2019 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2007)

[dylanmummy2003]

is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student? my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.

:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

[Zappy]

dylanmummy2003:

is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student? my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.

:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

Marks are given back ... usually written on the cover page of Paper 2.
But it's quite common for schools to not give back the essays, etc.

[jedamum]

dylanmummy2003:

is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student? my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.

:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

Some schools do not return the papers back.
What we did was email the teacher that we would like to discuss the written compo paper during ptm and requested that she bring the paper along to discuss the areas of improvement needed.

[dylanmummy2003]

Zappy:

dylanmummy2003:

is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student? my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.

:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

Marks are given back ... usually written on the cover page of Paper 2.
But it's quite common for schools to not give back the essays, etc.

gosh... i need to email the school liao. this teacher never write on the Paper 2, and when my DD ask her about the marks, she refuse to say. even for Oral, she also refuse to say the marks. :frustrated: :frustrated:

[Zappy]

dylanmummy2003:

Zappy:

[quote=\"dylanmummy2003\"]is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student? my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.

:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

Marks are given back ... usually written on the cover page of Paper 2.
But it's quite common for schools to not give back the essays, etc.

gosh... i need to email the school liao. this teacher never write on the Paper 2, and when my DD ask her about the marks, she refuse to say. even for Oral, she also refuse to say the marks. :frustrated: :frustrated:[/quote]No worries la. Maybe still compiling since it's not end of term.
Before term 2 ends, sure have to reveal all the marks, right?
But yes, I believe even for schools that do not return the essays, you can always ask the teacher to discuss the essay for areas of improvement.

[Ran1977]

phtthp:

Ran1977:

Hi phtthp,
How many marks drop is considered \"normal\" for:
- English
- Maths
- Science

Just an average mean score

Hi Ran1977,

Sorry, Ran. I am not sure how to answer your question.

Different primary schools set the standard of their P5 Maths and Science SA1 questions, differently.

Some schools set very challenging questions as a wake-up call, to their students. Such schools tend to set too tough questions, or their standard set is higher than that of actual PSLE. So, students tend to do well, in PSLE.

On the other hand, other schools may be more lenient, set easier questions, and many students tend to do well during SA1, but poorer during actual PSLE. An important question to ask, therefore is, how close-enough do your son's primary school, set the cohort (P5 and P6) SA1 / SA2 questions, to the actual PSLE standard ?

As Parents-Tr conference (PTC) is coming up next week in most primary schools, perhaps you may consult your son's 4 subject Tr during PTC : find out what is your school's average mean score for each subject, and also ask Teachers for their precious advice, how to help him improve in those areas (components) he is weak in, or how to help him bounce back with resilence for P5 SA2 (October 2018)?

This June holiday, perhaps also get him to work on past year papers (can download from internet), those concepts or areas he still not sure in.

eg

If a child is weak in say, Open-ended Comprehension questions that pulled his P5 SA1 English / Mother-tongue all the way down, perhaps can consider attending June-holiday some intensive \"crash\" course, to work on these Open-ended Comprehension areas hardworkingly, help him to restore confidence.

Also, maybe get him to read in advance during June holiday, those new concepts that will be taught in coming Term (3 and 4).

eg

For P5 Maths -
new topics to be taught/ covered in Semester 2 (July to Oct 2018) include

Average, Rates, Percentage, Volume of Cuboid, etc

For P5 Science Semester 2 -
some schools' new Science topics include

Unit of Cells, Electrical circuit, Blood flow Circulatory system, Air Respiratory system, Plants Transport system

while other primary schools' new Semester 2 Science Topics swop the other (opposite) way round, include

Water Cycle and the State of Water,
Reproduction of Plants,
Reproduction system of our Human body, Reproduction system of Animals, Heredity (genetics)

Then, there are also certain schools that prefer to pull down certain P6 Science topics like Energy & Forces to teach earlier at P5 level, because such Physics concepts are harder to grasp, so they prefer to teach these earlier, leaving the easier concepts (topics) to \"makan\" in P6.

As there is no fixed rule to teach Sci topic, best to find out from your own school: what topics they going to teach, in Term 3 and 4 ?


If your child can read up in advance first by making use of coming June holiday, even before the Science Tr teach in Term (3 and 4): that will be good, because then it becomes a form of revision for him, in class. Familiarity with subject content breeds confidence. So, perhaps can set up a June holiday timetable for him, for multi-tasking and monitoring his progress, working towards his ultimate PSLE targeted goal and objective, per subject.

From June holiday start onwards, we (piggies born) should start preparing for 2019 PSLE.

eg

For languages, during June holiday, we can all start practising past 3 years of actual PSLE papers (2017, 2016, 2015), both English and Mother-tongue booklets (A and B).

What (where) are his areas of weakness ? Identify them, work on them. Focus on the effort put in. Peservere on, jia you!

:goodpost:
Couldnt agree with you more dear.

My son school is 1 example.
From P4 SA2 to P5 CA1 to this round P5 SA1- the standard of questions set seemed to getting harder and harder. For some questions in English and Science paper MCQ - all options seem so close and even I was stumped at some of them. And open-ended was not easy either

With every exam, his school gives the number sat in each class and the level as well as the mean and standard deviation so that is helpful.

Thanks for the good tips shared. Will definitely try to incorporate it.

:thankyou:

[lee_yl]

dylanmummy2003:

DD's SA1 results is back
P4 to P5
Eng : 81 drop to 69
MT: 70 drop to 66
Sci : 66 to 73.5
Maths : 72 drop to 41
Really caught me by surprise. Didn't expect her to fail Maths when she been coping well with her 1st CA1 and normal practice paper.
Sigh... don't know if she can improve for SA2. Was still thinking of go DSA next year.

I recall both my kids’ results dipped from P4 to P5.

However, I do not think it was such a substantial drop like from 90s to 60s or even fail. In fact for top class pupils, the dip in results is always minimal.

As their P5 SA1 results weren’t ideal, we studied hard during June hol and results recovered for P5 SA2. I hope you can do the same and see an improvement on your DC P5 SA2 results, or else if overall still hover around 60s, psle tscore can be below 200.

[sky minecrafter]

Agree with lee_yl & schootopia, even if there's a dip, it's attributed to \"Oops\" mistakes, not because the child is unable to solve any of the questions. In fact, majority of the top MainStream class/es (our school's case) will still score consistently >88 marks throughout P5 & 6. In the event of an alarming drop, jmo, do try to narrow the gap during the holidays. :ugogirl:

[phtthp]

dylanmummy2003:

is it normal that Eng and MT compo are not given back to student?


my DD have been trying to ask her MT teacher about her compo marks, but the teacher says cannot say and cannot give back paper. like that, how do we know how the child fare wor.
:scratchhead: :scratchhead:

For English Situational Writing (SW) composition (Paper 1), try to target 15 / 15.

It is easier to tackle SW, than the 3-picture given CW (Continuous writing).

here are some valuable tips, shared here :-

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&t=41502

If your school does not return P5 students their Composition paper, during PTC (Parents-Tr-Conference), before you even go down to meet Tr face to face, remind Tr before-hand, through phone call or email, to bring along your child's compo papers on actual PTC apointment , show you both her (SW and CW) answers scripts. No electronic gadget of capturing images allowed in schools, during PTC.

At the same time, do bring along a notepad yourself, because schools do not allow parents to take snapshot using handphone, of their own child's (SW, CW) composition answer scripts.

As Tr show you in detail your child's compo answers, during PTC :
use your notepad brought along, to record down the mistakes/ errors which Tr said.

For CW compo -
Tr will put down two score there after marking : one for C (content) and another for L (language). Each C and L is upon 20, as CW paper alone is upon 40, while SW paper is upon 15.
Total is upon 55, both papers.

Take note of both scores :-
see which is weaker and why, need to strengthen further. Scrutinize in detail carefully, all errors that your daughter had made. Ask English Tr, all those burning questions inside you, how to help her improve, in the next coming P5 SA2 (October) compo exam?

Reason why bring along a notepad :-
so as to help you record / capture in detail what the Eng composition Tr have told you.

On actual PTC day :-
as you go around meeting not just one, but 4 subject Tr face to face, after sometime pass, you won't remember what exactly Tr had told u. So, best to bring along a small notebook, to help you remember / recall, what Tr told you.

As we know, Total add-up for all English components, is upon 200, including English Oral, Listening Comprehension (upon 20) and Paper 2.

If English composition (paper 1) is weak, it will pull down the overall English subject score.

[MrsKiasu]

lee_yl:

dylanmummy2003:

DD's SA1 results is back
P4 to P5
Eng : 81 drop to 69
MT: 70 drop to 66
Sci : 66 to 73.5
Maths : 72 drop to 41
Really caught me by surprise. Didn't expect her to fail Maths when she been coping well with her 1st CA1 and normal practice paper.
Sigh... don't know if she can improve for SA2. Was still thinking of go DSA next year.

I recall both my kids’ results dipped from P4 to P5.

However, I do not think it was such a substantial drop like from 90s to 60s or even fail. In fact for top class pupils, the dip in results is always minimal.

As their P5 SA1 results weren’t ideal, we studied hard during June hol and results recovered for P5 SA2. I hope you can do the same and see an improvement on your DC P5 SA2 results, or else if overall still hover around 60s, psle tscore can be below 200.

leeyl, you are right..if convert to psle tscore, my side also :nailbite: better use the guesstimate tscore to 'measure' from now on hor