Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

[autolycus]

ngbrdad:

ngl2010:

Lexis and Autolycus, does it mean it is better to pass HMT in year 6 instead of year 5?


And, no point to take third language, right?

You do realize that MT/second language will contribute towards the final score of the IB right ?

So a pass in HMT may contribute less towards the score compared to doing well in normal MT/second language

Am I correct Autolycus ?

As an International Baccalaureate student, you meet the local mother tongue requirement (MT) by doing a second language (which all IB students have to do). However, if you have already met the local MT requirement (by passing HMT in Y4), then you can do a second language that you have never done before. This will effectively be a third language (besides English and HMT).

HMT is not an IB subject. Also, the IB rule is generally that you ought to do a language at a level higher than one you have already accomplished before.

[autolycus]

messageinabottle:

OpenSecret:

Hey all! I'm from this year's graduating Y6 class (just finished my exams this week!) Feel free to ask me any questions you may have especially about life in Y5/Y6 and ill be glad to answer to the best I can!

My DS psle t score is way below expectation.how shld he prepare for the entrance test for IB at sec 2 level? Any advice is much appreciated.he is a reasonably intelligent and an extrovert child consistently scoring in 90's in maths and sci during his primary.

There is no entrance test for IB at Sec 2 level. The only possibilities I can think of are a) that your son is going to apply to transfer from a non-IP stream to an IP stream in ACS(I) at the end of Year 2, or b) that your son is going to attempt the rare feat of passing an entrance exam to enter ACS(I) IP from another school at the beginning of Year 3.

For a), it's as ngbrdad says — you just have to do well enough for your first two years (in all aspects) so that you're one of the best candidates for moving up to Y3 IP and hence eventually to the IBDP in Y5/6. For b), good luck — the entry rate has been sometimes as low 1 candidate out of 80 applicants, all of which have to pay a fee to take the paper, and some of which will enter but not be admitted to the IP.

[messageinabottle]

ngbrdad:

messageinabottle:

[quote=\"OpenSecret\"]Hey all! I'm from this year's graduating Y6 class (just finished my exams this week!) Feel free to ask me any questions you may have especially about life in Y5/Y6 and ill be glad to answer to the best I can!

My DS psle t score is way below expectation.how shld he prepare for the entrance test for IB at sec 2 level? Any advice is much appreciated.he is a reasonably intelligent and an extrovert child consistently scoring in 90's in maths and sci during his primary.

The selection for IB at year 2 involves multiple criteria.
including PSLE scores, year 1 final and year 2 mid year results.
Hast test if year 1 result is less than 70 in terms of aggregate
An essay written by the student
recommendation by teachers
A compulsory interview

So nothing much you can do in terms of preparation except make sure that he tried his best for his year 1 final and year 2 mid year exam.[/quote]Tq... For the quick reply. If psle score again is a criteria then i guess his fate is sealed!!besides standing first in class he has won numerous awards in his cca and edusave awards.. Unfortunately these seem to have no weightage as it turns out to be a \"Numbers Game\"\" anyways!!!
Thanks once again! And best of luck in your future endeavours!

[autolycus]

messageinabottle:

If psle score again is a criteria then i guess his fate is sealed!!besides standing first in class he has won numerous awards in his cca and edusave awards.. Unfortunately these seem to have no weightage as it turns out to be a \"Numbers Game\"\" anyways!!!

Thanks once again! And best of luck in your future endeavours!

Here's a view from an insider. The PSLE score is used only as a gauge of potential. The thing is that a PSLE score of 250+ is very roughly equivalent to 2-sigma above the mean of the PSLE distribution. This means that the student is likely to fall into that group which would normally ace the O-levels anyway, which means that allowing them to skip the O-levels is reasonable — and that's the point of the integrated programmes.

All the other items are much more important because they are an empirical measure of how well he has done AFTER his PSLE. If he has overachieved, then clearly the PSLE (if it was sub-250) was not a good gauge of his particular talent potential (after all, the PSLE is only a fair statistical indicator of general academic performance). There is hope yet, and no, it is not all a numbers game — ACS(I) in particular values non-academic or para-academic ability!

[ngl2010]

ngbrdad:

ngl2010:

Lexis and Autolycus, does it mean it is better to pass HMT in year 6 instead of year 5?


And, no point to take third language, right?

You do realize that MT/second language will contribute towards the final score of the IB right ?

So a pass in HMT may contribute less towards the score compared to doing well in normal MT/second language

Am I correct Autolycus ?

I have no idea at all about IB

[ngl2010]

autolycus:

ngl2010:

Lexis and Autolycus, does it mean it is better to pass HMT in year 6 instead of year 5?


And, no point to take third language, right?

No, you should pass HMT in Year 4 at O-level. Then you can do a third language INSTEAD of a MT language in Year 5 & 6. Example: if a student does something like German ab initio, it is far easier than doing Chinese as a second language, and also far more useful considering he/she has already passed Chinese as HMT.

You can't do HMT at all in Y5/6 anyway. The equivalent for the IB Diploma is Literature or Language/Lit as a Group 1 subject.

Ok. Got it. DS still has to pass HMT in Year 4 at O-level.

Btw, can DS not take HMT in Yeat 4 at O-level? He is actually not that strong in MT and he didn't take HMT in Primary school.

[ngl2010]

autolycus:

ngbrdad:

[quote=\"ngl2010\"]Lexis and Autolycus, does it mean it is better to pass HMT in year 6 instead of year 5?


And, no point to take third language, right?

You do realize that MT/second language will contribute towards the final score of the IB right ?

So a pass in HMT may contribute less towards the score compared to doing well in normal MT/second language

Am I correct Autolycus ?

As an International Baccalaureate student, you meet the local mother tongue requirement (MT) by doing a second language (which all IB students have to do). However, if you have already met the local MT requirement (by passing HMT in Y4), then you can do a second language that you have never done before. This will effectively be a third language (besides English and HMT).

HMT is not an IB subject. Also, the IB rule is generally that you ought to do a language at a level higher than one you have already accomplished before.[/quote]That mean DS shouldn't take 3rd language in Year 1 but take it in Year 5. Am I correct?

I am so sorry I'm so blur :oops: There is a third language option in S1 Exercise so I was wondering whether DS should withdraw when the school starts since it will only be taken in Year 5 and 6.

[ngbrdad]

messageinabottle:

ngbrdad:

[


Tq... For the quick reply. If psle score again is a criteria then i guess his fate is sealed!!besides standing first in class he has won numerous awards in his cca and edusave awards.. Unfortunately these seem to have no weightage as it turns out to be a \"Numbers Game\"\" anyways!!!
Thanks once again! And best of luck in your future endeavours!

Don't get disheartened, I know of some with only 23+ from affiliated schools also made it to the IP tract after sec 2

[centralpark]

Hi autolycus,


You mentioned ’ The thing is that a PSLE score of 250+ is very roughly equivalent to 2-sigma above the mean of the PSLE distribution '. Shouldn’t 2 sigma above the mean of the psle distribution be the top 2.6%, which is even higher than the 258 for the top 3% this year?

I’m still trying to figure out why the top 10% can hover steadily at 250 all these years while the EESIS cutoff which is the top 3% changes yearctonyear. Even with a tighter bell curve this time due to the easier papers.

[autolycus]

ngl2010:

That mean DS shouldn't take 3rd language in Year 1 but take it in Year 5. Am I correct?


I am so sorry I'm so blur :oops: There is a third language option in S1 Exercise so I was wondering whether DS should withdraw when the school starts since it will only be taken in Year 5 and 6.

That's actually a very interesting observation. But if DS takes a 3rd language in Year 1, and somehow manages to clear HMT by Year 4, he can take a 4th language as his '2nd lang' in IB (Y5/6).

For example, let's say he takes German as L3 in Year 1 and Higher CL as an O-level paper in Year 4 (and passes both). Then of course EL is his L1, HCL is his L2, German is his L3. But the IB wants him to take another lang that is not his L1. Which means he can do something like Spanish at introductory level and graduate knowing 4 languages.