Three hours of lectures, two seminars, four tutoring sessions, and a group project meeting – all before dinner. Sound familiar? If you’re like me – a student tutor trying to balance academics with helping others pass their exams – then welcome to the club. We meet on Wednesdays at 3am, staring at the ceiling and wondering if we remembered to eat anything besides coffee today.
As a BSc Economics and Management student at King’s who also tutors secondary Maths, Science, and A-Level Economics, I’ve learned the hard way that balance doesn’t happen by accident. It requires strategy, boundaries, and occasionally telling friends you can’t make it to that midweek football viewing party (though missing United’s recent performances might be a blessing in disguise).
The Economics of Your Time
Let’s start with what we economists call opportunity cost – every hour spent tutoring is an hour not spent on your own studies, socializing, sleeping, or watching highlights of Rashford’s glory days. Time truly is your scarcest resource.
In my first year, I approached tutoring with the same unstructured enthusiasm I applied to my A-Level Chemistry experiments – throw things together and see what happens! The result? Late nights creating materials from scratch, session prep bleeding into essay deadlines, and the constant feeling of being one missed alarm away from disaster.
My Tried and Tested System (That Actually Works)
After nearly burning out by Christmas of Year 2, I completely overhauled my approach. Here’s the system that saved my sanity:
1. The Sacred Calendar
Every Sunday night, I map my entire week with three color codes:
- Red blocks: Immovable commitments (lectures, deadlines, exams)
- Yellow blocks: Tutoring sessions and prep time (always schedule prep!)
- Green blocks: Recovery time (gym, football, actual meals, sleep)
The game-changer was realizing that green blocks aren’t optional – they’re as important as red ones. Skip them at your peril.
2. The 48-Hour Rule
I never schedule tutoring sessions within 48 hours of my own major deadlines or exams. This buffer zone has saved me countless times when assignments took longer than expected (looking at you, econometrics).
3. Batched Preparation
Instead of preparing for each student separately, I batch similar topics. Teaching three different students about supply and demand? Create one master resource and adapt it slightly for each student’s level. My Chemistry background taught me efficiency through systematic approaches.
4. The Emergency Protocol
Even with perfect planning, clashes happen. I maintain an emergency protocol for those weeks when everything hits at once:
- A template email for rescheduling sessions professionally
- 2-3 pre-prepared “emergency lessons” that require minimal prep
- A dedicated “catch-up day” scheduled every two weeks that can be sacrificed if needed
When Your Brain Feels Like a Deflated Football
Burnout doesn’t announce itself with a convenient email – it creeps up gradually. As someone who’s stared into that abyss while simultaneously trying to understand complex economic models and explain fractions to frustrated 14-year-olds, here are my warning signs:
- When you can’t remember if you’re teaching Price Elasticity to your A-Level student or your university study group
- When your third coffee doesn’t even register
- When you find yourself explaining opportunity cost to your flatmate who just asked if you want toast
My most reliable burnout indicator? When Manchester United losing doesn’t even hurt anymore. That’s when I know I’ve pushed too far.
The Power of Systems Over Willpower
What ultimately saved me wasn’t working harder – it was working smarter. My Economics degree has taught me that efficient resource allocation beats brute force every time.
These practical systems have made all the difference:
1. The Content Library
I’ve created a digital library of all my teaching resources organized by subject, topic, and difficulty level. Every new resource I create goes into this system. This has saved me countless hours of reinventing worksheets and explanations.
2. The Boundary Script
I struggled with saying no until I developed a simple script: “I’d love to help with that, but I have existing commitments during that time. I could schedule you for [alternative time] instead.”
Having this ready-made response removes the guilt and hesitation from boundary-setting.
3. The Minimum Viable Session
Not every tutoring session needs to be a masterpiece with custom materials and interactive elements. Sometimes, especially during busy periods, a focused session covering exactly what the student needs most is better than an elaborate lesson that drains your energy.
4. The Tutoring-Study Synergy
The smartest move I made was aligning my tutoring with my own studies whenever possible. When I needed to revise macroeconomic policy for my exams, I specifically took on A-Level Economics students studying the same topic. Teaching forces deeper understanding, essentially paying me to study.
When to Scale Back (Even When You Need the Money)
The brutal truth is that sometimes tutoring hours need to be reduced, even when the income is essential. During exam periods, I cut back to my long-term, highest-paying students only, focusing on quality over quantity.
The calculation is simple but often overlooked: failing a module because you’re tutoring too much could cost you far more in the long run than the temporary income loss from scaling back.
During these periods, I’ve found alternative income sources that require less mental bandwidth – campus ambassador roles, online surveys, even brief stints in retail during holidays. None pay as well as tutoring, but they don’t compete directly with my academic brain space.
The Lunch You Keep Forgetting to Eat
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of balancing uni and tutoring is basic self-care. The number of times I’ve realized at 4pm that my only sustenance has been a hastily grabbed coffee would be embarrassing to admit (if we weren’t all guilty of it).
My solution? Scheduled eating. Yes, it sounds ridiculous, but blocking 20-30 minutes for actual meals has been transformative. I treat these blocks with the same commitment as a tutoring session – they’re non-negotiable appointments with myself.
The same goes for sleep. After tracking my productivity, I discovered that staying up until 2am to prepare lessons actually resulted in lower quality work than getting proper rest and waking up earlier. As my A-Level Chemistry teacher used to say: the solution is often counterintuitive.
We’re Students First, Tutors Second
The most important realization that helped me find balance was accepting that I’m a student first and a tutor second. While helping others succeed is incredibly rewarding (and financially necessary), my primary job right now is to complete my own education successfully.
On particularly hectic weeks, I remind myself of the airplane oxygen mask principle – secure your own mask before helping others. By ensuring I’m not sacrificing my own academic success, I’m actually becoming a better tutor with more knowledge to share.
So if you’re reading this while simultaneously planning tomorrow’s tutoring session, preparing for a seminar, and wondering when you last ate something that didn’t come in a vending machine package – take this as your sign to close one of those tabs, put a real meal in your schedule, and remember that balance isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s essential.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to follow my own advice – I’ve just realized it’s 2pm and lunch hasn’t happened yet. Again.
