We’ve all been there, staring at the pages of a textbook or even our own notes, desperately trying to figure out what it means. Whether it’s the teaching style of a professor or just the content of a certain class, there are few things more frustrating in university than wanting to understand the material and not being able to. This is the problem that Clutch Prep* wants to fix.
Created at Florida International University in 2010, Clutch Prep is an online tutoring service that offers students a convenient way to get extra help with those difficult courses. As Sophie Olivia, the company’s marketing intern, put it, Clutch Prep is “a company founded by college students to help college students.” The company launched nationally in America in 2014. In the beginning, content wasn’t being created specifically for Canadian universities. When signing up though, students are prompted to enter their school’s name. That same year, Clutch Prep was already noticing a presence from Canadian students. Today, there are pages for several universities in the country like UBC and U of T.
At the moment, there is no specific page for Concordia on the website. However, it’s still handy resource for students here. Clutch Prep creates its content based around specific textbooks so, Olivia explained, “students are still able to select the textbook they’re using and they’ll have the ability to use videos in order of the chapters, take exam reviews for each chapter, and apply what they’ve learned with our library of practice problems!”
In that way, Clutch Prep separates itself from other online tutors. It isn’t simply explaining the concepts in a broad sense, but works to expand on how that textbook is teaching them. Amongst the resources listed above, students are also assigned a specific tutor they can ask questions to. Olivia feels that this is one of the benefits of online tutoring over meeting with someone in-person.
“It’s so easy and accessible for students with their hectic college schedules,” she said. “You can literally take your learning anywhere you go.”
Beginning as a tutoring service at just one university, the company seems to be constantly growing, now serving over 3,200 schools nationwide in America. The service can be used for free but for access to more videos, students can invite friends or pay for a subscription. A single month for a single class is $29.99 and prices get lower per month with longer subscriptions. As well, on the website, there is a page of free resources, including infographics**. It’s well worth taking a look at for any student who feels lost with exams approaching. Afterall, as the website explains, Clutch Prep was “founded with the mission to help students succeed in their classes.” And who doesn’t want that?
*hyperlink: https://www.clutchprep.com
**hyperlink: https://www.clutchprep.com/resources