I firmly believe in what I'll (admittedly somewhat tritely) call "novel repetitions." The key to knowledge and skill acquisition is familiarity - if a student can employ their knowledge and skills in a variety of different contexts, then they have actually learned it. Thus, I try my best to provide contexts and problems that require students to take a basic skill, formula, etc., and use it in as many different ways as possible. I also try my best to scaffold, building prior skills back into lessons catering to more advanced ones, so that the basics (and, ultimately, the more advanced skills, as well) become second-nature through sheer repetition.

A first session with a student is an opportunity to gauge their abilities. Thus, if they haven't completed some sort of practice exam, I might go over some exercises designed to help me gauge their facility with a variety of the skills needed in the subject we're working on. However, the two most important tasks in a first tutoring meeting are getting to know the student and also working with them to set big goals - what are they hoping to get out of our tutoring sessions? What is their goal for the course/exam we're working on? I find that identifying and articulating concrete goals is a major factor in student motivation, and thus very significant in the earliest interactions between teacher and student.