MTL Exemption - Please advice
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Hi, my DD has been given a psychology assessment and we have been told that the assessment will allow us to apply for exemption from MTL. Before we do that, we are keen to know a couple of thing. Not sure if those parents who have applied for MTL exemption would be able to enlighten us on these.
1. How is PSLE score calculated when MTL is removed. Will the PSLE score if abnormally low because one subject has been removed or will it still appear like in the normal range of 220 - 260. How will her admission to Secondary School be affected by her lack of MTL? I know that SAP school application is out.
2. I understand MTL exemption goes beyond Primary School all the way to JC level. Will she be made to take another Second Language in Secondary School or will she be always taking 1 subject less than her classmates?
3. At any level (O Levels, A Levels) will she there be a need for her to meet the a similar criteria set for MTL for progression? How will a lack of MTL affect her entrance into local University if she has exemption?
4. Finally, if she gets exempted, I still want her to learn the language. Any parents has any parting words on how their child began to appreciate the language after the exam exemption?
Thanks! -
Parent2008:
Hi, my DD has been given a psychology assessment and we have been told that the assessment will allow us to apply for exemption from MTL. Before we do that, we are keen to know a couple of thing. Not sure if those parents who have applied for MTL exemption would be able to enlighten us on these.
1. How is PSLE score calculated when MTL is removed. Will the PSLE score if abnormally low because one subject has been removed or will it still appear like in the normal range of 220 - 260. How will her admission to Secondary School be affected by her lack of MTL? I know that SAP school application is out.
2. I understand MTL exemption goes beyond Primary School all the way to JC level. Will she be made to take another Second Language in Secondary School or will she be always taking 1 subject less than her classmates?
3. At any level (O Levels, A Levels) will she there be a need for her to meet the a similar criteria set for MTL for progression? How will a lack of MTL affect her entrance into local University if she has exemption?
4. Finally, if she gets exempted, I still want her to learn the language. Any parents has any parting words on how their child began to appreciate the language after the exam exemption?
Thanks!
yeah what u said is true SAP is out..but PSLE score will not be affected.. -
Parent2008:
Hi, my DD has been given a psychology assessment and we have been told that the assessment will allow us to apply for exemption from MTL. Before we do that, we are keen to know a couple of thing. Not sure if those parents who have applied for MTL exemption would be able to enlighten us on these.
1. How is PSLE score calculated when MTL is removed. Will the PSLE score if abnormally low because one subject has been removed or will it still appear like in the normal range of 220 - 260. How will her admission to Secondary School be affected by her lack of MTL? I know that SAP school application is out.
The score is based on 3 subjects but how they do it is not disclosed. Kids whose MT is their weakest subject may score better without it than if all 4 subjects are taken into consideration.
2. I understand MTL exemption goes beyond Primary School all the way to JC level. Will she be made to take another Second Language in Secondary School or will she be always taking 1 subject less than her classmates?
If the exemption is based on a learning disability, then it is most unlikely that the child will be required to take another language in sec school. It doesn't make sense. I'm not sure if the child will need to take another subject in lieu. I'm also not sure if a child who has exemption because of another reason (eg. living overseas for a few years) will be required to take another subject in lieu.
3. At any level (O Levels, A Levels) will she there be a need for her to meet the a similar criteria set for MTL for progression? How will a lack of MTL affect her entrance into local University if she has exemption?
For local university entrance, a child with exemption will be regarded as having met the MT criteria. I'm not sure about getting into JC/Poly.
4. Finally, if she gets exempted, I still want her to learn the language. Any parents has any parting words on how their child began to appreciate the language after the exam exemption?
Kids who have been exempted can ask to remain in the MT class, but in practice, teachers are likely to ignore them or tell them to do something else or go to the library. Unfortunately, these kids are usually not interested anyway or need more help, so just sitting in may not be much use. My daughter was exempted from MT in P6 as we lived overseas before that, and she complained that the teacher made all the exempted kids sit at the back and ignored them even though my daughter was willing to try to follow the MT lesson. However, that was probably my fault as I didn't make it clear to the school that she wanted to stay with the class for MT, and since she was preparing for PSLE, I thought she had enough to do already. We are returning to Singapore again next month and will ask for her to join the MT class even though she still has exemption, but this time with a view of preparing for O levels eventually (she is sec 2 this year) - not sure how it will work this time.
Thanks! -
A follow-on question - if a child has exemption from MT but chooses to try to resume taking MT, can she later rely on the exemption again? Eg. if my daughter says that she would like to take MT again from sec 2, takes the school exams, but chickens out before the ‘O’ levels, can she still rely on the exemption or will she have ‘lost’ it? Anyone know? If no-one knows, I guess I will ask the school and MOE when we get back.
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Once you have have opted to take MT. The exemption is no longer valid. You have to go through the whole process of assessment and application.
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gururaider:
Once you have have opted to take MT. The exemption is no longer valid. You have to go through the whole process of assessment and application.
What do you mean by 'opted to take'? Just attending classes? Taking a school test/exam? What duration? If my daughter wants to give it a try, can she attend classes for, say, 1 term without losing the exemption? Since she is game to give it a go even though she has a lot of work ahead of her, I don't want to discourage her, but I would like to have the exemption as a fallback is she can't catch up. Or, if she loses the exemption because she gave it a try for a term, then finds that she can't cope, can she apply for exemption again given that she has spent most of the last 6 yrs in international school overseas?
If you don't mind my asking, are you a teacher? Or have you had experience of MT exemption? -
slmkhoo:
A follow-on question - if a child has exemption from MT but chooses to try to resume taking MT, can she later rely on the exemption again? Eg. if my daughter says that she would like to take MT again from sec 2, takes the school exams, but chickens out before the 'O' levels, can she still rely on the exemption or will she have 'lost' it? Anyone know? If no-one knows, I guess I will ask the school and MOE when we get back.
Hi,
I am not sure how applicable my son's case is to your daughter's. My son has also been exempted from MT in P3. However, we opted for him to continue with the MT classes. He attends the regular class lessons with the rest, does the same amount of work (except for Chinese compo) and takes the tests and exams with them too. The only difference is that his Chinese result is not factored into the overall score. I am under the impression that should we feel he's prepared for the challenge, we can request (in P6) for him to sit for the PSLE Chinese exam. That would mean revoking the exemption.
It could be that the teacher was busy preparing your daughter's classmates for PSLE, hence she 'ignored' those with exemption. For my son's experience in 2 different schools, it has been most encouraging. In fact, he has been allowed to take HCL this year. Recently, I spoke to his Chinese teacher about switching to CL as to lighten my son's workload. She discouraged the idea, citing that HCL would allow him to pick up more Chinese, even though the learning curve is much steeper. Indeed, we feel very encouraged by the teacher's positive view. -
metz:
Does 'revoking the exemption' involve a definite action on your part? The exemption doesn't automatically lapse just because your child takes some exams? I would be very happy if my daughter's school and MOE would let her try to follow the MT classes, at least for the rest of this year, before we decide whether she will aim for MT at O levels, but still have the option to fall back on the exemption without re-applying if she finds she can't catch up sufficiently.slmkhoo:
A follow-on question - if a child has exemption from MT but chooses to try to resume taking MT, can she later rely on the exemption again? Eg. if my daughter says that she would like to take MT again from sec 2, takes the school exams, but chickens out before the 'O' levels, can she still rely on the exemption or will she have 'lost' it? Anyone know? If no-one knows, I guess I will ask the school and MOE when we get back.
Hi,
I am not sure how applicable my son's case is to your daughter's. My son has also been exempted from MT in P3. However, we opted for him to continue with the MT classes. He attends the regular class lessons with the rest, does the same amount of work (except for Chinese compo) and takes the tests and exams with them too. The only difference is that his Chinese result is not factored into the overall score. I am under the impression that should we feel he's prepared for the challenge, we can request (in P6) for him to sit for the PSLE Chinese exam. That would mean revoking the exemption.
It could be that the teacher was busy preparing your daughter's classmates for PSLE, hence she 'ignored' those with exemption. For my son's experience in 2 different schools, it has been most encouraging. In fact, he has been allowed to take HCL this year. Recently, I spoke to his Chinese teacher about switching to CL as to lighten my son's workload. She discouraged the idea, citing that HCL would allow him to pick up more Chinese, even though the learning curve is much steeper. Indeed, we feel very encouraged by the teacher's positive view. -
I think I understand what your concerns are now.
Yes, revoking the exemption requires action from the parents/students. For my son, he's still under exemption for MT even though he is attending classes and taking exams in school.
To my best of knowledge, continuing with Chinese classes and taking exams in school (at the primary level) does not constitute a revocation of the exemption for MT. There is no pressure for him to take the PSLE Chinese papers unless we choose to.
At this juncture, perhaps, your daughter can express her wish (to her school/teacher) to take Chinese classes in her secondary school even though she has been exempted from MT. Along the way, if she feels confident of the subject, she can always put forth the request to sit for the 'O' level Chinese.
Edit :
With the exemption for MT, he was offered 2 choices by the schools.
Option 1 : Not to attend the Chinese classes, meaning he will have free periods during the Chinese lessons.
Option 2: To attend the Chinese classes with/without taking school tests and exams.
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