It is quite tragic that most parents and even students think that the PSLE is the most important exam in Singapore, to the point that parents are willing to spend a lot on tuition for their 12-year old kids but not for their 17-18 year olds, who they believe can understand everything they study on their own. This is quite far from the truth. JC students still need good teachers, failing which they will need good tutors.
Doing badly at the A-levels has quite financially serious consequences. Let’s do the math. Let’s say a student is weak in three H2 subjects and goes for private tuition from March of his 1st year to November of his 2nd year. That is a total of 21 months. At roughly $320 per subject per month, his parents would have to fork out a total of $320 x 3 x 21 = $20 160. So we can say on average JC tuition costs around 20K. But if he doesn’t go for tuition and end up being rejected for his desired courses by all our local recognised universities, his parents may have to fork out around 300K-500K for an overseas degree! That is about 15 to 25 times more costly than spending on JC tuition.
My advice to parents is, if your child is struggling with his JC subjects, you NEED to find him good tutors. If you want to save 20K now you may have to lose 400K later.
Announcement of Release (2013) of A-Level (2012) Results
I think it should be out next week (probably Friday 1 Mar) (It is now confirmed to be on Fri 1 Mar). For those of you who receive good news, you may want to click on one of the links below before you end up in the ‘wrong’ university:
1. List of recognised Universities and Post-secondary Institutes with campuses in Singapore
2. List of Approved Universities for Admission to the Singapore Bar
3. List of Registrable Basic Medical Qualifications for practice in Singapore
For those who receive bad news, you may want to click on the following link for some consolation and advice:
4. What to do if your A Level results are bad.
Wish you all the best!
Rgds,
Ilyasa
Related pages:
(2) JC Math Tuition
Related articles:
(a) Between JC and Poly.
(b) What subject combination to choose in JC.
A former MOE school teacher, Mr Ilyasa has been coaching students in ‘A’ Level (H2/H1) Physics, (H2/H1) Mathematics and (H2/H1) Economics for more than 6 years, as well as ‘O’ Level Physics, Additional Math, Math and PSLE Math for more than 10 years. An alumnus of RI and RJC, Mr Ilyasa holds a Bachelor of Science degree with Merit from the National University of Singapore, a Postgraduate Diploma in Education with Credit from the National Institute of Education, Singapore, and a Master of Education (Curriculum & Teaching) degree also from the NIE, Singapore.