The recent Mid-Year Exams have just ended.
Based on what I observe, it is the norm to fail or only obtain a borderline pass. For some, this might be good enough if they truly understand the learning journey in JC. Whereas for others, this is a significant dent in their confidence and self-esteem.
For most students, their grades for A Math and E Math were at least a B3. At the same time, a significant number of students score A2 and A1. A significant number of students have had some form of math tuition. Usually, after a major national exam, they see significant improvement. They, then, think they are now competent and can do without a math tutor. Hence, many students enter JC thinking that they are able to cope with Math at a higher academic level. Some might even consider H2 Further Mathematics. (Hurhur, have fun.)
However, most students experience a culture shock where they only score 30% or less on their lecture test. The realization of just how badly they failed led them to think if they need an H2 math tutor.
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Explanation At Length
One of the most common complaints I've heard from my own math tutees is that they couldn't understand anything during the lecture. That complaint by itself is actually meaningless and so I probed. Most of them comment it is because their lecturer speed through content as if they are on the expressway.
"Slow down!"
Unlike school teachers, H2 math tutors are engaged to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. We cover where their school teachers fall short. We will go through examples in your lecture notes or of our own in detail and explain them to you at your desired pace. We will ensure that you understand the logic behind each and every step of the workings before we proceed to try a simple example.
Our job, as Singapore tutors, is to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. We will help you catch up to your peers before eventually getting you ahead of them.
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Summary of Key Ideas
In JC, students are to purchase the notes written by their respective schools from the bookshop. Some schools might have it bound, others might not be. These notes usually pile up and failure to organize makes it difficult for a student to study.
With the notes being disorganized and the amount of information expected to be integrated in a student's learning, many would struggle. They claim that there is too much information and they don't know which is important.
Personally, I would always deliver the one key message in every chapter to my math tutees. That one-liner would be our key summary. Every concept and questions attempted would be explained and eventually arrive back at the one-liner that we mentioned. Too often, students pressure themselves by thinking there is excessive content.
There really isn't.
You just need a competent math tutor to simplify the chapter for you.
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Deliberate Repeated Practice
We all know math is about practice.
We've been told that since our PSLE Singapore Math days.
In every tuition class, there will be a significant level of practice involved. It is through practice that we apply the concepts we've learned and actually realize if we understood the chapter as well as we thought. For some tuition classes, it is only about practice. Question after question.
Drilling - as many like to call it.
However, for small group and private tuition with us, we go beyond raw practice. Upon completion of the explanation of concepts, we will attempt one example together. During that one example, I will guide you through the individual steps before arriving at the answer. At each individual step, we will also highlight to you why we apply the particular concept and thinking.
Subsequently, my student will be given a simple example without my guidance at all, but with only my supervision. When a mistake is made, he will be notified and explained to. When the confidence level is sufficiently high, we will then attempt questions quoted from exam papers. Questions are handpicked by me to work on a key idea over and over. Similar questions will be picked out, one after another, until mastery is achieved. It is only then we will move on to other types of questions.
Such deliberate practice is what differentiates tuition with us versus classes in school.
We will focus and keep working on that one technique. Refine it. Master it before we move on.
Every Tutor is Different
Our job, as Singapore tutors, is to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. We will help you catch up to your peers before eventually getting you ahead of them. Some students don't need a tutor to teach. They would prefer tutors who would challenge them with the hardest questions every time. Whereas other students would prefer a tutor to replace the role of a school teacher through thorough explanations. Personally, I am a mixture of both.
I was a student who struggled with H2 Math. (I know, so hard to believe!).
I know the struggles and what you're going through which is why students like engaging me in a conversation. I know why you are confused and I know exactly how to untangle that knot. Contact me and let's develop you into A Class Above The Rest.
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