1800 668 177
Learning Tips And Inspirational Stories From Spectrum Tuition
Our Brunswick campus will now be operating on Saturdays and Sundays starting in Term 4, 2019.
To help us understand what classes should be run, you can register your interest in the form below. Moreover, pay a $50 deposit and get a $150 gift certificate to use towards your Term 4 enrolment! This offer strictly applies to the Brunswick campus only.
Just in time for these upcoming school holidays, we’re running a giveaway for this year’s Royal Melbourne Show!
There are 3 prizes up for grabs:
Entries are now open, and will close on 22/09/2019 at 12:00AM EAST Melbourne, Australia .
Best of luck!
Spectrum Tuition Royal Melbourne Show 2019 Giveaway
We often get asked about the Victorian Selective Schools Entrance Exam, and we can understand why- there’s a lot of information to take in! That is the reason why we have organised a parent networking and information morning to help parents understand what selective schools are, what the process involves, why you might want to consider this pathway for your child, and ultimately what it takes to get in.
We will be running a FREE parent information and networking meetup for any parent interested in finding out more about the Victorian Selective Schools process, as well as provide parents with the opportunity to connect with other like-minded parents from within the Spectrum Tuition community.
Whether you have a child who is in year 7 or a child who is in primary school and would like to know about what’s to come, we would like to extend a warm invitation to join us at Footscray North Primary School on Saturday 13th July from 10am-12:30pm (Cnr Mephan St & Rosamond Rd, Footscray 3011).
There will also be FREE morning tea and light refreshments. If you have friends who may also be interested in the information presented on the night, bring them along and make it a productive morning!
Register now as tickets are strictly limited! This is an event not to be missed to meet fellow parents who have a keen interest in their child’s education, get some valuable information, and tips.
Parents and students are welcome to attend this event.
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Date: Saturday 13th July
Time: 10am – 12:30pm
Location: Footscray North Primary School, Cnr Mephan St & Rosamond Rd, Footscray VIC 3011
Cost: FREE
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About Us:
With over 18 years of experience, we deeply care about helping students reach their FULL potential. If your child is willing to learn, we will give your child a fighting chance to succeed. When children are inspired to learn and achieve, the world in which we live becomes a better place for everyone. Our goal is to provide the absolute best experience for students, parents and our team of passionate tutors. That’s why we continually strive to make Spectrum Tuition better than it was yesterday.
We take on the responsibility of teaching your child seriously. Our materials are very carefully structured and sequenced to ensure that your child feels more and more confident with each passing week. We believe that students should be guided through the content so they are equipped with the skills necessary to succeed. We also believe in transparency and in giving parents a full picture of their child’s performance by communicating results to parents weekly via our online portal.
Whether you are preparing for a scholarship exam, selective schools exam, NAPLAN, VCE or would just like to be more confident with school in general, Spectrum Tuition can help guide you in the right direction. We take a very personalised approach to finding solutions to help you with your unique situation.
It all starts with a FREE assessment. Call 1800 668 177 or visit www.spectrumtuition.com for more information.
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About The Presenter:
As the founder of Spectrum Tuition, Thuy Pham is dedicated to creating a consistent educational system to give parents the information they need to help them make decisions that will ultimately affect their child’s education and future goals.
Thuy is extremely passionate about education and teaching and is always looking for ways to openly share the knowledge and insights she has gained since starting Spectrum Tuition in 2001. She writes articles for the Spectrum Tuition blog, sends out email updates, presents free webinars, creates videos and will always take the time to sit down with parents to discuss their child’s educational goals and plans for the future.
She is proud to be working with such a talented group of hand-picked tutors who are equally as passionate about learning and teaching as she is, and is very excited about meeting and connecting with parents outside the centre at the first parent information and networking session.
You can listen to her on our Spectrum Tuition Podcast, where she gives practical advice on how to navigate the Australian education system and to help your child take their skills to the next level.
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Timetable:
10:00am – 10:30am : Morning tea, light refreshments and networking
10:30am – 11:30am : All You Need To Know About The Selective Schools Entrance Exam
11:30am – 12:00pm : Q & A
12:00pm – 12:30pm : Networking and morning tea
12:30pm : Event ends
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Please note that we will be taking promotional photographs and video on the day and by attending, you consent to us using these images on our website, social media and print.
If you have any questions about anything related to Spectrum Tuition, please feel free to call us on 1800 668 177 or email us at enquiries@spectrumtuition.com
VCE is often a very daunting time for parents as it’s the culmination of 13 years of schooling. When the time comes, understanding how the ATAR is calculated and how to maximise your scores well in advance will empower you and your child to make the right decisions at the right time to increase their chances of gaining entry to the university course of their dreams!
We will be running our first ever FREE parent information and networking evening for any parent interested in finding out more about the ATAR, VCE subject selection, the selective and scholarship process, as well as provide parents with the opportunity to connect with tutors and other like-minded parents from within the Spectrum Tuition community.
We will also hear the experiences of a current Spectrum Tuition parent whose two children successfully gained entry to selective schools and what that process was like for their family.
Whether you have a child who is heading into the VCE years or a child who is in primary school and would like to know about what’s to come, we would like to extend a warm invitation to join us at the Goods Shed North Building (Stone and Chalk) on Wednesday 14th November from 6:30 – 9:00pm (710 Collins Street, Docklands)
There will also be FREE pizza and drinks. If you have friends who may also be interested in the information presented on the night, bring them along and make it a good night out! We will also be making a special announcement on the night.
Register now as tickets are strictly limited! This is an event not to be missed to meet fellow parents who have a keen interest in their child’s education, get some valuable VCE information, tips, and to celebrate the end of another successful year!
* Due to the limited space at the venue, the event will be restricted to parent attendees only.
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Date: Wednesday 14th November
Time: 6:30 - 9:00pm
Location: Goods Shed North (Stone & Chalk) - 710 Collins Street, Docklands
Cost: FREE
***
About Us:
With over 17 years of experience, we deeply care about helping students reach their FULL potential. When children are inspired to learn and achieve, the world in which we live becomes a better place for everyone. Our goal is to provide the absolute best experience for students, parents and our team of passionate tutors. That’s why we continually strive to make Spectrum Tuition better than it was yesterday.
We take on the responsibility of teaching your child seriously. Our materials are very carefully structured and sequenced to ensure that your child feels more and more confident with each passing week. We also believe in transparency and in giving parents a full picture of their child's performance by communicating results to parents weekly via our online portal.
Whether you are preparing for a scholarship exam, selective schools exam, NAPLAN, VCE or would just like to be more confident with school in general, Spectrum Tuition can help guide you in the right direction. We take a very personalised approach to finding solutions to help you with your unique situation.
It all starts with a FREE assessment. Call 1800 668 177 or visit www.spectrumtuition.com for more information.
***
About The Presenter:
As the founder of Spectrum Tuition, Thuy Pham is dedicated to creating a consistent educational system to give parents the information they need to help them make decisions that will ultimately affect their child's education and future goals.
Thuy is extremely passionate about education and teaching and is always looking for ways to openly share the knowledge and insights she has gained since starting Spectrum Tuition in 2001. She writes articles for the Spectrum Tuition blog, sends out email updates, presents free webinars, creates videos and will always take the time to sit down with parents to discuss their child's educational goals and plans for the future.
She is proud to be working with such a talented group of hand-picked tutors who are equally as passionate about learning and teaching as she is, and is very excited about meeting and connecting with parents outside the centre at the first parent information and networking session.
***
Timetable:
6:30 - 7:00pm: Pizza, networking and drinks
7:00 - 7.20pm: How to select subjects to maximise your ATAR - what your careers counsellor won't tell you
7:20 - 7.30pm: Q & A
7:30 - 8:00pm: Q & A with a parent from Spectrum Tuition about the scholarship and selective schools process.
8:00 - 9:00pm: Networking and drinks
9:00pm: Evening Ends
***
Please note that since this is the first event of its kind, we will be taking promotional photographs and video on the night.
If you have any questions about anything related to Spectrum Tuition, please feel free to call us on 1800 668 177 or email us at enquiries@spectrumtuition.com
What’s the most important skill for a young coder to have? Is it an encyclopedic knowledge of commands? Is it a perfect fluency in every known coding language? Is it the ability to follow instructions perfectly? No. It’s creativity.
Like most skills, coding requires creative thinking. When faced with an unusual problem, young coders need to be able to think of unique and original solutions. The ability to think creatively about unfamiliar problems is one of the most important skills that will set your child apart in the workplace of the 21st century. But, most importantly, creativity is fun!
Creativity is the main skill we try to foster at Yellow Brick Code. Yellow Brick Code is a 3 day school holiday coding program specifically designed to make it fun and easy for young children aged 5-10 learn to code and build their own programs and games.
In our most recent course, students had the chance to imagine, design and create their own original games. Check out some of the images of their incredible creations.
In this game, the fish has to swim to the cake while avoiding the cloud…
In this game, you have to take care of a friendly unicorn by feeding it lollipops and playing with the ball…
In this game, you have to play with a rabbit and feed it plenty of carrots to keep it happy…
In this game, you have to help the penguin jump between platforms to find his snowflake…
Our next Yellow Brick Code program will run from the 1st to the 3rd of October at our Footscray Campus. Early bird pricing ends 3rd September and places are strictly limited. Book now to secure your place in this truly unique school holiday experience!
If you have any questions, please contact us on 1800 668 177 or visit www.yellowbrickcode.com.au for more information.
With limited places available, register today to avoid disappointment!
This term, our English tutors will be covering text response. We at Spectrum Tuition are always working to give our students the best possible chance of achieving success in their studies. Recently, we have been working hard to come up with innovative ways of teaching our students text response.
Text response is the ability to read and respond to a piece of writing in complex and often difficult ways. Text response measures students’ abilities not just to understand a text, but to interpret themes, respond to characters, identify tones and engage imaginatively with that they are reading. Students who are good at text response generally read widely. They also tend to enjoy reading novels, poems, comics and newspapers.
The ability to engage with a piece of writing is a skill that every child needs. Text response is a central component of the VCE English curriculum, but it is also vital to most other subjects. Many students struggle with mathematics and science, not because they can’t add numbers or remember formulas, but due to poor reading comprehension. Good reading and text response skills are often very difficult to teach. But this is a challenge we have set for ourselves!
The first step in helping our students improve their text response skills is to make sure they are excited by what they are reading. Students enjoy what they are reading are far more likely to learn valuable reading, comprehension and interpretation skills. In order to make sure all of our students actively participate in reading, our English tutors have begun an exciting project to develop our own range of short stories. These stories are written by our very own author and tutor, Christopher Edwards. He designed them to engage students of a variety of year levels, whilst developing their text response skills.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to see how our classes can help your child, click here to download a free course book!
In a world where most people walk around with a mobile phone in their pocket at all times, it is often suggested that we no longer need mental maths skills. Many people assume that the ability to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers quickly in our head is useless in a day and age when a phone, calculator or computer can do it better. So why do we still teach students mental arithmetic? And, more importantly, is this still a skill worth teaching?
To put it simply, yes! While calculators are a wonderful invention, there are many benefits of having good mental maths skills. So here are the 3 most important reasons for your child to improve their mental maths skills. We’ll also give the top 3 tips that our maths tutors use every day!
Imagine you wanted to order 4 sandwiches each for 14 people. You grab your calculator and type in 4 x 14. However, as you are typing, your finger slips and you accidentally type 4 x 144. The calculator gives you the answer 576. If you have good mental maths skills, you would probably notice something a bit odd. Based on your own understanding of how multiplication works, you would reason that 576 was far too many sandwiches.
As such, you could type the equation in to your calculator again and get the correct answer, which is 56. However, if you ignore mental maths and always trust the calculator, your little slip of the finger can be disastrous! Imagine accidentally buying 576 sandwiches when you only needed 56! This point is especially relevant for VCE students who, if they rely too heavily on their calculators during their exams, can lose valuable marks.
Watch the following video of how a Spectrum Tuition student (and my daughter) demonstrates a mental maths technique that our maths tutors use in our classes:
Like it or not, our current school system requires students to complete a majority of their exams without calculators. We adults can always pull out our phones to check our working out. However, students are required to rely on their own abilities to add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers. And while all students are taught techniques to work out sums on paper, the ability to quickly do sums in their heads can help students save valuable seconds and even minutes in an exam situation.
During multiple choice exams, mental maths can make life a lot easier. It provides a quick way of narrowing down which answers might be correct. can also help to figure out which are definitely wrong, making it much easier to choose the correct answer.
When preparing our students for Selective School and Scholarship exams, our maths tutors give techniques to answer questions as quickly and as accurately as possible. The ability to quickly perform calculations in their head is one of the most valuable tools that students can have from primary all the way to VCE.
The ability to quickly calculate complicated sums is also a valuable life skill. Whether you’re trying to figure out how much your shopping cart is, how to split the bill at a dinner party or trying to work out how many boxes you will need to pack all of your groceries, or trying to figure out much money you have left over after making a purchase, mental maths will make your life easier.
By developing good mental maths skills from a young age, children are able to improve other skillsets and easily work out answers to mathematical scenarios in everyday life. It’s never too early or too late to start giving your child the foundational skills that they will need to succeed throughout their mathematics education.
Below are three further strategies to try out today.
25 + 36
Similar to the above strategy, this technique requires that you break both numbers into tens and ones
20 + 30 + 5 + 6
= 50 + 11
= 61
34 + 49
First, since 49 is so close to 50, we will add 1 to 49 which will make it easier to solve:
34 + 50
= 84
Then, since we added one extra to the original equation, we have to subtract one from the final answer
= 83
Friendly numbers are numbers that are easy to work with. For example, multiples of 10 are “friendly” because they are easy to work with when we add or subtract.
We begin by getting to a friendly number, which is typically a multiple of 10, 100, or 100 – depending on the numbers that we are working with. Then we add on the remainder.
265 + 18
We can add 5 from the 18 to get to a friendly number 270.
We have 13 left. so now we can simply add the 13 to the 270 to get a final answer of 283.
Mental maths is not about following a one size fits all process. It involves having many “tools” available and being able to effectively choose and use a tool to solve an equation. The important thing to remember is that we don’t want to force our students into using a tool that doesn’t work for them. This is why it’s so important to introduce a variety of different strategies, teach them in isolation to allow mastery, and then allow students to begin choosing the tool that works best for them individually.
Going back to our original problem at the start of this email, now that we have a number of mental maths strategies, we can solve the problem as follows:
Most students are comfortable with their times tables up to 12. Therefore, to solve 14 x 4, we might break up the sum as follows:
12 x 4 = 48
2 x 4 = 8
We then add the answers using the ‘friendly numbers’ strategy.
48 + 8 = 56
If you want to learn more about how our tutors can help your child develop their mathematics and English skills, click here to download a free course booklet catered to your child’s needs.
If you answered yes to most of these questions, then your child may just be the perfect candidate for SEALP.
SEALP stands for Select Entry Accelerated Learning Program. SEALP is an initiative of the Victorian Education Department to that ensures that talented, gifted and motivated students have the best possible chance to achieve excellent in their education. The program runs for years 7-10 and allows advanced students a chance to work at a more advanced pace and level.
Student enrolled in SEALP usually complete the years 7-10 of their high school education in 3 years. This leaves them with more options for how they wish to complete their final VCE years. Some students finish their VCE in the next two years, while others use the extra year to complete a wider range of VCE and university extension subjects. In the end, this extra year will ultimately give students a far greater chance of achieving the high ATAR score that they deserve.
Students that wish to be accepted SEALP usually have to sit a series of tests and interviews. Though the exact details vary from school to school, most school use testing companies, such as Edutest to provide their tests. These tests assess a range of abilities such as reading comprehension, mathematics skills, written expression, verbal and numerical reasoning.
The tests usually run in May, so now is the time to sign your child up! Click here for a list of schools that run SEALP, as well as the dates for their exams.
As you can imagine, the entrance test for SEALP is extremely difficult; students face tricky questions and strict time limits. What’s more, a lot of students are unfamiliar with the pressure that comes with sitting such a test. Fortunately, that’s where we come in.
Thanks for reading! If you would like to see how our classes can help your child, click here to download a free course book!
It’s a tough time to be a student. Students are put under more pressure and required to be more competitive than ever before. To be successful in today’s academic world, you need a certain set of skills. Therefore, today we are going to look at 4 study skills that all 21st century students need to achieve their goals.
1. Avoiding Distractions
In the past, the only way students could distract themselves from their homework was to gaze out the window. Today, the possibilities for procrastination are endless. With text messages, the internet and video games, the ability to avoid distractions is more valuable than ever. The key to avoiding distractions is to be systematic about it. Therefore, successful students are the, more often than not, ones who draw a strict distinction between study time and relaxation time.
2. Flexibility
Secondly, things change quickly these days. Subjects and jobs that existed in the past no longer exist. As such, students are expected to pick up new skills and adapt to change quickly. Therefore, students who are comfortable learning in a variety of different ways, and approaching new ideas are much more likely to be successful in today’s world.
In today’s world, computers are everything. Students who develop digital and coding skills are more likely to find rewarding careers in tomorrow’s world. Furthermore, the ability to effectively use technology can help with research, logical thinking and problem solving. Overall, these are skills that are necessary in every subject.
Overall, you can only get so far by doing as you are instructed. Successful students are the ones who are independent and self motivated. They do their own research, set their own goals and pursue their own curiosity. Particularly in a world where class sizes are getting bigger, the ability for students to set their own schedules, keep track of their own progress, and work independently is essential to academic success.
At Spectrum Tuition, we’re always looking out for ways to learn and develop new study skills. Recently, we stumbled upon an inspiring TED talk by Matt Cutts called “Try something new for 30 days.” In this talk, Matt recommends a simple method for learning new skills, making the most of your time and building confidence. He argues that each month we should pick a new challenge and spend the entire month trying to complete it. Some of the things Matt tried during his trials were…
As Matt explains, a month is the perfect amount of time to add or subtract a habit from your daily routine. 30 days is not so long that it is unachievable, but it is also long enough to show a significant improvement or to make a significant achievement. He also argues that developing a new skill every month makes your month more memorable and, most importantly, builds self confidence.
But what does this have to do with education? Well, here are some ideas for challenges that your child can set themselves for the next month.
These goals seem achievable; surely, anyone can do something for just a month. But you’ll be surprised by how much little things add up to big results. These simple goals can have a dramatic impact on your child’s education! We’ve made a handy board that you can use to write down your own goal. Check it out!
Want to build confidence, develop positive habits or learn a new skill. Why not to the 30 Day Challenge with us. Click here to sign up to our mailing list and we’ll send you our goal setting guide for FREE! If you’d like to see how other members of our community are responding to the challenge, join our closed Facebook group for more inspiring.
Is your child sitting a scholarship exam in Term 1 or a selective schools exam in June next year? Are you worried that you may be too late to prepare? Do you feel that your child would benefit from a revision workshop covering all the skills they have developed over the course of this year? Does your child still struggle with a particular area of the exam? This may include essay writing, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning or creative writing or mathematics?
If this is the case, then we have the summer program for you! This summer, Spectrum Tuition will offer limited places in its intensive ‘Selective Entry Exam Catch-Up Classes’. Classes will run over three days from 15th – 17th January 2018 at Footscray North Primary School (Cnr Rosamond Rd & Mephan St, Footscray).
Classes will cover the foundational content students require for all six parts of the exam.
Our expert tutors will work through core concepts step by step, building your child’s confidence and giving them the support they need to do their absolute best on the exam.
Classes will also help students apply the knowledge through practice exams. As a result, they will get vital experience working under strict exam-style conditions.
BONUS OFFER! Enrol now and get an exam package PLUS our best selling essay writing bundle (valued at $238) absolutely FREE!
Places are strictly limited. So book now to avoid disappointment. Click here to find out more!
Over the September school holidays, we held out first Yellow Brick Code coding workshop! Twenty students, aged from 5-8 joined us on our adventure. We travelled through the fictional world of Codeland with our friendly code block characters. Using a combination of story telling, games and activities, we introduced students to the fundamental skills that they need to create their own fun video games. And, best of all, we all had a great time!
Today, we thought we’d share some of the highlights of each day.
On the first day, students were introduced to the four code blocks, Kieran, Christina, Chloe, and Cody, who invited them on an adventure across Codeland to retrieve 9 magic batteries. In order to find these batteries, students had to complete various challenges across the 3 days. First, students had to travel through the Forest of Bugs, and learn valuable debugging skills. Then, they had to brave Mount Persistence, where they learned the importance of not giving up when faced with difficult problems. We also learned the importance of responsible computer use, and how to avoid sharing personal information online. Then it was time for a game!
Using a fun game, we taught students how to direct a character through a maze, using simple direction blocks. Once students got the hang of it, we showed them how to they could use this skill to program a character to move around their computer screen.
On the second day, we used our coding skills to help an old lady find her missing diamonds. In order to do so, we had to learn how to “loop” or repeat coding commands. We then used these skills to draw images using only code! By this point, everyone was getting the hang of coding.
We then played “my robot friend,” a game that required students to pretend to be robots and follow simple instructions. This was a fun way understanding the concept of “events,” which are actions that cause something else to happen in a computer program. Once we all understood the concept of “events,” we had a go making an animated story starring a playful puppy!
On day 3, the code blocks met a brave knight and a fearsome dragon. Students had to use all of their skills and cunning to program a computer game about a knight and a dragon. It was a lot of fun making a video game from scratch, but we made sure we took lots of breaks to get some fresh air and play some games outside.
By the end of the 3 days, our students helped the code blocks find all of the 9 magic batteries. To celebrate their impressive efforts, each of our students received a certificate, recognising their impressive persistence and coding abilities. We were so impressed with how much progress our students made over just 3 days!
If you’d like to know more about how you can introduce your kids to coding, click here to join our mailing list, and we’ll send you a free guide to running your own offline coding camp at home!
Have you ever wondered why we teach our children to read, write, ride bikes, play musical instruments, or swim at such an early age? Probably not. After all, everyone knows that these are important or necessary skills that will help children throughout their lives. Furthermore, we all know how quickly young kids pick up new skills. So it makes sense that you should help your child learn it as early as possible, right?
This may sound like a silly question. After all, many people of our generation consider coding to be a niche skill. People think that it is only important if you want a career in IT. But, in the coming decades, digital literacy will become one of the most sought-after skills in the job market. Plus, with these scripting tools, learning how to code doesn’t have to be as difficult as you initially thought.
Last year LinkedIn’s list of top 10 most important career skills included data analysis, web development, mobile development, SEO marketing, information security, and user interface design, all could lead to a career for the best seo company or web design company. With the rise of automation, these skills are going to become essential to your child’s career prospects. Simply put, now is the perfect time to start teaching our kids to code.
As Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, writes: “In fifteen years, we’ll be teaching programming just like reading and writing… and wondering why we didn’t do it sooner.” So why wait?
Aside from just improving your child’s future job prospect, the development of digital literacy offers a number of other benefits. Kids who learn to code at an early age also develop the following skills:
Despite the benefits of teaching kids to code, the Australian education system is still taking its time to catch up. In Victoria, students often study coding at a high school level, and then often only as an elective subject. So what do you do if you want to give your child a leg up?
Over 3 days, your child will learn skills in algorithmic thinking, programming and creative expression through stories, videos, hands on physical activities, games, fun programming challenges, and a group of colourful characters like Kieran the code block.
Maybe you would like to have a go at programming homework help yourself? But maybe you just want you kid to learn to code – if you’d like to know more about how you can introduce your kids to coding, click here to join our mailing list, and we’ll send you a free guide to running your own offline coding camp at home!
Over the past few years, we have worked with countless students preparing for the Selective Schools Exam. Successfully gaining a place within a Selective School is obviously a once in a lifetime opportunity. And it can have a phenomenal impact on the educational possibilities of the lucky students who are selected. That said, Selective Schools are not the best choice for every child. Spectrum Tuition obviously encourages all of our students to strive for their potential. But we also think it’s important that parents and students give serious consideration to the difficulties that come with applying for, and even receiving a place in, a Selective School. In that spirit, here are four questions you should ask yourself if your child is considering sitting a Selective Schools Exam.
For a lot of students, attending a Selective School can come as a crude shock. When they start, most Selective School students are familiar with being top of their class, and have generally found their schoolwork easy. However, once they start attending a Selective School, they suddenly find themselves surrounded by other extremely talented and motivated students. As a result, Selective Schools are often very competitive environments. Some students respond well to such environments; competition motivates them to work harder. However, some students find it overwhelming. It’s worth considering how your child responds to challenges before you sign them up for a Selective Schools Exam.
The other things to consider is practicality. If your child does get selected to attend a selective school, how far will they have to travel? This may sounds like a silly question. But an extra hour or two of commute time each day can have a dramatic impact on your child’s ability to do their homework, participate in extracurricular activities and get a good night’s sleep.
Finally, you should also consider whether your child is ready for the pressures of a Selective Schools Exam. Students who sit the Selective Schools Exam have to tackle the most competitive challenges they have ever faced.. The exam requires students to write essays and narratives under extremely strict times limits, tackle complex logical problems, and demonstrate a familiarity with mathematical concepts that are often not taught until later years. While the exam presents an opportunity for talented and committed students, it can also be a very stressful obstacle.
This is not to say that we mean to discourage students from sitting the Selective Schools Exam; on the contrary, we at Spectrum Tuition believe that all students deserve the chance to pursue their goals. But we also think that it’s important for people to go into these exams as informed as possible about the challenges that lay ahead.
If you would like to know more about how you can help your child prepare for this exam, click here to sign up for our FREE 5 Week Selective Schools Online Course.
There is a very common misconception that students who read a lot will automatically become good writers. On the surface level, it makes sense. After all, reading extensively allows students to develop a large vocabulary, appreciate different perspectives and gain an understanding of how different texts are structured. As with any skill, the first step towards becoming proficient is to watch a professional at work. But our English tutors know that this is not everything…
After all, nobody learns to drive a car by watching their mum drive; nobody learns how to shoot baskets by watching basketball on television; and nobody learns how to bake a perfect souffle by just reading recipe books. In all these situations, practise is the key. While this all seems obvious, to be a strong English student, people often forget the importance of practising writing. Like any skill, writing requires constant practise. Here are some skills that you can only get from practising writing…
Students often forget that writing is not just a mental task; it is a physical one as well. When students sit their VCE exams, or if they sit a Selective Schools or Scholarship test, they are required to write long, well thought out essays or creative narratives under a strict time limit.
Quite often, under these situations, students’ hands get tired before their brains do. Students who haven’t practised writing essays or narratives on a regular basis will find it hard to write quickly enough, or for long enough, to get all of their great ideas on the page. On the other hand, students who recognise that writing (like all tasks) needs practise, are much more likely to have the physical and mental skills they need to succeed.
Reading is obviously a wonderful skill for building imagination in students; but it is, in the end, largely a passive activity. When you are learning to read for the first time, you need to recognise the shapes of letters and words and decode them using your knowledge of sounds and phonics. Then when you have built up the required skills to read a story, you get to sit back and let the author take you on a journey.
When it’s your turn to do the writing, suddenly your job becomes a lot more difficult. How do you even start? What is the right word to use to communicate the right message? How can you grab and maintain your reader’s attention? How do you conclude in a satisfactory way? What about grammar/ spelling/ punctuation? You’re given an empty page that you’re supposed to fill with ideas.
This can be incredibly stressful, and many students face writer’s block as a result. Learning specific writing skills and practising writing is a good way to get better at generating your own ideas. The more you practise, the less intimidating the empty page will look. And the more techniques you will learn for generating ideas in order to become a successful writer.
Have you ever read a great essay or a great story and thought, “How on Earth did they do that?” It’s a common experience, and it’s part of the fun of reading. When we read good writing, we’re not necessarily trying to figure out how the author is doing what they’re doing, we’re just enjoying their work.
This is one of the reasons why it’s not enough to just read extensively. Put simply: reading good writing doesn’t teach you how to be a good writer yourself. On the other hand, when you practise writing regularly, you start to notice the patterns. You’ll notice the little tricks that you can use again and again to make your writing successful. Practising writing allows you to see the mechanisms that make up a successful piece of writing.
Of course, practising is hard. And it’s not the kind of thing you can just do without guidance. That’s where we come in. If you or your child wants more guidance on how to practise their writing, click the link below to book a FREE assessment.
If your child is preparing for a Scholarship or Selective Schools Exam, you might also want to check out our custom Writing Bundle. This bundle contains our best selling persuasive essay book and narrative book. After reading these books your child will have the skills required to write a well structured narrative and persuasive essay!
Thanks for reading! If you would like to see how our classes can help your child, click here to download a free course book!
Want to practice your exam taking skills under realistic test conditions before the actual selective schools exam? Then the selective schools mock exam is what you’ve been waiting for!
Our 2017 Victorian selective schools mock exam is now open for enrollments.
We will be holding our 2017 selective schools mock exam for students sitting the Victorian Selective Schools Exam on Sunday 14th May (mock exam) and Sunday 21st May (workshop).
Are you worried that your child isn’t ready for an exam? Do you want to know how they’ll perform under realistic time constraints and exam conditions? If so, you’ll want to enrol in our mock exam programme.
Our mock exam helps students get a realistic sense of how they’ll perform under the intense pressure of a 3-hour exam. We then follow up with a 4-hour workshop that’ll go through the most common problems student had with the mock exam questions.
To ensure that students get the maximum value from the workshop we limit our intake to 45 students. We don’t fill out the hall with hundreds of students and then run a generic workshop. We tailor our program based on the data generated from the actual mock exam.
The exam will begin at 9am and will be held at Footscray North Primary School (map). We will hold the exam in the school hall.
Then, we will hold a 4 HOUR interactive workshop the very next Sunday outlining the most common errors and provide tips on how to improve your performance on exam day. We also encourage parents of students who have sat the mock exam to sit in on the workshop, so that they can fully understand what their child needs to do to prepare in the last few weeks before the exam.
Places are strictly limited to 45 places – so register today to secure your spot.
This is your only chance for your child to sit a full-length exam in a similar style and format as the actual test BEFORE the day AND get feedback on your performance!
When I mention the word ‘grit’, I don’t mean the dirt you may find beneath your fingernails. Rather, I am referring to the ability to be dedicated to a task over a very long time, pushing through even when things get hard. Grit is one of the most important study skills a student can have.
In her TED talk, “Grit: The power of passion and perseverance,” Angela Duckworth, winner of the 2014 MacArthur Foundation “genius” award, reminds us that intelligence, IQ and “natural talent” are not the most important factors in a student’s success. After leaving a prestigious and well paying job as a management consultant to become a maths teacher, she made some important discoveries.
As a maths teacher at a New York public school, Duckworth noticed that her students’ IQs had very little correlation to their exam results and eventual success over the course of their education. Put simply, just being “smart” wasn’t enough to ensure success. Intrigued, Duckworth left teaching to pursue a career in Educational Psychology. In her research she studied military cadets, national spelling bee champions, salespeople, teachers and students, in order to find out what it was, if not IQ or natural talent, that determined success in these areas. The answer she came to was “grit.”
In Duckworth’s own words, “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals.” Grit is the capacity to dedicate yourself to a task over a long period of time, rather than seeking immediate gratification. Grit is the ability to treat your goals like “a marathon, not a sprint.”
A student with grit is less likely to feel discouraged when they perform poorly on a test, or when faced with a difficult question. These students understand that challenges are part of the journey towards success. Students with grit are those who see difficulty as an opportunity to learn something new and to develop new skills.
Throughout her research, Duckworth found time and time again that “grit” played a significant role in determining student success. More significant even than intelligence, family income and standardised test scores. Put simply, being “smart” wasn’t enough to ensure success; the missing link was grit.
As Duckworth admits, there is no clear answer to the question. The closest thing to a solution, she argues, is Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck’s theory of “Growth Mindset.” For Dweck, who we spoke about in our recent blog article, grit is the ability to recognise that failure is not a permanent condition, and that our minds are capable of growth and development. Put simply, success is determined by a student’s ability to not say “I’m smart” or “I’m not smart” but “I have the ability to learn more.”
However, as Duckworth points out, there is still a lot we don’t know about how to develop gritty learners. More thought, more research, and more practice is needed.
At Spectrum Tuition, we couldn’t agree more. We are always in the process of developing our approach to teaching, pioneering new techniques to ensure that our students have growth mindsets – to ensure, in Duckworth’s words, that they are “gritty” learners. Some of our approaches include:
We believe that the achievement of larger goals are made up of lots of smaller goals. By identifying and achieving a small goal each week, students will work steadily towards the achievement of their full potential. Furthermore, through our entrance exams, we can ensure that we place every student who joins us, regardless of their age, in a class that will provide them with the right level of challenge.
Through measurable results obtained through weekly quizzes, students can better track their progress. This will provide more opportunities to learn from mistakes and grow. By also administering cumulative quizzes, we can help our students see how much their skills have built up over time.
Psychologist Jason Moser found that when people make a mistake, the brain sparks and grows in the following ways:
At Spectrum Tuition, we aim to ensure that all of our students are provided with challenges and scope for improvement. To make this possible, we only hire tutors who have grit as well. Our tutors are dedicated high performing university students. They are also taught the latest teaching approaches to get the best outcomes for your child.
These are individuals who have shown that they have the ability to dedicate themselves to a task and work until they achieve success. After all, you can’t expect to shape gritty students without gritty tutors. We believe every child has the potential to be an excellent student. All they need is a healthy dose of grit!
If you have any questions about the concept of grit, or if you would like to know more about how Spectrum Tuition can help your child achieve their goals, feel free to contact us anytime! Speaking of goals, we have created a handy guide on goal setting to help students set and achieve their academic goals. Click here to download your FREE copy!
Sources:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141015-angela-duckworth-success-grit-psychology-self-control-science-nginnovators/
We have reached the end of 2016 and would like to thank all our parents, students and tutors for continuing to play an active part in our thriving community. It has been a wonderful privilege to contribute to your child’s educational journey and we look forward to maintaining a strong partnership for many years to come.
If you’d like to download our newsletter (which includes our timetable and prices for 2017) click the link below:
Enrolments Now Open For 2017 – Get An Extra $50 Off!
We are very excited to release our 2017 timetable with priority enrolments for existing students. In most cases, students should enrol in the next level up, e.g. if your child is currently doing Year 7 classes at Spectrum, they should enrol in Year 8 etc. However if you are unsure, or if you are interested in having your child sit a selective/ scholarship exam next year, please contact us and we will be able to advise you accordingly.
Our updated investment schedule is attached. Students who enrol and pay their super early bird term fees or yearly fees by Saturday 10th December, will receive an extra $50 discount off 2016 prices plus access to free books to use over the holidays.
To guarantee a place in your chosen classes, please enrol by Saturday 10th December to take advantage of these bonuses.
You can make your payments online by simply filling in the following form/s.
Free Books For Students Who Pre-enrol For 2017!
For those looking for some additional materials to complete over the summer holidays, we have a number of extra course books for students who pre-enrol for 2017. Titles are strictly limited and are snapped up quickly so get in quick to get first picks.
Changes To Books For 2017
From 2017, we will be adding answers to the following week’s booklets to make it easier for students to check their understanding. For example, the week 2 booklet will contain answers to the week 1 booklet etc.
Bring a Study Sidekick – Get a $30 Gift Certificate
For every new friend you refer to Spectrum, both you and your friend will receive a $30 gift certificate to use towards the following term or year’s tuition fees if they enrol in our classes. If you do refer a friend, complete the following short online form so we know that you were the one who referred them in case your friend forgets to tell us! Visit www.spectrumtuition.com/friends
Updated VCE Curriculum in 2017
There will be a number of changes to the VCE study design for 2017. We have been working hard on ensuring that our courses align with the updated curriculum to help prepare students well ahead of their exams which will take place towards the end of the year. Other features of our VCE curriculum include:
Have A Happy Festive Season!
On behalf of all staff, I would like to thank you again for your continued support and wish you and your families the very best over the festive season. I look forward to seeing you again in 2017!
I recently came across a TED talk by Carol S Dweck, a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, that explained the profound potential of the simple word “yet”. This talk resounded with our beliefs regarding learning and education, so we thought we should share it with you, and explain some of the ways in which we, as tutors and you, as parents, can use these ideas to help our students reach their full potential.
What is the power of “yet”?
In her talk, Dweck distinguishes between two student mindsets that she has encountered in her research: “fixed” and “growth”. When students with a “fixed” mindset are faced with a difficult or unfamiliar problem that they can’t solve, they tend to take it as a judgement on their own intelligence. “Fixed” mindset students are happiest when they are getting answers right, when they are getting A’s on their tests, when they can easily answer questions. However, when faced with new ideas and concepts, they tend to get defensive. In various studies, Dweck has found that these students resort to cheating, deflection, and giving up when faced with difficult problems.
On the other hand, students with a “growth” mindset are those that view difficulties as opportunities for growth. Instead of looking at an unfamiliar problem and saying “I don’t know how to do this,” they say: “I don’t know how to do this yet.” Dweck has found that students who use this sort of language aren’t stuck in the present. They understand that they are always in a continual process of learning and developing. Saying “not yet” instead of “not” suggests the possibility for future growth.
Why is this important?
On a daily basis, we see the profound impact that these two mindsets can have on a student’s performance. In particular, a “fixed” mindset can cause difficulties for students transitioning from primary school to high school, students studying for a Select entry or Scholarship Exam, or students commencing their VCE. At these points of their education, students are going to be faced with a number of challenging concepts and difficult tasks. Often, at these times, students can become overwhelmed and go from getting straight A’s to suddenly getting C’s or D’s. This, in itself, is not the problem. What’s important is how they respond to these challenges. Do they give up, or do they use their limitations as motivation to learn more?
So, what can we do?
Obviously, students with “growth” mindsets are more likely to respond positively to challenges and, ultimately, to perform better than those with a “fixed” mindset. But what can we, as tutors, and you, as parents, do to ensure that your child develops a healthy and productive mindset? Here are some things to keep in mind…
1. Praise wisely
Students who are only praised for their successes are much more likely to develop “fixed” mindsets. According to Dweck’s findings, it’s much more productive to praise students for effort, strategy and progress. As tempting as it is to only reward good performance, make sure you primarily praise your child when they work hard, when they refuse to give up, when they try something new. This will teach them that there is more to education than just getting the answer right.
2. Use growth-based language
It’s also important to be mindful of the language that you and your child use. Try to avoid language that labels a student “good” or “bad” at something. Instead of saying “I’m bad at maths” or “I can’t write an essay,” say “I can’t do this particular question yet” or “I have a lot to learn about essay writing.” When giving feedback to students, aim to use language that is specific, goal-oriented, and suggests the potential for future learning.
3. Provide constant challenges
“Fixed” mindsets can also develop when naturally able students are not given sufficient challenges. This is something we see all the time; clever students are often allowed to drift through school, achieving high marks with relatively minimal effort. Unfortunately, these students rarely learn how to deal with challenges, and tend to give up when things may not be so easy anymore.
That is why it is important for students to work at or just above their level, to ensure that they are constantly challenged in order for them to grow and develop. If they find some sections difficult, use this as an opportunity to praise their effort, strategies and progress, because it is not that they can’t do it, they just can’t do it yet!
If you want to watch Carol S Dweck’s video it’s just below
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions about how we can help your child develop a healthy and productive mindset towards their education or click the link below to book a free assessment.
While you’re here, why not check out our handy guide to goal setting, designed to help our students achieve their academic goals? Click here to download your FREE copy!
This is the time of year when year 10 students start to make decisions regarding which VCE subjects to choose. Many schools will offer students the opportunity to complete a year 12 subject while they are in year 11. While most students will take advantage of this option, other students decide not to and instead opt to complete all their Year 12 subjects in the following year. In our experience we find that taking a VCE subject in year 10 has many advantages.
When VCE students finish their exams at the end of year 12, they each receive a total score. These are used to calculate their ultimate ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank).
The ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank) is based on up to six VCE results and is calculated using:
These scores combine to produce an ATAR aggregate, which is a number between 0 and over 210. All students are ranked in order according to this aggregate and the percentage rank is converted to an ATAR, which is a number between 0 and 99.95.
What this means is that a total of 6 subjects can contribute to a student’s total ATAR. Students who only do 5 subjects miss out on a valuable possible 10%. Despite this, most schools only allow students to complete 5 subjects in year 12. The only way to get around this is to complete a VCE subject early. This is an increasingly popular option. Each year more and more dedicated students choose to start a year 11 subject in year 10.
Here are some reasons why students should take up the option to complete a year 12 subject early:
Apart from ensuring that you have completed a 6th subject, the main benefit of completing a VCE subject a year early is the valuable experience it gives students. Students who take a year 12 subject in year 11 will gain valuable insight into what it takes to study for and sit a proper VCE exam. They will learn how to prioritise their time, organise their notes, revise questions and deal with exam pressures. Best of all, they will learn all of these skills before they even commence year 12 and tackle the full load of subjects.
The other benefit of completing a year 12 subject in year 11 is the potential to get a high score. Year 11 students don’t have the distractions and pressures unique to year 12 students. They don’t have to deal with prefect positions, graduation ceremonies, university applications, or the pressure of studying for 5 other year 12 exams. Because of this, a student who takes a year 12 subject early can focus significantly much more attention and energy on that one subject. Because they only have a single year 12 exam to study for that year, their chances of getting a high score dramatically increases.
Considering that VTAC uses scores of up to 6 subjects to calculate the ATAR aggregate, choosing 6 subjects is a great way to maximise your ATAR. Many schools offer Year 11 students the opportunity to study one Year 12 subject. Take advantage of this if the opportunity presents itself.
Most importantly, 6 subjects is obviously better than 5. A student who completes a subject early will have an automatic 10% advantage over a student who only completes 5. Furthermore, 6th subject will ensure that a poor mark in one subject will have less of an impact on your overall score.
If you think your child should start a VCE subject a year early, feel free to call us on 1800 668 177 or email us for more information!
In the final week before the selective schools test, we are giving you the opportunity to sit our full length selective schools mock exam in the comfort of your own home!
One of the best ways to feel more confident during the Selective Schools exam is to do as many practice questions in a similar style and difficulty level as those you will encounter on the actual test.
In previous years, students have stated that one of the most difficult aspects of the exam is answering the questions within the very limited time. By doing a full length test BEFORE the actual exam, you will better understand what the experience will be like so you know what to expect. To help you learn the most efficient technique to answering the questions, full solutions for each question is included PLUS access to our online workshop where we go over major problems and concepts students encountered during our mock exam.
In this package, we’ve bundled together:
TESTIMONIAL:
“We used both the classroom and private tuition options for our daughter in Maths and English as part of Selective testing preparation. We could not fault the consistent high standard of delivery by all the tutors especially Thuy who was incredibly supportive. Spectrum use excellent resources which they continue to review and update and they take the time to explain the best approach to what are many new areas for the students through practical advice. We were particularly impressed with the opportunity to undertake a mock exam prior with a feedback session and the post test follow up. Plus you could purchase additional resources through their online store. My daughter enjoyed it so much she has chosen to continue with extension classes. We would strongly recommend Spectrum for anyone seeking any type of tuition they get results.” R. Devlin, parent of student who was offered a place at a selective school in 2015.
This bundle is designed for Year 8 students sitting the Victorian Selective Schools entrance exam looking to gain entry into Melbourne High, MacRobertson Girls’. Suzanne Cory High or Nossal High.
This pack is specifically geared towards students who are looking to practice all the exam components to gauge their performance BEFORE the test day. We’ve found that many questions on these exams may be completely unfamiliar to students and this will cause a major loss of time if students are stuck on particular questions. It is therefore essential that students practice as many of these questions prior to the test day as possible to give them the best chance of achieving success. This, combined with our detailed answers and workshop videos tend to give students the extra edge and confidence they need prior to sitting the Victorian Selective Schools exam.
This bundle includes:
This package will prove to be a great tool if your child hasn’t completed many (or any!) exam style questions or full length practice tests, and needs to become familiar with exam timing.
The detailed answers and video workshop will also provide further guidance on how to solve all the tricky questions presented in the exam paper in the most efficient way possible.
This package is also useful as it allows you to simulate a full exam to help you improve your timing during the real test. Numerous students have also used this pack as a diagnostic tool to guide their study in the crucial final weeks before the actual test.
** For our terms and conditions see here => https://spectrumdigitalshop.com/pages/terms-and-conditions
One of the most common questions we receive from parents and students regarding the Victorian Selective Schools exam is:
“What marks do I need to gain entry?” or “How many superiors do I need?”
The answer to these types of questions is complex. In previous years, different combinations have resulted in students gaining entry to the selective school of their choice. In this video, we will discuss some of these results to give you an insight to what different students achieved when they received their offers. We also describe how these students used the results after sitting our mock exam to help them focus their study in the few short weeks leading up to the actual exam.
In the video, we’ll share a short case study of 3 students who attended classes at Spectrum Tuition, completed our annual mock exam and then subsequently gained entry into a selective school. If you would like to have a go at this mock exam and watch the accompanying workshop video which offers tips and outlines common mistakes, please click here. Full worked solutions for every question is also included with this mock exam package.
The important thing to note about the above video is that there is no set formula on how many ‘superiors’ you need to gain entry to a Selective School. Having said this, it is unlikely that you will be offered a place if you score a ‘low’ in any of the tests.
If you have any questions please feel free to add them below in the comments and we’ll endeavour to answer them.
Want to practice your exam taking skills under realistic test conditions before the actual selective schools exam? Then this is what you’ve been waiting for!
Our 2016 Victorian selective schools mock exam is now open for enrollments.
We will be holding our 2016 selective schools mock exam for students sitting the Victorian Selective Schools Exam on Sunday 15th May (mock exam) and Sunday 22nd May (workshop).
Are you worried your child isn’t ‘exam ready?’ Do you want to know how they’ll perform under realistic time constraints and exam conditions? If so, you’ll want to enrol in our mock exam programme.
Our mock exam is aimed at helping students get a realistic sense of how they’ll perform under the intense pressure of a 3-hour exam. We then follow up with a 4-hour workshop that’ll go through the most common problems student had with the mock exam questions.
To ensure that students get the maximum value from the workshop we limit our intake to 45 students. We don’t fill out the hall with hundreds of students and then run a generic workshop. We tailor our program based on the data generated from the actual mock exam.
The exam will begin at 9am and will be held at Footscray North Primary School (map). The exam will be held in the school hall.
We will then hold a 4 HOUR interactive workshop the very next Sunday outlining the most common errors and provide tips on how to improve your performance on exam day. We also encourage parents of students who have sat the mock exam to sit in on the workshop, so that they can fully understand what their child needs to do to prepare in the last few weeks before the exam.
Places are strictly limited to 45 places – so register today to secure your spot.
This is your only chance for your child to sit a full-length exam in a similar style and format as the actual test BEFORE the day AND get feedback on your performance!
The Spectrum Hoppers Crossing campus is a symbol of how excellent educational services can help any student to achieve their goals. We believe that Spectrum Tuition students from the Western suburbs should not have to travel too far or otherwise struggle unfairly for their education, and have always been committed to providing for them and their families through our campus in Footscray. More recently, we have brought our proven methods and exclusive curriculum to more students with the Spectrum Hoppers Crossing campus.
At The Grange P-12 College (site of our new Hoppers Crossing campus), we are situated in the M block which features large air conditioned and heated classrooms. We also have a fantastic space outside for students to play during supervised breaks in their maths or English tutoring.
Spectrum Tuition provide, trusted, acclaimed tutoring services to help students at any level of achievement and any point in their education reach their maximum potential. We hire only the best English, Science, and Maths tutors, star students themselves, who can impart our dynamic, exclusive curriculum to students with confidence.
We’re glad that we’ll now be better able to service families in the Hoppers Crossing, Tarneit, Point Cook and Truganina areas. If you have any questions or would like to book a FREE assessment at our Hoppers Crossing campus please feel free to call us on 1800 668 177.
Classes Offered: Grade 3 to Year 10 Maths and English, Scholarship (ACER and EDUTEST) and Selective Schools Exam Preparation (for entry into Melbourne High, MacRob, Suzanne Cory High and Nossal High).
Hours of Operation: Saturday, 9.00am – 4.45pm
Location: The Grange P-12 College (Senior Campus), Hoppers Crossing – Bethany Road Entrance (type 66 Bethany Road into your GPS. The entrance to the campus is located across the road from this address).
Contact Details: 1800 668 177
‘Education is the best weapon you can use to change the world’ – Nelson Mandela.
It’s a bit hard to believe that Spectrum Tuition is heading into its 15th year. Over the years, we have been helping both students who struggle to keep up with their classmates as well as students who are so bright that their mainstream schools struggle to keep up with them. As a result, I have been given a unique insight into how to best cater to students from these two extremes as well as gain a wider understanding of how the education system works from the inside.
With the school year fast approaching and as a parent to a child who is about to start school this year, I thought it’d be a good time to share the most significant learnings I’ve developed over the time I’ve been running Spectrum Tuition. This is so that you too are equipped with the knowledge to make more informed decisions for your children.
Here are 7 of the most important lessons I have learnt about educating mainstream students from my experience running Spectrum Tuition.
Most topics at school are based on a series of skills that if learnt in the correct sequence will lead to success.
If your child is finding a specific topic difficult, it is rare that this is the only topic they are having problems with at school. A student who is having problems with fractions or algebra is most likely also having problems with multiplication or division. Teachers pick up weaknesses in subject areas when they grade essays. If a child is struggling with spelling or reading, it’s because they don’t have a strong enough handle on phonics. Most topics at school build on from earlier topics. So if your child is struggling with a language for example (they could be struggling with something like English, as sometimes the English grammar can be quite difficult), then you should ask yourself how long does it take to speak fluently in that language? Sometimes the timings will vary but it doesn’t matter if it takes one person longer then the other. People need to take their education at their own pace as this is the fairest way to do it.
We do not recommend placing children into classes that may be beyond their ability level before they have built a strong enough foundation in earlier topics because they will constantly feel like they need to catch up. Children develop and mature differently and to ensure that they achieve high results at school, they need to be taught at a level where they can engage with the material as well as provide enough of a challenge to give them the best opportunity to shine.
This is why at Spectrum Tuition, our number one priority when new parents enquire about classes is to book in for a free, no obligation assessment where we thoroughly assess students’ existing abilities in writing, grammar/ punctuation, reading comprehension and mathematics across several year levels in order to pin-point exactly what your child’s level is in order to tailor a plan to best meet their specific needs.
After a long search for a suitable site in the outer Western suburbs of Melbourne we are pleased to announce that we will be opening our newest campus in Hoppers Crossing at the Grange High School in 2016.
It was clear from parent and student feedback that a Spectrum Tuition campus in the area was in high demand. After contacting a number of schools in the Tarneit, Williams Landing, Point Cook and Werribee area we were finally able to secure a site at The Grange High School in Hoppers Crossing. We’re ecstatic that we’ve finally been able to secure a site close to where a number of our students are located.
Classes at our Hoppers Crossing campus will begin in 2016 and we currently have a timetable up HERE.
If you’re interested in finding out more or if you have any questions feel free to call us on 1800 668 177.
Thanks for your interest in our mock exam. Enrolments for our 2015 mock exam have now closed. If you’re interested in signing up for the 2016 mock exam please provide your details below and you’ll be the first to know about our next mock exam.
We will be having a selective schools mock exam for students sitting the Victorian Selective Schools’ Exam on Saturday 30th May. The exam will begin at 9am and will be held at Footscray North Primary School (map). The exam will be held in the school hall.
We will have a 4 HOUR interactive workshop the very next day outlining the most common errors and providing tips on how to improve your performance on the day. We also encourage parents of students who have sat the mock exam to sit in so that they can fully understand what their child needs to do to prepare in the last few weeks before the exam. Places are strictly limited so register today to secure your spot.
This is your only chance for your child to sit a full-length exam in a similar style and format as the actual test BEFORE the day AND get feedback on your performance!
EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! Register by 11th April and get $25 off! 7 hours of test preparation normally $175, now just $150!
Exam season is upon us and many students are preparing for scholarships and selective schools exams. With only a few short weeks to go before a number of select entry and scholarship exams take place, I thought I’d provide some last minute advice and offer you a free gift.
There are two main factors that contribute to success on a select entry or scholarship exam: content knowledge and timing.
One cannot exist without the other.
Your child may answer all questions quickly and within the timeframe, however if they don’t know HOW to answer the questions, this will unlikely lead to success.
Similarly, if your child understands how to do the questions, but takes significantly longer than one minute to answer each item, or doesn’t have a refined test taking ability, a majority of the questions will remain unanswered.
This will also unlikely lead to success.
This is why we have produced our exam packs.
We have carefully dissected countless sample exams to determine the most common types of questions your child is likely to encounter. In addition to this, we have formulated the most efficient method to answer each question and have come up with step by step solutions, written in a simple way just as though your child were sitting beside us in a tutoring session.
The sum of our work is presented in our popular exam packs
Over the past 14 years, we have made it our mission to prepare students for these types of exams. We believe that hard work should be rewarded and every child should get the opportunity to attend a top school, if they so desire. We also keep our materials updated by speaking to students who sit these exams each year and strive to make them as close as possible to the actual exams.
I first met Carly*, a Grade 2 student, when she came in for her initial assessment back in April. She was bright, looked me in the eye when she answered my questions and spoke with a nice, loud voice. Carly enjoyed drawing, painting and playing on the playground, but found it difficult to read. She wanted to learn but didn’t like going to school because she found it really difficult.
Her parents wanted to initially enrol her because the school she attended did not set any homework, and they felt she needed to do more in order to build up confidence in her studies before doing the NAPLAN test the following year.
We conducted our assessment and what we found was that:
Our assessment showed that Carly needed to start at the very beginning and we enrolled her into our Prep class. Although Carly recognised that she was behind, she wanted to do better at school.
With the VCE exams currently taking place, a lot of students in years 9 and 10 will no doubt be nervously looking ahead to their own futures and the challenges that lay ahead of them. I have had a lot of experience helping students with the transition into VCE. One thing I have noticed is that this transition is easier for some students that for others. Some students take to VCE like ducks to water, scoring consistently high marks on their SACs from the start of the year. For others, the first few months of VCE are a blind panic, as they struggle to keep their head above water as they figure out how to organise their notes, manage their time and structure their own revision. So, what’s the reason behind this? What makes some students so much more suited for VCE than others? More importantly, what can you do to ensure that, come the start of year 11, your child is one of the students who thrives?
1. Encourage Their Independence
One of the biggest shocks that students encounter when they start VCE is how independent they are required to be. No longer will teachers walk them through every concept, tell them how to revise for tests, or give exact instructions about what homework needs to be done each week. While your child will still get assigned homework, this constitutes only a small fraction of the total work they need to be doing if they want to achieve good marks; the rest is made up of individual and self-determined study and revision. In order to prepare your child for this, it is a good idea to encourage their independence from an early age. Instead of telling them exactly what homework they need to do and when they need to do it, ask them what they need to achieve and encourage them to develop their own plans for how they will get the necessary work done. While they may need your guidance from time to time, the more you can teach your child to plan and structure their own study time, the more they will be prepared for the challenges ahead.
2. Foster A Love Of Reading
If you are going to perform well in VCE, you need to be able to read quickly, efficiently and productively for extended periods of time. Of course, this is most important in subjects like English, where students are expected to read and interpret novels and articles. Students who struggle to make it through their novels before it comes time to discuss them in class will inevitably have a disadvantage. However, the ability to read well also affects basically every other subject. Whether it be revising a difficult concept in a Maths Methods textbook, remembering definitions for a Psychology SAC, revising a big stack of old Physics notes or interpreting a difficult question on an Accounting exam, good reading skills are vital. Fortunately, if you get in early, this is a skill that you can easily help your child develop. All you need to do is ensure that they regularly have access to books and distraction-free spare time; all they need to do is to read as much and as widely as possible!
