Throughout your illustrious tutoring career, you are bound to run into assignments where the student is taking a subject for a level that you don’t know about
IB Math? American Math Competition? IGCSE? Never met them!
Most local tutors are not familiar with the syllabuses for the various international tests, competitions and exams.
If you approach an A’ Level Math tutor for help with AMC 12 math, he might look at you as if you made that up.
Although they are foreign-based levels, the syllabuses do have their own equivalents here in Singapore.
IGCSE Vs GCSE
iStock
IGCSEs are often confused for GCSEs due to their similarities in terms of name and education body.
IGCSE stands for International General Certificate of Secondary Education, and is the equivalent to our O Levels.
GCSE stands for General Certificate of Secondary Education, and is the UK version of IGCSE.
The biggest differences between both exams are the number of subjects being offered and the content tested.
The IGCSE syllabus consists of over 70 subject options, with some subjects only being available for certain countries. For example, Statistics as a subject is only offered in Zone 3 and 4 countries.
On the other hand, GCSEs consist of around 20 subject options such as Astronomy, Combined Sciences and Film Studies.
GCSE subjects such as Geography and History are also purely based on British context, while IGCSE subjects are more internationalised and generic.
IB Diploma
Shutterstock
Want to further your studies locally? Take A Levels. Want to study overseas in the future? Take IB!
This is a popular mindset that some educators and parents have, and it is not without merit.
IB Diplomas are more recognised internationally due to its consistency throughout its syllabus worldwide.
In the Singaporean context, an IB Diploma is equivalent to A Levels, but the main difference is the intensity and difficulty of the content.
Do you know that the top 50% of IB students are studying in Singapore?
If you do decide to take up an IB Diploma student even if you don’t have IB experience, do be prepared to tackle concepts comparable to that of A Levels!
Math Olympiads And Other International Competitions
StockCake
Almost every 2010s primary school kid will know what Maths Olympiad is. Some would even remember the New South Wales ICA Challenge.
Every year, a portion of students’ Edusave fund goes to academic competitions.
Parents are getting more competitive in this field as they want their kids to score well for these international competitions, thus they request tutors to train their kids specially for it.
The most popular competitions currently are American Math Competitions (AMC) and Singapore and Asian Schools Math Olympiad (SASMO).
Here are the equivalents for some of the popular competitions:
AMC8: Secondary 2 math
AMC10: Secondary 4 math
AMC12: JC2 math
SPSO: P5/6 Science
SAT
iStock
SAT is an American standardised college entrance exam in order to determine if a student is fit for American colleges.
Students who take the SAT will very likely be furthering their education in American colleges and universities.
The general consensus is that SAT is much easier than our O Levels and A Levels, as the only contents tested are Evidence-based Reading and Writing, Mathematics, and Essay.
SAT math is mostly equivalent to our local secondary school math.
Conclusion:
It is always a good idea to look up past year papers of exams and tests that you are not familiar with in order to get a grasp of what your student will need.
With that being said, don’t take up an assignment if you are not confident in teaching the subject.
Happy tutoring!
Facebook