A-Level, A. Math, JC Math (H2/H1), Pure Chemistry, Pure Physics

Free Online Academic Lectures …

Posted on March 3, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

In this website, http://www.khanacademy.org/, you can find many instructional video clips, mostly on Math and Science topics, such as how to do ‘completing the square’, how to do differentiation and integration, how to calculate the moment of a force etc.

You may also visit http://openlectures.sg/ to hear lectures on A-level topics based on the Singapore syllabus.

If you learn better through watching and listening as compared to reading, then these websites might be of help to you. Happy exploring!

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SINGAPORE LEARNER

Singapore Learner provides Group Tuition, Individual Tuition, Intensive Revision, Enrichment Workshops, Headstart Classes and Crash Courses at the Primary, Secondary and Junior College levels in the areas of A.Math, Pure Physics, Pure Chemistry, Science, Economics, and General Paper for the Singapore A-Levels, O-Levels and PSLE.

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A-Level, Educational Advice

A-level results 2012: …mixed feelings

Posted on March 3, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I was both happy and sad yesterday. One of my students obtained all A’s and another didn’t get a single A. Both were from IP schools. I tutored them in H2 Math and Physics. Both were very bright and fast learners. So what happened?

I don’t know what happened during their actual exams, but I do know that one of them adapted to secondary and jc school life and the other didn’t, with regard to studying. You see, both of them scored many A-stars at PSLE, and PSLE is one of those exams where you don’t have to study much; PSLE is almost like an olympiad test, especially for Math. But the A-levels is a different ball game altogether, where I dare say that your intelligence counts for only 20% of your marks. The rest is about how much Knowledge you have – Factual, Conceptual, Procedural, Conditional and Metacognitive. Put it simply, students who are smart but lazy can do well at the PSLE but will perform terribly at the A-levels.

IP students also have one disadvantage, compared to non-IP students. Because they skip the O-levels, IP students may not have sufficient exposure and training to do a high-stakes, content-intensive all-in-one-sitting exam like the A-levels. This may result in underestimating the time needed to have a complete revision of all the topics needed for the ultimate exam.

But IP students have the advantage of learning some A-level topics earlier than non-IP students. However, bear in mind that for a memory-intensive exam like the A-levels, learning things earlier is not always better.

What to do if your A-level results are bad

A-Level Tuition

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Educational Advice, Schools

There’s no such thing as a ‘Top’ Primary School …

Posted on February 28, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

Yes, there’s no such thing as a ‘top’ primary school, for the simple reason that entry into pri schools is not based on some kind of entrance exam or placement test. So not surprisingly, a student from RGPS can end up in a normal stream of a ‘neighbourhood’ sec school.

I’ve tutored weak math sec students who came from ‘brand name’ primary schs. They are no different from students who come from almost-unheard-of pri schools. In fact, even some students from IP schools are not as academically as good as those from ‘neighbourhood’ schools. The former just happen to be early bloomers.

However, there IS such a thing as a “rich-kids’ primary school”, which arises because the neighbourhood in which the sch is situated consists of mainly landed properties or condos. Well, if you are the kind who feels better only if you mix with people of the same social status as you are, then go to such schools and I wish you all the best in life.

And, there IS such a thing as a primary school with good teachers. You have to seek out such schools if your child is not an independent learner. But please bear in mind that good teachers do move around or get posted elsewhere or ironically get promoted to a non-teaching post.

A good school is one that adds value to your child.

If you think about it deeply, the notion of a ‘top school’ is problematic. Is a school that attracts top students a good school? Bear in mind that teachers in such schools may teach too fast and expect a lot from students yet do minimal teaching work. Is a school that produces good results in national exams a good school? Well, of course a sch that takes in bright students tend to produce above-average results; it’s something expected, and not something necessarily due to the extraordinary skills of the teachers or some kind of super learning programme (I studied in RI and RJC, so I can say a bit about the kinds of teachers back then).

So do all these mean that a primary school that consistently produces good PSLE results is a good school, since pri schools do not admit their pri 1 students based on results? From a pragmatic Singaporean point of view, or from a pure academic one, yes. So is there a primary school in Singapore that produces admirable PSLE results for MOST of its students year after year, and not just for its GEP students (if any)?

Please bear in mind that the primary schools with GEP students are not themselves the ones who produce the gifted students. The gifted students are first identified through a national selection test and then posted to those primary schools with GEP classes.

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A. Math, Educational Advice, Personal, Sec Math

Good A. Math test result …

Posted on February 27, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I’m very happy today, not just because I have no teaching and no tutoring at all on Mondays. It is because my one of my tuition students smsed me her Sec 3 A. Math common test result, for which she obtained 31/40. Not bad at all for someone who has been struggling with her Algebra and Indices since last year.

This is what I mean when I talk about hard work. You don’t have to be an overnight success story. Neither do you need to score 100/100. You just have to be persistent in your quest for improvement. It’s ok for success to come in small doses. If you stick to your goals, the Big Success will come some day.

I also tutored her two elder brothers, from sec to jc, both of whom have obtained places in our local universities. The amazing thing about them is that they were ‘average’ students from ‘neighbourhood’ schools who simply refused to give up on their studies. They did a lot of work, asked many questions along the way, and took quite a lot of flak from me for being careless and forgetful. But that’s how things go for most of us. We are not perfect people who can understand immediately what we see or hear.

My main point is: Success is a personal choice.

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A. Math, Educational Advice, Pure Physics, Schools

Just finished Sec 4 IP Math and Physics tuition…

Posted on February 26, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

Sunday mornings are very tiring for me – 2 hrs of Sec 4 IP Math followed by 1.5 hrs of Sec 4 Pure Physics tutoring. The topics we are doing now are Trigonometry, Differentiation and DC Circuits.

Apparently, some schools are slower than others. Sec 4 students should now already be doing Differentiation and DC Circuits, but some are still at graphs of trigonometrical functions and electrostatics or even sound!

Every year, my tuition students who are weak in Math come from two ‘very good’ schools in the west. I shall not name the schools but I think the lower sec Math teachers in these schools need to get closer supervision from their superiors. This is what I have been trying to tell parents – ‘good’ schools do not necessarily have good teachers. Some of these schools attain good results because their students are academically good in the first place, not because they have outstanding teachers. If you enter a ‘good’ school, chances are, the teachers there think you are already very smart, so they teach fast and make you do a lot of ‘independent’ learning, and justifying these actions using the ‘Teach Less Learn More’ philosophy.

Last but not least, I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: SEC 2 MATH IS VERY IMPORTANT, ESPECIALLY THE ALGEBRA PART.

For our latest timetable, click here =>

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A. Math, Sec Math

A. Math Reflections – Inequalities

Posted on February 21, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I find that a lot of A. Math students, even JC students,
are weak in solving inequalities. For A. Math, some of the common
mistakes are:

(1) thinking that (x-4)(x+1) > 0 means that (x-4) > 0 or (x+1) > 0;

(2) thinking that (x^2 -9) > 0 means that x > +- 3;

(3) forgetting to change the inequality sign when multiplying or
dividing by a negative number, especially ‘hidden’ negative numbers such as
log(0.7).

Many JC students are also weak in solving inequalities, probably
due to not overcoming misconceptions abt inequalities when they were in
secondary school and new challenges posed by Inequalities in H2 Math, such as
in solving (x+2) / (x-3) < 0.

For our latest timetable, click here =>

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By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS

@ BLK 644, BUKIT BATOK CENTRAL, #01-68. S(650644).

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Educational Advice

Class tests, common tests and CA1 …

Posted on February 21, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

Yes, now is the ‘panic’ period for most students. At Singapore Learner, we are preparing students for whatever academic tests they are facing – class tests, common tests and CA1. Even my own children are facing a series of tests.

If you are struggling to pass any subject, I suggest you get help early. Late tuition, like late medical treatment, is likely to have poor results. If you get help too late, you’d probably be put under ‘intensive care’, even then, only if the tutor has available free slots for you.

Some parents tell me that by getting tuition for their children later in the year, they can save some money. This is not entirely true, because some tutors actually increase their fees when exams are near, and students who have almost a whole year’s amount of catching up to do may end up needing to attend tuition lessons twice or thrice a week.

Some subjects, like Math and Physics, perhaps even Chemistry, need a lot of foundation training, so a few weeks of tuition just before the exams is not going to be very effective.

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A-Level, JC Math (H2/H1)

JC 2 H2/H1 Math Reflections …

Posted on February 18, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I was teaching the Normal Distribution last night, including using it to approximate the Binomial Distribution. As usual, students have difficulties with the following:

(a) knowing the difference between Var (X1 + X2 + X3) and Var (3X), and knowing WHEN the question refers to which;

(b) doing continuity correction for P(X> k) or P(X < k) when X is a discrete variable and there is a need to approximate its distribution to Normal.

I suggest students read their H2 Math textbook carefully and thoroughly, if their own JC notes are inadequate. As you know, in Math, mistakes done at the START of the working will most likely cost you ALL the marks even if your answer is one page long. : )

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Educational Advice, Sec Math, Sec Science

The Importance of Sec 2 English, Math and Science …

Posted on February 18, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I wonder if Sec 2 students realize how impt their studies are. Streaming to Sec 3 is done based on your performance in English, Math and Science in Sec 2. It determines whether you will be allowed to do Additional Math and the Pure Sciences at the O-levels, which in turn will affect the kinds of academic subjects that you can take at the A-levels, which ultimately will have an impact on the course that you can choose to do at the university.

Essentially, how you perform in school in Sec 2 will affect your career choices some day. Unfortunately, many Sec 2 students are not mature enough to understand this, and end up regretting later. Of course, EVERY academic year is important, but some years may impact your life more than others. It is not necessary to stay alert and study all the time, but students need to know when to work and when to play.

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A. Math, Sec Math

A. Math Chap 2 – Quadratic Functions & Equations

Posted on February 17, 2012February 13, 2016 by admin

I was teaching this topic in sch the other day and as expected, students encountered quite a number of problems with this topic. Many of my tuition students over the years also reported the same problems in handling issues related to Quadratic Functions.

Some of these problems are:

(1) not understanding that alpha and beta by themselves also satisfy the quadratic eqn because they are the roots of the equation! So it’s not just abt finding the sum and product of roots;

(2) not knowing the condition for the discriminant (b^2 – 4ac) when the question involves the phrase “for which the function is never positive or never negative”;

(3) not being sure whether one is required to solve an inequality involving the discriminant or the function itself;

(4) not knowing how to complete the square to determine the maximum or minimum value of a quadratic function (even those who can do it do not understand why it works!);

(5) not recognising that “real and distinct roots”, “real and equal roots”, and “no real roots” have other names that express the same meaning.

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