Kumon helps propel Shayan to exam success

16-year-old Shayan from the Kumon Wembley Central Study Centre was delighted to achieve a grade 9 in his GCSE maths. Here, he reflects on his achievement, and shares with us the role he believes Kumon has played in helping him achieve such excellent GCSE results, as well as a love for maths. 

Shayan joined Kumon whilst in Year 10, just one academic year before he was due to sit his exams. Although he was in the top set for maths at school, he felt that his fellow class mates grasped work more quickly than him and were moving at a much faster pace than he was. Shayan found that he soon developed his ability through the Kumon Maths Programme, and his achievements in his GCSEs are a testament to his dedication.

His mother, Gita, is impressed with how well Shayan has flourished in school due to the maths programme. She says,

“Shayan had attended Kumon previously when he was in primary school, which definitely helped him in his studies as he often outperformed his peers. In Year 10, Shayan was insistent that he wanted to return to Kumon, since he started to find maths more of a challenge. Since then, Kumon has certainly helped him! I’ve seen his technicality in algebra improve as well as his understanding of various types of graphs and their inequalities. Kumon has also helped Shayan in his other subjects at school, mainly Physics where he also received a grade 9 at GCSE. This is because it has a lot of mathematical calculations and algebra-like content (kinematics) that is also seen in maths.”

Shayan agrees: “Kumon has enabled me to understand maths concepts with ease, through the worksheet structure examples and many types of questions. For instance, my algebra skills have improved significantly, which needs to be used across multiple different maths topics. If it wasn’t for Kumon, I’m not sure I would have achieved a grade 9 in GCSE maths.”

Shayan’s mother Gita added, “The Kumon Maths programme is a well-structured programme that covers a wide range of topics, which is good as it helps students to be prepared if they see it in an exam. Aside from academic study, Kumon has also developed Shayan’s life skills and given him confidence and independence when revising for subjects.”

Shayan’s Kumon Instructor, Navaz, has observed him flourish through the programme and develop his ability in a short space of time. Shayan says,

“Navaz has continuously supported me with my Kumon and has a genuine interest in how Kumon work affects me and my performance in school.”

Navaz is of course extremely proud of Shayan’s achievements, telling us: “Very quickly, I realised what a 'self-starter' Shayan is. He is incredibly self-motivated and has managed to propel himself through the Kumon Maths Programme. He also has a very strong sense of self-awareness and communicates any work challenges with me in a timely fashion. He knows exactly when to request revision work and when to tell me he's ready to move ahead. This means that I can always set the right type of work for him. It can be extremely challenging to start the Kumon programme at this stage of a person's secondary school career, what with juggling a relatively high GCSE workload with daily Kumon study, however, Shayan has adapted brilliantly to the programme. He is currently on Level L which includes topics such as logarithmic functions, calculus and the applications of integration including areas, volume, velocity and distance. I am very confident that Shayan will complete the entire programme before he completes his A-level in mathematics.”

Aspiring to study Computer Science or Aeronautical Engineering at university, Shayan is confident that Kumon will help him strive for his target A*-grade in A-level maths, as well as help him reach his long-term goals.

Well done, Shayan!