#OrganizationOfTheWeek – A Look at the Montpellier Health Tutoring Association
After meeting with the Nîmes Health Tutoring Association, this week we’re joining the Montpellier Health Tutoring Association and its new president, Milla Esclafit-Cardoso!
In a few words, what is the AssociationTutorat Santé Montpellier?
The Tutoring Program consists of second- and third-year health sciences students who have passed the PACES entrance exam and who have been selected and trained for one year by the professors in charge of that year’s program. Our goal is to provide free, high-quality academic and emotional support to any student at the University of Montpellier and its branch campuses who wishes to pursue a career in healthcare. To meet this need, three organizations are available to assist you: the Montpellier Health Tutoring Association, the Pharmacy Tutors Association, and the Nîmes Health Tutoring Program.
These three organizations pool their resources to provide equitable support to all students and share a common goal of ensuring equal opportunity in the admissions process for health professions programs.
What activities or initiatives do you organize throughout the year?
To start the year off on the right foot, we’re offering a Pre-Semester Workshop open this year to all PACES and PASS students: its goal is to review the entire first-semester curriculum, help students develop effective study habits, and introduce them to the faculty so they can find their footing.
Each week, we review the key points from each course across all subjects through multiple-choice quiz sessions led by professors: these sessions are offered at several different times so that students can adjust their schedules according to their availability. To help students with their questions, office hours are held every day at noon on campus, and a forum is also available to students.
To ensure regular and representative assessment, we organize weekly graded quizzes attended by approximately 900 students across our three campuses, as well as mock exams, which this year drew more than 1,600 students in the first semester.
To adapt to the lockdown and public health measures, we held our sessions and review sessions online via Zoom, which we recorded so that PACES students with an unstable internet connection could watch them. We also expanded our YouTube channel to diversify our remote content, focusing on parts of the course that we felt were difficult for students to understand. 
Beyond academic support, we help students navigate a demanding year by promoting activities focused on well-being: board game lunchtimes, relaxation workshops, and more… Our biggest wellness event is Pep’s Week, which takes place in early January—a particularly difficult time for PACES students. To help first-year students connect with upperclassmen, we set up a student mentoring program right at the start of the year.
To further promote equal opportunity, the Tutoring Service works withHandiversité to offer a disability support service for students who need reasonable accommodations during sessions or exams.
Finally, in the context of reform, we serve as key points of contact both within the university—by organizing career guidance forums—and at the local level through various student fairs, as well as at the national level by participating in conferences that bring together tutoring organizations from across France.
What made you decide to join the organization?
Tutoring helped me pass my PACES exam by supporting me for two years: this support was extremely valuable to me because I couldn’t afford to pay for the services of a private organization. The tutors’ availability, the quality of the sessions, and above all, the support they provided in every aspect of PACES life—from studying to maintaining a healthy lifestyle and staying motivated—really helped me get through that challenging time. It was a no-brainer for me to apply to become a tutor after I was admitted to my second year of medical school, so I was delighted to join the UE7 team (Health, Humanities, Society). My year as a trainee tutor was so fulfilling that I wanted to continue the journey by joining the Tutoring Board to help it reinvent itself during the year of the reform: so we changed our name from the Montpellier Medical Tutoring Association (ATM²) to the Montpellier Health Tutoring Association (ATSM) to better reflect our commitment to diversifying the backgrounds of incoming students across all health-related programs!
What does the association offer students?
Beyond simply providing academic guidance, our goal is to offer genuine support to all young adults who are navigating university studies, life away from home, and a very substantial workload. Our core value is equal opportunity, ensuring that selection for this first year is based on academic ability rather than financial status. This aligns more broadly with our commitment to collegiality—a value we hold dear in the healthcare professions—and with our training, which is largely based on peer-to-peer learning. After all, we are first and foremost students who have gone through this challenge ourselves and who are trying to help PACES students just as we needed help when we were in their shoes!
Why do you think people should join your organization?
In the first year, students can sign up for tutoring free of charge at any time throughout the year: there is no attendance requirement, but according to faculty surveys, attending 80% of the tutoring sessions is the best way to pass the entrance exam!
If you wish to join the ATSM as a tutor, you will have the opportunity to be selected based on your application and an interview after your second-semester grades are released. You will then hold the status of Trainee Tutor during your second year and may continue as a Qualified Tutor when you advance to your third year.
A few words about the 2020–2021 executive board?
The General Assembly to inaugurate our new executive board took place on June 9: we are all very excited to renew our commitment to supporting students repeating PACES, PASS, and LAS. We know that this year can be daunting for recent high school graduates, and we are ready to support them through this transition.
We're in the process of changing our name, so for now, our old name is what appears on social media:
Facebook: Medicine Tutoring in Montpellier
Instagram:
- tutoringmedmtp
- tuto_peps (our shared wellness account for all three tutoring sites)
Email contacts:
- General questions about the association, PACES, and PASS: asso.atsm@gmail.com
- Questions about LAS: vicepresident.las.atsm@gmail.com
- Questions about possible accommodations under the Disability Tutoring Program: vptutohandicap@gmail.com
Networks of other associations:
Nîmes Health Tutoring:
- Facebook: Nîmes Health Tutoring
- Instagram: tutorat_sante_nimes
Association of Pharmacy Tutors:
- Facebook: Montpellier Association of Pharmacy Tutors
- Instagram: atp_um
We've also put together a video presentation for you, in collaboration with the three tutoring programs!
