Private coaching vs Centre based coaching?

[JollyJohn]

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PRIVATE!!!

but finding a good one is so damn hard
just cos such and such got 100 uai doesn't mean they're great teachers

[studentcheese]

Originally Posted by oasfree

Hey guys, could you give me some idea why kids who are already doing very well need tutors? I can understand if a lost kid need tutoring, but when a high performing kid needs tutoring, I don't understand.

For example, my niece is in selective schools and already do quite Ok, but she would never get over 80% without having tutors. She recently moved from center-based to a private tutor in order to improve the results. The reason she gave me was that kids who had tutoring knew the topic about 3 months before being taught at the school. It looks like 80% of the kids in this selective school would drop badly in performance if they stop private tutoring.

Why is that? Does the teachers at the schools (selective ones) know how to teach the kids? When I was young I only used teachers as resources. I always learn much ahead from textbooks. I never needed tutoring or even teachers in some subjects. Why can't kids learn by themselves by reading and researching using textbooks?

It looks like these are average kids who tried so hard to be among real top kids and need constant private tutoring just to stay competitive? Or perhaps teachers at selective schools also don't know how to teach?

As you guys are in the schools, you might be able to tell me your opinions on this matter.

Not all selective school teachers are good. There are some who just get you to summarise out of a textbook and this is when tutoring is handy. There are also some teachers who believe that selective kids need to learn stuff themselves. These teachers don't teach at all! Yeah, kids could learn by themselves by reading and using textbooks, but this becomes hard because there are some concepts that need to be explained by teachers. Some kids are capable of self learning, but the loss of a classroom environment demotivates them from self learning, hence they need tutors to help them accelerate.

Usually the smart kids that get tutored are being pressured by their parents to reach their absolute best, or the kid wants to learn more. Some kids also feel advantaged if they learn ahead of what he/she is learning at school.

[ForbiddenND]

Mmm well economically speaking one and one is about the same as group tutoring usually a little bit more :S. I rekon you should go for both lol... If your asian at heart (like my parents) you'll be like why the hell would I go for both. Look at this way work hard and spend extra money for 2 years and your life will be significantly better. The advantage of one on one is that you can ask questions that you have trouble with, can go at your own pace and so on. The advantage of group tuition is that you get work,other people will ask questions which you never of thought of and the social side of it. In simple terms choose which one you want or do both

[tanzaa]

I've been with private tutoring for about 5 years now...and yes it is perfect when they are totally focused on you, but in the past two years my teacher caught up with "life" (marriage, buying new home, babies and the whole deal) and also gaining a LOT more students..(i go to her home to tutor btw) and theres been some double timing with students going on..
before that i spent 3 years at north shore, from what I can remember I could not pick up anything -- private made things a lot clearer..
but then I'm the type that takes time to take a grasp to new things

I'm considering...most probably going to quit private and go for a coaching centre instead now, in the upcoming term. I hope things go better than my north shore years --

however, up until this point, if you have the bucks..like everyone is saying $50/h + , and also a quality teacher, then that's pretty good as they really do focus on exactly what you don't get.




sorry~ gave a mini autobiography there --