Networking Group - JCs General

[wonderm]

Bedokid:

Janet2014:

[quote=\"lexis\"]i would imagine (and hope) that in top tier JCs which churn out excellent A-level results, school work and notes alone would suffice, esp since the JC students nowadays seem to be working so hard.


between school work, CCA and projects, is there time to do additional reading/tuition hw without sacrificing personal time and/or sleep?

A lot of JC students from top JC still go for tuition. They sacrifice a lot of family time and sleep.

Not surprise to find that many students from the same top school go to the same tuition centre....it could make up a class of tutees from the same school....so students produce good results....whose credits?[/quote]Main credit should be to the student himself. The school, parents (including entire family), tuition teachers (if any), fellow schoolmates, all have a part to play in his success.

[DadOfGirl]

jtoh:

I can understand the bit about not needing tuition, but relying completely on just school notes and school work, and not needing to practise assessment books or additional reading sounds too good to be true. Of course, if it were true, that would be good.

ARTs subject will definitely need Text books.... I mean History, Lit & English language can be done based on class notes? Cannot , else everyone's response would be same.. Then why take ARTs subject

[angell]

jtoh:

I can understand the bit about not needing tuition, but relying completely on just school notes and school work, and not needing to practise assessment books or additional reading sounds too good to be true. Of course, if it were true, that would be good.

My DD's (in Uni yr 1) personal experience (same school as jtoh's DD) was that she studied notes (she did not buy any textbooks) from teachers, did school homework and did lots of past year papers and other JCs' prelim papers. some given by school, some purchased. She did not do any assessment books but she said many of her friends did.

[jtoh]

Thanks for your feedback, angell.

[angell]

jtoh:

Thanks for your feedback, angell.

Anytime

[micko07]

For A levels, I think consistency is key. Studying consistently rather than leaving everything to pile up until the last minute worked very well for me. Unlike O levels, the volume and depth of knowledge required is so much that trying to do everything last minute really doesn’t work IMO. My advice would be to keep on top of work as it comes in, and try not to let it slide too much. Do whatever homework you’re set punctually, pay attention in class, get help from your teachers early if you’re really struggling.


I was a Humanities Programme student (H2 Geog E.Lit Econs Maths, H3 Game Theory); I only had tuition for Economics, and I found that to be helpful (mostly because my tutor didn’t really follow the A level syllabus, but that’s another story for another day). I don’t think tuition is necessary per se, but if a student is struggling, it might be helpful.

For everything else, I pretty much just followed whatever my tutors said (eg do past year papers, learn from feedback on tests/exams). Practice works, especially for maths (incidentally, I also recommend making a little booklet which includes all the necessary formula/ explanations for maths for easy reference). Reading current affairs also really helps with GP. My Humanities tutors are also unorthodox in that they don’t believe in giving nice consolidated notes, so the onus was on students to compile their own. I think that was rather helpful, especially in Lit, because it forced us to consolidate and think about what we’d learnt in our own way.

I don’t recall having a problem managing time wise but I think that’s partly due to the fact that I didn’t take up very time-consuming CCAs (Not that I would discourage people from doing so - insofar as you like an activity, you should do it unless it seriously affects your time management) and the Humanities tutors never believed in giving copious amounts of homework. I did have time to do other activities (eg dance, volunteer, read), slept decent amounts and was home for dinner nearly all days of the week (didn’t like hanging out in school). I’m probably quite the oddity in this respect.

[jtoh]

Thanks micko07

[MommyDearest]

Wow! Thank you folks for your generous sharing. Learned a lot from your discussions too.


Maybe I should clarify that the reason why I posed my question to check with both parents and ex/current jc students about the need for tuition is because my DS seems very relaxed in JC. CCA & PW have not started yet. He stays back after school to mingle with friends or attend talks (accdg to him) then come home just in time dinner. Work less than 2hrs then bedtime. Weekends can go out with friends from lunch till dinner.

This sort of like is non-existent in his Sec3-4 when he worked so hard for his O levels.

So I don't believe JC is such a breeze (easier than upper sec) and the fact that from earlier parents' conversation here, the JC kids are already working hard with some having started on PW already. During my time, tuition would be an added advantage but not everyone can afford back then. I didn't have tuition via JC.

My hope is for DS to take up tution (Home tuition w/o travelling to lesson)for his weakest 1-2 subjects only in the weekend when he is fresh and not after a long day's school. But he only agrees to one (MT) - better than none I guess

The way I see it (and have also shared with him) is this:
Boys have advantage over girls in that they work hard over 2yrs in JC then take a break from studies (for NS) before continuing on to the U - which by that time, they are much more matured and therefore can have a better grasp of the studies concepts with clearer view of what they are working towards.

These are just my few cents worth of thoughts.

[whizzard]

My son is also similar. Perhaps the difference is that he has a very time-consuming CCA (rugby) that takes up 3 days a week for training.


Regardless, he comes home way before dinner (DW is his personal driver btwn ACJC & Bt Timah) and doesn't really hit the books on his own, maybe an hour or two on some days. Then he complains that it is hard to follow for some subjects. Perhaps he is not used to the lecture and tutorial system just yet but there is very little time to waste. I really hope that he will start making a habit of studying on his own ..... reading up on his notes, practising some past years questions and really thinking about what he is reading.

Nevertheless, I have gotten him tuition for all his subjects (5 cos he is exempted from MT). Once a week for each. The subjects that he has no problems with are coincidentally the subjects that he has started tuition on. So I guess, for my son, tuition helps.

[jtoh]

MommyDearest,


The JCs are just starting to ramp up to 3/4 speed (not even full speed yet). It’s not surprising that your son doesn’t feel as busy as he did for O levels. Most J1s are only into their first month in school. But the homework is starting to come in and I can foresee the students getting busier and busier, with lots of CCA and other enrichment activities coming on stream. I believe students in DHS and RVH, who started school in January and are in full steam now, would beg to differ that JC life is easier than upper sec. They’re probably inundated with tests and homework by now.

Are there JCs which have started PW? I don’t think they have at my dd’s JC.