A-level is an important checkpoint in many students’ academic journey. The 2-year arduous journey is also filled with lots of challenges and hurdles for students to go pass and this is the reason why students consider the option of going to Polytechnic after finishing their O levels. This is also a prime reason for A-level home tuition to gain significance and attention over the past few years as well.
However, the benefits that students who enter Junior College have is that they get some amount of extra time to thoroughly go through their options and further explore their subjects to see what University courses may be interesting for them.
The journey to excelling in the A-level examination is not all that easy as the depth of subjects is so much more than that of O level syllabus. The curriculum is rigorous and on top of that students have to keep up with their other various commitments such as extra-curricular activities.
The inability to deal with a hectic schedule causes students to be under a great amount of stress and this adversely affects their performance in junior college on the whole. It is particularly common among junior college year 1 students who have to embark on a 1-year journey of project work which requires a great amount of effort and teamwork to get things done.
So, here are some tips for students to adapt and adjust to the schedule of year 1 in junior college…
CREATIVITY
The most challenging aspect of project work is the creative side of it. Not everyone is skilled at coming up with creative solutions to novel problems and students crack their heads to think of innovative ideas for their preliminary idea (PI) component (which is the very first part of Project work).
Project work supervisors cannot spoon-feed through the process; they can only guide and ask questions during consultations to provoke some thoughts and to encourage a more in-depth analysis for specific components of the draft being presented.
A SCHEDULE
In order to accomplish all tasks within a short amount of time, efficiency is of utmost importance. Setting a schedule and making a to-do list would be helpful as that would give so much more clarity as to what has to be accomplished.
Project work drafts have set deadlines and drafts have to be submitted on time in order to corrections to be done and for consultations to be arranged. Students need to maintain discipline and ensure that they complete their work on time. Dragging on and piling up work will cause last-minute rush in completing the work which compromises the quality.
TUITION
A-Level tuition has become a life-saving option for many students these days. The lectures and tutorial sessions cover a whole lot of content rapidly and this does not allow students to digest and internalise the information well. This, unfortunately, causes them to perform weakly in class tests and internals which further demotivates them.
A-Level tutors however are great sources of strength and support as they will guide students appropriately and advise them about the Dos and Don’ts in studying each subject.
BOTTOM LINE
As year 1 progresses day by day, the stress adds on and every step of project work starting from Preliminary Idea (PI) to Group Project Proposal (GPP) to the final Written Report (WR) and Oral Presentation (OP); all of which has its own unique challenges and students need to be persistent throughout.
Apart from Project work, students need to be able to study diligently and if they are struggling with it, the smart decision to take would be to seek help from A-level tuition teachers and JC tutors in college immediately.