A-Level Archives - Page 10 of 13

Which subject combination to choose in JC?

Posted on February 3, 2014January 12, 2022 by admin

SCIENCE PRACTICAL TRAINING

H2 BIOLOGY PRACTICAL

This is another important question and how you decide may affect your career.

My informed opinion is as follows:

(a) If you are passionate about or highly interested in something, say, History, then include it as one of your H2 subjects.

(b) Include Economics as one of your subjects, whether at H1 or H2 level. It will give you a macro and micro view of the financial workings of society. Economics is also a first-year module in almost all professional courses in universities. However, it is not easy to score in Econs because like GP, it is a subject meant for mature minds and students who can express themselves clearly and logically in essays.

(c) Include Math as one of your subjects, whether at H1 or H2 level. It trains you to be precise and accurate while thinking logically. A pass or a good grade in Math is also included in the admission criteria of many courses in universities.

(d) If you are still unsure, then take the following combination if you meet the minimum criteria and your JC provides it: H2: Physics, Chemistry, Math; H1: Econs. It is the most versatile combination, allowing you to enter any course in the local universities, including Medicine, Law, Engineering and Accountancy. If you don’t intend to be an Engineer, then drop Physics and make Econs your H2 subject.

(e) If you want a Singapore government scholarship, remember to take all four subjects at H2 level. To get a scholarship, you have to be consistent in your work and performance.

(f) If you intent to study Medicine overseas, it may be necessary to do Biology as some universities still insist on it.

(g) Before you select a combination, it is important that you know what course you wish to do at the university that you want. Visit the website of the university, read the course prospectus and identify the minimum criteria for admission. Refer to my “Uni Links” to check out the subject requirements for the different universities. For SUTD, they do not have specific course pre-requisites, but students are encouraged to have a Mathematics and a Science subject at the H2 or equivalent level.

(h) If you intent to do undergrad studies in the US, you also need to prepare for and do well in the SAT test.

(i) If you intend to do Medicine or Law in Singapore, please immerse
yourself in medicine or law-related volunteer work during your holidays and be sincere about service. Entry into Medicine and Law requires passing an interview. You need to have knowledge beyond your A-Level subjects to convince the interviewers that you are a worthy candidate.

Students who are unaware of many of the above points often end up in a university doing a course they do not want. Good luck.

Rgds,

Ilyasa

A-LEVEL H2 PRACTICALS

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A-Level, Educational Advice, Personal, Schools

Between JC and Poly …

Posted on January 15, 2014January 9, 2019 by admin

Should a O-Level grad choose to go to a JC or a Polytechnic?

Since many students and parents ask me this question every year, here is my opinion on the matter.

The answer is: It depends on several factors:

(a) Your method of learning;

(b) How sure you are about what you want to do as a career;

(d) Which university you want to go to;

(e) Your level of self-discipline.

Let’s examine each one in detail:

(a) Your method of learning:

In general, if you learn more by reading, go to JC. If you learn more through hands-on activities and projects, go to Poly. If you learn well via both methods equally, go to part (b).

(b) How sure you are about what you want to do as a career:

In general, if you are undecided, go to JC. If you know what you want, go to
the Poly offering your course. For example, if you are sure you want to be a
physiotherapist, go to Nanyang Poly.

In JC, you must take General Paper and Mother Tongue. If you are weak in English especially, you will suffer terribly in JC. In general, if you are not confident of vastly improving your English in a short time, go to Poly. Of course the Poly also expects you to write English well, but not at the level GP demands.

(d) Which university you want to go to:

If you insist on going to NUS, NTU, SMU, SUTD or SUSS, please go to JC and work hard. If you go to Poly, you have to work extra hard to be the top 5 or 10% of your cohort or course, then you can be admitted to a local public university. However, SIT is a university that takes in lots of Poly grads. More than 70% of JC students make it to the local universities every year, so the chances of getting into the local universities are higher through JC than through Poly. If you go to Poly and don’t do well enough, be prepared to go to an overseas university (which is not a bad idea; don’t worry, money can be borrowed).

(e) Your level of self-discipline:

In JC, you are more supervised. Poly environment is like that of a university; you have to be more independent and responsible. I have ex-students from both sides regretting their choice, because they didn’t think about this issue.

There’s one more route that people often overlook: doing a three-year pre-university course at the Millenia Institute (MI). Bear in mind that only MI offers Management of Business and Principles of Accounting as A-level courses.

Lastly, please bear in mind that the above are just guidelines. Central to all forms of academic success is pure hard work and a thinking disposition.

I wish all O-Level graduates great success in their future endeavours.

Best Rgds,

Ilyasa

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A-Level, IB

Which one to choose? The IB or the A-levels?

Posted on January 15, 2014February 2, 2023 by admin

SCIENCE PRACTICAL TRAINING

H2 PHYSICS PRACTICAL

H2 CHEMISTRY PRACTICAL

H2 BIOLOGY PRACTICAL

I’ve had the privilege of teaching and tutoring students Math and Physics in both the A-level and IB programmes, so here I’m sharing with you my sincere thoughts on the two programmes.

Whether you choose to do the IB progamme or the A-levels depends on several factors:

(1) Your method of studying.

If you are the lazy type and you prefer to just study VERY intensively for three months prior to a high-stakes exam, then do the A-levels. If you can continually work hard and can cope with the pressure of being constantly assessed, then do the IB Diploma programme. This is serious. I have a student who dropped out of IB to do the the A-levels, precisely because he was not able to cope with being continually FORMALLY assessed.

(2) The university you want to go to:

If you are Singaporean and you intend to go to a local university such as NUS or NTU, it’s better for you to do the A-Levels. This is because you will be compared only with local students performing the same exam in your country, as far as I have been informed. At the moment, a lot of local students doing the IB are from ACS (I), who only take in students who obtained a minimum score of 247 at the PSLE or those who obtained an L1R5 of 5 (incl. bonus points) at the O-Levels. So not surprisingly, the average score at ACS (I) for the IB exams last year was a whopping 41.65! Do you know that a score of 36 and above in the IB diploma exams is considered excellent by educators?

Imagine that you have obtained a score of 40 in the IB exam. In the world, you will be considered a top student. But at ACS (I), you are below average! Thus you may find yourself rejected by NUS but accepted by Oxford or Cambridge University! This weird situation was first highlighted to me by a parent of my tutee a few years ago. She regretted sending her daughter to ACS (I) because although the latter obtained a score of 38 and thus a top student for the rest of the world, she was rejected by a local university (reason being she was below average for her IB cohort) and finally applied to do teaching at the NIE as she did not want to go overseas.

Thus if you are a local student and you intend to study overseas for your degree, then by all means do the IB programme.

(3) The breadth or depth of the subjects you want to learn:

Generally, the IB programme is broader in academic scope while the A-Levels is deeper. For example, when I was covering an IB Physics class, I was surprised to discover that they also learn Astrophysics and the Carnot Cycle, topics not covered in Singapore’s A-Level H2 Physics. Thus I feel that if you want a more holistic programme, do the IB diploma as you’ll be exposed to the Theory of Knowledge as well as doing a community service project.

The above are just my personal albeit informed views. What is clear and certain is that if you DON’T have a thinking disposition, you’ll do badly in either course. Good luck. : )

Rgds,

Ilyasa, M.Ed, PGDE, ex-MOE Teacher.

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A-Level

Our JC1 Learn Ahead classes will most likely start in early Feb

Posted on January 13, 2014 by admin

Although I’ve already received requests for JC1 Math, Physics, GP and Economics tuition classes to start as soon as possible, I think most likely we will start the classes in the first or 2nd week of Feb.

If you didn’t get A1 at O-level for the same subject you intend to take at A-level, I would encourage you to join our Learn Ahead Programme so that your academic life in your JC would be smoother.

For enquiries, kindly contact or SMS to 97860411. Thank you.

A-Level, General Paper

Our JC1 GP weekly tuition starts this friday, 10 Jan, for IP students

Posted on January 6, 2014January 12, 2014 by admin

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.

A-Level, JC Physics

Join our JC PHYSICS LEARN AHEAD PROGRAMME!

Posted on January 6, 2014 by admin

JC2 H1 Physics: Every Sunday, 2.00 pm – 3.45 pm (Start 12 Jan); Code: J2P1.

JC2 H2 Physics: Every Sunday, 6.00 pm – 7.45 pm (Start 12 Jan); Code: J2P2.

JC1 H2 Physics: Every Sunday, 4.00 pm – 5.45 pm (Start 9 Feb); Code: J1P1.

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The Tutor:

Mr Ilyasa: A former MOE school teacher, Mr Ilyasa has been coaching students in ‘A’ Level (H2/H1) Physics and (H2/H1) Mathematics for more than 7 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.

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Administrative Matters:

Location: Blk 627, Bukit Batok Central. 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.

A-Level, H2 Math, Headstart Classes

Reflections on my JC1 H2 Math headstart class this afternoon

Posted on December 15, 2013 by admin

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.

A-Level, H2 Math, Holiday Classes

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

Posted on December 8, 2013 by admin

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.

A-Level, Exam Papers

NEW! H2 MATH TOPICAL CRASH COURSE (Sign Up Now!)

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The above solutions had been worked out by Mr Teng.

Errata:

For qn 3(I) line 7, the denominator of the third derivative of f(x) should be of power 4 instead of 2.

For qn 4(I), was some scanning error. The answer is 40.4.

For qn11(III), I made a terrible mistake and forgot the third case for which exactly three letters same AND two digits same. The permutation for that will be (26×9).

11(iv) I made the mistake of double counting and arranged after using the permute function. The following is the full solutions

Case 1: Exactly one vowel and 2 different consonants and exactly one even digit

(5C1)(21C2)(3!)(4C1)(5C1)(2!) =252000

Case 2: Exactly one vowel and 2 same consonants and exactly one even digit

(5C1)(21C1)(3!/2!)(4C1)(5C1)(2!)=12600

P(exactly one vowel & exactly one even digit) = (252000+12600)/(26^3*9^2) = 0.186 (3SF)

Disclaimer: We welcome fair comments and discussion. The answers were rushed out and done while Mr Teng was in between classes too. So there are errors definitely, so many thanks for all who point them out. 🙂

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EDUCATIONAL SERVICES:

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By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS

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CALL 65694897 OR SMS 98530744 OR 97860411.

A-Level, Exam Papers

MOCK EXAMS FOR SCIENCE PRACTICAL

END OF PAPER

Note: The above answers had been hurriedly worked out by Mr Teng, our H2 Math tutor.

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Errata: question 7(iii)
This question is really confusing due to the word “before”. However, after much discussions, Mr Teng concludes that he is wrong. The answer should be n=12. If you put the emphasis on how many MUST be cut off, 12 will be the correct answer. If you’re my student, you will know that my English is terrible. Haha.

Question 6(iii)) should λ = 8μ/7.

Question 9(iii) due to the lousy app should be 24n.

Disclaimer: Question 3
The line y=1 was drawn as part of my solution to (ii). So long as the diagram is clearly labeled, there should be no issues.

Any more issues, please let me know. Lastly, big thank-you to all the j1 and j2s who helped me clarify and explain the English behind the statement. And do watch out this space for P2!

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(1) What to do if your A-level results are bad …

(2) A-Level Results: What to do if you get BAD or DEAD, i.e., the ‘middle class’