Pre-PSLE Panic: Is it too late to look for/switch tutor?

[ms_chai]

I have been teaching tuition for the past 4+ years. Every year post-SA1, I receive calls from parents anxiously looking for private tutor, especially if their kids are to deal with PSLE in a few months time.


Most of the cases were that kids didn’t perform as good as expected, and parents start to re-think if their current tuition arrangements are helpful enough to make their kids shine with their PSLE results. And everytime when they ask me - "Is it too late to switch tutor now?", I wonder if there is one standard answer I can give to that question.

Better late than never, I always believe. Staying put with an arrangement that didn’t work, is quite unlikely to work miracle. I remember I have a parent calling me late at night 2 years back, it was after PSLE Prelim and she was shocked to see her son’s result below 150. She made many calls and realised that most tutors were already fully packed prior to PSLE. As I do not usually pack my schedule really full, I agreed to help and soon to realised she had been sending her son from tuition to tuition. The young kid was very tired and frustrated everytime I see him. He gets angry with himself when he forgets about something he learnt in the tuition center. He gets upset with himself when he wasn’t able to solve a simple math question. And when he murmered to me that he thinks that he is a loser, I can’t help but suggested to his mother that it would be better if she stop the other tuitions.

She reluctantly did so. And within a week I see changes in the young man. Of course I didn’t do a miracle. He successfully improve his grades in PSLE and got himself into the express stream, all with his own efforts. I was just showing support by his side at that time.

Last night, when a mother called me around 10+pm, I recalled what had happened before - Pre-PSLE Panic. She asked me the same question - "Is it too late to get him a tutor?"

Talk to your kid. Listen to them. If not, get a tutor who can listen and understand them. What they need now is not only academic guidance, but also whole-hearted encouragements and understanding.

To think about it, when I was 12, I didn’t have to go through such punishing system, did you?

[tutorsg_punggol]

Hi Ms Chai,


I totally agree with you. I have been teaching for more than 10 years and i have seen how different it is in the past and now.

I have students who were packed with supplementary class from schools and tuitions from various centres. I did told the mum that it would be better if they concentrate on the subjects which the kid is weak in rather than to have all different tuitions. The poor kid was so confused by the different methods taught in schools and in the centres.

Sometimes switching to another tutor will help. However not for all cases. It does depends on the tutor as well as the student. All in all, it is important to get a tutor that can communicate with the student.

Whichever the case is, I’m sure we will put in our very best effort to teach the kid.

Cheers!

[Xpresstuition-2013]

I think it depends on the chemistry between the tutor and the student. Some tutors though highly qualified are able to simplify concepts to explain at the student’s level and also teach them strategies to remember facts and concepts. Such tutors are really helpful in boosting the student’s results and also highly sought after.

[janet88]

ms_chai:

To think about it, when I was 12, I didn't have to go through such punishing system, did you?

The system was definitely not this punishing and high stakes back then.
Education standard is punishing parents and kids at younger and younger age...what used to be taught at P4-5 is now brought forwards.
PSLE is the first major exam but the stakes are very high...is it necessary ??