Based on my experience as a secondary school teacher, if you are now in Sec 2, here are the subjects I think you should choose for Sec 3 which will ultimately become your all-important O-Level subjects:
Other than (1) English, (2) Mother Tongue and (3) Mathematics, your other subjects should be:
(4) Additional Mathematics (A. Math is important for all higher level courses in Business and Science, including Engineering, and it will help you tremendously in JC Math (H1 or H2), as well as in math modules in the Polytechnics or ITE. Even a fail in A. Math is given some recognition for the purpose of application to some poly courses. Many university courses which do not require a pass in A-Level Math still require a pass in O-Level Additional Math. And NEVER, EVER drop A. Math even if your school asks you to; schools only care about their overall percentage passes and image, not about you. A school cannot force you to drop A. Math)
(5) Pure Chemistry or Combined Science with Chemistry (Chemistry is the central science. Without any O-level Chemistry, most likely you will not be allowed to do Chemistry in JC which in turn will bar you from taking any unversity courses related to the life sciences, such as medicine, dentistry, pharmacy etc.)
(6) Whether you take Geography, History or Literature depends on your inclinations. If you are unsure, take History if you intend to go to a JC for it will train you in argumentative or discursive essay writing skills necessary for the General Paper (I took history last time, got an A1 for it and my GP grades were always B3 and above. If you intend to do Law, getting good grades in History and GP helps)
(7) If you want to be in Engineering or Aviation, you must take Physics. If you intend to work in the life or ecological sciences field, you should do Biology.
(8)(added on 21/10/2016) You may also need to consider your overall workload. By taking “triple science”, you may end up taking 8 or 9 subjects when you only need 6 to go to a JC and only 5 to go to a polytechnic. Bear in mind that you may also be more involved in CCA as Sec 3 students will soon become CCA leaders. For example, even though my daughter can do “triple science”, but because she is in the Art Elective Programme and also actively involved in the school band, she has decided to opt for double science instead and I’m happy for her.
Please be very serious in choosing the above subjects because they may actually determine your career in Singapore.
If you need more info on the above, or about choosing JCs or JC subjects, or simply on how to effectively study Math, Physics or Chemistry, do drop by my centre in Bt Batok for a frank, no-obligations discussion. But do msg me (hp no: 9786 0411) first as I may have classes or meetings. Whether you are a parent or a student, if you are serious about education, I look forward to seeing you.
Rgds,
Ilyas
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Beware the critical years in math education in Singapore.
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A Tribute To My Teachers …
I suppose there’s no better day than today to pay a tribute to a great group of teachers – my ex-lecturers and tutors at the NIE who patiently guided me through my two-and-half-year Master of Education course. Because of them, I actually changed the way I look at my own students and the way I impart knowledge and skills to them. These inspiring teachers are (not in order of awesomeness):
(1) Dr Theresa Alviar-Martin (Curriculum Theory);
(2) Assoc Prof Deng Zongyi (Critical Perspectives);
(3) Ms Mardiana Abu Bakar (Critical Perspectives);
(4) Ms Betsy Lim (Crafting The Curriculum);
(5) Ms Fong Lay Lean (Crafting The Curriculum);
(6) Dr Christina Lim-Ratnam (Curriculum Implementation);
(7) Dr Fang Yanping (Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Learning);
(8) Mr John Yeo (Teacher Knowledge and Teacher Learning);
(9) Dr Koh Kim Hong (Mastering The Art of Authentic Assessments);
(10) Prof Lam Chi Chung (Programme and Curriculum Evaluation);
(11) Assoc Prof Katerine Bielaczyc (Critical Inquiry).
In my line, I don’t need a Ph.D. But if there’s a good reason to do one, then it has to be the chance to work with them again.
Happy Teachers’ Day.
Sincerely from,
Happy Teachers’ Day!
I would like to wish all Teachers (including myself), a Happy Teachers’ Day. May we continue to facilitate wonderment and awe in our students about their experiences so that they will be ready to think for themselves when the time comes.
Here I would like to print a quote (from Maxine Greene) that I learnt in my Master of Education course at the NIE:
“We who are teachers would have to accommodate ourselves to lives as clerks or functionaries if we did not have in mind a quest for a better state of things for those we teach and for the world we all share. It is simply not enough for us to reproduce the way things are.” (Greene, 1995, p.1)
Rgds,
References:
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the Imagination: Essays on Education, the Arts, and Social Change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Grades & Improvement: more reasons to be happy …
Just got my daughters’ CA2 results. My Sec 1 girl obtained 4 A1s, 2 A2s and 2 B3s. My P4 girl got 3 A-stars and one A. It’s quite a relief because having both parents as teachers, a lot is expected from them and from us! I’m also mindful of the fact that many parents, even teacher parents, are not able to teach their own children. Fortunately, we take steps to ensure that THAT does NOT happen in our family, because I don’t see how parents can have confidence in my tutoring ability if I can’t even tutor my own children. I’m a firm believer in hardwork and discipline, because intelligence and creativity alone cannot ensure academic success Singapore-style.
Many reasons to be happy …
I’m so happy this week. A few of my tutees, who have been failing math all the time this year, have managed to pass their latest school tests; they even surprised their teachers. And a few minutes ago, i received a personal message in FB from an ex-tutee, who informed me that he had won the MOE Teaching Award. I tutored him when he was in sec 3 and 4 and in JC2. He was always struggling with his Math and Physics, but I knew he would succeed some day in his chosen field as he was very hardworking.
Many of my ex-tutees have obtained places in JCs and in universities, with at least two obtaining 4 A’s in their A-level H2 subjects. A few of them have even become tutors at my centre. Sometimes I ask myself, why is it that I do not put up testimonials from them on my website? I guess because the reason is that, and you should know it by now, testimonials displayed anywhere can actually be faked. It is easy for any tutor or tuition centre to just come up with names and write their own testimonals and assign grades to these names. A centre can also pay top students to sing praises about its programs. Being a parent myself, I’m skeptical about the testimonials, supposedly from students, that I have read all over the place.
Maybe I’m new to the world of advertising, but it doesn’t matter. My tuition service has run for 8 years already, and there are hundreds of students and parents out there who will do the advertising for me, without me asking them to. : )
Rgds,
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Academic “progress” update … mainly Math …
The end of another week. A lot of sad news in the mass media – crime, violence, recession etc. But one thing has kept me spirited and looking forward to the many weeks ahead – the progress of my students and my own children.
1. A tutee, from the N(A) stream, reported getting a very high mark for her recent class test on the Angle Properties of Circles.
2. Another girl, from an independent IP school, showed me her two common test papers on Math. She did fairly well in one and very well in the other. She regretted doing a lot of careless mistakes in the former, something I warned her about before. But overall, I was quite happy with her performance. When she first came at the beginning of this year, the Math questions she asked kind of frightened me; I mean, it was not the kind of standard that I expected from a student of a top school. But she continued asking lots of questions every week, and now she has outperformed most of her classmates.
3. My Economics tutee from SIM is now able to tutor his classmates, something he’s proud of and I’m proud of him too. He also did well in his Math module, which included Calculus, although he had not done A. Math before. But like all my performing students, he had asked me lots of Math questions and did lots of practice. There is no secret (except one, which I’ll post somewhere else) and no short-cut to doing well in Math.
4. My eldest daughter, who is in Sec 1 in a Band 3 school, obtained full marks (14/14) for her class test on Algebra and Number Patterns. She is also did very well (top 10 to 20% in class) in all her other subjects. My Pri 4 daughter also did exceedingly well in most of her class tests this year, even obtaining 97% in an English test! People may say that their academic results are due to having both parents as teachers and tutors, but I do know of many teachers and even principals whose children are not doing well in school. Raising kids is not easy, and the real challenge is to bring up well-rounded young people.
Of course, not all of my 50+ tutees are showing good progress in school. One of my Pri 5 tutees had just failed his Math class test, which I will have to analyse thoroughly once he gets back his paper. Every ‘failure’ is feedback that some re-strategising is needed. Students do badly in tests for all sorts of reasons, and we have to identify accurately the cause of the problem before applying any kind of remedy. One of the worst things to do as a parent, teacher or tutor is to respond wrongly to a real or perceived setback. Using the wrong medicine for a poorly-diagnosed ailment can lead to even more disastrous results.
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Education partnerships and ventures …
Hi, I’m Ilyasa, Principal Tutor at Singapore Learner. Singapore Learner has potential to grow and I’m planning to open a learning centre at Bukit Batok and either at Sengkang or Punggol.
If you are teacher-qualified (preferably), passionate about teaching and tutoring, keen to run an education business and are seeking a partner in this business, do give me a call (97860411) and we can have many rounds of discussions before making any commitments.
Now a bit about myself. I taught Physics in a secondary school for 3 years before striking out on my own to give tuition in Physics and Math at secondary and JC levels (since 2005). Currently I’m also a part-time lecturer in H2/H1 Economics. I hold 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, and a Master of Education (Curriculum & Teaching) degree also from the NIE. I’m 40 this year, happily married to a school teacher, and we have been blessed with three daughters, two of whom are still in primary school.
I look forward to working with anyone who is sincere and passionate about making a difference to the academic lives of students.
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JC1 H2 Math reflections …
I had my first JC1 H2 Math tutee yesterday. True enough, I expect some JC1 students to start looking around for a tutor sometime in March, when most would have received their first test results at JC level.
The topics we covered were Binomial Series and APGP. Not surprisingly, the student had scored A1 for her Additional Math last year, but still struggling with beginning H2 Math topics. Didn’t I say this before, that H2 Math is significantly more difficult than A. Math? JC1 students must take their H2 Math very seriously, else I can guarantee that their Math results would mostly be S’s and U’s throughout the whole year.
For example, Binomial Series is much more difficult than the O-level Binomial Theorem. They may have the same fundamental formula, but the former has many more ‘tricks’ to look out for; ironically, it is this familiarity with the binomial expansion that deceives students into taking this topic lightly, as in the case with Inequalities. As for APGP, although it is not really very difficult, it is very new to most students who have never studied Series and Progressions before. In fact, the Summation sign itself is very alien to most new JC students.
To be good at Binomial Series and APGP, you first have to be very competent in Algebra and Indices. Additionally, you have to have this habit of writing out the first few terms and the nth term of an unfamiliar sequence or series when confronted with the difficult questions. But if you are good at being careless, you are finished.
Lastly, I have one advice for H2 Math students: Beware of the topics Vectors and Complex Numbers. : )
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H1 Physics reflections …
Was tutoring on the topic Current Electricity just now. For this topic, students normally have difficulty in understanding the concept of internal resistance of a cell and terminal potential difference, as these concepts are not covered at the O-Levels. It is important for students to deeply understand the equation E = V + Ir, and its related graph of V against I, as well as the significance of I being zero.
If you are a H1 Physics student, you’d find that many of the topics are quite similar to the O-Level topics; so focus on understanding the new stuff, the A-level stuff, such as F = BILsin(angle), for example, and concepts such as magnetic flux density.
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March holiday classes, crash courses, intensive revision etc …
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ORIGINAL POST (OUTDATED):
PSLE MATH MARCH HOLIDAY INTENSIVE REVISION
O-LEVEL E. MATH MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
O-LEVEL PURE PHYSICS MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
O-LEVEL A. MATH MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
A-LEVEL H1 PHYSICS MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
A-LEVEL H2 PHYSICS MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
A-LEVEL H1 MATH MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION
A-LEVEL H2 MATH MARCH HOLIDAYS INTENSIVE REVISION