Raffles Institution (Year 1-4)

[Sursum]

Asking experienced parents/students, is it hard to cope with 2 RAs?

[Blue Dolphine]

Dear parents, appreciate if you can share your experience / advice on which is a more beneficial RA subject to take? Geography or Maths? We are having a headache on which one to choose. Or it is better not to take any RA subject at all?

Many thanks!

[iRabbit]

Sursum:

Asking experienced parents/students, is it hard to cope with 2 RAs?

Hi Sursum,

My friend’s boy took both Euler and Galileo in lower sec. From what she shared, it was manageable to cope with 2 RA subjects as her boy had genuine interest in them.

What she was more concerned with was the fact that RA subject tests were benchmarked at a much higher level compared to RP subjects. Since RA subjects grades are used for GPA calculation (for lower sec, only Euler does), it does affect the overall grade.

I believe the critical sec level milestones are at Y2 & Y4. Since most boys would like to take 9 subjects in upper sec and 4 H2 subjects in JC, they need to ensure that they hit GPA of 3.2 minimally.

So as long as one is hitting that threshold of 3.2 even with the RA subject(s), it should be okay. This was what she shared.

[iRabbit]

Blue Dolphine:

Dear parents, appreciate if you can share your experience / advice on which is a more beneficial RA subject to take? Geography or Maths? We are having a headache on which one to choose. Or it is better not to take any RA subject at all?

Many thanks!

Congrats BD. RI’s RA Math has traditionally been very strong. In fact, I believe 2 of the current SIMO national team trainers were formerly from RA Math.

Personally, I feel that the choice should be based more on personal interest. One main difference is that Y3 Math is double weightage compared to Geo.

[doramon]

May I check which humanities is a more popular choice when come to year 2 selection for yr3 courses?

[Blue Dolphine]

iRabbit:

Blue Dolphine:

Dear parents, appreciate if you can share your experience / advice on which is a more beneficial RA subject to take? Geography or Maths? We are having a headache on which one to choose. Or it is better not to take any RA subject at all?

Many thanks!

Congrats BD. RI’s RA Math has traditionally been very strong. In fact, I believe 2 of the current SIMO national team trainers were formerly from RA Math.

Personally, I feel that the choice should be based more on personal interest. One main difference is that Y3 Math is double weightage compared to Geo.

Hi, iRabbit,
Thanks! The education system is so different from my time so I really don't know how to advise my boy. My hubby & I decided to leave it to him to make the choice since ultimately he is the one who is going to do the subject.
My boy decided to chose Geo. Though I am a little disappointed cos in my heart I hope he would choose Math. He thinks that my thinking is out-dated. He said the world needs critical thinkers to solve real world problems in future, not another Math teacher or professor, the computer can do that job :heresmyfish:
Didn't know the Math weightage is double is year 3. So looks like Geo is a safer choice.

Thanks for giving me some advice always!
Cheers

[naggo-nitemare]

Congrats BD. RI’s RA Math has traditionally been very strong. In fact, I believe 2 of the current SIMO national team trainers were formerly from RA Math.


[/quote]

Many from 2018 Yr 4 Math RA class did well to qualify for SIMO National team training recently. Out of 29 in this training list, 15 are RI pupils. And all 3 trainers are RI alumni.

http://wwwdontmesswith6a.blogspot.com/2018/10/simo-national-team-20182019.html?m=1

[sharonkhoo]

Blue Dolphine:

Hi, iRabbit,

Thanks! The education system is so different from my time so I really don't know how to advise my boy. My hubby & I decided to leave it to him to make the choice since ultimately he is the one who is going to do the subject.
My boy decided to chose Geo. Though I am a little disappointed cos in my heart I hope he would choose Math. He thinks that my thinking is out-dated. He said the world needs critical thinkers to solve real world problems in future, not another Math teacher or professor, the computer can do that job :heresmyfish:
Didn't know the Math weightage is double is year 3. So looks like Geo is a safer choice.

Thanks always for giving me some advice!
Cheers

Jumping in although my daughter was RGS Y2-4. My husband and I actually recommended that my daughter not apply for RA in Y3-4 at all (she was asked by 3 different teachers to apply for their subjects - Maths, Lit and History). Partly because she had only joined the school in mid-Y2, and was still establishing herself in CCAs and social circles, and catching up with the Sciences, and partly because we found that the coverage of RA didn't really \"add value\" as it was mostly doing some A level work. We felt that if she was going to do it later, why the rush? She eventually took Chem RA in JC and H3 Econs, which we felt was better \"value\" as it was stuff she was less likely to cover later or might help in university applications. Personally, the real value of RA is in the doing, not the subject. If the student can cope with the added workload and slightly different way to studying, that is the real benefit. So interest is more important than content, in my view, and I wouldn't worry about your son's choice. We left the choice of subject to our daughter (her father was a mathematician so would have liked her to take Maths...) and she was already quite sure even then that she wouldn't want to pursue Chem at university, but she was interested enough at that point to take it. We reckon that the training of the mind is the main objective of RA. She's studying Econs now.

[coast]

doramon:

May I check which humanities is a more popular choice when come to year 2 selection for yr3 courses?

I don't think the school releases information about this. From the boys' own observation (which may not be correct), most popular is History, then Geography, then Literature.

[coast]

iRabbit:

Sursum:

Asking experienced parents/students, is it hard to cope with 2 RAs?

Hi Sursum,

My friend’s boy took both Euler and Galileo in lower sec. From what she shared, it was manageable to cope with 2 RA subjects as her boy had genuine interest in them.

What she was more concerned with was the fact that RA subject tests were benchmarked at a much higher level compared to RP subjects. Since RA subjects grades are used for GPA calculation (for lower sec, only Euler does), it does affect the overall grade.

I believe the critical sec level milestones are at Y2 & Y4. Since most boys would like to take 9 subjects in upper sec and 4 H2 subjects in JC, they need to ensure that they hit GPA of 3.2 minimally.

So as long as one is hitting that threshold of 3.2 even with the RA subject(s), it should be okay. This was what she shared.

Hi Sursum and iRabbit,

For those taking 10 subjects, min GPA of 3.6 is required at end of Year 3. While RA is indeed at a much high level, the RA subject can be left out of overall GPA calculation as it is based on Core 5 + Best 3 subjects.

Thanks.