While research is increasingly available on the scale and costs of private supplementary tutoring, less information focuses on its pedagogical dimensions. This paper addresses patterns in Hong Kong. The paper begins with the quantitative picture solicited through questionnaires for students in Grades 9 and 12, and then turns to data from interviews. Among the students, some received tutoring while others did not. Those who received tutoring were asked to compare their teachers and tutors, and to indicate what they sought from the tutors that they did not find in their schooling. The students who did not receive tutoring were also asked about the culture of tutoring, and whether they would have liked to have received tutoring if they had had the necessary financial resources. Especially pertinent were statements about learning gaps and ways in which tutoring was perceived to help. The themes of this paper may resonate widely. The paper shows that students' learning objectives may differ from those of their teachers, and comments on the implications of these patterns for wider processes of government-led reform. The paper helps to explain how well-intentioned top-down innovations may be subverted by conflicting expectations and the divergent agendas of students, teachers and tutors.