O-Level English
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Actually I also used to ignore all the announcement about the change in english syllabus because I thought that the changes were going to be subtle or just some re-arrangment of the questions so that the markers at cambridge could show that they were updating themselves. but apparently the changes are quite significant. My son attended this english exam prep course at:
http://www.OLevelEnglish.com
and I'm really impressed with his improvement in English and according to him the trainer thought them all sorts of examination techniques which top students were using. He enjoyed it so much that he even asked me to sponsor him to sign u for the regular prep class session till the exams. Keep in mind that I was previously quite disillusioned with hiring private tutors as they were not showing results.
I think that sometimes life is not so clear-cut as in that a student who is good in English would score well. This is from personal experience. Myself I'm from an engineering backgound and naturally my business is in the field of engineering. But sometimes just because a person is a good engineer, does not mean he will be promoted or be able to lead an engineering company. Like I can say right now that many engineers that i hire are much more savvy and adept at the new engineering technologies than me. This is a simple example to show that just because a person is good in a domain, he will be able to excel or be the best in it
Even back during my engineering uni days I can safely say that my technical knowdelge and engineering maths was not the best in the class. But I managed to score consistently better than my peers because I was aware of the professor and the marking criteria. so sometimes the context and grading metrics really matter.
Even though I'm not longer taking exams and test, I have to say that sometimes being metric-savvy or rather exam-savvy is important if the kid wants to really get the A grade. So what I'm saying is that if the syllabus changes, I would expect the kids to pivot accordingly and adapt to the different grading criteria. Just my two cents ya -
yup the http://www.olevelenglish.com one is very good
my son attended it with some of his friends -
My son also went for this http://www.olevelenglish.com workshop. Very glad with the improvement with my sons results
The trainer was very exam orientated which I think is a good thing end of the day, it's the L1R5 which determines which school my son enters -
Ovencookies:
My son also went for this http://www.olevelenglish.com workshop. Very glad with the improvement with my sons results
The trainer was very exam orientated which I think is a good thing end of the day, it's the L1R5 which determines which school my son enters
Looks like parents who send their kids for the same course may also have the same philosophies! Yes, I always feel that its more important to be exam-smart than smart-smart. Because being exam-smart means that you know how to fulfill the criteria and assessment metrics set out for you. How can we not know what the examiners are looking for and expect to score well? -
Strange! They don’t have a price listed.
Any idea how much it costs?
I am thinking of sending a Sec 3 student to attend it to really gain an advantage.
Thanks! -
looks like every parent is now panicking for the upcoming exams. I'm actually very excited about what MOE is going to do soon for the sec and jc after the national day rally on 'studying less and learning more' maybe more CCA and less lessons for the boys and girls?
my son has been under this Master Trainer at
http://www.OLevelEnglish.com
recent exam result he brought back to me was an A1 with 81 marks. 4 grade jump from a B4/C5. Really amazing as I have no idea who in the world can pull a student up so fast. If only I had this Master Trainer when I was my son's age. I'm a numbers and engineering guy, so when I see that, I know I don't have to be so concerned about his L1 in his L1R5 (as clarified by some parents previously for me, L1 is a must in the computation of L1R5) My son right now just need to be consistent and thats it.
But so long as his grades are ok, I'm happy. I think from the National rally and all that, it seems that Singapore is trying to move away from all these grades and points and more toward an all rounded education. So sometimes I think about it, if the child did not get a good grade it is not the end of the world.
Like last time I wanted to enter law, but sadly, my English was not very good. So I took up engineering instead. but as fate has it, I found myself in the Engineering business with the help of some \"En Ren\" or benefactors, and life has been good. If i had been a lawyer, I may still be doing a lot of paperwork in the office till 2-3 am in the morning.
So maybe sometimes by sending your child for tuition, you may be altering his destiny. what if my son can be an excellent entrepreneur (like Mark Zuckerberg) but because his English gets A1, he starts becoming good at the language and becomes a lawyer or teacher in the future? Of course, maybe I'm thinking too much here. But I'm sure the points I mention may be an interesting topic to discuss maybe in this thread or another.
Some food for thought here. -
LarryG67:
How much is the fee :?looks like every parent is now panicking for the upcoming exams. I'm actually very excited about what MOE is going to do soon for the sec and jc after the national day rally on 'studying less and learning more' maybe more CCA and less lessons for the boys and girls?
my son has been under this Master Trainer at
http://www.OLevelEnglish.com
recent exam result he brought back to me was an A1 with 81 marks. 4 grade jump from a B4/C5. Really amazing as I have no idea who in the world can pull a student up so fast. If only I had this Master Trainer when I was my son's age. I'm a numbers and engineering guy, so when I see that, I know I don't have to be so concerned about his L1 in his L1R5 (as clarified by some parents previously for me, L1 is a must in the computation of L1R5) My son right now just need to be consistent and thats it.
But so long as his grades are ok, I'm happy. I think from the National rally and all that, it seems that Singapore is trying to move away from all these grades and points and more toward an all rounded education. So sometimes I think about it, if the child did not get a good grade it is not the end of the world.
Like last time I wanted to enter law, but sadly, my English was not very good. So I took up engineering instead. but as fate has it, I found myself in the Engineering business with the help of some \"En Ren\" or benefactors, and life has been good. If i had been a lawyer, I may still be doing a lot of paperwork in the office till 2-3 am in the morning.
So maybe sometimes by sending your child for tuition, you may be altering his destiny. what if my son can be an excellent entrepreneur (like Mark Zuckerberg) but because his English gets A1, he starts becoming good at the language and becomes a lawyer or teacher in the future? Of course, maybe I'm thinking too much here. But I'm sure the points I mention may be an interesting topic to discuss maybe in this thread or another.
Some food for thought here. -
Hello, I just received my O-level results, scored an A1 in English, and now want to share my and my friends’ experience. I primarily wrote this note for my juniors, so I hope parents will forgive my tone
Just like any advice, mine may or may not work for you. As we have 8 months before the O's, I suggest you try out the advice that you like, together with what your teachers and other materials have to offer, and decide how to accommodate it to your needs. Also, since we improved from B4s, B3s to As, the advice will mostly benefit those within such grade range.
1. EDITING:
Buy a book from Popular and practise. After a dozen exercises, you'll begin to notice where you tend to get wrong. Remember them, and train yourself to have a specific course of doing the editing.
This is what I do in the exam hall: I read through the passage, quickly tackle the blatant errors, and read the remaining lines closely-almost word by word. This often leaves me with about 4 lines, some containing words that I'm unsure about. If time allows, I'll try to find rational reasons to prove if they are (in)correct. If I see that the editing session is taking up more than 10 minutes, I will just give 4 sticks, secure my 8, and move on.
My teacher strongly opposed this tactic, though. He argued that even if you felt that there were 9 errors in the passage, just correct them all and give one stick- you would only lose 1 point. However, trying this out only got me 5s and 6, as I decided the wrong lines with the errors. If I aim to get 10, I need to know the exact line, the exact word AND the exact correction- the odds were too high to trust my feelings and risk losing everything. Well, perhaps it's just the cowardly me, so try your luck a few times before the O's.
And also, be extremely vigilant to simple errors, especially those of tense. During my O's itself, for some unknown reasons, I completely had no doubt that the past tense of 'sit' was correctly written as 'sit'!
2. WRITING:
You must have heard this advice for a million times, and yet I will repeat it: READ, READ, READ, because it DOES help, even though the effect is hard to measure.
But read what? As someone who always does expository (sorry that I'm of no use to friends who love the narrative and descriptive. I've never been able to write creative, beautiful essays) I find the Opinions section in The Straits Times extremely helpful. In fact, I spent my Sec 4 reading it almost every day. The articles and letters there not only give you a deeper understanding of Singapore and the world but also teach you to develop your argument coherently- with style. Read articles with contrasting views and take a stand. When you've engaged enough with current affairs, you'll find reading no longer an ordeal but a way to explore life.
After a time and reading and writing, you'll discover your voice of arguing. My close friend's style was objective and scientific. She watched TED videos like crazy, took down statistics and actually learnt them. Her use of 'I' in her essays was minimal. Her examples came from research or fiction. She also had a vocabulary notebook with the most bombastic words.
My style was entirely different. I loved to show my emotions and include anecdotes in my essays, even condemning outright some behaviour. I spent the longest paragraph in my O's essay criticising people who dressed inappropriately in religious buildings with a mocking tone (while restraining myself from being too irrationally offensive). I am more concerned about how my words flow rather than how complicated they are, so you will find few high-level words in my essays.
And the two opposite styles served us well. The point is, try to find your voice. The moment you feel you are writing not just to complete 5 paragraphs but to communicate your ideas and personality, you know you'll ace the writing section. Also, remember that the examiners know that you are fifteen or sixteen- they won't expect you to argue with infallible reasoning, but to state your thesis, then your elaboration and explanation, coherently and sensibly.
One other thing: I advise against reading novels as the main means to improve English. Not that they won't help, but their language and ideas are not as useful as those found in articles, if you are writing expos. And reading a novel takes a lot of time, too. So, if you have free time and want to read novels for leisure, it's great, but to read one and assure yourself that you've spent 12 hours studying English is not.
3. ORAL:
Most of us have some particular pronunciation problems, and they take time to fix. So, unless you scored 9 or 10 last year in Reading Aloud, consult your teacher as soon as possible. Once you've identified your problems, work on them relentlessly.
I got A LOT of problems with both my pronunciation and intonation, because my 1st language isn't English. I had to train myself again almost entirely in Sec 4, using Better English Pronunciation by D.H O’Connor, practicing every vowel and consonant. (The book is quite expensive, but it’s worth the money). Once I've made sure that I read with fairly competent articulation, I worked on expression, using Voice and Speaking Skills for Dummies, borrowed from NLB.
Some of you might learn best from books, like I did. However, some might prefer videos- one of my friends watched speeches and tried to mimic the speakers. That’s helpful, too.
The picture discussion is where reading the Straits Times will save your life, really. Most topics deal with Singaporean issues, so if you read ST’s Opinions page every day and make sure you cover most aspects of current affairs, you’ll have a lot to discuss.
I also suggest you have a friend to practice Oral. From Jan to August, every morning, my partner and I would choose an article from ST to take turn to read and discuss. We gave earnest advice, always checked the dictionary/Internet/with teachers if we were unsure, and took one another’s advice seriously.
It’s important that you have the right partner. I had friends with good English but of no help. They pointed out one or two errors, and commented: ‘You have improved, but this part your intonation is quite weird- I don’t know how to fix, or perhaps it’s your voice’s problem?’ Some even gave ridiculous advice, like to not have my intonation go up and down wrongly, I should practice… not going up and down at all(!). So, all friends are equal, but when it comes to work, some are more equal than the others.
Phew, I guess that’s all. I don’t really have any advice on comprehension, except practicing, which applies to everything.
But how do you have so much time in Sec4? Well, you’ll have to consider what English grade you REALLY want and whether it is worth sacrificing other subjects (Yes, I did extra compos and compres at the expense of compulsory Math and Science homework, because I desperately wanted a distinction). Improving English means putting in tremendous hard work and time, and it can be frustrating, too. Also, please know that your score won’t improve steadily- it may even drop to some abysmal grade at some times, but hold on. Hard work will pay off, in results and in life (which no examiners can take away from you)
Hope this helps all the best for Sec 4! -
Thanks for sharing your experience here,student123456789. Looks like I shld get my dd to read the ST forum daily. Great tip!
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sparks:
Thanks for sharing your experience here,student123456789. Looks like I shld get my dd to read the ST forum daily. Great tip!
ST forum alone is not enough. In fact should also read Opinion or devour the entire Newspaper minus the Life & Classified ads. There are some good stuff in Life section occasionally though.
Very often the difference betwn B3/B4 and A1/A2 is how widely you read and process the information gained.
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