• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
Winners Education Centre

Winners Education Centre

  • Join Our 2021 Chemistry Classes
    • 2021 Sec 3 Sec 4 O-Level Pure Chemistry Weekly Tuition Class
    • 2021 Year 1 to 4 IP Chemistry Weekly Tuition Class
    • 2021 A-Level JC H2 Chemistry Weekly Tuition Class
    • Fast Track Chemistry
  • Testimonials
  • About Us
    • Track Record of O Level & IP Chemistry
    • Track Record of A Level H2 Chemistry
  • Contact Us

Featured

6 Features of our Online Chemistry Tuition to Help Your Child to Learn Chemistry Better, Faster and Easier

Winners Education · April 1, 2020 · Leave a Comment

Online Chemistry Tuition for O Level Pure Chemistry, IP Chemistry, A Level H2 Chemistry

With the suspension of centre-based tuition lessons, we have quickly moved all our lessons to Online Live! Learning (OLL) system.

Students, parents as well as educators have to embrace this change in teaching and learning. We are committed to support all our students to continue learning effectively.

In fact, we started OLL during the March holidays to test out the best approach so that our students continue to understand clearly with the change of teaching medium.

6 Features of Online Live! Learning™ by Winners Education

  1. Weekly 2 hours lesson involving whiteboard teaching of key concepts, discussion of exam-based questions
  2. 1 hour of complimentary Q & A Monday for students to clarify their doubts and test their understanding live!
  3. Notes are available for download and print to complement our students online learning
  4. 24/7 WhatsApp support by Mr Sean Chua personally
  5. All students have access to the recordings of their lesson for them to recap at their own pace
  6. Graded assessment will be collected and marked by Mr Sean Chua so that we can track our students’ progress.

In Winners Education, to allow our students to adapt to the ‘new’ way of learning, we work harder (on our rest day) by having an additional Q & A Monday session, complimentary for all our current students. This session will allow students to be exposed to more answering techniques and at the same time clarify their doubts.

Our Online Live! Learning (OLL) system is designed to be very similar to our physical lesson where it involves

  • Whiteboard teaching of key concepts
  • Exam-based questions discussion
  • Ask any questions freely
  • 24/7 WhatsApp for clarification of doubts, just like what many students are already doing
  • Graded assignment is to be submitted via online for marking after each topic is completed.

We are grateful that students and parents are embracing this change as we move along with the development of the Covid-19 situation.

We are certain we will all emerge stronger after this episode.

Online Live! Lesson as usual at Winners Education. Call us today at 88290998 to join the rest of 90+ students to continue learning effectively and pass Chemistry with Distinction.

How to Score A for A-Level H2 Chemistry

Winners Education · March 1, 2020 · Leave a Comment

“Why does my child struggle to pass his A-Level Higher 2 (H2) Chemistry examination when he has scored A1 for his O-Level Chemistry or IP Chemistry?”

In fact, Mr Sean Chua has to answer this question so frequently. We speak to him to find out what students should do to score in their A-Level H2 Chemistry.

Are you having too high expectations for your child?

We understand your concern. Who wouldn’t want your child to score outstanding results and gain admission to a university course of their choice? Most parents expect your child to continue to perform at an acceptable level in the Junior College. But many students gave their parents a shock with their first term results which are in a sea of red.

In my opinion, parents must understand the transition your child is going through before setting their expectation. It is also important that you have open communication with your child to find out why they are not performing.

What could be the major problem students face when they transit from O-Level Chemistry or IP Chemistry to H2 Chemistry?

Different Learning Environment:

Many students faced difficulties adjusting to a different learning environment. In secondary schools, your child learnt in a small classroom of between 30-40 students. And he has the chance to clarify with the Chemistry teacher whenever in doubt.

Now in JC, he will be learning in lecture theatres and he might find it difficult to ask questions when the lecture is in progress.

Some students have also commented that the pace of lectures were so fast that they only have time to copy notes, but no time to understand the concepts taught.

They also found it challenging to clarify their doubts after the lecture since the lecturers will be surrounded by many other students.

Many would choose to wait until their tutorial sessions to clarify their doubts. The problem is that some school tutors will only discuss concepts based on the given tutorial questions. The questions are often so challenging that students without basic understanding will not be able to even attempt them. As such, they resort to spending time copying down the suggested solutions rather than clarifying their conceptual doubts.

Others have also feedback that the topic discussed in their tutorials is lagging behind their lectures by 2-3 topics. By the time they attend the tutorial session, they would have forgotten the key concepts taught much earlier and the doubts they would like to clarify. This caused them to lose their interest in the subject.

What if my child is an introvert? Will he be at a disadvantage when he doesn’t voice out his questions?

Definitely not! With the advancement in technology, a quiet student like your child can choose to use WhatsApp to ‘voice out’ his questions with his school tutors.

He can also use the educational resources found on the internet to complement his learning.

My quieter students chose to come earlier before class or stay behind a little while to ask me questions. Many prefers to Whatsapp to quickly clarify their doubts with me.

So it really doesn’t matter if your child is quiet or outspoken, what really matters is his commitment to keep asking. I would like to emphasize the importance of seeking clarification of H2 Chemistry concepts on a consistent basis.

What is one important thing about H2 Chemistry exams that students must know?

Expect more complicated concepts & application questions.

Chemistry concepts in A-Level H2 Chemistry are significantly more complicated than those covered in the O-Level Chemistry syllabus.

Most of the topics require the students to understand and memorise the key words and definitions in order to have a good grasp of the essential concepts.

However, memorising and regurgitating information alone without application are not sufficient at A-Level! Many students could be oblivious to this!

To score A in H2 Chemistry, students must be exposed to different types and styles of questions in order to apply and consolidate what they have learnt.

From my analysis of the past 10 years’ Cambridge A-Level H2 Chemistry Examination Papers, I have noticed that questions never repeat and they are getting more challenging and application-based every year.

In the Structured & Free Response Questions (Written Papers 2 & 3), we are seeing a combination of 3-4 topics in one question.

Students are tested on their ability to identify the topics and their flexibility to inter-relate the essential concepts from different topics to solve the questions.

As such, it is important that students learn and understand the essential concepts in ALL the topics. Skipping any topics would be detrimental to their results.

A Level H2 Chemistry Yearly 10 Year Series book by Mr Sean Chua Winners Education

Can you share with us “secrets” on how your students ace their H2 Chemistry?

A grade students ask and do a lot more questions than others!

For JC 1 students, I would strongly suggest that they do not throw away their O-Level Chemistry or IP Chemistry notes and books just yet as their O-Level materials could come in handy as a reference material.

O-Level Chemistry materials are usually not repeated in the JC A-Level H2 syllabus and will not be tested directly. However, it may be required indirectly in response to question on other H2 Chemistry topics. Some of the related topics are: Identification of Anions & Cations, Mole Calculations, Preparations of Salts and Redox Reactions.

In view of the sheer amount of content involved, students should learn the essential concepts in a structured manner. They should know the different sub-sections in each topic and the assessment objectives. This is to keep the students focused on what needs to be studied in 9729 2020 A Level H2 Chemistry syllabus.

To master Chemistry, your child must practice and practice.

Your child must practise applying the concepts and the procedures for answering the questions after every single topic.

In addition to the questions given in their school’s tutorials, your child is highly encouraged to work on questions from past exam papers, especially the last 5 years.

This will give them an idea of the types and styles of questions that will be tested and therefore increase their confidence level!

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success

List of H2 Chemistry Topics for JC

5 Effective Ways to Prepare for O Level Pure Chemistry Exams

Sean Chua · February 23, 2020 · Leave a Comment

5 Effective Ways to Prepare for O Level Pure Chemistry exams by Sean Chua

Many parents often asked us: “Is there still time for my child to do well in ‘O’ Levels?” Every month, we receive numerous phone calls from anxious parents seeking help for their children. They didn’t perform well for their CA1, mid-year and even prelims examinations.

We understand their concern. After all, it’s just less than a few months before their child sits for the national examination, GCE ‘O’ Levels. Doing well for the O-Level examination gives their child more options to choose from for schools and courses.

From now till the ‘O’ Levels, students must stay focused and adopt the correct strategies. For Chemistry, we suggest the following:

1) Build up Strong Foundation of Basic Concepts

Based on our decades of teaching experience, lack of understanding of the fundamentals in Chemistry is the root problem to students underperformance in Chemistry. The level of understanding in the basic concepts is way below par.

Building a strong foundation is the key when students prepare for the ‘O’ Level, following a topic-by-topic approach. For each topic, students must revise and understand the underlying key concepts or formula, before moving to the next topic.

In Chemistry, it is important to know and master the topics taught in Secondary 3 first. For example, students must have very clear understanding of Secondary 3 basic essential topics such as Chemical Bonding, Writing Balanced Chemical & Ionic Equations, Acids & Bases as well as Mole Calculations.

Chemistry is a much more abstract than Physics and Biology. Because almost every topic is interrelated to another topic, especially those covered earlier in Secondary 3.

2) Pay Attention to the Usage of Keywords in Structured Questions

“Mom, I pay attention in class and can follow what my teacher teaches.”

However, their examination results are dismay and they do not understand why.

This is because just knowing the key concepts i.e. “stories” is not sufficient.They will be marked by the examiners based on the correct keywords or key phrases written.

Many Chemistry students face the challenge of answering structured questions with the appropriate, specific, complete set of keywords.

For example, the correct keyword for a question could be “Graphite conducts electricity due to mobile electrons” but the common mistake that many students made is “Graphite conducts electricity due to mobile ions”.

The reason for such mistake is often rote memorisation without truly understanding the structural properties of graphite and in examination they tend to write the wrong keywords. ‘A’ grade students are able to write the correct keywords as they have their basic concepts to back up their choice of keywords.

Mastery of Chemistry involves strong foundation of basic concepts coupled with clear usage of keywords on top of their application skills.

3) Do Ten-Years Series Questions

Next, to put their understanding of each topic to the test, students are advised to start work immediately on the ‘O’ Level questions as it will provide a reasonable gauge for their level of understanding on key concepts, their level of application skills and build up their confidence at the same time.

Since strong foundation is built on a topic-by-topic approach, the use of the Ten-Years Series (TYS) topical books is strongly recommended, preferably one that provides step-by-step detailed solutions. This allows students to check on the answers at their own convenience.

4) Keep Clarifying 

Building a strong foundation consists of understanding the key concepts for each topic, testing the student’s understanding by working on the questions, and most importantly, clarifying any doubts and correcting any mistakes made.

Many students accumulate so many doubts over the years that it has reached a critical stage that these doubts, if remained unresolved will cripple their chance of performing well in the ‘O’ Level examinations. They must start asking questions to clear their doubts in order to feel confident and prepared!

If your child is afraid of embarrassment, get him to ask someone who has the most up-to-date knowledge in Chemistry concepts and someone he is comfortable with, for example, his friends, his siblings, his teachers or tutors. With technology, he can even email or message his questions to someone he trusts.

Some TYS books even highlight mistakes that are commonly made, and this feature helps students learn how to avoid them during the examination.

5) Sharpen Examination Strategies

“Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”

– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Print a copy of 5 Effective Ways to Prepare for O Level Pure Chemistry Exams by 10 Year Series Author Mr Sean Chua

Taking examination is just like a game. Your child plays to win within a given time frame, and to win this game, your child must be prepared and aware of the rules of the game. The real opponent is himself.

Once your child has mastered all the key concepts for all the topics, the next step is to learn how to manage his time during the examination. He can attempt a full set of examination papers, under timed condition, to simulate the actual ‘O’ Level examination. In fact, we put our students through such timed trial exercises in our weekly teachings so that they can understand and appreciate the importance of time management during examination. Through these timed exercises, they can also gain more exposure to a wide variety of questions which will future enhance and challenge their understanding.

Winners Education from F to A in O-Level Pure Chemistry

Are you looking for an experienced Chemistry tutor with a proven track record of 97.2% of students scoring A1, A2 and B3 for their O Level Pure Chemistry exams?

Call us today at 88290998 to attend a *satisfaction guaranteed trial lesson.

*If it doesn’t work out for your child, we will refund you the fees and your child continues to keep the learning materials.

Here are some commonly-asked questions from parents:

Question: My child has not completed his Ten-Years Series questions. On top of that he has many sets of prelim papers of other schools. Should he complete all the papers before his ‘O’ Levels?

Answer: Many students have come to us seeking advice as they felt very stressed out when they could not keep up with the number of prelim papers given by their school teachers. As a result, their confidence dipped and they felt that they were not sufficiently prepared since they did not have the time to complete those prelim papers.

Don’t get us wrong. We do agree to a certain extent that doing the other schools’ prelim papers are good for exposure and building analytical skills, but this is only for students who already have a satisfactory understanding of the concepts for the subject i.e. it will only benefit those students who are scoring B3 grade (65%) or more.

Imagine a student who has never passed Chemistry before, does practicing these prelim papers in which the questions are often set at a much more challenging level, benefit him? As Albert Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

It is more important for the student to master the key concepts first i.e. complete the TYS questions and clarify any doubts before attempting such prelim papers.

Question: My child can answer most of the questions in the Ten-Years Series book. Does it mean that he is well-prepared to score an ‘A’ for the ‘O’ Level?

Answer: While your child is strong in his fundamentals, his performance is ultimately determined by his state of mind on the actual day of examination. Before that, he should try to work under examination conditions to sharpen his thinking and time management skills. He can also get more exposure by working on other schools’ prelim papers that may consist of higher order thinking questions.

Question: Will memorising the questions and the model answers in the Ten-Years Series confirm that he will score an ‘A’?

As reported in the paper in the newspapers recently1, 2, many experienced educators and Ten-Years Series books authors have commented that in the past five to seven years, questions from past years tend not to be repeated, particularly for Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics. There is no way of assuring that the student will perform well if he memorises the questions and model answers. In fact, examiners have recently introduced questions that cannot be answered by regurgitating from Ten-Years Series books, thereby testing students’ true understanding of the subjects.

Question: Does memorising the contents of each topic in the school notes and textbooks help to build strong foundation of concepts?

Answer: In Chemistry, only 10 % – 20 % of the syllabus requires memorising. It is a major misconception of many parents and students who perceive Chemistry as a memory – intensive subject. In ‘O’ Level, students are tested more on their application ability to apply the basic concepts instead of rote memorisation.

Question: Are crash course programmes beneficial for my child if he has very poor results in the subject?

Answer: Educators from specialised learning centres do play an important role when they guide students with the right set of questions that are carefully structured to get them thinking and questioning, even leading them to answer their own questions.

However, parents must find out more details of such programme. After all, the effectiveness of the programme should be your main consideration if you want to help prepare your child for the ‘O’ Levels.

If some programmes are too good to be true, they are likely to be! For example, any programme that claims to cover two years of content in just 10 hours is totally unreliable! How can a student understand everything in 10 hours if he can’t even do that in his two years in school?

Time is a crucial factor in exam preparation. You should choose a specialised learning centre with a proven track record to assist your child in his final leap towards success. Do start any revision crash course programme early! June holiday is perhaps the best time for your child to re-learn his concepts.

We wish your child the best in his preparation for the GCE ‘O’ Level Examination!

Footnote:

1: The Straits Times Newspaper “Memorising answers won’t score you the As”, 25 February 2015

2: My Paper Newspaper “Memorising 10-year-series falls short now”, 25 February 2015

“After joining winners education & having lessons with mr Chua, I became more interested in chemistry and more motivated to improve my chemistry grades.

Lessons with mr Chua are definitely engaging & has helped me a lot in strengthening my fundamentals and learning the ways to tackle challenging questions in exams.

I am immensely grateful for mr Chua in devoting his hard work and effort whilst teaching us. He is an approachable & patient tutor who ensures that every student understands the topic before moving on to teach further instead of rushing through the content.” 

Tan Hui Yu

Chung Cheng High School (Main), A1 for O-Level Pure Chemistry

Print a copy of 5 Effective Ways to Prepare for O Level Pure Chemistry Exams by 10 Year Series Author Mr Sean Chua

The Puar Siblings from RI

Winners Education · November 16, 2019 · Leave a Comment

A) The Younger Sister, Puar Yu Rou (2016-2017)

Yu Rou from Raffles Institution joined us in Aug 2016, about 1.5 months before her JC1 Year 5 Promotional Examination on the recommendation of her brother, Yue Hong. (Read his story here)

She was scoring S grade (40-44%).

She asked many many questions in her H2 Chemistry tuition to clarify her doubts during class and via WhatsApp.

She went on to achieve a B grade for her JC1 Year 5 Promotional Examination! Even her school tutor was shocked.

“Incredible effort, Yu Rou! Huge improvement from S –> B! Well done! Keep it up!” 

Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Year 5 Promotional Exam Results

While everyone was happily enjoying their holidays in Nov 2016, she returned to attend our 2 days revision workshop on H2 Chemistry Chemical Bonding despite her B grade. She was a diligent girl who knew her weakness and continued to be a humble learner.

She returned for JC2 H2 Chemistry Weekly Tuition Class in 2017 and continued to ask more during class and via WhatsApp.

Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Tuition WhatsApp Support
Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Tuition WhatsApp Support
Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Tuition WhatsApp Support

For her JC2 Year 6 Term 3 Common Test, she scored a B grade, earning her another positive remark from her school tutor.

“Huge improvement… On track to A!” 

Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Year 6 Common Test Result

For her A-Level H2 Chemistry examination, just like many students, she found the papers strange but with her strong foundation in her basics coupled with her confidence in the subject, she managed the examination exceptionally well and indeed like what we have expected of her: she scored an A for her 2017 GCE A-Level H2 Chemistry examination. In fact, she scored straight As for all her subjects! She’s enjoying her learning in NTU, Medicine.

Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Tuition exam feedback
Puar Yu Rou RI H2 Chemistry Tuition Review of Winners Education on Google
A-Level H2 Chemistry Tuition Singapore Friday Class Photo
Puar Yu Rou, the girl in white top

register for a trial lesson

B) The Elder Brother, Puar Yue Hong (2014-2015)

Let’s talk about Yue Hong now. He was recommended by his friends and relatives to join Winners Education for his H2 Chemistry. He joined us in July 2014 during his Year 5 JC1 in Raffles Institution. He was getting S and U grades.

In about 2 months, Yue Hong scored a D grade for his Year 5 JC1 Promotional Examination and he was quite satisfied.

Puar Yue Hong RI H2 Chemistry Tuition Year 5 Promotional results

Just like his sister, he attended the revision workshop on Chemical Bonding in June 2016. He brought his friend along too. He clarified his doubts in class and for his Year 6 JC2 H2 Chemistry Prelims, he achieved a B grade!

Puar Yue Hong RI H2 Chemistry Tuition Preliminary Result

He gained momentum and achieved A grade for his GCE A-Level H2 Chemistry examination. In fact he scored straight As for all his A-Level subjects! He’s enjoying himself in NUS Architecture faculty.

Puar Yue Hong RI H2 Chemistry Tuition A-Level Results Straight As
Puar Yue Hong RI A Level H2 Chemistry exam results after H2 Chemistry Tuition in Winners Education
register for a trial lesson
Call us at 88290998 to find out how your child can Pass Chemistry with Distinction

Copyright © 1999–2021 · Winners Education Centre Pte. Ltd · Blk 513, Bishan Street 13, #01-506 (Level 2), Singapore 570513 · Call us at 88290998

  • About us
  • Join Our Chemistry Classes
  • Testimonials
  • Track Record of O Level & IP Chemistry
  • Track Record of A Level H2 Chemistry