Secrets Enclosed

Hi guys!

It’s no secret that I’ve had tuition pretty much throughout my education journey, so I totally get that it is so difficult to find good tutors these days. There certainly is no shortage of tutors around, but to be able to find the really good ones, now that’s a challenge.

And with just 10 days till I’m done with this 12 year long journey, I thought, what better way to celebrate that than to reveal a list of the best tutors I’ve had over the past 12 years and hopefully, they can help you too!

Just sayin, this is in no way sponsored and is all based on my personal experience. Also, I’ll be indicating where you guys where you can quote my name (Jessy) and perhaps you might get some sort of a discount(?) with this symbol [QUOTE] no promises though! I have good relationships with my tutors but none of them know that I’m posting this hah

Pre-Primary

I Can Read

Website: https://www.icanread.asia/home/index/singapore/english

I Can Read is where I first learnt to read, and I started with their Phonics class and Learn To Read class and all that sort of stuff. My teacher was Teacher Phillip but I really don’t know if he is still there. I remember them as being really great. Lessons were engaging and really really fun. It’s a great start to reading, really.

Beijing Language School

Website: http://beijinglanguage.com.sg/

So if I Can Read taught me to read in English, Beijing taught me the basics of Mandarin. They were one of the major players in developing my love for Chinese, and later on in my school life, I would discover that I would become one of those people who really enjoyed the subject when others hated Chinese with all their heart.

Lessons were great, delivered in the form of songs and stories and role-playing. I also remember that we always had year end concerts so that was just something else we always had to look forward to.

Primary School

For all you eager parents out there, here’s an honest opinion. You really don’t need one to one tuition for primary school. There’s plenty of opportunities for you to spend that kind of money in Secondary school hehe, but here are my recommendations

Just Edu

website: http://www.justedu.com.sg/

I was with Just Edu for their Math and later Science lessons. The teachers were really great and with them having the experience, everything was really structured and that was what worked for me. If I remember correctly, they also had different types of classes, like for example there was the regular class to prepare us for school exams and later PSLE, but there was also an accelerated class I think, for those who want to push themselves a little bit more.

Mindstretcher

Website: https://www.mindstretcher.com/

I was with Mindstretcher for the English and Science programme and they were both really great! Like I said, structure was very important to me so Mindstretcher was a good fit because they had a very very structured programme. Every worksheet I was given was clearly labelled and I could file it under a specific section, complete with a content page and everything, so when I knew exactly where everything was, it really motivated me to review my work and from there I really improved.

Beijing Language School

Website: http://beijinglanguage.com.sg/

In the primary level lessons, there was a little less fun and games, but lessons were always made interesting. A really good point to note would be that because I had a headstart in learning Han Yu Pin Yin from the Pre-primary lessons, P1 was a breeze. In later years, my mother also made arrangements with the school for me to learn about half a year’s worth of work so they conducted private lessons for me, and with a headstart like that, it wasn’t difficult to follow in class. I spent the rest of the semester enrolled in the Creative Writing class, which I was really bad at at first, but the teachers were really patient and they guided us along the way, and I eventually got really great results for PSLE. The one thing to note is that because the school has majority China Chinese teachers, the standard is pretty high so when they mark your essays, they tend to be a little bit stricter and that’s why I always scored higher in my essays in school than at the centre.

In fact, I remember that in terms of the comprehension and writing practices we had, the exposure was so great that I encountered not a similar passage and questions, but the exact passage and very similar questions during a school exam.

Ultimately, I believe that nothing speaks louder than actual results so here are my grades for PSLE.

English A | Chinese A* | Higher Chinese Merit | Math A | Science A

Secondary School

Yes, parents, this is when you can start considering private classes. There are pros and cons really, but I tend to find that for most subjects, private classes are better because they are more tailored to individual needs. The only one where I really think a group class is better is for English, because that’s when you get to interact with other students outside your school and you get different perspectives.

Ms Josephine Neo

Contact Number: 9831 2195 [QUOTE]

She was my tutor for Emath and Amath (in Sec 3 and 4 of course) and I really enjoyed her style. In essence, she pre-teaches the bulk of the syllabus during the holidays, leaving plenty of time during the semester to revise and practice harder questions in preparation for tests and exams. She has super concise notes and essentially those are the only things you need to flip through before any tests and exams to ace it. She also finishes the entire Sec 4 syllabus during the Sec 3 December holidays, and does group tuition in Sec 4, and that’s when we are exposed to a lot of questions, all done under timed conditions in preparation for O Level. When you’ve been doing time trials for an entire year, there’s no way you’ll be unable to finish the paper during O Levels.

The best part is that more often than not, your speed will carry over to your other subjects, so that’s really really great!

For you students out there, she rarely gives us extra homework unless 1. you really need it or 2. it’s the holidays (and you should be doing some work anyway) so that’s relief for us hehe. Plus (you may not understand the importance of this right now but JC kids should feel me), she marks everything you ask her to, as well as any work she asks you to do!

Ms Hannah Yeo

Contact Number: 9369 4325 [QUOTE]

Ms Yeo is literally one of my all time favourite tutors. Because I started lessons in late Sec 2, she had plenty of time to teach me the syllabus (O Level essentially only focuses on Sec 3 and Sec 4 work) and get lots of practices done. Also, because we could afford the time, she was also like a big sister to me, giving me advice and helping me see things from a different perspective whenever I was troubled.

She also marks your work, no worries and provides very good notes. It’s the all you need to know kind of notes so suddenly the thick textbook doesn’t look so inviting after all, but the little file of notes sure do!

She teaches Chemistry btw, pure and combine

Mrs Josephine Neo

Yes the name is very similar. No I am not drunk or crazy. I had 2 tutors with very similar names (ok fine the exact same name).

Contact Number: 9367 1874 [QUOTE]

Mrs Neo taught me Pure Biology. She’s pretty awesome as well, very easy to talk to and my favourite thing about lessons were her notes. Literally the best thing ever! The content is summarised, common mistakes are pointed out, and everything that you need to memorise is right there! No more flipping through over 200 pages of your Bio textbook any more. She also starts TYS really early and will mark it all, in addition to other school papers she provides.

If I remember correctly, she also teaches the combine sciences, like all 3 combine sciences, so hit her up to discuss any details!

Beijing Language School

Website: http://beijinglanguage.com.sg/

Yes I was with Beijing for the longest time, because they really are fantastic. Everything great about them runs throughout the course, no matter what level you’re at so I’m not going to say much here.

Mavis Tutorial Centre

Website: http://mavistutorial.com/

I was with Mr Billy for the whole of 4 years in secondary school. While I’m not a huge fan of the lack of organisational structure, he does expose us to a lot of questions and topics, and class discussions that help give you some sort of content for oral or essays. I’ve lived some of my best nights while having lessons.

As usual, my results

Emath A1 | Amath A1 | Pure Chemistry A2 | Pure Biology A1

Chinese A1, Distinction | Higher Chinese A2 Merit | English A1

Junior College

I’ve never faced more difficulty in finding good tutors than I did when I was in JC. To save you the time and trouble, here’s my list.

The Physics Cafe (Physics)

Website: https://www.thephysicscafe.com/ [not sure how it would work since I’ve graduated but you can QUOTE Jessy_ybz]

PMC has literally saved my grades. I scored a S at MYE in J1, and by CT2 in J2, I got an A.

I have to say, they have the experience, they have the expertise, they have the heart. They are great and I really don’t know how else to describe them.

Their June holiday workshop in J2 is the one you really cannot miss though. Who else will reteach you the entire syllabus at that point?

Simply Education (Chemistry)

Website: https://www.simplyeducation.com.sg/

Contact Number: 9178 5538 [QUOTE]

Or more specifically, Ms Low.

She is really an awesome tutor. She comes up with a strategy for you, so you don’t have to worry as much. Just follow through what she says and all will be good. She also always does crash courses when needed to clear any doubts for any topics so that’s always great for anyone who joins tuition late. She is always available to respond to any questions, even up to late 11 or even 12am. Not easy to find these days!

Mr Wayne Teo (Math)

Contact Number: 8399 8850 [QUOTE]

Mr Teo is one of the best tutors for JC math. And I say this after I tried and changed more than 5 tutors over the course of one and a half years. He has worksheets organised by question type and that is super helpful for specific drills. He teaches in a way that is really easy to understand and is one of the very very very few JC tutors who will mark your work, properly and on time!

Mr Samuel Kang (Economics)

Contact Number: 9853 7443 [QUOTE]

Okay we didn’t end on the best terms but I give credit where it is due. Mr Samuel is a great tutor, he will mark your work when you ask him to and will provide extra questions upon request. He also makes Econs pretty easy to understand. The only reason we didn’t end great was because we had really different styles, but he is honestly a great tutor to consider if you want extra help for Econs.

Mavis Tutorial Centre (General Paper)

Website: http://mavistutorial.com/

Once again, I was with the same tutor (Mr Billy) and I was not a fan of the lack of organisational structure, but the topical exposure was more than sufficient. Lessons were always very engaging and it was very fun!

I haven’t gotten my results yet so maybe I’ll update it when I do.

Hopefully this list helps and feel free to contact me if you have any other questions!

Edit: Here’s a gauge of the prices I was paying for my JC lessons, no guarantee that these are the prices you will be paying but it’s a gauge no less.

Physics $62/hr | Chem $52.50/lesson | Math $70/hr | Econs $100/hr | GP $315/mth