Math Improvement! How Do We Do It?
I have been teaching for more than 10 years. And believe me when I say that I do not pick my students. I accept all students from all schools and ability. As such, I do have some data that leads me to make the statement above. An improvement from 50 to 70-80 range is not as hard as you think it to be. When you have the right tutor/teacher/mentor, parents who want to be involved and students who have the desire to do well and put in effort, the results are often incredible.
So in the presence of the above factors, improving math from 50 to the 70-80 range is not at all a hard thing to do.
The hard part is this. When a student with a score of 80 wants to get the A*, it can be pretty tedious. This boils down to habits. Usually, a student that manages to score 80 or more has some firm foundation and grasp on the math subject.What they do lack though are certain mental habits to help them save those 10 or more marks from careless mistakes and get the A*. If it is one thing that determines the student’s success, its in the habits. The habit to check, check, check, the habit not to jump to conclusions, the habit of finding a way to validate the answer, the habit of underlining keywords etc All these and more will determine whether or not a student gets the coveted A* for psle math.
May all students be blessed with good grades!
Resident Teacher @ Singaporemathguru.com