Most families ask about tutoring in one of two windows: just after mock results land in January, or in a panic around Easter. The first is usually right. The second is usually late — not too late to help, but late enough that the work changes from building understanding to triage.
Here is how the year actually runs, and where support does the most good.
Work backwards from the exam calendar
Main written papers for GCSE, IGCSE and A Level sit across May and June. Everything before that is preparation with a deadline attached:
- September–November. New content is being taught. Tutoring here is about keeping pace, not catching up. Cheapest time to fix a shaky foundation.
- November–December. Mock preparation. The first honest signal of where a student actually is.
- January. Mock results. The single best moment to act — there is still a full term of teaching left, and you now have evidence rather than a hunch.
- February–March. The productive middle. Content gaps can still be closed properly and exam technique built on top.
- April–May. Revision and past papers. Real gains are possible, but they come from technique and recall, not from learning topics for the first time.
The mistake at each end
Starting too late compresses two jobs into one. A student who does not yet understand moments in physics cannot be taught exam technique for moments — the technique has nothing to sit on. By late April there is rarely time to do both well, so something gets skipped.
Starting too early, with no clear goal, tends to fade. Weekly sessions beginning in September with no diagnosis and no target often become homework supervision. That has value, but it is not what most families are paying for, and motivation drops by February.
A reasonable rule
If mocks revealed a specific, nameable problem — a topic, a paper, a question type — start within a few weeks of the results. Momentum from a concrete goal carries well through spring.
If the issue is broader, such as a subject the student has been behind in for a year, start earlier and expect the first month to be diagnosis rather than progress.
And if you are reading this in April: still worth doing. Just be clear with the tutor that the goal is marks on the paper, not complete coverage, and let them tell you where the remaining time is best spent.