All About A Levels

[Eldest Daughter]

Hey! thanks for all the info above!

[phtthp]

from A level results (past few batches) :-

wondering who tend to Perform better in A level, at RI ?
is it the group of 80 % IP students (from Y1-Y6), or the 20 % JAE students (Y5-Y6) ?

[stress_kidd_sg]

I would say HCI is a better choice if you want a more "Chinese" environment. Either way, both NJC and HCI are IP schools and the people there are alright as well. All the best!

[mathtuition88]

stress_kidd_sg:

I would say HCI is a better choice if you want a more \"Chinese\" environment. Either way, both NJC and HCI are IP schools and the people there are alright as well. All the best!

Good point, it is good to take note of which environment you prefer while seeking a JC.

\"English\" schools and \"Chinese\" schools do have some differences in culture. For instance, last time in RI, Rugby (a \"English\" sport) was a big thing and a compulsory event for students to attend and watch the rugby finals. Students who have totally no interest in rugby still had to attend the compulsory event.

[mamajoy]

Hi, need some advice on H2 History and Geog. My DS is choosing between the 2 subjects. He thinks that Geog questions are easier but he has more interest in Hist. Also is the amount required to be memorised just as heavy for both? I would really appreciate any advice or info on the above. THank you very much in advance.

[angwc]

The benchmark for performance of school is not based on the % of As alone. It is the expected grades for a student based on his/her L1R5 and actual grades.


This is what we call \"value addness\" indicator for schools. Certain top colleges may achieve high % of As but need not be top in value addness because the students are expected to be getting those grades.

As former JC Lecturer, the crucial factor is actually students' ability more than the school. If we trade IJC and HCI students, I would be doubtful if HCI can still maintain that standard.

There are different strategies from different schools in preparing for exams. AJC's style is to drill students with difficult questions, perhaps to scare them and study harder? NJC and VJC's style is more towards asking fundamental conceptual questions. No matter how hard is a A level math question, one has to go back to the basic concepts and work from there. A difficult problem is one that requires thinking rather than tedious algebra.

Personally I like NJC's teaching approach, they have a progressive style of preparing students from basic to advanced questions. Rather than dump a whole set of many questions to drill.

NYJC has been improving over the years too. End of the day I think you cannot go wrong with either school. You yourself is the crucial factor. A good school with a not hardworking student does not help.

Neighbourhood colleges also have potential to do well, I have been coaching students at the bottom 3 colleges who can even score distinction for H3 Mathematics because their learning attitude is superb.

Good luck and work hard.

Regards
Mr Ang
Former JC Lecturer, A level mathematics tuition specialist.
[email protected]

[Skyed]

mamajoy:

Hi, need some advice on H2 History and Geog. My DS is choosing between the 2 subjects. He thinks that Geog questions are easier but he has more interest in Hist. Also is the amount required to be memorised just as heavy for both? I would really appreciate any advice or info on the above. THank you very much in advance.

Geog is definitely more content heavy than hist. If he plans on taking H2 bio, I would strongly advise against taking h2 geog. The amount to memorize for both subjects would be crazy. Over half my class took H2 hist - many of them complained that it was as bad as taking 2 whole subjects. Probably because there's a southeast Asian and international history split, making it quite a lot of different content to study. H1 hist only has SEA hist though.

[mamajoy]

Thanks Skyed for the advice. Just two more questions - Is his point about History questions harder than Geog questions valid? Also Is the amount to be memorised for Geog much more than History? TIA.

Skyed:

mamajoy:

Hi, need some advice on H2 History and Geog. My DS is choosing between the 2 subjects. He thinks that Geog questions are easier but he has more interest in Hist. Also is the amount required to be memorised just as heavy for both? I would really appreciate any advice or info on the above. THank you very much in advance.

Geog is definitely more content heavy than hist. If he plans on taking H2 bio, I would strongly advise against taking h2 geog. The amount to memorize for both subjects would be crazy. Over half my class took H2 hist - many of them complained that it was as bad as taking 2 whole subjects. Probably because there's a southeast Asian and international history split, making it quite a lot of different content to study. H1 hist only has SEA hist though.

[Skyed]

I don’t think geog questions are easier than history. JC is really quite different from sec school - in o levels you just memorize the entire geog textbook and regurgitate can secure you an A. but the few friends I have that take H2 geog in my school say even if they memorize all their notes they can only just pass for geog. But since I don’t have any first hand experience with geog I can’t fully advise you on the difficulty of the questions. But yes, geog has more content than history. My friend showed me her notes for just one geog topic and it was like 4-5cm thick.

[micko07]

mamajoy:

Hi, need some advice on H2 History and Geog. My DS is choosing between the 2 subjects. He thinks that Geog questions are easier but he has more interest in Hist. Also is the amount required to be memorised just as heavy for both? I would really appreciate any advice or info on the above. THank you very much in advance.

I did H2 Geog, and personally, I would have thought that H2 History is more content-heavy, but take it with a pinch of salt because I didn't take History. I don't know if the syllabus has changed, but back then we did 3 topics of Human Geog and 3 topics of Physical Geog. In truth, I only studied 2 topics from each for the essays, and knew just enough to do the Data Response Questions. Worked fine for me.

I found Geog pretty straightforward (Science track in Secondary school, didn't do Geog after Sec 2), and scoring seems to be more consistent than History (certainly was the case when I was in HCI Humanities Programme at least). As long as you have good exam technique, it isn't hard to score in my opinion. I find Geog much easier than History, but it might be a personal preference.