I always loved chemistry…

But I guess my marks never really showed it.

Year 11, rank 80th in the cohort

Year 12 semester 1 Rank 89th out of 140. 

“Is my son going to get a band 6 in chemistry?” my mum would ask Ms Fern in her broken english at Parent Teacher interviews, not even understanding what a band 6 was. 

But when she looked at my face – with all the disappointment painted on it, she too could understand one thing. 

That I had let myself down. 

Two terms later. “Jerome, what did you get?” under the stuttering lights of the hall, I turned around my trial paper, ready to face the overwhelming disappointment that I had somehow gotten used to.

Only to see a score of 90. Top 20th at James Ruse, and finishing Rank 37th at the end of the year even after my not-the-best semester 1 scores. 

I couldn’t believe it. My teachers had come to believe that I would always be stuck at the bottom, questioning if I was capable of doing well. But for the first time in a while, I was proud of my marks, bragging to my Mum in an uncontrollable joy. 

So What Changed?

To be honest, I owe a large part of it to a new teacher I got halfway through the year. 

He was a very competent person: smart, explaining concepts simply and yet cohesively. But more than that, he was someone who shared his genuine passion for chemistry and learning as a whole.

By helping change my attitude towards learning, I was able to find the joy in studying, and take a new approach to how I went about it. Doing past papers, and finding why I was wrong. Making mistake logs and sample responses. Finding a variety of different challenging questions. All the while with a wide grin on my face. 

During this, I too found a knack for teaching. I have seen first hand how powerful having a tutor who believes in you can be. I know how they can guide students towards a true enthusiasm in studying by offering their own enthusiastic approach. And this is what I promise to do with you as well!