2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[sembgal]

Beat the exam fatigue by treating your child to a weekend of fun at the beach perhaps? Recharge the child if the child has been doing papers after papers and have shown improvement by a grade difference in prelim.

[Jennifer]

We were going through a tough maths qn last night.


I going nowhere with model drawing method.

ah boy used Guess n Check, could not find an answer. reason: careless addition/subtraction along the guess n check method.

elder boy used algebra and solved within minutes.

My conclusion: if your child is still not skilled in algebra, do consider to spend some time re-looking at this method.

There will be one question (usu. that last qn for the crop of the cream) that will require the use of algebra under time constraints.

However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

[icy_mama]

Jennifer:

We were going through a tough maths qn last night.


I going nowhere with model drawing method.

ah boy used Guess n Check, could not find an answer. reason: careless addition/subtraction along the guess n check method.

elder boy used algebra and solved within minutes.

My conclusion: if your child is still not skilled in algebra, do consider to spend some time re-looking at this method.

There will be one question (usu. that last qn for the crop of the cream) that will require the use of algebra under time constraints.

However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

jennifer, may i correct your last sentence. \"if you r NOT willing to forgo scoring any working marks......, then ignore this suggestion...\"

i think learning algebra is important. getting an answer is more important than leaving it totally blank. besides, come secondary school maths, it's all about algebra. learning it now, is an headstart. jmo.

[sharonkhoo]

Jennifer:

However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

I believe that MOE has said that any mathematically valid methods (may not be the exact words because I can't remember) are OK for the PSLE? It's been 2 yrs since my daughter took PSLE, but I recall someone asked MOE and the answer was something like that.

[Jennifer]

slmkhoo:

Jennifer:

However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

I believe that MOE has said that any mathematically valid methods (may not be the exact words because I can't remember) are OK for the PSLE? It's been 2 yrs since my daughter took PSLE, but I recall someone asked MOE and the answer was something like that.

oops, misunderstanding here.

What I wanted to say is: some Maths qns r difficult to solve by model drawings as this method has its limitations. Units and Parts method might be a little confusing when there are > 2 variables.

The fastest way for some qns is to do via algebra.

However, some children hv not mastered the complex algebra method (in this case, my ah boy).

In our case, I leave it to him to decide whether he wants to write sth as workings or to leave the whole qn blank.

P.S. Elder boy just found a simpler way to solve that qn. He named it \"Mdm.Ling's table method\" after his maths teacher in pri sch

[Jennifer]

icy_mama:

i think learning algebra is important. getting an answer is more important than leaving it totally blank. besides, come secondary school maths, it's all about algebra. learning it now, is an headstart. jmo.

Agreed.

But if your child thinks like my ah boy, then it is a different story liao. He thinks very differently from me. I have difficulty in communicating with him the LH and RH, the preferred way of presenting the data.

[ngl2010]

Jennifer:

slmkhoo:

[quote=\"Jennifer\"]However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

I believe that MOE has said that any mathematically valid methods (may not be the exact words because I can't remember) are OK for the PSLE? It's been 2 yrs since my daughter took PSLE, but I recall someone asked MOE and the answer was something like that.

oops, misunderstanding here.

What I wanted to say is: some Maths qns r difficult to solve by model drawings as this method has its limitations. Units and Parts method might be a little confusing when there are > 2 variables.

The fastest way for some qns is to do via algebra.

However, some children hv not mastered the complex algebra method (in this case, my ah boy).

In our case, I leave it to him to decide whether he wants to write sth as workings or to leave the whole qn blank.

P.S. Elder boy just found a simpler way to solve that qn. He named it \"Mdm.Ling's table method\" after his maths teacher in pri sch [/quote]Jen, was the question 3 variables question?

[ngl2010]

slmkhoo:

Jennifer:

However, if you r willing to forgo scoring any working marks for that qn, then ignore this suggestion

I believe that MOE has said that any mathematically valid methods (may not be the exact words because I can't remember) are OK for the PSLE? It's been 2 yrs since my daughter took PSLE, but I recall someone asked MOE and the answer was something like that.

Algebra is acceptable but no working mark will be given if the answer is wrong. So, if use algebra die die must get the answer correct

[yogaqueen]

Hi there, I have some experience to share with regard to the use of Algebra in PSLE Math.


Firstly, at the beginning of this school year, I spoke to the school teacher. He stated that Algebra is acceptable but that method marks will not be awarded. So, the trick is, get the final answer right and you can the full marks. Or none.

In the middle of the year, feeling that this was not justified, I wrote to MOE on this particular question of using algebra. MOE did not categorically said Algebra is accepted (despite my re-questioning) but emphasized that any method will be awarded method marks as long as they are used correctly.

Strangely enough, weeks after my letter to MOE, my son came home to tell me his teacher (the same one I asked about Algebra) told everyone in class that Algebra is now acceptable as a method in PSLE Math and method marks will be awarded as long as they are sound.

So, I guess, bottomline is: don’t worry that you will get zero marks if you don’t get the final answer correct when using Algebra. You will get some marks for method.e.g stating the correct equations etc.

[janet88]

With algebra, the student must be very comfortable as no marks will be awarded if steps are wrong. This is the main reason why kids from p1-4 are not encouraged to use algebra but models. The Math environment is totally different now. Even my hubby is still learning how to coach daughter in her p3 math.