Preparing for sec 1

[micko07]

Haha going to Secondary school is like the P4 to P5 jump, just bigger. Be forewarned that there’ll be lot of new subjects, CCAs and increased workloads but everything is managable with good time management! Don’t worry if your kid isn’t doing well for the first few months, it’s very normal to fail. (Got a C5 for history for the first semester, one of only 2 Cs in my report book). Bear in mind that A1 is 75 marks and don’t use the PSLE A*Star, 91 to judge how well the kid performs. It’s very hard to achieve over 90 marks (MOE has a good reason for pegging A1 at 75). You must get your kid to get rid of the mindset that 75 is a poor score and 91 a good one otherwise he or she will be very miserable.

Just be prepared to be in a totally new environment, possibly with no familiar faces. Encourage your children to mix around and don’t be too shy! If there’s problems, you can always ask the teachers or school counsellors for advice. You need to pay attention in class, it will save you alot of time studying at home if you can grasp the concepts in school. Practice and revise consistently; it will help when you’re taking your block tests because with 2-3 tests per day, back to back, it’s very hard to chiong and mug last minute. Especially if they put two subjects that requires hard-core memorization, like Chemistry and Biology, together.
Actually I’m curious, why maths? I’ve never had maths tuition in Secondary school and I’ve always scored As for exams. Maths is something that requires discipline and all you need is a lot of practice, which you can do yourself (tested and proven by my mother). Just buy the textbooks and ask them to read the 1st few chapters. Stuff like sciences are also "muggable", as long as you study consistently, scoring good marks should not be a problem. Maths only starts to get really hard from Sec 3 onwards, when you have A maths but even then it’s managable.
If it were me, I’d say maybe lit or history because learning how to answer source-based questions and structured essay questions (the typical paper for all humanities subjects) is a skill that you need to acquire. Once you get the hang of it, it’s very easy to score A1s. Otherwise, you’ll often end up with Bs and Cs and not know why, which can be very very frustrating. (Which is why I’m going for Economics and GP tuition next year; to get my technique of answering right. xD) The only tuitions I had were for my languages; Chinese because I’m really horrid at it and English because I’m kiasu (and I felt that I benefitted tremendously from the classes as well).
Cheers and don’t get too worried! It will take time to adapt so don’t get too uptight if your kid’s stressed out in the 1st few months.
Oh and just a note of caution, taking Sports and Performing Arts means there’ll be practices at least 3 - 6 times a week leading up to competitions and SYF. Be prepared for a hellish schedule and very little free time during that period. Clubs and Societies is a softer option compared to Uniformed Groups because UGs are quite physical and very strict on discipline. (I’m from Guides)

[lizawa]

micko07:

The only tuitions I had were for my languages; Chinese because I'm really horrid at it and English because I'm kiasu (and I felt that I benefitted tremendously from the classes as well).

Hi micko07,

Thanks for the useful insight to Secondary school life, results and expectation. Can you share where you go for your Chinese and English tuition ?

BTW, do you work on any assessment books at home ?

[i-mum]

micko07,


Thanks for your useful information. I was told that Art and D & T are non-exam subjects :?:

[micko07]

[quote]

Hi micko07,

Thanks for the useful insight to Secondary school life, results and expectation. Can you share where you go for your Chinese and English tuition ?

BTW, do you work on any assessment books at home ?[/quote]Erm I'm under private tuition for Chinese. I was in Learning Point @ Thomson Plaza for English (my teacher was Mrs Yvonne Tay). PM me if you want the contacts! xD
I did practice on ten-year series leading up to exams, especially for the sciences. My school has files of old exam papers so I photocopied some of them as well because it gives you a good idea of what to expect standard-wise. I don't really remember doing assessment books in lower sec though; maybe just maths and sciences? As long as you can do all the questions in your school textbook and your homework, you should be fine

[Poonie]

Hi lizawa


Thanks for asking micko07 that qeustion. It was so kind of her to share with us her study strategies. Lizawa what about you? Gathered from past posts that your child did very well at PSLE. Care to also share with us where you sent your child for enrichment or tuition?

[BlueBells]

With your kids moving on to secondary school, and with the current coverage on the young’s sex perceptions (eg. How teenages get all hanky panky in multistorey carparks and all), I am very worried about how things will go when my kid reaches 13, and be given more freedom.


How are parents of child going on to Sec 1 preparing themselves for this phase of change? What supervision have you arrange in place for your 13 year-old? I am seriously considering keeping my kids in their student care until the centre decides they are too old to be there, which will be like 15 year-old?

[lizawa]

Poonie:

Hi lizawa


Thanks for asking micko07 that qeustion. It was so kind of her to share with us her study strategies. Lizawa what about you? Gathered from past posts that your child did very well at PSLE. Care to also share with us where you sent your child for enrichment or tuition?

Hi Poonie,

My child did reasonably well, but not fantastically good, but we are happy with his results. Although he has higher expectation.

He attends English at Learning Lab and we put him at Eduplus for Chinese. But tuition or enrichment is only once a week, and we cannot expect miracle to happen. Consistent and hard work from the child is still most important.

[jzapple]

lizawa:

Poonie:

Hi lizawa


Thanks for asking micko07 that qeustion. It was so kind of her to share with us her study strategies. Lizawa what about you? Gathered from past posts that your child did very well at PSLE. Care to also share with us where you sent your child for enrichment or tuition?

Hi Poonie,

My child did reasonably well, but not fantastically good, but we are happy with his results. Although he has higher expectation.

He attends English at Learning Lab and we put him at Eduplus for Chinese. But tuition or enrichment is only once a week, and we cannot expect miracle to happen. Consistent and hard work from the child is still most important.

I have heard that TLL is good .May I know who is your teacher?Or which teacher do u think is good?

[Poonie]

Lizawa thanks for the tips.

[wiimum]

I also think English would be an important subject afterall, all the subjects except Chinese will be taught in English. Then there is the additional subject of Eng Lit, History, geog – all in English so a good grasp of the language will be really important.

For us, Chinese is the biggest enemy and hence Chinese tuition is inevitable. Though I secretly hope I could save the money for better use.

However I also feel that at secondary level, with the increase in subjects, CCA time etc , there is really little time left for any other enrichment/tuition. Where to find time to relax? Play games???