No matter how hard you work on your homework, there’s always that one question you get stuck on. You’ve read through all the examples, studied all the materials, and listened to your professor’s explanation—but you still don’t get it. You could try some great studying tips, but what if you need someone to help you understand? Are you doomed to be left floundering about with no help? Are you abandoned on the shores of confusion? No—that’s where tutoring sites can help.
With the rise of online learning has come a rise in online-based tutoring as well. These sites are often more accessible than on-campus tutoring opportunities, and have tutors that are proficient in many different topics. But with so many different sites, it’s easy to be suspicious. Are the answers even correct? Are the tutors experienced? Is using tutoring sites cheating? While there are many different kinds of tutoring sites, Chegg Tutors is a reliable source for students. Let’s see what they offer and if they’re right for you with this Chegg Tutors review.
Note: As of early 2021 Chegg has discontinued its Chegg Tutors service. We recommend checking out their Chegg Study service for tutoring and homework help needs.
What Is Chegg Tutors?
Chegg (formerly known as InstaEDU) is a study site for students, with the byline of “a Smarter Way to Student.” Founded in 2011, they’ve been a fast-growing company, with profits of $390-395 million in 2019. Their goal is to help students learn by giving them access to knowledgeable tutors, who can help them work through their homework, mastering the content of their classes.
How Does Chegg Tutors Work?
There are two ways to be matched with tutoring help on Chegg: submit your request and be assigned, or browse through tutor profiles and reach out to them yourself.
The first option is the most common and streamlined way (and the only way accessible to non-members) You simply enter the topic you need help with, select how quickly you need a tutor, and create an account.
While Chegg does advertise that the first lesson is only $6.95, that really only applies to chat lessons. The main avenue of asking for tutoring help takes you immediately to their monthly subscription—60 minutes of tutoring for $30 a month. You are required to create an account (including your payment information) to schedule a tutoring lesson.
The different levels of tutoring lessons—chat or audio/visual calls—allow students to chose whichever method best fits their personal learning style. While all visual lessons begin with a virtual whiteboard for student and tutor to go over the problem, each lesson is as unique as the tutor and student involved. The time for each lesson will vary—but once you use the 60 min. of a month, each additional minute will cost you $0.50 more.
Is Chegg Tutors Cheating?
The question every student has about tutoring sites is “Is it cheating?” Does using study sites like Chegg go against their school’s code? While these tutoring sites have been called “the gateway drug to cheating,” they don’t have to be. Using sites like Chegg is not inherently cheating—but cheaters certainly try to take advantage of it. This is why many educators do looks suspiciously on it, as there have been times when the answers to an entire test have been posted on the site for others to view.
However, Chegg has had an active response against cheating. They created a machine-learning program called SNORKEL (why that name, we don’t know) to flag request that show tell-tale signs of cheating: asking for someone to write a paper for them, or give test answers, etc.
These flagged requests then go to the reviewers, who can confirm the results. While Chegg can’t keep students from asking for unethical help, Chegg’s tutors are contractually not allowed to accept those requests.
Study sites are a tool. And just like any tool, they can be abused—but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a good, legitimate use. Just because you can crush your finger with a hammer doesn’t mean you should stop using it for nails! In some ways, Chegg Tutoring is no different from having your professor work through a problem with you. Chegg can actually help you to understand the material better than before.
Good studying habits [link to study habits post] involve trying to first work through the problems as well as you can on your own—but once you are stuck, Chegg’s step-by-step tutoring methods can help. The purpose of homework is getting a good grasp on the material—so working through the problems with a tutor can help you to do that well.
After all, homework is often not worth much of your grade, so cheating on it won’t help your GPA—you’ll only cheat yourself out of understanding the material. And that’s a scary thought when finals roll around.
Is Chegg Tutors Reliable?
Chegg is a reliable company, trusted enough to be partnered together with student loan companies like Sallie Mae to offer tutoring to their borrowers. They also have a Better Business Bureau rating of A—though there was a recent date breach which allowed hackers access to email and shipping address, though no monetary information.
One of the largest complaints against Chegg is its customer service. Their site posts phone office hours—but there is no number or email available on the site. This has led to a lot of frustration among users, especially ones trying to cancel their subscription.
The tutors on Chegg are reliable as well. They are experienced, having met the requirements of graduating college, and having teaching or tutoring experience before. Tutors also go through a rigorous hiring process, that requires them to take tests on their chosen subject before they are accepted.
Some Cautions For Chegg Tutors
While Chegg is fairly reliable and useful way to study, there are several things to be aware of. Their pricing is complicated—while a simple lesson is advertised as costing $6.95, that is merely a chat one, and more normal tutoring lessons require a full month membership. There is a predetermined number of minutes for each month, but unused minutes don’t roll over—penalizing those who only need tutoring help for occasional trouble spots.
There are no clear guidelines on how tutoring work either—while each session is different, Chegg does not share any format that each tutoring session follows.
Then there is the ever-present opportunity to cheat. For younger students, it is recommended that parents monitor their use of Chegg, to ensure that they are not cheating.
Is Chegg Tutors Worth The Money?
With single lessons costing $6.95, Chegg is effective for those single questions that keep giving you difficulty. Their hiring process ensures that tutors are knowledgeable on the topics. The ability to communicate several different ways is useful for different learners, enabling them to think about it in ways those students might not get in the classroom.
Chegg also offers several different tools alongside their tutoring services, that are a great help to students. Chegg Study offers videos that walk through tough questions in different subjects; Chegg Math Solver offers the opportunity to snap a picture of your problem and send it to work through it more easily; Chegg Writing is a program that checks for plagiarism and grammar.
There are also several opportunities to access Chegg for free. Swagbucks, Inbox Dollars, Survey Junkie, and several other sites offer subscriptions to Chegg for lower price or even free—and free study helps are always worth that price tag.
Chegg Tutors Alternatives
Tutor
Another popular (and aptly-named) tutoring site is Tutor. Tutor is a service of Princeton review, and offers opportunities for AP placement tutoring, as well as drop-off essay review. Their hiring process is extremely rigorous, with mock tutoring sessions, mentoring reviews, and 3rd party background checks—so their tutors are the best.
However, while Chegg is easily open to all, Tutor is more difficult to access. To use Tutor, you have to access it through another platform, whether that is through your college or the military. While Tutor does have useful articles that anyone can access, they aren’t as easily accessible and useable to the every-day student as Chegg.
Skooli
Skooli prices its tutoring sessions by the minute, $0.81 per minute, with a minimum of 15 minutes, for a price of $12.30. While their single lessons are priced higher than Chegg, their tutoring session are recorded, and thus the student can replay them as many times as they need. Skooli can also be used on any device—an advantage over Chegg, which has notorious reputation for flagging accounts trying to log in on another device.
Rather than having a subscription service, Skooli functions with a pay-as-you-go program, an advantage for students who need help for a few weeks rather than a whole month. However, Skooli does not have much information about the vetting process for tutors, and lacks the free trial that Chegg offers.
Conclusions For Chegg Tutors
Chegg Tutors is a great tool for students, if used correctly. Its pricing is cheaper than many other competitors for single-lessons, and their large subject-matter database and hiring process for tutors ensures that you receive quality assistance. The customer service issues and monthly subscription set-up are cons for long-term interaction with Chegg, though their tools, such as Math Solver, are advantages. Overall, Chegg Tutors provides excellent help for one-time questions, or trouble spots, and can be useful for longer-term tutoring as well.
