Our Story | The Turing Laboratory

The longer version

May 2021-2022

The first student when I was in National Service

When I was in NS, a friend's younger brother was struggling with O-Level A Math, so I offered to help for an afternoon. One afternoon turned into a weekly thing.Word of mouth slowly grew the list. By late-2022 I was tutoring across primary, secondary, and JC, and started writing my own worked-example notes because the school resources were either too thin or too dense.

This is when I started thinking less about "how do I teach this topic" and more about "how does this student think." It is a small shift, but it changes everything about how a lesson runs.

2023

Nanyang Technological University, and a method that finally held together

I matriculated into NTU's Data Science and AI programme. Reading mathematics formally for the first time forced me to relearn what I thought I already understood. Linear algebra, Calculus, and Probability gave me a much stronger map of the subjects I had been teaching.

I also started codifying what was working into a three-stage cycle: concept mastery, deliberate practice, and targeted review. It is the same method I use today.

2024-2026

Quant work, and what it taught me about teaching

I spent the year on internships in Data Engineering, Business Intelligence, and Mathematical Modelling including stints at PhillipCapital and Adroit Investment Technologies. Building pricing models and data pipelines is, surprisingly, a lot like teaching. Both are about building the simplest possible mental model that still survives contact with messy reality.

Whatever rigour I bring to a quant problem at the office, I bring to a P5 ratio question. It is the same instinct, just smaller numbers.

2026+

The Turing Laboratory

Five years in, I decided it was time to give the work a name and a home. The Turing Laboratory is what I am calling it. Not a centre, not a chain. Just one tutor, working carefully with a small group of students at a time.

If your child is on this site because you are looking for someone who will take their progress personally, you have come to the right place.

Later 2026

Zekun joins as our first associate tutor

I had been turning down Chinese enquiries for years, because it is not a subject I can teach well. Zekun, a friend I have known since secondary school, had been quietly building a four-year tutoring practice of his own since 2022, mostly in Chinese, from PSLE through to H1 at JC. When we started comparing notes, the overlap in how we run lessons made the decision obvious.

He came on as the lab's first associate tutor. Same method, same standards, same small intake. The only thing that has changed is the subject range we can cover well, and the kinds of families we can say yes to.

What we believe

Four things we will not compromise on

Understanding before drill

Practice without understanding is just memorising the wrong thing faster. We get the concept right first, then drill until it is automatic.

Honest feedback, calmly delivered

We will tell your child when they are guessing. We will tell you when a target grade is not realistic for the time we have. Polite, but never vague.

The student does the thinking

If we are the ones solving the question, the lesson has gone wrong. Our job is to ask the right questions until they spot the way through it themselves.

Small intake, full attention

We keep our student list deliberately small and one-to-one. Every parent gets prompt replies. Every student gets a tutor who actually remembers what they did last week.

It started with one student in 2021. Five years on, it is two tutors and one method