Which is the most difficult O Level Subject?

[sharonkhoo]

mathtuition88:

Re: Which is the most difficult O Level Subject?

Depends on the student, surely?

[mathtuition88]

Seems like English is getting difficult as a subject.


Add Maths is another subject that has gotten harder. Topics like Trigonometry addition formulas that used to be A Level topics have been included in the O Level Syllabus.

[wilburlim]

Additional maths is the MOST difficult subject you’ll ever study. It will stretch your brains much more than studying Shakespeare for your literature.

[mathtuition88]

Thanks for voting!


Additional mathematics is indeed a tough subject.

Need practice and understanding of the question in order to score well.

The good news is once students get the hang of it, it is no longer impossible to do A Maths questions. I have seen many students improve from F9 to B3 or higher.

[AmandaChuaAC]

I also think it depends on the child…for me, my kids were struggling to improve in English for some time and we tried different tutors/centre with no results (until we found a good tutor through a friend’s recommendation). For Maths, I think it has a lot to do with practice. If you practice more and regularly, then I think it is actually possible to improve and do well.

[mathtuition88]

Thanks for the vote.


For Maths, the good thing is if you are correct, you are correct and get the full marks.

English is kind of subjective, one examiner may like the style of writing and award high marks, whereas another examiner may not like the style. (I used to have an English teacher who said that she would actually deduct marks for using bombastic and flowery language, while some teachers may see bombastic words as evidence of a good vocabulary.) Some students take using "good phrases" to the extreme and starting using words like "phantasmagoria", or quoting Shakespeare throughout their essay.

The downside for Maths is that, if the student is totally wrong or leave the question blank, the teacher has no choice but to give zero.

For Maths, practice and understanding is key. Guidance from tutors or teachers for tips would be greatly beneficial. For hardworking students, improving in Maths is 100% possible. And all branches of Mathematics are linked, improving in Differentiation will lead to improving in Integration and Kinematics and so on. Hence, for conscientious and hardworking students rapid improvement may occur in Mathematics.

[Skyed]

Sciences and a/e math results easily show improvements with more practice. Arts subjects on the other hand, are much more difficult to improve. I’d personally go with literature - especially difficult to hone even with good teachers.

[Mr Chong]

Personally feel Language paper is the hardest because there’s no really formulas or exact style of answering questions unlike Sciences and Maths

[ilovelaksa]

Definitely English.