At your main page, you can now do a 1 click changing of your status, either from Available to Unavailable, or from Unavailable to Available. Unavailable tutors will not be sent assignments, nor will they appear in the results of any search. One can also edit their preferences to get emails from NextTutor. Speaking of emails from NextTutor, tuition coordinators that are working together with NextTutor will be able to send mass emails that cater to your specific needs. Hence, if you would like to receive emails that are relevant to you, do allow us to send emails to you!

Tutors can also now upload their photos to any photo sharing site like Flickr and give us the URL of the photo. The photo will then be attached to your profile and parents will be able to see your photo when they look at your profile.

Tutors can also upload scanned copies of their certificates and give us the URL of those scanned copies. Up to 5 images can be given to us and they will be linked from your profile. Parents will then be able to check your certificates when they see your profile.

The best thing is, NextTutor will remain free. We do not believe in charging you for providing us any information. We want to make it easy for anyone to find tutors!

Hence, why not just register an account with us today?

1. Subjects that need tutoring
2. Time period that Student is available for tutoring
3. Amount of salary per hour
4. The minimum qualification of a tutor, for example, at least an Undegraduate
5. Preferred Tutor’s Gender
6. Lesson frequency
7. Place of students home
8. Any extra information

When you put up these details in our databases, anyone who visits NextTutor can do a simple search and see the assignments that they may be interested in. Eventually someone would be interested in teaching your child/student, and he or she can contact you via the information you’ve provided, for example, your email address or contact number, if provided.

One of the newly added features in the second version of NextTutor is the “Find Tutors that Fit” function. Once you have added an assignment to the database, you will find that it will be shown on the main page of your account. In that row where the assignment is represented, there will be a “Find Tutors that Fit” link. Once you click on that link, you will be able to see tutors who best fit your assignment based on subjects that they can teach, the timeslot that they are available, preferred gender (so that if you want female tutors, male tutors won’t be shown), and location. With the tutor list cut down to a specific few, you can easily find a tutor of your liking. In fact, you may end up getting a tutor faster this way.

Another newly added feature is the “One Click Request” link on every assignment page. Tutors who are registered with NextTutor will be able to sign up for your assignment using one click. Once they do that, you will receive an email telling you that someone has shown interest in your assignment. Log in to NextTutor’s Assignment Account and you can see who is interested in which of your assignments. Once you have looked at the tutor’s profile, you can then decide to shortlist, reject, or ignore the request. If you decide to shortlist, you can contact the tutor directly, or wait for the tutor to contact you.

The best thing is, this account is completely free because we at NextTutor believe that we should not make anyone pay for giving us these information. Another interesting point to note is that we do not limit the number of assignments you can put up. You can put up any number of assignments as long as they are not referring to the same student, but we doubt that you will put up more than 2 assignments unless you have more kids or you are a tuition coordinator.

If you are an existing tuition coordinator, you can opt for a tuition coordinator account. Just sign up for the normal parent’s account, and use the contact us form to tell us that you would like to upgrade.

So what are the benefits of upgrading to a tuition coordinator account?

A tuition coordinator account is still FREE OF CHARGE! We do not charge you for the added services we provide. The only catch is that tuition coordinators have to make use of the NextTutor database to put up assignments. Tuition Coordinators who do not use our databases will be downgraded to a Normal Account.

Firstly, if you have a Tuition Coordinator Account, you can put up your details in our tuition coordinator list. As you can see, the list there for parents who are too busy to find a tutor themselves. Hence, they will look through the list and contact either one of the tuition coordinators on the list. This means that you may be more assignments and more assignments mean more commission that you can earn. The ranking on the list is based on the amount of assignments you put up on NextTutor.

Secondly, tuition coordinators have the e-mail broadcast system. For example, you may have a student who needs tutors from Boon Lay teaching Primary School English and Math. Using the form provided, you can type in the message to tutors, select the relevant subjects and location, and click submit. An email will be sent to ALL tutors who can teach the subject and are willing to go to Boon Lay. You can also limit based on gender, so only male or female tutors will get that e-mail. With such emails, we save resources and everyone’s time. This email broadcast service is monitored by the administrator daily, so if anyone is caught abusing the broadcast service, he or she will be downgraded.

Lastly, in every assignment page, as well as the tuition coordinator listing, parents can use a form to send you assignment details straight to your email. Any user can also look at the assignments you have on hand.

NextTutor is also trying to constantly improve our services, so if you have any suggestions on what specific service you would like to have, do contact us and tell us about it. We will try our best to add in more value added services!

Some things that users can expect in the future:
1) I’m trying to find a way to merge PHP with Javascript, so that data could be loaded faster when looking through the database of information. Loaded faster as in when you click “Next Page”, the new information will load faster.

2) One click of “I’m interested” to send your profile to the tuition coordinator or parent in charge of the profile.

I’m still thinking of what other things can be done. Users of NextTutor, do let me know what you all want so I can try my best to implement them. Thank you!

There seems to be much progress on other websites or start ups around Singapore lately. Blog2u is working on a new site, other start ups like Comiqs have sprouted up, making me rethink my concept of NextTutor.

Thus, after my examinations, NextTutor will be changing for the better. I plan to:

1) Get my girlfriend in to help
2) Improve the look of the site
3) Rethink my existing policy for tuition coordinators and tutors
4) Revamp the assignments posting section so that it benefits other people
5) Encourage more people to use the photo function to boost their profile

and many many more.. So many things to do, so little time!

We have now added a new function to improve your profile with us. You can now “attach” a photo to your profile by giving us the url to your photo.

What you can do:
1)Upload your photo to a image host like Flickr, or to a webhost like Geocities.
2) Grab the URL of the image.
3) Login to NextTutor
4) Click “Edit my profile”.
5) Go to the add url section (it’s at the bottom) and paste the url there.
6) Click Submit

It’s so easy.

A few tips though:
The image will be resized when it is displayed in your profile. Hence, you should put a close up photo shoot of yourself so that it is easier to see your face.

It is best to choose a portrait size photo than a landscape one, due to resize constraints.

We hope you will find this feature useful. NextTutor will do it’s best to improve!

The problem is, sometimes we want to use the photo somewhere else, a blog post perhaps? Or perhaps we want to use the image for an avatar on a forum? How then can we just get the URL of a particular image?

If you already have a Flickr account, you may want to skip the next section.

Signing Up for a Flickr Account
Signing up for a Flickr Account is easy if you have a Yahoo ID. I took barely 3 minutes and I’m uploading my first photo! First, go to the Flickr website at http://www.flickr.com/.

What you see when you go to the website

Uploading a photo

If you have just signed up, you should be at a page where there is a link “Upload” in very big font. If you are not there, not to worry. At the top part of the page, you can see the menu bar. Click on the word “you”. (See photo below in red oval).

At the main account page

When you reach the main page, click on Upload Photos (See photo above in blue oval).

After you clicked on upload photos…

After the page loads, then click on choose photos (See photo above in black oval).

Upon clicking choose photos, you will be prompted to choose a photo from your computer. Choose the photo and after you are done selecting all the photos you want, then click Upload Photos at the bottom.

After uploading it, click on “You” at the top again. You will be brought to a page full of photos that you uploaded. Click on the photo whose url you want to use. You will see the following: (I uploaded the previous photo from this post)

It’s URL time!

Right click on the image and select copy image location. You now have the url in your clipboard!

1) ASSUMPTION PATHWAY SCHOOL TO START IN 2009
Remember NorthLight School? The school is the first of its kind in Singapore, where students are learning from a hands-on and practical approach. A check on the NorthLight School website shows us the curriculum:

1. Develop in the students the qualities and values to lead fulfilling lives
2. Help students acquire core competencies in literacy and numeracy to function effectively in daily life and work
3. Prepare students for entry-level jobs in the Technical, Services and Creative industries

Assumption Pathway school will be the 2nd school after NorthLight school to admit students who have failed the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) once or more, as well as students who prematurely leave secondary school.

Assumption Pathway school was known as Assumption Vocational Institute. It will be transformed in the year 2009 and is brought to you by the Ministry of Education (MOE) who have been working with the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) and the St Gabriel’s Foundation to reorient the program at the Assumption Vocational Institute.

Students will graduate with an ITE skills certificate. Graduates of APS can progress to further education at ITE, employment or apprenticeship at trade-based institutes. >>Source from MOE

2.Centralised Admissions Exercise for International Students
In September/October 2008, a centralised test will be implemented for new international school students seeking admissions to local schools in 2009. Based on their test results, they will be offered places at a suitable school.

The exercise would be for new international students seeking admission into Primary 2-5 and Secondary 1-3 levels. Singapore schools generally do not admit international students directly into Primary 6 and Secondary 4 as it would not be in the interest of international students to be admitted during these critical examination years.

Those that are seeking admission in 2008 (this year), will still have to apply directly to the schools. For admission in 2009, there will be a centralised admissions exercise. >>For more details go to the MOE website

The main reason is that whilst there are more people graduating from polytechnics this year (due to the dragon babies), the JC cohort is smaller this year. Hence, it will not be a tough year to get into universities with 1350 more university places than last year. Do read the forum letter quoted below for more information:

No squeeze as more places, smaller cohort
THE headlines and articles last Saturday, ‘Polytechnic grads put squeeze on university places’ and ‘Varsity squeeze’, grabbed attention, but were inaccurate and raised unnecessary alarm.

The cohort of students who are eligible to apply to the universities this year is significantly smaller than last year’s. Although the 1988 Dragon Year birth cohort is graduating from the polytechnics, and hence more polytechnic graduates are applying for universities, this has been more than offset by a smaller number of graduating junior college students this year.

It was misleading to compare the number of applications to the universities with the number of places available in order to paint a picture of an increasing squeeze in university admissions. The increased number of applications to the three universities does not mean more students are applying. With universities now having separate admission exercises, each student can choose to apply to all three universities, and many do.

The bottom line is that there will be significantly more university places this year than in any previous year, compared to the size of the cohort from polytechnics and JCs. Although the cohort is much smaller this year, universities will offer the same number of places as last year. This will mean that places will be available for at least 25 per cent of the cohort this year, up from 23.5 per cent last year and 21 per cent in 2000. Put another way, it means an additional 1,350 university places this year compared to last year, if the cohort size were unchanged.

This is also why there is no reason to think admission standards will be more stringent and this will be ‘a tough year to get in’. Besides the fact that more places will be available for the JC and polytechnic cohort, the general performance of A-level and polytechnic cohorts has been stable over the past few years.

The report was correct to point out that some courses will be ‘oversubscribed’ based on student demand. Applicants know there is keen competition for some courses and should weigh their choices carefully.

While we provide publicly subsidised university places to a quarter of the cohort, we cannot assure every student a place in the course of his choice. No system does, and it would not be wise for us to do so. The universities will continue to spread places across various disciplines and courses, taking into account students’ interests and aptitudes as well as the needs of the employment market. This will allow us to ensure that Singapore graduates continue to enjoy high employment rates, even as we increase the intake into our universities.

Perry Lim
Director, Higher Education
Ministry of Education

Now that I’ve got your attention, let me talk about ways to help pay attention in class. The following are some ways that I think can help you, based on my experiences as a student for the past 13 years.

1. Have a bottle full of water
Drinking occasional gulps of water helps when I feel tired. At least I found something to do: Open bottle cap, drink, close bottle cap. These minute things help me refocus instead of dozing off.

2. Avoid having a full meal before the lesson
Try not to have a full meal before the lesson. Just have enough so you won’t be hungry. If you feel full and contented, there is a greater possibility that you will fall asleep during the lesson. The urban logic is that the blood flows to your stomach to digest the food.

3. Read up before hand
If you read up before hand, you will find it easier to follow the lesson. There is a greater tendency to drift away from the lesson when you are lost and have no idea what the teacher is talking about.

4. Write notes
Writing helps you to focus and you won’t fall asleep that easily. It is a good way to ensure that you are paying attention. Of course you should try not to branch into doodling.

These 4 ways are just the few ways to improve your attention span in class. If I have more ways that I can remember I will continue to blog about it. I hope that this helps you in your studies!

Primarily, the article focus on the growing competition faced by younger students today in their quest to obtain a degree, whether in Singapore or abroad. More people are aiming for a degree these days as compared to the past. A degree is seen as a basic necessity, and those that want to differentiate themselves from the crowd are planning to do their masters.

Singapore is a knowledge based economy. Hence, more people are trying to upgrade themselves by going to schools that are prestigious, especially schools like Havard, Yale and Princeton. To make themselves outstanding, students are going to the extend of doing more CIPs and participating in more CCA events to add more things to their portfolio. Competition is so tough that getting a perfect score is considered to be only average. (See article quoted below)

On the other hand, Temasek Foundation is now joining hands with NIE and Vietnam’s National Institute of Education Management (NIEM) to launch a programme to train Vietnamese school leaders and senior education officials under the Vietnam-Singapore Centre for Educational Excellence (VSCEE). For a start, 480 Vietnamese school leaders will be trained this year under the collaboration between NIE and NIEM. They will learn about the latest developments in school leadership and gain first-hand experience of the Singapore school system. >> Source from MOE

When outstanding is just average

The students advance down the queue to receive their result slips, anxiety is etched all over their faces.

Some clutch amulets. One fingers her rosary, mouthing her prayers. Some seek last-minute parental reassurances on the phone.

Once these Raffles Junior College students, the creme de la creme from Singapore’s most pedigreed secondary schools, receive their result slips, their worries break into relief, grins and high-fives.

But a handful dissolve into tears, as if their perfect world has crashed. In between sobbing, most admit that, all things considered, their results are good - sullied perhaps by one B or C. But they fear that the results are not good enough to secure the most coveted scholarships.

Among the triumphant with perfect scores, the rejoicing dies down after they get wind of the fact that there are 58 other RJC students - just like them - who turned in flawless scores.

Those aiming for a seat in the world’s best universities then begin vexing if they had done enough to edge out the others. They wonder if they should have taken up an extra sport or initiated another overseas community expedition.

Not for nothing is Raffles Junior College known as the most successful high school in the world. It was labelled the ‘Ivy League Machine’ by the Wall Street Journal four years ago.

The leading American newspaper said RJC fed more students to the elite Ivy League schools in the United States than most leading high schools in the US.

Going by the superlative A-level performance of the latest batch of RJC students, the school lives up to its reputation. Of the 1,236 students who received their A-level results on Friday last week, 885 students scored distinctions in at least three H2 subjects, the equivalent of an A-level subject. About half of the cohort - 614 of them - scored a minimum of four As.

A beaming Mrs Lim Lai Cheng, who recently took over as principal of the school, pronounced the results ’satisfying’. But many of her students aiming for a berth in top American and British universities went home with a worried look on their faces, fretting if their results were good enough for the top universities or faculties they were gunning for.

The schools most have applied for include, of course, ‘HYP’ - shorthand for Harvard, Yale and Princeton - as well as other ‘gotta-get-ins’ such as Cornell, Brown and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For British applications, Cambridge and Oxford top the list.

Locally, most are eyeing a spot in the medical faculty at National University of Singapore (NUS), just about the most competitive course to get into. Last year, of the 1,950 who applied for medicine, only 250 got in.

Hence, many among the 209 who scored seven to nine distinctions say that when it comes to the very best universities worldwide or top faculties here, the challenge of making the cut is getting tougher.

Mayank Dalakoti, 18, who is aiming for the NUS medical faculty, scored nine As. He has done all he can - and more.

He was the school’s cricket captain and took part in the school talent competition and Indian cultural society. During his school holidays, he did two attachments, shadowing doctors at the National University Hospital and the Singapore National Eye Centre.

Still, a place in the NUS medical faculty will be no shoo-in.

‘I hope all that I have done demonstrates that I have what it takes and the interest and passion for medicine. A lot will depend on the interview, of course, which will be the next big hurdle,’ he says.

His friend, Mayank Soni, 18, another nine-A scorer who intends to study economics and engineering in the US, is also cautious when assessing his chances of landing a place in either Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell or Stanford, which he has applied to.

He founded a new co-curricular activity (a money-management society), won a silver medal in the international biology Olympiad, played cricket for the school and volunteered with the Singapore Association for the Deaf.

But he is bracing himself for the worst. ‘Although I have perfect grades, so do 58 others in RJC. And among the applicants to Harvard, I will just be the average, outstanding student,’ he laments.

In schools like Harvard and Yale where every other student is a valedictorian, with perfect or close to perfect Grade Point Averages and SAT scores, admissions officers look for other attributes, such as all-roundedness and ‘passion’.

Of course, RJC students are smart enough to know that ‘passion’ is not easily faked or packaged, no matter how many last-minute community and youth projects they can cram in during their holidays.

So most, like Tan Wei Lin, 18, who had six distinctions and is shooting for top-flight American universities, have a concerted strategy.

‘If you are faking it, I am sure admissions officers can see through it. I pick only the CCAs and projects that I have a genuine interest in. If not, it would be difficult to sustain my interest,’ she says.

Wei Lin, who is set on a career in science, did research attachments here and overseas and headed her school’s astronomy club. She took up bowling too but had to give it up because of a weak heart.

Her lack of sporting prowess bothers her. ‘I hope I don’t come across as being a science nerd,’ she confides.

Her friend and college mate, Diane Lee, 18, has already been through one searching interview with a Princeton University alumnus who grilled her to find out if she had ‘a burning inside’ for something.

Diane, who dreams of starting a social business enterprise related to alleviating climate change or poverty, hopes she was convincing enough.

Like many of her RJC mates, she is already planning ahead, considering whether she should twin her first degree with a master’s or MBA. By the time she completes her first degree, she knows the qualifications race would have moved on to graduate school, as it has in the US. So she is priming herself for that.

‘By then, a degree will be the basic. Employers will be asking, ‘So, what else do you have?” she says.

Her next goal is an MBA or a master’s in another field. Whatever it is, it must be from a top grad school like Harvard or Stanford, nothing less.