Food for the brain

Exams is round the corner. Some parents have taken leave to show their children some moral support while they prepare for exams. While doing so, it helps to prepare some nutritious meals to boost your child’s memory and focus abilities.

By now, it’s easy to discover brain-food. Just by doing a quick search on google, we can find a consistent list of food that are always mentioned as brain-boosting. We will not be repeating what have been written before. Rather, let us suggest to you some yummy and nutritious meals to prepare using these brain-boosting food. If you have not before been made aware of these common brain-boosting food, do not fret. We still have them listed for you here.

Eggs

Egg yolks have always been controversial in health articles. Some encourage less of egg yolks due to its high cholesterol. Another school of thought would argue that the cholesterol from egg yolks are actually good cholesterol. Here, we are all for egg yolks. Egg yolks contain Choline that helps to regulate mood and improve memory.

Eggs is a very versatile food that can be used for all meals. For breakfast, eggs can just be served on its own. Some children like boiled eggs while some prefer half-boiled eggs with some black sauce and pepper. Others like scrambled eggs (with a dash of black pepper and salt) that can go with toast.

For lunch, eggs may be used to prepare a sumptuous egg sandwich meal. Preparations is easy – place a slice of cheese on a wholemeal bread, and then place a hot sunny side up on the cheese and finish off with another piece of wholemeal bread on top. The combination of melted cheese and oozing yolk makes the sandwich irresistible even in the middle of intense concentration. Salad can be used for sides for some fibre intake.

For dinner, eggs may be used to cook omelettes. Omelettes can be cooked in a variety of ways depending on the child’s preference. Some children prefer omelette plain, as it is. To make it more flavorful, simply spread some tomato sauce on the omelette. You may also add other ingredients like onions, spring onions, crab meat, ham or cheese to add taste to the omelette.

Eggs may be steamed too! The simplest way to steam eggs is to use a small packet of chicken stocks, mix in with 3 beaten eggs. It is ready for steam. You may sprinkle on some chopped spring onion to add colors to your steam egg dish.

Fatty Fish

Fatty fish contain Omega-3s fatty acids that are great brain-boosting nutrients. Fatty fish can help sharpen memory and improve the mood of children. Two types of popular fish in this category would be salmon and codfish.

Salmon makes a wonderful addition to a nutritious breakfast meal. If you are an adventurous cook, you may attempt to prepare a dish of smoked salmon eggs ben! If done well, smoked salmon is great for breakfast because it is easy to down.

For lunch, you may try steaming codfish in light soy sauce. Codfish is very oily in nature, therefore it is not suitable for frying. Steaming would be the perfect way to prepare codfish. Nothing additional because codfish in itself is strong in its flavor. Remember to add in a few pieces of ginger to reduce the strong fishy smell. Steamed codfish with light soy sauce may be added into plain porridge to make a light meal for lunch.

For dinner, baked salmon makes a great treat. If you can get your hands on some sage (which in itself is a great brain-boosting food and yummy seasoning), you may marinate your salmon with sage, basil, some salt and black pepper. Place the salmon in the oven together with some bell peppers and potatoes. That makes a delightful dinner dish that is not at all time consuming!

Broccoli

Broccoli is a great source of Vitamin K – an oil soluble vitamin that improves cognitive functions. It is not an easy food to down, even for some adults. It is also not an easy food to cook! If overcooked, broccoli changes its color to become more yellowish and tastes bitter. It becomes no longer attractive aesthetically and to the taste bud too. Overcooked broccoli can also be less effective in supplying us with the required nutrients. However, if not cooked enough, broccoli brings a very raw taste that puts off the taste bud as well.

Our recommended way to prepare broccoli would be to cook it with chicken feet broth. Chicken feet has always been known to be a great source of collagen (a must-eat for beauty and cartilage health). However, few of us know that the Glycine found in the collagen in chicken feet can improve sleep and memory for our children! First, simmer chicken feet (add ginger to remove the chicken smell) in a pot of water for about 2 hours to make the broth. At the same time, cut the broccoli into small pieces (huge bouquets of broccoli stalks only make them look harder to down). 5 mins before serving, throw in the broccoli and add in some salt for taste. Broccoli soup in chicken feet broth can be served during lunch together with macaroni for a light meal. Alternative, use the chicken feet stock to cook porridge, and then stir in finely chopped broccoli into the porridge 5 mins before turning off the heat. It is often advised to cook broccoli with meat because the Vitamin K in the broccoli is oil-soluble.

For a dinner dish, try preparing stir-fried beef or pork with broccoli. Again, chop the broccoli to smaller pieces to make them look easier to manage. Also, throw in the broccoli at the last minute so they are not overcooked and retain their fresh green color.

Walnuts

Walnuts are shaped like our brains. The beauty of mother nature is that it gives us the hint of what is good for different parts of our body by creating food that look pretty much like that particular body part. One of such food is wolfberry – that looks like our eyes, and is indeed a great food to improve our vision. Another would be black beans – shaped like our kidney and is itself a kidney tonic.

We can get walnuts and eat them on its own as a snack, or thrown into stir fried spinach (mentioned by some sources to improve mental performance). Another way to get nutrients out of walnuts would be to simmer them in soup. Simply boil some pork ribs (or beef bones) in a pot of water, add in some celery (not widely acclaimed to be a brain-boosting food but mentioned by some), pumpkins (because orange and green makes the soup very attractive and they have complementary taste) and lastly some walnuts. Simmer the soup on low fire for about 2 hours. Serve it with white or brown rice.

Brain-boosting snacks

Blueberries can help improve connectivity among brain cells. They may be eaten on its own as a healthy snack. For those who do not fancy blueberries on its own, try making blueberries muffins for a yummy treat for tea-break! They may also be added into salads as a side dish.

Dark chocolate not only helps mental performance but improves your child’s mood as well! It makes a great break, and helps your child manage his stress and anxiety.

Exercise and Good Sleep

Lastly, exercise and good sleep help the brain retain information more effectively. Encourage your child to get out for some sunshine in the morning, and participate in some outdoor activities. If your child in young, encourage him to go to the playground daily. Do not keep him at home to study just because it is the exams period. Do not stop him from sleeping if he needs to sleep more. With these, we wish you all the best in your child’s exams.

Teaching private tuition in Singapore is a lucrative career. For the past few years, there has been a growing demand for private tutors in Singapore, driven by COVID-19’s disruption of face-to-face schooling and the rise of home-based learning.

Many parents discover the many benefits of home tuition, including having learning objectives tailored to their child’s learning needs and direct access to a home tutor who can clarify their children’s questions, ensuring their academic performance stays on track.

Although the private tuition industry in Singapore is flourishing, it’s also a competitive market. And for a good reason: successful home tutors know how to tap into each student’s potential and accelerate their learning to achieve good academic performance. Parents are willing to pay top dollar for home tutors with a proven track record.

What is the secret to being a successful home tutor in Singapore? Building a good relationship with your student is key. Not all students are enthusiastic about entering your lesson for the first time. Some of them might feel resentful, restless, or even fearful. This is because you are a stranger to them and do not have any relationship with them (yet).

Here are three important factors a home tutor should take note of to build positive relationships with their students.

1. Trust

To help students learn, a home tutor will need to construct a space and secure climate conducive to students’ learning. It is essential to foster a trusting relationship with the students. Students need to know that you care about them as individuals and are committed to helping them succeed academically.

Students should be able to ask questions, clarify misconceptions, make mistakes or express any concerns or doubts about their learning with their home tutors. Remember that mistakes and questions are opportunities for learning. If you are overly critical of your student’s mistakes during the private tuition sessions, they may become defensive and unwilling to expose their lack of knowledge.

When giving students feedback, avoid using an accusatory tone of blame by not using the word “you”. Instead, use “I” focused sentences. For example, say something like: “I am concerned that you were not paying attention when I was teaching. Now we need to go through the steps again.” This will help you share your feelings and action steps with the student.

2. Positive Mindset

As a home tutor in Singapore, giving private tuition is about building human connections. Think about your time in school—did you best listen and learn from teachers with whom you had a connection and positive relationships?

To achieve this, home tutors must put themselves in a positive frame of mind and remind themselves that all students are coachable and can improve if given the proper guidance and support. Believe that you are the engine to initiate positive change in a child’s educational path.

Recognise the effort put in by the student and celebrate improvements as small wins instead of focusing only on the result. View mistakes as helpful errors in learning instead of a reflection of the student’s incompetence or personality, for example, acknowledging that it was “a careless mistake” instead of “a careless student”. Be less judgmental and more encouraging.

Home tutors with positive mindsets are less likely to develop conflicts with their students, preserving the good relationship between them.

Credibility

Credibility measures how much students believe they can learn from you and that you can be counted on to help achieve their academic goals through your private tuition sessions. Students need to have confidence and faith in your ability to teach them effectively.

Establish credibility by knowing the subject matter well and articulating the lesson materials clearly to your students. It’s important to be fully prepared before tutoring sessions, such as understanding the material and being familiar with the explanation of concepts.

Excellent home tutors in Singapore deliver teaching instructions that are coherent, flowing logically and organised – explaining the basic concept before moving on to more complex ones. They are also good at pacing their lessons, so students can digest the material presented and have time to ask questions.

Students in secondary schools or junior colleges in Singapore can discern whether a home tutor is well-prepared or simply wasting their time. They are also able to spot inaccuracies in teaching materials. Remember, excellent tutors respect every minute of the student’s time.

Being credible shows your students that you are an expert in your subject and can teach well. This is crucial for building a successful tutor-student relationship.

Conclusion

To succeed as a private tutor in Singapore, you need more than just academic qualifications. Home tutors in Singapore who can charge a premium rate with a booked-out schedule spend time cultivating good teacher-student relationships. They understand this is the key to motivating students to learn and perform better.

Have you ever wondered what it is like to make a living as a home tuition teacher in Singapore? Giving home tuition in Singapore can be a great way to connect with children and guide them through their studies, while supplementing your income at the same time. Additionally, home tuition in Singapore often offers flexible working hours. If becoming a home tutor in Singapore is something that sounds appealing to you, read on to find out more about how you can embark on this rewarding journey.

What are the different types of home tutors in Singapore?

A number of aspects you should consider when first deciding to become a home tutor are:

–  The subjects you would teach

–  The levels you would teach (Kindergarten, Primary, Secondary or JC)

–  Whether you will be a full-time or part-time tutor

–  Whether you wish to sign on with a tuition centre or be an independent tutor

Most home tuition teachers start off with one or two subjects as their primary focus – this is usually the subject you feel most comfortable teaching. They also centre on a particular age group to teach. It is worth noting that the older your tutees, the more qualifications or track records you may be expected to have. Generally, grades quickly increase in importance and difficulty to achieve as you move up the levels, with many parents looking for a clean A* or A1 from as early as PSLE all the way through JC.

If you are changing jobs to become a home tuition teacher in Singapore, it may be a good idea to start off with part-time tutoring first. This allows you to adjust to the job and be sure that it is something you want to do. You can easily take on tutoring as a side job since each session is usually not longer than 2-3 hours. Part-time tutors are normally paid by the hour or by session, while full-time tutors may be also paid according to similar schemes, or they may have signed a contract with a tuition centre.

Lastly, as a new home tutor, it may be easier for you to get new clients by working at a tuition centre or with a tuition agency, which will help to source prospective clients for you. Independent tutors have the luxury of managing their own income, schedules, locations and clients, but if you do not have many connections yet, your best bet to get started may be with a tuition centre.

What are the requirements to become a home tuition teacher in Singapore?

Aside from experience and reputation, a lot of parents look at a prospective tutor’s educational qualifications. The minimum qualification required to become a home tutor in Singapore is at least an ‘A’-level certificate or a Diploma. A JC experience is usually favoured over polytechnic, since the JC subjects and syllabus are generally more aligned with the content required for school exams. Of course, if you are a degree holder in the field you are tutoring, such as English, Maths or one of the Sciences, you can expect to command a higher pay. The most sought-after tutors are former MOE school teachers.

While an official tutoring certificate is not required to be a home tutor, it certainly helps. You may be interested in pursuing the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) from NIE, which will allow you to teach in MOE schools. Adding this certificate to your qualifications will definitely boost your credibility!

How can you gain experience as a home tuition teacher in Singapore?

Experience and testimonials from your past students is your number one advantage as a tuition teacher. The competitive home tuition world can be a daunting one, especially if you have no prior experience with giving home tuition in Singapore. Given that most tuition agencies and parents would want an experienced tutor who is able to deliver results, it can be difficult to find ample opportunities to get some experience in the field. Well, one of the ways to rectify this is to volunteer as a tutor in non-profit organisations. For instance, plenty of childcare centres, churches, and charitable organisations provide tutoring services to less privileged students. It is possible to offer your tutoring services to one of these organisations to get a feel for tutoring students and build up your resume. While you may not get paid much, if at all, doing a few hours of community tutoring a week can really expose you to the different types of students and common techniques to tutoring them.

Alternatively, you may also be able to sign on as an assistant tutor at a tuition centre. Some tuition centres may be looking for assistants to help their tutors, especially for larger class sizes. While you may not be doing the main tutoring, you will be able to observe how an experienced tutor conducts each class and get some opportunities to interact with the students.

Additional Mathematics (A-Maths) can be a difficult subject for many students in Singapore. It is an introduction to more complicated concepts within the mathematics realm, including pre-calculus, calculus, and similar elements, requiring a different approach and perspective to understanding the concepts. It is no wonder that many students struggle from the moment the subject is introduced in the curriculum in secondary school and may continue to do so without help.

To that end, many parents look into A maths tuition in Singapore for their children. Whether it is individual tuition, group A level maths tuition, or even online lessons and aids, tuition is one of the few ways a student in Singapore can get help for maths if they are having difficulties. While the concept of tuition is prominent, many parents may find that their children’s tutors are not so easy to find a match for. So how can you find a great A maths tutor in Singapore?

What does a great A maths tutor in Singapore look like?

Most parents inadvertently recognise that there are generally two items a tutor must accomplish: first is to ensure that their student understands the concepts being taught, and the second is to make sure that their student is able to do well during tests. To that end, this means that good A maths tuition in Singapore needs not only to be able to teach well, but also needs an in-depth understanding and ability to teach test-taking skills whether at the O-Level or A-Level standards.

As cliché as it may sound, what a great tutor looks like will then vary based on your child’s individual needs. You will know this better than anyone else – your child’s studying habits, learning ability, and how they best absorb information will drastically affect what kind of tutor works best with them. A tutor who has a fantastic reputation for working with students who are known to study on their own may not be familiar with a student who does not, for instance. Some tutors also specialise in working with students who have specific needs. It is important to have a good grasp of your child’s needs so that you are able to make good decisions on which tutors to hire. You may even find that some students work better with less experienced and younger tutors, purely because they are closer in age and can approach problems and concepts from similar mindsets.

Tutors may change with time

A level maths tuition is very different from O-Level maths tuition for both A-Maths and E-Maths. Additionally, as your child develops their skills, they may find that they outgrow certain tutors, tutoring centres, or teaching styles. It is important to observe your children and how they respond to their tutors as well as how they are learning. If they are no longer responding well to their tutors and it is not a short-term or temporary issue, you may want to consider a different tutor. It is important to nip any issues in the bud quickly – as the Singaporean A maths curriculum moves very quickly, any delays may cause difficulties in keeping up.

Of course, you will need to balance it with some amount of familiarity. Too many changes is not good for students either, as the tutors will then need to spend time getting to know the children and their learning methods. This familiarity means that once the initial period of adjustment is completed, further subjects can be introduced or reviewed with these learning methods. On the other hand, if too many tutors are introduced, future concepts may be covered with unfamiliar learning styles. This may be confusing for the student and may be detrimental.

Tutors and tuition centres

One-on-one lessons are not always the best for your child when it comes to tuition. There are plenty of students who learn best in group-based settings, and fare much better in tuition centres. Some students, in fact, flourish when they provide tuition to their peers instead of getting tuition for themselves – they reinforce concepts while teaching them, and thus retain that information better. Over the course of your child’s education across multiple subjects, it is always important to allow them to explore various methods of learning, teaching, and absorption. A combination of methods will arise from these explorations – perhaps your child will come across a specific teaching style they like, a specific location they absorb information best in (libraries, cafes, at home), and specific music genres they listen to to absorb information better. Some children may not even need tutors and prefer to simply revise on their own.

Talk to your child about their preferences – after years of studying, they generally know best about their own preferred methods and likely have insight in what is needed. This will tell you better than anything else what kinds of tutors are the best for your child in A maths tuition in Singapore.

Love it or hate it, but physics tuition is one of the most popular types of tuition in Singapore. While physics as a subject is introduced early on during the secondary school years, it gets more complicated the further you advance. Whether your child is in secondary school, an IB programme, Junior College, or even polytechnic, you may want to consider physics tuition in Singapore for the sake of boosting your child’s performance to ensure that they grasp the concepts and are able to apply it.

This is especially relevant for those students demonstrating a desire to study disciplines that rely heavily on physics in university, such as theoretical or applied physics and engineering majors. A good grasp of physics and how they play out in real life will give students a solid foundation if they choose to pursue these fields.

Making sense of counterintuitive concepts

There are a surprising number of physics concepts that are not common sense, and can in fact be counterintuitive – for instance, if a larger object rams into a smaller object, which object experiences the greater force?

You would think it would be the smaller object facing the greater force from the bigger item, but no – Newton’s Third Law states that both forces are equal in size! This is one of the earliest examples of physics whiplash that don’t seem to make any sense, and oftentimes schoolteachers do not necessarily cover the reasons why. Often, students are simply expected to memorise formulas and concepts and then apply them to the questions they are supposed to answer. Questions that tackle multiple concepts in one go in relation to each other are infrequent and can often throw students for a loop, and this is when a tuition agency in Singapore could help your child. By patiently sitting with them and explaining the underlying reasons as to why many of these work the way they do, counterintuitive concepts can be strengthened through physics tuition in Singapore.

Reaffirming concepts and different perspectives

Physics is a common subject across schools, but oftentimes there are schools with larger student-to-teacher ratios as well as rigid methods of teaching that may not work with individuals due to varying learning strategies. Additionally, teachers need to move on frequently to ensure that all the syllabus is being covered on time, and thus may not spend enough time on concepts that certain students struggle with. To counter this lack of individualised attention, which may often result in poor grades or performance in practical, it may become relevant to either send your child to a tuition agency in Singapore or engage a home tuition teacher.

Small group tuitions with different approaches to learning, or even individualised tuition lessons, may help your child address these areas that they may be struggling with. Tuition teachers can spend as long as they need and adopt as many different approaches and strategies as they need as well, in order to tackle the tasks for your child to ensure that they understand the concepts well. They can also relate the principles to real-life problems and demonstrate either in person or through things like YouTube videos to ensure that they get the idea properly. Individualised attention is invaluable for students to do well if they are not already doing great in class.

Physics exam strategies

As we’ve noted in other articles, the strategies required for learning and absorbing content is vastly different from the strategies needed to take exams. As your kids move to more complicated concepts, questions that tackle multiple principles in one go may become more common and throw students for a loop as they are often more used to isolated settings in their questions.

Being able to read through questions, understand what they are asking about, think and solve problems on the spot without hesitation is a very important skill for those who are concerned about their grades. Tuition teachers often have access to additional resources and problem sets – either from other schools or their own drafted versions – that are able to tackle these strategies in depth and ensure that the students cover all sorts of questions

In summary

Physics tuition may help those who require additional or individualised attention. While regular tuition is best for the tutors and students to get to know each other better, there are often instances in which short-term tutors are engaged just to go over certain concepts either before exams or to beef up situations in which students are not grasping them when they are being covered in class.

Either way, tuition can help students make sense of counterintuitive concepts and principles, look at physics concepts and principles from different perspectives so that they have different ways of making sense of things, and provide additional resources to help with exam strategies. For those who choose to work with tuition agencies in Singapore, the benefits are often plentiful and worth it!

Economics is a combination subject that is added to the curriculum generally at the Junior College level. While Secondary School has covered the basics leading up to it in terms of mathematics and general socials studies, many students find economics to be an unfamiliar subject that often leaves them floundering. On the other hand, others perform excellently in economics, taking to it like a duck to water.

The answer to the question of whether tuition is necessary is dependent, frankly, on the students themselves. If they are naturally able to grasp the concepts covered in economics and apply them to the essay-writing portions, then they may not need of tuition for economics after all. On the other hand, if they are clearly struggling with either the content or the exam strategy, it is generally understood that they may need additional guidance.

With that said, how can students best benefit from economics tuition in Singapore then?

Tuition should not be the same as schoolwork

The first thing that should be clear is that tuition is a supplement to schoolwork. Neither is a substitute for the other. Some consider tuition as a ‘follow-up’ to school content and work, but there are many students who take the opposite approach instead – their tuition teachers, whether at tuition centres or home tuition in Singapore, cover content earlier than what is covered in schools. This strategy generally allows a more customised method of introducing confusing content and allows students to perform well in school by default.

Tuition should not be parroting schoolwork and strategies. For most students, the end goal they are working towards would be their performance in the ‘A’-Level exams or IB exams; to do this, it is imperative that your child (and students in general) explore multiple ways of solving problems, creating analogies, and addressing concepts. While schools cover economics principles in specific ways, tuition can serve as a different avenue to introduce different ways of thinking about the same principles from different perspectives or concepts in the same way that there is often more than one way to solve an equation.

Real-life applications are important

Unlike subjects like mathematics, which students will often complain about ‘not having real-life relevance’, economics has very real applications in the modern world. A firm grasp of economics can aid the student not just in their exams but also in their understanding of global geopolitics and world economics in the future.

To that end, the addition of relevant case studies becomes important. These case studies are important in demonstrating how the theories that they are studying are being used in real life, and how career economists often use the same concepts to study and address genuine problems in the global economic infrastructure. While schools and teachers will often include certain case studies, they rarely make the effort to update their case studies to reflect modern and relevant economic changes. The inclusion and tracking over time of economic movements from the start of the student’s time with their economics tuition teacher can allow students to slowly learn and understand how what they are studying can be seen in the world. By the end of two years of using this strategy, many students become relatively comfortable with current events and economics – a valuable skill that will continue to be in use even after their exams.

Content strategy versus exam strategy

Learning how to grasp and understand the content and learning how to take an exam is a different set of skills entirely. Answering ‘data response’ questions and essay questions can take similar strategies but are ultimately different.

Content strategy requires students to fully grasp concepts, as described above. It focuses on ensuring that pupils understand aspects of macroeconomics or microeconomics, or how certain factors influence others. Exam strategy, however, focuses on ensuring that students understand questions and question types, catch keywords, and know how to answer the questions and essays properly.

Exam strategies should be covered once most of the content has been completed, whether at home tuition in Singapore or in school. Once the content is completed, the focus will shift towards applying that content in practice papers, and lessons at home or school will then also focus on the questions, paragraphs, and essays. More time is spent analysing questions and probably answers, and as the time ticks ever-closer to the looming ‘A’-Levels or IB exams, even more proportion of time is focused on gauging the strategies of those who are marking the eventual papers.

A strong grasp of concept application in exams is important; unfortunately, just understanding concepts will not be enough for these almost life-changing exams.

In summary

Tuition for Economics isn’t mandatory, and whether it is a necessity depends on the performance of your student or child. However, with a good tuition teacher or a tuition centre, a student’s previously poor performance could very well be on track to improvement as tutors make efforts to supplement schoolwork, cover current case studies and scenarios, and develop exam strategies best suited to your child. As such, economics tuition can be incredibly helpful to the student that is struggling with economics but wants to do well.

We frequently have parents asking us, “What makes your A-maths tuition in Singapore different from normal school classes?” Isn’t private tuition in Singapore just a fancy term for catch-up lessons if students are unable to keep up with their classes? Must private tuition really be the key ingredient to excelling in A-maths, or is it just for those who “can’t study”?

As it turns out, private tuition classes aren’t just for weaker students having trouble catching up. Instead of acting as a substitute for regular school lessons, private tutors in A maths tuition in Singapore go above and beyond to ensure that each student can thoroughly understand, apply, and appreciate every concept that is required for their A-maths examination. Sure, private tuition is often for students who find themselves lagging in class, but there are all kinds of students who attend private tuition and benefit from it. In fact, being competitive in the education system today requires a tremendous amount of effort, which most students tend to find taxing. To ease their burden, many students turn to private tuition in Singapore for the extra guidance and support in coping with their many subjects. Let’s see what private tuition does differently from regular classes at school.

Private Tuition is Personalised

How does a personalised curriculum that follows your own pace sound? While school teachers have to take the entire class of 30 or 40 students into account when designing their lesson plans, private tutors have no such restrictions. Tuition classes are typically conducted in small groups of a handful of students, or even one-to-one. This makes it much easier for tutors to identify their students’ weak points and tailor their lessons accordingly.

For example, a student who has difficulty wrapping their head around the concept of trigonometry may find themselves lagging behind the rest of their classmates when their teacher goes through the subject. It would be necessary for this student to catch up on the topic on their own time, which can be difficult and demoralising especially without guidance from a teacher. Some students may give up on the topic entirely because they feel that they are unable to catch up on their own.

A private tutor would be perfect for such a situation because unlike a classroom setting, private tuition allows the tutor to spend more time on the student’s weakest topics. The small number of students in a class also enables the tutor to spend more time with each student, fully catering to their individual needs.

Private Tuition is a Support System

Can your private tutor be more than a teacher? Of course! Not all students have the privilege of a support system with their parents at home. As teenagers go through secondary school life and the awkward years of growing up, they may encounter feelings of insecurity, friendship issues, or simply wonder about their direction in life. However, some parents may be working and have little time to talk to their children on these matters. As such, students can turn to their teachers and tutors instead for advice and support, or even if they just need someone to be their cheerleader for that project presentation next week. An amicable tutor can easily fit into a teen’s support network and help them figure out their next education route or career plan, a common question that many O-level students have. Tutors may even be the best people one can ask for career advice, because they have been there along with their previous students.

In group private tuition, a student’s classmates can also form part of that support network. Sometimes, a student’s closest friends may even come from their tuition class instead of their class at school! With private tuition being conducted in smaller settings, it can be a more comfortable learning environment for quieter students, allowing them to get closer to their tuition classmates. Who knows, lifelong friendships could be forged within a cosy tuition room.

Private Tuition Builds Confidence

While a school classroom is usually on a tight schedule, private tutors have a little more leeway to drill their students further and increase their confidence in tackling each question type. Without the administrative matters, disruptive students and homework-chasing to distract from lesson time, private tuition is often more productive than school classes, allowing students to fully focus on mastering each topic. Private tutors are also generally more experienced in ensuring that students of all levels of understanding can grasp the subject matter. From a shaky foundation dependent on model answers, private tutors excel in guiding each student to comprehend the reasoning behind each step of working. This builds firm confidence in students’ Maths prowess, enabling them to succeed.