DSA 2017

[coast]

lee_yl:

I recently found out that of the 16,000+ primary school children who applied for DSA last year, only 2000+ were successful.


I was rather shocked by this figure but when I told my best friend about it, she didn't quite believe me and said the figure was not possible.

I think it would be useful to make the success rate for DSA applications public and transparent so that parents and students have a rough idea on their chances. No point raising the expectations and then what they get is disappointment after an agonising wait, not to mention the time and resources expended in preparing for the DSA application.

If one knows that he/ she has only 10% chance of getting to a specific school via DSA, one may think hard before giving it a shot or just spend the time and energy to prepare for PSLE.

The 10% success rate that I mentioned was for the few IP schools I was aware of ... it refers to the chance of an applicant getting a CO from a particular school. Parents would have a feel because they roughly know the number of students taking the tests if they send their kids to the venue. A P of a top IP school also gave this 10% figure for those who applied DSA to his school last year. The number of students eventually admitted to the school via DSA would be higher as it includes those who were given WLs but eventually converted to COs during PSLE results day.

[Terryy]

lee_yl:

Terryy:

People assume they cannot study and only play. From a perspective of a person who plays sports myself, getting into a good school team with a good coach is also crucial in doing well in it. DSA is not a backdoor into a school, but to help children academically and also reaching their full potential in their sport or art... Of course without proper regulations then it becomes a system open to abuse...

But it can be pretty upsetting for some who might not do so well at O-levels. When friends in their new school ask them which sec school they were from, should they reply RI?

Sigh that opens a can of worms. Of course it is true but I just agree with the sentiment that not all DSA people are taking a backdoor or slacking their way through life. I've seen proper coaches and teachers work together to get students under their charge to not just excel in sports but in schools too... Hopefully the system doesn't just become a mercenary exchange between schools for medals by making \"use\" of students..

[coast]

Pen88n:

Just purely analysing the stats:

PSLE yearly cohort is about 40,000+. If 16,000 applied DSA, that is about 40% (or slightly less) of the cohort applying DSA. Now consider the success rate of 2,000 - that is about 12.5% success rate for application (every 1 in 8 is successful - actually not too bad). So if all 2,000 successful ones accepted the offer, 5% of the PSLE cohort already have secondary school places reserved before taking PSLE.

Yearly GEP cohort is about 450, and definitely not all successful in DSA. So bulk of DSA successful ones are from mainstream based on the stats. I know, I know, the controversy is about which top IP school again.....haiz......

\"...DSA admission numbers in 2016. I would like to clarify that schools received 16,000 applications last year, with some students applying to more than one school. Eventually, a total of 2,800 students were admitted to secondary school via DSA, half of whom were admitted to the Integrated Programme, or IP.

Just to clarify ... it's not 16000 students but applications ... actual number of students would probably be around 8000 (assuming each student applies to 2 schools on average)

[sob7]

If GAT is to be removed, would HAST be as well?

it was not mentioned in the MOE
SInce both are tests that similar in nature in testing a child’s ability in maths, abstract reasoning and language.

[lee_yl]

coast:

The 10% success rate that I mentioned was for the few IP schools I was aware of ... it refers to the chance of an applicant getting a CO from a particular school. Parents would have a feel because they roughly know the number of students taking the tests if they send their kids to the venue. A P of a top IP school also gave this 10% figure for those who applied DSA to his school last year. The number of students eventually admitted to the school via DSA would be higher as it includes those who were given WLs but eventually converted to COs during PSLE results day.

Thanks!
Yes, I mean let the parents and child know that their chances of success should be between 10%-20% (for those TOP IP schs) so that parents and child can really think through if they want to proceed with the tedious process.

[lee_yl]

pirate:

lee_yl:

I recently found out that of the 16,000+ primary school children who applied for DSA last year, only 2000+ were successful.


I was rather shocked by this figure but when I told my best friend about it, she didn't quite believe me and said the figure was not possible.

Of course it is possible. If 14,000+ out of the 16,000+ applied for DSA to the same 5 schools, it is not only possible, it is inevitable... :siam:

Actually, according to Minister, there were 16,000+ applications (with some applying to more than one school), out of which 2,800 students were admitted into secondary school via DSA, with about half successful in getting into IP via DSA. So it is not 16,000+ students who applied.

The question is how many students actually applied for DSA. In one extreme scenario, if the 2800 successful applicants submitted those 16,000+ DSA applications, then the success rate is 100%!

When I attended DD2's school's gep briefing, we were told that the success rate for DSA by P6 geppers was XX.X%. I think this piece of useful information gave us parents a rough idea where our child stands if we were to choose to DSA. So I hope the same data can be made known for MS.

[Nebbermind]

lee_yl:

Thanks!
Yes, I mean let the parents and child know that their chances of success should be between 10%-20% (for those TOP IP schs) so that parents and child can really think through if they want to proceed with the tedious process.

But they donch randomly pick the kids. So cannot say chance is 10~20%, ya? If one excel not only in acad but also in sports and leadership, certainly it'll be a lot higher than that.

In any case, except for making yourself available on those test dates, it's really not as tedious as some made it out to be.

[Nebbermind]

lee_yl:

The question is how many students actually applied for DSA. In one extreme scenario, if the 2800 successful applicants submitted those 16,000+ DSA applications, then the success rate is 100%!

When I attended DD2's school's gep briefing, we were told that the success rate for DSA by P6 geppers was XX.X%. I think this piece of useful information gave us parents a rough idea where our child stands if we were to choose to DSA. So I hope the same data can be made known for MS.

Ah! You forgot that many will get more than one CO!

[pirate]

lee_yl:

When I attended DD2's school's gep briefing, we were told that the success rate for DSA by P6 geppers was XX.X%. I think this piece of useful information gave us parents a rough idea where our child stands if we were to choose to DSA. So I hope the same data can be made known for MS.

Surely that will depend on which school one is applying to, and the quality of the competition in any particular cohort.

[coast]

lee_yl:

coast:

The 10% success rate that I mentioned was for the few IP schools I was aware of ... it refers to the chance of an applicant getting a CO from a particular school. Parents would have a feel because they roughly know the number of students taking the tests if they send their kids to the venue. A P of a top IP school also gave this 10% figure for those who applied DSA to his school last year. The number of students eventually admitted to the school via DSA would be higher as it includes those who were given WLs but eventually converted to COs during PSLE results day.

Thanks!
Yes, I mean let the parents and child know that their chances of success should be between 10%-20% (for those TOP IP schs) so that parents and child can really think through if they want to proceed with the tedious process.

Please take it with a pinch of salt. The actual figure might vary quite a bit since it was based on estimates on the number of students taking tests and one could not really “count” hundreds of students. Besides, there is probably no correlation between number of DSA applications for a school each year so while 10% might be a good guess for a school last year, it might not mean much for any other year.

I used the success rate with my DS to manage his expectations. He enjoyed the DSA process as he knew that it was perfectly normal if he did not succeed. He took it as a chance to know the schools better. During DSA, he interacted with seniors, teachers and even Alumni invited by the school to help with the DSA. He would make a more informed decision to select his school choices after PSLE should his DSA be unsuccessful. Prior to knowing the DSA outcome, I shared the following last year :-

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Re: DSA 2016
by coast » Fri Aug 19, 2016 1:41 pm
Just want to share that my DS has enjoyed his DSA journey. He gets to know the schools better. Regardless of the outcome, it was a good decision for him to have participated in the DSA. It will help in his eventual decision to choose his secondary school whether via DSA option or PSLE results (hoping for the former but it is okay if he needs to wait for his PSLE results).

All the best to your DCs and hope that they will hear the good news from their dream schools soon
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