Our approach for Raynier
Though reserved, Raynier was completely open to being mentored and coached by us. As our relationship strengthened we looked at why he felt he was underperforming. We discovered that like so many high achievers he put a lot of pressure on himself, but while some thrive, sharpen and focus under this pressure, others might not. This expectation drained his sense of self-worth, his confidence in his abilities and hence his maths skills.
While Raynier needed support understanding some complex concepts, the real work lay in building the skills and strategies to help him succeed. We started by helping him improve how he learns and manage his time. We helped him develop his self-confidence through multiple means which included, positive affirmations to re-enforce his abilities, and grounding techniques to help calm him when things get stressful or overwhelming so he can use all his mental faculties to their fullest (since stress and anxiety makes you drop IQ points). We also helped him move away from catastrophising situations to looking at them more realistically by seeing what happened, why it happened and what we can learn from it.
We then taught him techniques that helped him perform in exam situations, these ranged from deep breathing to calm oneself to how to read questions clearly and understand what is being asked. These not only helped him excel in Yr 11 maths, but have also served him well in 2021 when he completed Yr 12 Biology and Maths Methods in Yr 11.
We’re so proud of how far he’s come. His success is a testament to how open Raynier is to learning and improving. We look forward to supporting him in Yr 12 with Chemistry and wish him every success in Yr 12 and in pursuing his desired health related studies thereafter.