One of our students and his dad came to us with a goal that mattered more than most: pass the GED Maths test so he could go abroad to America and finally study the course he’d always dreamed about.
For him, this wasn’t just an exam. It was the one thing standing between where he was and the life he wanted to build. And he had tried many other courses at different institutions and his dad paid lots of money for it and he still failed. His Maths skills were a few years behind. He did have difficulties with learning, with anxiety, autism and ADHD. The coming test would be his last attempt.
It was also a first for us. Our Maths tutor had never prepared a student for the GED before. The foundations of maths don’t change, but the format, the pacing, the specific demands of the test — all of that was new ground.
I was very grateful that our Maths tutor did take the risk and believed in the student and said ‘Yes’ to it. Every session was different and was challenging. They tried to figure it out together what would work. And some session wouldn’t work, they both felt like they were back to square one, especially when the student forgot to take his med and the stress crept in. This is the best and also most difficult part of teaching. Being a teacher makes you become a better learner.
And then, today, he told us he passed the exam. We all got emotional. There was joy and relief. We congratulated him, not just on the result, but on everything it took him to get there: the resilience, the hard work, the sheer determination to keep going when it would have been so easy to give up.
We’re endlessly grateful to our tutor. He doesn’t only just help the student pass the exam, he helps the student feel worthy, believe in himself again, turn ‘impossible to possible, make his dream of studying abroad come true and build a new future.
Have a fun adventure!