Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)

[breezy]

zeemimi:

breezy:

[quote=\"zeemimi\"]

breezy,

another question. The HCL boys can take CLB in Yr 5 regardless of their HCL grade?

Yes. As long as they've passed \"O\"-level normal chinese.

Tks. A bit confused cos it seems to indicate otherwise in the SJI thread.[/quote]Okay, I just ploughed thru my son's yr 5 subject briefing pack and gathered these:


Mother tongue requirements & MOE bilingual policy:
Students who have met the MOE mother tongue requirements at GCE O level exam (ie. obtained a D7 grade or better for the higher mother tongue at GCE O level examination) can offer ANY language subject in GRoup 2. To offer language ab initio, students must have obtained a D7 grade or better for the higher mother tongue at the GCE O level examination. Otherwise, they will be required to sit for the GCE 'A' level H1 mother tongue examination.

Students who have been officially exempted from taking the official mother tongue languages can offer any language in group 2.

To lessen the examination load at the end of IB year 2, one standard level examination can be taken at the end of IB year 1. This subject is termed \"Anticipated Subject\" and students are able to offer Chinese B, Malay B or Tamil B as an anticipated subject and take the examination at the end of year 1.

Hope the above helped to clarify your doubt. I also spoke to the IB Chinese dean some 3 yrs back and was given the assurance that even if the student takes. HMT, they are still eligible to do Chinese B in yr 5. You may like to call for clarification too

[zeemimi]

Tks breezy! Yes this explanation is much clearer and leaves no room for doubt. At least I’m not left wondering if I did the right thing letting ds do hcl. Hv a great year ahead!

[KPFan]

Thank you for the explanation, autolycus!

[thinking mum]

Thank you Breezy! Its clear to me too! Was unsure and confused before.

[thinking mum]

And congrats to the boys for the excellent performance!

[SoBlessed]

autolycus,


Some time ago, you mentioned that \"the ACS(I) pre-IB programme is designed to teach IB-style thinking and useful skills, and it starts at Year 1.\"

Questions:
How disadvantaged, then, are Express students who qualify for and cross over to IB in Year 3?
As far as I know, only the literature books and grading system are different for Express vs. IB Year 1 students.

Any advice for Express students who wish to qualify for IB in Year 3?
I'm aware of the \"official\" requirements: Years 1 & 2 exam results, selection test (HAST?) and interview.

Thanks in advance for your ex-insider insight and/or advice.

Advice from any parent(s) with DS who crossed over to IB in Year 3 will also be much appreciated.

[autolycus]

SoBlessed:

autolycus,


Some time ago, you mentioned that \"the ACS(I) pre-IB programme is designed to teach IB-style thinking and useful skills, and it starts at Year 1.\"

Questions:
How disadvantaged, then, are Express students who qualify for and cross over to IB in Year 3?
As far as I know, only the literature books and grading system are different for Express vs. IB Year 1 students.

Any advice for Express students who wish to qualify for IB in Year 3?
I'm aware of the \"official\" requirements: Years 1 & 2 exam results, selection test (HAST?) and interview.

Thanks in advance for your ex-insider insight and/or advice.

Advice from any parent(s) with DS who crossed over to IB in Year 3 will also be much appreciated.

Express students aren't particularly disadvantaged in practice. This is because they have good enough coverage, and frankly most IP lower secondary students don't take advantage of their potentially more powerful curriculum. The original twin-track system was designed to allow for relatively easy lateral transfer, so the S2Exp to S3IP transition isn't difficult.

For Express students who wish to qualify for the IP at Y3 leading to IB, the one piece of invaluable advice is: READ A LOT. Books like Ha-Joon Chang's 'Economics: The User's Guide' and various short world histories, science magazines, National Geographic, etc... these provide a good stockpile of raw materials for future success. It's not that you will need all of it, or that you won't do well without it, but developing the capacity to devour many pages of non-fiction at one sitting is essential for many interesting career options later on.

[SoBlessed]

autolycus:

SoBlessed:

autolycus,


Some time ago, you mentioned that \"the ACS(I) pre-IB programme is designed to teach IB-style thinking and useful skills, and it starts at Year 1.\"

Questions:
How disadvantaged, then, are Express students who qualify for and cross over to IB in Year 3?
As far as I know, only the literature books and grading system are different for Express vs. IB Year 1 students.

Any advice for Express students who wish to qualify for IB in Year 3?
I'm aware of the \"official\" requirements: Years 1 & 2 exam results, selection test (HAST?) and interview.

Thanks in advance for your ex-insider insight and/or advice.

Advice from any parent(s) with DS who crossed over to IB in Year 3 will also be much appreciated.

Express students aren't particularly disadvantaged in practice. This is because they have good enough coverage, and frankly most IP lower secondary students don't take advantage of their potentially more powerful curriculum. The original twin-track system was designed to allow for relatively easy lateral transfer, so the S2Exp to S3IP transition isn't difficult.

For Express students who wish to qualify for the IP at Y3 leading to IB, the one piece of invaluable advice is: READ A LOT. Books like Ha-Joon Chang's 'Economics: The User's Guide' and various short world histories, science magazines, National Geographic, etc... these provide a good stockpile of raw materials for future success. It's not that you will need all of it, or that you won't do well without it, but developing the capacity to devour many pages of non-fiction at one sitting is essential for many interesting career options later on.

As always, prompt and precise. Thank you so much, autolycus.

BTW, when I said \"IB\", I meant \"IP (IB)\". I'm aware that IB only begins in Year 5.

The hunger for useful, non-fiction knowledge is something we're trying develop in our DS. Selected newspaper articles, Time magazines, and Nat Geo's The Knowledge Book and The Science of Everything are some of his current resources. He's more into fiction and Math/IQ books, of which he has quite a collection.

[breezy]

SoBlessed:

Questions:
How disadvantaged, then, are Express students who qualify for and cross over to IB in Year 3?

Advice from any parent(s) with DS who crossed over to IB in Year 3 will also be much appreciated.

Hi SoBlessed,

Crossing over to the IP track @ Yr 3, some boys do find it a challenge picking up Language Arts where a significant amount of Guided Literary Analysis on unseen poems on top of expository essays & 3 Lit books are covered. The rest of the subjects are conducted the same way as the express track.

It's usually the \"frills\" that \"drown\" the boys for the IP track. Besides covering text, they are required to do the following:

2 extra subjects IP boys have to take - eTOK (elementary Theory of knowledge): & IHS (there is a new acronym for this though...)

ISO - Individual Study Option (Project that is done in groups of usually 3 spanning over 3 school terms - & this may require attachment to external institutions for some groups.)

IOP - Individual Oral Presentation based on a Lit book. (happening in term 2)

& Project work for ALL subjects ( a few in groups, majority individual), topics usually out of curriculum, which requires the boys to spend time on research & analysis.) Starting end term 2 submitting by mid term 3.

The frills injected into the IP curriculum are meant to give the boys a mini dose of IB life & to pick up skills like Time Management, how to steer & present a research paper, building bibilography etc.

My 2 cents'. All the best!

[BeContented]

Lab coat - anyone knows if the boys need to use it until which year?

Thinking of passing to friend’s sec1 son if the upper sec/senior years no longer require it.