2010 DSA(Direct School Admission)

[fruitplus]

jtoh:

Students on the wait lists are ranked. So if you are ranked #1, you will be first to be given a place if someone drops out. The waitlist is not dependent on your PSLE results.

jtoh, thanks for clarifying.

I supposed they are ranked based on GAT results and interview performance?

[jtoh]

fruitplus:

jtoh:

Students on the wait lists are ranked. So if you are ranked #1, you will be first to be given a place if someone drops out. The waitlist is not dependent on your PSLE results.

jtoh, thanks for clarifying.

I supposed they are ranked based on GAT results and interview performance?

Each school has its own criteria for ranking but I would assume it would be dependent on school results, GAT results, interview performance etc.

[fruitplus]

jtoh:

fruitplus:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]

Students on the wait lists are ranked. So if you are ranked #1, you will be first to be given a place if someone drops out. The waitlist is not dependent on your PSLE results.

jtoh, thanks for clarifying.

I supposed they are ranked based on GAT results and interview performance?

Each school has its own criteria for ranking but I would assume it would be dependent on school results, GAT results, interview performance etc.[/quote]OK, so the best is still to rely on good PSLE results.

[Pen88n]

fruitplus:

naggo-nitemare:

[quote=\"Strparent\"]Good luck to all who applied, especially the mainstreamers. Personally, I DO feel RI and HCI a bit biased towards GEP students, which is a little unfair. At least for NUSH and NJC, everybody stands an equal chance. They will get through purely on their own merits. Just my 2c views of course.

This is not an unfair system. GEP kids hv been on a different curriculum and the schs tt allow them to continue a curriculum most suited to their abilities are the IP schs, esp RI n HCI. As explained in earlier posts by others, GEP kids hv been sitting for standardised tests across all 9 centres over 3 yrs. On top of these exams, GEP kids hv poured in considerable amt of time on project afer project. NUSH admits pupils based on different criteria such as passion in math n science. I think is safe to say tt most GEP kids would look for DSA at RI n HCI to cont with their education, less preference for NJC. So NJC has a wider proportion of mainstream applicants. Every individual has a different path to success.

My DS too received a CO from RI today. All the best to all for upcoming PSLE!

Yes, I agree with you. They really spend a lot of time on the projects. Especially the Social Study projects. My son was very very stress during his first year (P4) due to the Social Study (SS) projects. The SS projects really test the kid's maturity. It was very tough on him.

But as time progress, he did better and better.

BTW, from my personal friends and relatives, quite a number of bright kids opt not to go into GE class, it so happen that they are all girls (1 of them in NTU now, T-score 272 when she was in P6).

There are a lot of bright kids who are not in GEP class. They all do very well in PSLE.[/quote]I agreed that GEP kids went thru' a much more rigorous curriculum, compared with mainstreamers. They no doubt have put in effort, and that is also recognised that based on their brightness, they are able to absorb more and thus given more stimulating curriculum.

I also understand that given the difference, schools may exercise different criterias in assessing and admitting GEP vs mainstreamers. However, why should schools like HCI / RI accept more GEP kids than mainstreamers during the DSA process? Looking at the fact that GEP is done at P3, does that mean a kid not entering GEP in P4 is already \"disadvantage\" at that point onwards? If you think deeper about it, it is no wonder that ks parents are \"training\" and \"pushing\" kids to be in GEP if there is such an advantage.

Please do not be mistaken, I am not in any way against GEP kids or parents. I know a lot of them who are a wonderful lot of people. If there is such advantage provided in the DSA route for them, they should by all means grab it. But I am questioning the DSA system of providing an \"unfair advantage\" to GEP kids vs maintreamers. Given GEP kids have gone thru' a rigorous curriculum, they should be able to fair well in PSLE. Why the DSA preference given to GEP? It really puzzle me!

[fruitplus]

Pen88n


Perhaps parents should post the question to the RI/HCI pricipals during the Open house. Then it would clarify everyone’s doubt.

I personally know a GE kid who scored 24x during PSLE, but luckily already accepted by DHS thru DSA. And the kid is doing very very well in DHS now. From what I understand, the kid could not get use to the PSLE format.

From my son’s experience, some similar questions asked in Science test papers, GE papers and PSLE expect different answers. More generalize ins PSLE, and more in depth (expect certain jargon, too) in GE papers. So it is quite confusing when he did multiple choice questions during P4,P5 and 1st half of P6 (for mainstream test papers) and could not find the RIGHT answer. They were only told what are the Right PSLE answers in 4th week of June this year.

[Strparent]

Pen88n:

Please do not be mistaken, I am not in any way against GEP kids or parents. I know a lot of them who are a wonderful lot of people. If there is such advantage provided in the DSA route for them, they should by all means grab it. But I am questioning the DSA system of providing an \"unfair advantage\" to GEP kids vs maintreamers. Given GEP kids have gone thru' a rigorous curriculum, they should be able to fair well in PSLE. Why the DSA preference given to GEP? It really puzzle me!

Firstly, pen88n, I just want to reinterate that my son and most of his good friends DID not do any pre-GEP preparations, seriously. DS was just told to try his best and see where he stands. In fact, in his previous school, he was like 13th in his class ( top class though ), and only 4 of them got into GEP. So I think GEP is not about academic superiority for sure, else DS would not be able to get a sniff, hahaha.

I agree on 2 counts on your comments. One, yes, I am grateful that there is an advantage via DSA due to preference for GEP students. Two, I also feel all students should take the HAST or GAT paper just to be uniform in entry criteria. HCI and DHS exempts all GEP students from this paper, and RI only applies them to those below 80 on SA1 GE results.

But I think there are other reasons behind the GEP preference, maybe something to do with the grants and coefficients for each GEP student in their school ? This is purely guesswork of course.

Anyway we looked at it, there will always be some points of unfairness. My boy struggled with the projects initially too, but as time passes, the comradeship he shares with his good friends through special events and projects were invaluable. They get to go for overseas competitions and the exposure were priceless.

I think most GEP students are more cocky ( in a good sense ) due to their overwhelming self confidence, but they are not necessarily better in exam results than those not in GEP. You have to understand out of 550 GEP students, there is a small number which MOE will earmarked for future advancements, and these few are fully deserving. My boy is just enjoying the free ride as he is definitel not in that small group, hahaha.

My only grievance is that I think if he had scored 1-2 more points in his SA1, I am sure he would have gotten a CO, because he aced the GAT and he did very well in his interview. But he is just a tad lazy when it comes to studying for examinations.

Strange that so far, none of the GEP students that had to take GAT were given CO... anyone ?

But I think for DS, he has woken up, and know now he has to work hard for PSLE ( since he is on WAIT List ), in order for him to join most of his good friends who already has CO from RI.

But having said that, even if he eventually fail to go to RI, I am sure he is a better person for all the enrichment gone through, and this DSA exercise as well.

[sautille]

My son, and his 4 other classmates, received COs from RI today. All under GEP domain.


He was elated for about 30 mins before returning to the reality of preparing for PSLE Oral and next week’s prelim exams.

Told him not to think too much about the CO but to do his best in PSLE.

[Strparent]

sautille:

My son, and his 4 other classmates, received COs from RI today. All under GEP domain.


He was elated for about 30 mins before returning to the reality of preparing for PSLE Oral and next week's prelim exams.

Congrats, sautille ! :celebrate:

yes, now for the PSLE. back to the grinding wheel.

May I dare to guess that your son and 4 other classmates, did NOT have to sit the GAT at RI ? I am fairly sure that is the case

16 of my DS clamssmates already get CO, and they all did well enough in their SA1 to be exempted from the GAT test. Most of the boys who sat the GAT test, are on the waitlist. Any DS who sat for GAT ( under GEP ) got a confirmed offer ?

Just out of curiosity. :?

[fruitplus]

Strparent:

sautille:

My son, and his 4 other classmates, received COs from RI today. All under GEP domain.


He was elated for about 30 mins before returning to the reality of preparing for PSLE Oral and next week's prelim exams.

Congrats, sautille ! :celebrate:

yes, now for the PSLE. back to the grinding wheel.

May I dare to guess that your son and 4 other classmates, did NOT have to sit the GAT at RI ? I am fairly sure that is the case

16 of my DS clamssmates already get CO, and they all did well enough in their SA1 to be exempted from the GAT test. Most of the boys who sat the GAT test, are on the waitlist. Any DS who sat for GAT ( under GEP ) got a confirmed offer ?

Just out of curiosity. :?

sautille :congrats:

Strparents, so far, all my son's classmates who sat for GAT~~ all got wait list offer (except for 1 got rejected).

[Strparent]

fruitplus:

Strparents, so far, all my son's classmates who sat for GAT~~ all got wait list offer (except for 1 got rejected).

Hi Fruitplus,

arrhhh, my conspiracy theory gains more weightage now, LOL. My son's classmates also same, those who sat for GAT at RI, mostly waitlist and 2 were rejected. Confirmed ones all exempted from GAT.
curse that 1-2 points!!! :x just kidding ;), DS got 79 for his SA1, due to carelessness in his maths.

I really hope to hear from a parent that his DS got an RI CO, who had to sit for GAT.

EDIT : Gratz to Au :celebrate: :celebrate:

pls tell me DS did not have to sit for GAT . am I right ???