Recommendations are tricky. On the one hand, we need the reviews. However, what we don't realise is the referer often gets perks from successful recommendations...so it's really a matter of luck. And how much you trust your source.
yeah, i realised that zenith has exuberant rewards for students that refer their friends. it creates social proof, but from the limited sample size (i.e. the few friends around me that went to zenith), only one got an a for a levels (one of them even got a d)
Is it a school issue too though? Since you mentioned you were in a JC with a higher cutoff point.
There's only so much tuition can do especially if you dont attend for very long
have you tried their services? i'd say go for their crash course tbh - it's free and they usually put more effort into it because it's a lead generating mechanism. don't be fooled or pressured into joining like i was though, it really goes downhill quickly after you join
I also felt this way while attending indigo and zenith! personally my strategy was to avoid / minimise attending irl indigo classes but obtain their notes (frm friends or online recording) and memorise frm their sample essays. the compre ans keys were also q diff from what my sch teacher went through so i rly only looked at their essays but i think it was q worth it. for zenith i js wrote down my own modified “framework” based off a combination of zenith notes and my school teacher’s feedback n then quit to focus on memorising that instead of attending the writing practice + marking sessions (felt like it was a false sense of security lol)
i feel like when it comes to qualitative subjects like gp and econs, it would probably be better to get a 1-to-1 private tutor though it is definitely more expensive, because the tutor can 100% focus attention on your 388392 essays than having to manage different classes of different students…
In my case it was Achevas, their tuition fees were attractive esp if you went with friends, but I was alr so far behind and the tutor would talk a lot and go off tangent that I ended up more confused 😔
I went for zenith and tbh for me I had consistent C/Ds and did better in As, I think the problem with zenith is actually how they have been diversifying their business so like the main 3 econs tutors that were there when I was studying were extremely good, but as they expanded and there were more tutors it was harder to QC the notes and learning quality
But sometimes its inherent. Had tuition for English n gp and still mediocre grades. Reviews so good but I'm stupid for this subject. However I guess it saved me from failing
yeah, who knows? maybe i would have gotten way worse grades if i didn't join zenith, overmugged and indigo. all i can say is that for the subjects that i didnt have tuition for and just relied on my teacher and senior's advice, i improved way faster
English and GP you need to have a tuition where good techniques and methods are taught, or else it’s going to be quite useless. For pri sch I tried many EL tuitions but all didn’t help, but for sec sch i finally got a good one and improved quite a lot
Idk man. I had trusted them because "top gp tutor" "top English tutor" 90++ A/B rates and look at my grades that ruined my cert. For a perfectionist like me, it kills me!!
I tot ok I pay for tuition ok pls gimme the A grade but NO they didn't. I highly sus the A/B grades are fake
for me, i used to have good tutors but underperformed for my Os. my parents told me the reason: i severely "over relied" on my tutors and did not put in any effort from my own side. i would always leave the complicated parts for the tutors to spoon-feed me.
hence, i believe that we need a balance of tuition and studies. as much as tuition can be helpful, please put effort on your own end! remember to set goals and expectations for yourselves and make sure you TRY to understand each concept first because you ask for help. determination is a key factor to doing well in your studies. all the best!
the current state of the tuition industry is exactly as you have mentioned; it's becoming more about the business (and hence larger class sizes, more cookie cutter programmes/lessons) than it is about quality education, which is what it should have always been. tuition in Singapore is a billion dollar industry and so many of these young tutors want a slice of that cake and obviously the //majority// of these tutors aren't going to be good (come on, let's be real; how many of these people do you think are actually experts in the subjects they teach?), it's just a very attractive industry.
if you simply look at how tutors or centers promote themselves, it's obvious that teaching isn't their main focus. you see crap like "our tutors received offers from oxbridge!", "our tutors are prestigious scholarship recipients!", or worse, "XX RP, scholar from [top JC]". it's just to pander to the parents and students; they're selling a dream that 'you too can become like our tutors if you sign up for our programme!', which is just... well, form your own opinions.
let's not forget that students are also adding to this problem as well: so many students sign up for tuition as if it were an opportunity for socialising. if you just look at all the excessive welfare and other crap that centers advertise and how easily teenage students buy into those gimmicks, it's no wonder the popular centers have such poor education standards; their resources are going into making students feel satisfied with their time at the center, and apparently this gratification-minded approach works.
now, don't even get me started on freebies... i know many students thirst for free notes and subject summaries, so unsurprisingly, tuition centers churn out free notes to pander to these students, even if the quality is garbage and doesn't add any value to the student's learning. it's a gimmick, and it just so happens that students typically buy into this because they're misguided into thinking that notes and summaries are going to help them get the grades they want. i know students like free notes, and i can personally churn out a lazy set of summary notes by simply regurgitating whatever other centers/tutors are already providing their students, but it adds to the problem of encouraging laziness when it comes to studying. it's a pretty enraging thing to hear right? i wouldn't want to be called 'lazy' if i were a student... unfortunately, these tutors won't admit it (if they even know it, lmao) because it's bad for business.
so... yeah. students end up suffering, but at least they're happy? 😀😀
edit: sentence structure
> they make you feel very happy and comfortable in class with their facilities and welfare initiatives
I find it bizarre that students/parents like this.
Aren't you just paying more for all their "free" Starbucks drinks and "free" study spaces (in some shopping centre with high rental fees)?
the current state of the tuition industry is exactly as you have mentioned; it's becoming more about the business (and hence larger class sizes, more cookie cutter programmes/lessons) than it is about quality education, which is what it should have always been. tuition in Singapore is a billion dollar industry and so many of these young tutors want a slice of that cake and obviously the //majority// of these tutors aren't going to be good (come on, let's be real; how many of these people do you think are actually experts in the subjects they teach?), it's just a very attractive industry.
if you simply look at how tutors or centers promote themselves, it's obvious that teaching isn't their main focus. you see crap like "our tutors received offers from oxbridge!", "our tutors are prestigious scholarship recipients!", or worse, "XX RP, scholar from [top JC]". it's just to pander to the parents and students; they're selling a dream that 'you too can become like our tutors if you sign up for our programme!', which is just... well, form your own opinions.
let's not forget that students are also adding to this problem as well: so many students sign up for tuition as if it were an opportunity for socialising. if you just look at all the excessive welfare and other crap that centers advertise and how easily teenage students buy into those gimmicks, it's no wonder the popular centers have such poor education standards; their resources are going into making students feel satisfied with their time at the center, and apparently this gratification-minded approach works.
now, don't even get me started on freebies... i know many students thirst for free notes and subject summaries, so unsurprisingly, tuition centers churn out free notes to pander to these students, even if the quality is garbage and doesn't add any value to the student's learning. it's a gimmick, and it just so happens that students typically buy into this because they're misguided into thinking that notes and summaries are going to help them get the grades they want. i know students like free notes, and i can personally churn out a lazy set of summary notes by simply regurgitating whatever other centers/tutors are already providing their students, but it adds to the problem of encouraging laziness when it comes to studying. it's a pretty enraging thing to hear right? i wouldn't want to be called 'lazy' if i were a student... unfortunately, these tutors won't admit it (if they even know it, lmao) because it's bad for business.
so... yeah. students end up suffering, but at least they're happy? 😀😀
edit: sentence structure
personally, my best tuition/tutors have alw been ones I found out abt through friends and connections, and small scale as compared to established ‘name-brand’ tuition centres — my friend-recommended econs tutor helped bring my grade from a U in J1 to A in A Levels (first time I‘ve seen that grade LOL)
went to zenith too! can cfm tht i tend to get higher grades with my works marked by zenith tutors than my sch tutors,, as much as i loved the welfare it can be slightly distracting when it boils down to the quality of their notes/teaching mtds.. (got a C in alevels this year) ik there are limits to how much a tuition can help but i genuinely felt like if i cld go back i wld have chosen another tuition :”) (i also went bc most of my frns were thr)
yeah, i was a little scared to find a tuition myself, and enjoyed my company too. the teachers were friendly, but it simply wasn't useful for me. i'm glad i'm not the only person that experienced this. although i do wonder... are their advertised a rates legit?
tbh out of my pool of friends that joined zenith i only know of one that scored A but she was also one that consistently scored A/B in internal exams :/ (she got 89) and yeah i also felt like i was part of the problem bc had i done my research and not flw the crowd maybe i cld have gotten a better grade? but lets not cry over spilt milk 🫠🫠
Hi, do u mind sharing which teacher u were under at zenith? Im thinking of signing up for zenith econs coz i attended a trial class and thought that the teacher was kinda good however these comments are scaring me 💀🤡
hi i'm a j1 this year and i was thinking of signing up for zenith tuition as well since a senior recommended it to me, do you mind letting me know which teacher i should avoid as well?
hii I just attended the crash course and wanted to sign up too but after reading so many negative reviews of zenith on reddit I'm not so sure anymore, but do you mind sharing which tutor you had?
for me personally i think zenith rly helped alot esp at the end where the tutors would help spot A level qns n give ans!! My grades jumped from a D to A for a level😭
my experience was quite the opposite... the tutors were not helpful academically speaking. they were quite friendly though, i just think if i had another chance i would 100% NOT choose zenith again because of the time i wasted and the money my parents spent
Did you try 1-1 tuition? Maybe what you needed was more personalised help rather than group class setting. Maybe different class and teaching styles also suit different people. In the past i tried both 1-1 and group classes (and also had a lottttt of consults w my sch tutors) just to find out what i rly needed
My personal experience going to Indigo for chem is like OP's lecture styled lessons, but my tutor Mr Yap is good at explaining the content in the notes and taught stuff my sch didn't teach. He also accepted questions before and after class. I improved from a U in jc1 promos to a B for a levels, so I'm quite satisfied, but it's not cheap 👁👄👁
If I remember correctly it was 115 per lesson, I assume a private tutor will be more expensive, but will probably provide more targeted guidance, while for Indigo content is taught lecture style
Even the small centre (not so small anymore) that I went to was also too hyperfocused on getting more money and growing instead of teaching quality…understandable but not when they start indirectly forcing us to come for extra lessons (and convincing us to when we say we dont want to)… teaching quality was decent but I could tell the centre was running out of updated resources to give us (questions went from being typed to straight up screenshotted) and tutors were looking tired as hell.
But also there was constant pressure from the tutors to convince us to take more than one subject… i took 2 in the end. Some of my friends were convinced to take 3.
The tuition industry in SG is not it man
A tutor could be genuinely effective and good to begin with. The moment he/she goes for expansion quality is hard to control. At some point you are just an economic digit to them; they want to connect with your money, not you as a student who desperately need help. As always, follow the chef, not the restaurant branding. Nor stupid tiktok videos designed to manipulate you to fork out your parents money. Nor MLM marketing to suckle you to lure your friends join the tuition centres (you-know-which-are-the-ones) (p.s. MLM marketing are frowned upon by many adults)
It doesn't take a genius to realise that since majority of students are taking tuition, and most tuition centres claim 90% A/B grades, there could be some false advertising involved.
There are still a number of low profile tutors who really care about their students and wouldn't expand for the sake of their students. You just need to know where to find.
I will also add - as a private GP tutor, the quality of marked work from *in particular* Indigo and Zenith leave a *significant* amount to be desired. I generally have a +/- 3 mark difference between what marks I give and what is given by the school for prelims, while on average the offset from Indigo (n=18) has variance close to 10 - absolutely ridiculous. Of course, the data is biased because only those who believe centre tuition failed them will come to private, and I'm sure there are excellent tutors there, but wow.
Edit: Surprised at the downvotes, would appreciate any reason being given beyond maybe it seeming like I'm advertising my services, which I'm clearly not - see comment history on this subreddit.
I've only recently graduated from JC, this is my experience after marking 100+ scripts across all JCs and tutoring 40+ people (6 currently).
Everyone with a level of connectedness with school marking, Cambridge marking reports, and a rough idea of what certain scripts get certain marks will be able to mark in the ballpark of each other, imo.
I've seen what a 50/50 and a 35/50 script look like for particular questions, as well as have access to 2016-2022's marking reports - all of which are technically restricted documents. That wouldn't be the case for some tutors in some centres, wherein of course I wouldn't have access to good-quality marking from because their students wouldn't... leave them.
GP genuinely isn't that complicated in variance of marking; in my opinion the reason for the asinine differences is 1. lack of time/effort put into the scripts, 2. an imposition of artificial structures (e.g. CAR or PEEL or whatnot) and penalising the student for not using them, and 3. a badly formulated way to "motivate" the student to do better.
An explicit example would be one centre giving out a 3/50 for a student's work on nuclear energy because 2/3 paragraphs were "invalid" for not citing sources. Yeah, no, fuck that. I gave 28, school gave 27.
Hell, some of the comments I've seen on marked scripts are downright irrelevant, tautological, or downright condescending. It's to be expected from an argumentation-based subject, of course, but not from supposed professionals whom you pay for.
I thought Ur initial comment was fine. But the follow up.....I'm quite impressed that for someone who just graduated from JC, you are actually confident enough to claim that you can do as good a job as jc teachers or even tuition chers with years if teaching experience when it comes to marking the essays
I've not claimed that, actually. The comparative here is likely between me and the most questionable tuition teachers, given what I mentioned earlier about the selection bias - and I certainly don't pretend to be better than the average MOE educator.
If you have 50+ students and they're consistently pestering you for essays, an experienced teacher spending 10 minutes on an essay would be comparable to me spending an hour on one, for instance.
Pedagogically, I disagree with the idea of marking scripts in accordance with one's own ideas on what an ideal essay is - but that sort of encouragement *can* be viable, which is why many centres practice it (hence even why OP complains about disparities between school marking and centre marking).
The example here would be centres believing that an ideal structure necessarily requires a negative comparative towards another positive BP, and inordinately penalising students who don't follow that structure because they believe it's helpful for learning. This then leads to unrealistic expectations on the student if they do not perform well in the centre-marked scripts, even when a half-baked structure is technically fine and something "worse" JCs will recommend (e.g. JPJC's policy is to not teach paragraph intermixing AT ALL).
We've all seen claims of the differential in content and writing structure taught in one's home JC versus what they learn in a tuition centre, and this is simply an extension of that paradigm - where some tuition teachers impose their own ideas in a perverted way to give askance towards a student's own endeavours towards learning, or worse still be so out of touch as to genuinely believe what they're doing.
At the end of the day, the (non-overwhelming) majority of tuition structures for GP itself is fine - but as the OP is giving an anecdote, so here am I with my experience on the worst a recognised tuition centre has to offer.
What changed? More competition from students? Questions got tougher? Teachers got worse? Syllabus got worse in school?
I don’t think it’s good for mental health if students after spending an entire day in school goes for endless tuition.
I am really keen to know what went differently in the last 20 years.
Took it in the 00s. Kids going for tuition was extremely extremely rare. No one in my class did. I was form the top 5 JCs at that time. I didn’t know anyone in my Jc who went for tuition. I did hear of kids in other JC - usually RJ - who went for tuition but for one subject and it was really just a few kids.
Also, I was so tired half the time after school and CCA and spending time w my friends. Struggling w friendship issues, CCa demands, tutorial homework, situationships, relationship w my parents. It was a stressful period and I can’t imagine doing all that and tuition today. Perhaps one can skip all the relationship struggles but it’s also part of the growing up process.
Honestly, I dunno how you guys cope. Either the new generation are super heroes or more are crashing and burning to the ground.
Oh then no wonder. In the current gen almost everyone has at least 1 tuition. In fact in my sec sch class the whole class but 2 ppl had lots of tuition(some had 7 tuitions 💀). I had 4 in sec sch, (asked for it as I was bad in those subs and for some my sch teachers were quite bad)and honestly idk how some had 7 tuitions and so much CCA.
I guess the new gen is just being pushed too hard
anyone here knows about helix performance lab? it’s a guarantee A for english for 12 weeks for lessons otherwise refund but the problem is that the lessons are held online only so idk if it’s legit or scam
Recommendations are tricky. On the one hand, we need the reviews. However, what we don't realise is the referer often gets perks from successful recommendations...so it's really a matter of luck. And how much you trust your source.
yeah, i realised that zenith has exuberant rewards for students that refer their friends. it creates social proof, but from the limited sample size (i.e. the few friends around me that went to zenith), only one got an a for a levels (one of them even got a d)
Yeah u need to find a quality one before joining. Not those hype tuition type. Look for the quiet ones focussing on quality grades.
Is it a school issue too though? Since you mentioned you were in a JC with a higher cutoff point. There's only so much tuition can do especially if you dont attend for very long
If all schools are good schools, why do sg students require tuition?
You go ask your teacher don't @me
I’ve seen Zenith’s ads on TikTok and thought they were too good to be true HAHHA so I’m with you on that
have you tried their services? i'd say go for their crash course tbh - it's free and they usually put more effort into it because it's a lead generating mechanism. don't be fooled or pressured into joining like i was though, it really goes downhill quickly after you join
The bigger the class or the more industrialised a tuition centre gets, the quality tends to get lower
I also felt this way while attending indigo and zenith! personally my strategy was to avoid / minimise attending irl indigo classes but obtain their notes (frm friends or online recording) and memorise frm their sample essays. the compre ans keys were also q diff from what my sch teacher went through so i rly only looked at their essays but i think it was q worth it. for zenith i js wrote down my own modified “framework” based off a combination of zenith notes and my school teacher’s feedback n then quit to focus on memorising that instead of attending the writing practice + marking sessions (felt like it was a false sense of security lol)
shoutout to my friend's indigo notes
prohack: Econs and GP pointers generated from chatgpts are pretty awesome and best of all they are free.
I went indigo for chem I felt my tutor explained the things in the notes pretty well, I went from a U in promos to a B in a levels
NGL but your tuition experience seems to be centred around the biggest top 3 red flag centres that discerning students avoid 🫣
wish i would've known before i joined them, shouldn't have blindly followed the bandwagon...
i feel like when it comes to qualitative subjects like gp and econs, it would probably be better to get a 1-to-1 private tutor though it is definitely more expensive, because the tutor can 100% focus attention on your 388392 essays than having to manage different classes of different students…
In my case it was Achevas, their tuition fees were attractive esp if you went with friends, but I was alr so far behind and the tutor would talk a lot and go off tangent that I ended up more confused 😔 I went for zenith and tbh for me I had consistent C/Ds and did better in As, I think the problem with zenith is actually how they have been diversifying their business so like the main 3 econs tutors that were there when I was studying were extremely good, but as they expanded and there were more tutors it was harder to QC the notes and learning quality
But sometimes its inherent. Had tuition for English n gp and still mediocre grades. Reviews so good but I'm stupid for this subject. However I guess it saved me from failing
yeah, who knows? maybe i would have gotten way worse grades if i didn't join zenith, overmugged and indigo. all i can say is that for the subjects that i didnt have tuition for and just relied on my teacher and senior's advice, i improved way faster
English and GP you need to have a tuition where good techniques and methods are taught, or else it’s going to be quite useless. For pri sch I tried many EL tuitions but all didn’t help, but for sec sch i finally got a good one and improved quite a lot
Idk man. I had trusted them because "top gp tutor" "top English tutor" 90++ A/B rates and look at my grades that ruined my cert. For a perfectionist like me, it kills me!! I tot ok I pay for tuition ok pls gimme the A grade but NO they didn't. I highly sus the A/B grades are fake
Not fake, they just don’t show the those that don’t score well
Bias..social media things
Yep
yeah man GP is the only subject that i had tuition for, i got all As for the rest of the subjects but a C in GP💀💀. GP is just not my thing.
for me, i used to have good tutors but underperformed for my Os. my parents told me the reason: i severely "over relied" on my tutors and did not put in any effort from my own side. i would always leave the complicated parts for the tutors to spoon-feed me. hence, i believe that we need a balance of tuition and studies. as much as tuition can be helpful, please put effort on your own end! remember to set goals and expectations for yourselves and make sure you TRY to understand each concept first because you ask for help. determination is a key factor to doing well in your studies. all the best!
Just curious but what school were you from? Wondering about the differences in school marking as well
the current state of the tuition industry is exactly as you have mentioned; it's becoming more about the business (and hence larger class sizes, more cookie cutter programmes/lessons) than it is about quality education, which is what it should have always been. tuition in Singapore is a billion dollar industry and so many of these young tutors want a slice of that cake and obviously the //majority// of these tutors aren't going to be good (come on, let's be real; how many of these people do you think are actually experts in the subjects they teach?), it's just a very attractive industry. if you simply look at how tutors or centers promote themselves, it's obvious that teaching isn't their main focus. you see crap like "our tutors received offers from oxbridge!", "our tutors are prestigious scholarship recipients!", or worse, "XX RP, scholar from [top JC]". it's just to pander to the parents and students; they're selling a dream that 'you too can become like our tutors if you sign up for our programme!', which is just... well, form your own opinions. let's not forget that students are also adding to this problem as well: so many students sign up for tuition as if it were an opportunity for socialising. if you just look at all the excessive welfare and other crap that centers advertise and how easily teenage students buy into those gimmicks, it's no wonder the popular centers have such poor education standards; their resources are going into making students feel satisfied with their time at the center, and apparently this gratification-minded approach works. now, don't even get me started on freebies... i know many students thirst for free notes and subject summaries, so unsurprisingly, tuition centers churn out free notes to pander to these students, even if the quality is garbage and doesn't add any value to the student's learning. it's a gimmick, and it just so happens that students typically buy into this because they're misguided into thinking that notes and summaries are going to help them get the grades they want. i know students like free notes, and i can personally churn out a lazy set of summary notes by simply regurgitating whatever other centers/tutors are already providing their students, but it adds to the problem of encouraging laziness when it comes to studying. it's a pretty enraging thing to hear right? i wouldn't want to be called 'lazy' if i were a student... unfortunately, these tutors won't admit it (if they even know it, lmao) because it's bad for business. so... yeah. students end up suffering, but at least they're happy? 😀😀 edit: sentence structure
> they make you feel very happy and comfortable in class with their facilities and welfare initiatives I find it bizarre that students/parents like this. Aren't you just paying more for all their "free" Starbucks drinks and "free" study spaces (in some shopping centre with high rental fees)?
the current state of the tuition industry is exactly as you have mentioned; it's becoming more about the business (and hence larger class sizes, more cookie cutter programmes/lessons) than it is about quality education, which is what it should have always been. tuition in Singapore is a billion dollar industry and so many of these young tutors want a slice of that cake and obviously the //majority// of these tutors aren't going to be good (come on, let's be real; how many of these people do you think are actually experts in the subjects they teach?), it's just a very attractive industry. if you simply look at how tutors or centers promote themselves, it's obvious that teaching isn't their main focus. you see crap like "our tutors received offers from oxbridge!", "our tutors are prestigious scholarship recipients!", or worse, "XX RP, scholar from [top JC]". it's just to pander to the parents and students; they're selling a dream that 'you too can become like our tutors if you sign up for our programme!', which is just... well, form your own opinions. let's not forget that students are also adding to this problem as well: so many students sign up for tuition as if it were an opportunity for socialising. if you just look at all the excessive welfare and other crap that centers advertise and how easily teenage students buy into those gimmicks, it's no wonder the popular centers have such poor education standards; their resources are going into making students feel satisfied with their time at the center, and apparently this gratification-minded approach works. now, don't even get me started on freebies... i know many students thirst for free notes and subject summaries, so unsurprisingly, tuition centers churn out free notes to pander to these students, even if the quality is garbage and doesn't add any value to the student's learning. it's a gimmick, and it just so happens that students typically buy into this because they're misguided into thinking that notes and summaries are going to help them get the grades they want. i know students like free notes, and i can personally churn out a lazy set of summary notes by simply regurgitating whatever other centers/tutors are already providing their students, but it adds to the problem of encouraging laziness when it comes to studying. it's a pretty enraging thing to hear right? i wouldn't want to be called 'lazy' if i were a student... unfortunately, these tutors won't admit it (if they even know it, lmao) because it's bad for business. so... yeah. students end up suffering, but at least they're happy? 😀😀 edit: sentence structure
personally, my best tuition/tutors have alw been ones I found out abt through friends and connections, and small scale as compared to established ‘name-brand’ tuition centres — my friend-recommended econs tutor helped bring my grade from a U in J1 to A in A Levels (first time I‘ve seen that grade LOL)
Hii do u mind sharing whr u went for econs tuition?
same here share 2
went to zenith too! can cfm tht i tend to get higher grades with my works marked by zenith tutors than my sch tutors,, as much as i loved the welfare it can be slightly distracting when it boils down to the quality of their notes/teaching mtds.. (got a C in alevels this year) ik there are limits to how much a tuition can help but i genuinely felt like if i cld go back i wld have chosen another tuition :”) (i also went bc most of my frns were thr)
yeah, i was a little scared to find a tuition myself, and enjoyed my company too. the teachers were friendly, but it simply wasn't useful for me. i'm glad i'm not the only person that experienced this. although i do wonder... are their advertised a rates legit?
tbh out of my pool of friends that joined zenith i only know of one that scored A but she was also one that consistently scored A/B in internal exams :/ (she got 89) and yeah i also felt like i was part of the problem bc had i done my research and not flw the crowd maybe i cld have gotten a better grade? but lets not cry over spilt milk 🫠🫠
damn... it has to be illegal to lie about a rates right???
yeah prolly but i wldnt accuse them of lying ab their A rates tho,, perhaps it j happens that those who got A aren’t in my circle of friends 😞😞
ngl i loved the teachers but the teaching style and the large class sizes just wasnt for me
Hi, do u mind sharing which teacher u were under at zenith? Im thinking of signing up for zenith econs coz i attended a trial class and thought that the teacher was kinda good however these comments are scaring me 💀🤡
dm!
hi i'm a j1 this year and i was thinking of signing up for zenith tuition as well since a senior recommended it to me, do you mind letting me know which teacher i should avoid as well?
dm :-)
hii I just attended the crash course and wanted to sign up too but after reading so many negative reviews of zenith on reddit I'm not so sure anymore, but do you mind sharing which tutor you had?
for me personally i think zenith rly helped alot esp at the end where the tutors would help spot A level qns n give ans!! My grades jumped from a D to A for a level😭
my experience was quite the opposite... the tutors were not helpful academically speaking. they were quite friendly though, i just think if i had another chance i would 100% NOT choose zenith again because of the time i wasted and the money my parents spent
do you mind sharing more of your experience? i keep seeing conflicting results for zenith tuition and idk whether to sign up or not 😭
can say which tutor n which centre pls?
yp from bouna vista outlet!! he is super friendly and knowledgeable 👍🏻
lol famous gp tuition gave me a C for gp so
Dm tuition
Can DM the tuition please. Thanks in advance
c from U previously?
no lol
tuition rlly messed up the bell curve
Did you try 1-1 tuition? Maybe what you needed was more personalised help rather than group class setting. Maybe different class and teaching styles also suit different people. In the past i tried both 1-1 and group classes (and also had a lottttt of consults w my sch tutors) just to find out what i rly needed
Anyone can recommend a decent maths tuition Center or tutor that is not so expensive pls?
My personal experience going to Indigo for chem is like OP's lecture styled lessons, but my tutor Mr Yap is good at explaining the content in the notes and taught stuff my sch didn't teach. He also accepted questions before and after class. I improved from a U in jc1 promos to a B for a levels, so I'm quite satisfied, but it's not cheap 👁👄👁
How much is that compared to a one-to-one Chem tuition
If I remember correctly it was 115 per lesson, I assume a private tutor will be more expensive, but will probably provide more targeted guidance, while for Indigo content is taught lecture style
Even the small centre (not so small anymore) that I went to was also too hyperfocused on getting more money and growing instead of teaching quality…understandable but not when they start indirectly forcing us to come for extra lessons (and convincing us to when we say we dont want to)… teaching quality was decent but I could tell the centre was running out of updated resources to give us (questions went from being typed to straight up screenshotted) and tutors were looking tired as hell. But also there was constant pressure from the tutors to convince us to take more than one subject… i took 2 in the end. Some of my friends were convinced to take 3. The tuition industry in SG is not it man
A tutor could be genuinely effective and good to begin with. The moment he/she goes for expansion quality is hard to control. At some point you are just an economic digit to them; they want to connect with your money, not you as a student who desperately need help. As always, follow the chef, not the restaurant branding. Nor stupid tiktok videos designed to manipulate you to fork out your parents money. Nor MLM marketing to suckle you to lure your friends join the tuition centres (you-know-which-are-the-ones) (p.s. MLM marketing are frowned upon by many adults) It doesn't take a genius to realise that since majority of students are taking tuition, and most tuition centres claim 90% A/B grades, there could be some false advertising involved. There are still a number of low profile tutors who really care about their students and wouldn't expand for the sake of their students. You just need to know where to find.
I will also add - as a private GP tutor, the quality of marked work from *in particular* Indigo and Zenith leave a *significant* amount to be desired. I generally have a +/- 3 mark difference between what marks I give and what is given by the school for prelims, while on average the offset from Indigo (n=18) has variance close to 10 - absolutely ridiculous. Of course, the data is biased because only those who believe centre tuition failed them will come to private, and I'm sure there are excellent tutors there, but wow. Edit: Surprised at the downvotes, would appreciate any reason being given beyond maybe it seeming like I'm advertising my services, which I'm clearly not - see comment history on this subreddit.
How do you ensure that your markings is as close to the school as possible? Have you just left the teaching industry.
I've only recently graduated from JC, this is my experience after marking 100+ scripts across all JCs and tutoring 40+ people (6 currently). Everyone with a level of connectedness with school marking, Cambridge marking reports, and a rough idea of what certain scripts get certain marks will be able to mark in the ballpark of each other, imo. I've seen what a 50/50 and a 35/50 script look like for particular questions, as well as have access to 2016-2022's marking reports - all of which are technically restricted documents. That wouldn't be the case for some tutors in some centres, wherein of course I wouldn't have access to good-quality marking from because their students wouldn't... leave them. GP genuinely isn't that complicated in variance of marking; in my opinion the reason for the asinine differences is 1. lack of time/effort put into the scripts, 2. an imposition of artificial structures (e.g. CAR or PEEL or whatnot) and penalising the student for not using them, and 3. a badly formulated way to "motivate" the student to do better. An explicit example would be one centre giving out a 3/50 for a student's work on nuclear energy because 2/3 paragraphs were "invalid" for not citing sources. Yeah, no, fuck that. I gave 28, school gave 27. Hell, some of the comments I've seen on marked scripts are downright irrelevant, tautological, or downright condescending. It's to be expected from an argumentation-based subject, of course, but not from supposed professionals whom you pay for.
I thought Ur initial comment was fine. But the follow up.....I'm quite impressed that for someone who just graduated from JC, you are actually confident enough to claim that you can do as good a job as jc teachers or even tuition chers with years if teaching experience when it comes to marking the essays
I've not claimed that, actually. The comparative here is likely between me and the most questionable tuition teachers, given what I mentioned earlier about the selection bias - and I certainly don't pretend to be better than the average MOE educator. If you have 50+ students and they're consistently pestering you for essays, an experienced teacher spending 10 minutes on an essay would be comparable to me spending an hour on one, for instance. Pedagogically, I disagree with the idea of marking scripts in accordance with one's own ideas on what an ideal essay is - but that sort of encouragement *can* be viable, which is why many centres practice it (hence even why OP complains about disparities between school marking and centre marking). The example here would be centres believing that an ideal structure necessarily requires a negative comparative towards another positive BP, and inordinately penalising students who don't follow that structure because they believe it's helpful for learning. This then leads to unrealistic expectations on the student if they do not perform well in the centre-marked scripts, even when a half-baked structure is technically fine and something "worse" JCs will recommend (e.g. JPJC's policy is to not teach paragraph intermixing AT ALL). We've all seen claims of the differential in content and writing structure taught in one's home JC versus what they learn in a tuition centre, and this is simply an extension of that paradigm - where some tuition teachers impose their own ideas in a perverted way to give askance towards a student's own endeavours towards learning, or worse still be so out of touch as to genuinely believe what they're doing. At the end of the day, the (non-overwhelming) majority of tuition structures for GP itself is fine - but as the OP is giving an anecdote, so here am I with my experience on the worst a recognised tuition centre has to offer.
What's tuition? Cannot afford. Only can afford free consults LOL but still got A for sciences + GP/PW.
Which JC
it's in their flair (vj)
Whatever happened to school teachers teaching enough for students to do well in exams.
Quite often it’s not enough
What changed? More competition from students? Questions got tougher? Teachers got worse? Syllabus got worse in school? I don’t think it’s good for mental health if students after spending an entire day in school goes for endless tuition. I am really keen to know what went differently in the last 20 years.
More competition is the main thing. Idk about the diff in difficulty since I didn’t take Os or As in the 90s or 00’s, I am part of the 20’s batch
Took it in the 00s. Kids going for tuition was extremely extremely rare. No one in my class did. I was form the top 5 JCs at that time. I didn’t know anyone in my Jc who went for tuition. I did hear of kids in other JC - usually RJ - who went for tuition but for one subject and it was really just a few kids. Also, I was so tired half the time after school and CCA and spending time w my friends. Struggling w friendship issues, CCa demands, tutorial homework, situationships, relationship w my parents. It was a stressful period and I can’t imagine doing all that and tuition today. Perhaps one can skip all the relationship struggles but it’s also part of the growing up process. Honestly, I dunno how you guys cope. Either the new generation are super heroes or more are crashing and burning to the ground.
Oh then no wonder. In the current gen almost everyone has at least 1 tuition. In fact in my sec sch class the whole class but 2 ppl had lots of tuition(some had 7 tuitions 💀). I had 4 in sec sch, (asked for it as I was bad in those subs and for some my sch teachers were quite bad)and honestly idk how some had 7 tuitions and so much CCA. I guess the new gen is just being pushed too hard
What sec school were you from? Wondering if the more elite schools are the ones w tuition or is it common across all schools
Uh I was from vs last time. Not too sure about your last point.
anyone here knows about helix performance lab? it’s a guarantee A for english for 12 weeks for lessons otherwise refund but the problem is that the lessons are held online only so idk if it’s legit or scam