Miss Loi is a full-time private tutor in Singapore specializing in O-Level Maths. Her life's calling is to eradicate the terrifying LMBFH Syndrome off the face of this planet. For over 17 years she has been a savior to countless students ... 
Miss Paimia (not her real name - name altered to protect her identity) is a math tutor working at Tekan Tuition Centre (TTC) (not their real name - name altered to protect their identity) in Novena.
Born in an impoverished village in Southeast Asia, she was approached and persuaded by an ‘agent’ when she was twelve to come to Singapore, where she was promised a life of luxury, living in houses that dwarf her attap farmhouse, with a cost of living lower than her village, and with local students so stupid that she’ll be guaranteed top place in the education system year after year.
Her dreams vanished instantly when, upon arriving in Singapore after a thousand-kilometer sampan journey, she was whisked away to TTC, given a smallish HDB flat to live in (though the entire building did dwarf her farmhouse), discovered that a cup of kopi peng in Novena costs > SGD$1, and read about this year’s O Level results.
Worse was to follow when her new employees brutally made her memorize the 2008 GCE O Level EMaths and AMaths Syllabus in double-quick time, and forced her to service up to 40 disorderly/havoc/lame/naughty/whatever students at a time in class.
are never seen again
But in her darkest hours, a silver lining appeared in the form of another tuition centre (name withheld to protect its identity) nearby.
Each day from her decrepit classroom, Miss Paimia would peer through the narrow gaps of her grilled window - to admire cosy classes of angelic, orderly students (yeah right.) being taught by the soothing maths tutor (name withheld to protect her identity) there - scenes that she longed to be a part of.
So imagine her joy when she bumped into the math tutor today on the way to file her income tax at IRAS in Novena (sadly, TTC doesn’t even have internet for her to do eFiling).
Embracing the tutor in a tight bear hug, she implored her to take her in and help end her misery. As the first thing in the poor tutor’s mind now was how to extricate herself from that suffocating bear hug, she glanced at Miss Paimia’s tax information and found that:
Given that Miss Paimia works 365 days a year (12 hours/day), she effectively earned $30/hour in 2007, after deducting her income taxes (assuming as a ‘Foreign Talent’ she’s not eligible for any tax relief). It was also revealed that her pre-tax hourly rate was increased by 50% plus an extra $3.05 per hour at the beginning of 2007.
If the tutor offers to increase her 2006 pre-tax hourly rate by 75%, and she only needs to work an average of 340 days a year (12 hours/day), should Miss Paimia take up her offer?
Please use IRAS’ 2007 tax rates for your calculations:
| Chargeable Income | Rate (%) | Gross Tax Payable ($) |
|---|---|---|
| First $20,000 Next $10,000 |
0 3.50 |
0 350 |
| First $30,000 Next $10,000 |
- 5.50 |
350 550 |
| First $40,000 Next $40,000 |
- 8.50 |
900 3400 |
| First $80,000 Next $80,000 |
- 14 |
4300 11200 |
| First $160,000 Next $160,000 |
- 17 |
15500 27200 |
| First $320,000 Next $320,000 |
- 20 |
42700 |
NOTE: While such percentages questions from the Arithmetic chapter may look longish and tricky and intimidating, they are usually pretty straightforward and ’sure-scores’ in any E-Maths papers. The following statements should be common sense to you:
- When y increases by x% ⇒ new value of y is
- When y decreases by x% ⇒ new value of y is
Lastly, do spare a thought for your parents and adults as, while these questions are easy for you to score, be rest assured that none of us look forward to solving this every year 
Now to all adults who have managed to bear with Miss Loi until this point,
Comments
Comments Feed
25 Comments
曜
日
By any chance, is the “soothing math tutor” sexy as well?
曜
日
Maybe that’s her sister
曜
日
I’m a jobless hamster… hence no need to file income tax cuz zero income hahah!
Out-go is alot tho… sigh!
曜
日
Pardon me??? It is really very common for sexy S’pore ladies to hug each other???
Yes! I am filling my income tax form now in here http://horny-ang-moh.blogspot.com/ !!! Aiyoh! My math really suck big time! How to escape paying tax ( My idea in my site donnot can work or not? Need ur expect advice! )???
Tq very much for ur advice! Have a very nice day!
曜
日
super cheem lor. no wonder i flunked Math all the way from Sec 1 - 4. And I still have to blindy pay the blardy taxes.
曜
日
FoxTwo: You only became jobless and got drunk and fell while walking out of your club last month, so you still need to file your taxes for 2007!
HAM: Escape paying tax????
Miss Loi also want!That’s treason and so unbecoming of a good citizen!曜
日
Impie: Ahhh … when it comes to payment, everything is so efficient and automated here that most of us don’t even need to work out how much we’re paying.
Maybe that’s why they are including tax calculations in math exam questions these days.
曜
日
Hi! miss loi can i ask u some questions of maths and can u explain me the answers???
Please reply in positive!!!…
曜
日
Welcome to Jφss Sticks Manal! Feel free to email Miss Loi your queries and she’ll try her best to answer you - provided you’re not asking her to solve for the Meaning of Life
曜
日
miss loi hire me part time wan?! haha when i study finish first
j/k j/k
曜
日
Hi! miss loi
i’m from Pakistan n i’m in o-1. These days i am not going to school so thats y i want to ask you some questions from my course those questions which i cant understand clearly and have a confusion in solving them. So i would be dearlyyyyyyyy thankfullll to you if you would help me.plzzzzzzzzzz do help me!!!!!!!!!
曜
日
hi miss loi u didnt reply me???
曜
日
Hi Manal, as mentioned already in comment #9, feel free to email Miss Loi your queries and she’ll try her best to answer you!
曜
日
i cant solve the folowin question:
Calculate:
the volume of the solid cylinder with conical ends:
length of the slanting sides of both the cones is 6 m and original height of both the cone is 4.5 m. height of the cylinder is 8m and the diameter is also 8 m.
曜
日
Hey Miss Loi u didnt answer me…..
曜
日
Manal,
Just to clarify if your figure is supposed to look like this?
In your question, the diameter of the cylinder is 8m ⇒ radius = 4m. But from the description of your cone, the radius r would be √ (62 - 4.52) (Pythagoras Theorem) = 3.97m (a little off).
In any case, taking r = 4m,
Volume of each cone =
= 
= 24π m3
Volume of cylinder = πr2h = π(42)(8) = 128π m3
Total volume of your figure = 2 x vol. of cone + vol. of cylinder = 2(24π) + 128π = 176π m3.
For your future questions, please email Miss Loi directly at missloi [at] exampaper [dot] com [dot] sg instead of using the comments area here so that we can keep it on-topic ok?
曜
日
Hey Miss Loi u didnt answer my mail
曜
日
Manal,
In life, we will always need other people’s favour. The secret to getting help from other people is that you have to BE POLITE and say THANK YOU. Please don’t demand for favours because no one is obliged to help you.
曜
日
I am from the Pakistani Police Force.
We have received numerous complains on you Manal. You are infact breaching section 24.3B of the Government’s Internet Laws. This is a crime!
Please apologise to Ms. Loi and express your deepest thanks to her for helping you so far.
Agent 42987,
Sandeep.
曜
日
okkkkkkkkzzzz
曜
日
Manal, Miss Loi has been a little overwhelmed by the ongoing mid-year exams of late but she did check her inbox and found no email from you in the past few days.
Perhaps it has been intercepted by Agent Sandeep?
LOL
曜
日
okzzzzzzzzz
曜
日
Miss Loi! you aren’t replying any of my mails didn’t u get them or there is any other prob.plz reply soon
曜
日
Miss Loi! plzzzzzzz reply
曜
日
Manal: Miss Loi is out of the country at the moment and she’s not able to access the internet at times.
Having said that she just did a check but didn’t find any mail from you. Guess she now has to sieve through thousands of spam mail in her spambox to see if your email ended up there
Lastly, for the last time, Miss Loi would like to request you to avoid using this comment box for off-topic requests!