Q: Are you really the one teaching?
A: Yes. What you see is what you get.
See the following Channel 8 news 'Frontline' / 前线追踪。
It's impossible to hire good tutors, who can easily start their own tuition centre with IKEA furniture.
Only mediocre tutors need to hide behind branded names.
Q: What's the percentage of your students getting distinctions?
A: Mediocre tutors always find this difficult to prove and resort to showing students' tweets and SMS !
Thankfully Mr. Phang has real research experience (DSO '91-'94) and knows proper scientific methodology.
Step 1 (Observe): Mr. Phang's students regularly appear as prize recipients (see Testimonials & News), which can be verified against their schools' websites.
Step 2 (Think): Please think ("thinking" is also Mr. Phang's teaching style) what would be his students' "distinction percentage"?
Step 3 (Conclude): Unlike physics, soft sciences like education are inconclusive:
Did smart students choose Mr. Phang thus this proved nothing?
Did these students choose Mr. Phang because they were smart?
Q: Will my child understand your lessons?
A: Mr. Phang's lessons has to be crystal clear because there are Sec 1 and 2 students attending his 'O' and 'A' level physics lessons (click the testimonial below to view the original; or students' names to view their medal).
"In Sec 1 my friend (Li Chang) introduced me to Mr. Phang's tuition (A-Level H2 Physics). The topic was Waves and Superposition. I didn't know anything about the topic at all before the lesson, but after the comprehensive and easy to understand lecture by Mr. Phang, I was able to understand the concept really well !"
Pan Liyu , Sec 1 Raffles Institution Student in 2014, Singapore Young Physicists' Tournament (SYPT) 2017 Champion Team together with Classmate Li Chang
Click on the assignment to see other examples.
Q: But these students are so good. Will my child fit in?
A: You become who you hang out with - 近朱者赤，近墨者黑。
Like top marathoner Soh who trained in Kenya alongside serious runners.
Mr. Phang offers an environment for serious students, who are not always from elite schools (see below).
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Raphael Loh (Whitley Secondary School)
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Ding TianYao (SJI International)
Ian Ang (Catholic Junior College)
This Chinese student came to Singapore as a JC student and, despite having difficulty with her English, was still not satisfied with a B-grade for her A-Level H2 Physics
Q: Do you offer one-on-one tuition?
A: No.
Why would any good tutor, like these here, have nothing better to do than to travel all the way to their students' homes?
Note: Fees are adjusted every quarter for new intake but once a student joins, it will remain unchanged till the end of Sec 4 or JC2 for secondary and junior college students, respectively, provided there is no gap in payment for any reason. Therefore, within the same class, there could be some students who pay a lower fee because they have joined earlier.
Mr. Phang has explained this in the news article on Jun 17, 2010 (click to enlarge).
Parent asked why students in the same class were charged different fees
A parent complained to the press that a certain physics tutor charged different fees for students in the same class.
Mdm Tan told the press that after reading the 'Super Tutors' newspaper article two years ago about a certain well-known tutor teaching physics, she enrolled her son who was in Sec 3 last year. The fee was $320 for 4 lessons. This year, when she introduced a friend's son to this tutor, the tutor charged the friend's son who joined the same class $360 for 4 lessons.
Mdm Tan also found out that some students in the same class were paying only $280 for 4 lessons. She was puzzled why students in the same class paid different fees.
Mdm Tan said that she did not raise this issue with the tutor because she was afraid the tutor might not want to continue teaching her son if she had done so.
Physics tutor explained that students who joined earlier enjoyed "Early Bird Discounts"
Physics tutor Mr. Phang Yu Hon explained that he gave "Early Bird Discounts" to students who joined earlier. For example, those who joined the Sec 3 class before school reopened enjoyed a $20 discount. As their fees remained unchanged after school reopened, they continued to pay a lower fee than those who joined later.
Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE)
The Executive Director of CASE, Mr. Seah Seng Choon, said that it was up to individual tutors to set their fees. However, the tutor should inform the parents that students who joined at different times would be charged different fees, so that they could make an informed decision.
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