Who am I

Hey, I'm Nicolas.

I am currently serving my Full-time National Service, whilst waiting to enrol in a local University next year. I graduated from Nanyang Junior College in 2022 and my favourite subject(by far) was H2 Chemistry so much so that I decided to pursue a Chemistry-related research project with ASTAR and take on H3 Chemistry in year 2.

However, Chemistry was not always something I was passionate about. In his bestselling book So Good They Can't Ignore You, Cal Newport argues that skills come before passion in any line of work that you pursue. As students, teachers often tell us that we need to love science before we can excel at it. But, what if it is the other way around? Looking back during my time in upper secondary, I hated Chemistry with a passion simply because I was bad at it. No matter how much I tried to trick myself into liking the subject by reading various books on it or watching Breaking Bad for the 100th time, I could not overcome the discouragement I felt each time I received a bad grade for my Chemistry paper.

Although I was a very hardworking student who diligently attempted all the past-year papers that my teachers assigned me, my grades were still not improving. It was only much later, under the advice of my brilliant Chemistry teacher, that I decided to undertake the painful and tedious task of organising all the questions that I'd gotten wrong according to their concepts which allowed me to identify my areas of weakness and focus my time and effort on the questions that truly matter. I also realised the importance of solving questions from their first principles. Learning to solve problems from their foundational principles showed me how to apply the tools that I've learnt during lectures to a wide variety of questions. This fundamental shift in strategy allowed me to score consistently at the top of my cohort for all my Chemistry tests and exams.

The teaching pedagogy that you see today across our platforms is inspired by years of experience both as a student and as a tutor. The systematic and practical approach that I used has been proven to help other students score A's for Chemistry and today I want to help you adopt this tried-and-tested strategy to get yours!

I've worked as a volunteer tutor for underprivileged students in my community for the past year, whilst balancing my National Service commitments. I have seen first-hand the impact that quality education can have on students' lives. Hence, I've decided to make many of my materials and resources free of charge. My desire is not only for you to use this strategy to improve your Chemistry grades, but also to extend this systematic and practical approach towards every aspect of your education and even for other problems to come in life! It is my conviction that everyone should think, make decisions and act like a scientist to create a better world.

On a side note...

Nicolas enjoys long-distance running, playing football and reading books on biochemistry and psychology in his free time. He is a self-described "biohacker" and "coffee connoisseur".

Contact Me for Chemistry Insights

Have a chemistry problem or an inquiry about our teaching approach? Drop me an email!