Reflections On A-Level Results 2021

Warning: This is a deep dive into my vocation and if you have no interest in education, academic results or the tutoring industry, do give this post a miss.

This is a candid sharing of my students’ A-Level results and a commentary of them.

More importantly, I want to “immortalise” this endearing cohort of A-level students through words and a blog post.

Below are the profiles of my 5 students and for the benefits of fellow tutors/students/parents reading this, I will try to provide some general personal insights in the conclusion.

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Student A

• Rank Points: 88.75 (A for H2 Math, A for H2 Econs, B for GP, Merit for H3 Econs)
• IP Program at Cedar Girls (Top 10% of IP cohort, Straight As)
• PSLE Score 250+

I have tutored Student A for 5 years, ever since she was in Sec 2. At first, she was an average student in her cohort but she soon evolved to become an elite student. I would like to think that I had a small part to play in this metamorphosis.

And yes, I am sort of “responsible” for four of her A-Level subjects. I am more of a generalist and since she was an outstanding student, it’s a unique arrangement that we settled on. She surprised me with her consistency even in JC, always in the top 5% of her cohort in major tests and exams. Basically, she was a much better student than me!

We would have a 2-hour consultation every week and I try to value-add in any subject I can. I also helped to vet and provide inputs for her PW paper and also some of her work she submitted for competitions. I was absolutely delighted when she managed to win a prize for the LSE Economics Essay Competition!

Apparently, she cried when she received her A-Level results. If I were her, I would probably be pretty upset as well. I backed her to get a perfect 90 rank points but I also knew there’s no certainty. In the end, she performed slightly below expectation for high variance subjects like GP and Game Theory (H3). When she texted me about her results and asked me for my views, this was my reply. I am not one to mince my words.

“It’s slightly below expectation. There is a reason you did not jump for joy when you say your results” – Mr 15HWW

I was pretty savage towards Student A, according to her younger sister.

From the feedback of her mother and sister, she was super chill during the A-Level period. Maybe, a bit too chill on hindsight. But well, I definitely would not be saying this if there is a one grade improvement in her grades, which is really marginal.

It’s likely that her A-Level results will just be a small blemish as I still expect her to land a scholarship to pursue Economics. Similar to me, she can grasp Economics concepts with relative ease.

The best compliment I can give her? I wonder how many years it would take before I get to mentor another student of her calibre.

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Student B

• Rank Points: 87.5 (A for H2 Math, A for H1 Econs)
• NYJC (Raw L1R5 = 10, A1 for A Math)
• PSLE Score 230+

I have tutored Student B for 2 years, mainly for H2 Math. It started out as H2 Math group tuition together with Student D and E in early 2019. By the middle of 2020, it was 1-1 tuition for Math and she even added H1 Econs tuition in Aug 2020. She stays in Yishun and travels to Punggol for my lessons.

Student B managed to scrape through to NYJC following her O-Levels. I think the JC school environment played a huge role in her development as a student.

I am very impressed by NYJC. The tests are notoriously difficult and the school is pretty ruthless. They mete out punishments (take away OGL opportunities if you don’t meet a high bar in Promos) and have no qualms retaining a relatively large J1 population. For a non-IP student, I really think NYJC is the best JC the student can go to. A median of 86 rank points (according to Reddit) implies a lot of value-add to the grades.

Anyway, back to Student B. Even though she was scoring Cs and Ds for most of her school exams, I told her confidently she would get an A for Math in the end. Borrowing Dr Strange terms, she would score an A for H2 Math in 95 out of 100 parallel universes. Math is a low variance subject and she is a super hardworking student. Apparently, on average, she studies more than 10 hours in a day (beyond school hours) and laments that she is not studying as much as some of her peers. Every time I give assignments, which is a typical 3-hour paper, she tends to submit them within 12 hours.

In fact, I actually told her in the middle of 2020 that she should focus more on her other subjects and that it’s ok if she wanted to stop our lessons. After all, A-Level grades do not differentiate a 75 marks student with an 85 marks student (sadly for Student A).

She sort of took my advice. She dropped her Chemistry tuition (she had a good Chem tutor in school) but added another lesson with me for H1 Econs. At that point in Aug 2020, she was still failing her H1 Econs. I managed to diagnose her weaknesses in her Case Studies within a few lessons and even I was quite shocked when she managed to turn it around to get a B during her Prelims.

She is delighted that she achieved straight As for all her H2s, A for H1 Econs and a B for GP. Now, she has a shot at her dream of studying Medicine in Singapore or getting a scholarship to pursue Food Science.

These external reinforcements help to keep me going…

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Student C

• Rank Points: 70 (C for H2 Math)
• JPJC (Raw L1R5 = 13, A1 for A Math)
• PSLE Score 210+

I actually only had about 20 lessons with Student C in total across two years, mainly during her school holidays and the run-up to A-Levels. Her mother is a very close family friend of my father-in-law and major effort was made for those lessons to happen. Well, she stays in Hillview and every time, one of us will have to make a 1.5 hour round-robin trip to have a face-to-face lesson.

Secondly, she already had quite a few tuition lessons scheduled. One for each H2 subject. These were typically large group lessons (>10 pax) in the Beauty World/Bukit Timah Shopping Centre. Some of these places were brand-name centres. I think the parents easily spent >$1,200 a month on her tuition fees.

Apparently, when she got back her O-Level results, she was very keen to pursue the JC track. However, her mother was quite discouraging. She had already spent quite a bit of tuition fees for her O-Levels and could foresee a bigger sum being spent for her to catch up and compete with the academic cream of the crop, the IP students.

Based on my limited interactions with Student C, I think she is quite bright, learns fast, but lacks rigour. Her C in H2 Math is probably the most disappointing grade among this cohort. Her academic potential for Math is definitely higher than Student D and E.

During quite a few lessons, I had subtly hinted to her about her lack of sustained effort and will bring up Student B in our conversations. Even during the few weeks before the A-Level exams, I had a gut feeling Student C struggled to put in a focused 6 hours a day for revision.

It’s really quite a pity as a one grade improvement in her H2 Math would mean an additional 2.5 rank points which would give her a much better chance of studying a Business-related degree in one of the local universities.

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Student D

• Rank Points: 68 (B for H2 Math)
• ASRJC (Raw L1R5 = 11, A1 for A Math)
• PSLE Score 210+

I first taught Student D in Secondary 3, helping her with A Math. She stays a 5-minutes walk away from my place. My impression of her in Sec school was that of a hardworking student. She thrived in her school environment and even took on leadership roles.

Student D was in the best class in secondary school. It’s a good neighbourhood school in Punggol and I think the teachers there are very dedicated. Their exam reports are thorough and I learnt a lot from them.

One memorable episode of Student D is etched in my memory. She was struggling with Trigonometry (especially proving questions) in Sec 3 and I told her she was likely to do badly in her upcoming test but that it was ok to fail. From my experience, a student of her potential will master the topic in another few months with more practice. I was proven right. She duly failed and during our next lesson, she actually started crying. The more I tried to comfort her about how it’s quite common for students to fail A Math tests, the more upset she became. Since she has always done well in secondary school, she told me she did not like to fail.

Student D did well in her O-Levels but as she did not have Higher Chinese and got an A2 for E Math, she could not enter her first choice of ACJC. I personally thought that was a blessing in disguise since I also teach her younger brother and find both of them to be socially awkward. From my personal experience, such schools can be challenging if you do not blend in.

Obviously, most students do not do well in JC. Getting grade Cs and Ds are common and I think Student D did not adapt well to this situation. In early 2019, I thought both Students B and D were somewhat unrealistic when they listed Medicine as their uni course of choice. As Student D continued to struggle in JC, she gradually lost confidence and probably put in less effort.

I was pretty upset when I got dropped by Student D in July 2020. The previous sentence is probably an understatement.

I mean, there was only 4 months to go before A-Levels. If a student realised I was not helping, she should have cut me earlier in the year. And if she could not afford the fees at that point in time, I was willing to cut the fees in half and even put it on credit. She could jolly well pay me after her A-Levels when she has income from a part-time job.

Her mother later divulged to me that she joined RMSS with a friend and lamented to me that she had little influence in that decision. I have had very little contact with Student D since then and she did not inform me of her A-results too.

Whatever updates I receive is through her mother or brother and although a rank point of 68 is not ideal, I am still glad that she got a B for her H2 Math and can enter the course of her choice, Nursing.

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Student E

• Rank Points: 66.75 (B for H2 Math)
• TMJC (Raw L1R5 = 15, A2 for A Math)
• PSLE Score 210+

If it’s not obvious to you by now, I ranked the students by alphabetical order according to their rank points from the A-Level exams. Even though Student E did not do well for her A-Levels, she is probably the most likeable student among all five. Always friendly, polite and grateful.

She is currently working at a student care centre and just a month ago, she actually recommended a student to me but my schedule was already full. I was pretty touched by her kind gesture and for thinking of me.

Student E stays in Punggol and I started teaching her 4 years ago when she was in Sec 3 and failing her A Math. She was struggling with her A Math all the way and even failed to get a B in her Prelims when the paper was pretty manageable. She is not exactly mathematically-inclined so she was quite delighted with an A2 in her O Levels. I was also quite pleased as both of us put in plenty of work in the run-up.

I actually advised her to think twice about going to a JC. She had no particular strengths in either Humanities or her Sciences. Her best grades were in Mathematics, both A2s in the O-Levels. The rest were a splattering of Bs. It was hard for me to recommend three H2 subjects and 1 H1 subject for her to take. However, her parents managed to convince her to embark on the JC route.

Hers is almost the exact opposite case of Student C. Also, unlike my other 4 students, she did not have any additional tuition for other subjects.

Naturally, she also struggled throughout her two years, scrapping through her promos and generally scoring Cs, Ds or lower for most of her subjects, including Math. When she first informed me about her results and revealed that her rank points was 66.75, I assumed she did badly for H2 Math.

I was quite surprised that she got a B, which meant she fulfilled her academic potential for that subject.

Her GP pulled down her grades badly as she failed the subject. This also means that she has the opportunity to repeat her Year 2 back in TMJC. However, since she is not inclined to go through the whole syllabus again, I am hoping she has her parents’ blessings to go to a private university to pursue Psychology.

Fingers crossed.

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Some insights for fellow tutors:

• JC students do pay higher fees but they require a lot more attention. Unless the fees are raised substantially for 1-1 lessons, secondary school students offer better value on a $/time basis.
• It’s hard to teach multiple subjects at JC. I was pretty overworked the past couple of years and studied like a JC student. The exception is probably Physics and Math as a combination.
• That’s probably why many JC tutors specialise and conduct their classes on a big scale. Easily 20-30 pax per class. That’s the only realistic model I need to pivot to if I want to triple my income.
• You can’t smoke JC students. JC students that can be smoked by a lousy tutor/teacher does not deserve to be in a JC.

Some insights for JC students and parents:

• Know your academic potential. Straight As are just not realistic goals for some students. Straight Bs can yield a 79 rank point that qualifies for many courses in local universities.
• If L1R5 is above 12, really reconsider the JC route. Unlike in the past, O-Level grades are inflated these days. I believe an A2 is the minimum to pursue a H2 subject. An exception would be those students pulled down by the L1 and their Humanities but are very strong in their STEM subjects.
• Work as hard as possible for the last national exams of your life. It’s consequential. I am sure there is significant correlation between between A-Level grades and lifetime earnings.
• Avoid BGR for the JC  years. It can be difficult since hormones are raging but I have observed that it is a good predictor of the likelihood of f*** ups in the A Levels.
• Even if the family can afford it, tuition for all 5 subjects is probably too time consuming and disruptive. Choose tuition carefully. If your school tutor is exceptional, just make use of existing resources that the government provides and thank your lucky stars.
• Hire help if it is needed. A $5,000 decision to engage a tutor might be value for money. Private university fees are easily $20,000 more over the course of 4 years. A scholarship is easily a $200,000 to $500,000 bonanza.
• If your grades are good, aim for the stars. Apply to Medicine, Law or whatever is your fancy. Shortlist at least 3 or 4 scholarships to apply for. Nobody remembers your failures. It’s ok to screw up an interview or two. It just takes one success for you to land a seat at the table. Besides the monetary benefits, it’s a huge signaling that will stay with you for life if you are able to get into a prestigious course or land a scholarship.

Thanks for reading.