An experiment was conducted to determine whether tutoring is a learning activity from which the tutor, as well as the tutee, gains cognitively. Undergraduate students (N=80) participated in the study. Half of the subjects studied selected material to tutor another subject. The other half studied material to prepare for a test that they would take. A selected number of the first group engaged in actual tutoring sessions. Results indicated that, on some types of tasks, the cognitive gains of the tutor are not evident until after the tutoring activity is completed. The mechanisms responsible for cognitive benefits for tutors must be relevant to both the preparation and activity phases of tutoring. A mechanism that may be operative in both phases is organization. Tutors may benefit from mentally organizing the learning material to teach it to someone else. For some tasks, this type of preparation, regardless of whether it is followed by actual tutoring, may be beneficial to the tutor. For tasks more difficult or less familiar to the tutor, the tutoring activity may be necessary before it is beneficial to the tutor. (JD)