2023 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2011)

[zac's mum]

blesseddad\" post_id=\"2117780\" time=\"1693369230\" user_id=\"6241:

How did it help your child?

He attended Science only (not Math). His Science grade improved from AL5 (beginning P5 to prelim) to AL4 (psle). I dunno where your child is or what your expectations are, but to me that was a welcome boost, affordable and online too.

[SamCookie]

Hi Manorway,


Thank you do much for your sharing. Yes, you are right about the limited time left and it feels like there is still so much to study can't wait for the exam to be over. It has been quite tiring since the Oral and Prelims.

[zac's mum]

SamCookie\" post_id=\"2117812\" time=\"1693381673\" user_id=\"133743:

Hi Manorway,

Thank you do much for your sharing. Yes, you are right about the limited time left and it feels like there is still so much to study can't wait for the exam to be over. It has been quite tiring since the Oral and Prelims.

Hang in there…just a little while more to go! I felt exactly the same last year. Regarding EL, we managed to get 10 mark improvement (from AL4 to AL2) not from S&T but rather from Compo, using a more unique storyline which can stand out from the crowd. That is a slightly easier way to do it (less drilling practice involved).

[Blokus]

Hi


I’ve read that some, and had personal friends with, kids who had a drastic drop in their scores from consistent Al1 to Al 3 to Al4 and worse even Al5 especially for maths and science. I wonder what could have led to such situations?

[zac's mum]

Blokus\" post_id=\"2117876\" time=\"1693446226\" user_id=\"68342:

Hi

I’ve read that some, and had personal friends with, kids who had a drastic drop in their scores from consistent Al1 to Al 3 to Al4 and worse even Al5 especially for maths and science. I wonder what could have led to such situations?

Did your personal friends share why? Or they dunno either?

I can only guess that the kid experienced burnout, or major anxiety/panic etc.

Let’s not pressurize our kids so much, esp in the lead-up to major exams.

It’s never the end of the story, no matter what happens. DS told me recently his friend (who was posted to NT stream becos blanked out during psle) has been upgraded to NA cos teachers observed he is quite obviously able to cope with a higher syllabus.

Also have another kid transferred from NA to Exp becos seat vacated by Exp who went to international school.

[Blokus]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2117878\" time=\"1693446903\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2117878 time=1693446903 user_id=53606]
Did your personal friends share why? Or they dunno either?

I can only guess that the kid experienced burnout, or major anxiety/panic etc.

Let’s not pressurize our kids so much, esp in the lead-up to major exams.

It’s never the end of the story, no matter what happens. DS told me recently his friend (who was posted to NT stream becos blanked out during psle) has been upgraded to NA cos teachers observed he is quite obviously able to cope with a higher syllabus.

Also have another kid transferred from NA to Exp becos seat vacated by Exp who went to international school.[/quote]

They were clueless. Actually I’ve a personal experience. My elder kid was a consistent 97/98 maths student in all his primary school life. But came psle, didn’t get A* for maths. I was baffled he wasn’t that kind who makes careless mistakes. However now that I’m going through for my current psle kid, I looked through the paper and found out the tough questions they set that year were all particularly his weak chapters. While he could grasp the usual questions well but he was thrown off by the unusual geometry questions that year - those kind is- it’s either you can see or you can’t. Also, his school never or rarely tested pattern questions and that year pattern question was the harder question too. Which leads me to wonder, sometimes is th school marking too lenient - hence they can achieve Al1? Or some schools focus more on certain areas that they thought were more important? Really worrying because it can be devastatingly shocking when such unexpected results are given. I think lesson learn: must expect the unexpected.

edit: also May I add that he didn’t have tuition unlike most of his peers hence his exposure to varied of maths questions were limited. I also wonder if that was the case too.

Thanks for your advice! You are right. We do what we can now and hope for the best!

[libran269]

Blokus\" post_id=\"2117884\" time=\"1693449976\" user_id=\"68342:

They were clueless. Actually I’ve a personal experience. My elder kid was a consistent 97/98 maths student in all his primary school life. But came psle, didn’t get A* for maths. I was baffled he wasn’t that kind who makes careless mistakes. However now that I’m going through for my current psle kid, I looked through the paper and found out the tough questions they set that year were all particularly his weak chapters. While he could grasp the usual questions well but he was thrown off by the unusual geometry questions that year - those kind is- it’s either you can see or you can’t. Also, his school never or rarely tested pattern questions and that year pattern question was the harder question too. Which leads me to wonder, sometimes is th school marking too lenient - hence they can achieve Al1? Or some schools focus more on certain areas that they thought were more important? Really worrying because it can be devastatingly shocking when such unexpected results are given. I think lesson learn: must expect the unexpected.

edit: also May I add that he didn’t have tuition unlike most of his peers hence his exposure to varied of maths questions were limited. I also wonder if that was the case too.

Thanks for your advice! You are right. We do what we can now and hope for the best!

This year we have only Prelims full set. Previous terms they didnt have the full 100 marks or 200 marks - so not able to guage the level... it can be one off good or not so good marks.. There is lot of room for uncertainty....

[lazygal21]

hi,my twins didn’t have maths tuition throughout pri school but both got AL1 for psle. I would say do not be just dependent on the questions the school set. I gave my kids throughout the year many many top schools exam papers to do to give them exposure to a variety of questions so that whatever the psle qns they throw out, at least my kids will at least have done something similar before and will not panic. But with 1 mth left before psle, not sure if it is too late to do that now.

[Blokus]

lazygal21\" post_id=\"2118091\" time=\"1693620903\" user_id=\"115005:

hi,my twins didn't have maths tuition throughout pri school but both got AL1 for psle. I would say do not be just dependent on the questions the school set. I gave my kids throughout the year many many top schools exam papers to do to give them exposure to a variety of questions so that whatever the psle qns they throw out, at least my kids will at least have done something similar before and will not panic. But with 1 mth left before psle, not sure if it is too late to do that now.

Appreciate your sharing!

[manorway]

Blokus\" post_id=\"2117884\" time=\"1693449976\" user_id=\"68342:

They were clueless. Actually I’ve a personal experience. My elder kid was a consistent 97/98 maths student in all his primary school life. But came psle, didn’t get A* for maths. I was baffled he wasn’t that kind who makes careless mistakes. However now that I’m going through for my current psle kid, I looked through the paper and found out the tough questions they set that year were all particularly his weak chapters. While he could grasp the usual questions well but he was thrown off by the unusual geometry questions that year - those kind is- it’s either you can see or you can’t. Also, his school never or rarely tested pattern questions and that year pattern question was the harder question too. Which leads me to wonder, sometimes is th school marking too lenient - hence they can achieve Al1? Or some schools focus more on certain areas that they thought were more important? Really worrying because it can be devastatingly shocking when such unexpected results are given. I think lesson learn: must expect the unexpected.

edit: also May I add that he didn’t have tuition unlike most of his peers hence his exposure to varied of maths questions were limited. I also wonder if that was the case too.

Thanks for your advice! You are right. We do what we can now and hope for the best!

One of my kids breezed through Math in P5 and P6 and scored 95-99 all the time but did not get A* at PSLE.
Another kid who always scored low 80s got A* at PSLE. My conclusion was one got complacent and/or had exam nerves at PSLE though he said he was calm, hence made lots of careless mistakes. The other learnt he had to be very careful and was more careful than usual in PSLE.

So now that I have gone through a few PSLE exams, I have learnt it can still go either way on the actual days. We control what we can manage and for the rest, we try not to worry so much.