Is Home Tuition for Everyone?

Education is the key if you want to survive in competitive Singapore. With the influx of foreigners, places in local universities are scarce. To make matters worse, the benchmark just to secure a place keeps creeping higher. Students nowadays are studying harder than ever, scrambling for spots to get a degree. It is also a known fact that in the Singapore job market, everywhere you turn, you see a graduate. Not having a degree in Singapore just would not cut it.

In short, there are three options parents have when it comes to beefing up their children’s results. Just plainly studying in a school, having tuition in tuition centre or having home tuition by a private tutor. All of which has its benefits and drawbacks and these options must be chosen carefully according to the students learning capabilities.

Let’s take a look at studying in a school today, for example, a typical class in a primary school. It contains 40 hyperactive and attention seeking students and just 1 teacher to teach the lesson. Being in the teacher's position is probably not something you would want to put yourself into. Teaching here is fast paced it is very much up to the students individual responsibility to figure out and digest most of the lesson. It’s not that teachers deliberately leave out the slower students,they do so because they have to keep up with the syllabus. But for students who can pick information up fast, and can concentrate in fast paced environments, they will be able to well even without the aid of tuition.

However, most students and unable to do so, and that is why in Singapore’s competitive education system, 9 out of 10 students have gone through tuition before. Many have tried tuition, some have seen results, some think it is a waste of time and money, so how do you know which is suitable for you and how would you benefit from it?

Tuition centres is an option which most parents would opt for if they children are not doing well in school. But one common known fact is that tuition centres offer the same classroom environment as schools. What renowned tuition centres offer are teachers wshorho are more experienced and can teach better because they specialise in teaching of one subject per class. Centres also offer more concise notes and lots more practise in the forms of revision and test papers for students, greatly beneficial for students who just lack practise. In short, if you are an average student in class who just needs more practice and have difficulty solving the more difficult questions, this is where you would want to be to push that B to that A you’ve always wanted.

Home tuition would inevitably be the last resort for some parents if they see no results from other options. Being a tutor myself in the past, I have seen why some students require individualised attention. These are the ones who have no idea why they are failing and have no clue on how to study. A tuition agency can help parents find a tutor who can observe the students work and their thinking process. This observation process is what tuition centres cannot provide which some students desperately need. It would be crucial for pinpointing mistakes or bad habits in students so learning can take place. Without a solid systematic approach to studying and doing work, most students would fail in absorbing information and inevitably fail in exams. If you are a student faring poorly in exams and find topics hard to grasps, it would be wise to get a private tutor to rectify the problems you have.