2018 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (Born in 2006)

[enne]

zac's mum:

enne:

i'm still confused to how the choices of school will play a part even though i understand it is merit over choices.


my previous post i mentioned DD got 183 and have only 2 school in mind where intention is if she can't get in A will be in B. The other choices are just to fill the gap.

Does it mean that there is still a risk that she might get into her 6th choice?

Choices - COP:
1) A - 182
2) B - 177
3) C - 184
4) D - 182
5) E - 179
6) F - 165

If B’s COP suddenly shoots up this year, then the computer will go down the list and allocate her the next one she qualifies for, ie there is a risk she will get #5 or 6.

If you seriously don’t like the school, then leave it out completely.

omg, okay then we better do something about it.

Thanks!!!!

[Happy Mum]

sky minecrafter:

Happy Mum:

Does this mean it would be hard for DS to qualify for IP course?

Hello, please do not feel discouraged. The online data (accuracy not verified...) here: https://www.salary.sg/2018/secondary-school-ranking-based-on-cut-off-for-2018-intake/ & https://www.tutorchen.com/top-sec-schools-cop-eesis-cop/, suggest that there are IP schools for this score range.

Thank you for your reply!

[3kiddos]

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

Yes, you will get your No. 1 choice, as long as No. 1 school's COP doesnt jump up higher than your child's tscore this year.

[hwachie]

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

System will give you No. 1 choice.

When looking at your choices, system will go down the list, the first school which you qualify for, you get.

e.g. T-Score 237
1st choice COP 239 (Child will not get in)
2nd choice COP 238 (Child will not get in)
3rd choice COP 237 (Child might get in, depending on decimal points)
4th choice COP 236 (If child didn't get 3rd choice, definitely will get into this school)

This is why there's no need to put 2nd choice COP higher than 1st, since if meet 1st choice COP, will get in. If don't meet 1st choice COP, then confirm cannot meet 2nd choice COP (i.e. 2nd choice is wasted) and system moves down the 3rd choice.

What the other post might have been saying is if compare two students (A and B)

e.g. A COP 238, B COP 237

A's choices
1st Choice: School XXX COP 239
2nd choice: School YYY COP 236

B's choices
1st Choice: School YYY COP 236
2nd choice: School ZZZ COP 234

Since A won't be allocated to XXX, system moves down to YYY. System will allocate A to YYY before B to YYY, even though A put YYY as 2nd choice, B put as 1st, because A's COP is higher than B's.

[optmum]

lil_jade:

optmum:

Mgs olevel or cgs?.pls help

Thanks

Hi! Do you mean Cedar girls? It's a good school, very academically focussed, but also pushes the gals in their CCA. Can be competitive especially in the top classes (but that could be the case for almost all schools), so will need to manage that...

Overall, my niece had a great learning experience there.

Perhaps other forumners can advise on MGS (O level).

Thanks for the info on cedar girls as we r considering cedar also.your niece stays nearby or takes transport.we stay in commonwealth.

As said by few others cgs is crescent girls

[whitecarrotcake]

I feel it should not be about choosing a school with the highest possible score, but selection should be based on which school will the child fit in best. For example

1) co-ed or not
2) Chinese environment or mixed culture
3) big fish in a smaller pond or small fish in a bigger pond
4) distance fr house

Esp for point 3, some kids don’t thrive in environment where they are no more the best or better ones. It’s a constant race. I know of 2 who dropped out of IP even though they got 26x for past psle. Schools don’t reveal the drop out. But truth is there are dropouts in every IP school.

[Estéema]

When considering IP for any kids, take into consideration parents’ support, child’s temperament & talents/inclinations.


We’ve seen kids who perform very well in Pri but when in sec sch, do not know how to manage themselves or their time well coz had been spoon-fed thro tuitioning or parents tight rein as a child.

Doing IP requires a lot of independent thinking to tackle individual or team projects. Self-direction & time mgt is impt. Some just lost in idling, gaming or not able to find their way to get started or complete a decent job. So, IMO parents need to also imbibe lifeskills, personal mgt skills & good attitudes to face sec sch, looking for resources & searching for right info. During Nov-Dec, I took opportunity to build my child up in handling own time when given hp (which was never given in Pri days); regulate use & let-go again to instill discipline after explanations/counseling. Bought all sorts of related resources & step back letting child initiate own reading up or researching & replenishing along the way needed resources w/o guiding or doing any of his work.

Ano young kid was not doing well in IP coz he was just simply rebellious. Rebelling parent & sch. I felt sorry for this young chap. Somehow, somewhere along our kids’ growing years, we need to flex our parenting with each child. It’s impt to maintain a level of frdship w/o loosing the lease of parenting authority to gradually help our kids to navigate thro their teenage life into adulthood. Hope the school counselors can impact these kids’ in a positive & constructive way.

I wished I can help the local kids, but I’ve to step outside within my boundaries. I’m thankful able to take care of & touch the sch lives of foreign scholars during their sec sch life, when they’re far fr family. It helps open up my heart to ustand more how teens behave, their anxieties, areas they need help, frdship they need to build & grow into. Good to pair them up with our kids & hope I see this bond last till even after their adulthood & cross borders.

If u find your child able to start making decisions & exerting their ideas, let go with your guided blessings if they wish to do IP. Their wills not ours. But if u find yr child still immature, can’t think for others or work in teams, not self-directed yet, maybe doing O level track has a lot more merits coz it’s a safe path till they mature & catch up. They’ll still do well as some who bloomed in later lives & had succeeded in life & shared in public. It’s not an inferior choice. In fact, a very considered choice to bless the child’s journey in comfort and then when u see them soar, u’ll be caught busy providing resources to meet that growing appetite to excel in these late bloomers!

Every child is special & different. Listen to that small little voice.

[ski]

Yes. System will give u your No. 1 choice. That's why it is called 1st choice. It will ignore your 2nd choice since you prefer 1st to 2nd provided you meet the COP

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my chil9d has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

[LKY1967]

hwachie:

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

System will give you No. 1 choice.

When looking at your choices, system will go down the list, the first school which you qualify for, you get.

e.g. T-Score 237
1st choice COP 239 (Child will not get in)
2nd choice COP 238 (Child will not get in)
3rd choice COP 237 (Child might get in, depending on decimal points)
4th choice COP 236 (If child didn't get 3rd choice, definitely will get into this school)

This is why there's no need to put 2nd choice COP higher than 1st, since if meet 1st choice COP, will get in. If don't meet 1st choice COP, then confirm cannot meet 2nd choice COP (i.e. 2nd choice is wasted) and system moves down the 3rd choice.

What the other post might have been saying is if compare two students (A and B)

e.g. A COP 238, B COP 237

A's choices
1st Choice: School XXX COP 239
2nd choice: School YYY COP 236

B's choices
1st Choice: School YYY COP 236
2nd choice: School ZZZ COP 234

Since A won't be allocated to XXX, system moves down to YYY. System will allocate A to YYY before B to YYY, even though A put YYY as 2nd choice, B put as 1st, because A's COP is higher than B's.

Thanks. I'm just relieved that the focus is on the choice as well. Given that we make choices based on last year's COP (i.e. not on the COP that will in fact apply) there could be fluctuations. I don't mind the COP 250 school, but it's not our first choice. I would rather my kid goes to the COP 245 school. I think it makes sense that the computer system must look at everyone's first choices and will only look at second choices if the first choices are not satisfied. The alternative is no choice at all and all places to be allocated according to PSLE score, highest to lowest! Neither the PSLE handbook nor MOE website addresses this issue clearly. But as a matter of logic you must be right.

[crm]

Can smell the sour grapes

pirate:

Estéema:

Top 1/3 is str-fwd using PSLE T-Score, so as to prepare a whole battery of processes to award kids.

But COP of individual schools will depend on the cohort that applied to respective schools, which will only be determined after all Sec 1 places allocated.

How is it straight forward? The independent schools are just a collection of individual respective schools. How MOE know how many of those with 260 or above this year will choose independent schools? So the 260 is in reality a forecast based on top x% of PSLE T-scores. At the end of the day, the actual top one-third of those going to independent schools may be higher or lower than 260.