2014 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[sleepy]

janet_lee88:

jedamum:

Age old question, was told scoring well in languages helps the overall aggregate more than scoring well in ma and Sci. True?

yes. English and MT will affect the total score more than math and science combined.

Why?
I thought equal weightage 100% each

[janet88]

sleepy:

janet_lee88:

[quote=\"jedamum\"]Age old question, was told scoring well in languages helps the overall aggregate more than scoring well in ma and Sci. True?

yes. English and MT will affect the total score more than math and science combined.

Why?
I thought equal weightage 100% each[/quote]languages carry more weightage.

[sharonkhoo]

janet_lee88:

sleepy:

[quote=\"janet_lee88\"]
yes. English and MT will affect the total score more than math and science combined.

Why?
I thought equal weightage 100% each

languages carry more weightage.[/quote]This is not accurate info. The weightage is the same, but the because the spread of the marks affects the T-score, where the child stands in the different subjects will affect the T-score differently. Actually, I remember my husband telling my daughter that if she did very well in Maths, it would be better for her T-score than doing well in English. I think it's because Maths marks are generally more spread out than language marks. Can't remember the details now as I don't really understand statistics.

[jedamum]

I also don’t understand statistics.

Quite surprised to hear from an ex teacher friend that languages score matters more than ma and Sci. Is that why periods of teaching allocated to Sci is so lower in the school timetable? I thought all same weight age too. On one hand, heard that Chinese easy to get A by looking at the % of A achieved by past candidates, then heard that because it is so, it has more impact on the score than other subjects. Is this how the ‘bell curve’ works? So is the ‘more weightage’ of languages, actually more weight age (Eg languages upon 100, but ma Sci upon 50 each etc) or the work of bell curve?

[MotherHen]

I always thought the 4 subjects have the same weightage. My understanding is that if one does well in a subject that is hard to score, then based on the formula, one will get a higher T-score in that subject (since the mean/average of that subject will be lower).


http://i61.tinypic.com/2rw858m.png\">

I guess if the subject is hard to score, resulting in extremities in scores (ie, very high scorers and low scorers), then the Standard Deviation will also be greater.

Thus, High Raw Score + Low Average Score + High SD = High T-Score (?)

I suppose this scenario is especially true in languages, which one cannot really mug for. So, scoring well in languages will help to pull up overall T-score?

[lurline]

It is difficult to get high scores (90 & abv) for languages as compared to Maths &

Science.

[ngl2010]

Jamesbond:

Any comments abt the vocabulary book by TAS? Anybody tried it? Is it good?

We took a look at it and we think it is too easy.

To improve vocabulary, you can ask the child to circle the words he/she doesn't understand when he/she reads The Straits Times, check the meaning in the dictionary and write it in a small book.

[Champion]

ngl2010:

hhgold:

Hi, my dd English score has dropped a lot despite personal tuition.

She lost a quite a lot of marks in cloze passagae, open comprehension and synthesis and transformation. It's hardly a few months to catch-up.
Any suggestions?

For Synthesis and Transformation, I can swear by The Alternative Story's Synthesis and Transformation practice book. You can ask your DD to do all the exercises and then do again those your DD made mistake AT LEAST twice. DS did the whole book 3 times (1 time the whole book and twice on those he made mistakes) within 2 weeks during school days so I believe your DD should have time.

The book has all the difficult/tricky questions. In my opinion, it is better than other books 'cos other books may contain easy questions that are too repetitive (boring).

For cloze passage, we tried many ways last year but DS only improved after he reads The Straits Times daily. He read 1 article from Home section everyday during his breakfast. He chose the articles himself.

Just my 2-cents.

http://i62.tinypic.com/jaz9dl.jpg\">
http://thealternativestory.com/tas-book

Hi, ngl2010 - is that the above book? Sorry, unable to upload the picture so only able to show a small picture here. :imsorry:

:thankyou:

[szepinge]

T-score for languages are worth more

So the A stars for languages more valuable
and can pull up T score significantly.

I have students scoring both A stars for languages scoring
25x. But students scoring A stars for math
or science T score btw 220-235.

[janet88]

szepinge:

T-score for languages are worth more

So the A stars for languages more valuable
and can pull up T score significantly.

I have students scoring both A stars for languages scoring
25x. But students scoring A stars for math
or science T score btw 220-235.

thanks for the clarification.