Tips & Challenges

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

How to know you have reached A level distinction standard?

Do alevel 2017-2025 under exam condition. Then compare your score below:

2017: 77%

2018: 72%

2019: 77%

2020: 77%

2021: 77%

2022: 66%

2023: 74%

2024: 77%

2025: 81-85%

Above is my estimate to get A, based on students who counted their score by comparing the solutions, and got A.

2018 and 2022 are the hardest alevel paper. 2022 stats killer question build on the stats killer question in 2018. So prepare to handle challenging question that evolves.

2025 is the easiest alevel paper. Among my students who scored A and counted their score, they score at least 85. A check with other tutors says their A students scored at least 80. Yet a student says he score at least 80 and got only a B. So a safer range of A for 2025 should be 81-85

The more papers that you meet the distinction standard, the higher the chance of getting A in alevel.

Good 2022 prelim to do and difficulty rating

Level 1 (Most questions are alevel standard)

  1. YIJC (Recommended)
  2. JPJC 
  3. TMJC 
  4. CJC
  5. MI

Level 2 (Harder than alevel)

  1. NYJC (Recommended)
  2. ACJC
  3. DHS
  4. TJC
  5. SAJC
  6. ASR
  7. RVHS

Level 3 (Much harder than alevel. For strong students who scored A to C in prelim)

  1. RI (Recommended)
  2. VJC (Recommended)
  3. EJC (Recommended)
  4. HCI (Recommended)
  5. NJC

Good 2021 prelim to do and difficulty rating

Level 1 (Most questions are alevel standard)

  1. TMJC (Recommended)
  2. YIJC (Recommended)
  3. JPJC (Recommended)
  4. CJC (Recommended to do P2 Q5)
  5. MI

Level 2 (Harder than alevel)

  1. EJC (Recommended)
  2. RVHS Stats (Recommended)
  3. ASR (Recommended)
  4. SAJC

Level 3 (Much harder than alevel. For strong students who scored A to C in prelim)

  1. NYJC (Recommended)
  2. NJC (Recommended)
  3. RI (Recommended)
  4. ACJC (Recommended)
  5. VJC (Recommended)
  6. TJC (Recommended to do P1 Q1, 10, 11 and P2 Q9)
  7. HCI (Recommended to do P1 Q7, 10 and P2 Q1, 2b, 4, 6, 7)
  8. DHS (Recommended to do P1 Q11 and P2 Q4b, 8)

Good 2020 prelim to do and difficulty rating

Level 1 (Similar to 2019 and 2020 alevel standard)

  1. YIJC (Recommended)
  2. JPJC stats (Recommended)
  3. MI
  4. TMJC
  5. CJC

Level 2 (Harder than 2019 and 2020 alevel, similar to 2018 alevel standard)

  1. EJC (Recommended)
  2. DHS
  3. RI
  4. RVHS

Level 2+ (Questions similar to alevel style but harder)

  1. NYJC (Recommended)
  2. NJC
  3. SAJC

Level 2++

  1. ACJC (Recommended, many good contextual questions)
  2. HCI stats (Recommended)
  3. TJC P1 (Recommended)
  4. VJC Pure maths (Recommended)
  5. ASR stats (Recommended)

Value added by tuition: A better way to gauge

As alevel is easier than school internal exams, students often improve by 2 to 3 grades from their prelim results even without tuition.

So how to better gauge the value-added by tuition? Using percentile improvement is one way.

improvement-from-j1-to-j2
Student started tuition after failing J1 MYE. He improved from lowest banding to highest banding by J2 MYE.

1.Student scored 16 percentile in school internal exams before joining tuition.Her school distinction rate in 2018 is 68%. So to be on track for distinction, she has to improve to at least 32 percentile to get A in alevelStudent got A in alevel. So there is value add of at least 16 percentile.
2.Student scored S grade in J2 MYE before joining tuition.S grade is around 20 percentile in her school. Her school distinction rate in 2019 is 65.5%. So to get A, she must have improved to at least 34.5 percentile.Student got A in alevel. So there is value add of at least 14 percentile.
based on my students’ 2019 alevel results

Percentile improvement is not easy to achieve. Imagine running the alevel marathon, one has to overtake more than 16% of people along the journey to get A.

H1 or H2 maths?

If the student struggle with amaths despite working hard, it is better to take H1 maths. This is because if the student cannot cope with amaths, they will not be able to cope with the much harder h2 maths.

If the student has not taken amaths before, the student can attempt the important amaths topics” Differentiation, integration, trigo, logarithm, surds, indices” and see whether they can cope with it. If they think they can handle h2 maths, be prepared to work twice as hard if they want to take h2 maths.

Students who did not do well in amaths, is still possible to do well in H2 maths.

Example of H2 maths A with Amaths C5