2019 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2007)

[MrsKiasu]

Thanks phtthp..like your style so much, always explained in such detailed.


May I know what is EMS?

Asked dd for more this morning and she agrees that I should step in to help

[phtthp]

EMS : (English, Maths, Science), the 3 main core subjects tested, at PSLE.



4th core subject : Mother Tongue
(Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Chinese)


5th paper : Higher Mother tongue
(for selected students : approved by schools, based on able to meet school selection criteria, at end of P4 streaming, plus at end of P5 results)

[jetsetter]

phtthp:

MrsKiasu:

I was telling dd that I hope they have CA1. For me is to see if dd could follow.

best to check, with your daughter's Affliated school.

Sometimes, certain primary schools at (P3, P4) : don't have CA1 nor CA2.
But come P5 , suddenly got CA1.

Don't your schools have regular continual tests in Terms 1 and 3 that carry a certain weightage in P3 and P4?

I won't say we have CA1 per se, but yes, phtthp, our school's been having many continual tests before and after CNY, and still ongoing btw. All scores will be computed as part of CA1 %.

There're pros and cons of having CA1 and CA2. They serve as impt checkpoints aka \"wake-up call\" for weaker students, and as good practice platforms for students who lack time mgmt skills under exam conditions. Each time they do a continual test, they are forced to gear up in full combat mode to fight a new battle. CAs keep students on their toes; whether it's festive season or not, one must be operationally ready to tackle any surprise tests thrown at them at any point in time.

The con is because they are not full-duration tests like SA1 and SA2, they don't really test their mettle to the fullest. The contents tested in CAs are also lighter.

For P4 onwards, I feel it's best to get kids accustomed to the full-duration exam conditions, i.e. SAs rather than bite-sized CAs, because the actual PSLE won't be served in bite sizes!

[sembgal]

phtthp:

why some schools at P4 have CA1 this week (February), while other schools do not ?

do you think is better to have CA1, or not ?

DD has been having CA1 exam since P2. This year in P4, CA1 is only 10% of overall. The one that can really makes a difference to the overall marks is SA2 exam which an be as much as 50%.

P4 is a very important year because the Chinese words taught at these level will be tested in PSLE too. Therefore, must ensure your child is taking 听写 learning very seriously. Maths concepts is based on what was taught last year as well as new topics this year. Science has to do really well in P3, otherwise if your child in P4, has to relearn back the p3 topics and still cope with new Science topics, gonna be tough on the child. English-make sure your child READS everyday.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/lets-kill-the-drill-approach-in-schools

Lastly, it is up to the child and parents on what approach they want to adopt in order to help the child cope. Just encourage your child to do the best that he/she can be and accept the marks and move on.

[lee_yl]

jetsetter:

Don't your schools have regular continual tests in Terms 1 and 3 that carry a certain weightage in P3 and P4?

I won't say we have CA1 per se, but yes, phtthp, our school's been having many continual tests before and after CNY, and still ongoing btw. All scores will be computed as part of CA1 %.

There're pros and cons of having CA1 and CA2. They serve as impt checkpoints aka \"wake-up call\" for weaker students, and as good practice platforms for students who lack time mgmt skills under exam conditions. Each time they do a continual test, they are forced to gear up in full combat mode to fight a new battle. CAs keep students on their toes; whether it's festive season or not, one must be operationally ready to tackle any surprise tests thrown at them at any point in time.

The con is because they are not full-duration tests like SA1 and SA2, they don't really test their mettle to the fullest. The contents tested in CAs are also lighter.

For P4 onwards, I feel it's best to get kids accustomed to the full-duration exam conditions, i.e. SAs rather than bite-sized CAs, because the actual PSLE won't be served in bite sizes!

This was exactly what my DD1's form teacher told me during PTM back in P2! That is, PSLE has no CAs to pull your score up. So our school started the training as early as P2, SA1 40%, SA2 60%.

I checked with a friend whose daughter is in a popular neighborhood school and she has to take CAs so I thought ours was unusual until from what was being shared by quite a number of mummies here, it seems that many schools are also doing away with CAs.

For me, I think it's more like taking away some stress from the mother without preparing for exams 4 times a year, like what FLD shared, if the child 涂 4 times, mother stressed 4 times a year, can die.

But my children on and off has bite-size topical tests whose marks are not counted. My own experience, if the teacher wants to complain, anytime your hp will ring and your email will get flooded, no need to wait for CAs' results!

[MrsKiasu]

phtthp:

EMS : (English, Maths, Science), the 3 main core subjects tested, at PSLE.



4th core subject : Mother Tongue
(Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Chinese)


5th paper : Higher Mother tongue
(for selected students : approved by schools, based on able to meet school selection criteria, at end of P4 streaming, plus at end of P5 results)

oic thank you.

[MrsKiasu]

how do we know if the school has weightage for SA1 and SA2? can see from report book? for your kid’s school, P3 got weightage already?

[MyPillow]

Some Sch called it class test , weighs abt 15 per cent per term - back to sq one right !

Guess the class or ca is to train rigour n consistency . Whether got ca or no ca , SA1 n SA2 are full paper n all kids sure got chances to taste it fr P3 onwards . But quite scary for Sch with no SA1 - ?

[phtthp]

sembgal:

DD has been having CA1 exam since P2. This year in P4, CA1 is only 10% of overall. The one that can really makes a difference to the overall marks is SA2 exam which an be as much as 50%.

P4 is a very important year because the Chinese words taught at these level will be tested in PSLE too. Therefore, must ensure your child is taking 听写 learning very seriously. Maths concepts is based on what was taught last year as well as new topics this year. Science has to do really well in P3, otherwise if your child in P4, has to re-learn back the p3 topics and still cope with new Science topics, gonna be tough on the child. English-make sure your child READS everyday.

http://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/lets-kill-the-drill-approach-in-schools

Lastly, it is up to the child and parents on what approach they want to adopt in order to help the child cope. Just encourage your child to do the best that he/she can be and accept the marks and move on.

talking about 听写, find it hard to cope : because school already have weekly (听写 + moxie).
then, Chinese tuition centre also have another set of weekly ( 听写 + moxie)

end up : whole week revolving around ( 听写 + moxie) ==> kid no time to do revision
and moxie so wordy, so long, so many chim character to remember

[FantasyLandDreams]

MrsKiasu:

how do we know if the school has weightage for SA1 and SA2? can see from report book? for your kid's school, P3 got weightage already?

Should be stated inside the student journal usually. If not, school would have issued memo to parents stating the weightage at beginning of the year.