Wyzant Review:
based on real mystery shopping

Quick Overview

Wyzant specializes in one-on-one tutoring in many popular subject areas such as science, math, language, and others, making it one of the best free tutoring websites. With the start of the company dating back to 2005, this website has an established reputation for helping students push through academic hardships in school and college.

Choice is the brush we wield to paint the canvas of our lives. It is the very essence of our existence, granting us the power to shape our own destiny. In every moment, we stand at the crossroads of possibilities, armed with the freedom to decide our path. Yet, choice is not just an external force that acts upon us. Moreover, with choice comes great responsibility. Like a double-edged sword, it holds the potential for both liberation and burden. 

In the face of this array of possibilities, how do we choose what’s right for us? We should take into consideration as many things as we possibly can to form an opinion. However, when you have to deal with academic deadlines and constant assignments, while balancing many other aspects of your life, making the right choice becomes harder and harder. In such circumstances, the pressure to make the right choice can feel overwhelming. The limited time available and the multitude of responsibilities can create a sense of urgency and anxiety.

So, our choice of today fell on Wyzant! It is a website that offers students to get one-on-one sessions with experts in a variety of subjects and courses. But is this service really trustworthy? And most importantly, can it help you ease the burden of academic tasks?

Mystery Shopping Review of Wyzant

Here, at A*Help, we are determined to make the process a whole lot easier for you. No need to read through countless threads on Reddit or research the services on your own to weigh out the options. We conduct a thorough evaluation of the service and go through a mystery shopping experiment to get the experience of the customer first-hand. 

How do we do that? We evaluate each service based on three main criteria: value for money, overall experience, and quality of help. When assessing value for money, we consider the platform’s services variety, subjects covered, trial period, and pricing policy. For the overall experience, we focus on navigation on the platform, the question request form, support system organization, and the registration process. The major part of our research is evaluating the quality of help. We submit our own question to test how well the services can handle it. We asked the platform’s tutors to guide us through a three-part Algebra task. The assignment involved numerical methods, specifically the Newton-Raphson method. By comparing their solutions to the textbook one, we determine the platform’s helpfulness and accuracy.

Our team believes that no review regarding academic difficulties should be left without comment from a professional in the field. So, we decided to ask our long-time expert Logan Romford why it is important to learn math, even though it can be daunting for students. Here’s what he had to say:

“Learning math is crucial for all students. Understanding math unlocks a world of problem-solving, critical thinking, and logical reasoning skills. Math is the backbone of many technical fields, like programming and engineering, driving innovation and progress. I understand that it can be hard and sometimes you want to get away from math as far as possible. But if you do it justice, I assure you that you can reap the benefits of your efforts and understand the world better. By studying math, you gain the power to face challenges, make informed choices, and discover new things!”

If you want to know more about the site and our personal encounter with Wyzant’s tutor so that the choosing process will be a bit easier, read on! 

See How We Test Tutoring Websites for more details on our evaluation approach.

Wyzant’s Service Potential: Value for Money — 22/25

When subscribing to a service, you obviously want to get as many opportunities and features to use as you can. This is the precise reason why we evaluate the websites in terms of the value for money criteria.

Wyzant has truly exceeded our expectations with its featured services. Once you gain access to the website, you can browse through a vast Q&A base in order to sort out the questions you may have. Apart from that, the site offers a dedicated blog section where you can find many articles on the topics such as tutoring, language learning, and overcoming hardships of the education process. Any student can also save a bit of time (and money) by searching Wyzant’s broad community section with already existing answers from its experts, which is also a nice touch. And last, but not least, Wyzant provides both live tutor sessions and a separate section for short problems, if your schedule can’t squeeze in a one-on-one lesson and you just want to deal with a short task quickly.

In terms of additional features at Wyzant, it doesn’t have much to offer apart from study groups and bootcamps. However, with most of the services mentioned earlier, it covers enough bases to give the customer a broad selection of help during a difficult time.

When it comes to the trial, the only thing you have to pay for is the tutoring session, so we paid $33 for a one-on-one session with a math tutor. That means that there is no trial period or any additional billing, so you can ask questions and get answers for free. However, you have to remember that each educator has their own fee, so the prices may vary. Since we started talking about money, Wyzant provides its users with a variety of payment methods, including cards and PayPal, although the list definitely could be expanded. Moreover, the company offers refunds for canceled tutor sessions, although you have to file for a refund 24 hours prior to the scheduled lesson.

As far as the range of subjects goes, Wyzant can connect you with experts in fields such as STEM, literature, and natural sciences, which covers most of the major problematic areas in school and college.

Overall, Wyzant provides a broad variety of services, including blogs and live tutoring, useful payment methods, and free support for students on a budget. That is why it scored 22/25 pts in the Value for Money category, although some additional features and wallet transactions could be added.

Working with Wyzant: Overall Experience — 17/25

Any student, facing difficulties in the field of education, should get easy access to additional assistance. This is why it is crucial for tutoring websites to help their customers quickly and efficiently while providing support at every stage of the process. So, let’s start with that.

Although Wyzant does have a vast Q&A base, connecting to a customer support representative is a challenge. There is no on-site chat for when you have a pending question, which definitely slows things down. You can file a request in a hard-to-find pop-up window (that offers you to search the Help Center first) and the site is supposed to answer it via your email. However, we understand that Wyzant is a rather known service with a lot of customers, so by applying this kind of methodology the team is just sorting the questions out. The ordering form also has room for improvement, since it only allows you to add pictures and not files or formulas. 

Focusing on better aspects of the site, it is extremely easy to use and navigate. Wyzant is accessible for both desktop and mobile users, which allows you to browse through it on the go. The company also has a free app which is available on AppStore and GooglePlay.

When reviewing the company, we noticed that it only requires your email address to register and also offers an option of signing in with third-party websites like Google, Apple, and Facebook. Additionally, you don’t have to put in your phone number. Using the website, we didn’t notice any suspicious activity, so as far as we can say, Wyzant is a secure platform.

Our overall experience with Wyzant resulted in it getting 17/25 pts. Although it was rather easy to use the website and to sign up for it, there is still some work to be done about the service’s customer support and expanding the attachment options in the “Ask a Question” section.

Wyzant’s Quality of Help — 42/50

The most important part in evaluating a tutoring service is…well, the actual tutoring experience. As we mentioned before, Wyzant is a well-known site with over 10 years of experience, which puts extra weight on its shoulders and a whole lot of responsibility.

Before delving into the actual interaction with the expert, we think it’s necessary to mention the process beforehand. Finding the tutor on Wyzant depends solely on you, as you can search the base on the site and compare the pricing, subjects, and ratings of educators to pick out the best option for you. Beware, scheduling a lesson doesn’t happen immediately, since most of the tutors already have a packed weekly plan, so keep that in mind.

We were able to not only schedule a private lesson but also get an answer to our question for free at the “Ask an Expert” section on the website. However, for this section of the review, we decided to evaluate the results of the one-on-one session, although you can use the mentioned feature to get a solution much quicker.

After finally reaching out to a teacher, we were able to get a one-on-one lesson with them in the span of two days, which is not a long time for a private session. The interaction itself went pretty smoothly, as we were going through the task together and figuring out the solution step-by-step. The tutor shared their screen so that we could get a better grasp of what was going on and provided a visual explanation. 

The solution itself was clear and after comparing it to the textbook answer we concluded that 2 of the 3 subtasks were done correctly. We didn’t get the opportunity to finish the third subtask, since it required a lot of iterations, but the solution process was right.

Question Response Time	Solution Quality	Price
2 days for both the answer and the scheduled tutoring session	⅔ tasks fully completed, third task almost done — 90%	$33

In general, the tutor from Wyzant did a great job tutoring us on the topic and solving the problem. They provided helpful materials for better comprehension and were patient and clear in their explanations. Overall, Wyzant was extremely helpful to us in terms of academic assistance.

Our Verdict

Choosing a tutoring service to assist with your needs is a time-consuming and responsible process. If you find yourself stuck with a subject for far too long, Wyzant is the company that can help you push through the difficulties. With their helpful tutors and a broad selection of free features, students can improve their knowledge in many subjects and get additional help in a time in an academic crisis. Although Wyzant has some improvements to do regarding its customer service, the site can definitely be of use when it comes to individual tutoring and more. 

Possible Issues with Wyzant: Negativity Rank — 39%

When compiling all the necessary information about a particular service, we need to take into consideration user feedback in order to complete our review. Looking through input from other customers is always a great idea when you are thinking about purchasing a product or a service since you can look out for potential “red flags” and problems. Besides, we can witness all kinds of different experiences with the service, which helps us to give a more objective verdict. And nevertheless, it’s the customer who’s always right, isn’t it? But don’t worry, we don’t just take any comment as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Reading through many comments on the web, we pick out a few and highlight any negative trends in the company’s services. After summing everything up, we rate the comments in terms of severity and plausibility. It simply means that we evaluate the comment based on the seriousness of the issue described and the likelihood of the situation in the first place. 

Having read reviews on a variety of platforms, we picked up on a few criticisms, that have been repeated here and there. Some users shared their experiences with the payments being incorrect. That means they were either charged for the lesson that never happened or some tutors changed their hourly rates midway through the process which resulted in more money being spent unwillingly. 

Other reviews pointed out that the guidelines on the site were confusing and not pointed out in advance. In general, Wyzant’s aim is to help students with getting on the right track and work out the difficulties they may face with a particular subject. However, the site prohibits users to submit their homework to be done by the tutor completely or to help with the ongoing tests. This resulted in several accounts being permanently banned from the site after submitting the tasks to help tutors understand the objective of the future session better. Moreover, we haven’t seen any replies from customer support to any of those comments, which generally happens quite frequently in regard to other services.

With that being said, Wyzant definitely has room for improvement when it comes to the payment process and sharing its rules clearly and beforehand, so as not to cause any trouble in the future. The same goes for Wyzant’s customer support both on-site and outside it.

Wyzant’s Specs

> Features/Services
Q&A Base	✅
Guides/blogs	✅
Live Tutor Sessions	✅
Community	✅
>Additional Features
Comments reviews from previous workQuizzes	❌
AI solutions (detectors, checkers, editors, tutors)	❌
Study groups/bootcamps	✅
> Trial
Duration	No trial
Free questions	✅
Free answers	✅
Limitations	Only online tutoring is paid
> Payments& Price
Subscriptions	❌
Pay per chat	❌
Pay per time (1 h, 30 min, 15 min)	✅
Pay per additional question	❌
Refunds	✅
> Methods
Card Payments	✅
Wallet Payments	PayPal
> Range of Subjects
STEM	✅
Literature	✅
Arts	❌
Natural subjects (Physics, Chemistry, etc.)	✅
> Support
Support availablity 24/7	❌
Support on-site messenger	❌
Support guides/community/FAQ/Q&A	✅
Helpfulness of support	Medium
> Registration&Privacy
Need a phone number to register	❌
Need an email to register	❌
Uses third-party registration methods (Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft account)	✅
> Response Time
Question response	Depends on the scheduled lesson
Live chat response	10-15 min
Finding of tutors	Depends on you
> Materials
Include answers	❌
Include explanations	✅
Explanatory videos, images	✅
Download video/image	✅
> Communication with Tutor
Live chat	✅
Video call	✅
Asking additional questions for free	✅

Wyzant Review of Language Tutoring Services

Quick Overview

Founded in 2005, Wyzant has long given students support in different subjects, including language tutoring. It offers 1-on-1 classes, as well as quick opportunities to get quick academic consultations from their tutors online. 

Value for Money — 10/25

Overall Experience — 21/25

Main Specs

> Variety of subjects
Language classes	✅
Arts (music, theatre)	✅
Literature	✅
Science (mathematics, IT, biology, chemistry)	✅
> Types of classes
Single lessons	✅
Group lessons	❌
Bulk classes	❌
Speaking clubs	❌
Corporate classes	❌
> Price
Can choose the price per lesson	✅
Pay in instalments/per class	✅
Price per lesson (e.g. 30/45/60 minute lesson)	✅
Subscription plans	❌
> Special offers
Discounts	❌
Free lesson/trial	❌
A community for learners (articles, podcasts, tests)	✅
Referral program	❌
> Registration
Need a phone number to register	❌
Need an email to register	✅
Uses third-party registration methods (Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft accounts)	✅ Google, Facebook, Apple Id
> Accessibility&Use
Built-in classroom	✅
Third-party video call tools	✅ Zoom
Easy to navigate	✅
> Lesson time
general time of the day (time period)	❌
specific time	✅
any time	❌
time zone	✅
class duration	✅ from 15 min to 3 hours
re-scheduling of classes	✅
late cancellation	✅
> Tutor browsing
Origin (country)	❌
Language	✅ stated in the tutor profile
Additional languages (if the teacher speaks more than 1 language)	❌
Skill level/teacher type	❌
Certificates/ Credentials	✅
Availability	❌
Change of a tutor	✅
Course switch	❌
> Payments
Paypal	✅
Google pay	❌
Apple pay	❌
Visa	✅
Mastercard	✅
American Express	✅
Discover	✅

FAQ

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