Hwa Chong Institution (High School)

[Always21]

doodbug:

Would appreciate if the more senior HCI parents here can share about the special programmes at Sec 3....

- do kids have to move consortiums for special programmes?
- do all kids who qualify for special programmes opt to take it up?
- anyone with experience with the special programmes and how to qualify for them?
- is there a lot more work in special programme
compared to regular IP?
Thanks a bunch!

1: Yes, in the new system all the special programmers are in Ispark except Bicultural Studies Programme (BSP), which is in Ortus.

2: No, as some kids have other commitments like AEP, MEP etc or they want to focus more on their CCA

3: You will be given priority if you meet all the criteria in Sec 2. For SMTP, this is A1 for Math, Science and English, MSG< 2. However, most people that enter do not meet all the criteria, namely the A1 for English. This just means you will not be the first cut.

4: Yes, as you usually take more subjects in special programmes and you learn more in your specialized subjects as your syllables is accelerated.

[doodbug]

Thanks so much Always21! It's very helpful info.

Sorry, so if a child is in Ortus or Aphelion, and goes for the SMTP, will he stay in his Consortium, or switch to iSpark? If kids have to switch to iSpark, I imagine iSpark will be the largest consortium haha
Wow I am surprised to read that the criteria, at least on paper, for SMTP includes A1 for English. MSG < 2 does make sense.

[TTC]

So many interesting points. So i will share what my son did. He was supposed to do a 3rd language in Sec 1 but he did not even do it. I was disappointed with his decision. He is a humanities person but opted for Science (PCME) in J1. I was fuming by then. Fortunately he still managed to do well during A level. On hindsight, i realised that most kids has a mind of their own. I guess when a child commits based on interest, the inner motivation is very strong to do well. They dont like to lose face by not doing well. But if patents forced them into it, they may end up not doing well. I learnt something from there…

[GivingTree]

BBLIM RUI:

BBLIM RUI:

Dear parents

Any tuition centres contact to share,preferably in the west or bukit timah area. Son in sec 2 and thinks he needs more practise in maths,science.

Thank you

Had a C for term 2 Science and attended school's remedial but is not helping him. Hence SOS, parents plse pm if you have any group tuition to recommed. Thank you.

My son was in similar situation a year ago... Eventually, we DIY to help him with maths and science to strengthen his concepts and patch the knowledge gaps he had. There were many topics in both subjects, and he was doing better in some but not others. Doing own revision at home enabled him to better focus on the weaker areas as the lesson plans of tuition classes outside may not be synchronized with HCI's. Another alternative is to go for one-on-one tuition.

For maths, as someone posted in this forum a year ago, make good use of the Shing Lee textbook. For S2, the boys are using Vol 2 and Vol 3. His maths teacher gave a list of questions for him to practise at home (usually from the revision and challenge section of the text books). There are answers provided at the back of the books, so it's easy to check if the kid's understanding and concepts are correct. Of course, re-doing all the class worksheets and assignments also helped. Nearer to the EOY, the teacher gave them lots of past year papers to do, including from NYGH. I gave him a thick exercise book for him to do all the maths questions instead of using foolscap or rough paper - by the end of EOY, he literally saw how much progress he made.

For science, analyze which topics need reinforcements. We mostly studied from the science notes given by the school, Chemistry parts - lots of applications type questions. Make sure can write the formulae and different types of equations (acid/bases, salts formation), and learn how to test for ammonia gas, H2 and CO2 etc. For the physics part, understand the concepts of reflection and refraction, make sure can do the calculations to calculate angles of incidences, reflection and refraction etc. For biology which is the last topic to be taught, a lot of pure memorizing for the reproduction systems. The ecosystems parts are easier - make sure he can score those.

For science practice, we redid and redid all the worksheets (esp the chem equations and reflection / refraction) and used the topical O level questions assessment book which his S1 teacher recommended for biology, chem and physics. The teacher also gave several past year papers nearer to EOY for practice.

End result - maths went up to 94% from C6 and lowest in class at CT2, Science was close to 90%, up from B4/C5.

[doodbug]

Hi GivingTree,

Thanks for the sharing and it is so inspiring! I’m not sure if I can recall all my maths and science to help my kid but wow, impressive how you all self-helped and made an amazing turnaround from CT2 to EOYs! Bravo!

[GivingTree]

It was "painful" having to relive these S2 materials… Thankfully for maths, he was doing mostly on his own except for some word problems on trigonometry and circles where he needed more help. I only mark his work. For science, literally "pei du" for 2 months.


The best thing about this experience for was him to learn that there is no success without hard work.

[doodbug]

It's a nice story of growth!

I'm not sure how to work magic for languages though; it's HCL that is giving us grief now
I'd be grateful for even a passing mark.

[doodbug]

For the special programmes like SMTP, does the extra exposure help a lot in JC? Thanks to kind parents who have responded earlier

[Maple leaf]

doodbug:

The maximum number of H2 subjects you can read in JC is 4. Hence Computing won't be popular as it means taking up one of the four H2 subjects. Each H2 slot is 'precious'.


2 is a decent score I thought? heehee

Thanks,doodbug for sharing the link,too Now. we have a better idea what to choose.Seems like the only contrasting subject is Econs. :nailbite: Not easy to choose the subjects combination he likes.
Now decided, he still can take infocom course during sabbatical week and also HCI own Infocom Olympiad training during EOY holidays.Best of all FOC and no grades.

2 is decent grade but DS says no exemption from EOY exam. :gloomy:

[doodbug]

BTW can any parent share how to get EOY exemptions?

I heard that for lower Sec Geog and History, there are no exemptions.
InfoComm has no EOYs right?