Category: 1. H2 maths tips (9758)

12 qualities of good h2 maths tutor

A good H2 Maths tutor should embody the following qualities:

  1. Proven Success:
    • Demonstrates a consistent track record of helping students enhance their performance.
    • Measures success through improvements in exam percentiles or progression from failing school exams to achieving A-level excellence.
  2. Effective Teaching Methods:
    • Proficiently imparts efficient problem-solving techniques, such as:
      • Vector distance formulas for plane-to-origin, distance between parallel planes, and point-to-plane distances.
      • Complex numbers half power technique
      • Probability methods like the choosing method, multiplication method, and tree diagram methods.
  3. Comprehensive Resources:
    • Provides a wealth of resources, including past school papers, ten-year series solutions, topical practice questions, and concise summaries.
  4. Patience:
    • Exhibits patience, especially when working with students who may struggle with mathematics.
  5. Competence:
    • Responsively addresses student queries, achieving a success rate of at least 95% during the lesson or 100% within 24 hours.
  6. Clarity in Explanation:
    • Possesses the ability to explain intricate concepts in a way that students can comprehend.
  7. Guided Learning Approach:
    • Fosters independent problem-solving skills by guiding students to solve the problem themselves rather than providing solutions outright.
  8. Optimal Class Size:
    • For group tuition, maintains an average class size of 2-5 students, capping at 8, to ensure personalized attention.
  9. Accessible Learning Materials:
    • Offers access to past recorded lessons, enabling students to review and reinforce weak topics.
  10. Familiarity with Top schools teaching methods and questions
    • Well-versed in teaching methods and questions specific to IP and NY schools, ensuring alignment with the challenges posed by top-tier institutions.
  11. Diverse Teaching Experience:
    • Boasts experience teaching students from top, medium, and bottom-tier schools, as well as working with strong, average, and weak students.
  12. Decade-Long Expertise:
    • Possesses a minimum of 10 years of tutoring experience in H2 Maths, adhering to the 10,000-hour rule suggesting expertise acquisition through deliberate practice.

If you are seeking a good H2 Maths tutor, feel free to contact me.

How I teach J1 group tuition with students from different JC?

In 2023, I have one VJC and one NYJC student in the same group.

Common J1 topics: System of linear equations, inequalities, graphing, transformation, techniques and applications of differentiation, series expansion, conics, summation, APGP, functions

These are the topics that are tested in one JC’s promo but not the other:

VJC: integration techniques, complex numbers

NYJC: vectors

So I covered all the common J1 topics and also integration techniques, complex numbers and vectors in the same group tuition. The VJC student learnt vectors (VJC J2 topic), and the NYJC student learnt integration techniques (post promo J1 topic) and complex numbers (J2 topic). In order to cover more topics than their school promo, I have to teach at a faster pace than their school, with only two hours tuition weekly.

Both students managed to score A in promo and even learnt in advance J2 topics.

Center of circle passing through any 3 points

In 2023 alevel P2, one of the challenging question is to find the center of circle passing through 3 points. The 3 points form an isosceles triangle. Hence the center of circle will lie on a line passing through one of the vertices.

Alevel has the tendency of making the question harder in subsequent years, just like 2018 probability bug question becomes 2022 probability counter question. So students must be prepared to find the center of circle passing through any 3 points.

Practice question: Find the center of circle passing through (1,2,3), (2,1,4) and (3,4,5)

Answer: (17/8,11/4,33/8)

Hints

Let the 3 points be A, B, C and the center of circle be P (x,y,z)

Find the cartesian equation of plane ABC: -x+z=2

Since P lies on plane ABC, P fulfill equation of plane ABC, -x+z= 2 (Equation 1)

AP=BP (radius of circle)

(Steps are left out for students to try)

This reduces to 2x-2y+2z=7 (Equation 2)

AP=CP (radius of circle)

(Steps are left out for students to try)

This reduces to x+y+z=9 (Equation 3)

Solving the 3 equations, this gives x= 17/8 , y=11/4, z=33/8

Hence coordinates of P = (17/8,11/4,33/8)

VJC student improved from E to A in 2023 alevel

I tutored a VJC student after he got 46% for J1 MYE, 20-40 percentile. Since 6 in 10 VJC students got A in alevel 2023, tuition helped him improved to at least 40 percentile to get A in 2023 alevel

He eventually got straight As in 2023 alevel

Over the years, I have tutored many VJC and TJC students. If they start tuition shortly after J1 MY or promo and their results are at least 20-40 percentile before tuition, it is highly possible they can get A in alevel.

Using GC to find range of values of p in Binomial Distribution

A course takes in exactly 10 students. On average, a student has p% chance of achieving a distinction.

Given that the probability 7 students scoring distinction is greater than the probability of any other number of students scoring distinction, find the possible range of values of p.

Solution

Since the question did not ask for exact values of p, we can use the GC to solve this question.

We are looking at where the blue graph is above the red and black graph.

Hence 63.6<p<72.7

Useful GC skill in binomial distribution

How my VJC student topped her class in 2023 J1 promo

My VJC student improved from 69% J1 MYE to 85% in promo, topping her class. She was given 5 promo practice papers by her school. What I did is to select the more challenging questions from her promo practice paper to do, and then we go through J2 prelim questions that are relevant in promo.

Because from my past experience, if this year promo paper turns out to be much harder than the previous, then students who merely practice the promo practice papers will not do well this year. Doing just promo practice papers will give just average results since that is what the majority of students are doing. To shine in class, a student needs to master beyond the difficulty level in promo practice papers.

Challenging normal distribution problem 4

Find intersection. Reject the value that is more than 2

What school grade is acceptable for h2 maths?

Many students just received their promo results for 2023. In one JC, the average score for promo is only 49%. So many students scored D or E and wonder they can get A in alevel.

Around 50% of the entire alevel cohort got distinction in h2 maths. If you in an above average JC, the percentage of students eventually getting A in alevel for h2 maths will be higher than 50%. So as long as you are above 50 percentile or score above median, in above average JC, you are ok, no matter what your school grade is.

In top JC like RI, HCI, NY, VJC, more than 60% of their students get A in alevel for h2 maths. So as long as the student is at least 40 percentile in their school, they are on track for alevel distinction.

If you are in neighborhood school, you should aim to be above 60 percentile to be on track for alevel distinction.

Good 2023 h2 maths prelim to do

Full papers

For strong students who can score A in alevel papers: RI, NY, AC, EJ, DHS, NJC, RV

For other students: JPJC, MI, YI, CJC, TMJC

Good questions to do

RI p1: 2, 3, 4b,6, 8, 9a, 10, 11a, 12

RI p2: 1, 2, 4, 6c, 7, 8c, 8e, 10

NY p1: 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9b, 10

NY p2: 2, 3a, 4b, 4c, 5, 6, 7, 9d, 10e

AC p1: 1, 3, 7, 10, 11, 12

AC p2: 2, 3, 4, 7i, 7ii, 8, 9, 10b, 11iv

EJ p1: 1, 3, 6, 10, 11, 12

EJ p2: 4, 5, 6, 8d, 9, 10 a, 10e, 10g

NJ p1: 1, 3d, 4, 5a, 7, 9, 11

NJ p2: 1, 2, 10b, 11

RV p1: 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12

RV p2: 1, 4iii, 4iv, 5ii, 6, 7, 8, 9iii, 9iv, 10a, 10b iv, 11 ii 11 iii, 12i, 12 iii

TJ p1: 11

TJ p2: 1, 5, 6c, 6d, 8, 9

DHS p1: 1, 2b, 4, 9a, 9b, 10, 11c, 11d

DHS p2:1, 2, 5, 6, 8

VJC p1: 2, 8, 10b, 12

VJC p2: 3, 4, 6, 7, 10a

HCI p1: 5, 7, 11

HCI p2: 3, 9

ASR p1: 9

ASR p2: 2, 5

CJC p1: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

JP p1: 5, 8, 9b, 10, 11,

JP p2: 3c, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10

MI p1: 1, 2, 8, 9, 10a

MI p2: 5

SA p1: 1, 3, 6, 8,

SA p2: 4, 5, 6, 7, 10

TM p1: 8b, 9, 10

TM p2: 3, 4, 5, 6, 10

YI p1: 1, 4c, 5

YI p2: 1, 2, 4, 6