Category: Personal

Posted in Educational Advice, Learning, Personal

How to remember important stuff? Read this …

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I found the following in a certain college handbook. I’ve read something like it before and I believe it’s based on some research work:

You remember approximately 10% of what you read, 2o% of what you hear, 30% of what you see, 50% of what you see and hear together, 70% of what you say, and 90% of what you do.

That’s why I insist that my students DO a lot of high-quality work because that IS the best way to prepare for exams. I also like to ask students to summarize or re-phrase their understanding of a concept and SAY it out. People who teach others are also continually reinforcing their knowledge, thus it is a good idea to share your knowledge with friends. 🙂

Posted in Personal, Schools

If you are choosing a sec school, ……..

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I realise that the green MOE booklet, “Choosing Your Secondary Schools”, only lists the cut-off aggregate score for a particular school. This is helpful to some extent, but you also need to consider the MEDIAN aggregate PSLE score of the Sec 1 pupils of that school for the past 3 years or so, to estimate your chances of getting in, or the probability of being selected for good additional learning programmes provided by the school.

To put it simply, the median is the “average” PSLE aggregate score of the Sec 1 students. So if your score is lower than the median, and you still manage to get into the school because your score happens to be higher than the last student accepted into the school, you’ll find yourself enrolled into the “bottom class” of that school. For some schools, this MAY mean getting “less capable” teachers or less enrichment programmes.

You can find out a school’s median PSLE aggregate score through this link provided by the MOE; http://app.sis.moe.gov.sg/schinfo/.

Of course there are other considerations in choosing a school, such as school type, academic band and distance from home. Well, I wish all of you post-PSLE students all the best in your secondary school selection.

Rgds,

Ilyasa

Posted in Educational Advice, Personal

Please double-check your exam timetable!

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My student arrived 28 mins late for his H2 Econs exam because he thought the paper was in the afternoon. But he told me he did not panic and calmly completed the paper within the allotted time, a result of being well-prepared. (Btw, I’m not his Econs tutor; I only tutor him in H2 Math and H2 Physics.)

The moral of the story?

(1) Always double-check your exam schedule.

(2) Be well-prepared for exams, even over-prepared if necessary.

(3) Try not to panic in any situation; control your breathing.

Posted in A-Level, Personal

Wishing all ‘A’ Level students …..

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On behalf of all my tutors, I would like to wish all ‘A’ Level students, especially those whom we have personally tutored, great success in their coming examinations. No matter what happens, you cannot change the past but you can influence the future. You already have what it takes to be great people. So just take action, perform when the time comes, and carry on the good work.