Business Bay is one of the most spectacular urban redevelopments in the history of Dubai. A large expanse of largely unused land along the Dubai Canal has, over the last decade and a half, transformed into one of the most important mixed-use areas in the city - a glittering enclave of residential flats, boutique hotels and offices that is situated immediately adjacent to Downtown Dubai and has drawn a youthful and highly mobile international professional population in droves. Parents who have moved to Business Bay share the same high academic aspirations as the district itself, and for their sons and daughters studying A Level Mathematics, the pressure to succeed is both palpable and justified. It is the gateway to Engineering, Computer Science, Economics, Medicine and the physical sciences at universities around the world, and it requires a level of preparation that is rarely delivered in the classroom. At Amourion Training Institute, our Jumeirah Lakes Towers location is less than ten minutes from Business Bay and our online classes bring specialists in the field directly to students' homes. Dr. Anil Khare addresses Business Bay parents' concerns.

My child is good with homework but they don't score good marks in the exams. What's causing this discrepancy?

Dr. Anil Khare: This is a common pattern and is a good indicator of what is happening, as long as you understand what homework and examination tests are. Homework is usually done with reference to notes, worked examples and ample time to complete it - all of which help a student through each step of a problem without having to come up with the method themselves. During an examination, all these supports are removed. The student has to work out what method is relevant, and remember the detail of the method and apply it accurately, in a timely fashion, without reference and without the opportunity for self-correction through checking examples. These are different types of skills and a student who can complete homework problems but not examination problems is simply familiar with school maths but not skilled at solving problems. All lessons at Amourion start with problems unseen by the student and worked independently under examination conditions - because this is the only way the skill is learned.

 

My child really struggles with proof questions. Can this be taught effectively?

Dr. Anil Khare: Proof is one of the topics that is least familiar to students when they first encounter it at A Level, since it involves a different type of mathematical thinking than they have been asked to demonstrate previously - a rigorous logical argument from basic principles rather than a computation. The fear is natural and very conquerable. We teach proof by first cultivating a student's appreciation of what proof in mathematics is: the difference between showing something is true for particular instances and showing it must be true in general. We then develop a comfort with the standard methods of proof (proof by deduction, proof by exhaustion, proof by contradiction and disproof by counterexample) through practice, which begins with simple examples and goes on to the complexity of the typical A Level examination paper. Many students who begin their time with us seeing proof as the most dreaded topic go on to have it as one of their most reliable.

How early in Year 12 should a Business Bay student ideally begin A Level Mathematics tuition?

Dr. Anil Khare: The truth is as early as possible in Year 12 - preferably before lessons are taught. A Level Mathematics is more cumulative than almost any other course. Pure Mathematics content covered in the first half of Year 12 - algebraic manipulation, functions, coordinate geometry, basic calculus - is a prerequisite to almost everything that follows in the two years of the course. A student who achieves mastery of this early content with specialist help from the beginning finds himself or herself well-prepared for every subsequent topic - which assumes proficiency in this early content. A student who develops weaknesses in this early content continues to progress into every new topic with those weaknesses, where they accumulate invisibly until their impact becomes apparent in mock examination results - often too late for recovery.

Build the A Level Mathematics Grade That Business Bay Ambitions Deserve

A Level Mathematics is a test of students with precision, consistency and independence. For Business Bay students ready to work towards that standard with expert guidance, it starts with Amourion Training Institute.

Contact Amourion Training Institute

 

Phone: +971 55 956 4344 | +971 4 355 4850

 

Email: training@amourion.com

 

Website: www.amourion.com