First time I encountered this was at the beginning of a hour session. The student was obviously stressed, and just wanted to get through the assignment so we could move on to the next thing. So, after some back and forth, I obliged, and I walked her through the problem step by step. She “got it,” and before we moved on, I gave her a similar, but much more difficult problem, and asked her to solve it. It didn’t take her too long to realize that she had no idea how to solve this one. So I went back, and we talked about the concepts that allowed her to solve the first one, and she was relieved to find that those same concepts were used to solve the more difficult problem. At our next session, she told me that her test had a problem similar to the “difficult” one I’d given her, and she was relieved that she had learned the basics. Haven’t heard any complaints about that since.

Here, I imagine this tactic would be less than successful, as the tutee can end the session at any time. I think “You” is doing a good job so far. I’ve got some ideas about how to continue, but I’m interested in what everyone else has to say.