Many Normal Academic students are weak in Math before entering secondary level. They were already not able to grasp the primary math concepts, especially the word problems. Most of these students are even having math fear when they were in primary schools. While some allow this phobia to dominate the whole of their secondary school life, there are cases where a student is able to overcome their phobia at different level of their Normal Academic learning. The question is: Can a complete reversal be made during Secondary 1 on their N Level Math. The answer is an affirmative Yes.
Overcoming Math fear In Secondary 1
What most students and parents are not aware is: Most of the “complicated math” they learned for PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exams) is no longer there in Secondary one. For example: there are very few “word problems” for the whole Secondary 1, a big contrast to Primary 6 where student are required to stare at long “word problems” most of the time. Most importantly, the “word problems” can be easily solved by algebra, a far cry from drawing messy bar-models in primary math.
There are only a few primary school math concepts that need to be good for Secondary 1 Normal Academic Math. One of them is the concept of fraction. Fraction is the most important concept a student need to master well in order to overcome the math fear and start math anew in Secondary 1. Unfortunately, most secondary schools do not re-teach the topic on fraction in Secondary 1.
Tutor For Normal Academic Math
It is not common practice among Normal Academic students to engage math tutor in Secondary school. They allow the math fear to haunt them throughout their secondary school. Some students eventually seek help when they enter into Secondary 3 or 4, only to realize that there are too many concepts to learn, and more wrong concepts to unlearn. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that a Normal Academic student engage good math tutor in Secondary 1.
A good Math tutor in Secondary 1 not only help the Normal Academic student clear up his concepts on fraction, but also train the student to achieve speed and accuracy on Math. Speed is familiarization through practices while accuracy can only be achieved when a student attains high concentration. Concentration can be trained, with the help of a good tutor.
From Normal Academic To Express
With the introduction of refined promotion criteria in 2009, the standard of Normal Academic math is comparable to Express Math in Secondary 1. Many schools are now encouraging their Normal Academic students to seek lateral transfer to the Express stream in Secondary 2. In year 2009, some schools are able to promote as many as 40% of their Normal Academic students to Sec 2 Express.
This is all the more why a Normal Academic Math tutor should be engaged in Secondary 1 and not later. Some students not only switch over the Express stream successfully, they were also able to overcome their phobia and continue their studies without a Math tutor.