2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[notredame]

HappyBlueBear:

Personally, I'm still glad English and Math were easy papers this year, though kiddo consistently gets > 98 percentile in English and > 90% percentile in Math in difficult school exams. I hope there will be better mix of students in top schools and hence reduce the competition there. I was actually discouraging kiddo to go top schools (if can make it) as the stiff competition is very unhealthy.

Totally agree. In addition, by observing the arrogance of some parents (not in this forum so far but personal experience) who have dc with much higher IQ than themselves, it makes me worried about our kids' future if the learning environments of these high-achievers are not well-balanced.

[notredame]

skyhigh_18:

...No wonder MOE knows that there is a very big gap between the good student and the average student in terms of attitude towards fellow classmate. My DD is in an integrated class that is mixed with GEP students... You can already see the attitude among them.. And it's not good

Your first hand experience? That's something I want to confirm.

[Aberc]

For an easy paper, there is little room for careless mistakes. As the mean will be high, a few careless mistakes for an average student may result in the raw score being less than the mean. This would translate to a negative which gets multiplied by 10 and result in a transformed score for that subject that it lower than 50.


I tell my kid that we have no control over the mean and the SD. The only factor that she has control over in the tscore formula is her raw score - so just do her best and everything will fall in place.

[Jennifer]

Fresco:

I am not surprised at all that some, if not all, of this year's papers are easy and manageable even to the average and below average students. In fact, I kind of expected it before PSLE started two days ago.


MOE has already emphasized that it has taken into consideration the high level of stress that the PSLE has caused to both parents and students alike, throughout these years and that they are doing something (in stages) and tweaking the system to help reduce the negatives of PSLE.

This year's PSLE may jolly well be the first execution of their plans. Apparently, they have decided to make this year's exam papers more manageable to the bulk of the students for a start. Easy exam papers is good news to the majority of the cohort especially the average performers, hence putting both students/parents at ease and definitely a great confidence booster. The question is, what happens when the results are out. What does having easy exams translate to?

Anyway, this is only my conjecture. There are two more papers to go, so it is still premature to arrive at any conclusion. I'm sure MOE has many other plans in the pipeline with regards to the changes to be made to the PSLE. The next few years will tell how the changes have come about and in what way it will affect the students.

Whether an exam paper is easy or difficult, all students ought to attempt it to the best of their abilities and should not, in any way, turn complacent or be discouraged. When you have given your best, there will be no regrets on your part, and whatever happens after the exams which is not within your control, it can't possibly give you any guilt trip.

Most importantly, after you have set your expectations appropriately for the PSLE, feel good about yourselves and be confident of your abilities and accepting your inabilities. That way, you will breeze through your PSLE with a balanced and happy heart.

Totally agreed.

[Jennifer]

funnydaddy:

There is no right or wrong....

It's all depends on if the child is an average student or a top student. I am sure for average student, their parents want the papers to be easy..thus not agreeing to having difficult paper, so that to get close to the top students. For top students, they want the paper to be difficult to see the real delta.

Agreed that there is no right or wrong.

BUT

Strongly disagreed to the statement : I am sure for average student, their parents want the papers to be easy..thus not agreeing to having difficult paper, so that to get close to the top students.

[happyheart]

Jennifer:

funnydaddy:

There is no right or wrong....

It's all depends on if the child is an average student or a top student. I am sure for average student, their parents want the papers to be easy..thus not agreeing to having difficult paper, so that to get close to the top students. For top students, they want the paper to be difficult to see the real delta.

Agreed that there is no right or wrong.

BUT

Strongly disagreed to the statement : I am sure for average student, their parents want the papers to be easy..thus not agreeing to having difficult paper, so that to get close to the top students.

I agree with you totally! :hi5:

[notredame]

happyheart:

Jennifer:

Strongly disagreed to the statement : I am sure for average student, their parents want the papers to be easy..thus not agreeing to having difficult paper, so that to get close to the top students.

I agree with you totally! :hi5:

Yes, absolutely agree with jennifer and happyheart. What's the advantage of getting close to top students?
Top students don't equate to top personality/attitude/moral value.

[Ms tay]

Ds's tutor is a current pri sch teacher.

He was shocked when he read thru the psle maths paper .. As this was the first time he had encountered such an easy paper :yikes:

[ngl2010]

What happens when a few students have the same t-score (exactly the same to the decimal points) and they apply to the same school and they put the school at the same level of choice e.g. first choice? How would the school decide who they will take in?


Is it by balloting?

With the current difficulty level of the papers, the standard deviation will be narrow so the chance is higher for a few students to have exactly the same overall t-score.

[hornbill]

I still can’t get my ds to study the rest of the subjects, since yesterday. The last two papers make him believe that sci and Chinese will be as easy as eng and math. No point study.