Studying In An IP School: Biggest Challenges Students Face

Students in the Integrated Programme face unique challenges unlike those in the O Level stream. Sometimes, even teachers or tutors who are not experienced in teaching IP students may not understand them. The main challenges come from the IP curriculum being catered to high ability students – the environment is highly competitive, while students are expected to be independent learners and thinkers.

As a parent or incoming IP student, you may want to find out what being an IP student is like. We hope the below sharing helps you understand the difficulties that IP students usually face, and let you know that we are here to support you in this IP journey.

• Competitive environment

IP schools are the top of their league for secondary schools in Singapore, simply because they only accept the top percentage of PSLE-scorers. By that fact alone, IP schools are filled with highly intelligent and talented students. Expectations run high, not just from students themselves, but from teachers, parents, and even society at large.

This can cause a highly stressful environment for students, which can be particularly difficult for teens who are still learning how to regulate their emotions. Not to mention, it is easy for IP students to become demoralised amongst the pool of talents – the standard of exams is tougher, and their competitors are smarter.

While some students will thrive in such conditions, some students will end up buckling under the pressure. For most, it will be a constant struggle to juggle all their commitments, expectations, and notions of their self-worth.

• Self-directed learning

In theory, self-directed learning sounds like an ideal way to learn, because students get to try out so many different types of activities. By getting more hands-on and independent with learning, they are also more likely to remember and be excited about learning.

However, the truth is that these self-directed activities all take time and they contribute to the overloaded schedule of these teen students. We can’t deny that it is far easier to just complete a worksheet than to do independent research and come up with a presentation for it.

When you pile on their co-curricular activity commitments, other talent development programmes or service-learning projects, and what you get is a student at full capacity. Even if they wish to, it can be difficult to even enjoy the learning process for what it is.

As a result, some of these students end up lagging behind in their core academics, and they lack the actual exam skills to do well in their tests.

Our solution for IP students

If you happen to be one of those IP students who doesn’t have time to sit down and figure out everything on your own, come to us. If you feel like you are falling behind and getting demoralised due to ‘poor’ results, don’t wait any longer! We understand that the competitive nature of IP and self-directed learning may not be for everyone.

Here’s what we do for you: We want to make learning easier and less stressful for you. We take everything you need to know, and arrange and organise them in a very digestible manner. Easy-to-refer summaries, topical worksheets, and skills check lists are all readily available for our students in classes such as our IP Math tuition class to speed up their learning and revision process.

Furthermore, we have dedicated IP tutors on our team who have either taught IP students before, or who came from IP schools themselves. They teach classes like our IP Physics tuition classes, and are the ones who can empathise and give you the best advice on how to survive and excel in the IP.

But importantly, we strongly advise students to seek help early! Once you lag behind, the amount of content you need to catch up on accumulates, and it becomes very difficult to get ahead again. For more information on our IP classes, get in touch with us today!