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Smarthinking

Acquired by Pearson

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Great job for agoraphobes! - Online Writing Tutor Smarthinking Employee Review

2.0
Oct 25, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

If you do NOT need to make much money and you are wedded to the idea of never leaving the house or taking a phone call, this is the job for you.

Cons

They sure do want a lot for eleven dollars an hour. Smarthinking has a formula for tutoring students in writing that they think works really well. In fact, it is time consuming and counter-intuitive. Tutors are required to pointlessly quote the student's writing back to him at several points in the review, no matter how little is to be gained from doing so. Because apparently the student doesn't know what he wrote. The formula for reviewing is so repetitive that tutors end up making comments like "Well, this needs improvement because it is crappy writing, and crappy writing is a bad thing because it's crappy. Here's an example of your crappy writing and here's how to fix it. Now, please fix your crappy writing." As a student, I would find this kind of repetition deeply insulting, but if I fail to follow the formula, I get a poor evaluation. If I am honest with the student that his writing is kind of lifeless, I get an evaluation that says my comments are "hurtful." Oh, and we are REQUIRED to praise something in the paper--even when the paper is a total train wreck and there's absolutely not one good sentence in it to isolate as better than the rest. So, if I say something like, "Well, I can see that you have a lot of enthusiasm," the lead tutor accuses me of being insincere. Lead tutors make a big fuss about formatting, at least if mine is any indication. I mean, she really CARES about Verdana 10 point.

Explore other reviews about Smarthinking

5.0
Sep 27, 2024
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Allowed flexibility with work hours since it was 24/7 operation.

Cons

Not getting COLA every year

4.0
Dec 5, 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Great tutor community! You might learn a lot more about your subject at this job than you already know ,and if you enjoy learning and tutoring, this job is for you.

Cons

More time may be needed for some markups to meet the quality standard

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