I am Gerard Seah, and I'm from Edgefield Secondary School. Before joining Good School Kovan, my Seconadry English grades averaged between C5 and C6 and remained there almost all the time. As O Level was nearing, I needed something to help me improve my grades because it is a compulsory subject when they total the L1R5 aggregate. So after trying a few tuition centres and other tutors, we just decided to go to Good School since it had been recommended by some friends and my parents. So from then on, we decided to give it a try, and that's how I joined Good School.
The lessons at Good School were unlike any lessons that I've had at other tuition centres and it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. During my first trial class, it just left me very dumbfounded and shocked because there were a lot of things that I realised after just one class that there are a lot of things that I could learn about the subject of English. And what you can learn, I think that you could also apply and help you improve your grades, and it showed me that it is possible for me to improve my English and not just base it on is it because of my talent, or is it being able to understand it. I always thought that some people can just do it or can't do it, that kind of mentality. But yeah, these classes changed my mindset about trying to learn about something in different ways that I could never imagine and just brought out the essence of learning when it comes to Good School classes.
After joining, my grade went up by 2 grades to B3 and stayed there since I joined. I think for the methods, there is a whole range of methods used. Most of them that I can remember, are those that can be applied in paper 1, which are all those essays like situational writing and continuous writing. One of them was the 3BIT which is a very simple yet effective way to start an essay or a letter or whatever it is. Basically, just write down 3 background pieces of information, which can be very generic, and then end off with a thesis and then start the essay with all the content and all the language features you want to put inside.
During the first trial lesson, I also learned about essay planning, called ABCDE. A means absolutism, B means 3BIT, C is constants and variables, D is domain, and E is type of essay, to identify what kind of essay you are writing and how it will help you direct the skills we have learned in class and what can be applied to this type of essay, and what is the main point and what is not. It is also a small step to prevent yourself from going off-topic. We practised all these methods within short time frames to prepare us for exams.
After going through 1 year of Good School lessons, I would definitely recommend it to people. I think it will really help students who are in Secondary School when it comes to English because I think the difficulty of English started to come in when I jumped from Sec 2 to Sec 3. But I think that it is good to start early for students to join Good School, so they can join in like Sec 1 or Sec 2. If you want primary classes it's also possible, but I think it will be more effective when it comes to secondary school and possibly tertiary education like GP classes. So those people in that range are people I would recommend Good School to. I would be happy to recommend it to anybody interested in taking up tuition classes as Good School not only provides students with unique skills and strategies, but also a conducive environment for students to stay focused and improve.
