Comparing Science Enrichment Programs

[Blokus]

The fact was she was Sick that cci week. And due to her persistent packed schedule there was no other week for me to make up. It was painful to force her to attend the class while being sick and we saw it as of no value add. All I wanted was to withdraw her from the remaining cci days (we already attended two out of four ).


Their reply was “then she cannot continue at pique lab.”

That Left a very bad taste in my mouth. They rather forgo an existing student over two classes of cci? Absurd.

That’s why I left. I refused to be held hostage by them like that.

Honestly if the cci was more in depth or so crucial then I wouldn’t have minded so much. Being a tiger mom I might have gotten her to grit her teeth through it. But cci was very basic, it caters more to students who have not been exposed to the topics or those who have totally forgotten about those topics; also as I’ve mentioned there are new students in the class- slows the existing students down.

Moreover I don’t see how by not attending the cci would affect her- I don’t think she would have missed out by so much that she can’t catch up with the future regular class.

Why should I be forced to pay additional $400 for something that I don’t want and don’t benefit from? Moreover they didn’t adjust the schedule accordingly and expect the kids to sit in for regular tuition on top of the cci.

I also told them if this CCI is so essential for all their kids to attend then it goes to show that their existing weekly classes are actually underperforming isn’t it? Such that all their students- not the weak ones, not the selected ones but all- are still required to attend another week of classes. As compared to most other tuition centers where holiday workshops are optional and yet these centers are able to cover all the syllabus + revision in good time. It just puts pique lab in a very bad light. How to have faith in pique lab like that?

They said the cci is necessary for recap, which I agree. But shouldn’t this recap be already incorporated as part of the termly fee we paid them for rather than an added cost? Boggles the mind, really.

That’s why I can’t help but think it’s all their gimmicks in trying to milk more money out from us parents. Sorry not this parent. I’m not that desperate.

Sorry. I’m ranting. Just very upset with their approach.

[Zeal mummy]

Hi Blokus, have you spoken with Kenneth? … he might be able to provide a better resolution to this issue, given these information. Hope your daughter has recovered fully and continues to love science.

[Blokus]

Thanks Zeal mummy. Not sure who Kenneth is but some assistant manager spoke to me.


It’s ok. We have moved on. They don’t want our money, we shall spend it on tll

[Zeal mummy]

You’re welcome, Blokus. He’s the boss, co-founder and very approachable. He taught a masterclass that my DD attended during the holidays years ago. But, I’m … Glad you’ve moved on!

[Blokus]

Thanks!


I came here so that others won’t experience the same cold approach I received by pique lab.

But putting my ill-feelings aside, here’s my personal comparison between pique lab and tll and blue tree.

*PIQUE LAB*
Teachers are fun and engaging. It makes the lessons pretty fun. That’s why even though I did not like the fact that they merely reprint exam questions from other primary schools, I chose to stay on because my kid enjoyed the class.

They drill the kids very well in open ended. But the flaw is they only drill the kids in commonly seen questions. In fact they drill the kids in similar questions in and out so much so that there’s a risk for the kids to start (unconsciously) memorising the answers blindly.

Hence I will only recommend pique lab for p3-p4 kids. Because p3/p4 science questions are pretty standard and as long as you follow the pique lab’s model answers you will be alright.

However come upper primary, the students need to be able to tackle higher order thinking questions which I don’t think that pique lab trains the kids very well in this aspect (because they only drill the kids in common questions and the kids answer questions by drawing from memory rather than thinking).

*LEARNING LAB*
From my own observation with my elder kid and speaking to a number of friends with kids who had attended tll- we all felt that tll laid down quite a strong foundation in our kids. Also, comparing the notes given by tll to pique lab, tll notes are more in depth, detailed, resourceful and ‘mature’ (🤣 pique lab uses a lot of colors, cartoon pictures - hence again more suited for younger p3/p4 ). Pique lab notes again- only tackles commonly seen questions.

Tll sets their own questions (or so I think) and they are less commonly seen, tricker hence the students need to rely more on their thinking skills rather than recalling on similar questions that they have done before.

So my take is that tll suits more for upper primary students.

I read some parents here who felt that tll syllabus is out of the psle syllabus- good and bad. As one of my friend feels that it helps the kids to gain more knowledge and makes the science lessons less static. However, I think because of the depth of tll science lessons it may be too overwhelming for some kids who need concise, straight forward lessons.

*BLUE TREE*
Thanks to being kicked out by pique lab, I got to trial with blue tree. While I was happy that they set their own questions- hence honing the kids to think (ie the students can’t rely on memory on how to answer the questions) but it’s worksheets and the notes were the least of the lot. I felt there was little depth and it feels kind of like they only focus on the main key areas in a given topic. That being said, I think it suits lower primary kids who need less of the clutter, less drilling and more concise notes and straightforward lessons- I say can try blue tree.

My take:
If your kid is weak in the fundamentals and need alot of drilling in the basics of basics - pique lab

If your kid can be pushed to take in more - learning lab

If your kid only needs to know the gist of the topics- blue tree ( maybe?)

I want a tuition center that expose my kid to unfamiliar questions so that it trains my kids in their thinking skills hence my personal choice is tll (I’m not a fake, paid-for-ad parent ok).

Hope the dues of my trauma will help someone out there. 😅

[mummyof3angels]

Zeal mummy\" post_id=\"2071403\" time=\"1655957324\" user_id=\"58173:[quote=\"Zeal mummy\" post_id=2071403 time=1655957324 user_id=58173]
Hi Blokus, have you spoken with Kenneth? .. he might be able to provide a better resolution to this issue, given these information. Hope your daughter has recovered fully and continues to love science.[/quote]

I don't recall meeting a Kenneth at Pique Lab before. Is he new?

[ChiefKiasu]

[quote]
Hi, I would like to buy The Pique Lab notes and the practice series(new).
...[/quote]Please note that The Pique Lab notes are copyrighted and are NOT for sale.
We have removed the above posts.

[Data]

Blokus\" post_id=\"2071460\" time=\"1655994948\" user_id=\"68342:

Thanks!

I came here so that others won’t experience the same cold approach I received by pique lab.

But putting my ill-feelings aside, here’s my personal comparison between pique lab and tll and blue tree.

*PIQUE LAB*
Teachers are fun and engaging. It makes the lessons pretty fun. That’s why even though I did not like the fact that they merely reprint exam questions from other primary schools, I chose to stay on because my kid enjoyed the class.

They drill the kids very well in open ended. But the flaw is they only drill the kids in commonly seen questions. In fact they drill the kids in similar questions in and out so much so that there’s a risk for the kids to start (unconsciously) memorising the answers blindly.

Hence I will only recommend pique lab for p3-p4 kids. Because p3/p4 science questions are pretty standard and as long as you follow the pique lab’s model answers you will be alright.

However come upper primary, the students need to be able to tackle higher order thinking questions which I don’t think that pique lab trains the kids very well in this aspect (because they only drill the kids in common questions and the kids answer questions by drawing from memory rather than thinking).

*LEARNING LAB*
From my own observation with my elder kid and speaking to a number of friends with kids who had attended tll- we all felt that tll laid down quite a strong foundation in our kids. Also, comparing the notes given by tll to pique lab, tll notes are more in depth, detailed, resourceful and ‘mature’ (🤣 pique lab uses a lot of colors, cartoon pictures - hence again more suited for younger p3/p4 ). Pique lab notes again- only tackles commonly seen questions.

Tll sets their own questions (or so I think) and they are less commonly seen, tricker hence the students need to rely more on their thinking skills rather than recalling on similar questions that they have done before.

So my take is that tll suits more for upper primary students.

I read some parents here who felt that tll syllabus is out of the psle syllabus- good and bad. As one of my friend feels that it helps the kids to gain more knowledge and makes the science lessons less static. However, I think because of the depth of tll science lessons it may be too overwhelming for some kids who need concise, straight forward lessons.

*BLUE TREE*
Thanks to being kicked out by pique lab, I got to trial with blue tree. While I was happy that they set their own questions- hence honing the kids to think (ie the students can’t rely on memory on how to answer the questions) but it’s worksheets and the notes were the least of the lot. I felt there was little depth and it feels kind of like they only focus on the main key areas in a given topic. That being said, I think it suits lower primary kids who need less of the clutter, less drilling and more concise notes and straightforward lessons- I say can try blue tree.

My take:
If your kid is weak in the fundamentals and need alot of drilling in the basics of basics - pique lab

If your kid can be pushed to take in more - learning lab

If your kid only needs to know the gist of the topics- blue tree ( maybe?)

I want a tuition center that expose my kid to unfamiliar questions so that it trains my kids in their thinking skills hence my personal choice is tll (I’m not a fake, paid-for-ad parent ok).

Hope the dues of my trauma will help someone out there. 😅

My experience with pique lab is that they don't teach according to moe textbook syllabus and this does not help children to revise according to their weighted assessments. This method of teaching will affect grades. Be aware of this.

[Zeal mummy]

mummyof3angels\" post_id=\"2071581\" time=\"1656064749\" user_id=\"194437:

I don't recall meeting a Kenneth at Pique Lab before. Is he new?

He’s the boss & co-founder. He taught a masterclass that my DD attended during the holidays years ago. No, not new.

[Zeal mummy]

Data\" post_id=\"2072182\" time=\"1656438721\" user_id=\"198550:

My experience with pique lab is that they don't teach according to moe textbook syllabus and this does not help children to revise according to their weighted assessments. This method of teaching will affect grades. Be aware of this.

Hi Data, there isn’t a fixed schedule to do a specific topic for science in our primary schools. The primary schools are free to decide which topic to teach first. As such, all the schools could be doing different topics at any given time.