About me
Thomas the (almost) phD Graduate |
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Thomas is a full time tutor in Singapore. He had been doing this from 2003 ever since he graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with 1st class honours in Civil Engineering. It was an accidental choice to be a full time tutor. Who ever had the childhood ambition to become a full time tutor anyway?! It was after Thomas applied for an accelerated master to phD programme in NUS that he discovered his aptitude for teaching. While waiting for his then girlfriend (and now wife) to finish her masters locally, so that both of them can go overseas to study, he started tutoring to earn the funds for his overseas study trip. It was there that the act of tutoring kindled his passion for teaching. Thomas subsequently rejected the successful application of the sponsored phD programme in NUS.
He had never regretted it since. |
Thomas the full-time tutor |
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Thomas had taught in a variety of levels and subjects, but now he focuses more on secondary school and JC / IB students. Here's a list of the levels and subjects he had experience in teaching.
Primary school (no longer teaching!)
Secondary school
Junior College (JC)
International Baccalaureate (IB)
Tertiary institutions
Thomas has a wide variety of interest in different subjects and disciplines. As such, he'll never be able to pass down his secret self-taught kungfu techniques of acing different subjects had he to become an NIE trained teacher. It's the commitment of Thomas to ensure that his students get a good grade for the entire O-levels and A-levels, not just for the subjects that he teaches. He thinks it'll be rather pointless if his student gets very good result for just one subject but badly in others, dragging his overall points down. |
Thomas the student |
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Certainly not the smartest nor the brightest, Thomas did what he could to survive Singapore's harsh exams. Even his mother is pretty worried in primary school that he might not even make it to secondary school. But he did alright, thankfully, and got into Maris Stella High school with a score of 234. That qualifies him to be in the third last express class of his batch.
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In secondary school, Thomas did much much better. He managed to be in the first in class for 3 consecutive year, enabling him to promote and jump a class each year until he made it to the best express class in secondary 4. He also rejected an offer to join the Special stream, choosing to remain in the Express stream because he wanted to take Biology as the third science (it's only offered to the best express and special class in his school). In the end, Thomas did well enough in the O'lvls to get into Temasek Junior College with a raw L1R5 score of 7 points.
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He went on to get 4 As in his A'lvl and a 1st class degree in civil engineering in the National University of Singapore (NUS) with a specialization in environmental engineering. Thomas is not the straight As student - he just scores very well in the exams that matter. In JC, there's this teacher who always ask him to drop Further Mathematics (F maths) because he failed once in year 2. From that day on, Thomas was asked to drop that subject (even in lectures where there's like a few hundred students in one seating!) because the teacher deemed that he cannot cope with it. Well, Thomas didn't drop that subject and went on ace that subject, doing what others tell him he cannot do.
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It happened again in NUS. In the third year of his demanding engineering course, Thomas realised that he cannot get his 1st class honours even if he gets all As for the remaining modules left in his coursework. The administration just implemented a new class system in this third year, where you need a 4.5 out of 5 grade point average (GPA) in order to get a 1st class. Well, it seems impossible. Even his family asked him to give up that thought and settle for a 2nd class honours, which is not that bad. But Thomas is not someone who gives up because the odds are against him. What's the worst thing that can happen if he tried? He went on to take extra modules from other faculties in his already demanding engineering core, then went on to get As in each and every one of them, boosting his GPA score to 4.51 out of 5.
To others, Thomas merely scraped through to get his 1st class honours. But to him, that 0.01 point difference is the best university module he had voluntarily chosen to do. This lesson of life will be forever etched in his memory and will form one of the foundation of his teaching philosophy years later. You just never ever give up on what you want to do. Your single unwavering heart is more convincing and powerful than a hundred naysayers around you. If you persist and work hard, even mountains and oceans will part for you to cross to your destination. |
Thomas the appreciated |
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Thomas thinks that all his powderful certifications and good academic track record merely means that he can study and score well in his own examinations. That does not mean that he can teach well. He is not merely teaching a subject; he is teaching a person. Understanding that makes all the difference in the world. Teaching involves touching the heart and kindling the mind. Considering that almost all his students from the past 10 years come from referrals and good word-of-mouth, he must have done something good here.
Click on the button below to see what others say about Thomas. |