Kangaroo.Study 2025 S1 Math Enrollment is open

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Kangaroo.Study 2025  S1 Math Enrollment is Open

1. Secondary Math: From "No Difference" to "Worlds Apart"

In our communication with a large number of parents, we've noticed that even students with the same PSLE Mathematics AL1 grades show increasing differences in performance once they enter secondary school. Moreover, due to the progressively advancing knowledge system in secondary school, it is easy to fall into a situation where ""falling behind step by step"

The Reasons Behind the Issues

※ The lowevaluation standards cause learning issues to be discovered late:

In secondary school, a 75% accuracy is enough for an A1 grade, and many students are satisfied with this. However, this level of accuracy often means that a student's foundation is not strong enough for future learning. Students usually only realize their weaknesses when faced with more challenging problems later, and catching up at that stage can be time-consuming and difficult.

※ Huge Gap Between E&A Math Difficulty:

In Secondary 3, students begin studying Additional Mathematics (A-Math). The difficulty level increases, with expanded learning in modules such as algebraic manipulation, surds, functions, trigonometric functions, and coordinate geometry. The content also includes calculus, the binomial theorem, and elementary functions. This presents a significant challenge to both the students' foundational knowledge and their concentration.

※ Systematization of knowledge needs solid foundational knowledge:

For example, in algebra, Secondary 1 covers "basic algebra," establishing foundational algebraic thinking and foundation of operation. In Secondary 2, students advance to complex multiplication formulas and factorization. In Secondary 3 and 4, they study factor theorems and the binomial theorem. The knowledge points are interconnected, and if any part is missed, it will inevitably cause problems in future learning.

Two Major Strategies to Solve Problems

※ Preparation and Foundation Building:

Once students begin A-Math in Secondary 3, they face more extensive and challenging content, which can be overwhelming. To ease the pressure in higher grades, it helps to introduce some of this advanced material earlier. By familiarizing students with these topics beforehand and giving them extra practice, they build a stronger foundation and are better prepared for future learning. Many top secondary schools use this approach, teaching advanced concepts earlier to help students succeed.

※ Self-Breakthrough, expand and strengthen, and engage in top-level learning:

Higher grades demand a stronger foundation and greater learning ability from students. Each knowledge point must be studied in-depth, with an understanding of the underlying principles. It's important to expand learning as much as possible, even tackling competition-level problems. This approach enhances mastery of the material and better prepares students for advanced topics in higher grades.

2.Secondary School Math Competitions

SMO Competition Overview

SMO (Singapore Mathematical Olympiad): Organized by the Singapore Mathematical Society. It is the most authoritative and challenging mathematics competition for secondary school students in Singapore and a key pathway for members of the national team.

SMO is divided into three categories: Junior (S1+S2), Senior (S3+S4), and Open (S1 ~ JC2, with the highest difficulty).

SMO Junior has nearly 4,000 participants each year (S1+S2), but only just over 100 of them advance to the second round (106 in 2023 and 124 in 2024, with those advancing to the second round guaranteed at least a silver medal). Approximately 60 gold medals are expected, and the top 30 participants will receive individual awards.

Significance of Competition Results

Enhances Mathematical Ability and Interest: Intensive learning helps improve children's logical thinking and problem-solving abilities, while also sparking their interest in mathematics. This lays a strong foundation for their future learning and development.

Increases Competitiveness: High-value competition awards in secondary school, such as SMO and AMC, are widely recognized. They showcase children's efforts and achievements in mathematics, giving them an advantage in JC-DSA (Junior College Direct School Admission), as well as in university and scholarship applications. For example, the image below is a screenshot of the achievements section when applying to NUS.

How to excel in secondary school mathematics competitions

Systematic learning in advance is key for achieving ideal results in S1.

For the 2025 Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (SMO), Round 1 at the end of May has 25 questions, each worth 1 point, focusing on elementary algebra and geometry with 28 categories and 126 knowledge points. Round 2 at the end of June includes 5 questions worth 10 points each, requiring detailed working and covering combinations, number theory, algebra, and geometry. This round is very challenging with little repetition in problem types. For S1 students, time is tight and the workload is heavy. Starting preparation for secondary math competitions right after PSLE and having covered all the material for both the first and second rounds of the SMO Junior by June 2025 is essential to cover all knowledge points, complete revision, and ensure proficiency before the exams.

3. Kangaroo Secondary Mathematics Five-Level System

To help each child overcome learning challenges and reach their full potential, Kangaroo Secondary Mathematics has a five-level system: Cultivation Class, Enhancement Class, Innovation Class, Elite Class, and Exploration Class. The teaching includes "Pre-term Preparatory Courses" to cover key concepts and reinforce practice, and "Extension and Enhancement" to deepen understanding and prepare for advanced topics. This system ensures students are placed in the most suitable class for their needs. Regular advancement tests assess their progress and allow students to move to higher levels if they are ready.

Exploration Class: Advance learning of secondary school competition to aim for top ranks in SMO

This class gathers students with a strong foundation in mathematics and significant potential. Starting after the PSLE, students will complete a round of learning and revision before the SMO Junior exams next year. The goal is to help students reach Junior Round 2 (approximately 110 students from S1/S2) and prepare specifically for Round 2 during the mid-year break to achieve ideal results.

Suitable for students with rich experience in math competitions, solid fundamentals, outstanding performance, and potential to be among the top 40 in Singapore competitions.

Elite Class: Expand learning of secondary school competition content to aim for medals in SMO, AMC, etc.

This class delves into competition content with adjusted difficulty levels, ensuring that students are sufficiently challenged yet able to keep up and understand the material. It aims to solidify the foundation and strive for excellent results in SMO Junior during S1 and S2.

Suitable for students with a background in math competitions, excellent performance, a desire to challenge themselves, and a goal to advance further in competitions.

Innovation Class: Expand high-grade and competition knowledge and fully explore student potential

This class caters to students with outstanding performance in regular studies and extra capacity. The curriculum will cover and exceed all school-level math content, ensuring strong performance in school. It will also include extensive expansion, covering high-grade knowledge and competition-level problems. Students will have opportunities to participate in major math competitions and aim for medals.

Suitable for students with limited competition experience but who have extra capacity, strong interest, a willingness to challenge themselves, and a desire to participate in math competitions.

Enhancement Class: Expand difficulty to enhance high-grade learning efficiency and effectiveness

The curriculum will cover and exceed all school-level math content, with significant expansion in problem difficulty and types to enhance student interest and prepare for high-grade key knowledge. This will reinforce practice and improve future learning efficiency and effectiveness, ensuring strong performance.

Suitable for students with a solid foundation who want to challenge themselves, expand their learning, and ensure future academic success.

Cultivation Class: Strengthen the foundation, prepare for expansion, and ensure good school performance

The class will also cover school-level math content, with some expansion in problem difficulty and knowledge range, reinforced with practice to solidify the foundation and build an interest in math. It aims to help students achieve good results in school exams and lay a solid foundation for future learning, reducing pressure and avoiding gaps.

Suitable for students who need to consolidate their foundation, enhance training, improve thinking abilities, and ensure academic performance while reducing future learning pressure.

4. Kangaroo Syllabus

5. Kangaroo Supports and Guarantees Students’ Success

Comprehensive Teaching Model and System

※ Parent Observation: Each enrolled student can bring one parent into the classroom to observe. Parents can monitor their child's progress, understand course content and pacing, and take notes, provided it does not disrupt the class.

※ Refund at any time: Students can receive a prorated refund at any time during the course.

※ Dual-Teacher Classroom: Each class features one primary teacher and one assistant teacher. The primary teacher delivers lessons while the assistant teacher provides ongoing feedback, tracks student progress, and manages real-time classroom streaming.

※ Seven-Step Teaching Method: Guarantees learning results through Pre-Class Quiz, Classroom instruction, Error Correction, Live Streaming, Post-Class Quiz, Homework Reinforcement, and Course Summary. Help students cultivate good learning habits.

※ Daily Practice: Utilizes Kangaroo.Study APP, an online daily practice system where students engage in daily exercises. The app provides data on students’ grasp of different knowledge points and helps organize and review mistakes.

※ Before-Class and After-Class Quizs: In addition to the formal 2-hour class, there will be a 20-minute test before and after each class. The pre-class test assesses what have learnt in the previous class and encourage students to review thoroughly, while the after-class test assesses the current lesson's content, urging students to listen attentively in class. Students must correct their mistakes after the class before they can leave, ensuring effective learning.

Regular Personal Learning Progress Reports for Students

To help children understand their learning status and address issues promptly, teachers will regularly assess their performance. This includes evaluating classroom participation, quiz results, study habits, homework completion, and knowledge mastery. Teachers will provide encouragement and improvement suggestions based on these assessments, helping children refine their skills, develop good study habits, and ensure academic success.

Professional and Free Learning Resources

Kangaroo has a dedicated research team that deeply analyzes and studies the examination methods, question styles, and knowledge systems of various Singaporean exams. This ensures comprehensive coverage of competition knowledge points, with some original questions appearing in actual SMO exam papers. To support students in their practice, Kangaroo provides specialized collections of past exam papers and practice questions, which are shared for free with students. If students encounter any difficulties with the problems, they can always seek help from teachers through group chats or private messages.

Free Learning Activities and Guidance

To help students prepare effectively and at the right time, we have designed a series of learning activities such as lectures, public classes, live streaming classes, practice check-ins, mock exams, and test reviews. These activities have been well-received by parents.

  

6. Achievements of Kangaroo Students

Kangaroo has been in Singapore for less than two years, and in that short time, its students have achieved outstanding results in the SMO across two batches:

※ 2023 Kangaroo.Study First Batch(Junior): 10 students from Exploration Class participated, 100% advanced to Round 2, all 10 students earned gold medals, 6 students reached the Top 30, 4 students made it to the Top 10, 5 were elected for the Junior Training Team.

※ 2024 Kangaroo.Study First Batch(Junior): In the Junior group, participants represent less than 1.5% of the total national participants. Those advancing to the second round make up 25.8% (32/124) of the national second-round roster (with Question 5 of the second round being the same problem in our study materials). Among the 19 participants from the Exploration Class, 100% advanced to the second round, with 10 reaching the Top 30 and 3 making it to the Top 10. Additionally, 16 students (84% of all participants) were selected for the Junior Training Team.

※ Yang Yihan (student from Exploration Class): After rigorous selection by the Nations Training Team, Yang Yihan was chosen in Secondary 4 to be part of the 2024 IMO Singapore National Team (out of a total of 6 students nationwide) and ultimately won the only gold medal for the Singapore team at the IMO and ranked 14th in the world.

7. Introduction of Teachers

Teacher Cao Kenan (Lesson in Chinese):

※ Gold medal coach from the Chinese Math Olympiad.

※ From his class of 16 students in 2022, 4 won the gold medal and 8 won the silver medal of NMOS. Among them, 1 has taken part in IMSO team and was ranked 1st in Asia. 2 of his secondary school students also joined the senior training team. In 2022, his student obtained overall first place in the IMSO national team. All students from the P6 exploration class achieved RMO HD or APMOPS Platinum. Several students simultaneously received Direct School Admission to prestigious schools such as NUS High School, Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Institution, and others.

※ In 2023 SMO (Singapore Mathematical Olympiad) exam, all 10 students from the secondary school exploration class advanced to the SMO second round. Six students made it to the Top 30, four to the Top 10, and five entered the Junior Training Team. Additionally, P6 students joined the secondary school national youth training team, and a Secondary 1 student entered the national team training squad.

※ In 2024, In the 2024 SMO exam, a total of 19 students from the middle school exploration class participated in Junior, all of whom entered the second round. 10 students entered the Top 30, 3 students entered the Top 10, and 16 students entered the Junior Training Team. At the same time, S4 student YANG YIHAN joined the Singapore IMO team of six and won Singapore's only gold medal at the 65th IMO, ranking 14th in the world.

Teacher Gao Xuming (Lesson in Chinese):

※ Graduated from Wuhan University, Teacher Gao is an S-level (highest level) teacher at Fangtian Education and also the head of the secondary school department. Responsible for overseeing the quality of teaching across grade levels, with a deep understanding of the mathematics competition system and the trends in major competition question-setting.

※ In 2023, among the first batch of students in Singapore, 10 students from Secondary 1 successfully advanced to the second round of the SMO Junior (out of a total of 106 students from Secondary 1 and 2 nationwide). Additionally, some students successfully entered the Junior Training Team.

※ In 2024, 13 students from the non exploration class entered the SMO Junior second round, 6 won gold medals, and 3 entered the Junior Training Team

Teacher Zhang Wenlong (Lesson in English):

※ Graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University with a major in English. During high school, Teacher Zhang participated in math competitions and received awards. Throughout the university years, he gained extensive teaching experience as a teaching assistant, particularly in mathematics and English.

※ Teacher Zhang has insights into interacting with children of various age groups. And Teacher Zhang advocates for guided teaching, encouraging children to think independently and find problem-solving approaches, thus fostering their own logical thinking skills.

8. Registration Information

※ Class Schedule:

Class	Teacher	Language	Course schedule
Cultivation	Zhang Wenlong	In English	Oct 23 to Oct 27, and Oct 31 to Nov 3. 10 Lessons in total. Every day from 18:30 PM to 20:30 PM.

We will open new classes according to the demand of students later.

※ Format: Physical

※ Location: #02-12, Grantral Mall, 601 MacPherson Road, 368242

※ Course Fee: $120 per lesson (No registration fee, no deposit, no textbook fee).

※ Registration: Students who have registered for our P6 course can directly sign up for S1 courses. New students need to take the entrance diagnosis exam first. After the test, teachers will provide free explanations, one-on-one test diagnostics and suggestion for registration.

※ Secondary Math Ability Exam(Oct. 6): The results of this Exam can replace the entrance diagnostics test and it’s also a selecting exam for “Exploration Class”.

※ App Download: Search for "Kangaroo.Study" in the app store to download.

For any questions regarding the secondary course, you can scan the QR code below to consult Teacher Gao, WeChat/WhatsApp: +65 80398242