What is VCE English tutoring?

VCE English tutoring is dedicated time spent with a tutor outside of school to help improve grades and confidence.

Tutoring may be one-on-one or in a group setting, and generally lasts 1-2 hours each week.

Who is English tutoring for?

English tutoring is for anyone who feels that they would benefit from dedicated help outside of class. For some students, this is because they are falling behind and need someone to help them fill the gaps. For other students, it's because they are far ahead and want extension work, or someone to push them to new heights.

Often in year 12 English, students seek a tutor because they want more feedback on their work. At many schools, teachers do not have the time to put dedicated feedback on submissions by all their students. Where a student starts to feel their progress is being slowed, they will often search out a tutor who can keep up with their submission pace.

What makes Hello Smart different?

Hello Smart is a boutique English tutoring company that helps students of all levels prepare for VCE English. We help year 12 students looking to study for the final exam, and we have classes for year 7-11 students designed to build the skills needed in year 12 early.

At Hello Smart, we believe in keeping skills fresh across the year. While many tutors will only focus on what the student is studying currently in class, we continually revise and test students on the skills used in all three assessment types in year 12 (argument analysis, text response, and crafting texts).

Additionally, Hello Smart has always offered unlimited marking to all enrolled students (except where they opt in year 12 for classes only). We don't believe in capping students - if a student wants to work hard, they deserve a tutor who can match their effort.

Finally, we have a 40+ guarantee for all our tutors, and 47+ score guarantee for all tutors who take year 12.

How do classes work?

We run small-group, one-hour classes every week for our students online. Students log in to the meeting at the allocated time, and the tutor will teach the content, set homework, and provide feedback.

All our tutors are trained to run classes which are highly interactive, meaning students are not left to drift off or get distracted.

Will the classes be on my books?

In year 12, all classes are run on specific texts. This means that your year 12 text response content will always be 100% relevant to your SACs.

In year 7-11, because schools all teach the curriculum on different books and at different times of the year, it's not possible usually to run groups on the specific topics students go over in school week-to-week. Additionally, our accelerated class method necessarily means students in our classes will be studying ahead of their school class.

How do general classes relate to the students' school work?

Every single one of our classes is directly build on the Victorian curriculum, and is 100% linked to the assessments that they do at school. At year 7-11, we aim to teach students writing foundations and skills required for year 12.

Part of our tutoring philosophy is built around keeping skills fresh in students' minds. Due to the way school is structured, students only write one assessment on each essay type each year (text response, crafting texts, and argument analysis). This means each student only writes one of these essays per year! This makes improvement very slow and difficult.
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By teaching all three areas of study every term, this keeps all three essay types fresh in students' minds, ensuring they get 4x as much assessment on their writing types as they would at school.

What do lessons look like?

Each lesson is carefully structured to fit the given topic of the week, but there are a few general things tutors will do every session:

1. Greet the students and give feedback on homework
Tutors will often start the session with a recap of the general trends in the homework that week, and things students were doing well vs things that could be going better. Based on this feedback, the tutor will sometimes adjust the week's content to review a particular topic or skill.

2. Teach new skills interactively
Tutors will then go over the week's content. Every week's content is based around the particular VCE English skill: text response, crafting texts, or argument analysis.

3. Writing tasks
Tutors will set students writing tasks as preparation for the week's homework. These tasks are based on the skills taught in that week's class.

4. Feedback
Tutors will go around each student's work and provide feedback as they write. This ensures real-time feedback that students can incorporate before starting on that week's homework.

What results do students achieve?

While it is not necessarily a representative sample, a large number of our VCE students each year obtain scores of 40+. Many students score in the high 45+ range. In 2025, our dux, Sahana, obtained a score of 49.

Across year 7-11 students, we often hear reports of the students being able to use our simple, easy-to-implement frameworks and seeing large jumps in their scores. We regularly get emails from year 10-11 students saying they have jumped from a B to an A or A+ in their school exams.

However, it is important to note that often the students who seek tutoring are highly motivated, and that results vary depending on the student's baseline skills, attention in class, completion of homework, and additional effort.

What resources are included?

All our class notes and homework booklets and resources are provided in soft copy to all enrolled students.

We also have extensive text guides, quote banks, sample essays and study materials available.

All year 12 resources are text-specific.

Who are the tutors?

All our tutors are recent VCE graduates, often who have gone through our classes themselves. They must pass our minimum score requirements and complete our tutor training in order to teach. Many of our tutors have obtained 99+ ATARs.

All our year 7-11 tutors have scores of 40+ in English. All our year 12 tutors have scores of 47+ in English, with many whom have scores of 49 and 50.

Testimonials

99.6 ATAR, 44 English (raw)
"I joined [Hello Smart] 3 months before the English exam, as for someone aiming for a 99.5+ ATAR, I got very stressed when my trials predicted me a 35 in English. Bella was kind enough to fit me into her schedule and I can confidently say that having had a few different tutors from 'famed' companies, no one compares in quality nor experience to Bella. She gave me around the clock support and resources, focusing on my weaknesses my teacher overlooked because I was typically a 'high achiever'. Her essay grading was comprehensive and with a quick turn around. Thanks to Bella I was able to achieve a raw 44 in English! [And a 20/20 score for text response in the final exam]. I never would have expected to get so high in one of my weakest subjects, and looking back on my 99.6, every cent [spent] was worth it :)" - Nimra, year 12 (2024)

Amazing tutor
"Bella has been an amazing tutor. She is very knowledgeable about the texts and provided many resources of her own that have helped me a lot throughout the year. Each lesson was personalised to what I needed to improve and also helped me develop ideas which boosted my confidence in essay writing. Additionally, I was able to send any work in for more feedback, as well as ask questions even outside lesson times. She would provide very detailed responses and overall guided me with clear directions on how to improve my work. She is very friendly and empathises with the year 12 struggle." - Ethan, year 12 (2024)

Five stars!
"I started my tutoring lessons with [Hello Smart] at the start of year 12. I improved so much throughout the year with Bella as my tutor. I did not even like English before I started [lessons]; however, by the end of the year, I was enjoying English a lot and felt very confident going into the exam. Definitely recommend." - Mohammad, year 12 (2024)

FAQs

How much does tutoring cost?
Our year 12 program starts from $85/week - see the full breakdown on the Year 12 page.

What if my child isn't in Year 12 yet?
Our Year 7-11 program is built to develop the same skills earlier, before the pressure of VCE hits.

Can we try before committing?
Yes - while this varies seasonally, usually every new student starts with a free trial class, no obligation to continue.

Who actually teaches the classes?
All our tutors are recent VCE graduates, most with 99+ ATARs, and every Year 12 tutor scored 47 or above in English themselves.

For additional frequently asked questions, view our FAQs:FAQs page

Pricing: Year 12

Service tiers in 2026:

Basic: $85/wk
For students who want additional content to extend beyond their school curriculum
- Classes only (2x 1hr group classes weekly)
- Access to all enrolled class notes

Premium: $105/wk (most popular)
For students who care about regular targeted feedback on their work
- All the above, PLUS
- Unlimited marking (5-day turnaround)
- Access to all resources (class notes enrolled and unenrolled, master docs, sample essay banks, recordings where available)

Elite: $149/wk
For students who want super personalised weekly help
- All the above, PLUS
- 30 min 1-1 meeting weekly to track progress
- Priority unlimited marking (48hr turnaround)
- Dedicated tutor

What we are best at

What makes us different?

Excellence

We believe that every student we take on has the capacity to amaze themselves with their improvement. Our committment to excellence is the first step in showing them it's possible.

Support

Rather than charging extra for marking, we ensure all current students have unlimited access to marking and question support. This ensures you'll never be left hanging around SAC time.

Directed teaching

Instead of sending our students into the wild, we hold their hands longer than any other program, giving them a solid foundation so they can feel safe to create their own interpretations.

Individualisation

Our program ensures all students reach a high level in English. Nonetheless, we work with you along the way to tailor our curriculums so they're maximally relevant to different levels.

Communication

We constantly follow up with both students and parents to ensure they have a thorough understanding of the program, and are able to have any questions answered as soon as possible.

Care

We care deeply about all our students: their wellbeing, their outcomes, their health. Deciding to improve, or sharing your writing, can be very challenging. We want all students to feel supported.