Romance Language Policy
Beginning in the Fall 2023 semester, the ERC will no longer offer Peer Tutor support of foreign language courses. This included languages taught through both the Romance Studies and World Languages & Literatures Departments, as well as Latin and Greek.
Academic Misconduct Policy
All tutors and tutees are expected to adhere to BU’s
Academic Conduct Code. Any work submitted by a student must be their own. Any deviation from this may be considered academic misconduct. Any violation of the Academic Conduct Code will result in immediate termination of Peer Tutoring services.
You may also be interested in reading our Homework Policy below.
Homework Policy
Tutors are not permitted to work on homework that you are submitting for a grade. They can help you figure out how to approach the problem and are more than happy to help you with similar practice problems, but the work you will submit for a grade must be your own.
Scheduling an Appointment
How do I schedule an appointment?
Click here for instructions on scheduling a Peer Tutoring appointment.
How do I get into the Zoom room for the appointment?
On your
TracCloud homepage, you will see an “Upcoming Appointments” section. 15 minutes before your tutoring appointment is scheduled to begin, you will see an “Enter_Online_Appointment” button appear in this section. It will remain there for the duration of your appointment. Just click the button, and it will bring you to the appropriate Zoom room! If you are having any technical difficulties with this, email your peer tutor.
I am running late. Can I come to my appointment late?
You can come a few minutes late, but please note that your session will still end at the originally scheduled time. If you are more than 15 minutes late to the appointment, it will count as a missed appointment. See below for more information on missed appointments.
What if I can’t find a Single (one-time) appointment that works for me?
Tutors continuously add to and modify their schedules, so please continue to check back for an appointment that fits in your schedule. Tutors are required to submit their schedules for the coming week on Thursdays at midnight, so you are more likely to find a wide variety of appointments for the coming week by searching for them on Fridays.
What do I do if I can’t find a Group or Recurring appointment that works for me?
In this case we encourage students to sign up for a Single (one-time) appointment first–this will help ensure that tutoring is the right fit for you. You can discuss with your tutor the advantages and disadvantages of various types of appointments and the possibility of arranging future appointments with them. If the course you are looking for is not listed in the drop down on TracCloud, we do not offer tutoring for it.
How many appointments can I sign up for and what are the limits?
The maximum number of appointments you can have for the same subject in seven days is two total. Additionally, you are only permitted one appointment per class per day.
Please note that the scheduling system counts a week by a seven day window, so if you’ve already had two appointments within the last seven days, you will have to wait to schedule another one.
How do I know if I scheduled my appointment correctly?
You will receive a confirmation email from the ERC shortly after you have scheduled your appointment. It will contain the following information:
Your tutor’s name and email, the date and time of your scheduled appointment, and reminders about ERC policy.
You will also receive a second confirmation email the night before your appointment.
You can also sign up for text message reminders about your appointments through TracCloud. Once you are logged in, simply click the Activate box located on the right side of the TracCloud main page. You will also know you have scheduled your appointment correctly if you refresh your home screen in TracCloud and see Upcoming Appointments.
Cancelling an Appointment
How do I cancel my tutoring appointment?
Cancelling a tutoring appointment is the same for all appointment types. To cancel your appointment, you will need to email your tutor directly at least 24 hours prior to the start of your scheduled appointment. You can find your tutor’s email address in the appointment confirmation email you received. Please note that repeated cancellations for weekly (Recurring Singles and/or Group Appointments) appointments may jeopardize your ability to remain in the appointment series.
I need to cancel my tutoring appointment; am I going to be marked as Missed?
As long as you email your tutor to cancel your tutoring appointment at least 24 hours prior to the start of your scheduled appointment, you have cancelled within policy. If you do not drop your spot in the appointment by this deadline, it will count as Missed. If you believe you received a Missed appointment email in error, please see the next section of the FAQs.
Missed Appointments
What does it mean to be marked as Missed?
A Missed appointment marking means that you did not attend a tutoring appointment for which you were scheduled. You either did not show up for the appointment at all, failed to cancel the appointment 24 hours in advance, or came to the session more than 15 minutes late. It is the policy of the ERC that once you have two Missed appointments, you will be unable to attend any future tutoring appointments until you have come into the office to speak with one of the ERC’s professional staff about your attendance. If you feel you have received a Missed notification in error, please see the next question.
I attended my appointment, but still received a Missed Appointment email. What do I do?
TracCloud automatically generates missed appointment emails when an error occurs during the sign-in process. If you receive an email for an appointment you attended, please contact us right away to let us know. If the appointment is left as a Missed, this can impact your ability to sign up for future appointments, so it is important to notify us right away to get it fixed for you. You should email the staff member listed in the Missed Appointment email you received to get it corrected.
If I had Missed appointments last semester, will they be counted against me this semester?
No, your missed appointments only count against you for the current semester. All missed appointment records are reset to zero once the new semester begins.
There are many resources at BU, including tutoring, writing help, and more!
Explore all of your options with our Academic Resource Guide:
