2023 PSLE Discussions and Strategies (Children born in 2011)

[bbbay]

Momof2childs\" post_id=\"2125208\" time=\"1703069789\" user_id=\"106468:

Actually the gender differences in STEM abilities are quite evident in primary school students as well when we look at Math Olympiad results and gender divide in specialised schools such as SST and NUSH.

I see.

Could it be due to boys have more interest and it motivate more of them to challenge themselves more in STEM by doing Olympiad/specialisation than girls, and not so much boys have better math/science abilities than girls at primary school level? And also from what I see, the top 3 PSLE students from my children primary school were all girls.

[zac's mum]

bbbay\" post_id=\"2125210\" time=\"1703070364\" user_id=\"175278:

I see.

Could it be due to boys have more interest and it motivate more of them to challenge themselves more in STEM by doing Olympiad/specialisation than girls, and not so much boys have better abilities than girls at primary school level? And also from what I see, the top 3 PSLE students from my children primary school were all girls.

There is another stereotype that girls generally score better in academics from a young age. So the psle top scorers across sg have historically been overwhelmingly female (except in boys schools of course).

I was a female in stem industry. While it is not impossible (or even difficult) for females to excel in stem especially in sg, somehow the males have more instinct to it (on top of interest), especially physics over bio, and complicated math. Even at the jc levels there are more boys taking up H3 physics and math than girls.

[00skyblue00]

When math or sci paper is easier it would be more prominent those stronger in them will do even better, from AL3 to AL2, AL2 to AL1 but not necessary for those low 90 to high 90.


Another possibility is changes made to Eng and CL papers incl oral, compo, marking criteria, are now more geared towards boys’ (generic) abilities. Hence, boys may be able to perform better in their weaker areas like langs.

[bbbay]

But it is conclusive boys are doing better than girls in this year PSLE? It will be very interesting if this is really the case.

[SG_KP1]

I wonder if the SAP O Level schools saw more applicants due to the Express/G3 only factor (not saying I agree or disagree with this)? People have posted NHHS, CCHM, and AHS; anyone know where NCHS ended up (MSHS also improved)?


If CGS (and TKGS) cut G3 intake by one class, a one AL improvement (harder to get in) doesn’t seem like that much. I am surprised the G2 COP for these two schools was AL25. Either no one wants to be the newbie/guinea pig or many weren’t even aware this was an option this year?

[SG_KP1]

I think many people expected the distribution of AL Scores to improve (somewhat) over the first several/few/handful of years compared to 2020 Indicative or 2021 PSLE. Kids are now trying to optimize the Total AL Score instead of the aggregate t-score. With every year that passes, you have more and more kids that have only thought in AL Term, and fewer parents that guided kids under t-score. Further, given the ballot lines that have been drawn, many people are trying to get inside of those levels.


MOE didn’t publish the percentage of kids qualifying for G3 this year. Assuming it was stable at 68.4%, there could be ~700 add’l kids posted to the G3 schools. Could be why some COPs improved (harder to get in) a point or two vs. last year (when ~1,400 fewer kids were posted to the Express/G3 schools and many COPs increased/easier to get in).

As for intake sizes, I think the IP cohort sizes were held roughly the same last year (2023 S1) and again this year (2024 S1), although this doesn’t seem to be the case universally outside of IP.

TJC IP also improved to AL8 again this year.

[zac's mum]

bbbay\" post_id=\"2125213\" time=\"1703071380\" user_id=\"175278:

But it is conclusive boys are doing better than girls in this year PSLE? It will be very interesting if this is really the case.

Haha only moe has the full stats. I was just filling my time making some speculations on why some boys schools cop shifted.

I saw from some circles that the mid-tier schools (AL11, 13, 16) saw some unexpected shifts as well (likely a trickle down effect) and some who filled all 6 choices too tightly without a good safety net school were caught off guard and posted to a random school near home.

[mystique_j]

Actually from facebook postings, ALOT of schools actually went back to the PSLE 2021 levels, some even improved from 2021. The rest maintained last year’s COP. So far I’ve only heard of one school that defied the trend, NJC.

[zac's mum]

SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2125215\" time=\"1703071785\" user_id=\"188234:

I wonder if the SAP O Level schools saw more applicants due to the Express/G3 only factor (not saying I agree or disagree with this)? People have posted NHHS, CCHM, and AHS; anyone know where NCHS ended up (MSHS also improved)?

If CGS (and TKGS) cut G3 intake by one class, a one AL improvement (harder to get in) doesn't seem like that much. I am surprised the G2 COP for these two schools was AL25. Either no one wants to be the newbie/guinea pig or many weren't even aware this was an option this year?

This reddit source is saying that NCHS dropped from 9 to 12:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/s/qLcEks607P

[mystique_j]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2125222\" time=\"1703075115\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2125222 time=1703075115 user_id=53606]
This reddit source is saying that NCHS dropped from 9 to 12:

https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/s/qLcEks607P[/quote]

NCHS was AL12D (2021), AL12 (2022) and AL11M (2023)