From Struggling with Chemistry to Finding Confidence: Vevan’s Journey

The Challenge

When Vevan started with Mentor Match, Chemistry was a significant challenge for him. He could understand certain concepts during a lesson, but retaining and applying them later was difficult. Even after revision, he would sometimes remember only parts of what he had learned.

This meant that his learning journey required more than simply covering the syllabus. It required patience, repetition, consistent revision, and helping him build confidence in his ability to learn and apply difficult concepts.

The Tailor-Made Approach

Vevan's learning followed a patient and structured approach focused on understanding, repetition, and application.

Building conceptual understanding. Sessions focused on making difficult Physics and Chemistry concepts easier to understand before moving towards application-based questions.

Repetition with purpose. Concepts were revisited regularly to help Vevan retain what he had learned rather than relying only on one-time understanding.

Connecting learning to application. Once a concept was understood, the focus shifted towards applying it to different types of questions, helping him become more comfortable using his knowledge independently.

Strengthening through revision. Previously covered concepts were repeatedly brought back into sessions, allowing Vevan to gradually strengthen his recall and understanding.

Building confidence. As Vevan became more familiar with the concepts and saw himself successfully solving questions, his confidence began to grow alongside his academic progress.

The Result

Vevan showed significant improvement in his Chemistry performance, particularly in Criterion A, over the course of six months.

But his progress went beyond academics. A student who initially struggled to retain and apply Chemistry concepts gradually became more comfortable tackling a subject he once found difficult.

What Made Vevan’s Journey Special

Vevan's story also highlighted something important beyond the classroom: academic difficulty in one subject does not define a student's ability or potential.

Outside academics, Vevan was selected by his school as a TEDx speaker, actively participates in basketball, and is involved in plays and other activities. His confidence and ability to express himself in these spaces are a reminder that every student brings different strengths into the learning environment.

For his tutor, this became an important lesson too. Vevan's journey showed that a student can struggle academically in one area while excelling in many others — and that recognising those strengths can play an important role in helping them believe they can improve.

Habits That Helped Vevan Get There

• Patience with the learning process — he continued working through concepts even when progress felt slow.
• Consistent revision — repeated exposure helped strengthen his retention.
• Persistence — he continued working on concepts that initially felt difficult.
• Application of concepts — practising how to use his knowledge helped strengthen his understanding.
• Growing confidence — each small improvement helped him become more comfortable with Chemistry.

Looking Ahead

Vevan's journey is a reminder that progress isn't always immediate. Sometimes, it takes repeated explanations, revision, patience, and persistence before understanding truly begins to stick.

His improvement in Chemistry is meaningful not only because of the academic progress he made, but because he became more confident in his ability to tackle a subject that once challenged him.

As educators, sometimes our greatest achievement isn't simply helping a student learn a subject. It is helping them believe that they can.