2017 PSLE Discussions and Strategies
-
BePersevere:
Dear BePersevere,Dear Parents,
I am at my wit’s end how to help my son with science open ended portion. He used to do reasonably well for paper 2 but in recent prelim, he failed horribly. While revising the upper block yesterday, he suddenly broke down and told me he does not even know what kind of answers the teachers are looking for. I was totally taken aback as this is the first time in 6 years that he snapped while revising. He claimed he does not even know what he does not know. Even when most or all key words are there, it was zero mark everywhere on the paper which he could not understand why. I am not sure if the above is a common problem for science.
This is one subject that I am unable to help him at all. I asked him to check with teacher what was wrong with his answers and to me, his wrong answers appear similar to the corrections. He said his classmates did check with teacher but all were brushed off as teacher said ‘wrong means wrong, sit down and copy down the correct answers….. go back to revise and memorise’. To me, science is more than just memorizing.
Normally we use the top school papers but I think the issue is with the wrong answers in the answer sheet. Unless parents are able to understand and mark on their own instead of relying on the answers, top school science paper may end up doing more harm than good.
As PSLE science is just 2 weeks away, I hope experienced parents here can share with me how I can help my child to gain back his confidence and study effectively. The last I want is for him to get burnt out and suffer a mental breakdown.
If it is not appropriate to share or post here, I hope some kind soul can send me a PM. Thank you in advance.
I am really sorry to hear about your situation. Right now, what your son needs most from you is your reassurance and support. Very often, our DC wants to do well in exams because they want recognition from us parents and to meet our expectations. Let him know that you will be happy so long as he has put in his best effort, regardless of the outcome.
If he has been performing consistently reasonably well in his Science papers except for this one paper, there has to be a reason for this. I think it will help for you to speak to his Science teacher and understand where he has gone wrong. For myself, whenever my DS has wrongs in his answers, and if neither my DS, DH or myself understands the 'model' answer given by the school or why marks are deducted, we will seek further clarifications with the teacher. Sometimes, kids cannot understand even though the teacher has explained, and perhaps this is where we can step in to help, after all they are only 12 year-olds. If you can, really try to meet and speak with the teacher. By so doing, it will also show your DS that you are with him on this journey.
Science is definitely not about memorising. It requires OIC - Observation, Inference and Concept. Everyone has different approaches to the final 2 weeks countdown to PSLE. Be it getting your DS to do more papers, or going through his mistakes in past practise papers, have a chat with him and agree on what he feels comfortable doing at this stage. At the end of the day, building up his confidence is important. -
-
Thank you Esteema, myteapot and those who dropped me PM. Greatly appreciate your sharing in this critical period.
PSLE science is not easy at all. What the students are being taught in school versus what they are eventually tested and expected in PSLE is a whole lot of difference. Math and Science are the only 2 subjects that my son feel he is able to get an A as he is weak in languages. With the recent prelim results, it appears to be a dream now.
I am not blaming the school but honestly I do not much confidence in our science teachers in general. Otherwise, why after studying 4 years of science, many are still unable to answer OEQ to the level of PSLE standard or requirement?! Story for ranting but I could not help feeling disappointed with the outcome.
For the next 10 days or so, we will just go through those topics that he made mistakes in. No more doing of top school papers as the model answers are not reliable. Some parents shared it is better to use Ultimate science guide and we will use that for the final lap.
Too much stress from PSLE and this is definitely not a fun journey but no choice for parents, we need to be there to support our little ones.
Jia You and may god bless all our 2005 babies! -
:goodpost:
mommyNg:
I wonder why there is a need to be so strict in marking, especially for 11-12 year olds!! Now you know why many Singaporeans do well in those Pisa tests, but very few (if any) make it to become successful scientists? Talk about encouraging creativity, nurturing talents and interests ... you identify science talents based on correct keywords? I bet Einstein will fail very miserably if he were to take PSLE!
yes the sc teacher told us for 1 mark question, only 1 mark or Zero given, definitely no 1/2 mark will be given according to PSLE markingShevW:
[quote=\"xn_mummy\"]I noticed this year marking is quite strict for Science OEQ. I have asked the school teacher and was told
a. correct keyword required
b. sequence of answering is required, which they said use Claim Evidence Reason (CER)
c. any conflicts concept will get marks deducted.
I guess this partly why is not easily even to get 1/2 marks now.
Sorry I'm ranting, but I think this Psle has been taking a toll on my mental health.... :faint:[/quote] -
mommyNg:
I wonder why there is a need to be so strict in marking, especially for 11-12 year olds!! Now you know why many Singaporeans do well in those Pisa tests, but very few (if any) make it to become successful scientists? Talk about encouraging creativity, nurturing talents and interests ... you identify science talents based on correct keywords? I bet Einstein will fail very miserably if he were to take PSLE!
yes the sc teacher told us for 1 mark question, only 1 mark or Zero given, definitely no 1/2 mark will be given according to PSLE markingShevW:
[quote=\"xn_mummy\"]I noticed this year marking is quite strict for Science OEQ. I have asked the school teacher and was told
a. correct keyword required
b. sequence of answering is required, which they said use Claim Evidence Reason (CER)
c. any conflicts concept will get marks deducted.
I guess this partly why is not easily even to get 1/2 marks now.
Sorry I'm ranting, but I think this Psle has been taking a toll on my mental health.... :faint:[/quote]
For me, not just mental health, physically too. Everyday reading up science guide and no mood to eat, I have lost 2kg in just 2 weeks!! -
mommyNg:
[/quote]
I wonder why there is a need to be so strict in marking, especially for 11-12 year olds!! Now you know why many Singaporeans do well in those Pisa tests, but very few (if any) make it to become successful scientists? Talk about encouraging creativity, nurturing talents and interests ... you identify science talents based on correct keywords? I bet Einstein will fail very miserably if he were to take PSLE!
Sorry I'm ranting, but I think this Psle has been taking a toll on my mental health.... :faint:
The problem with marking science papers is the markers are given model answers for reference. How do they mark? 1 teacher marks the same question only. They try to match answers to keywords found in their answer sheet, or words expressing the keywords / concepts. That's the whole problem with PSLE science. Any answers not resembling those found in the answer sheet are deem wrong.
If the markers find some of these answers to be plausible solutions, they'll have to go through some deliberation before deciding if such answers are acceptable.
Now the shocker, if they decide to accept these answers, scripts with similar answers that have been marked wrong earlier will not be revisited.
I talked to a science marker before. -
BePersevere:
Thank you Esteema, myteapot and those who dropped me PM. Greatly appreciate your sharing in this critical period.
PSLE science is not easy at all. What the students are being taught in school versus what they are eventually tested and expected in PSLE is a whole lot of difference. Math and Science are the only 2 subjects that my son feel he is able to get an A as he is weak in languages. With the recent prelim results, it appears to be a dream now.
I am not blaming the school but honestly I do not much confidence in our science teachers in general. Otherwise, why after studying 4 years of science, many are still unable to answer OEQ to the level of PSLE standard or requirement?! Story for ranting but I could not help feeling disappointed with the outcome.
For the next 10 days or so, we will just go through those topics that he made mistakes in. No more doing of top school papers as the model answers are not reliable. Some parents shared it is better to use Ultimate science guide and we will use that for the final lap.
Too much stress from PSLE and this is definitely not a fun journey but no choice for parents, we need to be there to support our little ones.
Jia You and may god bless all our 2005 babies!
Yes! That's the way to go. Don't press too much last minute. Be supportive to your DS. Keep the positive spirit. Be his best Encourager & Supporter! He'll feel your care & love. :love:
Boys are generally weaker with language but you can let him brush up after PSLE as he'll need a good foundation moving fwd. sec sch projects & presentations will need strong language skills. If you're near Sin Min, try let him learn fr Mr Sherman Tseng of Academia. If u're near Clementi or Bt Timah, let DS learn fr Ms Agnes fr Writers@Work, essay writing skills.
All the very very best to you mummy & DS. Persevere! -
zeemimi:
:yikes:
The problem with marking science papers is the markers are given model answers for reference. How do they mark? 1 teacher marks the same question only. They try to match answers to keywords found in their answer sheet, or words expressing the keywords / concepts. That's the whole problem with PSLE science. Any answers not resembling those found in the answer sheet are deem wrong.
If the markers find some of these answers to be plausible solutions, they'll have to go through some deliberation before deciding if such answers are acceptable.
Now the shocker, if they decide to accept these answers, scripts with similar answers that have been marked wrong earlier will not be revisited.
I talked to a science marker before. -
BePersevere:
:snuggles:
For me, not just mental health, physically too. Everyday reading up science guide and no mood to eat, I have lost 2kg in just 2 weeks!!
Mine is uncountable amount of white hair... feel like I'm turning into 白发魔女 soon.... :scared: -
mommyNg:
:snuggles:BePersevere:
For me, not just mental health, physically too. Everyday reading up science guide and no mood to eat, I have lost 2kg in just 2 weeks!!
Mine is uncountable amount of white hair... feel like I'm turning into 白发魔女 soon.... :scared:
Yes white hair...
Used to boast about not having white hair to dh and bff...
But just this round of psle (and a new helper that drives me mad Everyday)... my white hair sprouted like nobody's business!!
Another round coming in 2 years and then next round in 6 years...
By then no need to bleach hair liao
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