2016 PSLE Discussions (Born in 2004)
-
Do you think it is important for the kids to attend school on Wed? I am playing with the idea of keeping DS at home.
-
SpartanMum:
Both my girls only have 1 CO each.ChiefKiasu:
We should always only DSA if we really want to go to that school. It is not a game of chope as many seats as we can. Otherwise we will just be wasting our own time, the school's time, and spoiling the chances for other students who could have gotten the CO otherwise.
Totally 100% agree.
However Chief, I think you and I are in the minority when it comes to this thinking. DSA 2016 thread is filled with multi-school applicants with a significant number awarded more than one CO. Imagine the number of deserving students who have been deprived of a CO because of this. But at the end of the day, the system absolutely allows it...so our opinions and the disappointment of the deserving empty-handed do not matter. Last year a friend of mine had 2 kids with 8 COs between them. Enough said.
I posted this in the dsa thread. Sharing this here too. My top takeaway based on my twice dsa experience
sleepy:
Time is very precious to P6ers. Going for GAT, written test, camp, interviews - $ aside, all these are very time consuming and took time away from prelim and psle preparation.
Personally I feel that the maximum number of schools to apply for is 2, provided the child is relatively neutral between the 2 schools. Even if there is a slight preference over 1, it is fine too because it is only natural to have some slight preference.
However, if there is a clear and distinctive choice, one and only ideal school, then child should just apply to that one school.
No point wasting a P6er's precious time especially if one has no intention of choosing a 2nd or 3rd or even 4th choice school, before psle.
Sometimes I feel that parents are the ones who feel insecured (I can totally relate to that) and become over zealous during dsa application process. Parents do play the biggest role in deciding how many schools to dsa to and which to apply. -
happyheart:
Do you think it is important for the kids to attend school on Wed? I am playing with the idea of keeping DS at home.
my daughter will be at home on Wednesday. Will get her to sleep early. -
SpartanMum:
I think what CKS meant is that only DSA to schs one is happy to accept, should it be the only one offering a CO. I don't think he meant it is improper to DSA to more than one sch.ChiefKiasu:
We should always only DSA if we really want to go to that school. It is not a game of chope as many seats as we can. Otherwise we will just be wasting our own time, the school's time, and spoiling the chances for other students who could have gotten the CO otherwise.
Totally 100% agree.
However Chief, I think you and I are in the minority when it comes to this thinking. DSA 2016 thread is filled with multi-school applicants with a significant number awarded more than one CO. Imagine the number of deserving students who have been deprived of a CO because of this. But at the end of the day, the system absolutely allows it...so our opinions and the disappointment of the deserving empty-handed do not matter. Last year a friend of mine had 2 kids with 8 COs between them. Enough said.
As an example, suppose one's kid wants to do IB, and he prefers SJI but likes ASCI as well. Unless someone can guarantee that SJI will definitely offer him a CO, what is wrong with casting the net wider and also DSA to ASCI? If he is happy to accept the ACSI offer should it be the only offer, who are we to judge him? In the end, if SJI also offers him a CO, who are we to judge him?
The example of 2 kids having 8 CO is obviously an extreme case. We should view extreme examples as they are - outliers and therefore not reflective of the norm.
To recap, the reason why most kids DSA to more than one sch is that there is no gurantee that their top choice sch will accept them. As long as they are happy to accept any of the schs they DSA to, I don't see a problem. -
Sleepy - yes, good points
Hi All - hope you and your DCs are doing great. I am sending my DS to school tomorrow. I am trying to keep things as normal as possible.
My sincere best wishes to all the DCs who are taking PSLE 2016. May you stay healthy and calm. Take care! -
All the best to all DCs...my DD will also be doing PSLE this yr...she looks tired thou maybe the school conduct remedial nearly everyday since last 2 wks.
-
ftwm, same here. My dd looks shagged with all the supplementary classes and homeworks.
Hope all P6-er stay healthy and be composed during the exams. All the best! -
I don’t understand why the schools want to push them all so hard so close to the exams. My daughter’s school still had normal supplementary classes last week and these few days, although I pulled her out of most of her supp classes a few months ago. At this stage, I think they all need very different things so making them all do the same preparation doesn’t help much. For example, my daughter needs to revisit all the maths problem sums that she struggled with in the practise papers and re-do them to consolidate the methods, not to try new questions which she will never have the chance to review. Other children will need to focus on their timing for the exam etc etc.
-
nms1:
I don't understand why the schools want to push them all so hard so close to the exams. My daughter's school still had normal supplementary classes last week and these few days, although I pulled her out of most of her supp classes a few months ago. At this stage, I think they all need very different things so making them all do the same preparation doesn't help much. For example, my daughter needs to revisit all the maths problem sums that she struggled with in the practise papers and re-do them to consolidate the methods, not to try new questions which she will never have the chance to review. Other children will need to focus on their timing for the exam etc etc.
nms1 you are right. I wish the teachers had more time to attend to individual needs but I think our system with 40+ students per class (there are exceptions like GEP) and teachers burdened with admin work doesn't allow such individualised evaluation and attention. Hence it falls on the parents and in some cases, tutors to try and address any gaps.
In an ideal world, all students would have equal access to equal education and every child would be treated as an individual who has his/her own talents and abilities to be nurtured. At the moment, we are pretty far off.
As parents, I am sure we all do our utmost to bring out the best in our children.And that's the best we can do for now. -
DS school is pretty good… no more supplementary class in Term 4. HW also reduced significantly in Term 4. No more lots of past years paper, but rather notes and going through main points during class. Jiayou to all!
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better 💗
Register Login