Frequently Asked Questions

To decide which type of tuition to choose, one needs to consider the following factors:

• Affordability- In general, private home tuition will cost around 2-3 times more than group tuition
• Ability of student- If students are generally very weak in the subject, it is strongly recommended to go for private home tuition as the first choice. If affordability of fees is an issue, small group tuition can be considered as the next best alternative. The reason for choosing private home tuition or small group tuition is because when students are weak in the subject, they need all the dedicated time and attention for them to address their individual concerns. Large group tuition is only for students who are generally doing well in the subject and need to catch up on the topics that they may have missed in school.
• Degree of dedicated attention needed by the student- Private home tuition provides the greatest degree of dedicated attention followed by small group tuition which is in turn followed by large group tuition.

We cap our class size for group tuition to 9 in order to maximize learning effectiveness and enable us to customise our approach to meet the unique needs of the students. We do not believe in having more than 9 students as that would defeat the purpose of tuition which is to provide customized and dedicated attention to the students that can be challenging for most schools due to the large student-teacher ratio.

We do not offer trial lesson for group tuition because the learning effectiveness cannot be measured in just one lesson due to the nature of group tuition as compared to private home tuition. Instead, students are asked to enrol for 4 lessons that allows for a more accurate assessment on the effectiveness of group tuition over a period of 4 lessons.

However, in the unlikely event that you do not benefit from the lessons, you are free to withdraw from the classes at the end of 4 lessons.

Students should start tuition when they think that they are not able to cope with the pace of lesson in school and/or when they did badly for their school test or exam. Students are strongly recommended to enrol into group tuition no later than end of the first year to ensure that there is sufficient time for the students to improve their results leading to their A levels.

Getting good results for A levels is a function of several factors: ability of student, performance of the national cohort, time of joining the tuition classes and ability of teacher. The ability of the student is further influenced by three factors: attitude (commitment to work hard), aptitude and threshold for stress during exam conditions. In terms of performance of the national cohort, students are competing against their peers in the national exams and hence grades will be moderated accordingly based on the cohort’s performance. The time when students join the tuition classes play a very important factor. Past data has shown that students who joined at the beginning of their first year have a higher probability of attaining a distinction in their A levels. The ability of our teachers is unquestionable as evidenced by their strong credentials and the results of students who have graduated.

In summary, there is no guarantee for an A grade based on the factors presented above. Competent tutors like ourselves believe in being transparent and authentic to parents and students. We do not believe in sales gimmick of promising As just to increase student enrolment. Tutors or tuition centres who guarantee an A typically have accompanying terms and conditions. So the next time when tutors or tuition centres guarantee you an A, think again!

Depending on the needs of the students, we may conduct additional regular lessons and topical revision lessons during school holidays to help students. Students who are weak in the subject are strongly encouraged to attend to give themselves the best possible chance of improving their results.
For additional regular lessons and topical revision lessons, we will schedule the additional lessons based on the common availability of both the tutor and students before school holidays commence. Upon students’ agreement to sign up for the additional lessons, a sms will be sent to both students and parents when relevant, to inform them on their attendance and timing of the additional lessons.
In the event that students want to withdraw from the additional lessons, students need to inform us before the commencement of the school holidays and no fees will apply. However if students fail to inform us on their withdrawal of the additional lessons before the start of school holidays, full fees apply and students will have to arrange for make-up lessons for the lessons missed.

Additional regular lessons are lessons that continue the current lesson agenda. Topical revision lesions are optional and are meant to cover past topics that students need help on.

Topics taught in topical revision lessons will be conducted in a more accelerated fashion as students would have acquired the basic foundations in the topic already. Also, when appropriate and relevant,  enhancements will be made to the existing content for topical revision lessons.

We do not require students to sit for entry admission test before enrolling into our A Level Chemistry tuition and the same applies for our JC H2 Maths tuition and JC H2 Physics tuition. While some tuition centres may administer entry admission test to assess students and ensure that they are of a certain quality in order to maintain a high percentage of As, we do not believe in this approach. The reason is simple. Regardless of the calibre of the students, we believe that all students who require tuition should be given equal opportunities to improve their results even though not all may get A’s in their A level examinations. Ultimately, ability varies among students and our aim is to ensure students fulfil their full potential when studying with us.

Our classes for A level Chemistry tuition expose students to the different types of application related questions which is provided in our summary notes and topical exercises. These questions are not commonly found in school notes and textbooks.

Students taking H1 Chemistry can join the H2 Chemistry tuition programme. During the consultation and coaching component of the lesson, coaching on the H1 topics will be provided and clarifications on H1 Chemistry questions will be addressed on a one to one basis. During the component of the lesson pertaining to the teaching of content, the topics covered will still be relevant to H1 Chemistry students as some of the H1 Chemistry topics overlap with the H2 Chemistry topics.

Notes will only be provided for the lessons attended by the students. For effective use of Chemistry notes, it is essential that students have attended the lessons on the topics that were covered. As there are many worked examples and concepts that need explanation in the notes, it will not be useful for students to have the notes without Ms Sim’s delivery of the lesson.

In general, for students who scored an A2 or B3, they typically struggle to cope with A level chemistry as there is a huge gap between O and A level Chemistry. While students who do well during O levels are good at bookwork, they find application of concepts a challenge as A level chemistry has a strong emphasis on application.

As the time slots for 1-1 tuition are very limited due to high demand, there will be penalty charges to respect the tutor’s time and also avoid the situation of denying other students of the opportunity to have 1-1 tuition. If cancellation is done on the day of the lesson, penalty charges will be at 50% of the tuition fees. If the tutor is informed on the lesson cancellation with at least 1 day notice prior to the lesson, no penalty charges will be imposed.

There will be no refund of remaining credit from advanced payment. Students can arrange for lessons to utilize the remaining credit. If students choose not to do so, fees are not refundable.

Except for unforeseen circumstances, students are to inform at least 48 hours in advance if you cannot make it for lessons due to valid reasons. This is to allow us to explore making alternative arrangements for you. It is the responsibility of the students to arrange for make-up lessons. Tutor reserves the right not to provide make-up lessons for students who did not inform the tutor at least 48 hours in advance on their absence.

Students can do make-up lessons at the other available class timings for group tuition or access the live recording of the lesson that was missed (excludes additional lessons and topical revision lessons conducted during school holidays). Lessons will only be recorded if students have informed that they are unable to make it for lesson at least 24 hours in advance. Students are however required to give the respective tutors notice in advance to successfully schedule for a make-up lesson. If students choose not to do the make-up lesson, fees for the lesson missed are not refundable.

Students will not be eligible for make-up lessons upon withdrawal from the class as make-up lessons apply only to existing students.

Students who forget to bring their fees can make payment via internet banking within 4 days after the lesson.