MR ONG SAY GHEE

Mr Ong is a former teacher in Tao Nan School, with more than 19 years of experience teaching students in primary schools and coaching students privately in Mathematics.

 

Mr Ong’s mission is to spread the joy of learning Mathematics and to equip students with the confidence, right knowledge and skill sets to solve challenging Mathematics questions in the simplest and most efficient way.

 

With his vast experience in teaching Mathematics, he has developed and simplified multiple methods and heuristics to help students solve challenging Mathematical problems.

 

Mr Ong is the curriculum designer for Mr Ong Math and has spent many years curating and updating the resources and worksheets for his students.

 

His lessons are simple, clear and easy to follow and engages his students by using interesting analogies.

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Mr Ong's Story

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Math wasn’t always my thing when I was younger. I remember struggling with problem sums in primary school and getting frustrated when I couldn’t solve them. One moment that really stuck with me was when my teacher called me up to the blackboard to answer a word problem. I just froze. My mind went completely blank, and I felt helpless standing there while my classmates waited. It wasn’t just about not knowing the answer - it was that feeling of being totally alone in my struggle.

 

Everything changed the following year when I got a new Math teacher. Instead of just rushing through questions and corrections, she actually explained things in a way that made sense to me. For the first time, I could see the logic behind the equations. That was a game-changer. Math stopped feeling like a bunch of random rules to memorize and started feeling more like a puzzle - full of patterns, problem-solving, and creativity. Thanks to her, I slowly gained confidence, and before I knew it, I was actually enjoying Math instead of dreading it.

 

Fast forward a few years, and I started noticing something: a lot of students who struggled with Math weren’t actually bad at it - they just hadn’t been taught in a way that worked for them. Math itself wasn’t the problem; it was how it was being taught. Parents would often tell me how their kids were losing confidence because they couldn’t keep up in school. That’s when it hit me - there was a real need for a different way of teaching Math.

 

That realization led me to start my own online Math tuition. My goal isn’t just to help students get better grades - it’s to build their confidence, encourage critical thinking, and help them see the beauty of Math. I want to create a learning environment where students feel comfortable asking questions, making mistakes, and learning in a way that actually makes sense to them.

 

Now, seeing my students have their own "aha" moments – the same way I once did – is what keeps me going. Every child learns differently, and I’m committed to finding the right approach for each of them. It’s not just about exams; it’s about building a solid foundation for their future and ultimately, develop a problem-solving mindset that would benefit them beyond the classroom.

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The video below contains several glimpses of a P5 lesson, demonstrating how classes are typically conducted.

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He firmly believes that for any students to do well for Primary School Mathematics in Singapore, students must have a strong grasp of the following:

 

1.       Understanding of Concepts

          (This will move students from a fail to a pass)

2.       Awareness and Mastery of Heuristics*

          (This will move students from just a pass to better grades)

 

*Heuristics is a tool that helps students to speed up the process of problem solving. They are shortcuts to solve Mathematical problems faster. Students can solve some problem sums without heuristics but the process usually takes a longer time, leaving them with little or no time to check their answers.

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68 Heuristics

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​​From P4 to P6, students would have the opportunity to learn up to 68 heuristics during the lessons at Mr Ong Math.

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The core principles of the heuristics taught at Mr Ong Math are firmly grounded in the Singapore Mathematics approach, specifically the "Model Drawing" method and are fully aligned with the Ministry of Education (MOE) syllabus.

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• Former teacher of Tao Nan School

• In line with MOE Syllabus

• Customized Worksheets

• Personalized Small Group Lessons 

       (No more than 8 students per class)

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Structure of Lessons

 

At Mr Ong Math, it is important that students learn progressively so that they have a good mastery of basic concepts.

 

Mathematical questions from past years’ examinations are categorized into different concepts and customized into bite-sized worksheets. From there, a variety of methods and heuristics are taught to help students understand each concept well.  

 

In addition to teaching heuristics, all fundamental concepts for every topic in the MOE syllabus will be thoroughly covered. This includes addressing questions from Paper 1, encompassing both Section A and Section B.

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Having a deep mastery of the Mathematical concepts and armed with a bag full of heuristics, students will be better equipped to solve word problems confidently, effectively and efficiently.