GP tuition for JC students

I offer both one-to-one and group GP tuition. For group tuition, the optimal number of students per class is between 2 to 4. Please form your own group because this will facilitate research work and my teaching pedagogy.

Lessons will only be conducted on Sundays at my residential address, where the nearest MRT station is the Choa Chu Kang station. The available time slots, now, are: 10am-12pm and 7-9pm.


Reading materials I will issue:
1. Top JCs GP model essays (from RJC's KS Bulletin, HCI's GP Bulletin etc) (View samples in my March 09 Archive)
2. Hwa Chong Institution's Issues and Ideas; From Fact to Fiction; Time tunnel series.
3. Top JC Preliminary examination papers (based on latest H1/H2/H3 syllabus)
4. Past years' Cambridge A level examination papers with full set of solutions compiled by HCI English department.
5. Personal Grammar notes (on subjects like Subject-Verb Agreement, Tenses, Punctuations, Use of Auxillary verbs etc)
6. Essay writing and comprehension skills notes (from HCI Essay Skills handbooks and other sources)
7. Samples of excellent AQs (View a sample in my March 09 Archive)
8. SAT word lists complied by my HCI tutor
9. My personalized collection of exclusive summarized reading materials from a variety of sources such as The Straits Times, Newsweek, TIME, The Economist etc (View a sample in my March 09 Archive)
10. Thorough analysis of potential 'pet' topics that have consistently appeared in past years' GCE A level GP examinations.

My pedagogy aka mode of instruction:

1. Work on content knowledge. Why?
- Students tend to score poorly in content, especially when writing Paper 1 essays and/or when tackling the last question of Paper 2, the application question.
- Furthermore, content marks constitute a considerably large portion of the entire GP exam: 30 marks in Paper 1 and 35 marks in Paper 2.
- Gives students avenues to writing a well-enunciated piece with obvious command of ideas and illustrations.

How? Through the weekly "content building sessions".
I will spend about 30 minutes, weekly, improving students' content knowledge. I will engage, explain, and ensure my students imbibe the gamut of worthy facts and relevant examples given, through a series of classroom activities, discussions and mock tests/exams. Topics to be covered include: Science & Technology; Globalization; Feminism and roles of men and women in society; Singapore and world Politics; National Education Issues and Singapore Geopolitics; Economics; War and Terrorism; the Mass Media. (For samples of the notes I give during content building sessions, do approach me directly via email/cell phone.)

2. Develop essay writing skills
- Aim to impart critical thinking and writing skills
- Learn the arts of writing effective thesis and topic sentences
- Write a piece that incorporates the following: crisp, concise and focused introduction; mature, sophisticated and well-substantiated body paragraphs; lastly a strong conclusion.
- Apply the QTK Method of analyzing questions.
- Practise planning essays
- Internalize and use my 4-step approach to write a top grade, Band 1, Application Question answer, that fulfills the A level examiners' criteria of marking. They look out for Relevance, Elaboration, Evaluation and Coherence.

My approach: Learn from the competent writers. I will issue useful resources such as the GP Essays (annotated essay plans) from RJC and HCI; exclusive HCI materials like From Fact to Fiction, Time Tunnel and Issues and Ideas; TIME, NEWSWEEK and THE ECONOMIST magazine articles, at different interim, to facilitate teaching of these skills. Vocabulary word lists will likewise be given to expand students' word power. In addition, timed-assignments will be given, at regular interim (usually after I've finished two content topics), to ascertain the students' level competency and understanding.

3. Time management and exam skills.
- Use of sample model answers and marking schemes given by HCI tutors and actual A level Cambridge examiners; I will teach students how to be exam smart.
- Write only what the examiners are looking for. For example, in 2000 Cambridge examiners report, examiners commented "a crisp, concise style is much preferred in the opening. Over-complex phrasing of sentencing, with insecure use of vocabulary, can establish detrimental impression." As seen from the above illustration, I know what the examiners want for introduction; therefore, when I teach, I focus on teaching the art of writing crisp, concise and focused introductions.
- How to manage time effectively, especially when under exam duress.
- Disregard the misconception and erroneous thought stating that GP cannot be revised because it is an examination that focuses on language skills and there is not much students can do about that.
- I teach my students how to revise for GP examinations and convince them why revision is required.

Lastly, do note improving one's GP grade takes time. And it certainly requires copious amounts of hard work, dedication and conscious effort, to boot. Therefore, if you are not doing well now, do not give up. Redefine your learning strategies and work even harder - so you can hopefully see the fruits of your labour one day!

With regards
Mr Lee

Samples of HCI and RJC essays

HCI C2 GP Bulletin: Issue 3, 2007

Question 7:Do you agree the view that, eventually, technology will always solve the problems it creates? (Essay By:Jacklyn Yek)



RJC KS Bull 2007 Issue 1
"Science, unlike religion, promises more than it delivers." To what extent do you agree with this statement? (Essay by: M Aditya)

A sample of my AQ model answer

Application Question on Nuclear Power and other alternative energy resources

Pages 1 - 3

A sample of my exclusive summarised material

Science & Technology: Eugenics

Rules of engagement

This one's for the kids who asked the questions today --- you know who you are.

How to do well in General Paper
(Or rather, and more importantly: How to become a reasoning, thinking citizen as a result of --- or perhaps in spite of --- the General Paper course.)

1. Be curious. Question everything. And I don't mean question everything in the way that you badger your parents, "Why can't I have an increase in my allowance so that I can buy an iPod?" Question why you need money, where the allowance comes from, how is money organised in our society, what are the broader implications of an increased allowance (not just for you), how else you can (legally) get the money, how you can make those other sources of income work for you, why you need an iPod in the first place, why does an iPod cost so much anyway, how will having an iPod truly improve your standard of living, or will it just make you want more iThings, why do we need stuff anyway, when did having food and water and shelter and safety stop being enough, oh all right will an iPod mini do, why does Apple sell the mini anyway, what happens if you don't get an iPod or a mini, what happens if we all stop buying iPods and minis and stuff, and ...

2. Advance your reading. If you're not reading at all, then read anything --- even the local tabloid The New Paper is better than nothing. When you're done with the local tabloid, move on to the Nation-Builder Press, and from there on to more cerebral publications. If you're done with Harry Potter, why not try a little Philip Pullman, and from there it's a small leap to Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and Rushdie's written a lot of other interesting books that'll take you all over. Start with the thin books if the thick ones daunt you, but don't get stuck on 200-page chick lit forever. Time and Newsweek are better than nothing, but have a go at The Economist, which you don't have to read cover to cover, or The Guardian or The New York Times. The web is just full of interesting stuff. Try Salon or Slate or Alternet or my latest find (thanks, BoKo!), Arts & Letters Daily. Best of all, find something good that your teacher hasn't read and impress the hell out of him/her when you cite the source.

And whatever you read, refer back to step 1: Question everything. Don't accept something as gospel truth because it's in the Nation-Builder Press or The New York Times or on a sheet of paper that your teacher gave you. Ask yourself: Does the writer make sense? Is the argument convincing? Is the evidence watertight? Is there wiggle room? What's the other side of the story that the writer's not telling you? Can you find another piece of writing that deals thoroughly with that other side? Can you come up with the other side of the story on your own?

3. At the end of the day, formulate your own informed opinion. Where do you stand, and why? Yes, you --- don't avoid eye contact or look down at your shoes as though having an opinion is a dirty thing. You should have a stand, not just to be able to write a satisfactory General Paper essay, but because we're thinking, feeling human beings, and if humankind as a whole is going to make any sort of progress over this century, we're going to need every mind that's capable of intelligent, clear reasoning. Yes, I know it's hard to formulate an opinion because there are so many competing narratives and views shouting for your attention, but if you refuse to think hard and make sense of it, you might as well just check your brain in at the school gate and sign yourself up for some automaton-level task for the rest of your life. Lead, don't be led. Set the agenda, don't let others set it for you.

We don't all gotta be intellectuals or experts at everything. The world is too large, too dense for that. There's too much for any one brain to contain at one time. That's why you have to figure out your own patterns and structures for making sense of this crazy whirlspin of activity.

The more I teach, the more I think that while being blessed natural intelligence is an advantage, having a genuine open-mindedness and curiosity about the grand human experiment --- now that's when the magic really begins to happen.

From http://www.toomanythoughts.org/blog/2005/07/rules-of-engagement_25.html