SG insane - Japanese NUS students about PSLE Math

[stpngks]

If you ever attempt a P6 Math Word Problem, you will find it very obnoxious, abhorrent just reading the question. The problem presented seems to exist only in a very convoluted world somewhere near Mars or Pluto.


You spend the first few minutes analysing what the question is asking. You wonder where in the world, will people be presented with such complicated problem, 3 unknown variables with only 2 equations, with 1 unknown you have to trial and error.

Then you spend another few minutes figuring the strategy to approach/attack the problem. You are working out the problem step-by-step and found that it reaches a dead end or the answer worked out is an irrational number.
So back to square one and retry again.

You finally got the answer but found that it is not the method that teacher wants, that only requires a 2 or 3 steps instead of your 2 dozen steps solution.

You solved the a) and b) part of the question and thought you have at least scored 1 question correct. But who knows you missed out the c) part which is 3 times more complex than a) & b).

You finally finished the entire paper 2, but found that you spend 4 hours to do it when the PSLE requires 12-year-old students to finish within 1 hour. Some who have many years experience doing such questions while teaching them, may find certain questions undoable at the first try too.

Unfortunately 12-yo pupils who don’t do well in the hour exam, may find their life in the next few years to be miserable. On the bright side, many practices will definitely help improve the score.

Ghib Ojisan intentionally let the Japanese NUS student attempt only the Paper 1 Multiple Choice Question which is much simpler and the local NUS students attempt the more difficult Paper 2 Word Problems. Otherwise, it would
be embarrassing for the foreign university students.

[zac's mum]

“Unfortunately 12-yo pupils who don’t do well in the hour exam, may find their life in the next few years to be miserable.”


I think this statement is unnecessarily fatalistic.

Sec 1 math is much easier & straightforward than PSLE math. So if the misery is referring to Sec 1-4 math, not really.

If the misery is referring to being in a non-IP track, not true either. Some kids are happily thriving there. I don’t see them wallowing in misery.

Math is not the be-all and end-all of life. In secondary school, it is merely one of >>7 subjects (albeit a compulsory one).

[pirate]

PSLE maths is not that difficult. It just requires a different way of thinking from the one-track mindset we old timers were trained in back in the day.


On the other hand, try finding out where a secondary school student with 6 A1s and a F9 for Maths can progress to locally.



Then again, selective service industry courses in ITE are not so bad.

[sevenseals]

It is insane because:


Principals who insist teachers set difficult questions, bet they can't do the questions themselves.
Highest authority in MOE who approves policies on PSLE, bet they can't do the questions themselves.
Foreign students receiving scholarships in NUS can't do the questions

To Kiasuparents now preparing their kids for coming exams, don't worry, the questions have been dumbed down quite a bit last few years already. 18 questions reduced to 17.

Best antithesis to setting high barrier in PSLE and forcing children to do intellectual acrobatics is:
https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/playwright-faith-ng-a-normal-stream-student-is-now-an-over-achiever

[sevenseals]

Older PSLE-is-insane video, \"Adults Take PSLE Maths Paper and Almost Die\", quite humorous!


\"I can feel my brain coming out of my ear!\"

The story also features Ammiel Wan, one of the first teachers who pioneered the challenging word problem questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tIIXqUXfP8

https://i.imgur.com/pc4QbHv.jpg\">

[sevenseals]

Elson\" post_id=\"2119692\" time=\"1695965872\" user_id=\"136390:

Yes, heard p1 more tricky than p2. But overall, saw smiling kids outside school, so everybody was happy. No Helen and Ivan this year.. 😂

Anybody knows of any particularly challenging questions in the paper today?

[gsgs1300]

sevenseals\" post_id=\"2119718\" time=\"1695973483\" user_id=\"124401:

Anybody knows of any particularly challenging questions in the paper today?

My student said the Math exam is not that difficult as she thought this year.