IGCSE Maths Tutor HK

Expanding, factorising, rearranging, indices, fractions, negative numbers. If any of these require conscious thought, everything built on top of them fails under time pressure, and the failure shows up as a topic problem when it is not one.

We drill this in short, frequent bursts rather than in long sessions, because that is how automaticity is built. It is unglamorous, and for a student stuck in the Cs it moves the grade faster than teaching new topics does.

IGCSE mark schemes award marks for correct method even when the final answer is wrong. A student who works in their head and writes only the answer forfeits every one of those marks when they slip.

We insist on written working from the first lesson. Students resist it, because writing feels slower than thinking. It is slower, and it is worth several grades across a paper.

Core caps the available grade. If the tier is in question, the useful evidence is a full Extended paper sat under timed conditions and marked to the published mark scheme, which we run as part of the assessment. See Core or Extended for how to take that evidence to the school.

For students continuing to A-Level Maths or IB Maths, particularly AA HL, the summer between Year 11 and Year 12 is the most valuable tutoring window they will get. The Diploma and A-Level both assume an algebraic fluency that IGCSE does not require, and a student who arrives rusty spends the whole of Year 12 catching up. See what comes after IGCSE.