Think Canada for College!

 Many students (or their parents) have set their hearts on admission to the top 20 undergraduate or graduate programs in the United States. They may think that, without a degree from MIT or Stanford, they’ll have little chance at a successful career at a North American company after graduation.

Not true! One exciting educational opportunity worth pursuing is university in Canada—at either the undergrad or grad level. Canadian universities offer a complete array of programs in the sciences, the social sciences, medical fields, engineering, business, the arts and humanities, and more. Several universities rank among the top 50 in the world (for instance, the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and McGill), but even if you are not at the top of your class, there’s still a wide range of excellent colleges from which to choose. Of course, English is the primary language of instruction at most Canadian universities, but if your French is strong, you might even consider colleges in the French-speaking province of Quebec, home to the University of Montreal, Laval University, and others. (Incidentally, McGill is also in Quebec, but it’s actually one of just three English-language universities there.)

A benefit of obtaining your college degree in Canada—either undergraduate or graduate—is that tuition and other fees for international students tend to be cheaper than at U.S. universities. For example, for the 2020–2021 school year at Stanford, tuition and fees (not including room and board) for international students add up to a whopping $55,796 for undergrads and $55,011 for grad students, regardless of your major. In contrast, at the University of British Columbia, tuition ranges from $37,460 to $51,635, depending on your field of study, with majors in music, fine arts, computer science, nursing, architectural design, and environmental design falling at the less expensive end of the scale. Commerce (business), medical laboratory sciences, and applied sciences are at the higher end. Fees (not including room and board) add another $1,000 to $1,400 per year, except for commerce, where the fees add up to $1,900 per year. Although business is one of the more expensive majors at the University of British Columbia, Maclean’s University Guide ranks it as the top business program among all Canadian universities. And remember, scholarships and aid may be available to international students.

Other less expensive universities are worth exploring. International undergraduates at Dalhousie University currently pay between $10,098 and $13,077 in yearly tuition, whereas international master’s-degree students pay between $6,972 and $13,077, and Ph.D. students pay $9,795. Find the Canadian universities that fit your academic interests and budget. Cheaper doesn’t mean bad—not by a long shot! For example, Dalhousie University consistently ranks among the top 10 or 12 universities in Canada, and its medical school ranks 7th. Employers gladly hire Dalhousie graduates.

Another important benefit of studying in Canada is that you considerably increase your chances of getting a job in Canada after graduation. As you probably know, Canada has recently made available two new dedicated paths to permanent residency, one for students and the other for young workers from Hong Kong.

The first path is aimed at students from Hong Kong who have graduated from university in Canada—and that can be you! This pathway applies to students who have obtained either their undergraduate or graduate degree in Canada. You can apply directly as soon as you complete your degree.

For the second path, starting in 2021, if you already have obtained your college degree within the last five years, you can apply for an “open work permit,” which allows you to work in Canada for up to three years. Whether you obtained your degree in Hong Kong, in Canada, or elsewhere, you may be eligible. There are minimum language and education criteria, plus you must have one year of work experience in Canada before applying.

The possibility of gaining permanent residency in Canada makes exploring Canadian universities all the more valuable, especially given the relative ease (compared to the United States) with which Hong Kong residents can gain permanent residency in Canada.

Please Like and Share this post and Helppo's page if you found this essay helpful. Feel free to make an appointment with our tutors or admission consultants if you need help. We look forward to hearing from you!

A Writing Guide For English Learners

 

Is English not your first language? Then maybe you’re intimidated by writing in English. Maybe you feel that writing in English at a native level is a bar you can never reach… WRONG! Whether it’s writing a gripping application to college or preparing for the IELTS writing section, mastery of English writing IS within your grasp.

Better, even! If you follow these tips, you’ll write at a higher level than most native speakers, many of whom never fully learn how to use their birth-given language!

Tip #1: Avoid writing polysyllabic if you’re not actually familiar with them

There’s an error in the grammar of that tip! Can you spot it? “Polysyllabic” – though it IS a word in the English dictionary – isn’t an adverb or noun! It’s an adjective. The correct sentence would be “Avoid using polysyllabic words if you’re not actually familiar with them.”

This can be a problem for ESL learners looking to improve their IELTS writing score, or for anyone looking to write better in English. Rather than copy and paste from the thesaurus, it’s better to just cut “polysyllabic” from your draft – and anything else you exhumed from the thesaurus. Don’t use those rococo words unless you actually understand them!

Tip #2: Lay off the slang, dude.

If you’ve learned a tonna English from catchy songs or TV, academic writing and the IELTS are NOT the places to use them. In other words, the title of this tip (and the sentence preceding this one) are great examples of how NOT to write the perfect IELTS essay!

Some commonly spoken expressions (“gonna” for “going to”, or “a tonna” for “a ton of”) aren’t even proper English words. Other words, like “dude”, are probably going to hurt you far more than they’ll help. In general, in academic writing, you should avoid slang and colloquial expressions altogether – or “lay off” them, as people might say in the street, but NOT in a formal essay!

Tip #3: You probably shouldn’t use “you”, either

When you’re getting ready to write an academic essay – for example, preparing for the IELTS essay – you’re NOT speaking to an audience. There’s no “you” in a formal essay. You’re presenting the facts or your viewpoints; nothing more.

There ARE places to use the word “you” in English writing. When there’s a defined audience – for example, people looking to improve their English-language writing for college applications or for the IELTS. When I’m writing to a group of known readers, I can write “you”. However, if you write “you” in the IELTS essay or your college application, you’re writing to the people who will be scoring your essay or deciding whether to admit you. This is probably NOT a good idea!

These are just a few writing tips for academic English. Follow these, and you’ll write better than ninety percent of native speakers, who don’t take the trouble to improve their English writing! But, if you’d still like help in Hong Kong, Helppo offers personalized, native English-speaking tutors to help you prepare for the IELTS writing section, or to apply to college in the USA or UK. Take advantage of Helppo’s expert, Hong Kong-based tutors, and reach out today!

Develop Your College Application Strategy With Helppo's Admission Consultants

Applying to colleges is more than just achieving high grades, excellent standardized test scores, and fulfilling other requirements of a particular college. It requires intensive research as well. Of course, you'd want to begin by performing research that interests you, such as determining the location of where you want to spend the next 3-5 years of your educational journey, which type of major and program you're interested in pursuing, financial matters, and other factors that you and your family feel are important for finding a right college fit. Admission consultants are always available to decrease the time you spend doing this type of work, but the truth is you can do much of this on your own.

Once you determine a major and type of school, you need to consider placing potential schools into three categories: Reach, Target, and Likely:

Reach schools are highly selective, with an acceptance rate of around 30% or less. Additionally, if your standardized test scores and GPA fall below the 50th percentile, then the school is a reach.

Target schools are moderately selective, with an acceptance rate of 30-60% or more. Additionally, your standardized test scores and GPA need to fall within the 50th-75th percentile of previously admitted students.

Likely schools are considered to have an acceptance rate of 60% or more. Your standardized test scores and GPA should fall above the 75th percentile of admitted students.

Therefore, you'll need to have the final value for your cumulative GPA, standardized scores, and the data from the schools that you are interested in before placing them into Reach, Target, and Likely categories. Weighted and unweighted GPAs, SAT Superscores, and other factors need to be accounted for, but this is a simple method to jumpstart your research. A reliable resource for researching university or college data is College Navigator, provided by the United States Department of Education, or requesting assistance from an educational consultant or college admissions counselor.

Here are some tips for creating an ideal application strategy: 

1. Choose 2-3 Reach schools, 3-5 Target schools, and 3-4 Likely schools.

2. Keep track of any restrictions in early application deadlines. Some schools have Restricted Early Action or Single-Choice Early Action which prohibits applying early to other schools. This is also true for applying to any programs that offer Early Decision.

3. Plan to apply to regular Early Action deadlines as often as possible. Ideally, you can apply to most of your schools Early Action. Data supports applying early results in better outcomes and provides early admitted students with stronger financial aid packages.

4. If you’re pursuing a major that is provided in multiple schools or colleges of the same university, research the data for each program to determine better chances of admission. For example, computer science majors are often available at schools of engineering and schools of arts and sciences.

By following these steps, you’ll put together an ideal application strategy and pave the way for plenty of options after submitting your college applications.

Post originally shared on www.hihelppo.com.hk

HOW TO ACHIEVE FLUENCY IN ENGLISH USING THREE DIFFERENT APPROACH

Learning English is fun. With determination and these tips, anyone can improve his/her English.

Several steps to take to improve your skills:

Get a Netflix account-

It can be difficult for students in Hong Kong to find a college-educated, native English speaking instructor for English. While students can still improve their reading and listening by watching movies or television shows on Pearl, Netflix has an enormous library of movies with English subtitles. Students can subscribe and learn English this way and have fun at the same time. Not only will one learn about American culture, one will also be improving one's English language skills. Of course, don't forget to bring along a notebook and write down new vocabulary. The effort taken in doing this will pay off in the long run; Sing along with your favorite English songs with the lyrics in front of you. learning new words in their most commonly used contexts makes the language-learning process more enjoyable and easier.

Use a thesaurus rather than a dictionary-

It can be tempting to resort to an English-to-Chinese dictionary when encountering difficulty vocabulary. However, when students build their skills with a thesaurus, they can learn many more words in a shorter time period. Thesauruses, which provide synonyms and context sentences, can be a great ally in honing your English language skills. Taken together with tip #3 below, students will become much closer to being fluent than other students who do not use these tactics.

Practice makes Perfect!

Use every opportunity to practice your English with your peers and instructors. In general, students will find that messaging peers on social media, participating regularly and enthusiastically in class, and seeking out gatherings where only English is spoken, all will aid in the learning of the language and the overall enrichment of the student. Immersion is always the fastest and most effective way of learning a language. For anyone - not just the computer literate - the internet abounds with opportunities for learning English. One website in particular we encourage you to visit is Helppo, which I am part of. Every Thursday and Friday, the Helppo Team including myself will share experience we have accumulated over the years on the topics of Learning English, University Admission in the US, and exam tactics. This site can connect you with a numerous native English-speaking instructors. They are quite helpful to those students interested in learning about America or going to school in the United States.

Online English Tutors in Hong Kong

Help is only a few clicks away, Make an appointment with online ACT, HKDSE, IELTS, SAT Experts!

Helppo selects top tutors, some of them have decades of teaching experience, and each specializes in different subject areas. The process of selecting teachers is quite rigorous, including a three-hour interview, carefully selecting professional and reliable mentors, and forming a strong education team.

Helppo's instructors are mostly graduates of famous schools, including top students from Harvard University, Cambridge University, Stanford University, as well as university lecturers, professional accountants, IELTS and TOEFL® test papers, etc., the quality of teaching is guaranteed. Most of the tutors’ native language is English, which provides excellent opportunities for students to practice English.

Find English Teachers online :

Post Originally shared on: https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/education/best-online-english-tutors-hong-kong

The Strongest Backing For Studying At Home

With the outbreak of the epidemic, students of Xinshing need to stay away from traditional classrooms and switch to learning in the world of high-end technology. Many parents are concerned about the quality of online teaching, and want to seek the help of top tutors, but are too busy working at home and inconvenient to go out. Helppo, a 24-hour online learning platform, brings together top-notch teachers from all over the world to provide high-quality live video teaching to relieve parents of busy work and reduce the burden of caring for their children.

Parents and students can choose the content of the class independently, including English, mathematics, economics, science and calculus and other subjects. It is suitable for the preparation of IB, SAT, ACT and AP public examinations. At the same time, personalized courses can be tailor-made according to different goals, whether it is suitable for elementary school, middle school or even college students. In addition to academic subjects, students can also use Helppo to perform extracurricular activities at home (such as learning guitar and Spanish), or consult experts for further education. Even in the face of the dilemma caused by the epidemic, students can sit in their homes and help themselves in Helppo to fulfill each day.

Gather top teachers, top education team of prestigious schools

Helppo selects top tutors, and some of them have decades of teaching experience, each specializing in different subject areas. The process of selecting teachers is very rigorous, including a three-hour interview, carefully selecting professional and reliable mentors, and forming a strong education team.

Helppo's instructors are mostly graduates of famous schools, including top students from Harvard University, Cambridge University, Stanford University, as well as university lecturers, professional accountants, IELTS and TOEFL® test papers, etc., the quality of teaching is guaranteed. The majority of the tutors ’native language is English, which provides excellent opportunities for students to practice English.

Self-built teaching system

Generally, online tutors often use third-party communication software to teach classes, while Helppo spends three and a half years developing a learning platform by their own American team to meet the teaching needs and make students focus on their work. Students can use the practice questions to preview, and to ask homework questions in advance through Helppo, so that the instructor can explain in more detail during the class.

The use method of the online platform is very simple, it does not need to be installed, just log in to the website and use it. On a computer, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, Windows, iOS or Android systems can be easily logged in. Before the first class, Helppo's technicians will individually explain how to use and check the computer's network speed to ensure that the class can proceed smoothly. In addition, if students encounter technical problems, they can immediately contact the online duty officer to help solve them.

Adequate and flexible support can revisit the video classroom

Helppo has a high degree of autonomy, and students can choose their subjects and tutors, suitable for elementary school to university level, and can also choose teaching content according to different level goals. In addition to the traditional one-to-one courses, multiple people can also take classes at the same time to form small classes to make learning more interesting.

Classroom time is also extremely flexible. Because the instructors are all over the world, students can choose class time 24 hours a day, for example, to spend a full afternoon during the epidemic holiday, or to read a light at night after dinner. Students can also purchase a video recording function to facilitate re-examination after class, which will help deepen memory and do more with less.

Word of mouth contains free trial classes

Since its establishment in 2016, Helppo has broken geographical boundaries, brought countless students a first-class learning experience, and has enjoyed a reputation for many years. Class fees are based on the tutor's qualifications and experience. Due to the exemption of rental costs, Helppo has reduced classroom fees of up to nearly 1,000 yuan to a reasonable price starting from several hundred yuan. Students can also participate in the free 30-minute experience, and listen to the online lecture with the designated instructor, and then freely decide whether to enroll.

You can learn with world-class leaders at a great price without leaving the house, and it can also fill the gaps during the suspension, so as to "stop without suspension", Helppo just becomes the strongest backing for studying at home, allowing students to seamlessly connect after the resume , So that the results are rising. For more information, please visit the Helppo website.

Online Math Tutors in Hong Kong

Helppo is an online one-on-one tutoring platform, Customized all tutoring sessions depending on the student's need and helping academics provide excellent guidance. Helppo Online tutoring platform that links students in need with tutors from North America 24/7 via an online whiteboard, text editor and a video call. It is the best place to search online for the most experienced Math tutors.

Jimmy Chan- Online Math Tutur in Hong Kong

Masters in Economics at University of Cambridge

About Jimmy Chan

Jimmy Chan graduated in Mphil Economics and Finance from the University of Cambridge with three years of tutoring experience in mathematics.

He had experience teaching GCSE, GCE, IB, HKDSE and university syllabus. Provide a pleasant learning environment and encourage students to speak in class.

In addition, Jimmy is able to effectively demonstrate complicated numerical concepts and jargons in practical terms and put together great teaching strategies that proved to be very powerful. Feel free to send a message if you have any questions.

SUBJECT SKILLS

-Pre-Calculus

-ACT- Mathematics

-Mathematics-IB, HL

-SAT Mathematics

-Statistics-GCE

-Statistics-Univesity

Helppo is an online tutoring platform that connects studebt to an honest and hard-working tutor who wants to teach his students the real meaning of knowledge. Helppo focuses not only on the specific subject but also on other issues he / she is facing and seeks to increase the interest of children in the study and to develop their potential.