2019 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2007)

[chenlaoshi]

coast:

floppy:

[quote=\"Dino\"]It seems like there are 2 camps to whether to take HCL. Tks for all the different views

I think both camps reach quite similar conclusion actually.

If you are doing well (> 50%) in HCL, no reason for you to discontinue.
If you are struggling with HCL (<50%), no reason for you to continue, especially if it comes at the expanse of your other subjects.

The bonus marks for HCL is only useful if you are applying to SAP sec schools, useless everywhere else.
The waiver of CL requirement for A-Level only applies if you complete / pass HCL exams at O-Level, i.e. at the end of 4 more years, not PSLE. Dropping out of the subject halfway in sec school don't count (and if you are struggling with HCL, I can foresee that it will take up time and impact the rest of the other 6 to 7 O-Level subjects).

Some students/ parents may have the misconception that taking HCL means extra subject (workload). It may be true for certain schools (e.g., additional afternoon HCL classes, homework). My DS told me that the P6 CL class had much more homework compared to his HCL class. The hours of CL and HCL classes were the same. So for those doing well in CL/ HCL, you may want to check with the school before dropping HCL for workload reasons.[/quote]I agree with the first sentence. The same is true for Sec sch CL vs. HCL. Generally, the students get exposed to more types of questions and components but these will ultimately help in their CL too. For example, in HCL's 实用文 (email writing), the student gets exposed to email writing in response to forum thread [articulation of views, which in turn helps in oral and email & discursive/argumentative writing] while there is an editing section in paper 2 [grammar will improve and he/she will be able to edit his/her work too] as well as paragraph summarization question in comprehension section [works on analysis & grammar].

Of course, each child is unique so what works for one might not work for another. However, as coast suggested, it is advisable to gather more information from school teachers and feedback from 过来人 before making concrete decision, rather than just based on scores/grades and/or perception.

[Dino]

Can I ask another qn. Assuming the kid is good with chinese, no problem with HCL, but simply choose to drop HCL at PSLE. How difficult is it for this kid to take back HCL at sec if he wants to, compared to another kid who has done HCL at PSLE?

[MyPillow]

Dino:

Can I ask another qn. Assuming the kid is good with chinese, no problem with HCL, but simply choose to drop HCL at PSLE. How difficult is it for this kid to take back HCL at sec if he wants to, compared to another kid who has done HCL at PSLE?

Boy or girl ?
Check out SAP Sch if possible /permit .- Maris Stella High , Nanchiau high , nanhua high, cath high, Anglican high etc I heard the Sch has authority to offer hcl to their students even they dun take high MT in pri sch
Go to the open house n check out

[phtthp]

Dino:

Can I ask another qn. Assuming the kid is good with chinese, no problem with HCL, but simply choose to drop HCL at PSLE. How difficult is it for this kid to take back HCL at sec if he wants to, compared to another kid who has done HCL at PSLE?

firstly, is your 2019 P6 child targeting an SAP school, an O-level school or an IP school ?

If he is targeting IP (A-level) school : most IP schools prefer (require) their Sec 1 students to do Higher Chinese. In fact, IP schools strongly encourage students to clear HMT, at end of Year 4, so that having dropped one subject at National exam, students will have more time to focus (concentrate), on their JC1 subjects. The reality is (no matter how one try to argue), if one can drop one subject at JC1, is a great relief, because most (majority) of IP students tend to take 4 H2 A-level subjects, which is a heavy subject combination. So, enough time to study, is of essence, in Junior Colleges, because everyone want to do well at A-level, be able to enter their desired, ideal dream faculty course of study, in the university subsequently (eventually).

This means even if P6 students had not done Higher Chinese at PSLE in primary school before, IP (A-level) schools normally tend to waive aside, ie. just let Sec 1 students take HCL. At end of Year 2 (or Sec 2), if students really can't cope having tried out Higher Chinese for 2 years, they are free to drop back to Normal Chinese, if they wish.

The same situation, arise (happen to) in SAP Secondary schools (whether IP, or O-level SAP schools). Still, it is best to clarify (confirm) with respective SAP schools' Chinese HOD. The only thing to note, is that if one is exempted from PSLE Chinese, student cannot enter any SAP school, at Secondary 1 level.

If enter by PSLE T-score (not by DSA) into SAP schools, there are certain requirements (criteria), to gain admission. But Sec 1 pupil (after admission) can appeal to SAP schools' HOD, to study HCL. If having tried out in Sec 1 for one full year and and still unable to cope, pupil can drop back to Normal Chinese later. SAP schools, similar to IP schools, also encourage pupils to clear HMT, by end of Sec 4.


However, the last category is : Non-SAP, O-level schools (ie. Non-IP as well).
Even though they are ordinary O-level schools, however there are still a number of students keen to clear HMT, by end of Sec 4 too, particularly if they are targeting Junior-College road, ie. the Non-Polytechnic route. Ah! For this category, need to check with individual school : as some schools are rather particular, in that if the PSLE slip indicate that student able to proceed with HCL in Secondary, then they allow. Otherwise, they won't. However, if a pupil under this category (normal O-level, Non-SAP school) happen to do well in Normal Chinese at end of Sec 1, not sure if they allowed to do HCL at Sec 2. This part, again best to clarify with the respective O-level, Non-SAP school Chinese HOD. Different O-level schools, may have different rule, concerning HCL. Can attend open-house, to clarify.

Bottom line is, must know which category of school you are entering, at Sec 1.

Earlier, someone asked an important qn : what is the attraction, to clear HMT at Year 4 (something like that) ?
the attractions are :-

1) alleviate the burden of having to study an extra subject (Mother tongue), at JC1 level, so that can divert the time spent onto your core H2 A-level subjects,


And


2) this attraction apply to O-level candidates only, because no impact to IP-students.


By clearing HMT at Sec 4, can minus off 2 bonus points, to gain admission into a JC.
Is this important ? Perhaps judge, for yourself.


example


Suppose a JC Cut-off-point admission, is 9 points (eg. into Eunoia Junior College).
But say, your original Raw score is 13 points (L1 R5).

If minus away 2 points from Cca : left only 11 points.
Can enter EJC ? No cannot, because 11 cannot meet 9 points entry.

So how ?
If you had not cleared HMT in Sec 4, Sorry, cannot enter Eunoia JC.

But, if had cleared HMT, different story. Situation tilt to your advantage, now
13 - 2 -2 = 9, just hit the admission point into EJC, right on the very dot. Can enter now !
How come now, you can enter Eunoia JC?

It is your own, hardworking, persistent perseverance clearance of HMT at end of Sec 4, that had paid off and eventually rescued (saved) yourself !

This explains why many O-level candidates, are keen to try their best clear HMT asap, if they are heading for JC. Furthermore, entry into JCs nowadays are getting more challenging, more competitive, especially with lesser, fewer JCs now, compared to the past, due to merging of JCs.

But if heading for Polytechnic, no need to be bothered by Higher Chinese.

In Sg, there are far more, greater number of O-level Secondary schools, than the Total number of IP Secondary schools, added up. The number of O-level students (candidates), sitting for National O-level exam, form a very big pool.

[nms1]

coast:

floppy:

[quote=\"Dino\"]It seems like there are 2 camps to whether to take HCL. Tks for all the different views

I think both camps reach quite similar conclusion actually.

If you are doing well (> 50%) in HCL, no reason for you to discontinue.
If you are struggling with HCL (<50%), no reason for you to continue, especially if it comes at the expanse of your other subjects.

The bonus marks for HCL is only useful if you are applying to SAP sec schools, useless everywhere else.
The waiver of CL requirement for A-Level only applies if you complete / pass HCL exams at O-Level, i.e. at the end of 4 more years, not PSLE. Dropping out of the subject halfway in sec school don't count (and if you are struggling with HCL, I can foresee that it will take up time and impact the rest of the other 6 to 7 O-Level subjects).

Some students/ parents may have the misconception that taking HCL means extra subject (workload). It may be true for certain schools (e.g., additional afternoon HCL classes, homework). My DS told me that the P6 CL class had much more homework compared to his HCL class. The hours of CL and HCL classes were the same. So for those doing well in CL/ HCL, you may want to check with the school before dropping HCL for workload reasons.[/quote]Definitely talk to the school. My elder son is in P5 - most of his class takes HCL but he doesn't. The number of classes is the same and the amount of homework is similar but the ting xie and mo xie is much harder for the HCL. For him, being weaker at Chinese, it would be impossible. He would need to spend hours each week learning.

[phtthp]

nms1:

Definitely talk to the school. My elder son is in P5 - most of his class takes HCL but he doesn't. The number of classes is the same and the amount of homework is similar but the ting xie and mo xie is much harder for the HCL. For him, being weaker at Chinese, it would be impossible. He would need to spend hours each week learning.

depends on how you look at it.

For my P5 kiddo school, although tingxie & moxie from HCL weekly list is slightly harder, compared to the Normal Chinese weekly tingxie/moxie list, however we noticed that it benefit, in the long run.

It is these weekly, slightly tougher \" moxie full sentences\" that made them memorise, and apply directly into the \"jie wei\" or Conclusion paragraph, in both Normal Chinese & Higher Chinese zuowen.

There are around 50 or 52 weeks, within
One academic year. This means that in one year, these useful HCL moxie list had helped P5 students to collate into their brain CPU database : to remember, to memorise sub-consciously and to apply various types (nature) of conclusion paragraph according to different zuowen scenario, to aid them in writing conclusion for zuowen.

We take it as part of beneficial \"free tuition \" received from school.

As you may already know, in any zuowen (essay writing), the beginning paragraph (Kai tou) and the conclusion paragraph (Jie wei), besides the hao ci hao ju, thrown in : that are important.

This way, due to \"free tuition received \", we no longer need to send kiddo to anymore external private Chinese tuition outside, for zuowen anymore.

In her kiddo SAP school, usually at year-end, after P4 SA2 & after P5 SA2, all the Upper primary (P5 and P6) lao shi will gather for a meeting sometime in December, one week before new academic year January start, together with Chinese HOD. Not merely to discuss assign which Chinese lao shi to teach which P5 class, but also to discuss content of the HCL tingxie / moxie list. What they do is they discuss:-

If zuowen topic is \"hao ren zuo hao shi\", do a good deed : then moxie for this week is, eg. Full sentence Phrase #1

Next, if another zuowen topic is \"yi ge jiao xun\", a moral lesson learnt, from a bad deed or mis-behavior, then moxie for next week is, eg. Full sentence Phrase #2

Third, if another zuowen topic, is on \"gai guo zi xin\" scenario, this can be a \"ming ti\" zuowen or a \"wan cheng wen zhang\" zuowen, then lao shi will prepare another moxie Phrase, #3.

so on, and so forth ... to different type of zuowen scenario.

So, during P5 (SA1 and SA2) Chinese Paper 1 zuowen, one look at the \"kan tu zuowen \" (picture composition) : one will know which moxie memorized phrase to apply, or to regurgitate out, from their internalized brain CPU database storage of a number of moxie accumulated, captured Phrases, over one year period .

No need to waste $, send them for another round of external, private Chinese tuition outside, anymore. Also at P5 / P6, where got time to attend so much tuition?

[phtthp]

Today, this thread had hit page #200

[Bochapmum3]

Comparing between normal Chinese zuowen and HCL zuowen, is there a different standard in marking? Does the child usually score higher in normal Chinese zuowen?

[phtthp]

\"Ming ti\" zuowen appear in both Normal Chinese zuowen, as well as in Higher Chinese zuowen (paper 1).


School Chinese Lao shi said \"ming ti\" zuowen are marked differently, in Normal Chinese vs. Higher Chinese zuowen. But she did not go into nitty gritty, tell (explain to) kiddo class, what exactly is the difference. But aware that there are some P5 students in her class who thrived (excel in) on writing \"Ming ti\" instead of writing \"kan tu zuowen\", and scored very well, 38 / 40 (Paper 1), although her lao shi said usually safer to stick to \"kan tu zuowen\", won't go out of point, \"bu hui li ti\".

Once \"li ti\" in \"Ming ti zuowen\" :skeptical: , fail zuowen, very hard to salvage overall Chinese.

[floppy]

nms1:

coast:

[quote=\"floppy\"]

I think both camps reach quite similar conclusion actually.

If you are doing well (> 50%) in HCL, no reason for you to discontinue.
If you are struggling with HCL (<50%), no reason for you to continue, especially if it comes at the expanse of your other subjects.

The bonus marks for HCL is only useful if you are applying to SAP sec schools, useless everywhere else.
The waiver of CL requirement for A-Level only applies if you complete / pass HCL exams at O-Level, i.e. at the end of 4 more years, not PSLE. Dropping out of the subject halfway in sec school don't count (and if you are struggling with HCL, I can foresee that it will take up time and impact the rest of the other 6 to 7 O-Level subjects).

Some students/ parents may have the misconception that taking HCL means extra subject (workload). It may be true for certain schools (e.g., additional afternoon HCL classes, homework). My DS told me that the P6 CL class had much more homework compared to his HCL class. The hours of CL and HCL classes were the same. So for those doing well in CL/ HCL, you may want to check with the school before dropping HCL for workload reasons.

Definitely talk to the school. My elder son is in P5 - most of his class takes HCL but he doesn't. The number of classes is the same and the amount of homework is similar but the ting xie and mo xie is much harder for the HCL. For him, being weaker at Chinese, it would be impossible. He would need to spend hours each week learning.[/quote]I agree. Don’t drop the subject for “workload” reasons.

The amount of time set aside for lessons is the same, be it CL or HCL. Some schools may have additional lessons but those additional lessons could also happen to any of the examinable subjects. Hence, dropping HCL for CL may not necessarily result in a lighter workload.

On the other hand, if a child is struggling with HCL, he / she may deem one page of homework as too much (then again, CL also has homework leh). If he / she is taking more time or spending more effort just to pass HCL, can’t see how beneficial that would be for him.