Class Syllabus
Step-By-Step Exam Preparation
"There are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure"
— Confucius
"The syllabus has a good balance of
exam practice and tutorial content. It
helped me to become familiar with the
layout of the exam"
— Keye Jie
2015 'O' level candidate
Our syllabus is created by a committee of MOE teachers and cirriculum planners
The class syllabus builds upon the English syllabus taught in secondary school
We incorporates actual 'O' level exam papers as well as prelim papers of secondary schools
Students cite the syllabus as one of the main factors for their improved grades
Our syllabus is intended to further enhance what students learn in school so they can excel at the exams. The syllabus is broadly based on two prongs, (1) exam strategy skills as well as (2) language proficieny.
Exam strategy skills help students become extremely familiar with the layout and types of questions of the 'O' level English paper. Students learn exam time-management, question analysis, and answer formats.
Language proficiency is achieved by developing the students' critical reading abilities through weekly reading assignments. Students also have written homework and in-class exercises so teachers can correct their grammar, sentence structures, vocabulary, and writing style.
PAPER 1 : ESSAY
* Syllabus based on a 12-month Secondary 4 class schedule
** Syllabus is for the 2016 academic year
Paper 1: Question Analysis
Duration: 6 tutorial classes and 3 practice sessions
Learn the 5-types of essay questions and the different paragraphing formats for each one. We will show you how to break down the question and identify the important keywords. You will also learn to pick the topics which allow you to score the highest, which may not always be the easy topics.
Update: From November 2013, MOE has removed the Narrative essay question and replaced it with the Reflective essay question.
Paper 1: Essay Planning
Duration: 10 tutorial classes and 4 practice sessions
We teach students to do mind mapping exercises to hash out ideas and examples for your selected question. For expository and argumentative questions, teachers will demonstrate how to develop written arguments to defend your stance, and how to argue from various perspectives. Learn how to write topic sentences and transitional phrases. You will also learn the 'PEEEL' argumentative paragraphing format taught by JCs for the General Paper. With practice, students can perform essay planning within 6-9 minutes.
Paper 1: Practice Papers
Duration: 10 tutorial and 4 practice sessions
Students will practice essay questions from actual 'O' level English papers and from prelim papers of top secondary schools. We conduct time-trials and time-management exercises to train students to pace themselves. We also correct your grammar and sentence structures. Learn important vocabluary terms and paragraphing techniques. So that when the examination comes, we have quiet confidence in our students' ability to perform well.
"[Mr. Teng] was able to turn a boring language subject into quite an interesting class"
― Toh Lee Mui, DHS Class of 2015
PAPER 2 : COMPREHENSION
Paper 2: Understanding the Passage
Duration: 6 Classes (5 practice sessions)
Students will learn speed reading, identifying topic sentences, and learning the layouts of paragraphs. You will practice on previous 'O' level comprehensions papers as well as the prelim papers of top secondary schools. We will teach you how to mark out the passage to improve your comprehension, and to quickly find the relevant portions of the passage for the SAQ.
Paper 2: Short Answer Questions (SAQ)
Duration: 4 Classes (3 practice sessions)
There are several types of SAQs (inference questions, punctuation questions, etc). We teach you how to recognize the type of SAQ being asked, and how to identify the relevant part of the passage with the answer. Since students have to answer "in your own words", we also teach students how to properly paraphrase the passage without losing marks for 'lifting' phrases.
Paper 2: The Summary
Duration: 4 Classes (3 practice sessions)
The summary is not difficult if students know how to approach it correctly. We show you how to identify the keywords in the question. And how to identify the relevant summary points within the passage. Finally, students are taught specific sentence structures to be able to write a concise summary of the points.
PAPER 3 : ORAL EXAM
Paper 3: Reading, Picture Description, and Conversation
Duration: 6 Classes (3 practice sessions)
Students dread the oral exam. But it is actually a part of the exam where you can really score! We teach students how to better articulate themselves, when to pause when speaking, and when to emphasise words. Learn how to properly describe a picture, we will teach you how to systematically describe the venue, activity, and even train students in vocabulary for various facial expressions. Lastly, we will practice common conversation topics with our students so when they can speak with confidence and clarity.
Reading is the single most effective way students can improve their English language proficiency. Our syllabus committee subscribes to over 10 international news portals to obtain the most interesting and opinionated articles for our students. There is a 15 minute critical reading practice during most classes to further enhance the students' comprehension of difficult articles.
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Our Weekly Teacher Meetings |
---|
Our Weekly Teacher Meetings |
Our Weekly Teacher Meetings |
WEEKLY MEETINGS
Our core syllabus committee holds weekly meetings to discuss the latest directive from the M.O.E. and to examine the most recent examination papers from secondary schools. Frequently, we also reorganise our academic resources, create study plans, and adjust our syllabus content to stay abreast of the secondary schools English syllabus.
PRACTICE EXAMS
Students will do 4 complete 'O' level papers under exam time conditions. As we mark your paper, we will correct your grammar, improve your sentence structures, and review your time management. So that by the time students sit for the actual 'O' level exam, they would already have had sufficient practice with the paper.
5-TIER SYLLABUS
So Students Learn At Their Fastest Pace
Top Performing Students
Incorporating the most rigorous elements of our syllabus
Tier
Tier
Tier
Tier
Tier
For Advanced Students
A challenging syllabus that helps already proficient students
advance to distinction
'B' & 'C' Students
Students join at this level and are moved to Tier 1 & 2 as they improve
ESL Students
Primarily for international students
whose first language is not English
Special Need Students
Designed for students who have learning disabilities.
We want our students to improve quickly. To achieve this, we group our students according to their learning aptitude and their command in English. Classes are also categorised based on the various tiers. This allows us to create specialised syllabus so that students learn at an optimal pace.