GPA improved? How much? How did y’all do it? The Class GPA average for one of my Chemistry classes from 3.05 to 3.93. This was a class from one of the schools in Singapore. How did we do it? Today, I am going to celebrate our success and share some nuggets of our secret with you, to encourage you that you can do it and excel in your Chemistry too! Seb Academy is always committed to helping students at any level, beginner, or advanced, to improve their understanding in Chemistry, through our rigorous and engaging Chemistry tuition classes. Firstly, here are the scores breakdown for the students. I have omitted their names for privacy reasons. But girls, if you are reading this, I am so proud of you for going so far! 
| 2019 Sec 3 EOY GPA | 2020 Sec 4 FE GPA | |
| Student A | 4 | 4 |
| Student B | 4 | 4 |
| Student C | 4 | 4 |
| Student D | 2.8 | 4 |
| Student E | 3.2 | 3.6 |
| Student F | 1.6 | 4 |
| Student G | 4 | 4 |
| Student H | 2.8 | 4 |
| Student I | 2 | 4 |
| Student J | 3 | 4 |
| Student K | 1.6 | 4 |
| Student L | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Student M | 4 | 4 |
| Student N | 4 | 4 |
| 3.18 | 3.94 |
If we compare the class average, the Sec 4s started with an average of 3.18/4.00 and by the end of the year, the entire class improved their Chemistry scores to a class average of 3.94/4.00! That is a whopping 23.9% improvement in the class average for the GPA! It also meant that all students got an A in this cohort of students after a year of Chemistry tuition at Seb Academy. What are some tips for our secret to the help our students to get to this? Read on to find out about how the class GPA improved.
- Good Structure in Seb Academy Notes and Compendium
You might have known by now, Mr Lim’s notes are very well structured. No space is left wasted, and there’s no excess materials not required by the syllabus placed in our compendium. These worksheets and exam packets have taken many hours to commit, curate, plan and put up, to help you learn better. Moreover, in such a challenging time of pandemic like this, we have to improve our materials to make sure anything that you missed in physical class is well covered in our Chemistry tuition materials.
- Chem Bible – the ultimate guide to Chemistry
I think many of you loved the Chem Bible. The Chem Bible, in addition to our class notes and compendium, is a rich resource of Chemistry concept summaries. We not only cover a good ground in the foundation of Chemistry, but the Chem Bible also had an excellent set of exam answering techniques as well as a set of definitions that students must be familiar with. Memorising key definitions, like keywords used in the topic of Chemical Bonding and the structures used in the topic of bonding? Check. Graphs and tables highlighting key differences in concepts? Check. Excellent materials is one key that help our class GPA improved, and more importantly, ground your understanding for A Level H2 Chemistry.
- Connecting the Dots between Concepts
The secret to excelling in Chemistry link the concepts together by deriving logical results through connecting the dots. Knowing key definitions, memorizing organic chemistry reaction conditions and reactants is one matter, however, when you approach the questions, you have to have an internal mind map of what the question is asking for and this is usually spanning across different topics: how the concepts are related to one another and how to associate the pathways to build a macroscopic view of the question. It is like you are looking at a grand view of buildings such as the marina skyline and you can immediately identify the buildings. Firstly, we get an overview of the question and its settings by identifying key concepts and skills tested in the question. Our class was extremely engaged and proactive to ask questions, linking the concepts together. I believe this was key to seeing their class GPA improved tremendously through our Chemistry tuition.
- Enthusiasm in learning
Practice can come in many forms: homework, ten-year series and past year exam questions, compendium and compiled exam packets. What I remember vividly from this class is they are always enthusiastic and opened to exploring a myriad of questions that tested how they were able to deduce data from tables and graphs. They were opened to studying topics that were taught much in advance than their school syllabus and commit to learning. The enthusiasm to practise many different types of questions was also one of the factors why their class GPA improved. This is another secret in doing well for Chemistry.
- Be opened to seeking help and actively seek Consultation
One key thing I remember about this class is not only did they do my packets for Chemistry tuition almost religiously, they also sought consultation immediately for help through Whatsapp. Everyone in the class did not shy away from their weakness but were open to seeking help and constantly Whatsapp me to explain the concepts they have in their homework! Not only that, I still remembered how they arranged a session together when they were free to arrange a Zoom consult with me! I was very impressed by their pro-activeness and their enthusiasm in learning and seeking consultation was one reason why their GPA improved. You know I’m always available to all of you to zoom me! At Seb Academy, we have wonderful video content in the form of lecture videos and mini videos in our student’s portal to help students review Chemistry concepts, in additional to our Chemistry tuition that we offer both online/virtually, or in person. This is targeted to help students review past concepts anytime, anywhere, and learn at their own pace. You can also pause the videos at any time, and review the concepts learnt in interactive quizzes. I hope with the wealth of materials provided, you will take a leaf or two from this case study and seek your path to success to Chemistry excellence!
