There are two paths for secondary math students in Singapore: "Normal Stream" students take five years of coursework at a normal pace, whereas "Express Stream" students cram everything into four years. New Syllabus Mathematics is an "Express Stream" course, though a less rigorous one than the New Elementary program. From grades 7-10, students are given fairly comprehensive doses of algebra, geometry, trigonometry and probability/statistics (formal proofs on geometry are not given).
The New Syllabus Mathematics series is still in use in Singapore; in fact, it is the best-selling secondary math course in Singapore. The 7-8 grade texts are more colorful and engaging than some of the other options, though still strong on content. There is less to buy than with the New Elementary course, making this one cheaper and easier to manage.
How Do These Work?
For each level there is a student textbook and a workbook. Answers to all problem set questions are in the back of the student text; there are no solutions. The workbooks are largely supplementary, though highly recommended for this course. They include chapter review and "Alternative Assessments" (which include things like practical application problems and journal writing); answers are included in the back, except for the "Alternative Assessments".
Each chapter begins with a written explanation of new concepts. Concrete, solved examples appear throughout the rest of the chapter. Like the other Singapore math courses, this one does not use the incremental approach, instead teaching and reviewing concepts thoroughly before moving on to another. The emphasis is practical application, and exercises are designed to support the goal of teaching students to use their acquired skills in useful ways; those requiring more thought or more calculations are marked by an asterisk (*).
Year one covers pre-algebra, basic algebra and geometry, and statistics. Year two covers intermediate algebra and geometry, statistics and sets, and an introduction to probability. Year three deals with advanced algebra and geometry, trigonometry, and matrices. Year four is about half review, with the other half covering matrices and statistics/probability.
Whether this is primarily a student-led or teacher-directed course is really up to you. There is enough here for a student to progress on his own, though of course he will benefit from any support and teaching you can offer. In the absence of a teacher manual, however, teacher involvement will necessarily be fairly intensive, as you will have to do the work yourself without guidelines other than the student text. Advanced and average students shouldn't need much if any help as long as they thoroughly read the student text before trying to solve the problems. For students who struggle with math you should probably find a different course—this is faster-paced and more difficult than a lot of other math programs, partly because they put five to six years of study into four.
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