Is your child able to fully comprehend the scope of the Social Studies syllabus?

Is your child confident in giving higher level answers and scoring the maximum marks for his/her source based questions in the exams?

Does your child have real world examples at your fingertips that he/she can use to support his/her points in the structured response questions?

Is your child able to discuss societal issues in Singapore such as the controversy over the reserved presidential elections and CPF policies with ease?

We have conducted History and Social Studies intensive revision course every year since 2013, and have helped hundreds of Sec 4 & 5 students score higher in their Social Studies, and pull up their overall Humanities Grade in O levels.

Module #1: Revision for Sec 3/4 SS content – Diversity (2 Days)

Suitable for: Sec 3 /4 students in 2020

This course is for students who are in Sec 3 and 4 Express in 2020 and are apprehensive about their coming end of year school exams or their O level exams and would like to revise their SS content for the 2nd issue in the SS text – Diversity. This course will cover all content for this issue.

Day 1 Content Coverage:

• Different types of Diversity – Nationality, Race, Ethnicity and SES
• Singapore’s immigration policy
• Factors that attract immigrants to Singapore
• Positive and negative interactions in a diverse society

Day 2 Content Coverage:

• Assimilation and Integration
• Case Study – Assimilation in France vs Integration in Singapore
• Management of SES diversity
• Case Study – Different approaches to healthcare funding in USA vs Sweden vs Singapore

In-depth notes will also be provided with these lessons. These notes will be suitable for revision of these topics for the O level examinations.

With this in-depth revision of this issue, students should be able to approach their coming exams with less worry and more confidence.

Module #2: Revision for Sec 4 SS CONTENT – Globalisation

Suitable for: Sec 4 students in 2020

This course is for students who are in Sec 4 Express in 2020 and are apprehensive about their coming O level exams and would like to revise their SS content for the 2nd issue in the SS text – Globalisation. This course will cover all content for this issue.

Content Coverage:

• Driving forces of Globalisation – Transport, communications technology and MNCs
• Positive and negative impact of globalisation on countries
• Positive and negative impact of globalisation on companies
• Positive and negative impact of globalisation on individuals
• Homogenisation and Hybridisation

In-depth notes will also be provided with these lessons. These notes will be suitable for revision of these topics for the O level examinations.

With this in-depth revision of this issue, students should be able to approach their coming exams with less worry and more confidence.

Module #3: Sec 3 Social Studies, SBQ SKILLS

Suitable for: Sec 3 students in 2020

This course is for students who are in Sec 3 Express in 2020 and are apprehensive about their coming end of year school exams, and would like to revise their SBQ answering skills for the 2 types of SBQ introduced in upper secondary – Reliability and Utility(Usefulness).

Skills Coverage:

• Proper format and matching for cross-referencing
• Analysing sources for bias, purpose and motive
• Analysing utility through identifying limited information and perspective

In-depth notes will also be provided with these lessons. These lessons will also include practice papers and answers will be marked and analysed on the spot to provide timely feedback on the students’ answering skills and technique.

With this in-depth revision of these SBQ answering skills, students should be able to approach their coming exams with less worry and more confidence.

Module #4: Sec 4 Social Studies, SBQ/ SRQ SKILLS (3 Days)

Suitable for: Sec 4 students in 2020

This course is for students who are in Sec 4 Express, are sitting for their O level examinations, have not been scoring well in SS, and are worried about SS pulling down what might be a strong Combined Humanities mark.

Note: Skills taught in this course are equally applicable to answering History SBQ questions.

This course is built on the assumption that all the basic SBQ skills brought over from Lower Secondary or Sec 3 are sound, but the newer SBQ types taught in Sec 3 and 4, such as higher level answers for:

• Reliability
• Utility (Usefulness)
• Assertion (Evaluation)
• Surprise
• Hybrid questions (Comparison + Reliability/Surprise) …

… are still a matter of uncertainty to students and they wish for more reinforcement.

Furthermore, this course is also built around providing the skills/tips necessary for students to better understand and approach SRQ questions, especially SRQ a), which can be troubling due to its General Paper/Free Writing association.

The course will have 3 portions:

Day #1 of the course will be spent on analysing actual past year SS O level questions as examples of Bias, Motive, Purpose, Tone, and Sufficiency and even Cross-referencing(Yes it can be the highest level!).

Day  #2 will be devoted to analysing actual past year SS O level questions as examples of Surprise, Hybrid SBQ as well as the 3 different models of higher level Assertion SBQ answers that students can attempt.

Day #3 will be spent on analysing actual past year SS O level questions for examples of Anomalies: SBQ questions that seem to defy any type of category, and appear only rarely. This is to expose students to these infrequent SBQ types and show them that no matter how obscure or unrecognisable the question, the answering skills required are ALWAYS based on the skills they’ve been taught – namely inferring, comparing, analysing purpose/motive/bias, cross-referring and … well just plain logical thought. After which some tips for answering SRQ a) will also be shared and various question types and answering techniques will also be covered.

In-depth notes will also be provided with these lessons. These lessons will also include practice papers and answers will be marked and analysed on the spot to provide timely feedback on the students’ answering skills and technique.  

With this in-depth revision of these SBQ answering skills, students should be able to approach their coming exams with less worry and more confidence.

Course Details:

About the Teacher

Mr Noel Ong
(Secondary Social Studies, History)

• Bachelor of Arts and Social Science, NUS (Majored in Political Science and English Literature, Minored in History)
• Post Graduate Diploma in Education, NIE
• More than 18 years of teaching experience in MOE schools

Mr Noel Ong is a NIE-trained MOE teacher who has more than 18 years of teaching experience. Having spent all his 18 years teaching in a typical Singapore neighbourhood school, he has much experience in raising the grades of students who were formerly struggling with SS and History. He was teaching SS when the subject was introduced in 2001, and so has a wealth of knowledge concerning how this subject is taught, examined and assessed. Mr Noel is also very well versed in the current SS syllabus (rolled out in 2016) as he was part of the team of MOE teachers selected to evaluate the textbook as it was being written, and also to pilot the lesson plans and materials that were included with the syllabus text. Finally, he strongly believes that both SS and History need not be dry or ‘boring’; What could be more interesting than learning more about your country, your world and the story of mankind?

How To Register? 

We are limiting the Intensive Revision Course to only 5 students per class so as to ensure maximum engagement and coaching to our students.

Registration will close on 31 August 2020 or earlier when all places are taken up. Your seat is only confirmed upon payment.