## Wednesday, 28 January 2015

### How to Install Mario Games on TI-84 Plus Graphic Calculator?

The TI-84 is a really powerful calculator, capable of graphing and complex calculations. Wait... There is more! It can even install games like Mario!

First, you will need a cable to connect your TI-84 (Plus Pocket SE is what most JC students use in Singapore) to the computer.

### Steps to Install Mario on TI GC

1. Go to http://tiwizard.com/downloads/mirage-os-1-2/ and install MirageOS. Once you download it, right-click send to TI Device. You may send it to Archive.
2. Next, go to http://tiwizard.com/downloads/mario-2-0/ and install Mario 2.0, the engine for the Texas Instrument Mario Game. Similarly, once you download it, right-click and send to TI Device, under Archive.
3. Finally, go to http://tiwizard.com/downloads/mario-2-0/ and install Super Mario Land Level Pack. There are eight levels in total.

Now, to enter the game, click on Apps and select MirageOS. If everything goes well, you should enter MirageOS. Click Enter to search for Mario and you should enter the Mario Game for TI-84+. Press "2nd", which is equivalent to the "A" button on Gameboy, and you should be ready to start. Have fun!

To quit, press "clear" to reach MirageOS, then press "mode".

Note, the Mario game can be found under "prgm", but accessing it there does not work. It will give either "ERR: ARCHIVED" or "ERR: SYNTAX".

To delete Mario from your calculator, go to 2nd->mem->Mem Mgmt/Del. You may remove Mario from the calculator once you reach there.

Want to be a true master at the TI-84 Calculator? Check out this book Ti-84 Plus Graphing Calculator For Dummies! Get up-to-speed on the functionality of your TI-84 Plus calculator Completely revised to cover the latest updates to the TI-84 Plus calculators, this bestselling guide will help you become the most savvy TI-84 Plus user in the classroom!

## Monday, 26 January 2015

### NUS Math Talk: Mathemusical Conversations: Mathematics and Computation in Music Performance and Composition (13 - 15 February 2015)

For those interested in the union of the two diverse subjects Mathematics and Music, do check out this symposium by NUS:

Mathemusical Conversations

 Organizing Committee

Original Protagonists

Program Chairs
• Gérard Assayag (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique)
• Elaine Chew (Queen Mary University of London)

Local Organizing Committee
 Overview

Mathemusical Conversations is an international workshop bringing together world experts and emerging scholars in and across mathematics and music, with a special focus on mathematical and computational research in music performance and composition that serve as the foundation for understanding and enabling human creativity and for future music technologies.

This symposium reminds me of the book Science and Music (Dover Books on Music) by  Sir James H. Jeans, the quintessential book on the intersection of Science and Music. Read more about this wonderful and amazing book here.

## Saturday, 24 January 2015

### Hilarious Math Video

What is 25 divided by 5?

Watch this humorous video on what can go wrong when dividing!

Do also check out this very interesting book titled "Introductory Calculus For Infants". It is a humorous math book about the storybook adventure of two friends as they explore the wonders of calculus.

## Friday, 23 January 2015

### Singapore Math Books

If you are interested to read more about Singapore Math, check out this site on Singapore Math Books!

### The Mystery of the Sine of Nines: sin 999=sin 9999 ?

Today while playing with my calculator, I discovered a curious fact:

sin(999)=-0.987688
sin(9999)=-0.987688
sin(99999)= -0.987688

Note: All angles in degrees.

In fact, the sine of any number of nines (more than 3), always led to the same number!

This may not work with other digits, for example "8":
sin(888)= 0.20791
sin(8888)=-0.92718
sin(88888)=-0.52992

As a math tutor, definitely I was curious about the mathematics behind this phenomenon. If you want to try to unravel the mystery, do give it a try before reading the answer!

### The Mystery of the Sine of Nines

The mystery is pretty straightforward once we notice the following:

$\sin (9999^\circ)=\sin (999^\circ+ 25(360^\circ))$

As we know, adding 360 degrees to an angle doesn't affect the result of its sine, since $\sin (x+360^\circ)=\sin (x)$. sin(9999) is actually sine of 25 times of 360 added to 999, hence they are essentially the same value!

Thus, sin(9999)=sin(999).

We can then proceed to show sin(99999)=sin(9999) in a similar way. This will keep on working since 9000=25x360 is already a multiple of 360, hence 9000...000 (more than 3 zeroes) will also be a multiple of 360!

This concludes the mysterious case of the Sine of Nines (it rhymes!).

Trigonometry is a really fun subject. But could it be taught better? Trigonometry often leads to nasty irrational numbers, for example sin(60) is already an irrational number ($\sqrt{3}/2$). Professor Wildberger, author of Divine Proportions: Rational Trigonometry to Universal Geometry argues that there is a better way to present Trigonometry, via the very novel (most people haven't heard of it, let alone seen it) Rational Trigonometry. I have followed his videos on YouTube, and personally it is an interesting idea. With Rational Trigonometry, irrational numbers (which are highly problematic if one thinks about them deeply) are banished, and we can only work with rational numbers.

Check out the book here:

## Wednesday, 21 January 2015

### When does JC 1 School Start?

For JC 1 students, they have a month of holidays!

According to MOE Website, school for JC 1 students starts on Mon, 2 Feb 2015. And soon after that, it will be Chinese New Year. :)

Meanwhile, JC 1 students are advised to start reading up on their own! This is so that they can be ahead of the syllabus which is very hectic in JC. Being one step ahead is a huge advantage.

Also, JC students can read some motivational books such as Outliers: The Story of Success to improve their lives through actions! Remember that Aristotle said that "Excellence is a habit"!

## Sunday, 18 January 2015

### JC or Poly? Some tips on choosing between JC or Poly

According to this Straits Times article, JCs offer "broader options" and a quicker route to a university degree.

Our view is that "all roads lead to Rome", no matter which path you take, if you work hard and persevere, you will reach the destination eventually. A downside of the current JC system is that "triple science" i.e. Physics, Chemistry, Biology combination is no longer allowed. Nor is Further Maths in the syllabus anymore (heard that it may be making a comeback though). This is bad news for those passionately interested in science, since they may have to drop one science subject that they love.

Do also check out our post on Which JC is good?

Another article here showcases different students who chose different paths. For those who are interested in early childhood education, a polytechnic route may be more direct, as mentioned by student Mark Lim.

Some good points about the JC route is that the maths syllabus there is more rigorous, especially if you take the H2 maths syllabus. It would provide a solid foundation for university maths, like multivariable calculus. As a tutor for university students, I have realised that students without H2 Maths background would struggle for the university maths modules, since it is hard to learn calculus over a short time in university. Check out what is H1, H2, H3 maths in this article.

Students who wish to know more about the psychology of learning math can check out the below book by Barbara Oakley. This century has been said to be the most important century since the beginning for mankind for Math. Nowadays everything we use in daily lives, from smart phones, computers, has something to do with Math!

### Using Computer to Teach Maths: Good or Bad? (Discussion)

The topic of using computer to teach mathematics is a controversial one. Yes, there are many benefits of using computers for calculation, but also some drawbacks.

Conrad Wolfram (in the above video) presents an excellent case of using computer to teach mathematics. This is really a good idea, to be honest. (The caveat is that Conrad is linked to the company Wolfram founded by his brother Stephen Wolfram. Wolfram is a computational math software company.)

Personally, I feel that once a student has mastered a skill to a certain degree, for example solving quadratic equations, there is no point making him/her solve quadratic equations ad infinitum over and over again. Using a computer/calculator that can solve quadratic equations is perfectly acceptable.
On a higher level, once a student knows how to compute eigenvalues/eigenvectors of a matrix, there is really little point in calculating eigenvalues by hand, which can be really tedious.

However, on the other hand, manual/mental calculation is an essential skill that is at the foundation of mathematics. Many mathematical theorems, no matter how abstract, have roots in calculation. To come up with a theorem, many mathematicians do extensive calculations to come up numerical evidence that a theorem is probably true, then try to prove it. Riemann came up with his famous Riemann Hypothesis after some calculation that the real part of the non-trivial zeroes of the Riemann Zeta function is always half. If you are interested in learning more about the Riemann Hypothesis, this book Prime Obsession: Bernhard Riemann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics is an excellent introduction to the subject for laymen.

Finally, manual calculation, despite being tedious and cumbersome, is also a skill. As a maths tutor over the years, I have seen some subtle changes in the average mental calculation skills of students after the calculator was permitted in Grade 5 (11 years old) in Singapore. Students who have memorized their time tables and used to mental calculation would have no problem telling what is 8x7, and what is 50-36.20, mentally. However, there are some students who are too used to calculators who may not be able (or willing) to calculate the above sums mentally. However, we must note that there are many great mathematicians who are poor at mental calculation. Grothendieck, one of the top mathematicians in the 1900s, once claimed that "57 is a prime number". As a result, 57 is known as a "Grothendieck prime".

What do you think about using computer to teach maths? Please write your comments below!

Also, check out this controversial book by Stephen Wolfram:
Although criticized by many for "pretending that he is the inventor of standard ideas and facts in computer science", there are some merits to this book. Galileo proclaimed that nature is written in the language of mathematics, but Wolfram would argue that it is written in the language of programs and, remarkably, simple ones at that. Sounds interesting...

## Saturday, 17 January 2015

### AES: Advanced Encryption Standard

This is a very nice, relatively short and sweet video about AES: Advanced Encryption Standard.

It is currently one of the most secure ways of encrypting data, and is used by the US government.

AES has swept away old faithful DES, and is now the workhorse of business and government cryptography. Our entire civil order relies on its integrity. Here we explain how it works, and discover how a string of simple crypto primitives combine to such a robust cipher for which no mathematical compromise was ever published.

Also, check out this book on Cryptography, Understanding Cryptography: A Textbook for Students and Practitioners, rated rather highly by many people on Amazon.

## Friday, 16 January 2015

### Parents go for Maths Tuition

Source: http://mypaper.sg/top-stories/parents-go-tuition-help-their-kids-20150108

AS HE copied the solution to the maths problem sum onto his worksheet, he realised that he was lost.
Primary school mathematics is tough.
But this was not a primary school pupil struggling with the question. He was a father of two in a course on primary school maths.
He was one of several parents going for "tuition" so they can better understand what their children have to deal with in school.
On Dec 6, Mohd Yusof Maruwi, who is in his early 60s, and his wife, Sanisah Ismail, 45, attended an eight-hour session on solving primary school maths problems. It was held at a multi-purpose room at Muhajirin Mosque.
- from http://mypaper.sg/top-stories/parents-go-tuition-help-their-kids-20150108

Kudos to these highly commendable parents, who have taken the initiative to learn Primary School Maths to teach their children!

Despite sounding slightly ridiculous at first, tuition for parents is actually a good idea, especially if one of the parents (e.g. the mother) is a stay-at-home parent. This is because no matter how often a child goes for tuition, the tuition teacher can't accompany the child 24 hours, whereas the parent can.

Also, if the parent can do maths, it inspires the child and builds confidence. Imagine how demoralised a child may feel if the Maths problem is so difficult that even his beloved father and mother whom he/she looks up to can't solve it!

As a former Primary School Maths Tutor (I have since moved on to tutoring at secondary level onwards), I have to admit that some of the PSLE questions can be real tough. Even as a math graduate from NUS with years of experience, and an A* for PSLE Maths, I have to crack my brains and put on my thinking cap just to solve a PSLE question using elementary methods like model drawing. No wonder children will find it tough!

Also, some of the questions are designed to be tough for students using the traditional recommended method of model drawing. Examples of these kind of questions is when the model is 3 units, but the question requires dividing the 3 units into two. This leads to "half a unit" which is problematic, unless the student knows what to do (subdivide each unit into two smaller parts). Hence, students equipped with just the standard skill set of "draw model" naturally will find it very difficult to solve the problem.

A student who has mastered algebra at primary 6 level actually has a huge advantage over his peers. Most PSLE questions can be reduced to pair of linear simultaneous equations with two variables. This is amazingly easy to solve for those who have mastered solving such equations. However, this is a highly controversial method in pedagogy, since there are many who insist that algebra should not be taught so early.

If parents do not have the time or budget to go for tuition (also tuition teachers who teach parents are still currently rare), the next best thing is to read a maths book. Books like Step by Step Model Drawing: Solving Word Problems the Singapore Way, written by Singapore Math expert Dr Yeap Ban Har, will enlighten parents on the divine art of drawing models. Model drawing will be able to solve 80%-90% of all PSLE Math questions, other than those questions specially designed to be anti-model, or model-unfriendly.

For the remaining 10% of problems (usually the last few problem sums) that are anti-model, trying to use the model method will lead to epic frustration. An algebra-model hybid approach using "u" for units, and "p" for parts would most likely be the ideal solution. A book like Practical Algebra: A Self-Teaching Guide, Second Edition, would be what parents need to refresh their memory on Algebra.

Another fantastic book suitable for parents:

Finally, do check out a list of GEP Books for parents who are interested in preparing their child for GEP: http://mathtuition88.com/2013/11/11/recommended-books-for-gep-selection-test/

## Monday, 12 January 2015

### Winnie The Pooh Maths Olympiad Question!

Check out this interesting Math Olympiad question on Winnie the Pooh and sweets!

Question: http://www.fen.bilkent.edu.tr/~cvmath/Problem/1411q.pdf

Solution: http://www.fen.bilkent.edu.tr/~cvmath/Problem/1412a.pdf

Featured Book on Maths Olympiad:

Competition Math for Middle School

Written for the gifted math student, the new math coach, the teacher in search of problems and materials to challenge exceptional students, or anyone else interested in advanced mathematical problems. Competition Math contains over 700 examples and problems in the areas of Algebra, Counting, Probability, Number Theory, and Geometry. Examples and full solutions present clear concepts and provide helpful tips and tricks. "I wish I had a book like this when I started my competition career." Four-Time National Champion MATHCOUNTS coach Jeff Boyd "This book is full of juicy questions and ideas that will enable the reader to excel in MATHCOUNTS and AMC competitions. I recommend it to any students who aspire to be great problem solvers." Former AHSME Committee Chairman Harold Reiter

### O Level Top Scorer 2015

Although MOE has ceased publishing the names of O Level Top Scorers, there is still some general statistics about O Level Top Scorers.

This year (2015), 83.3% of students scored 5 or more passes, which is the best performance in the past 20 years. Congratulations to all who did well!

According to this article in 2012,  Lim Min from Crescent Girls’ School and Zhong Yingyi and Chai Yung Ci from CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School scored 10 A1s in the exams (11 A1s inclusive of mother tongue language). This is a very commendable effort by these O Level top students.

Another source from Kiasuparents shows that Cedar Girls' Secondary School is a consistent producer of O Level Top Scorers, with some having a total of 11 A1s in a single sitting. Seems like currently many of the O Level Top Students come from girls' schools. This may be due to the fact that girls are less playful and more likely to do their revision consistently, a huge advantage in terms of acing exams.

The Top Student in O Levels from Chung Cheng High School (2011) is Zeng Ding who has scored a very commendable 8 A1s (EL, HCL, CL, EMath, AMath, Chem, Bio, Comb Humanities) and 1 A2 (Phy).

Congratulations to all these O Level Top Students, especially those receiving their results in 2015! For those who are not top students, but tried their best, they too deserve a round of applause for their hard work and dedication.

Featured Book:

The Secrets of Top Students: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Acing High School and College

Unlock your academic potential with tips, tools, and techniques from some of the best students in the country.
Author Stefanie Weisman was a top student all her life, graduating first in her class from Stuyvesant High School and Columbia University and getting degrees in both history and computer science. But it wasn't because she was a "natural" or smarter than everyone else -- it was because she had developed powerful and time-saving techniques for studying, taking notes, writing papers, taking tests, and much, much more, which anyone can put into practice!

## Sunday, 11 January 2015

### The Math of Noah's Ark

Source: Creation Ministries

Was Noah's Ark round? A scholar Dr Irving Finkel claims that the Noah's Ark was actually round, based on a translation of a small Babylonian tablet, named the Ark Tablet.

A replica of "Noah's Ark" according to Dr Finkel.

A ship modeled after the biblical description of Noah's Ark, "Johan's Ark", in the Netherlands

However, there is a rebuttal by Creation.com, which involves some mathematical arguments.

The Ark Tablet has the following verse: "Draw out the boat you will make on a circular plan; let her length and breadth be equal, let her floor area be one field, let her sides be one nindan high.". The phrase "length and breadth" be equal clearly suggests a square base rather than a round base. More calculations involving the surface area of bitumen needed to coat the Ark suggests that a square based ark is more consistent with the calculations, rather than a circular base.

Read more about it at: http://creation.com/real-noahs-ark?utm_media=email&utm_source=infobytes&utm_content=sg&utm_campaign=emails

### Singapore IB Top Student

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/news/singapore/education/story/singapore-among-top-asia-pacific-region-ib-exams-20150105

Out of over 2000 students who sat for the IB exams, Singapore produced 66 perfect scorers! (45 points) One of them is Seah Jun Jie, 18, who switched from the Express stream to the Integrated Programme (IP) in Secondary 3.

Australia is a distant second with 31 perfect scorers.

On average, Singaporean IB students scored 36.43 points.

Read more about the IB HL Mathhttp://mathtuition88.blogspot.sg/2014/12/ib-hl-math.html

Also, here is a Hitler parody on YouTube about "Hitler takes the IB HL Math Test". It is pretty funny, but gives an insight on the type of questions that can appear in the IB HL Math Test, for instance, a question on f(x+y)=f(x)+f(y), which has no numbers!  This is related to something called Cauchy's functional equation!

Please note that this video is not created by me, and only watch it if you have a sense of humour!

Featured Book:

IB Mathematics Higher Level Course Book: Oxford IB Diploma Program

## H2 Maths Syllabus and Help Sheet (MF15)

This is the latest updated H2 Maths Syllabus and Formula Sheet, for the year 2015.

Hope it helps!

Official Source: https://www.seab.gov.sg/pages/nationalExaminations/GAL/School_Candidates/2015_GCE_A.asp

Featured Book:

Understanding Analysis (Undergraduate Texts in Mathematics)

Review (on Amazon.com):
Once in a while, a book comes along that is so wonderfully written, the reader reflexively searches for other books by its author. Understanding Analysis is a prime example of this rare breed (Unfortunately, this is Abbott's only book as far as I know: write more!).

Undergraduates often begin analysis courses with dread and finish in a state of utter confusion,knowing the definitions of key phrases, and sometimes even being able to supply proofs for some elementary results, but having no intution as to why the main theorems are pertinent.

## Thursday, 8 January 2015

### Topics taught in JC 1 / JC 2 H2 Maths

What are the topics taught in JC1 H2 Maths?
What are the topics taught in JC2 H2 Maths?

Source: http://jcmath.wiki.hci.edu.sg/JC1+%26+JC2+Topics

Ans:
It differs from school to school, HCI teaches the topics in the following order below. The order may be different for different schools, though. Some topics definitely have to be taught first, for instance Differentiation is taught first before Integration almost all the time. After these two are taught, then students can move on to learn Maclaurin Series and Differential Equations.

## JC 1 H2 Mathematics Topics

• Sequences and Series
• Graphing Techniques
• Inequalities and System of Equations
• Functions
• Differentiation and its Applications
• Integration and its Applications
• Vectors
• Binomial Expansion
• Maclaurin Series

## JC 2 H2 Mathematics Topics

• Differential Equations
• Complex Numbers
• Permutation and Combination
• Probability
• Binomial and Poisson Distributions
• Normal Distribution
• Sampling
• Hypothesis Testing
• Linear Correlation and Regression

### Dragon Curve and Jurassic Park!

Here are two fantastic videos about the Dragon Curve from Numberphile!

The Dragon Curve is a little known fractal that is very beautiful and mysterious. It can be obtained by simply folding a piece of paper!

This video very aptly and clearly describes the Dragon Curve, which can be found in the book of Jurassic Park. (Many people have watched Jurassic Park, but few have read the book, hence the Dragon Curve is unknown to many.)

Legendary Computer Scientist Don Knuth introduces his beautiful "Dragon Curve" sculpture in his home. And also a moral to be learnt: It's ok to make mistakes, just learn from them! "Err and err and err again, but less and less and less." — Piet Hein. How is this quote of wisdom related to the Dragon Curve? Watch the video to find out!

Lastly, just a sneak peek of the upcoming Jurassic World Official Trailer! Jurassic World will be released in 3D by Universal Pictures on June 12, 2015. Excited?

## SMU Calculus MATH 001 Tuition

Mr Wu can teach tuition for the SMU Calculus Math 001 module.

Here is a testimonial from one of his previous students (with zero H2 Maths background!):

The previous module mentioned refers to the SMU Calculus Math 001 module. He is now taking the SMU Stat 101 module from SMU.

By the way, the SMU Calculus Math 001 is pretty challenging. It includes multivariable calculus which is something new and not in H2 Mathematics syllabus!

## Tuesday, 6 January 2015

### JavaScript XOR Hexadecimal App!

This is a simple JavaScript application that can XOR Hexadecimals (Hex), 2 characters at a time. The output is in 2 digits, meaning that "0" is written as "00".
Hope it helps!

XOR: Exclusive disjunction or exclusive or is a logical operation that outputs true whenever both inputs differ (one is true, the other is false). It is symbolized by infix operator XOR. (Read more at: Wikipedia: XOR)

Hexadecimal: Base 16 numbers, using symbols 0–9 to represent values zero to nine, and A,B,C,D,E,F (or alternatively a–f) to represent values ten to fifteen. (Wikipedia: Hexadecimal)

Input 1:

Input 2:

Output:

Featured Book:

A Smarter Way to Learn JavaScript: The new approach that uses technology to cut your effort in half

## Monday, 5 January 2015

### Javascript Application to Split Text Every Few Characters

This is a simple JavaScript application that can split text every "n" characters, and add a separator of your choice in between. (E.g. separated by comma, space, semicolon, etc.)
For instance, given the input:"abcde12345", separating using the default settings will output:"ab,cd,e1,23,45".
Hope it helps!

Input:

Output:

Split every characters
Separator:

References:

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide: Activate Your Web Pages (Definitive Guides)

## Singapore Math Review

The transition from Primary 4 Maths to Primary 5 Maths is a significant one. There will be new topics taught, and also most significantly, the introduction of the calculator!

Most students will be overjoyed at being able to use the calculator. Personally, I feel that using the calculator at such a young age may not be so good, as it deprives student of the arithmetic practice necessary for intuition in calculation, and also affects mental calculation skills. For instance, adding 15+27 mentally should be possible for Primary 5 Students.

Other notable new things that Primary 5 Maths include are:

• Fraction Division (a confusing topic for many)
• Area of Triangle
• Volume of Cube and Cuboid
• Angles (More advanced than Primary 4, includes sum of angles in Triangle)
The problem sums would be pitched at a higher level now, since students have the calculator. Knowing how to check answers with the calculator would be a huge advantage. (Many students dislike checking answers, from my experience, although it is one of the most important skills needed to ace primary school math.)

Featured Books:

### Singapore Math Books: http://mathtuition88.com/2014/04/05/best-singapore-math-books/

This is a list of Singapore Math Books for foreigners to learn and master the famous Singapore Math system.

## Are you looking for a Weekly Timetable Template for School / Tuition?

I have chosen the most suitable calendar template from www.calendarpedia.com for Singaporean students to use. I personally use this template to track my tuition schedule too.

Preview: (You are recommended to download the PDF link for greater resolution.)

Nowadays students have a lot of tuition (especially those taking a lot of subjects), hence it may be good to use this calendar to keep track of which tuition is on which day, to avoid confusion. Hope this calendar helps!

This calendar is best used for events that repeat weekly at exactly the same time, e.g. tuition, CCA, swimming lessons, piano lessons, etc.

## Saturday, 3 January 2015

### Math Movie: The Imitation Game

Anyone interested to watch a movie about Math can seriously consider: The Imitation Game.

It is a movie about mathematician Alan Turing, and the role he played in cracking the Enigma code used by the German Nazi during World War II. It has proven to be pivotal in the defeat of Germany in key battles.

I have not watched the movie yet, but the trailer seems really interesting and I will definitely get down to watching it one day.

The movie is released in the USA already (Release Date: 25 December 2014 (USA)), but for some enigmatic (pun intended) reasons it is only being released in Singapore in 22 January 2015.

Hope everyone enjoys the movie!

## Maths Tuition for Private Candidates / University Students

I am providing Maths Tuition for Private Candidates who wish to retake their O Levels or A Levels. Also can teach mathematical topics at the undergraduate level, for example Engineering Maths.

Please visit http://mathtuition88.com/ for more details!

You can also email me at mathtuition88@gmail.com, or SMS/call me at 98348087.

### Timeslots

• Weekdays 11am-1pm
I can most likely teach during weekdays (Mon-Fri) 11am-1pm since most of my tuition students are in school. Do message me to check the available timeslots, thanks!

Students can choose either once a week, or multiple times a week tuition. (Depending on their mathematical foundation.)

### Start early for best results

Math is a subject that requires practice, and also time for the concepts to get absorbed. Last minute cramming is unlikely to be of help if the foundation is weak. Hence, starting tuition early would be the best strategy.

The plan will be to get to the level of being able to do past year papers as soon as possible. Then, we will work through past year papers (and prelims if time permits), which is an incredible strategy to practicing O Level Maths / A Level Maths since the questions that will come out will be similar in nature. A student who has done the full Ten Year Series, and is familiar with it, has an overwhelming advantage over someone who hasn't. This is simply due to the fact that some questions will be repeated. (Not exactly, of course, but similar)

### About Tutor

Mr Wu (http://mathtuition88.com/singapore-math-tutor/) is an experienced tutor with many years of experience. (started tutoring in year 2006.) He can teach 'O' level, 'A' level, IB, University Maths. Check out my website at: http://mathtuition88.com/.

### Tutoring Scam that targets Tutors

Today I received an email, that is very highly likely to be a scam. According to this website (https://drsaraheaton.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/tutoring-scam-targets-teachers/), another tutor (from Canada) has received the same email. The scam targets teachers (even martial arts teachers from this forum). So beware! The modus operandi seems to be sending a counterfeit cheque with excess value, and asking the tutor to send the "balance" back. Details of email:
Hello,

I'm Christopher, During my search for a lesson teacher that would help in taking my son (Kenneth). During is stay in your location. I found your advert and it is very okay to me since you specialize in the area I'm seeking for him.

My son would be coming to your city before the end of this month for a period of time with his friend,
I'll like to know if you can help in taking him for the lesson?  just to keep him busy and refresh. Kenneth is 11 years old, So kindly let me know your charges per hour/lesson in order for me to arrange for his payment before he travels down to  for the lessons to commence.

He will be staying there for 2 weeks.

Please Reply back on:

(1). Your charges per 2 hours (3 times a week for 2 Weeks):starting from 10th January until 25th January 2015

(2)  Total Cost For 6 class/12 hours lessons in 2 Weeks

(3). The Day and time you will be available to teach him During the week:

Well am very happy that i see you as my son tutor and about your years of Experience there is no problem about the lessons, My son will be coming with his caregiver.
So there is no problem for the lesson to commence by next week, my son caregiver will be bringing him to your location for the lessons and you can teach him anywhere around you including the Library or your home if that is okay by you so i will like you to teach my son the best of you when he get to the city for the lessons.
I will like you to email me with your schedule for the lessons,Please send me the name to be written on the check and  the address where the check should be mailed too. and send me your  phone number,mobile number. for the
check to your before leaving the state, by this week,
I will be awaiting to read from you soon with your name and address.

Best Wishes.

Featured Book: Outsmarting the Scam Artists: How to Protect Yourself From the Most Clever Cons

## Thursday, 1 January 2015

### O Level Results Release

Source: http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/admissions/jae/

## The moment of truth

The 'O' level results will be released (tentatively) between 12 and 16 January 2015. Best of luck for everyone who took the O levels in 2014, including many of my former students. Sincerely wish that the can get the required L1R5 to enter their dream school.

Check out http://mathtuition88.com/2013/10/25/jc-admission-cut-off-points/ to get a rough idea of the cut-off points for JC. Admission is admittedly getting quite competitive, especially for the top few JCs, namely RJC, HCI, and ACJC/ACS(I).

## When does JC1 start in 2015?

According to MOE, JC 1 students will start school on 30th January 2015 (Friday). A pretty good start to school, have a weekend break immediately after the first day. The current system is definitely better than the previous system of going to one school based on prelim results, and then waiting an entire 3 months for the results to come out, before entering the final JC.

JC 2 students will start school earlier on 5th January 2015 (Monday).