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Posted in General Paper

Our JC2 GENERAL PAPER weekly tuition starts on Sat, 11 Jan 2014

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JC2 General Paper:      Every Saturday, 11.00 am – 12.30 pm (Start 11 Jan); Code: J2G1.

JC1 General Paper:      Every Friday, 8.30 pm – 10.00 pm (Start 7 Feb); Code: J1G1.

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The Tutor:

Mdm Lyn: A Bachelor of Arts (Honours) graduate from the National University of Singapore, Mdm Lyn is an NIE-trained GP teacher who has more than 13 years’ experience teaching General Paper effectively in a Junior College. Mdm Lyn is a highly competent, friendly and patient tutor whose students continue to meet up with her long after their A-Level exams.

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The GP intensive coaching programme comprises

1. Content Scaffolding using concepts that connect topics to help students cope with a greater variety of questions

2. Current topical content and pertinent cross-topical case studies tailored for different question types

3. Thinking skills and practice to apply the concepts and content to specific essay questions

4. Language skills through generic and topic-specific sample writing

5. Reading comprehension, summary and application question skills using texts that are related to essay questions

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Administrative Matters:

Location: Blk 627, Bukit Batok Central, 07-640. It is just a 3-min walk from the Bukit Batok MRT station as well as the Bukit Batok Bus Interchange.

Max Class Size: 8

Monthly fee for each JC subject or slot is $240, inclusive of materials fee. Discounts apply for multiple subjects or slots.

TO REGISTER, SMS <FULL STUDENT NAME>, <CODE> TO 97860411.

For enquiries, kindly call or sms to 9786 0411.

Posted in H1 Economics, H2 Economics

Our JC2 ECONOMICS weekly tuition starts on Thurs 9 Jan 2014

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JC2 H1 Economics:      Every Thursday, 8.00 pm – 9.45 pm (Start 9 Jan); Code: J2E1.

JC2 H2 Economics:      Every Saturday, 8.00 pm – 9.45 pm (Start 11 Jan); Code: J2E2.

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The Tutor:

Mr Jay Lim: An experienced full-time tutor, Mr Lim holds a Master of International Management (USA) degree, a B.Sc (USA) degree majoring in Finance & Retail Management, and a Higher Stage Certificate in Economics, The London Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Formerly a financial services consultant and an ex-bank officer, Mr Lim has been coaching students in Economics and Business Studies for more than three years.

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Administrative Matters:

Location: Blk 627, Bukit Batok Central, 07-640. It is just a 3-min walk from the Bukit Batok MRT station as well as the Bukit Batok Bus Interchange.

Max Class Size: 8

Monthly fee for each JC subject or slot is $240, inclusive of materials fee. Discounts apply for multiple subjects or slots.

TO REGISTER, SMS <FULL STUDENT NAME>, <CODE> TO 97860411.

For enquiries, kindly call or sms to 9786 0411 .

Posted in A. Math

What’s new in the new exam syllabus for A. Math?

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Express-stream students taking the O-levels in 2o14 for the first time will do A. Math 4047, whereas those repeating their A. Math O-level exam in 2014 will do A. Math 4038. A. Math 4047 is likely to stay around for the next five years.

So what is the difference between A. Math syllabus 4047 and A. Math 4038? The difference is technically not much, but makes a world of difference for students and teachers. Here are the differences:

(1) Students no longer need to know the inverse matrix method of solving simultaneous equations.

(2) Students now need to memorize two new formulae:

(i) a^3 + b^3 = (a+b)(a^2 – ab + b^2)

(ii) a^3 – b^3 = (a-b)(a^2 + ab + b^2)

(3) For Trigonometry, students no longer need to know the Factor Formula or its reverse, the Product Formula. Thank God. (But for JC H2 Math, the Product Formula is useful in the integration of some trigonometric functions)

(4) For Plane Geometry, students no longer need to know the Intercept, Intersecting and Tangent-Secant theorems. Thank God. (Many IP schools skip this topic anyway).

In summary, the new syllabus has less sub-topics than the old one. This is good news for both students and teachers of our content-heavy math curriculum.

Rgds,

Ilyasa (hp: 97860411)

Posted in Personal

So what is my race? : )

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For some strange reason, Singaporeans are obsessed with race. In some countries in the West, you can be sued for asking a person’s race or religion. But over here, nearly all job application forms ask for the person’s race and religion, even though most jobs have nothing to do with race or religion (such as teaching Math?).

The day after I posted Just had a terrific conversation with a parent …, a parent called and our conversation went like this:

caller:”Hello, are you Mr Eeeeyaaa…saa?”

me:”Yes, kind of.”

caller:”Are you Chinese?”

me:”Do I have to be?”

caller:”Oh, no, no, no. Sorry, I mean …. your name, I couldn’t figure out whether it’s Chinese, Indian or something. No, you don’t have to be Chinese.”

I’m a private tutor of Math and Physics. People KNOW that before they call. It intrigues me that callers do not first ask for my qualifications or teaching experience (actually, I’ve long intended to write another post – The kinds of parents who call me).

Ok, so what is my race? Because my father is Malay, I am Malay, simple. Am I qualified and experienced enough to teach Math and Physics? Click About Ilyasa to find out.

Once in a while I get phone replies like “Sorry, I seek a Chinese tutor.” Just once I got this comment from a parent:”You are Malay har? So are you good in Math?” ( I actually said yes). There’s some black sheep in every community. I’ve had tens and tens of wonderful and polite Chinese tutees (some from SAP schools even) and their parents who have no problems with me as their children’s tutor. Some of my tutees were also from Taiwan and the PRC. And fortunately, my Indian, Malay, Korean, Filipino and Myanmar tutees have not requested me to teach them in other than English, knowing full well that the exams are in English.

I do hope that Singaporeans move away from this obsession with race and look beyond our differences, else we should be ashamed to call ourselves Singaporeans.

Rgds,

Ilyasa

 

Posted in Integrated Programme (IP), PSLE results

PSLE score of 263 can get you into RI in 2014

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Just received news that my wife’s young cousin got a place in RI with a PSLE score of 263. I’ not sure if that is RI’s cut-off point for this year though.

Anyway, getting into a “top” secondary school is just the beginning, and has little bearing on one’s actual performance as the rules of the game have changed, drastically. For example, for Nov and Dec this year, I’ve been tutoring a handful of year 2, 3 and 4 students from Integrated Programme schools such as RI, NJC and RVHS who have either not been promoted to their next level, or have failed terribly at their end-of-year exams.

Posted in Administrative

Any space for us to rent in or near Bukit Batok?

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Singapore Learner has been growing steadily since 2004 and we now need to expand further. As such we are looking for classrooms to rent in or near Bukit Batok so as to provide continuity and convenience to our existing students.

If you are seriously willing to rent out classrooms or tuition premises to us, kindly contact our CEO, Mr Ilyasa, at 97860411.

Thank you.

Posted in A-Level, H2 Math, Headstart Classes

Reflections on my JC1 H2 Math headstart class this afternoon

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I was quite excited to start the lesson, as I had not seen some of my ex-Sec4 tutees since the O-level exams started. It’s amazing that they even want to come for this jc1 h2 math lesson, as O-level results will only be out around 13 Jan 2014. But they understood my rationale for conducting this headstart class – it’s not really a headstart class; it’s actually a catch-up class as many of their IP peers have already learnt today’s topic – the Binomial Series.

I began by making them recall something more familiar, the Binomial Theorem, and proceeded to show them the difference between the two. A few times during the 2 hrs they lamented how their brains have become rusty since the end of the O-level exams. It’s obvious when they started asking me “what to do” with the expression |x| < 1.

It took about 1 hour before the mathematical part of their brains began to awaken, and then they were able to solve a H2 math question at least halfway. Now at least they are proud that they are able to solve a JC math question before entering a JC.

For the next lesson on 22nd Dec I’ll be covering Permutations & Combinations, another topic that most IP students have learnt. Then they asked me about Jan – will I be waiting for their O-level results to be released before resuming this J1 h2 math class? We discussed this a bit and we agreed that we shall not wait. This because even after receiving their O-level results they have at least one week of orientation, and it will be almost Feb before formal lessons actually start. As the h2 syllabus is heavy, it would be unwise to start learning later.

Posted in A-Level, H2 Math, Holiday Classes

JC1 (2014) H2 Math Bridging Course for non-IP students

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Dates: 15 Dec (Sun) and 22 Dec (Sun)

Time: Both dates 2pm – 4pm

Location: Blk 627, Bt Batok Central, 07-640. S(650627). 3-min walk from Bukit Batok MRT station and bus interchange. Opposite Civil Service Club.

Purpose: To help non-IP students learn two topics that most of their IP counterparts have already learnt: (1) Binomial Series and (2) Permutations & Combinations

Tutor: Mr Ilyasa, M.Ed (NIE), PGDE (NIE), B.Sc (NUS), ex-MOE Subject Head who has been teaching A-Level Math and A. Math since 2004.

Fees: Total fees for the two sessions is just $100.

Max no of students: 8

Registration: To register, send <STUDENT NAME><H2MB> to 9786 0411.

You can view Mr Ilyasa’s resume at https://singaporelearner.com/about-us/about-ilyasa/

For other timeslots for JC Math in 2014, CLICK HERE.

Posted in Personal

Surprise visit by parents of my ex-CJC student …

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I was tutoring yesterday when I caught a glimpse of a little girl standing at my door, with a familiar-looking elderly man beside her. Looking at my bewildered face he quickly introduced himself as the father of a CJC student he sent to me in 2007, for H1 Math. His daughter, that student, has just graduated from NUS and the little girl beside him now is the child of his eldest daughter.

The purpose of their visit was to ask whether I have a P2 math tuition class for the little girl, who is in RGPS. Unfortunately, my lowest level tuition class is P3, so she has to come back at end of 2014 for my P3 headstart class instead. I told the man to let his granddaughter play more in P2 as opposed to studying, but he said the environment in RGPS is very competitive. Fortunately, her grandmother, who was there, agreed with me.

Personally, I don’t think P1 and P2 tuition is necessary, UNLESS the student has not attended pre-school and cannot cope with P1 and P2 English and Math.

Finally, I’m happy to know that my past students are doing well in life, and many have entered universities, although they didn’t come from ‘top’ schools. At PSLE, it is about how intelligent you are. But at the ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels, it is about how much you know.

Rgds,

Ilyasa

Posted in Pure Physics

Compliment from a secondary school Physics teacher ….

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Below is an email (with names removed) I received from a Physics teacher on Nov 14, regarding my post IMPORTANT TOPICS FOR O-LEVEL PHYSICS (5058) PAPER 2 2013.

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Hi Ilyasa,

I am <teacher’s name>,

<Student’s name>’s physics teacher.

He has attended yr physics crash course in oct.

I have compiled a list of qns based on yr predictions for 2013 paper 2.

I am impressed by the accuracy of yr predictions and would like to ask you If there are any methods u have used to reach such accuracy besides doing the elimination method.

I can be contacted at <hp no.>.

Rdgs

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