IGCSE Chemistry: 1-on-1 tutor or online course? Why a fully booked tutor built Boom-Tutor

1-on-1 with a genuinely good teacher is best, because the teacher sees at once where a student is stuck. It has two limits: the price, and the teacher's time.

Big group classes fix the price, but students' foundations differ a lot. The class moves at the slowest student's pace, the course drags on, and no one gets enough attention.

So Boom-Tutor has two parts: a self-learn course that puts as much of a 1-on-1 lesson as possible into the platform, and live lessons with Boom, 1-on-1 or as a pair of no more than 2, for the things that really need a person.

1-on-1 IGCSE tutoring in Thailand costs around ฿800–1,370 an hour (prices published by tutors and institutes, October 2026). With a solid foundation, exam prep takes about 15–20 hours, ฿12,000–27,400 in all; without one, 30–40 hours, ฿24,000–54,800.

Most of those hours go on doing questions and finding out what went wrong, which does not need to be paid for by the teacher's minute.

In Boom's words:

"To make 1-on-1 really work, I have to know each student, know where they are stuck, prepare questions for exactly that, and mark every answer. So I can only look after a few students well each exam session, while the people asking for places are several times more than I can take."

"If I took more, I couldn't look after each student as well. So I chose not to, and the site says plainly that 1-on-1 is fully booked."

"IGCSE students' foundations are very different: some schools teach it thoroughly, some students are still lost on the mole. Put five or six together and the class has to move at the slowest student's pace, the fast ones wait, the course drags on for no reason, and I can't look after each one properly."

Slide the number of students below to see what happens as the class grows. Students 1 and 2 are a pair at a similar level.

That is why live lessons with Boom take a pair at most, formed by the families themselves with a friend on the same syllabus and at a similar level.

"I asked myself what I actually do in a 1-on-1 lesson that makes students better, and which parts of it a platform could do."

The first hour, finding where the student is stuck → a diagnostic test with a report for parents.

Drawing the idea instead of making them memorise it → interactives in every topic to drag, slide, press and experiment with.

Sitting next to them marking answers and pointing out the missing point → exam-style questions marked against the marking points.

Their own pace → no waiting for anyone, and no being rushed past what they don't understand yet.

The platform cannot replace a teacher in everything, but it saves live hours for what really needs a person. It is expected to open around December 2026.

Self-learn course (฿4,900, paid once, until the exam): students who can study on their own and want to cover the whole syllabus and practise writing answers. The weaker the foundation and the more time it needs, the better value it is against paying by the hour.

A pair with Boom (฿600 per student per hour, 2 at most): a friend on the same syllabus at a similar level, wanting live teaching at a lower price.

Course plus 1-on-1 just where stuck: complete 70% of the course and 2 mocks to unlock 1-on-1 with Boom at ฿600/hour (normally ฿850), up to 6 hours. For students stuck hard on a few topics.

Not sure which? Start with the free diagnostic test, or book a 30-minute chat with Boom.