2022 PSLE Discussions & Strategies (born in 2010)

[sembgal]

chenlaoshi\" post_id=\"2078668\" time=\"1660637945\" user_id=\"162894:

Yup, which is why for topic like today's CL oral you don't have to tell \"fanciful\" activities (such as go on overseas trip, visit museum/exhibition etc.) to be able to score.

It's more of communication and logical thinking skills that examiners look for - otherwise, it will be unfair because not all children are as privileged.

Hi chenlaoshi

You are so right! I. In fact pupils can make up stories about what they do during the holidays if they do not know how to say certain vocabulary such as going to trampoline park etc. It is to test on the ability to converse and not who has the best holiday experience. As long as the pupils are able to say their parents bring them out to zoo see animals, visit library to borrow books, visit grandparents or have extra tuition sessions during holiday to catch up. Even if the pupil commented that both parents are working and he stayed at home to play online games with his friends and complete some revision homework given by parents, I think that’s fine.

This topic could have been an English exam topic. In fact, the question of what do you do on weekends was asked for PSLE English a few years ago but it was not deemed “hard” topic. I feel that even if your child hesitated and paused a while but continued to answer the questions in their own unique ways, they will still pass.

[sembgal]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2078615\" time=\"1660628077\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2078615 time=1660628077 user_id=53606]
Boy in his room playing games on his computer. Clock on the wall shows 3.30pm. But the timetable on his room wall shows 3-5pm: do homework.

DS can’t remember the exact qns but no issue to talk a lot cos gaming is close to their hearts lol.[/quote]

Hi zac’s mum

English Day 2 PSLE seem easier than Day 1. Day 1 was on Recycling and it was not surprising that this challenging topic came out.

If anyone has bought Mindstretcher’s 2022 edition English Oral book volume 3, you will find the Recycling topic inside the book. Although it is not 100% similar, anyone can read for content knowledge. There is this English question inside the book, “ What do you plan to do during school holidays?”

2022 PSLE English Oral Day 2 picture shares a similar resemblance to 2021 PSLE style of setting the picture for the 2021 PSLE oral Day 1. The girl was sleeping and she pinned a notice to the cork board to ask someone to wake her up, yet she was sleeping when the alarm went off.

[zac's mum]

Yes, I noticed the resemblance too.


There was some discussion by DS’ school teacher that 2021 qn 1 was badly set: “Are u like the girl in the picture? Why or why not?”

Hilarious responses from the boys: I am not a girl, of course I am not like her!

[sembgal]

eurostar\" post_id=\"2078619\" time=\"1660628641\" user_id=\"38555:

imo this CL day 2 oral abit give chance
those who are really poor in CL most likely will pass as long as they talk...
those memorise from learning lab and mind stretches will got a shock ............they know is easy but might not perform up to expectation

anyway is over..........prelim next

In fact, CL day 1 oral also “abit give chance”.
PSLE Day 1 Chinese oral conversation topic was deemed easy by some (English potatoes) who have failed Chinese oral conversation consistently or barely scrapping through. It is something that they are able to talk about. Who has never help someone before ?

I compared the style of SEAB setting PSLE and O level Chinese oral conversation questions for 2022. I feel that there are some similarities in the style of asking questions. Take the English Day 1 topic on Recycling. “ Why some people do not recycle?” Isn’t it similar to 2022 O level Chinese exam question ”Why some people are sick but do not want to visit the doctor?” It seemed that they want to hear your opinions so there is no standard model answer as long as the answer is logically given with common sense.

It’s time all parents should start asking their children for their opinions instead of just nagging or scolding them.

Prelim exam will be next. Go focus on that. All the best!

[SG_KP1]

I have no idea whether the topics were hard or easy. In the end, it depends on both any specific child's ability and how he/she controlled his/her nerves.


At the end of the day, PSLE is still a relative scoring exercise. Whether the paper/question is difficult or easy, just do the best you can and move on to the next one. Life will go on.

I do find it amusing how some parents can only complain non-stop (started with 2019 PSLE and continues to 2022 O Level Orals) about the difficulty of the papers/questions their kids were given, but they think everyone else gets easy papers. Must be the unluckiest cohort on the planet? Or, their perspective is misplaced? Perhaps some self-reflection and thought would go a long way.

Good luck to everyone for Prelims :rahrah: :rahrah:

[Mr.025413Clumsy]

sembgal\" post_id=\"2078725\" time=\"1660695498\" user_id=\"5559:

Hi chenlaoshi

You are so right! I. In fact pupils can make up stories about what they do during the holidays if they do not know how to say certain vocabulary such as going to trampoline park etc. It is to test on the ability to converse and not who has the best holiday experience. As long as the pupils are able to say their parents bring them out to zoo see animals, visit library to borrow books, visit grandparents or have extra tuition sessions during holiday to catch up. Even if the pupil commented that both parents are working and he stayed at home to play online games with his friends and complete some revision homework given by parents, I think that’s fine.

This topic could have been an English exam topic. In fact, the question of what do you do on weekends was asked for PSLE English a few years ago but it was not deemed “hard” topic. I feel that even if your child hesitated and paused a while but continued to answer the questions in their own unique ways, they will still pass.

By that token, every topic will not be hard. The problem, however, is that many students (my DS included) try to analyze and spot topics which may come out. There's limited science behind the process and much of it is based on assessment of previous topics, current trends and wishful thinking. Ultimately, however, I don't know if that topic (Day 2 Chinese) was something which students had anticipated. This was made even more tricky because they may not have been able to speak from personal experience given that there were limited activities during the previous years' school hols.

Of course, if your child is fluent and can engage with the examiners, then (like I said) it's easy to assume that every topic is a breeze. However, I don't know if all students are like that and therefore, preparation for them is key. The fact that this may not have been something they prepared for (or had expected/anticipated etc.) made it a bigger challenge.

As such, I still disagree with your earlier comment that both days Chinese topics were easy. Judging from some of the feedback here, I suspect that there are other parents who also feel the same way. (I've also heard from some teachers who were taken aback by that topic too.)

To be clear, this does not mean that the students would suffer a poor score because the topic was more difficult. As chenlaoshi said, the difficulty of the topic would be taken into consideration and grading adjusted accordingly. So, the students should not feel like they're doomed.

[sembgal]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2078728\" time=\"1660696800\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2078728 time=1660696800 user_id=53606]
Yes, I noticed the resemblance too.

There was some discussion by DS’ school teacher that 2021 qn 1 was badly set: “Are u like the girl in the picture? Why or why not?”

Hilarious responses from the boys: I am not a girl, of course I am not like her![/quote]

Haha…

[sembgal]

Mr.Clumsy\" post_id=\"2078731\" time=\"1660697723\" user_id=\"135989:

By that token, every topic will not be hard. The problem, however, is that many students (my DS included) try to analyze and spot topics which may come out. There's limited science behind the process and much of it is based on assessment of previous topics, current trends and wishful thinking. Ultimately, however, I don't know if that topic (Day 2 Chinese) was something which students had anticipated. This was made even more tricky because they may not have been able to speak from personal experience given that there were limited activities during the previous years' school hols.

Of course, if your child is fluent and can engage with the examiners, then (like I said) it's easy to assume that every topic is a breeze. However, I don't know if all students are like that and therefore, preparation for them is key. The fact that this may not have been something they prepared for (or had expected/anticipated etc.) made it a bigger challenge.

As such, I still disagree with your earlier comment that both days Chinese topics were easy. Judging from some of the feedback here, I suspect that there are other parents who also feel the same way. (I've also heard from some teachers who were taken aback by that topic too.)

To be clear, this does not mean that the students would suffer a poor score because the topic was more difficult. As chenlaoshi said, the difficulty of the topic would be taken into consideration and grading adjusted accordingly. So, the students should not feel like they're doomed.

Well, I know that students will not suffer a poor score because the topic was difficult. If you follow the secondary chinese forum link, you will read that the most unexpected chinese oral questions were asked for O level Chinese exam on Healthcare / Medical. I deemed it as hard topic too but so long as my child (English potato) can say, she will pass.

Similarly, to you and those that think the topic is hard, you can have the same thinking as it all boils down to one’s opinion and one’s expectations. I said the topic was easy but if I were taking the exam, I may only pass and may not score well but I am happy as I have met my own expectations.

To share something with everyone, I heard from other children who are excellent in Chinese and getting full score for chinese conversation is easy for them. However, to them, they have to meet their Chinese parents’ expectations is what they fear the most! It is so sad that the parents are giving too much pressure to the children so the children will complain that it is hard and sort of lower the parents’ expectations of their results.

[sembgal]

SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2078730\" time=\"1660697541\" user_id=\"188234:

I have no idea whether the topics were hard or easy. In the end, it depends on both any specific child's ability and how he/she controlled his/her nerves.

At the end of the day, PSLE is still a relative scoring exercise. Whether the paper/question is difficult or easy, just do the best you can and move on to the next one. Life will go on.

I do find it amusing how some parents can only complain non-stop (started with 2019 PSLE and continues to 2022 O Level Orals) about the difficulty of the papers/questions their kids were given, but they think everyone else gets easy papers. Must be the unluckiest cohort on the planet? Or, their perspective is misplaced? Perhaps some self-reflection and thought would go a long way.

Good luck to everyone for Prelims :rahrah: :rahrah:

I agree with you that controlling one’s nerves matter a lot during exam. A calm state of mind will help one to focus and analyse better.

However, the comparing of the difficulty of exam questions seemed to have started way before 2019. Whether a person compare online or offline, as long as the person doesn’t harm anyone, why care or bother so much ? Life will go on but this is the beauty of parenting, all parents love their children. That’s why you are here and others are here in this forum to read. Perhaps your perspective has been redirected too but it’s ok. So long as you are here to learn and share, I think that is good. 😊

[SG_KP1]

For those parents with kids taking PSLE this year, I suggest trying to ignore chatter on whether the papers were hard or easy. For example, every year there is talk about this paper or that paper vs. the prior year’s paper. In the end, we know the following:


Indicative AL COPs using 2019 PSLE Raw Marks: IP = AL6 - AL9 (MOE gave a range by school type)
Indicative AL COPs using 2020 PSLE Raw Marks: IP = AL6 - AL9 (MOE gave a school by school COP)
Actual AL COPs using 2021 PSLE Raw Marks: IP = AL6 - AL9

There is undoubtedly some noise with COVID/HBL, S1 Option Form behavior, and exam strategy. However, the above would broadly suggest that year after year the paper difficulty in the aggregate is about the same (I’m sure SEAB would concur).

Hence, this year there will likely be both harder questions/papers/components and easier questions/papers/components. There’s no point in getting all fired up about what cannot be changed. Instead, try to help your child smooth out the emotional highs/lows and get ready for the next one.

Best of luck to all!