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.