Are grinds actually worth it?

This is a question I get a lot. Do grinds actually pay off? Are they worth the cost? I’m going to break down what I’ve seen for the last six years and what actually delivers for the price people pay. 

Do grinds work?

Straight into it, I’m going to say grinds work once you apply yourself. I’ve been with Breakthrough Maths for six years but before this I was delivering one-to-one maths grinds myself locally around UCD in Dublin, where I was in college, and Blarney in Whitechurch, where I’m from in Cork.  On both ends of the spectrum in our Breakthrough Maths tutoring programme, I’ve seen students who haven’t applied themselves not get any benefit from the grinds. When I was doing one-to-one grinds, I’ve seen students who simply didn’t apply themselves before or after the grind and who got very little benefit from the grind itself. 

But on the flip side as soon as students apply themselves I see students turn around. I think it’s the accountability and consistency of grinds that pays off.

Last year we surveyed our students and 91% of them improved their maths grades and that was for the Leaving Cert but I saw similar improvements for the Junior Cert as well.

There are amazing stories on our reviews of students who just were totally lost in school, tried the grinds, got a different feel and different approach with Breakthrough Maths, and turned around! When you apply yourself, grinds do work 90% of the time in my opinion.

Yes, grinds are an expense

No doubt about it, grinds are an additional expense on parents. And I think sometimes parents feel like they have to get grinds and students feel like they have to get grinds if they’re doing exams. That feeling, that momentum, and that pressure have probably built up over the last few years. It is not easy to be able to afford grinds especially if you have a large family.

If a parent were to purchase 16 individual one-to-one maths grinds per month, the cost would likely run into hundreds of euro. The reason online programmes can offer more value is because they can spread teaching costs across larger groups while still providing structured support. The cheapest option isn’t always the best value. If a student pays €50 for a one-hour grind and never revises afterwards, that isn’t good value. Equally, paying for access to thousands of recorded lessons isn’t good value if the student never watches them.

Value comes from engagement, consistency, accountability, and results.

At least you have a choice

One of the best things since COVID has been the introduction of online tutoring and it does open up choice for parents when they’re looking for grinds. Pre-COVID it was all in-person grinds, face-to-face, one-to-one or small group grinds. These, by and large, were a minimum of €50 per grind. The Irish Times wrote about 1-1 grinds being expensive 20 years ago, so you can only imagine the increase since then. Oftentimes in Dublin I’ve seen these face-to-face or in-person grinds rise to above €100 per hour. You don’t have to look far. Call into any post office and you’ll see flyers and people advertising their services for €100 per hour. 

Now since with online tuition you do have choice and online is better value, in general, as programmes have developed like ours, it’s not like a traditional one-to-one grind. It’s a group grind but it’s at scale and you’re able to get a lot more value.

You get recordings, 16 classes a month, all for €149. I mean that’s like three face-to-face grinds on average rolled up into a package of 16 maths grinds, recordings, notes, worksheets, all because we can deliver more cost-effectively online.

Choice is happening and choice is delivering more value