Case Studies

The situation. A Year 12 student at a Hong Kong international school, working hard, consistently scoring 5s, aiming for a life sciences degree that needed a 6.

What the diagnostic found. Content knowledge was not the problem — the student could explain most of the syllabus. Marked answers showed the pattern immediately: long answers to short questions, and descriptions where the command term asked for an explanation.

What changed. Six weeks of explicit command-term work. Every answer written to a mark allocation, every answer marked against the real mark scheme, with the mark scheme visible.

Outcome. Mock grade moved to a 6 within a term. This is the single most common pattern we see in the sciences, and the fastest to address.

The situation. A strong IGCSE Physics student (A*) struggling badly in IB Physics HL by November of Year 12.

What the diagnostic found. Not physics. Algebraic rearrangement was slow and error-prone, and the student had never been taught uncertainty properly. Each question cost twice the time it should, so papers were never finished.

What changed. Four weeks of short daily algebra drills alongside a systematic block on uncertainty, before touching any new physics content.

Outcome. Papers completed within time by the spring, with the grade following. The IGCSE-to-Diploma maths gap is the most under-diagnosed problem in Hong Kong physics tutoring.

The situation. A Year 10 student at an English-medium international school, Cantonese-speaking at home, entered for IGCSE First Language Chinese on the basis of fluent speech.

What the diagnostic found. Strong comprehension, but formal written composition well below first-language standard — the student had never been taught 議論文 or 書信 conventions.

What changed. A written assessment for the school, a move to the appropriate paper, and a term of format-specific composition training.

Outcome. A grade the student could actually achieve, rather than a struggle against a paper that did not fit. See Chinese tutoring.