2020 PSLE Discussions and Strategies(for those born in 2008)

[sharonkhoo]

vade\" post_id=\"2004183\" time=\"1606319695\" user_id=\"60917:

Hi fellow parents, our daughter did well for her PSLE, and we're in the fortunate position of having to choose between MGS, RGS and NYGH for her. Our initial thoughts are below, but any further advice and personal experiences on these 3 schools will be much appreciated please!

MGS
Pro: close to our home (we stay near Beauty World MRT)
Cons: we are personally not too convinced by IB vs the more traditional A-levels, but I admit this is also partly due to our lack of familiarity with IB, so will have to read more on it over the next couple of days

RGS
Pros: prestige/reputation/network associated with the Raffles family/alumni; by most accounts, top-quality facilities, educators, all-round education
Cons: distance from our home (estimated 45-60 mins by public transport); high-pressure environment (?)

NYGH
Pros: relatively close to our home; comparable to RGS on the quality of education
Cons: we are concerned (rightly or wrongly) that the environment at Nanyang might be a little too homogeneous; as compared to MGS/RGS where perhaps the culture/environment is a little more diverse (we could be stereotyping?)

Thanks in advance!

Disclaimer: My daughter was in RGS (more than 5 yrs ago) and we have friends who are/were in MGS. I only know NYGH by more remote hearsay. Picking up a few of your points:

- I would say that prestige/network etc and quality of education are on par in all 3 schools. So the choice will boil down to other factors.

- high-pressure environment - they will all be on par as well! It depends on the child, really. My daughter didn't find RGS particularly high-pressure despite its reputation, and some of her friends did find MGS stressful, partly because of the IB requirements which are more continual (A levels is more \"big bang\"). But we also have other friends who found MGS not too stressful, and others who found RGS very stressful.

- RGS has a highly varied racial and social mix which my daughter appreciated; MGS is less varied. Not too sure about NYGH but my guess is that it might be somewhere in between.

- under an hour of travel in sec school is fine for most kids. They learn to cope, and the industrious will make use of travelling time to read, etc. Shorter is better, of course, but this has to be balanced with other factors.

Hope this helps.

[lonejean]

Hi parents

How do I find out esis cutoff for 202 psle?

[sharonkhoo]

Hendon\" post_id=\"2004235\" time=\"1606348406\" user_id=\"142376:

somehow if you are in position to choose among the top schools and yet am concern about distance, you are not hungry enough to compete against the top foreign students.

I don't agree with this - if you have a choice, it only seems sensible to consider the options carefully. If you only have 1 choice, and you turn it down for a reason that others consider unimportant, then they might criticise your decision.

[bbbay]

Hendon\" post_id=\"2004235\" time=\"1606348406\" user_id=\"142376:

somehow if you are in position to choose among the top schools and yet am concern about distance, you are not hungry enough to compete against the top foreign students.

Hi, another perspective:
Instead of focus on compete, will learning to also cooperate/compromise , be better for the child on the long run?

[bbbay]

lonejean\" post_id=\"2004237\" time=\"1606349393\" user_id=\"15661:

Hi parents
How do I find out esis cutoff for 202 psle?

I believe it works this way:
In T score, >=240 is top 30%. >=250 is top 10%. >=260 is top 3%. Every year there will be students in top 30/10/3 %. So every year, the top 10% qualify for IP. And among them, the top 1/3 qualify for ESIS, translate to top 3.3 % qualify for ESIS. And this top 3.3 % are around the >=260 group (top 3%). So every year the cutoff point for ESIS is around >=260

[Timmy21]

starstar70\" post_id=\"2004221\" time=\"1606345676\" user_id=\"182126:

Hello folks, any advise for travelling from Jurong to Gan Eng Seng sec for kid, travelling time 50mins. Is it consider too tiring? Any one with kid travelling that long to school?

If it's 50 mins door-to-door, not so bad. But if u add walking time n it's 1 hour or more, it can be tiring n stressful especially if it rains and/or there's traffic jam due to accidents etc.
Would Hua Yi be worth considering instead? (but might not be shorter commuting time, depending on the connectivity of bus links)

[yummers]

Hi, was just wondering if children in a dual track school (IP and O-Level) are treated equally?

[kab]

Discussed about school choices with DD and husband, read through tons of forum posts and surfed many schools’ websites. Want to run this through with all of you experts her. ( She is my eldest child and I am quite out of touch with all these IP/IB etc thing.)


Score 259+2. We live in Bukit Timah. DD prefers girl school but willing to go co-ed if needs to. No preference in CCA.

List of school
1. RGS ( just hope for the best? but I know the chance is not high.)
2. NYGH ( again no harm trying right?)
3. MGS IB ( Should be able to get in? this IB thing is new to us so spent the whole day researching )
4. NJC ( the only Co-ed school, DD a bit reluctant. or should I take NJC out from the list and put another girl school?)
5. SCGS ( Girl school, near our house)
6. Cresent ( the safety net.)

Appreciate any comments or suggestions!

[zav_zay]

Anyone has past 5 years cop?

[Timmy21]

kab\" post_id=\"2004253\" time=\"1606352109\" user_id=\"7705:

Discussed about school choices with DD and husband, read through tons of forum posts and surfed many schools' websites. Want to run this through with all of you experts her. ( She is my eldest child and I am quite out of touch with all these IP/IB etc thing.)

Score 259+2. We live in Bukit Timah. DD prefers girl school but willing to go co-ed if needs to. No preference in CCA.

List of school
1. RGS ( just hope for the best? but I know the chance is not high.)
2. NYGH ( again no harm trying right?)
3. MGS IB ( Should be able to get in? this IB thing is new to us so spent the whole day researching )
4. NJC ( the only Co-ed school, DD a bit reluctant. or should I take NJC out from the list and put another girl school?)
5. SCGS ( Girl school, near our house)
6. Cresent ( the safety net.)

Appreciate any comments or suggestions!

(i) For IB, is your DD strong in her english n does she enjoy writing essays n doing project work? Is she a consistent worker (good for IB) or a last-minute exam crammer (bad for IB)?
(ii) Was she in an all-girls primary school? (just curious why she's reluctant to try co-ed school) My DD went from a co-ed pri sch to an all-girls sec sch, and it seems that having boys around do help balance the \"bitchy/gossipy\" environment a bit.
(iii) Having said tat, i won't put NJC above SCGS though. The facilities of SCGS have been renovated recently if i'm not wrong. Since SCGS is near your house, u should seriously consider going for that option.