Primary School Mathematics Tuition
Boost academic performance with our Primary School Math tuition! Tailored for success in Singapore Primary schools and PSLE, we help students to excel with minimal stress from students and parents.
A Rigorous Math Tuition that Drives Results
Formulated by our team of curriculum developers, this program is the result of an in-depth analysis of the past decade's PSLE mathematics questions and top school exam papers. Infused with a profound understanding of children's learning psychology, it is a highly effective Math Tution programme that yields exceptional results.
The Essential Virtuous Circle
Essential Education fosters a virtuous circle for students by promoting effective study practices that lead to improved academic results. Our curriculum and techniques are designed to help students break free from any vicious circles they may be in, where poor performance leads to low confidence and ineffective habits.
With teacher-guided analysis of results, students develop self-awareness, allowing them to identify and correct weaknesses. As they progressively gain confidence in their ability to improve, they are encouraged to develop strong, consistent habits. Over time, this positive cycle of practice, confidence, and habit formation helps students achieve sustained academic excellence with less stress.
Essential Primary Math Tuition
A proven formula to achieve success in PSLE Math
Built upon a thorough analysis of the past decade's PSLE papers, our curriculum emphasizes crucial topics and math techniques. Expertly scaffolded and structured, the curriculum and practice question sets help the weaker students climb the AL ladder and sustain top grades for stronger ones. Using techniques rooted in neuroscience for habitual practices, developing self-awareness and confidence building, it is a formulaic approach that drives success in PSLE Math.
Results You Can Expect
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![Going upwards as an analogy to Rapid Improvement in Singapore Primary School Mathematics]()
Rapid Improvement in School Math
Our methodology works and works fast because it focuses on what is essential to achieve results in the Singapore PSLE. It incorporates the latest neuroscience research on learning to help students effortlessly develop and learn the required skills and techniques. It also builds confidence in students, encouraging them to put in the effort and develop the habits to excel.
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![Heart formed from book pages as analogy to loving Mathematics]()
Loving Mathematics
Our students begin to appreciate Math as they achieve better results. As their liking for the subject grows, their performance further improves, creating a virtuous circle. In no time, they find themselves loving mathematics. Our programme is designed to set our students on this positive trajectory.
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![Idea bulb taking off as analogy of students being motivated to score AL1]()
'Motivated' to Score 'AL1'
Our students become 'motivated' to practice hard and achieve good Math results. We use quotation marks with motivated because we don't rely on students being motivated, as it's challenging to sustain. Instead, we inculcate practice habits. With these habits, students are consistently observed by others to be motivated.
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![Glowing brain as an analogy of Confidence to Succeed through Effort]()
Confidence to Succeed through Effort
Our students possess a confident belief in their inherent capabilities to succeed. They understand that, through dedicated effort, they can transform their potential into tangible achievements. This unique form of confidence serves as a motivating force, inspiring them to exert even more effort rather than less. It is a belief in their innate abilities to overcome challenges through sustained effort.
Our Essential Mathematics Tuition Methodology Explained
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Based on a comprehensive analysis of the last decade's PSLE papers, a profound understanding of the latest syllabus and,insights from the latest neuroscience on learning, our curriculum is designed with the following features:
Expertly scaffolded to facilitate students' progression up the AL ladder.
Carefully organized to enable stronger students to maintain top grades without excessive practice.
Time allocated to topics corresponds to their expected marks weightage in PSLE.
Effective problem-sum techniques are taught with meticulously crafted accompanying practices to instill skill in students.
Practices are developed based on the latest insights from neuroscience on learning and skills development.
Students will receive purpose-designed materials, including:
Detailed topical notes offering clear explanations and illustrated examples with full solutions to help students develop an in-depth understanding of new topics.
Revision cheatsheets with a concise summary for quick topic refresh before exams.
Structured practices aimed at enhancing technique, speed, and accuracy to get top grades in PSLE Math. Our practices are further structured into 5 different types to help student specific areas needed. Explore more in the Essential Math Practice section.
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This is about being exam smart, potentially influencing a 3-7 mark difference, which can mean an improvement of up to two AL levels. We teach our students on:
Making smart and fast verification of their solutions correctness (Hint: it is not by redoing the entire question one more time).
Identifying questions worthy of checking.
Knowing when to skip a question to save time.
Making intelligent guesses with heuristics when unsure.
Using their unconcious cognition to help solve the “challenging problem sum”. (Based on latest neuroscience research)
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Our practice is dedicated to fostering students' speed, accuracy, and essential math techniques for achieving top PSLE grades. Designed specifically for the PSLE Math, we have the following types of practices:
Slow-paced practices for deep understanding of Math concept and techniques.
Fast-paced timed practices for speed and accuracy.
Standard problem sum technique drills for solving 95% of problems.
Extra-challenging problem sums heuristics to tackle the 1-2 (5%) toughest questions.
Simulated exams to familiarize students with the exam format and its accompanying challenges.
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Motivation-driven practices can be inconsistent, especially for children, as maintaining high motivation consistently is challenging. In contrast, habits offer greater reliability. Our teachers diligently instill two crucial Math habits in students:
Allocating a fixed 1.5-hour time slot weekly, consistently at the same time and day for 100% focused Math self practice.
Incorporating mental math calculations into daily activities.
The first habit ensures that our students engage in sufficient and consistent Math practice regularly, as consistency contributes to building long-term memory. We mandate a continuous, fully focused 1.5-hour session to train our students to sustain mental focus for the duration of their Math Paper 2 (which is 1.5 hours long).
The second habit assists our students in recognizing the practical applications of Math in daily life while simultaneously refining their mental math speed and accuracy—skills crucial for PSLE Math. (Hint: Our students use cash instead of the POSB Smart Buddy watch for canteen purchases.)
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We assist students in cultivating self-awareness regarding their Math proficiency through analysis sessions following major school tests (WAs), school exams (SAs), and internal simulated exams. In these sessions, students will:
Enhance comprehension of paper structure, refining their exam skills.
Recognise their own specific areas of strength.
Identify personal weaknesses, pinpointing areas for improvement.
Formulate a specific and achieveable improvement for themselves.
In the Analysis sessions, teachers leverage identified strengths and weaknesses to nurture students' confidence. We instill the belief that "they have the inherent potential and will improve with targeted practice."
Our teachers will also work with our students to formulate and install the Math Habits to help them succeed. Read more on the habits in the Essential Math Habits section.
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All our teachers have unwavering faith in the innate potential of each and every student. They trust in our curriculum, methodology, and their own capability to guide students.
A consistent message our teachers convey to our student is:
“You have the potential to excel in Math. Through effort and practice, you will succeed!”
Math Tuition Classes
Fees shown below are for one month (4 lessons)
Frequently Asked Questions
Insights to empower you in making informed decisions to realise both your and your child’s aspirations
Primary Math Tuition
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There are a few possible reasons.
The most common reason is that your child hasn’t been practising for speed. If you child complains about not having enough time or are losing marks towards the end of the paper, you know that this is likely the reason. See our answer for “My child has a good understanding of Math. Why does he need to practise for speed?”
Another reason is that your child is not accustomed to the typical phrasing of the questions. If your child is making “careless” mistakes in solving problem sums (such as subtracting when they should be adding and vice versa) and explains that they misread during the test, this is likely the cause.
Other reasons include exam stress, poor allocation of time during exam, not utilising exam techniques, not utilising technique to verify and check answers.
Teachers at Essential will diagnose the root cause and help your child overcome those problems.
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TLDR:
There isn’t enough time for students to think during the PSLE exam. They need to have practised enough so that they can get the answers without having to consciously think.
Longer Explanation:
The PSLE Math exam format are as follows:
Paper 1 (1 hour)
15 x MCQs (20 Marks)
15 x Short-answer Questions (25 Marks)
Paper 2 (1 hour 30 mins)
5 x Short-answer Questions (10 Marks)
12 x Structured Questions (Problem Sums) (45 Marks)
If we allocate the time spent based on the number of marks, students have approximately the following amount of time per question:
Paper 1
MCQ: 2 mins
Short-answer: 2 mins
Paper 2
Short-answer: 3 mins
Problem sums: 6 mins
Students simply do not have sufficient time to think during the exam. They would need to have practised enough such that the answers come to them without having to spend time thinking.
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It is possible if your child:
has the right question set to practise and
has the discipline to practise consistently and correctly
At Essential, we take care of the above for you. Our question sets are designed specifically for the PSLE Math exam based on deep analysis of the past decade of PSLE papers. Our in-class practices are also carefully structured into the following:
Slow-paced practices for deep understanding of Math concept and techniques.
Fast-paced timed practices for speed and accuracy.
Standard problem sum technique drills for solving 95% of problems.
Extra-challenging problem sums heuristics to tackle the 1-2 (5%) toughest questions.
Simulated exams to familiarize students with the exam format and its accompanying challenges.
And most importantly, our dedicated teachers will be by the side of your child, inspiring, motivating and sometimes simply nagging at your child.
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There are several possible reasons.
The most common reason is that your child is practising wrongly. During practises, it’s important split them up into the following:
For a new topic, use slow-paced practices for deep understanding of the topic. Don’t rush. Be patient.
Once concept is understood, use fast-paced timed practices for speed and accuracy
Questions should be at the appropriate level of difficulty for your child. (Neither too hard nor too easy)
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Yes. Our group class will be able to help.
We understand your concerns that in a group class, the pace might be too fast for your child’s current Math level. Our curriculum and Math teaching method is designed to overcome this.
Firstly our Math curriculum and practice question sets are expertly scaffolded to facilitate students' progression up the AL ladder. Secondly, question sets to be completed will be personalised for each student. Students who are still developing would start with question sets that fits their level of ability to build their confidence and foundation. They will then progressively move up the difficulties (and AL levels), all under the constant encouragement of our nurturing teachers.
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Firstly, congratulations! Keep it up!
Yes. Our curriculum and Math teaching method is designed to enable stronger students to maintain top grades.
Our Math curriculum and practice question sets are expertly scaffolded. Which means stronger students will be focusing their practices on question sets that are more challenging!
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Congratulation! Please keep it up!
A heads up regarding Singapore Math syllabus to help you with the preparation: There is a jump in the difficulty in P3, P4 and P5. Many students who did well in the current year don’t do well in the following year. The jump from P4 to P5 is especially great and many lose confidence after their poor WA1 results.
We will help to prepare your child for this jump in difficulty level and maintain their grades and confidence.