24 Sep Why Overthinking Is Killing Your Child’s Chances Of Getting A Distinction In Physics
The human brain is highly mysterious. It has the tendency of making ideas much more complicated than they actually are.
That’s probably the reason why your child hates Physics.
Don’t get me wrong…
They might be doing well for it – at the price of cramming countless formulas and drilling endless PYPs (Past-Year-Papers).
Sometimes, you wonder if your child would ever experience a burnout.
Look, getting an A in Physics is like running a marathon, not a sprint.
If you’re getting feedback that your child isn’t learning much in lectures, and he has to “relearn” the entire lesson material himself.
That’s a HUGE RED FLAG.
Yup, even if he’s doing well.
You’d probably know how stressful and competitive A Levels are if you had taken them.
It’s not sustainable for your child to be mugging at full steam throughout the year.
That’s why at The Physics Cafe, we don’t only aim to make all our students do well…
We even aim to make all our students do well – with minimum effort.
Similar to that, we don’t believe that our students do well because they are hardworking or they are smart…
They do well because they find Physics to be easy – a belief I’ve repeatedly instilled in every student of mine.
Here’s how I do it:
1. Conducting Regular Revision Sessions
Apart from making things complex, one more aspect of the human brain is that it’s highly forgetful.
After all, it’s scientifically proven that the retention rate of our brain over a 24-hour period is only 20% if we don’t revise the same material on the same day.
I also conduct regular revision tests to ensure my students fully understand the material before going to the next chapter.
If their understanding of basic concepts is strong, it’s far likely they’ll find Physics a much easier subject.
2. Reduce memorisation
If you’ve taken Physics, you’d probably agree on this
Students who usually do well in Physics don’t really memorise a lot.
Some don’t even drill the Ten-Year-Series, and yet they still do well.
Well, how is this possible?
In fact, this is one of the most common questions I usually get from parents.
The truth is doing well in Physics does not require you to memorise a tonne of formulas and explanations and regurgitate them in the papers (This strategy will get you a C or a B, but top students would almost never do this)
Also, one reason I hate my students memorising formulas is that rote learning creates a lot of stress – causing you to overthink and not do well.
Instead, I teach my students the mechanism behind the formulas to help them better understand the content.
3. Teaching students how to study effectively
Over my 10 years as a Physics teacher, I’ve probably seen nearly tens of thousands of students.
On the other hand, I’ve seen students struggling, even when they’ve put in a tonne of effort into memorising and practicing questions.
What separates both groups of students?
It’s not really intelligence – I’ve seen both groups of students appearing across top schools and neighbourhood schools.
Neither is it interest.
Sure, students who have an inherent interest in Physics would often do well – but most of my students are hardly interested in Physics.
In fact, they often rely on me to make the subject interesting for them.
What truly separates both groups of students is…
Strategy.
Most of my students are trained to understand the principles behind a problem, so they know what concepts are involved, and which formulas to use.
They aren’t trained to just blindly whack papers until their grades improve.
Look, when it comes to doing well in Physics… there’s a short (easy) method and the long (hard) method.
In my classes, I show all my students the “easy” way of “getting” Physics – don’t get me wrong. It needs work, but it’s going to save you and your child plenty of time in revision and unnecessary practice.
If you’re keen to know how I do it, you can make a reservation below
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