A tutor is an individual that provides one on one teaching services to any person wishing to receive education in a more private or personal environment. There are times when a classroom environment is not conducive to a particular individual's learning style, and so a tutor may offer part or all of that education in a way that is more personal and beneficial and in a quiet environment better suited to the person seeking help. For those individuals who learn and function well in a classroom, there may be the occassional need of extra education in a particular subject or to prepare for any type of official testing.

There are private tutors who may have their own offices or go to their student's home to offer assistance in the learning of whatever subject they are qualified to teach. A tutor may offer partial assistance in eduction by offereing supplemental education in one or two subjects, or in the form of a more complete education, encompaasing all major subjects, if he or she is qualified.

Tutoring agencies provide information using valuable skills of their individual tutors as a way of enhancing a student's education during the academic year, to act as informative coaches to those preparing for college testing or big exams in a particular subject, and who also may help older persons who are out of school and in the workforce but are in need of help with their reading, writing or mathematical skills. There are times when a student is particularly bright and needs a more advanced creative way of teaching and a tutor may provide these advanced lessons in private as opposed to a classroom setting where a teacher is under obligation to provide a more even education for all of his or her students and individual attention is unavailable. There are centers for educational development in both high schools and colleges, where teachers and students provide, using helpful insight and advanced information, help to other students who are in need of supplemental teaching.

There are online tutors that offer tutorials in subjects as diverse as English, Math, Software programs ranging from office data bases to animation, 3 dimensional and art based programs. There are online typing tutorials and tutoring links to tutoring centers and books on tutoring and testing information. Many of these tutoring opportunities are free of charge and are used in the individual's own home.