Why Choose Test Champs – WA (previously known as Scholastic Excellence)?
Let’s be realistic. Not every student progresses at the same pace. As the bell-shaped curve of the general population suggests, some students who come to us are way ahead of their peers, others are behind while a good majority is average. For this reason, right up to Year 9, our program is individualised for each student. New students need to take a diagnostic test upon enrolment and we draw up a program for the child. We also track the progress of each child with an individual progress chart. Further, the end of term test is based on the program drawn up for your child.
At the same time, students are able to clarify school work with the teachers in class. There will be opportunities for students to ask for help with their school work in class.
For Yr 10 to 12 students, we follow the school program of YOUR child. We teach the topics that your child is doing in school each week so that the lessons are always relevant for your child. We also provide a mock test before the school test and exam questions for practice. Advanced students are placed in the Accelerated Program and is taught ahead of their school program.
Our program is well structured as this aids learning. For English, we focus on a different writing genre each term for half of the term before we move on to reading comprehension. There is also a spelling test each week and an end of term test based on the writing genre of the term and to test the reading comprehension skills as well as spelling words learnt in the term.
Our Maths program is structured to cover both technical skills and problem solving skills. The individualised nature of the program allows us not to repeat teaching the same topics/skills your child is already good at but instead focus on the gaps that we discover each week. Advanced students are identified and placed in the Accelerated Program and taught topics and strategies ahead of their years.
We are able to carry out individualised program successfully because our class size is small. We take only a maximum of 9 students per class. This allows us to cater to the individual needs of the students to answer their questions, go through mistakes discovered from the homework while teaching them to work independently.
The small class size coupled with our individualised program allows the teachers to know your child by name, understand his/her weaknesses and strengths unlike other tuition schools that take more than twenty students per class and where your child is lost among the other students.
Our teachers are very experienced in the subjects they teach; some are retired or current teachers. More importantly, they have been working with us for some time. Your child may experience the occasional change of teachers but most of the time, the same teacher teaches for the term and beyond. This allows the teachers to know your child and your child to know the teachers, which contributes to better learning.
Unlike some tuition schools where homework is assigned or not marked or marked and mistakes not explained, we emphasise the need to explain mistakes students make in their homework. We always ask the students to correct the mistakes they make to ensure that they fully understand where they went wrong.
We do NOT need parents to help with homework. You have paid the tuition fees and so you should not be the one teaching or marking. In fact, some parents or older siblings use the wrong method to teach the child, making the student more confused. Most of the homework assigned is within the child’s ability to complete. There will be some but not all challenging questions within the worksheets that we encourage students to attempt themselves. We tell them it is alright to attempt even parts of the more challenging questions. We will explain the mistakes after we have marked them. If necessary, we will adjust the program for your child as there may be some gaps we find along the way.
We do not issue semester report card. We are not a conventional school. If we feel that there are areas of concern that the parents need to know, we’ll inform parents immediately. You do not need to wait till the end of the term for the report card. Further, our end of term tests for Yr 4 to 9 students serve as a form of progress report. Parents of Yr 10 to 12 students can also determine the child’s progress from school tests and reports as well as our mock tests before the school tests.
We also inform parents if their children are not submitting their homework and we employ appropriate intervention strategies when we feel that something is not working for your child. We do not wait till the end of the term; it is often too late.
Of course, we encourage parents to provide feedback and call us if they have any concerns and many parents do and we do act on their concerns.
We have expert teachers who write relevant lesson plans, worksheets and tests for our students. We ensure that there are support materials to strengthen students’ understanding through practice questions that are relevant for students taking the NAPLAN, GATE and ATAR.
In particular, the GATE materials are highly specialised and are not readily available in the market. Most selective school materials are targeted for New South Wales and Victoria selective school exams, which differ for WA. At Test Champs-WA, you can be assured that what we teach, what your child practises, is relevant for the exams that they are taking.
While we have stated all the reasons you should choose us, we would like to tell you what is expected of students and parents. There is no easy way to success and parents should understand that students are expected to take ownership of their own studies. They are also expected to be engaged in class and complete their homework for submission. We always encourage parents to discuss the tuition commitment with their children before enrolling them. Simply turning up for class is not a guarantee of success. Students have to complete the set homework and study for the mock tests to see improvement in their subjects.
Other than the fees and encouraging their children to complete and submit their homework and study for the tests, parents are not expected to teach or mark their children’s homework. In fact, we would rather parents not teach or mark the children’s homework. This allows us to know where your child is lacking in understanding so that we can adjust the program for him/her. Teaching, marking and explaining mistakes to your children are what you have paid for and we do not expect parents to take over these responsibilities.
