DSA 2022

[Coffeelatte03]

Hi for those who got shortlisted for academics domain like EL, Science or CL, would u mind sharing what is the AL score your child usually gets for that subject and the Total overall AL? Thank you so much. 🙏🏻

[Marina Collection]

Coffeelatte03\" post_id=\"2074367\" time=\"1657774108\" user_id=\"198645:

Hi for those who got shortlisted for academics domain like EL, Science or CL, would u mind sharing what is the AL score your child usually gets for that subject and the Total overall AL? Thank you so much. 🙏🏻

Based on my kids’ experience in previous years … AL1 in EL (EL DSA) and AL5 in total .

As for his classmates who DSA math, from observation , most meet the minimum cut-off of the school (ie AL6) .

[Marina Collection]

floppy\" post_id=\"2074339\" time=\"1657762209\" user_id=\"97579:

I think that's typically the starting point for the first cut - the top 5 to 10% of that particular subject relative to the student's cohort in his / her primary school. The (secondary) schools will probably offer a free pass to Olympiad (or similar) winners or people with recognised achievement in a particular topic / subject as well.

Agree with floppy here .

[mystique_j]

Coffeelatte03\" post_id=\"2074367\" time=\"1657774108\" user_id=\"198645:

Hi for those who got shortlisted for academics domain like EL, Science or CL, would u mind sharing what is the AL score your child usually gets for that subject and the Total overall AL? Thank you so much. 🙏🏻

Total AL5-7. Applied for Sci domain in 2 IP schools and got shortlisted. His science marks is mid to high 90s and math is also mid to high 90s/full marks. Weaker in languages, but around the range of AL1-3.
Did Math and Science Olympiad but results nothing to shout about, at best Bronze.

[mystique_j]

mystique_j\" post_id=\"2074370\" time=\"1657774929\" user_id=\"39431:

Total AL5-7. Applied for Sci domain in 2 IP schools and got shortlisted. His science marks is mid to high 90s and math is also mid to high 90s/full marks. Weaker in languages, but around the range of AL1-3.
Did Math and Science Olympiad but results nothing to shout about, at best Bronze.

Just to add, he is in a neighborhood school.

[floppy]

FiFlu624\" post_id=\"2074360\" time=\"1657771959\" user_id=\"198712:

Just want to state my observations on a certain DSA sports trial. My kid was notified to participate in a selection for one top school less than 3 working days from the date of trial. On that day, the turnout was quite huge for that sport, so my first thought was that all applicants were made to attend. This is good in my opinion, that everybody gets the chance. But it also means that the achievement records which applicants had submitted were likely not reviewed yet since there was no pre-trial shortlist. The more disturbing point was that shortlisting for post-trial interview seems to be based on the student’s performance in the trial rather than viewed as a whole with past achievement records. Why I’m saying this is that immediately after the trial, the teacher-in-charge told the students that shortlist results would be out the next day. So fast?!
For all I know, other schools take some weeks to finalize the shortlist and I expect there would be a lot of pondering over trial performance, academic results, achievement records etc before a student would be selected for the interview. With so many attendees, if the shortlist can be out so fast, it makes me wonder if the teacher really had time to go thru all records. Further, somehow during the trial, we parents had an opportunity to peek at the happenings within the venue. So we could literally see (from facial expressions and body language), which student was given a “stamp of approval” from the coach. The coach’s assessment seemed to play a great part then. So is this even fair, that an outsourced coach appeared to have a more crucial say in the outcome? How do we know if a selected candidate isn’t already a student of that coach or is somehow already familiar to him/her. Another point I would like to bring up is that on the next day that the interview shortlist was out, the trial was not even completed. Some students who couldn’t make it for the first day were still pending trial on the second day, which is 1 day after the shortlist was released. Again, is this even fair for those who did trial at a later date?
Overall the whole exercise gave me the impression that it was shoddily conducted and made me question whether it was an impartial process.
I could be wrong but I can’t help feeling this way because of the way it was conducted.

It would be easier if you list the sport Notwithstanding, I’ll just address some points.

1. It will never be a case of “all applicants” unless you are talking about a niche sport like fencing or shooting where you can count the number of athletes with a few pair of hands. Sports talent areas typically attract hundreds of applicants, thus, it’s likely that a shortlist has been worked out.

2. The quick turnaround between trials and interview shortlist suggests that the reverse is true, ie a primary list of interviewees have already been decided beforehand and the trial is basically putting faces to names and to verify / confirm the decision.

3. Based on pt 1 and 2, I would say that the teachers / coaches have already gone through the list and past achievements. Consistency, ie consistent performance and past results, is key. The ‘trial’ itself has some bearing but not a lot. There may be one or two dark horses emerging from the trial but by and large, most athletes are known entities.

4. The academic results / ability to cope with academic and sports? That’s what the next stage is for.

5. A coach will always have some say, some more than others. If Fandi says this guy is going to be a football talent, trust me, no PE or school teacher in Singapore and JB, some say Batam as well, will refute him.

6. As to whether some students are familiar with the coach(es), the answer is… of cos lah! This is sports DSA after all. It is not just the coaches, if you ask some mommies or daddies with kids in competitive spots and ask them to name the top athletes in their sport / age group, don’t be surprised if these parents can rattle off the names as if the athletes are their own children.

7. Last but not least, I don’t think it was shoddily conducted. I think it’s a clear example of the school knowing who they want. Perhaps they could have put up a better show but it’s also understandable why they don’t. Not all teachers and coaches are PR expert.

[hewell]

I agree.


And if a kid is one of the top candidates at the sports, mentally strong, he/she is expected to perform very well at the audition no matter the circumstances. The same goes for other performance based domains. So I actually see nothing wrong with decisions being made heavily based on performance at the audition. I see it being a better indicator than past achievements.

[Imp75]

Yes especially for individual.sports, fair or unfair however you call it, we parents already knew who our kids competitors are, who are the sec sch coaches, and which sch they are dsa’ing so we don’t clash and mutual agreement not to ‘spoil’ each others chances. The sporting world is very small locally.

[Cet]

Coffeelatte03\" post_id=\"2074367\" time=\"1657774108\" user_id=\"198645:

Hi for those who got shortlisted for academics domain like EL, Science or CL, would u mind sharing what is the AL score your child usually gets for that subject and the Total overall AL? Thank you so much. 🙏🏻

I think the minimum is consistently AL 1 for the subject the student is applying.
The total AL (from observations) ranges from 4-7.

[Coffeelatte03]

Cet\" post_id=\"2074378\" time=\"1657780297\" user_id=\"193952:

I think the minimum is consistently AL 1 for the subject the student is applying.
The total AL (from observations) ranges from 4-7.

I see. Thanks for all the inputs. My gal applied for EL and Sci but results very shaky. Sometimes AL1/AL2. There was also AL3 before. Total AL also around 7-8 most of the time. No awards or other achievements. Guess low chance. 😥