Nothing brings us greater pride and joy than to have a hand in composing your child’s success story.
As a child and student, success inevitably includes academic performance. How well your child does for his or her examinations definitely determines how successful your child is as a student.
That said, academic performance is not the only measure of student success. At Think Teach, we want our students to achieve more than just academic success. We want to see growth. We want our students to develop confidence, drive and an overall positive attitude to learning and life.
Let’s throwback to the time when we met one of our fondest students from Saint Andrew’s Junior School, Ian Lim.
The year was 2018. A little boy, accompanied by his mother, visited our centre and told us that he had a dream. He wanted to do well for the PSLE. With complete earnestness, he asked if it was possible to make improvements in 1 year. Taking one good look at him, we answered that it was indeed possible but he would have to listen to us and be willing to put in the hard work.
Without hesitation, he agreed. And that was the start of what would be an extremely memorable and dramatic success story.
IAN’S CONFIDENCE & DRIVE
Ian came across as a rather shy and soft spoken child. But what we did not know and that surprised us was his interest in pubic speaking. He challenged himself by taking part in oratorical competitions and even pushed himself to participate in essay writing competitions. In our opinion, taking part in these competitions formed the backbone and opportunity of a very sound backup plan. In the event that his PSLE score fell short, he could still rely on a strong DSA application.
These competitions did Ian a lot of good. They were new experiences for Ian and pushed him out of his comfort zone. In a matter of months, Ian had to transform himself. To succeed in these novel and difficult tasks, Ian had to be independent and resourceful. He had to learn to believe and be confident in himself. It was never going to be an easy process but Ian was willing to undertake it to better himself.
IAN’S POSITIVE LEARNING ATTITUDE
There were two traits about Ian that struck us. He was constantly seeking improvement and was always generous with his gratitude and appreciation.
After almost a year journeying with us at Think Teach, Ian saw huge improvements in his grades. Against all odds, he did exceedingly well for his Preliminary Examinations and was predicted to score 253 for his PSLE.
To the surprise of us all, Ian surpassed all expectations with an aggregate score of 258 for his PSLE. He finished primary school with 3A*s and 1A.
MAKING BIG DREAMS A REALITY
No prizes for guessing where the young man of our story ended up for secondary school. With the luxury of choice, Ian chose to attend ACS(I)! Ian is the perfect example of what success looks like in a student.
What moved us was not just his outstanding academic performance at the end. It was the entire journey he took to get there. In one year, we saw a young boy grow into a young man. We saw a boy who was motivated to work hard and push himself. More importantly, we met a boy who had gratitude in his heart, never forgetting those who journeyed with him and helped him to realise his dream.
We leave you with the words of gratitude from the student who impacted us as much as we had impacted him:
I am very grateful to Think Teach! Thank you to my teachers for all the attention and time that they spent on me.
The questions were so well set that some questions even came out for our exams! Their passion in teaching us and their care towards us prove how great the teachers at Think Teach are!
Ian Lim
A*s for PSLE English, Math and Science
Saint Andrew’s to ACS (I)
