JC Economics & IB ECONOMICS Tuition Methodology

Why has Ms Foo been able to instill in her students the passion for Economics and help them to excel in the subject when they first approached her with poor academic grades? The secret lies in Ms Foo’s strategic teaching methodology.

Principle 1

Build a Strong Foundation by Understanding Basic Concepts

You can never apply the concepts in Economics if you do not understand them in the first place. Ms Foo does not believe in “memorising the concepts” which sadly, is what some students do before engaging her to teach them. Ms Foo uses her unique methodology to explain the concepts to her students in such crystal clear fashion that her students are able to fully comprehend what is taught. This breaks down a major wall of fear for the subject.

Do not ask Ms Foo which concepts/theories are important. She will teach you everything that is required for the syllabus. She believes this will give her students great confidence to face the exams. After all, exam questions change every year and they have become so unpredictable that learning just the key concepts is insufficient. You have to be well-equipped with knowledge to answer any type of question that may appear in the exam.

To Ms Foo, there is no such thing as a silly question – you learn when you ask. Hence, Ms Foo will not be the only one talking during lessons. Her students are expected to ask questions openly when in doubt. Do not see this as a waste of time – different questions posed by different students in class will throw insights into what you do not know or are unsure of, and confirm what you already know. Learning will be interactive and effective with Q&A at any point during her lessons.

Principle #2

Use Supplementary Resources to Enhance Learning

It is highly important that students stay abreast of current affairs. Ms Foo provides her students with relevant news articles so that they can relate what they have studied in textbooks to real life. This helps them to better apply the Economic theories in essay writing and case study analysis.

These articles not only serve to stimulate students’ interest in Economics, but also provide useful data that they can use for their essays.

Principle 3

Practise, Practise & Practise

After mastering the concepts, the final and most important step is to apply them to answer exam questions. Ms Foo has taught many students over the years and has seen how some had very good understanding of the concepts but yet did not do well for Economics. Very often, it is due to wrong choice of questions, wrong or incomplete interpretation of questions, etc. Ms Foo will help you to effectively apply what you have learnt through essays and case studies which will be given out for practice during lessons.

How Are Lessons Conducted?

1. What makes Ms Foo’s class stand out is that Ms Foo will teach each and every chapter, covering all content which includes key concepts and theoretical elaborations. Over the years, Ms Foo gathered from her students that they could not comprehend the concepts either because the pace was too fast or the elaboration was just not made clear enough by their teachers in school. Hence, Ms Foo believes in re-teaching the chapters so that her students have a good grasp of all the concepts in order to be able to apply them to answering questions.

2. Lessons are conducted using Ms Foo’s notes which replace the thick lecture notes given out in school. These notes are exclusive to Ms Foo’s students and will be given out at the start of each new chapter to be covered. Notes will not be distributed for lessons unattended nor paid. Hence, prospective students are strongly encouraged to join early at the start of the year so that they can reap the benefits of having the full set of notes.

3. There will be an assessment on the fourth lesson every month where students will be assessed on their understanding of what Ms Foo has taught.

4. There will be opportunities for timed-practice which is often lacking in school. This helps to expose and get students accustomed to thinking and writing fast and accurately in actual exams. Answers will be marked and returned with comments to students so that they are aware of how to improve on their answering and application technique.

5. Other than timed-practice, Ms Foo will go through answers for essays questions and CSQ after each chapter so that students can learn how to apply the concepts, pick up common patterns of answering and avoid common mistakes that most students tend to make.