October 2017 Crash Course

IB Year 5 / JC 1

IB Year 6 / JC 2

1) Why do you offer these short, intensive prep courses? And for what subjects?

We offer prep courses for various IB/’A’ levels subjects like Chemistry, English, Mathematics, Economics, General Paper. Various curriculum are demanding and intensive. Additionally, many concepts tend to be complex yet only serve as enrichment purposes. Hence, many students find difficulty when it comes to revising for the exams. A short course that provides an overview and crystallises key concepts can help significantly by aiming to be comprehensive yet succinct.

Most students do not strategise when studying for exams; they tend to lack practical skills/answering techniques and instead worry about trying to memorise their notes/textbooks. The aim of our prep courses is do away with memorising and build good understanding by clarifying what kind of questions to expect in exams, what concepts to focus on and how to strategise their preparations, how to tackle key examination questions, how to improve their answering techniques.

Many students only realise what they lack when they begin their own revision. We believe that an intensive course right before the exams will complement their revision and help clarify questions on various key topics and concepts. This is usually done through an analysis of various past questions in a topical manner.

While most students have access to past questions and solutions, we find that a big problem is not in understanding the answers but learning how to arrive at such answers and applying them in other questions. We believe students can improve if we address gaps in application skills; by breaking down and explaining various answers to show “How exactly do we arrive at this answer and apply it elsewhere?” Our intensive courses aim to do this.

2) When were these prep courses introduced (since which year?)

We introduced these prep courses since 2013.

3) For figures, how many students last year and how many students will there be this year?

We had 80 students for our crash courses last year and this year the numbers have exceeded 100.

4) How are these courses conducted, and what do the tutors focus on during these short courses?

Our courses are conducted in a small group seminar style. The tutors dry run each course to make sure the intensive session can cover all chapters and questions.

We aim to add value to students by complementing and supplementing their own revision. Hence the courses are centred on focused topical revision analysing and reviewing different categories of past questions developing a structured approach to answering questions (this is the highlight of our courses) developing answering techniques analysis of common mistakes of students reversed teaching by students (to test their ability to comprehend and apply). Essentially, the course places emphasis on doing away with memorising by providing a concise approach to reviewing the exam syllabus.

5) Are these courses guaranteed to lift the students’ grades? How so?

These courses are guaranteed to improve students’ understanding in a significant manner. By getting an overview, they are now more sure of specific parts of the syllabus to focus on; it gives them a good way to strategise their revision.

They will also learn various ways the questions could be asked and can better work on their answering techniques and logical reasoning. It teaches them to focus on key components to score. Provided that students study hard revision after the course, their grades will definitely improve in a tangible manner. The best improvements we have seen go from E to A after 1 course and a few regular lessons.

6) Have the students shown improvements after attending these courses? How so?

Students are more confident especially as they have just reviewed their entire syllabus. There is also much appreciation of the subject now that they can crystallise key components of it; this allows them to keep up at school and in turn they feel more motivated and driven. By focusing on key questions and applications, our courses can make a seemingly dry subject come alive and many students find it easier in their revisions.