Experience has shown me that direct recall and hands-on interaction with ideas is the best way to both understand and process them. I believe teaching should be centered on the student, in an inquiry-based setting, rather than around a lecture hall.

I find it important for both the student and teacher to have a clear idea of the student's specific goals and what they expect to be able to achieve after tutoring. Therefore, first we would decide upon a reasonable goal list (with expected completion dates). From there it depends entirely on the student, their knowledge base, the subject, and the student's level of fear or stress about the subject or test.

Besides explicitly talking about study skills and tips, for a long-term student it's a good idea to progressively increase their involvement with question completion and explanation rather than jumping in as the tutor as often as at the beginning. Things like specifically asking the student to walk me through a problem or explain a passage requires them to directly recall the information and analyze it without using me.

When it comes to staying motivated for standardized testing, usually either taking a moment to look at the student's progress or reminding them why they care about getting a great score works. For academic fields, I find enthusiasm is the cure for all ills. If they're so fatigued with the subject they can't look at their textbook without cringing, it can be a good idea to look up a documentary or a computer game/YouTube video about whatever they're studying. Taking a drastically new approach can jolt the mind out of stagnation. Maybe making up a board game about the Great Depression or drawing pictures of magnetic field lines will help them feel less like they're spending all their time trying to get an A and instead show them how cool the subject is.

If the student is having difficulty with a concept, that generally just means we need to change our approach. For example, if we had been focusing on flashcards or exercise drills, we should switch to a more inquiry based, hands-on approach like working through one problem at a time, as a team, on a whiteboard. In the same fashion, if the student understands conceptually what they need to do but haven't practiced enough by themselves, we'd switch to the former method.

To begin, I would read the passages for the student in a tone that allows for the writing to become a conservation as opposed to a monotonic diatribe. Even the most boring of ACT passages can be made interesting with the right inflection. Once they feel more comfortable with the approachability of a given passage, I would ask them to start reading aloud. The process of making writing audible allows for students to more easily see complex ideas like a general theme, tone, and the intent of the author.

Getting an idea of the student's background in the subject and then jumping right in with something that they feel confident in. For standardized testing, giving an overview of the test, getting an idea of the student's feelings about the tested material, and then taking a diagnostic test have worked very well in the past.