Assessment Books

[ApronMama]

So far I have not found any discussion of assessment books in our forum.


Dear parents,
(1) Do you buy assessment books to drill your children in primary school ?
(2) How do you find this method of preparing for exam and quit tuition?
(3) There are so many in the market but how to go about choosing? Any parents kind enough to provide a good and minimium sufficient list of assessment books for all subjects for use by primary school students instead of bring them around for tuition.
(4) Do secondary school students practice assessment book purchase from Popular bookshop? What about those from the IP school?

Thanks!

[ChiefKiasu]

ApronMama:

So far I have not found any discussion of assessment books in our forum.


Dear parents,
(1) Do you buy assessment books to drill your children in primary school ?
(2) How do you find this method of preparing for exam and quit tuition?
(3) There are so many in the market but how to go about choosing? Any parents kind enough to provide a good and minimium sufficient list of assessment books for all subjects for use by primary school students instead of bring them around for tuition.
(4) Do secondary school students practice assessment book purchase from Popular bookshop? What about those from the IP school?

Thanks!

Good thread. Let's see:
(1) Yes.
(2) Yes, and no. Tuition still needed for topics parents are weak in.
(3) Too many. Hard to say. But there are some that are clearly head and shoulders above others. Eg. lots of parents swear by the Andrew Er Math assessment books.
(4) I thot just buy 10 year series??

Actually, I'm finding that getting my son to do the past year exam papers is more efficient than assessment books. I let my son do the papers as a work sheet, then get him to mark them. I will then go through those that he got wrong. This gives me a good idea about his strengths and weaknesses so that I know what to focus on.

[ApronMama]

By past year exam papers, do you mean those "Top School" exam papers sold at the roadside? Do you use them just before exam or as assessment?

[lizawa]

ChiefKiasu:

Actually, I'm finding that getting my son to do the past year exam papers is more efficient than assessment books. I let my son do the papers as a work sheet, then get him to mark them. I will then go through those that he got wrong. This gives me a good idea about his strengths and weaknesses so that I know what to focus on.

Past year top school exam papers are good for practice. But do note that because there are changes in syllabus for some subjects at some levels, the immediate past year paper may become irrelevant. For this year's P5, the past year Chinese paper will not be useful. Similarly, for this year's P6, the past year Maths paper will not be sufficient. The format is different.

Also past year papers are good for overall revision. For topical revision, may need to depend on some assessment books.

For IP, I heard that assessment books aren't necessary becos' the syllabus and pace of teaching are different from mainstream. Some parents advise to get guide books instead.

[ApronMama]

Dear Lizawa,


You are right, my P5 son is going to be the first batch for the new CL exam format. So this year, we should not buy P5 Chinese Top school papers to save some cost?

Could you kindly share the name of the guide books you mentioned?

[lizawa]

ApronMama:

Dear Lizawa,


You are right, my P5 son is going to be the first batch for the new CL exam format. So this year, we should not buy P5 Chinese Top school papers to save some cost?

Could you kindly share the name of the guide books you mentioned?

Yes, my girl is also P5 this year. I have ordered the past year papers, less Chinese.

I have not checked what guide books to get yet. Will share with you after the parents meeting and after I get more info from fellow parents. Which school is your elder one in ?

[ApronMama]

No, I am helping to find out for my nephew (quite close to me). He has just joint HCI. Heard they still split their students into GEP and non-GEP? and there is still a ‘O’ path? Pls send me PM if you wish.


My eldest is a P5 son. he wish to follow my nephew to go to HCI in two years time. Care to share the P5 assessment books you have picked for your girl? My son is quite week in his compo for both languages (score 12 - 13/20 usually), any help for training centre or resources is much appreciated.

[lizawa]

Hi ApronMama,


Yes, the classes in "iSparks" are students from primary GEP + some selected high ability students (those who scored high for GAT during the DSA exercise). After Sec 2, all the students will be merged, regardless of GEP or non GEP.

I don’t think there is any official ‘O’-level path for HCI. What I understand during the open house last year, was only those who really cannot cope with the IP program will be asked to sit for ‘O’-level, and last year, there were only 10+ students who sat for ‘O’-levels. And they have dedicated teachers (almost like 1 teacher to 2 students) to guide these 10+ students sitting for ‘O’-levels. Will find out more during the parents meeting in 2 weeks time.

I am one of those who will get Andrew Er’s book for Maths. English, mainly Casco and becos’ P5 is a great leap from P4, I also picked those books with certain focus, eg. "100 Cloze Passages " as this is one area my daughter is weak in.

Don’t really know how to teach compo or creative writing. But I do get them model compo to read and hopefully they have more ideas when they have to write something similar.

[ApronMama]

What wonderful school HCI is …


Thanks for the tips on P5 assessment books and compo.