2016 O levels (Kids born in 2000)

[zbear]

Thanks Janet.

[TheAnswer]

I dun want to be a wet blanket but we need to be practical. During A levels, students are competing with a group of resourceful, intelligent and hardworking students. The bell curve will not be anywhere close to O levels bell curve. A level bell curve includes IP students. A student can try their best yet achieve horrendous results. Good courses in local universities are asking for mostly As. Bs and Cs can get only limited choices. Any lower passing grades won’t make it to local university. It is not easy to score a B during A levels. Ask around. Ask someone in mid range JC to know what much they struggle. It is blood and sweat continuously for 2 years. Nonstop torture if I may put it that way. Also dun expect Lecturers to teach n reteach same thing over n over again. Either self help or drown. End of year 1 promo exam. From what I remember, that was like the 2nd worst exam ever in my life. Worst exam was A levels in terms of difficulty and stress. O levels I barely studied but I did pretty well. University was a breeze for me. I’m sharing so that u know the issue is not uncommon and I’m comparing the difficulty/ intensity of the exams.

[zbear]

TheAnswer:

I dun want to be a wet blanket but we need to be practical. During A levels, students are competing with a group of resourceful, intelligent and hardworking students. The bell curve will not be anywhere close to O levels bell curve. A level bell curve includes IP students. A student can try their best yet achieve horrendous results. Good courses in local universities are asking for mostly As. Bs and Cs can get only limited choices. Any lower passing grades won't make it to local university. It is not easy to score a B during A levels. Ask around. Ask someone in mid range JC to know what much they struggle. It is blood and sweat continuously for 2 years. Nonstop torture if I may put it that way. Also dun expect Lecturers to teach n reteach same thing over n over again. Either self help or drown. End of year 1 promo exam. From what I remember, that was like the 2nd worst exam ever in my life. Worst exam was A levels in terms of difficulty and stress. O levels I barely studied but I did pretty well. University was a breeze for me. I'm sharing so that u know the issue is not uncommon and I'm comparing the difficulty/ intensity of the exams.

:goodpost:

I agree. Doing well in O levels is no guarantee that you will do well in A levels. The jump is too great.

Have told DS to try his best n I will accept whatever his A level results may be.

Also told him that Uni life will definitely be better than JC life, so he can look forward after going through this year of academic torture.

[lee_yl]

Poly offers another route to the university for those who are not so academically inclined. My cousins who went to Poly all went on to local universities. Granted that they had to work hard.


A-level is very stressful and competitive. 2 of my cousins who went to JCs, albeit the lower ranked ones, ended up going back to Poly before getting into University.

IMO, MI Business stream may be a better choice.

[floppy]

lee_yl:

IMO, MI Business stream may be a better choice.

I agree.

A level, like the O level, is a national exam that's graded on a curve. Hence, it's as much as doing well for yourself and doing better than your peers. However, unlike the O level, the A level is basically an exam between the top 20%, rather than the entire cohort. Furthermore, the top 5% were not even present during the O level. Some of the O level's As could well become A level's Bs or Cs when these missing students come into play.

Given that JCs do not offer the commerce stream anymore, the effect of the curve for some subjects may not be that severe.

[Imp75]

A levels has always been a competition amongst the best academically. I thought it would be a better situation now as there are more pathways and some are siphoned away into the IB league.


Eh actually my time hor, A levels quite relaxed leh… Cos I only take bare min subjects (3 subjects) And no extra rubbish (eg S papers etc) to pad my certificate. University is even better, can work PT and go clubbing. Oh miss those days!

[iFirefly]

Imp75:

A levels has always been a competition amongst the best academically. I thought it would be a better situation now as there are more pathways and some are siphoned away into the IB league.


Eh actually my time hor, A levels quite relaxed leh.... Cos I only take bare min subjects (3 subjects) And no extra rubbish (eg S papers etc) to pad my certificate. University is even better, can work PT and go clubbing. Oh miss those days!

Wow.. Your time must be a long long time ago..

[floppy]

Imp75:

A levels has always been a competition amongst the best academically. I thought it would be a better situation now as there are more pathways and some are siphoned away into the IB league.


Eh actually my time hor, A levels quite relaxed leh.... Cos I only take bare min subjects (3 subjects) And no extra rubbish (eg S papers etc) to pad my certificate. University is even better, can work PT and go clubbing. Oh miss those days!

IP students > IB students
The situation is indeed better because there are more pathways. But A level is more competitive than ever because the top students are identified and trained much earlier.

Those are the good days leh. I remember preparing for Os as being harder than for As. After dropping Econs, I had possibly the easiest combination available (Double Maths and Physics) for a Science student :evil:

I only remember U for the endless Jam and Hop (more Hop than Jam), Zouk Mambo and Guild House (who would have thought, a club in campus).

[Pen88n]

I also see that most A levels subjects are extension of the O levels subjects, other than a few new ones you may choose to take (eg. Econs). As such, those with strong foundation of the subjects do have benefits, though one may argue that student can still work hard to catch up. Given that you are competing against top cohort in the A levels "race", you would not want to "lose out" right from the starting point, which you probably would if your subject foundation is not as strong. If you check around, there are some significant differences in uni entry success rates of different JCs (I heard some are even single digit %). Not putting down any JCs here, but just stating a fact that A levels is very competitive.


For poly, most students start afresh with courses they are interested in. Quite different from O levels subjects taken. I think that puts everyone on the same starting line, and every student has a chance to work hard and excel. There may be some talented ones in certain areas, but generally I think everyone starts in a more level playing field there, regardless of their O levels score.

[jtoh]

I have friends whose kids were not doing too well in secondary school so they opted for Poly after O levels. I can see they’ve really blossomed there. The courses they took appealed to them and they no longer needed to struggle with subjects which would have been compulsory had they chosen to do A levels, like GP. They intend to go on to university.