Background
Student A:
In year 2003, I took on a tuition assignment to coach a Sec 4 'O' Levels student, who was very weak in Pure Physics. I had less than half a year to help him prepare for his 'O' Levels as I only received the assignment around May/ June period, while his 'O' Levels exams were around October. His Physics grade eventually improved from a 'F9' (Mid Term Exams) grade to a 'B3' grade ('O' Levels Exams).
Student B:
Earlier this year (2013), I received an assignment to teach a Sec 4 'N(A)' Levels student, who was very weak in Combined Science (Physics/ Chemistry) and Maths. Similarly, I had less than half a year to prepare him for the 3 subjects because I took on the assignment around Mid April and his last paper was on Mid October. His grades improved from 'F9' for both subjects to 'A2' for Maths and 'B4' for Combined Science in his N(A) Levels Exams. Due to his good grades, he is allowed direct entry into Polytechnic and thus skipped a year of not requiring to study Secondary 5 and taking 'O' Levels.
Tuition Principles
My tuition formula is based on 5 key principles and they are as follow:
1. Motivation
The first guiding principle is motivation. A student without motivation for studying is akin to an employee doing a job that is not to his/ her interest. Without motivation, a student will just be going through motion and study for the sake of studying. I tried to instill motivation in my student by giving them encouragement when they do well and explaining to them the true purpose of education, that is to equip us with useful knowledge, that might be applicable in our everyday life. I highlight their strength, to make them feel confident of their abilities because they will be more motivated to study when they develop more self-confidence. At times when the student is losing motivation, I work with the parents to see how best we can motivate the child. The parents have spent years nurturing the child so they know best how to motivate their child. If the student is motivated to study and improve, half the battle is already won.
2. Foundation
This is the part which caused many students to struggle in the later part of their study curriculum, especially when they are nearing the major examinations. We must understand that any structure that is built upon a weak foundation is prone to collapse. Therefore, I always believe that we need to painstakingly build the foundation in any subjects before moving on to other things. I will not let my student practise assessment questions without getting their foundation right because it is a waste of time, they will not likely to do well for those questions too. For major examinations like 'O', 'N' or 'A' Levels, the curriculum usually spans across two years. Some students may just do enough to get pass the first year but when syllabus gets more difficult, they find themselves in a pool of doubts because their foundation in the subject is not strong. Besides engaging a private tutor to explain these concepts, students can do their due diligence in clarifying concepts that they are unclear with their school teachers.
3. Hard Work
Thomas Edison once said that "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. I strongly believe that hard work is the key to success in any area of work. No matter how smart a student can be, if he don't put in the effort to study, he will not score as well as he puts in the effort to study. This gets more true as we progress in our education journey (If you don't believe, try not studying for your modules in your undergrad studies). I always encourage my students to do two things; summary notes and mindmaps. I believe reading through the textbook is not enough to make you understand and remember. When you put the pen to the paper, you gain a better understanding because you break down paragraphs of text into point form. Also, these notes will be useful as it facilitates easy revision and reference the next time round (just imagine you have to comb through your thick textbook for reference or revision). Mindmap is a good way of giving a pictorial overview of a chapter and will be useful for last minute revision, especially hours before the examinations. You certainly don't want to carry your thick textbooks to examination venue, let alone browse through them for any last minute revision.
4. Plan Ahead
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. I advocate that my students have their own study timetable and it must be planned far ahead, say 2 months before a major examination like Prelims or the 'O' Levels. The study timetable will give a guide on what subjects to study, how many hours, what are the topics to study for a particular day. It can be vague as to what subjects to study on that day or it can be as detailed as the chapters to study, the time allocated for each chapter. The idea is to ensure that all subjects are covered and there is sufficient time allocated to study every subject. Planning ahead means that you do not leave everything to the last minute, which will add on to your stress if you find yourself having to cope with too many subjects. I did study plan from Secondary school all the way to University and they always give me the reassurance that things are under control.
5. Practice Makes Perfect
Once a student is motivated, has got the foundations right, the difference between passing and scoring lies in the amount of practice he/ she has. I like my students to finish all the papers in the Ten Years Series (TYS) at least once. It will be good if they can do a few more rounds. The student with the greatest determination to do well will stop at nothing, he/ she will do the TYS a few times, go through his/ her Prelims papers, try to practise other school Prelims papers and so on. The more a student practises, the more confident the student gets. Another key point would be to practise under exam condition, i.e. if the student is only allowed 2 hours for a paper, he will time himself and make sure that he stop writing after 2 hours. After which, he will be able to gauge if he is too fast (may be more prone to carelessness) or too slow (need to speed up else questions not attempted will get zero marks) and fine tune accordingly with more practice. I also encourage my students to bring a watch or a small clock to examination hall, so that he/ she can keep track of the time during the examinations.
There you have it, all the secrets of my tuition and academic success are listed above. I hope it is useful and can help you/ your child in your/ your child's education journey. If you have the gift of being a cut above the rest, please be generous to help your friends along. We don't have to keep everything to ourselves because that type of behavior will make us more selfish and will not make our world a better place. Helping your fellow friends with their studies is a way of reinforcing your concepts and you may even find out what you don't know as you guide someone along. The bottomline is, be kind and be generous to share your knowledge. What you achieve will definitely be more satisfying!
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