DSA 2017
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floppy:
I think they are able to tell. Some use that knowledge to choose kids who would fit the school, some simply choose whats best for the school sport. As parents we need to see beyond the reflected glamour of our kids being offered a place at a \"top\" school, and assess what is truly best for them.
You would think that after years of interviewing and looking at the DSA candidates, schools (especially the popular ones) would have gotten very good at telling the potential, the passable and the let-it-go.Schootopia:
The truth is, most try the DSA route because their grades will not make the cut for admission to that sec school. Most DSA applications will fail. But a huge amount of time would have been wasted on \"competition\", \"training\", \"CCA\" ... -
That is the purpose of interview.
It is also to screen out those who are purposeful in getting in. Not just because parents says so.
Children ought to have a say in it since they are the ones studying in that school ultimately. -
yap_susan:
During interview, how to identify those P6 interviewees that are purposeful in entering the DSA Secondary school ?That is the purpose of interview.
It is also to screen out those who are purposeful in getting in. Not just because parents says so.
Children ought to have a say in it since they are the ones studying in that school ultimately.
Some parents may have already pre-program their children for interview with answers, show to interviewers during interview that they are purposeful. -
I believe the testers are seasoned enough to know if they are pre programmed.
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Thank you for sharing. Very useful info. I would like to ask what is the implications if the student enters sec sch via DSA? I have heard that all DSA students will be grouped in a class. After PSLE results announced, the top tier of PSLE grades will be allocated to the High-ability sec 1 class (some school do it discreetly) and the students are ranked according to their PSLE T-score to be in the sec 1 class of the school posted to.
Oh My Gosh:
Dear parents, DS just finished his PSLE hence I thought of providing some feedback. DSA is a 2 edged sword. DSA is really a great initiative as it relieve the stress of parents and students from the uncertainty of PSLE results, and most importantly, the hassle of screening through 6 choices in the S1 exercise.
However, if your child is consistently showing good results, I would propose only applying for the DSA of only 1 school he really want to go, or even not to apply DSA at all. My son applied DSA Academics of a IP school (School A) he really like, and another IP school (School B) near our place which I proposed. He got WL from School A and CO from School B. He is in a dilemma of his DSA selection - I can sense his worry that his WL may not be converted and he will go into School B, yet after much consideration, he decided to place WL from School A as first choice and CO from School B as 2nd choice.
When the school results came out, he did well enough to go to any school. We are blessed that his WL is converted but there is always a worry that if it is not converted, he will be in School B. After the results are out, I then asked him what if he is posted to School B (I didn't want to add his anxiety in the first place and being a matured boy, he made his own decisions), he told me he will accept the decision and will still work hard.
I want to stress that both School A and School B are good IP schools but there is a preference for my boy. So even if he said he will still work hard, I am sure there will be a certain regret that he could have go into his preferred choice using his T score. And there are \"branded\" Schools which everyone is telling me DS should go.
Parents, what I am trying to say is our child may just be 12 years old, but there is a certain maturity and preference in their mind. We should work out the options with them and make a choice which we will never regret. All the best to your DC for DSA 2017. Without regrets, I will be trying for DSA again in 2018 for my DD but this time, it will definitely a more experienced process. -
Yes, I have been told sports talent can be trained or can be inborn natural. The experienced school staff can tell the difference. So can I ask if DSA is for those with not so good results? If the student is consistently doing very well achieving A*, is it safe to say that the child can skip DSA?
fable:
I think they are able to tell. Some use that knowledge to choose kids who would fit the school, some simply choose whats best for the school sport. As parents we need to see beyond the reflected glamour of our kids being offered a place at a \"top\" school, and assess what is truly best for them.[/quote]
You would think that after years of interviewing and looking at the DSA candidates, schools (especially the popular ones) would have gotten very good at telling the potential, the passable and the let-it-go.floppy:
[quote=\"Schootopia\"]
The truth is, most try the DSA route because their grades will not make the cut for admission to that sec school. Most DSA applications will fail. But a huge amount of time would have been wasted on \"competition\", \"training\", \"CCA\" ... -
Seriously, non-academic DSA into elite schools only makes sense if you know your child has the ability to survive the academic rigour of those schools. The same thing applies if your child is going for affiliated secondary schools with high t-score requirements for outsiders.
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phtthp:
When my DD was attending all the interviews, the feedback after every session was really quite telling. Every school has their way of sussing out the type of students they are looking for. They arrange and conduct the interviews in a very organised manner but each school does it differently. The type of and focus of the questions they ask also differ greatly due to the different culture and focus of each school.
During interview, how to identify those P6 interviewees that are purposeful in entering the DSA Secondary school ?yap_susan:
That is the purpose of interview.
It is also to screen out those who are purposeful in getting in. Not just because parents says so.
Children ought to have a say in it since they are the ones studying in that school ultimately.
Some parents may have already pre-program their children for interview with answers, show to interviewers during interview that they are purposeful.
From our experience, I don't think there is a need to question if the schools' interview committees know how to tell a coached interview response from a genuine spontaneous one. Even the kids themselves within the interview groups could tell when they hear a \"prepared answer\". My DD told me that after every answer, further probes and request for elaborations from different teachers will come shooting out quite rapidly. The kids have no time to extract prepared memorised answers.... It will have be the genuine natural responses that will stand out.
Having said the above, it is also the schools' perogative to determine the deciding factor when it comes to DSA for different departments eg. Sports. If the school wants to focus on developing the sprints, then they may relax the interview criteria for the sprinters so that they will get achieve the intended aim of improving the school's sprint team.
The \"top\" schools also do not want students who are too far off the schools' academic standards. The follow-up processes in Sec 1 - Sec 4 for non-performance in academic studies is just too painful and demoralizing for students, parents and the school. So I really don't think any of the schools will set out to recruit students who obviously cannot keep up with the school's academic studies. -
sembgal:
Different schools group their students differently. I know of some Sec schools who group all their DSA sports students in a few classes, probably for easier makeup lesson arrangements especially during competition seasons.Thank you for sharing. Very useful info. I would like to ask what is the implications if the student enters sec sch via DSA? I have heard that all DSA students will be grouped in a class. After PSLE results announced, the top tier of PSLE grades will be allocated to the High-ability sec 1 class (some school do it discreetly) and the students are ranked according to their PSLE T-score to be in the sec 1 class of the school posted to.
Oh My Gosh:
Dear parents, DS just finished his PSLE hence I thought of providing some feedback. DSA is a 2 edged sword. DSA is really a great initiative as it relieve the stress of parents and students from the uncertainty of PSLE results, and most importantly, the hassle of screening through 6 choices in the S1 exercise.
However, if your child is consistently showing good results, I would propose only applying for the DSA of only 1 school he really want to go, or even not to apply DSA at all. My son applied DSA Academics of a IP school (School A) he really like, and another IP school (School B) near our place which I proposed. He got WL from School A and CO from School B. He is in a dilemma of his DSA selection - I can sense his worry that his WL may not be converted and he will go into School B, yet after much consideration, he decided to place WL from School A as first choice and CO from School B as 2nd choice.
When the school results came out, he did well enough to go to any school. We are blessed that his WL is converted but there is always a worry that if it is not converted, he will be in School B. After the results are out, I then asked him what if he is posted to School B (I didn't want to add his anxiety in the first place and being a matured boy, he made his own decisions), he told me he will accept the decision and will still work hard.
I want to stress that both School A and School B are good IP schools but there is a preference for my boy. So even if he said he will still work hard, I am sure there will be a certain regret that he could have go into his preferred choice using his T score. And there are \"branded\" Schools which everyone is telling me DS should go.
Parents, what I am trying to say is our child may just be 12 years old, but there is a certain maturity and preference in their mind. We should work out the options with them and make a choice which we will never regret. All the best to your DC for DSA 2017. Without regrets, I will be trying for DSA again in 2018 for my DD but this time, it will definitely a more experienced process.
However, there are increasing numbers of schools where the emphasis is to integrate the DSA with non-DSA students evenly into all the classes of the cohort. I do feel that this is better. The DSA students are kept in the know about the progress of the entire class, and they are under no illusions that having competitions does not excuse them from having to keep up with the rest of the non-DSA students in their academic studies.
DSA cannot be used as a separate performance criteria for school-work. In fact, DSA is an additional performance requirement since the school-work is a given. It is required for ALL students, DSA or otherwise, to do reasonably well for their academics. The performance for their DSA activity is an additional requirement ON TOP OF the daily school stuff. -
Ms Tay MY:
When my DD was attending all the interviews, the feedback after every session was really quite telling. Every school has their way of sussing out the type of students they are looking for. They arrange and conduct the interviews in a very organised manner but each school does it differently. The type of and focus of the questions they ask also differ greatly due to the different culture and focus of each school.
During interview, how to identify those P6 interviewees that are purposeful in entering the DSA Secondary school ?phtthp:
[quote=\"yap_susan\"]That is the purpose of interview.
It is also to screen out those who are purposeful in getting in. Not just because parents says so.
Children ought to have a say in it since they are the ones studying in that school ultimately.
Some parents may have already pre-program their children for interview with answers, show to interviewers during interview that they are purposeful.
From our experience, I don't think there is a need to question if the schools' interview committees know how to tell a coached interview response from a genuine spontaneous one. Even the kids themselves within the interview groups could tell when they hear a \"prepared answer\". My DD told me that after every answer, further probes and request for elaborations from different teachers will come shooting out quite rapidly. The kids have no time to extract prepared memorised answers.... It will have be the genuine natural responses that will stand out.
Having said the above, it is also the schools' perogative to determine the deciding factor when it comes to DSA for different departments eg. Sports. If the school wants to focus on developing the sprints, then they may relax the interview criteria for the sprinters so that they will get achieve the intended aim of improving the school's sprint team.
The \"top\" schools also do not want students who are too far off the schools' academic standards. The follow-up processes in Sec 1 - Sec 4 for non-performance in academic studies is just too painful and demoralizing for students, parents and the school. So I really don't think any of the schools will set out to recruit students who obviously cannot keep up with the school's academic studies.[/quote]Oh yes... When interviewers shoot out qns, it really tests the child.
It is good to be equip with some knowledge of the school. Kids need to know some background in order to assimilate into the school well too in future.
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