Testimonial by Richard van Gunst from Plumstead –
Richard van Gunst is a proud supporter of The Answer Series. He describes his family as a small nuclear family and his kids as “high achievers and well-balanced”.
As far as Richard is concerned the biggest challenge his children, who are teenagers, face as they are moving through high school is the work overload. They have to absorb an immense amount of data across their high school years and their different subjects.
Richard says he thinks it is overwhelming in a lot of respects, even more so as they are youngsters who are also exploring their identities outside of academics.
He describes it as follows: “You are exploring life’s challenges and you are grappling with all those adolescent dynamics plus there is an overwhelming emphasis on work overload. This is for me the biggest challenge (of being a teenager).”
The Van Gunst family heard about TAS through Emma, Richard’s daughter. He recounts how it happened: “She came back from school and said there is this source called The Answer Series. I asked what is The Answer Series?”
“I didn’t understand the context, I didn’t understand where it came from because when I was at school there was nothing like that”, Richard continues. Emma explained to her dad that she saw The Answer Series as a support system and a key to success. The more Emma explained the more excited Richard felt about what he heard.
Richard continues: “I realised this was an opening and that it could be conducive to academic performance so then we explored it further.”
That’s how they got to buy “a whole wad, A LOT of TAS study guides!”
Now that the learners in Richard’s house have been using the study guides for a while, he exclaims: “I think it’s done a wonderful job in terms of consolidating and focusing their studies on the way forward.”
“It’s given them a path, a route, where they can see a bit more clarity in going forward, as opposed to not having TAS they would just have had this mass of information. They wouldn’t have known what to study and what to focus on.”
Richard believes it’s fundamentally important to have TAS as a resource. Apart from guiding and supporting learners, it shows them exactly what is important and what is not important.
He emphasises: “It also provides them with practice – these were Emma’s exact words. She said I can feel that I’m not just learning but I am practicing. It also builds self-confidence in terms of going to exams.”
Richard also highlights that another benefit of them having TAS is that he as a parent feels that the academic stress in the house is low. He says: “TAS study guides leave learners less stressed, less anxious, because they have this extra resource.”
As a parent he feels more comfortable because his children are on a (academic) path as opposed to in the wilderness. He says: “They are moving forward, they have the key to moving forward, through TAS.
Richard says his recommendation to other parents would be to utilise this resource (The Answer Series) because “I think it is ABSOLUTELY BENEFICIAL, if it is used correctly, diligently and comprehensively.”
TAS study guides help learners “to understand how the questions are asked and to understand what kind of answers are required”.
As Richard says, ”IT JUST MAKES SENSE TO ME”.
