Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to help you make the
best decisions for your child’s education

Learn More ↓

Here to Help you make the best decisions

We have meticulously curated a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions, crafted with the utmost consideration for parents deeply invested in their children's education. Our goal is to provide you with a wealth of information that empowers you to make well-informed decisions that cater to the unique needs and aspirations of both you and your children. Explore this resource to gain insights and clarity as you navigate the educational journey with us.

General

  • The majority of students nowadays attend tuition. For those who don't, they often have a stay-at-home parent who is able to invest time and energy in coaching and guiding the child.

    Moreover, to excel in PSLE, specific exam "techniques" are essential. Examples include using keywords in Science, practicing speed techniques in Math, employing checking methods for accurate results in Math, utilizing model essays for composition, having a vocabulary list for English, and more.

    We understand that many parents in Singapore are busy working professionals aspiring for their children's academic success but may lack the time due to their hectic schedules. Hence, we have designed our programs to manage their children's academics, enabling parents to spend their available time bonding with their children rather than concerning themselves with academic matters.

  • Founders’ Passion for Education

    Firstly, it is due to our founders’ passion for education. Essential's founders, who, as parents and working professionals, understand the challenges families face in achieving academic goals. Essential aims to provide value by helping students excel in PSLE, differentiating itself from larger tuition chains owned by profit-driven private equity firms or shareholders. Our commitment lies in prioritising the educational well-being of students and supporting parents in their academic journey.

    Focusing only on the Essential

    Driven by our dedication to parents and students, we focus solely on essential elements for PSLE success. We minimise marketing costs, design centers and classrooms with students' well-being in mind, avoiding extravagant renovations. Our centers are strategically located in safe and affordable areas. You can read more on our quality and price promise.

  • We like to call a spade a spade. Regardless of the fanciful names used, those are tests and exams. Your child’s P5 results is an important consideration for DSA admissions. The PSLE is an exam and still determines more than 80% of students admission to secondary school.

Fees & Policies

  • New student

    Enjoy a low-risk, paid trial of 4 lessons. Here’s how it works:

    • Pay only for the initial 4 lessons upon enrollment, with no upfront registration fees or deposit required at this stage.

    • If you decide to continue, as our long term (fully registered) student, a registration fee and deposit will required.

    Fully Registered Student

    Your first bill after deciding to continue would consist of the following:

    • A one-time registration fee of $50.

    • A deposit of one-month (4-lessons) fee

      • Deposit is required for each subject enrolled.

      • The deposit can be utilised to offset your last 4 lessons’ tuition fees.

    • Lesson fees for the month, pro-rated based on the remaining number of lessons within the month.

    Subsequent monthly bills will only consist of:

    • Lessons fees for the month.

    ------

    Refer to Fees & Policy for the latest fees.

  • Upon your enrolment, Essential will need to setup the student and parent up on our Essential Business and Learning System to ensure that your child is fully set up for lessons with us (getting the set of lesson materials, allocated to the right class, accurate accounting of fees etc).

    Registration fee is waived for existing active student. (e.g. if your child is already attending Math tuition with us, you will not be charged additional registration fee if you decide to subsequently enrol in an additional subject)

  • Upon your enrollment, Essential reserves a seat for you in the chosen class and timing. This commitment ensures that, in the event the class reaches full capacity (12 students), other interested students are turned away as your seat is already reserved.

    Without a deposit, we cannot guarantee your spot, as we need to know whom to allocate the spots to appropriately.

  • The fees listed on the class schedule cover four lessons. If there is a fifth lesson in the month, fees will be adjusted accordingly. Additionally, should your lesson coincide with a public holiday, fees will be pro-rated accordingly.

  • There will be no lesson as our centres will be closed on Public Holidays. Your monthly bill will be pro-rated based on the number of lessons in that month.

  • At Essential, we offer two options for students unable to attend their lessons:

    Make-Up Classes

    Feel free to approach our friendly Enrolment Consultants to arrange a make-up class within the same academic week. It's important to inform the staff in advance. Please note that entry to the class will only be allowed for students who have notified the staff about the make-up lesson. Essential reserves the right to deny entry if the make-up class is already at full capacity. We strongly encourage students to opt for make-up classes to ensure they don't miss any content taught during that week.

    Credit Note

    Lesson fees can be waived in the form of a credit note, provided that proper supporting documentation is submitted. Waivers are strictly considered for the following reasons:

    • Medical Reasons: A valid Medical Certificate (MC) from a registered clinic or hospital is required.

    • Official School Activities: An official School Letter or signed Consent Form is required.

    • Travel (5 Days or More): Any official proof of travel (e.g., flight tickets, hotel bookings) must be provided.

      • Note: Travel waivers require at least 2 weeks' advance notice before your departure date.

    ⚠️ Important Policy: Essential reserves the right to decline the issuance of any credit notes if the required documentation or notice period is not provided.

  • A student wishing to terminate their class must provide the center with one month's notice by submitting a withdrawal form a month before the withdrawal date. Your deposit will be used to offset the forthcoming month’s tuition fees accordingly (provided that there are lessons).

    Please also note that your deposit can only be used to offset your last 4 lessons' tuition fees and not refunded under any circumstance.

  • We offer credits for lessons that are missed due to acceptable reasons. The credits may be used to offset your subsequent bills but are strictly non-refundable.

    The acceptable reasons are:

    • Medical Reasons (Medical Certificate from a clinic required)

    • School Activities (School Letter/Consent Form required)

    • Traveling for 5 days or more (Any form of proof of travel, e.g., plane tickets, hotel booking, etc.)

    Essential reserves the right to refrain from issuing credits if no proper documentation/proof is submitted.

Classes

  • We take in a maximum of 12 students per class.

  • Definitely! Our teachers typically hail from:

    1. Universities such as NUS, NTU, SUTD and SMU

    2. NIE-Trained / Ex-School Teachers

    All teachers undergo intensive training in educating students the Essential way, as well as the curriculum before they are assigned to a class.

English Programme

  • We offer two distinct English courses to cater to the comprehensive needs of our students:

    • English Tuition:
      This course focuses on building a strong foundation in the English language, covering essential skills such as grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and oral communication. It is designed to ensure students develop a well-rounded proficiency in English, which is crucial for their overall academic success.

    • English Composition Mastery Course:
      Writing is a critical component of the English language curriculum, and our Composition Mastery Course is specifically designed to help students excel in this area. The course, which begins in Primary Four focuses on teaching students how to structure their writing, develop creative ideas, and express themselves effectively in written form. This course complements the Main Course by enhancing students’ writing skills, which are essential for performing well in examinations.

  • Speaking well is certainly an important aspect of language proficiency, but English examinations typically assess a wider range of skills. These include grammar, vocabulary, comprehension, and composition writing. Even if a child is a good speaker, they may struggle with other aspects of the language that are crucial for exams, such as understanding complex texts, applying grammar rules correctly, or expressing ideas clearly in writing.

    Our courses are designed to address these areas comprehensively, ensuring that your child not only speaks well but also excels in all aspects of the English language.

  • Our classes are structured to support students at all levels of proficiency. For a child who is weak in English, our approach involves:

    • Personalized Attention:
      Our experienced teachers are able to assess each student's current level and advise the students on what to focus on to address their specific weaknesses.

    • Building Foundational Skills:
      We focus on strengthening the basics of English, such as grammar, vocabulary, and comprehension, which are essential for long-term success and eventually the PSLE.

    • Continuous Practice:
      Regular practice exercises and assessments help reinforce learning and track progress, ensuring that your child improves steadily.

    • Teaching of Metacognitive skills:
      Students are taught to source for clues to tackle grammar, cloze and comprehension questions in the paper. Our goal is to help your child build confidence in using English and gradually improve their performance in the subject.

  • Yes, your child definitely should enrol. While the Gifted Education Programme (GEP) is designed to stretch students with advanced and intellectually stimulating content well beyond the PSLE syllabus, many GEP students struggle to perform at their best in the PSLE.

    This is often because, despite their intelligence and ability, they may not be adequately grounded in the specific requirements and formats of the national examinations.

    Our English programme helps GEP students bridge this gap by:

    • Ensuring Exam Readiness: We focus on what the PSLE actually tests—ensuring students are fully equipped with the skills and strategies needed to excel.

    • Balancing Depth with Relevance: While our materials are challenging and engaging, they remain tightly aligned to PSLE exam requirements.

    • Sharpening Core Skills: We provide targeted instruction in areas such as composition writing, comprehension answering techniques, and grammar accuracy—skills critical for success in the PSLE.

Math Programme

  • There are a few possible reasons.

    The most common reason is that your child hasn’t been practising for speed. If you child complains about not having enough time or are losing marks towards the end of the paper, you know that this is likely the reason. See our answer for “My child has a good understanding of Math. Why does he need to practise for speed?”

    Another reason is that your child is not accustomed to the typical phrasing of the questions. If your child is making “careless” mistakes in solving problem sums (such as subtracting when they should be adding and vice versa) and explains that they misread during the test, this is likely the cause.

    Other reasons include exam stress, poor allocation of time during exam, not utilising exam techniques, not utilising technique to verify and check answers.

    Teachers at Essential will diagnose the root cause and help your child overcome those problems.

  • TLDR:

    There isn’t enough time for students to think during the PSLE exam. They need to have practised enough so that they can get the answers without having to consciously think.

    Longer Explanation:

    The PSLE Math exam format are as follows:

    • Paper 1 (1 hour)

      • 15 x MCQs (20 Marks)

      • 15 x Short-answer Questions (25 Marks)

    • Paper 2 (1 hour 30 mins)

      • 5 x Short-answer Questions (10 Marks)

      • 12 x Structured Questions (Problem Sums) (45 Marks)

    If we allocate the time spent based on the number of marks, students have approximately the following amount of time per question:

    • Paper 1

      • MCQ: 2 mins

      • Short-answer: 2 mins

    • Paper 2

      • Short-answer: 3 mins

      • Problem sums: 6 mins

    Students simply do not have sufficient time to think during the exam. They would need to have practised enough such that the answers come to them without having to spend time thinking.

  • It is possible if your child:

    • has the right question set to practise and

    • has the discipline to practise consistently and correctly

    At Essential, we take care of the above for you. Our question sets are designed specifically for the PSLE Math exam based on deep analysis of the past decade of PSLE papers. Our in-class practices are also carefully structured into the following:

    • Slow-paced practices for deep understanding of Math concept and techniques.

    • Fast-paced timed practices for speed and accuracy.

    • Standard problem sum technique drills for solving 95% of problems.

    • Extra-challenging problem sums heuristics to tackle the 1-2 (5%) toughest questions.

    • Simulated exams to familiarize students with the exam format and its accompanying challenges.

    And most importantly, our dedicated teachers will be by the side of your child, inspiring, motivating and sometimes simply nagging at your child.

  • There are several possible reasons.

    The most common reason is that your child is practising wrongly. During practises, it’s important split them up into the following:

    • For a new topic, use slow-paced practices for deep understanding of the topic. Don’t rush. Be patient.

    • Once concept is understood, use fast-paced timed practices for speed and accuracy

    • Questions should be at the appropriate level of difficulty for your child. (Neither too hard nor too easy)

  • Yes. Our group class will be able to help.

    We understand your concerns that in a group class, the pace might be too fast for your child’s current Math level. Our curriculum and Math teaching method is designed to overcome this.

    Math curriculum and practice question sets are expertly scaffolded to facilitate students' progression up the AL ladder. Students who are still developing would start with question sets that fits their level of ability to build their confidence and foundation. They will then progressively move up the difficulties (and AL levels), all under the constant encouragement of our nurturing teachers.

  • Firstly, congratulations! Keep it up!

    Yes. Our curriculum and Math teaching method is designed to enable stronger students to maintain top grades.

    Our Math curriculum and practice question sets are expertly scaffolded. Which means stronger students will be focusing their practices on question sets that are more challenging!

  • Congratulation! Please keep it up!

    A heads up regarding Singapore Math syllabus to help you with the preparation: There is a jump in the difficulty in P3, P4 and P5. Many students who did well in the current year don’t do well in the following year. The jump from P4 to P5 is especially great and many lose confidence after their poor WA1 results.

    We will help to prepare your child for this jump in difficulty level and maintain their grades and confidence.

Science Programme

  • The most common reason is that your child isn't utilising the right keywords when answering the exam papers. Examiners mark using an answer sheet and it makes it so much easier for them to give your child the mark when the keywords used matches that of the answer sheet.

    The second most common reason is that your child isn't answering to the question with the right answer structure. There are specific keywords to look out for in the questions (e.g. identify, name, state, describe, explain, why, etc) to understand what the question is asking for.

    In internal examinations, the school teacher would have the discretion to accept alternate answer. Given the huge workload of teachers, most teachers would very much prefer it when students use the right keywords to make their marking smoother.

    During PSLE, there is a process for markers to raise and discuss possible alternative answer. Again that means an additional step for the markers.

    At Essential, we help students learn and use the right structure and keywords when answering to make it easy for examiners to give them the marks.

  • It is possible if your child:

    • has the right reference materials to guide him and

    • Has the time and analytical strength to decipher the required structure and keywords

    • Has the discipline to to utilise the keywords and structure during exams and tests.

    At essential, we take care of the above for you. Our revision notes highlight the keywords. Students are taught how to read the questions and answer with the right structure. And multiple rounds of practices help students internalise the keywords and structure such that they will naturally do it correctly during exams and tests.

  • Most students dislike Science because they are scoring badly in school. It is an unfortunate viscous circle which is commonly seen in our Singapore MOE Primary Education which is pitched at a very high level from a very young age. It is a common psychological coping mechanism for young students (in fact, this applies to adults too). Emotionally, it feels so much better to attribute not scoring for Science to a lack of interest rather than their natural learning capacity for a given subject.

    What most students and parents do not realise is that studying and exam technique plays a significant role in success in the PSLE and that can be easily taught and picked up.

    At Essential, not only do we help our students understand the Science topics and learn the keywords and structure for answering questions, our teachers also build their confidence in their own ability to learn. Our educators will work hard to turn the vicious circle into a virtuous circle of better score leading to greater interest in Science.

  • Yes, our group class will be able to help.

    We understand your concerns that in a group class, the pace might be too fast for your child's current Science level. Our curriculum and Science teaching method is is designed to overcome this.

    Firstly, most students whose parents thought that they are "weak" in Science isn't actually weak. They are usually scoring badly in school tests and exams because they have not been trained on keywords and answering techniques. (See the Q&A on "My child is able to understand all the Science topics but is just not scoring in WA and SA. Why?"). Our curriculum focuses heavily on equipping our students with the right answering techniques.

    Secondly, our teaching materials being highly structured and concise, allow our students to quickly grasp science concepts. Making use of funny analogies and silly stories, we make it easier for students to remember Science facts and concepts.

  • Congratulations! Please keep it up!

    A heads up regarding Singapore Science syllabus to help you with the preparation: There is a jump in the difficulty in P4 and P5. Many students who did well in the current year don’t do well in the following year. The jump from P4 to P5 is especially great and many lose confidence after their poor WA1 results and enter into a vicious circle of poor results leading to disinterest and disinterest leading to even poorer results.

    We will help to prepare your child for this jump in difficulty level and maintain their grades and confidence.

Bring-A-Friend Invitation

  • You can refer any friend or family member whose child is not currently enrolled and has never been enrolled at Essential Education.

  • Yes. To qualify for the promotion, your friend must enrol in the same subject and time slot as your child.

  • You will receive $50 off your child’s next course fees for every successful referral.

  • Your friend will have the $50 registration fee waived when they enrol.

  • The $50 discount will be applied to your next billing cycle once your friend has successfully enrolled and made full payment.

  • No, there is no limit. You will receive $50 off for each successful referral who joins the same class as your child.

  • This promotion only applies if your friend joins the same subject and time slot as your child. Referrals to other classes are not eligible.

Contact us

Your question isn’t in the FAQ?
Let us know your question here and we will get back to you.