ISZL Tutors — MYP, Diploma and AP

No. ISZL's Parent and Student Handbook states that teachers cannot accept payment to tutor their own students, that they will offer help during school hours or before and after school as needed, and that while teachers may suggest outside tutoring in some cases, "the school does not provide this service or make specific tutor recommendations". It also says that needing additional tutoring "may indicate a need for a course level change" — which is worth taking seriously, and is a conversation a good tutor can help you have with evidence rather than anxiety.

CHF 95 per 60 minutes for MYP, IB Standard Level and Higher Level, AP courses and BTEC, all-in. Primary Years work and any learner aged 10 or under is CHF 85. Distinction at CHF 130 is our most accomplished tutors, and you can choose it on any work. Prepaid packages lower it: ten Specialist hours are CHF 810, which is CHF 81 an hour. There is no travel surcharge to Baar or Hünenberg and no difference in price between a lesson at home and a lesson online.

ISZL describes both as covering the same breadth of content, with Extended exploring topics in greater depth. The consequence is the part that matters: from standard MYP Mathematics the onward routes are Maths AI SL, Maths AA SL, Pre-Calculus, AP Calculus AB, Data and Statistical Practices, AP Statistics and Mathematics 11 — neither Higher Level IB maths course is available. From MYP Mathematics Extended, both AA HL and AI HL are open. ISZL says students can move between the two levels, for example between Grades 9 and 10, in consultation with their maths teacher and University Advisor and provided certain criteria are met, and that course placements are determined by the school.

Course presentations run in November and December of Grade 10, individual University Advisor meetings follow after Winter Break, and selection concludes by Spring Break. Timetables are built in March. A course needs a minimum class size of eight to run, so a choice can disappear for reasons unrelated to your child. Changes are permitted to the end of week two of the new school year, and then until the final week of September with four sign-offs. If you want tutoring to influence what your child is allowed to choose, the useful window is Grade 9 and the first half of Grade 10.

That is a decision for your family, the University Advisor and your child — not for a tutoring company, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can do is set out the mechanics honestly. The Diploma is roughly 23 taught hours across seven commitments, requires a Group 2 language, and lands most of its grade in May of Grade 12. The High School Programme has no language requirement, is built from AP, ISZL, Innovations and BTEC courses, and — at six subjects — is 24 hours a week, more than the Diploma. AP is almost entirely examined; BTEC and Innovations are entirely coursework. ISZL's own split runs at roughly half and half.

No. ISZL runs the Middle Years Programme in Grades 9 and 10 and offers no Cambridge IGCSE at any grade. The only school in canton Zug running Cambridge IGCSE is Institut Montana Zugerberg, in Grades 9 and 10, followed by the IB Diploma in Grades 11 and 12. If you have been sold IGCSE tutoring "for ISZL", the syllabus is wrong.

For the Class of 2026, ISZL published a 98 per cent full-Diploma rate and a provisional average of 36 points out of 45, against a world average of 30. The highest score was 43, 14 per cent scored 40 or more, 67 per cent scored 35 or more, and 11 students earned a bilingual diploma. On the AP side the average score was 4.0, with 71 per cent scoring 4 or 5 and 91 per cent scoring 3 or above. ISZL notes that both its own average and the world average can move slightly as appeals and re-marks are processed, and that it is a non-selective school. Its four-year series shows averages of 38, 35, 35 and 35 for 2022 to 2025.

A language slot, and possibly a pathway. ISZL states that EAL in Grades 9 and 10 is a support class rather than an MYP course, scheduled at the same time as French, Spanish and First Language, and that Learning Support and EAL are usually offered instead of a second language acquisition course. EAL is capped at two years, with exit based on academic performance, teacher observation and the WIDA Model Online assessment. Since the IB Diploma requires a Group 2 language and the High School Programme does not, a long EAL placement quietly narrows one of the two Grade 11 doors. Outside tutoring cannot change the timetable, but it can carry the subject content while the language catches up.

Major internal exams fall in December and June for Grades 11 and 12, and in June only for Grades 9 and 10, with a maximum of two exams a day. High School issues four reports a year — mid-semester in November and March, summative in January and June. Grade 12 Diploma and AP students receive roughly 14 school days of study leave before their exam period, not counting Spring Break, and ISZL states that study leave may be withheld from students with academic concerns.

Almost never. In 2026/27 ISZL's autumn break is 12 to 16 October while the canton's is 3 to 18 October; ISZL's February break is 15 to 19 February against the canton's 6 to 21 February; and ISZL's spring break — 22 March to 2 April — does not overlap the cantonal 17 April to 2 May at all. ISZL finishes at noon on 18 June 2027, a fortnight before the cantonal summer break starts on 3 July. If you have children in both systems you already know this. We schedule ISZL families on the ISZL calendar, including the automatic holiday pause on your package rate.

Faster than most families expect. ISZL accepts students year-round but recommends applying by February for an August start, because grade levels fill and waiting lists form. There is no formal entrance exam, though students entering mid-year from Grade 7 upwards may sit an English language assessment. The tighter constraint is academic: for students entering Grades 11 or 12, ISZL's University Advisors follow up after placement testing "typically in June or early August" — so a family arriving in July has weeks, not months, to make a two-year pathway decision. That is the single most common reason an arriving family calls us before term starts.

At your home, at ours online, or anywhere in the canton you prefer — but not on ISZL premises. We are an independent company with no affiliation to the school and we do not present ourselves as having one. In practice most Riverside families book from about 16:15 onwards, because the ISZL buses leave at 15:40 and activities run to roughly 17:30; Zug Campus families with a child in EAGLES until 18:00 usually book early evening or weekends. Online costs exactly the same as in person. If you would rather talk it through before committing to anything, that costs nothing — book a tutor and tell us what your child is sitting, or send a WhatsApp message and ask first.