Hwa Chong Institution (High School)

[verykiasu2010]

Cheers_for_Kids:

My boy has received offers from both HCI and RI. I am leaving it to him to make a decision bcoz he is going to be the one studying. Personally, I kinda of like HCI a little better bcoz of all that I have heard from other parents - they are caring and have sincere teaching staff and take good care of the kids. So far, I have not heard anything about RI other than what we already know about them being one of the top schools. My son is not very good in Chinese and he is very stressed when it comes to Chinese. He tries hard but still find it difficult. OK, he is not really very bad, but he is just average. Everything that he says is direct translation from English to Chinese. He had his Chinese PSLE oral today and sounded depress as he feels he had not answered well. I had to console him and told him not to think about it anymore coz it is already over, but to work harder on his compo and the other Chinese paper. Guess, if he goes to HCI, he might be even more stressed out as HCI is more Chinese oriented (I duno, just my impression hearing so much). I think he will finally choose RI. I hope he will be happy whatever he chooses...it will be a good six years. BTW, is it true that the A level results of those taking IP are not as good as those who take O levels? If so, then why IP? After all, A level results will determine if they can get into the local uni here, right?

many of those from RI and HCI get offers of uni places from Oxbridge and Ivy league based on A level prelims....i heard....not sure...they even have a dept specialising in helping to place the students to o/seas uni

[Cheers_for_Kids]

oh, tx much.

[powershengyang]

LOL, why 4A1?

[mum42]

Cheers_for_Kids:

My boy has received offers from both HCI and RI. I am leaving it to him to make a decision bcoz he is going to be the one studying. Personally, I kinda of like HCI a little better bcoz of all that I have heard from other parents - they are caring and have sincere teaching staff and take good care of the kids. So far, I have not heard anything about RI other than what we already know about them being one of the top schools. My son is not very good in Chinese and he is very stressed when it comes to Chinese. He tries hard but still find it difficult. OK, he is not really very bad, but he is just average. Everything that he says is direct translation from English to Chinese. He had his Chinese PSLE oral today and sounded depress as he feels he had not answered well. I had to console him and told him not to think about it anymore coz it is already over, but to work harder on his compo and the other Chinese paper. Guess, if he goes to HCI, he might be even more stressed out as HCI is more Chinese oriented (I duno, just my impression hearing so much). I think he will finally choose RI. I hope he will be happy whatever he chooses...it will be a good six years. BTW, is it true that the A level results of those taking IP are not as good as those who take O levels? If so, then why IP? After all, A level results will determine if they can get into the local uni here, right?

Hi, tell yr DS not to worry too much about the oral,my son actually translated the whole conversation from Eng still managed to get an A for Chinese. Now in HCI still managed to get B3 for his Chinese exam without too much stress.
We actually wanted RI for him so he need not stress abt his Chinese but he insisted HCI was his choice and he has not look back since. He is given alot of Leadership opportunity in Council, class and CCA. He is very busy with projects, Ace pts , homework and CCA but still enjoying every mins in HCI (of course got complaints sometime la).

[ApronMama]

I was told in HCI , the child needs to work very hard. Academically wise is demanding, there is independent studies besdies exam which determine the new promotional criteria at sec two, if did not meet the criteria got to do ‘O’ level. My neighbour transferred the child to non-IP to continue sec 3 & 4 when he was asked to do ‘O’ level, also partly due to independent school fee every month.

[d1s2]

ApronMama:

I was told in HCI , the child needs to work very hard. Academically wise is demanding, there is independent studies besdies exam which determine the new promotional criteria at sec two, if did not meet the criteria got to do 'O' level. My neighbour transferred the child to non-IP to continue sec 3 & 4 when he was asked to do 'O' level, also partly due to independent school fee every month.

I think you work hard but you also get to play. They get a week of sabbatical at the end of 3 terms, that they get to bid for fun courses such as IT classes, fencing, scrabbles, F1 workshop, hip hop,..... totally no regular lessons. That's what they are doing this week

Regarding the O levels, I understand that they do find that not all kids cope with the IP curriculum and in such situations, the school feels that O levels may be better for them. They have 1 class of about 20 students on the O levels track where I was told that the best teachers are assigned to. The students can go back to the IP track later if they are coping better. According to HCI, once they've accepted a student into the school, they are committed to helping the child go all the way to JC.

[fruitplus]

d1s2:

ApronMama:

I was told in HCI , the child needs to work very hard. Academically wise is demanding, there is independent studies besdies exam which determine the new promotional criteria at sec two, if did not meet the criteria got to do 'O' level. My neighbour transferred the child to non-IP to continue sec 3 & 4 when he was asked to do 'O' level, also partly due to independent school fee every month.

I think you work hard but you also get to play. They get a week of sabbatical at the end of 3 terms, that they get to bid for fun courses such as IT classes, fencing, scrabbles, F1 workshop, hip hop,..... totally no regular lessons. That's what they are doing this week

Regarding the O levels, I understand that they do find that not all kids cope with the IP curriculum and in such situations, the school feels that O levels may be better for them. They have 1 class of about 20 students on the O levels track where I was told that the best teachers are assigned to. The students can go back to the IP track later if they are coping better. According to HCI, once they've accepted a student into the school, they are committed to helping the child go all the way to JC.

Yes, the principal promised in the Open House that HCI will not 'abandon' our kids, while RI will ask students who did not do well enough to leave the school （happened to my daughter's senior, he was transferred out of the school, but he is doing extremely well now).

In yesterday's DSA waitlist 1 briefing, the principal said that all students in waitlist 1 are guarenteed to get a place.

My son waitlisted for both RI and HCI, but most of his friends are choosing RI. And RI is nearer to our house. Yet, chances of getting RI is unknown, but HCI is 100% even though it is waitlist (provided we put HCI as 1st choice).

Headache!

[wonderm]

fruitplus:

d1s2:

[quote=\"ApronMama\"]I was told in HCI , the child needs to work very hard. Academically wise is demanding, there is independent studies besdies exam which determine the new promotional criteria at sec two, if did not meet the criteria got to do 'O' level. My neighbour transferred the child to non-IP to continue sec 3 & 4 when he was asked to do 'O' level, also partly due to independent school fee every month.

I think you work hard but you also get to play. They get a week of sabbatical at the end of 3 terms, that they get to bid for fun courses such as IT classes, fencing, scrabbles, F1 workshop, hip hop,..... totally no regular lessons. That's what they are doing this week

Regarding the O levels, I understand that they do find that not all kids cope with the IP curriculum and in such situations, the school feels that O levels may be better for them. They have 1 class of about 20 students on the O levels track where I was told that the best teachers are assigned to. The students can go back to the IP track later if they are coping better. According to HCI, once they've accepted a student into the school, they are committed to helping the child go all the way to JC.

Yes, the principal promised in the Open House that HCI will not 'abandon' our kids, while RI will ask students who did not do well enough to leave the school （happened to my daughter's senior, he was transferred out of the school, but he is doing extremely well now).

In yesterday's DSA waitlist 1 briefing, the principal said that all students in waitlist 1 are guarenteed to get a place.

My son waitlisted for both RI and HCI, but most of his friends are choosing RI. And RI is nearer to our house. Yet, chances of getting RI is unknown, but HCI is 100% even though it is waitlist (provided we put HCI as 1st choice).

Headache![/quote]Maybe you can find out from RI about your ds chance of getting in at their briefing session. Do they have similar briefing to people on Waitlist?

[fruitplus]

wonderm:

Maybe you can find out from RI about your ds chance of getting in at their briefing session. Do they have similar briefing to people on Waitlist?

wonderm, I guess the 2nd best (wait list) are not as important to RI, not briefing session at all. Sigh.

[wonderm]

fruitplus:

wonderm:

Maybe you can find out from RI about your ds chance of getting in at their briefing session. Do they have similar briefing to people on Waitlist?

wonderm, I guess the 2nd best (wait list) are not as important to RI, not briefing session at all. Sigh.

fruitplus, please cheer up! If your ds really likes RI, he can still put RI as first choice in DSA selection. Most importantly, encourage him to do well for PSLE. The fact that both RI and HCI offered him WL shows that he has great potential of excelling in PSLE. All the best to him!