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Dec 26 2018 · 4:25 AM
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Which subject combi for A levels: H2 BIO [Question] For incoming JC students thinking about which subject combi to confirm, let me make the case for choosing H2 BIO. Subject combi: But I want to be in Arts In deciding the subject combi, a lot of students don’t realise that bio is the most arty farty of all the A level sciences. During exams, the precision required comes in the form of presenting the scientific relationships primarily using numbers and formulae in physics. Elements and compounds and their interactions in chemistry. But in biology it is mostly formulating stories containing processes and concepts surrounding life. In formulating your answer, it is like crafting an artwork. There is no specific way of doing it. You decide which direction you want to take your artwork within the framework of the question. This is where most students even teachers don’t appreciate. Thinking that the subject revolves around rote learning of concepts and processes. Then subsequent regurgitation afterwards. Subject combi: Why Bio can be considered an arts subject The fact is, there is still a lot of things we don’t know about life. Even the things we know about, because of how complex life is, and how organisms keep evolving, we keep finding exceptions to the facts we know to be true. Let me give you an example. For the longest time, we associate the chloroplast with plants and photosynthesis. They make their own food using light energy. Animals in turn feed on them to obtain the energy that powers every cell in them. How do you think we feel when we find sea slugs that maintain their own chloroplasts and depend on them for food? On this basis, you take the sum total of the facts to make your story/conclusion. In fact, if you want to become a lawyer, this will be an important skillset to develop. Subject combi: Bio is an important subject for science students In biology exams, precision comes in the form of words. Bio students learn how to express ourselves. Because frequently, exam questions involves structured and essay questions. Which in turn necessitate long form answers. If you want to gain marks from the examiners. You better state your story in the clearest way possible. Therein helping the students develop an important skillset. Let me recount a real story as to why this skill is so important. I have a friend who runs a head-hunting agency whose clients are MNCs looking for C-level staff. i.e. CEO/CFO/COO etc. This is enormous responsibility and also high value service. And in return my friend gets a substantial reward for successful matches. Which he hopes to repeat into the future. He laments to me his frustrations as he tries to fill these white collar jobs with Singaporean compatriots. He tells me even though he knows many Singaporeans are very capable few are able to speak as if their lives depend on it. Consequently, they make really bad interviewees he can recommend to the MNC clients. Eventually he fields potential non-Singaporean candidates. Because they make him look good and also increases the chance of them subsequently snagging the position. Of course there are students who study the other sciences who can present themselves well. This may likely be a result of environment. But in biology classes with me, I train you day in and out to express yourself logically, coherently and elegantly. Subject combi: synergism For the arts students, biology synergises well with geography. In fact, a topic in the new syllabus: climate change overlaps substantially. Learn once, apply twice! For science students, biology synergises really well with chemistry. Because practical skills in chemistry can be reused in biology. In addition, the molecular interactions in cells has an underlying chemical basis. For all students, biology will be an important help in General paper. Domain knowledge in biology allows you to make discussions much better. Especially for essay questions falling under the area of science and technology, environment, social/ethical issues. Subject combi: relevant courses Students who want to take up biology frequently want to gain admissions into bio-related university courses afterwards. These are some of the most difficult courses to gain admission. Because the associated courses are professional level. Meaning, the qualifications are acceptable and minimum requirement to join the profession. Such as the medical and surgery courses, dentistry, pharmacy etc. Having biology as part of the subject combi increases the chances for consideration because of the relevance. Subject combi: bottomline Ultimately, you make your own decisions. However, I hope that I have established an important perspective for you to mull over. And thereby increases the chances of you making an informed decision rather than an irrational one.
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1-1 or group tuition classes? [Question] So should I (my kid) get 1-1 or group tuition? This is a question a lot of parents, students ask when looking for tutors for the additional academic help. There is certainly no right or wrong way to approach this. However, in my opinion it is much better to go into a group tuition rather than 1-1. There is a caveat to this but I’ll explain it a little bit more later. As an educator, I don’t recommend long term 1-1 tuition. I would only prescribe it as a short term measure to get a new student ready to join a group class. Other situations in which 1-1 works is before important exams or a quick review after poor exam performance. Why group tuition? The learning environment! Usually, the tutor goes to the student’s residence. Answers to other frequent questions. Although the student will have the full attention of his/her tutor, frequently, the learning environment is not ideal. The mom is in the kitchen cooking, someone is knocking on door, the telephone rings, there is TV noise and foot traffic around. Even if its quiet at home, it is harder to get tools tutors can deploy to help their tutees understand the subject matter. In group class setup, I can readily give my students some hands-on to aid in their understanding of complex material. This is using physical items like lego bricks, ropes as well as colored candies to digital animations projected over a sound system. Even taking time for individuals within the group to air their views on contentious issues of a concept. All the resources can deploy easily and optimally because of the classroom setup. This is just not possible for 1-1. Why group tuition? The teaching tools Also, there is the matter of economies of scale. It is much more affordable to attend a group class rather than a 1-1. Even if money is not an issue, the extra money can be better spent elsewhere such as investing better quality food and rest. I am a proponent of a multi-disciplinary way of preparing a student to ace in the exams. Content mastery is not enough in exam performance. Why group tuition? Inter-motivation and big data Some educators make magic happen in the class, students react, getting a light bulb moment. This creates the energy that drives the students which in turn drives the teacher. The effort snowballs resulting in a dynamic and enjoyable class. That enjoyment stimulates the students to think about the subject matter as well as motivating the students. It also help them retain the content better. And it is tough to re-enact this on a 1-1 as the energy levels is solely dependent on the 1 student fully. Also, when learning in a group, each individual benefits because other students bring up unique questions. As the tutor collect more and more of these questions, they get a bird’s eye view of where are the common problematic areas. This allows them to respond by simplifying particularly tough concepts, refine materials, or dedicating a bit more time. Which subsequently creates a better teacher and students benefit from the foresight. Why group tuition? Support I also encourage my students to help each other. When they feel that they are not alone, the camaraderie drives them to do better. Look at the successful dragonboat teams (for that matter any other successful sports teams) and you’d begin to realize that strong camaraderie is common. Someone shouting after each member of the team, edging them on when someone has given up. Somehow, that helps to grow grit referencing Angela Duckworth’s work on this subject. This also helps them develop soft skills. Such as being emotionally sensitive to classmates, social communication and dynamics – which are are crucial to a work life after the studies. Also it allows them (since students come from different schools) to be able to pool resources for all their subjects. I further encourage collaborative learning by setting a group goal before the reward is unlocked. All of these are not possible with 1-1 tuition. Bottomline on group tuition Some people will say but isn’t the school precisely the place where group learning should happen? Well ideally yes, however, teachers are likely over-worked (just talk to some of the school teachers). So they may not have the time to be able to curate the best learning experience. And also the caveat is that if the teacher do not appreciate the power of group learning and conducts the class as per routine then the opportunity is lost.
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Failing promos in JC, am I going to fail A levels? Another common question I get. If I am failing promos in JC, am I therefore going to fail A levels too? Failing promos Firstly, this is not the end of the world! For instance, a frequent observation after all these years of tutoring H2 Bio is the incredible variation of teacher competence across different schools. As well as the expected quality of answers in exams. A student may get an A grade from a H2 Bio exam in a school. However, if the script is remarked by another school’s teacher, it may return a U grade in contrast. Which consequently results in the student failing promos. One way to see this phenomenon is to look at the final grade in school versus the A level grades. If we see huge variations, this means that the school teacher grossly over or under-estimate the level of the papers/marking. So this most importantly shows an inadequacy at the school and not the student level. In contrast, many students blame themselves instead when they receive poor grades. My heart goes out to these poor students for all the stress they have to bear. However, don’t forget the opposite can happen! Especially for students who do well when their teachers grossly over-estimate their academic performance. Failing promos: the school’s fault For example, when students send their exam scripts to me to help them break down their performance, I see egregious errors by the teachers. Let me bring up one such example in the following. This is an example scenario where the exam question was set by one JC in Singapore. The question asks for the student to give an evidence. In doing so, such an evidence can then support the scientist … In fact, my student correctly do so by dutifully list the evidence. But see what the teacher do in response? Here the teacher penalises the student who did the right thing because the teacher asked the wrong question. Let me correct phrasing of the question to reflect what the teacher want: Give an evidence AND EXPLAIN why… So how can you expect students to do well in such situations? And worst yet fault them for doing poorly? Failing promos: what can you do about it? Most importantly, instead of worrying about the meaningless promo grades, consider what you need to do right-away to improve. Since the school teacher cannot change, start looking out for tutors who are very familiar with the syllabus. More importantly, they show that they know exactly what and how to interpret exam questions. This way, you can get a proper dissection and approximation of your level of academic performance. In contrast to the vague and useless instructions from many school teachers like study harder. In addition, identify your errors. Likewise, ask yourself if these errors a result of carelessness or concepts that you don’t understand? Is it because of insufficient time? Or if it’s none of the above then are the questions very difficult instead? As such, each of these reasons requires a different ‘treatment’. And the Chinese say it best ‘对症下药’. Subsequently, the students in a bid to improve tries to study harder. Studying harder unfortunately will not make any significant difference. Because that is not the primary reason for the poor results! For example, a number of students spend too much time writing expansive answers. However, it’s unnecessary because they have already gotten all the points. Consequently, this wastes a lot time and they cannot complete the paper therefore losing a lot of marks. As such, studying harder will then be unhelpful for the student in gaining marks in exams.
19 views ·
Best A level biology tuition in Singapore [Checklist] You are here to look for A level biology tuition in Singapore. And I am here to give you a checklist to help get you to your decision. This is super important to you because it is the most stressful phase in your life. I understand that. In fact, you may be doing an IP program even. And if you don’t do well, all you have for show will be a PSLE cert. I am even feeling a little bit of stress just typing this. So what do you need to look out for before you decide on the A level biology tuition? 1. How much commitment are they willing to spend with you? Nothing lesser than a full time tutor will do. You need someone who can sense the exam patterns in A level biology. He/she needs to know what has and may come out for exams. Filter down to the most crucial bite size information and help you understand it way before the exams. If he/she is working or studying right now, that is their priority not you. You come in somewhere down the line. This is the most important exam in your life. Why do you pass the responsibility to someone who does not make you top priority? Let me take you aside to a book written by Malcolm Gladwell titled Outliers. In it, he opines that people who are experts in their field practiced in the correct way for at least 10, 000 hours. Honing it constantly which shape them into who they are. This is biologically explainable. The reason why learning and mastery takes time is because the neurons are constantly making new connections. Those connections that yields results have to be strengthened over time. This occurs during sleep and is therefore not instantaneous. Malcolm himself have been writing for over 10 coming to 20 years before his recent books rank in the bestsellers. The best A level biology tuition in Singapore you can find will likely have a tutor who has been at it year in and out for at least a decade. 2. Are they fully aware of the new syllabus? Some tutors even school teachers are oblivious to the major biology syllabus revamp. They teach you everything in the old and new syllabus. How on earth are you going to master everything and squeeze everything into your brain? And H2 Biology is only 1 subject out of the 5 or so you are sitting exams for. You need someone to cut through to the most crucial and bring clarity for you. For example, paper 3 is a completely new format. A series of questions accompanies a text extract from journals or textbooks. The questions requires one to draw knowledge from various topics and extrapolate to the novel situation. This requires an integrative approach to content delivery in biology. Unfortunately many colleagues are still micro-focusing on individual topics leaving students with insufficient preparation for such a format. 3. What do previous students say? You need to read what your seniors say about the tutors. Because they were previously in the exact same situation as you. This can give you a clue to how helpful the tutor is in their situation. Not only that. You do not want to discover how good a tutor is because you simply don’t have time to try him/her out. Especially for those who are already in J2, half a year of trying later, you are approaching A level exams. By then, it will be too late. Even if the right tutor comes along, there is not enough time to make a difference. 4. English language capability I cannot stress this enough. The biology tutor must have great grasp of the English language. If the tutor speaks in half broken English and cannot make proper sentences, you run away far as possible. I tell my students that Biology is actually English with bits of scientific flavoring. A level biology questions often comes with a twist. And if you don’t look for such nuances, you may completely miss the requirements of the question! Let me list an example below. This is an actual question appearing a few years ago. And has been confusing to many students. Many forget that the British are the ones writing the exam questions and we speak English differently from them. If you put a comma after cristae in the answer and read it. You’ll be interpreting the structure having the diameter. Now change the comma to cristae of, and read it. The subject of the diameter changes to the latter structure. Many students read it in the first way and are not able to find an answer at all. Imagine this happening throughout your exam paper. It will be an unnerving experience for you! 5. Any learning strategies? Does the tutor incorporate learning strategies to help you in A level biology exams? Any Tom, Dick as well as Harry (or Jane) can teach A level Biology tuition in Singapore. But few develop the curriculum to include learning strategies. Because this requires time, dedication and a passion for self-improvement. If the tutor says ‘I am the best’, you run away as far as you can (again). Because this means the tutor doesn’t believe it improving and becoming even better. Instead of only content knowledge mastery, they must have strategies to help you avoid common mistakes. Even remember things a little more easily. And also teach you how to acquire effective study techniques. Let me give you an example. Do you remember the times when you go to bed thinking the next day you are going to be a completely different person. That you will rise from sleep early, go for a jog, make breakfast and study before heading to school. And only to hit the snooze button the next morning and not do any of it? Motivation is garbage because it cannot get you to do the work you need to improve. Tutors who conduct the best A level biology tuition in Singapore are sensitive to the human behavior and will find solutions for you. To start you off, let me direct the following resources for you I think might help you. When you are learning, it is important to take good notes. It saves you the time from having to reorganize it whilst helping to you remember better afterwards. When you are studying making time productive is important. Many students spend learning time doing everything except learning. I talk about the Pomodoro technique here. This is the technique I teach my students to use to become more productive. 6. Can he/she feel any empathy with your plight? A levels in Singapore is tough. And you need to have a tutor that understands the tremendous stress you are in. Having a tutor that keeps piling negative comments at you is not going to motivate you. In fact it might even make you hate what you are doing. Having a tutor who can identify your strengths amid your weaknesses means you can leverage on it whilst rooting out the weaknesses. Here’s an example of a fellow tutor in GP. I respect what he does for his students to the point of capping his salary. That then means his students do not have to pay astronomical fees. That’s true empathy! 7. Are they specialists of A level biology tuition in Singapore? There are many tutors who can tutor multiple subjects. It is convenient to get a 1-1 tutor that can tutor multiple subjects in a session in a span of 2 hours. It also saves on costs rather than to go to separate tutors and each costing in excess of S$300 a month. However, Dr Atul Gawande noted something interesting in his book Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. That those surgeons who has the highest success rates come from dedicated facilities that specializes in a particular surgery. In the short term generalists might save you money. But in the long term the success seen in grades is often delivered by subject specialists. The checklist above will help you to narrow down the list of tutors for A level biology tuition in Singapore. However, the checklist below will help you when you attend the trial lessons to see if he/she is suitable. A. Does the tutor keep using the phone? Steer clear of tutors who are texting and checking his/her mobile phone during class. Or those who only throw at you practice papers to do without any review afterwards. You won’t learn anything useful and will be wasting your time. B. Does the tutor have their own materials? Do they have their own materials? Or are they just asking you to buy assessment books as ‘material’ for classes? The lazy tutor will use these assessment books wholesale because it is very convenient for them. What is convenient for them will not translate to learning for you. If the tutor takes time to adapt learning materials for you, it means they are thinking about how best to help you. How to break up learning into relevant and manageable chunks. A level biology tuition in Singapore I hope the checklist I have come up for you will help you make that decision as to which A level biology tuition in Singapore you should pick. This road ahead is tough. There will be many lows and hopefully there will be some highs as well. Here’s my sincere wish that you do well, with the ear to ear grin when you pick up the results. And subsequently receive multiple University admission offers. ALL THE BEST!
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1-1 or group tuition classes? [Question] So should I (my kid) get 1-1 or group tuition? This is a question a lot of parents, students ask when looking for tutors for the additional academic help. There is certainly no right or wrong way to approach this. However, in my opinion it is much better to go into a group tuition rather than 1-1. There is a caveat to this but I’ll explain it a little bit more later. As an educator, I don’t recommend long term 1-1 tuition. I would only prescribe it as a short term measure to get a new student ready to join a group class. Other situations in which 1-1 works is before important exams or a quick review after poor exam performance. Why group tuition? The learning environment! Usually, the tutor goes to the student’s residence. Answers to other frequent questions. Although the student will have the full attention of his/her tutor, frequently, the learning environment is not ideal. The mom is in the kitchen cooking, someone is knocking on door, the telephone rings, there is TV noise and foot traffic around. Even if its quiet at home, it is harder to get tools tutors can deploy to help their tutees understand the subject matter. In group class setup, I can readily give my students some hands-on to aid in their understanding of complex material. This is using physical items like lego bricks, ropes as well as colored candies to digital animations projected over a sound system. Even taking time for individuals within the group to air their views on contentious issues of a concept. All the resources can deploy easily and optimally because of the classroom setup. This is just not possible for 1-1. Why group tuition? The teaching tools Also, there is the matter of economies of scale. It is much more affordable to attend a group class rather than a 1-1. Even if money is not an issue, the extra money can be better spent elsewhere such as investing better quality food and rest. I am a proponent of a multi-disciplinary way of preparing a student to ace in the exams. Content mastery is not enough in exam performance. Why group tuition? Inter-motivation and big data Some educators make magic happen in the class, students react, getting a light bulb moment. This creates the energy that drives the students which in turn drives the teacher. The effort snowballs resulting in a dynamic and enjoyable class. That enjoyment stimulates the students to think about the subject matter as well as motivating the students. It also help them retain the content better. And it is tough to re-enact this on a 1-1 as the energy levels is solely dependent on the 1 student fully. Also, when learning in a group, each individual benefits because other students bring up unique questions. As the tutor collect more and more of these questions, they get a bird’s eye view of where are the common problematic areas. This allows them to respond by simplifying particularly tough concepts, refine materials, or dedicating a bit more time. Which subsequently creates a better teacher and students benefit from the foresight. Why group tuition? Support I also encourage my students to help each other. When they feel that they are not alone, the camaraderie drives them to do better. Look at the successful dragonboat teams (for that matter any other successful sports teams) and you’d begin to realize that strong camaraderie is common. Someone shouting after each member of the team, edging them on when someone has given up. Somehow, that helps to grow grit referencing Angela Duckworth’s work on this subject. This also helps them develop soft skills. Such as being emotionally sensitive to classmates, social communication and dynamics – which are are crucial to a work life after the studies. Also it allows them (since students come from different schools) to be able to pool resources for all their subjects. I further encourage collaborative learning by setting a group goal before the reward is unlocked. All of these are not possible with 1-1 tuition. Bottomline on group tuition Some people will say but isn’t the school precisely the place where group learning should happen? Well ideally yes, however, teachers are likely over-worked (just talk to some of the school teachers). So they may not have the time to be able to curate the best learning experience. And also the caveat is that if the teacher do not appreciate the power of group learning and conducts the class as per routine then the opportunity is lost.
22 views ·
Failing promos in JC, am I going to fail A levels? Another common question I get. If I am failing promos in JC, am I therefore going to fail A levels too? Failing promos Firstly, this is not the end of the world! For instance, a frequent observation after all these years of tutoring H2 Bio is the incredible variation of teacher competence across different schools. As well as the expected quality of answers in exams. A student may get an A grade from a H2 Bio exam in a school. However, if the script is remarked by another school’s teacher, it may return a U grade in contrast. Which consequently results in the student failing promos. One way to see this phenomenon is to look at the final grade in school versus the A level grades. If we see huge variations, this means that the school teacher grossly over or under-estimate the level of the papers/marking. So this most importantly shows an inadequacy at the school and not the student level. In contrast, many students blame themselves instead when they receive poor grades. My heart goes out to these poor students for all the stress they have to bear. However, don’t forget the opposite can happen! Especially for students who do well when their teachers grossly over-estimate their academic performance. Failing promos: the school’s fault For example, when students send their exam scripts to me to help them break down their performance, I see egregious errors by the teachers. Let me bring up one such example in the following. This is an example scenario where the exam question was set by one JC in Singapore. The question asks for the student to give an evidence. In doing so, such an evidence can then support the scientist … In fact, my student correctly do so by dutifully list the evidence. But see what the teacher do in response? Here the teacher penalises the student who did the right thing because the teacher asked the wrong question. Let me correct phrasing of the question to reflect what the teacher want: Give an evidence AND EXPLAIN why… So how can you expect students to do well in such situations? And worst yet fault them for doing poorly? Failing promos: what can you do about it? Most importantly, instead of worrying about the meaningless promo grades, consider what you need to do right-away to improve. Since the school teacher cannot change, start looking out for tutors who are very familiar with the syllabus. More importantly, they show that they know exactly what and how to interpret exam questions. This way, you can get a proper dissection and approximation of your level of academic performance. In contrast to the vague and useless instructions from many school teachers like study harder. In addition, identify your errors. Likewise, ask yourself if these errors a result of carelessness or concepts that you don’t understand? Is it because of insufficient time? Or if it’s none of the above then are the questions very difficult instead? As such, each of these reasons requires a different ‘treatment’. And the Chinese say it best ‘对症下药’. Subsequently, the students in a bid to improve tries to study harder. Studying harder unfortunately will not make any significant difference. Because that is not the primary reason for the poor results! For example, a number of students spend too much time writing expansive answers. However, it’s unnecessary because they have already gotten all the points. Consequently, this wastes a lot time and they cannot complete the paper therefore losing a lot of marks. As such, studying harder will then be unhelpful for the student in gaining marks in exams.
19 views ·
Best A level biology tuition in Singapore [Checklist] You are here to look for A level biology tuition in Singapore. And I am here to give you a checklist to help get you to your decision. This is super important to you because it is the most stressful phase in your life. I understand that. In fact, you may be doing an IP program even. And if you don’t do well, all you have for show will be a PSLE cert. I am even feeling a little bit of stress just typing this. So what do you need to look out for before you decide on the A level biology tuition? 1. How much commitment are they willing to spend with you? Nothing lesser than a full time tutor will do. You need someone who can sense the exam patterns in A level biology. He/she needs to know what has and may come out for exams. Filter down to the most crucial bite size information and help you understand it way before the exams. If he/she is working or studying right now, that is their priority not you. You come in somewhere down the line. This is the most important exam in your life. Why do you pass the responsibility to someone who does not make you top priority? Let me take you aside to a book written by Malcolm Gladwell titled Outliers. In it, he opines that people who are experts in their field practiced in the correct way for at least 10, 000 hours. Honing it constantly which shape them into who they are. This is biologically explainable. The reason why learning and mastery takes time is because the neurons are constantly making new connections. Those connections that yields results have to be strengthened over time. This occurs during sleep and is therefore not instantaneous. Malcolm himself have been writing for over 10 coming to 20 years before his recent books rank in the bestsellers. The best A level biology tuition in Singapore you can find will likely have a tutor who has been at it year in and out for at least a decade. 2. Are they fully aware of the new syllabus? Some tutors even school teachers are oblivious to the major biology syllabus revamp. They teach you everything in the old and new syllabus. How on earth are you going to master everything and squeeze everything into your brain? And H2 Biology is only 1 subject out of the 5 or so you are sitting exams for. You need someone to cut through to the most crucial and bring clarity for you. For example, paper 3 is a completely new format. A series of questions accompanies a text extract from journals or textbooks. The questions requires one to draw knowledge from various topics and extrapolate to the novel situation. This requires an integrative approach to content delivery in biology. Unfortunately many colleagues are still micro-focusing on individual topics leaving students with insufficient preparation for such a format. 3. What do previous students say? You need to read what your seniors say about the tutors. Because they were previously in the exact same situation as you. This can give you a clue to how helpful the tutor is in their situation. Not only that. You do not want to discover how good a tutor is because you simply don’t have time to try him/her out. Especially for those who are already in J2, half a year of trying later, you are approaching A level exams. By then, it will be too late. Even if the right tutor comes along, there is not enough time to make a difference. 4. English language capability I cannot stress this enough. The biology tutor must have great grasp of the English language. If the tutor speaks in half broken English and cannot make proper sentences, you run away far as possible. I tell my students that Biology is actually English with bits of scientific flavoring. A level biology questions often comes with a twist. And if you don’t look for such nuances, you may completely miss the requirements of the question! Let me list an example below. This is an actual question appearing a few years ago. And has been confusing to many students. Many forget that the British are the ones writing the exam questions and we speak English differently from them. If you put a comma after cristae in the answer and read it. You’ll be interpreting the structure having the diameter. Now change the comma to cristae of, and read it. The subject of the diameter changes to the latter structure. Many students read it in the first way and are not able to find an answer at all. Imagine this happening throughout your exam paper. It will be an unnerving experience for you! 5. Any learning strategies? Does the tutor incorporate learning strategies to help you in A level biology exams? Any Tom, Dick as well as Harry (or Jane) can teach A level Biology tuition in Singapore. But few develop the curriculum to include learning strategies. Because this requires time, dedication and a passion for self-improvement. If the tutor says ‘I am the best’, you run away as far as you can (again). Because this means the tutor doesn’t believe it improving and becoming even better. Instead of only content knowledge mastery, they must have strategies to help you avoid common mistakes. Even remember things a little more easily. And also teach you how to acquire effective study techniques. Let me give you an example. Do you remember the times when you go to bed thinking the next day you are going to be a completely different person. That you will rise from sleep early, go for a jog, make breakfast and study before heading to school. And only to hit the snooze button the next morning and not do any of it? Motivation is garbage because it cannot get you to do the work you need to improve. Tutors who conduct the best A level biology tuition in Singapore are sensitive to the human behavior and will find solutions for you. To start you off, let me direct the following resources for you I think might help you. When you are learning, it is important to take good notes. It saves you the time from having to reorganize it whilst helping to you remember better afterwards. When you are studying making time productive is important. Many students spend learning time doing everything except learning. I talk about the Pomodoro technique here. This is the technique I teach my students to use to become more productive. 6. Can he/she feel any empathy with your plight? A levels in Singapore is tough. And you need to have a tutor that understands the tremendous stress you are in. Having a tutor that keeps piling negative comments at you is not going to motivate you. In fact it might even make you hate what you are doing. Having a tutor who can identify your strengths amid your weaknesses means you can leverage on it whilst rooting out the weaknesses. Here’s an example of a fellow tutor in GP. I respect what he does for his students to the point of capping his salary. That then means his students do not have to pay astronomical fees. That’s true empathy! 7. Are they specialists of A level biology tuition in Singapore? There are many tutors who can tutor multiple subjects. It is convenient to get a 1-1 tutor that can tutor multiple subjects in a session in a span of 2 hours. It also saves on costs rather than to go to separate tutors and each costing in excess of S$300 a month. However, Dr Atul Gawande noted something interesting in his book Complications: A Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science. That those surgeons who has the highest success rates come from dedicated facilities that specializes in a particular surgery. In the short term generalists might save you money. But in the long term the success seen in grades is often delivered by subject specialists. The checklist above will help you to narrow down the list of tutors for A level biology tuition in Singapore. However, the checklist below will help you when you attend the trial lessons to see if he/she is suitable. A. Does the tutor keep using the phone? Steer clear of tutors who are texting and checking his/her mobile phone during class. Or those who only throw at you practice papers to do without any review afterwards. You won’t learn anything useful and will be wasting your time. B. Does the tutor have their own materials? Do they have their own materials? Or are they just asking you to buy assessment books as ‘material’ for classes? The lazy tutor will use these assessment books wholesale because it is very convenient for them. What is convenient for them will not translate to learning for you. If the tutor takes time to adapt learning materials for you, it means they are thinking about how best to help you. How to break up learning into relevant and manageable chunks. A level biology tuition in Singapore I hope the checklist I have come up for you will help you make that decision as to which A level biology tuition in Singapore you should pick. This road ahead is tough. There will be many lows and hopefully there will be some highs as well. Here’s my sincere wish that you do well, with the ear to ear grin when you pick up the results. And subsequently receive multiple University admission offers. ALL THE BEST!
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