Looking for IP Science Tuition in Singapore?
IP Science may be challenging, but our experienced IP Science tutors here are available to guide you through!
Importance of IP Science Tuition
While most students in secondary school opt for either two or three pure sciences or combined sciences for the O levels, IP students rarely have such a choice, and most end up taking all three pure sciences – Physics, Chemistry and Biology in the first 4 years of the IP program, before they get the option to specialise in JC. It may seem excessive to take all three sciences, but there are significant benefits that can accrue to students by taking these sciences in the IP program.
For one, learning all three sciences in tandem with each other allows students to better appreciate the interconnected nature of sciences, especially in hybrid areas such as popular STEM fields like biomedical engineering, materials sciences and pharmaceutical science.
Furthermore, IP Science often goes more in depth into the syllabus than its O level pure science equivalents, allowing students to be more prepared for the JC syllabus. Lastly, taking IP science allows students to be more versatile, so that they have more options when choosing what science to take at the JC level.
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- +65 8875 1100
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General problems faced when studying IP Science
Challenging content
Fundamentally, IP science prepares students for the A levels, rather than the O levels, so IP science programs typically have a steeper learning curve as it exposes students to high-level concepts at an early age, while their O level counterparts are still learning about simpler models and concepts.
For instance, most IP chemistry programs expose students to the concept of atomic orbitals in year three, while the O level syllabus only requires knowledge about the Bohr’s Model of the atom, and only transition to orbitals in JC1. As such, the difficult topics may also cause students to fall behind if they are unable to quickly grasp the concepts that they would otherwise be exposed to in JC.
Lack of external resources
Each school’s IP program differs. As such, it is difficult to find assessment books for additional practice, and students can only rely on the practice that schools provide them, which can sometimes be insufficient if students are slow to pick up on concepts. Even when seeking external tuition outside, it can be hard to find an appropriate tuition class since they mostly cater to the express stream students taking pure sciences. IP science tuition will help to overcome this problem.
Fast paced learning environment
In an IP school, most students are assumed to have a mastery of the basic science concepts taught in primary school since they have excelled in mathematics and science at the P6 level. As a result, many teachers accelerate the pace of the class to focus on new content and new critical thinking skills, and spend very little time revisiting old concepts that students may still have issues with.
Because of this, many Year 1 students have trouble transitioning from the demands of PSLE sciences to the demands of the IP program, and may feel demoralised because they are not used to them being slow or unable to cope. This problem may worsen as students advance through the years to year 3 or year 4 of the IP program, as a shaky foundation will inevitably impact their ability to cope when dealing with even more challenging IP science topics.
What to look for in an IP Science Tutor
Ability to help students understand challenging concepts
IP sciences expose students to high-level topics at an early age, which can be difficult to grasp. Hence, a good IP science tutor should be able to help students understand these concepts through a variety of ways – either through concept maps, explanatory videos, or even self-made notes. In addition, IP science students often deal with JC topics at the secondary school level.
It is important for them to know how to simplify explanations that are sometimes only suitable for JC students. For instance, learning about advanced forces in the A levels taught in IP science requires knowledge of vectors, but since many IP students have not learnt about them thoroughly in their mathematics curriculum yet, it is not helpful to explain to them in terms of vectors themselves.
Able to cater IP science tuition to the school they are from
As mentioned above, IP science programs will differ from school to school. Therefore, the only way to provide an effective learning experience for students is for IP Science home tutors to learn about the exact demands of the curriculum from that specific IP school, and adjust the learning resources accordingly so students do not waste time trying to figure out what is tested and what is not. Some IP programs also have added demands when it comes to practical skills, so it is also crucial to impart these skills over to students.
Experience in the IP program themselves
It is important for private IP Science tutors to have experience in the IP program themselves, because they would be lacking the appropriate knowledge if they do not. Because it is not possible to take all three H2 sciences at the JC level, tutors with no experience teaching IP or being in the IP program themselves would be unable to provide explanations for some topics that would otherwise be found only in A level science, but appear in IP science. For instance, if a tutor takes H2 Biology and H2 Chemistry in JC without H2 Physics, they may be unable to provide detailed explanations for topics such as Kinetic Particle Theory or the calculation-heavy 2D forces that appear in H2 Physics and IP Physics.
- Submit your request online or call us!
- +65 8875 1100
- Tutor Request Form
Benefits of IP Science Tuition
IP science tuition allows students to focus on learning the topics that are tested in school, instead of learning about topics that are completely untested, since the IP Science tuition teachers themselves would already have some experience catering to IP students from different IP schools. With prior experience either in teaching or studying IP science, IP Science tutors are also able to provide more practice for students that cannot be found in assessment books.
In school, teachers may gloss over fundamental concepts learned in early years of the IP program or in primary school, and focus more on learning advanced topics. With IP Science tuition, students that fall behind because of shaky fundamentals can take this opportunity to revisit concepts covered in early years of IP, without slowing the pace of lessons just because they have issues with certain previously covered topics or concepts.
With a personal IP science tutor, students do not have to worry about challenging content now or even in the future because the tutor would have experience explaining in-depth concepts for IP science. This allows the student to not waste time mulling over these concepts, and use the time saved to study for other subjects that are equally rigorous such as IP Mathematics of IP English. Furthermore, this can also provide a head start for the student especially in a competitive IP environment.
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Distinction Tutors can help
It does not matter if you are struggling in IP science, or if you just want a head start over your peers in the IP program – our IP science tutors are available to provide the quality tuition you need to achieve your goals. Simply drop us a call or message us to get started today!