The best questions to ask a tutor don’t come to you mid-tutorial. You build them beforehand by figuring out where your understanding falls apart.
This sounds simple, but many students hesitate to ask questions. You might worry that your question sounds silly, that the answer is already in the course materials, or that you should have worked it out yourself.
These worries are completely normal. However, “I don’t understand” isn’t specific enough for your tutor to work with. Instead, you need to find the exact spot where things go from making sense to not making sense.
This article will walk you through how to identify those gaps, ask better questions, and use your tutor’s feedback to make real progress.
How to Improve Verbal Communication Skills in Tutorials
Strong verbal communication skills in a tutorial begin with one habit. You figure out what you do understand before focusing on what you don’t. The following steps will help you do this effectively.
Find the Last Thing You Definitely Understand
Go backwards through your lecture notes, reading, or tutor feedback. Keep going until you reach a point where you start to feel unsure. That is where you should focus your question.
From there, ask yourself a few honest questions:
- What could I explain to a friend without second-guessing myself?
- Where does that explanation start to break down?
- Is the confusion about a specific term, a broader concept, or how to apply an idea to a problem or assignment?
You might also notice that you grasp the idea in theory but can’t use it in practice. That’s a different type of gap, so be clear about it when speaking to your tutor. Telling them “I get the concept but can’t apply it to this question” is far more useful than “I’m lost.”
This approach is useful because most students understand more than they give themselves credit for. You might know 70% of the concept and only need help with one part. According to the University of Melbourne, identifying what you already know is one of the most effective ways to direct your own learning.
Finding that gap also saves your tutor time. And it builds confidence, because you realise you aren’t starting from scratch.
Turn “I Don’t Get It” Into Useful Tutorial Questions
As we mentioned earlier, saying “I don’t understand this theory” will leave your tutor guessing about what you are struggling with. They won’t know if you’re confused by the terminology, the logic, or how to apply it. A clearer version follows this structure instead:
What I understand → Where I get lost → What I tried → What I need clarified.
For example, you could say: “I get why the theory explains X, but I can’t see how it connects to Y. I went back through this week’s reading and tried applying it. Am I using the theory wrong, or am I missing part of the argument?”
That version works because your tutor can see exactly where you are and where you got stuck.
You also don’t need to hide your mistakes. A wrong attempt actually gives your tutor something useful to work with. It shows them where the misunderstanding sits, which helps them address the problem faster.
This kind of preparation can help outside tutorials too. Organising your thoughts before speaking is a communication skill you’ll use in group work, presentations, and eventually the workplace.
Quick Tip: If speaking up on the spot feels difficult, try writing out the same structure before your session. Even a few scribbled bullet points on your phone will give you a clear starting point rather than a vague feeling of confusion.
Communication Skills Make Academic Support a Two-Way Conversation
Strong communication skills make academic support a conversation, rather than a one-sided lecture. You give your tutor enough to work with, and stay involved while they respond. Here’s how to make that happen.
Give Your Tutor Enough Context to Help
When you ask for help, briefly mention what you’ve already tried. You don’t need to walk through every single attempt. Just a short summary will do the job.
Along with that, try to bring the relevant material with you. That could be a paragraph you’re stuck on, a calculation that isn’t adding up, some tutor feedback, or the assessment instructions. Having it in front of both of you will keep the conversation focused and save time for everyone.
The main point is to show your thinking instead of simply asking for the right answer. This gives your tutor a better idea of what you understand and where you need help.
It’s also important to remember that getting academic support doesn’t mean you aren’t learning independently. Good support should help you understand the problem so you can handle a similar question on your own next time.
Don’t Stop Communicating When the Tutor Starts Answering
A lot of students go quiet once their tutor starts explaining. But that’s actually the moment when your communication skills are most useful. So try to listen for the reasoning behind the answer, instead of just the answer itself.
If one step still doesn’t make sense, ask a follow-up question right away. You can try a checking phrase like “So, does that mean…?” or put the explanation into your own words. This helps students restate their explanations to their tutor, which then helps them remember the material more clearly afterwards.
And if something still feels too abstract after that, it’s better to ask your tutor for a concrete example. Don’t pretend to understand just because you feel awkward or worry about taking too much time. Your tutor would much rather clear things up now than see you come back with the same problem the following week.
Test Whether You Really Understand
Before you leave the session, make sure you know what you’ll do next. Then after the tutorial, try applying the explanation to a new example, a different problem, or another part of your assessment. This way, you’re practising the idea yourself, which helps you check whether you really get a handle on it.
If you get stuck again along the way, don’t go back with the same broad question. Instead, find the new point where your understanding breaks down. This gives you a more specific question to take to your tutor and helps you make better use of their feedback.
The cycle itself is simple: Attempt → locate the gap → explain → ask → clarify → apply → reassess.
Each round moves you a step forward. And over time, each round also builds the kind of independent study habits that tutorials are meant to support.
Why These Skills Matter Beyond One Tutorial
As we mentioned, the communication skills you practise in tutorials carry across the rest of university life too. Group work and collaborative projects rely on explaining your thinking clearly. Discussing feedback with lecturers follows the same pattern, and so does classroom participation and putting ideas into writing.
These same abilities also transfer directly to the workplace. In fact, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found that verbal communication consistently ranks among the top skills employers look for in graduates.
It’s also worth mentioning that students with learning disabilities or those who find verbal processing difficult can follow the same approach in writing. Preparing questions as notes, using accessible resources, or emailing your tutor beforehand all work just as well.
At the end of the day, the goal of academic support isn’t to lean on tutors forever. You want to use communication as a tool for making independent progress, one session at a time.
Use Academic Support to Build Confidence in Your Studies
So, next time you’re stuck before a tutorial, keep in mind that you don’t need to make your question sound clever or polished. It just needs to show where your understanding stops.
And the habit itself is easy to repeat. Find the gap and explain what you’ve tried so far. Ask about the part you don’t understand. Then, restate the answer in your own words and apply it on your own.
The more you practise this, the less scary it feels to get stuck. Instead of seeing confusion as a wall, you start seeing it as something you can work through. Over time, that change helps you build confidence.
Because good students aren’t people who never need help. They’re the ones who’ve learnt how to ask for it clearly. For more resources on academic support and study skills, visit ECCE 2012.
