All About Preparing For PSLE

[carmen21]

My dd will be taking PSLE in 2011. She failed her maths for SA2 and I’m traumatise by the result. I want to help my dd to start preparing for PSLE. Her teacher says she don’t know the concept for maths. Can parents please help me know everything about PSLE and the ways and tips to help my DD?

[parent_in_west]

For Math, I think the child must understand the concepts. It is pointless for the child to do many questions if he or she cannot identify the concepts relevant to the question and hence does not know how to apply the correct techniques to solve the questions.


From what I know, some teachers and tutors emphasise on concepts and their pupils tend to do better than those who don’t.

My two cents worth from my experience with my DS when he was in upper primary.

[beeb]

I wonder why exam questions are set to be more and more difficult in schools nowadays? Isn't education to build our kids rather than to break them?


Perhaps the system in Singapore is overly focus on identifying the super intelligent kids at the expense of the average ones, by rising the difficulty level of exam papers.... Didn't we have the GEP for the cream of the crop? Why are we sacrificing the majority average students for the handful of elites?

Please continue to build our young ones and stop breaking them with challenging exam questions which even degree holding parents need time to answer.....

[Sun_2010]

beeb:

I wonder why exam questions are set to be more and more difficult in schools nowadays? Isn't education to build our kids rather than to break them?


Perhaps the system in Singapore is overly focus on identifying the super intelligent kids at the expense of the average ones, by rising the difficulty level of exam papers.... Didn't we have the GEP for the cream of the crop? Why are we sacrificing the majority average students for the handful of elites?

Please continue to build our young ones and stop breaking them with challenging exam questions which even degree holding parents need time to answer.....

I can understand the stress you are undergoing. Look at it from prespective
PSLE is a place ment exam not a qualifying one.
It is used to grade the ability and potential of children - so if most of the pupils get 90% and above as the paper set is of a lower standard how to evaluate?
So tougher Questions help separate the different levels and capability of children. This will help when the child goes to Sec and beyond - he can be stretchecd to hs best ability without being broken...

Well atleast that is the intent - not that PSLE is a ideal way - there are exceptions like latebloomers who suffer, one bad exam performance and you are labeled, etc...

But I dont think it is justified to blame the toughness of paper - after all
T-score is what matters and so the performance of the cohort matters as much as the raw score of the pupil.

Take heart and tell your child to do his/her best - nothing else matters. Dont let the system break you , it is there for support but sometimes becomes a hinderence, when that happens be there to support him/her.

My 2 cents

[pebble]

If you have not already found the right thread here is it :

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11079

Like you my girl is taking her PSLE next year so I can fully understand the stress you are feeling now.. 加油！

[Parent456]

Hi :


My dd is in P5 this year. I coach her myself in maths instead of outsourcing to external tutors and at home (we used fabian Ng, Andrew Er, challenging maths enrichment books - you name it and I have them at home) and during the school common tests, she usually can get above 90 out of 100 for maths paper. But when it comes to the SA1 and SA2 paper, she will panic and freak out very easily when she hit a difficult problem and it will have spiral effect on the subsequent Qs - her mind just seems to stop working and many a times - she can’t solve simple Qs that she could easily do so (as we have practiced many a times at home and in school) - what can I do to help her overcome this problem

also - is there any way we can get a child to avoid making careless mistakes as at times - they simply got no spare time to check thru thru answers before the time is due

[pecalis]

Parent456:

Hi :


My dd is in P5 this year. I coach her myself in maths instead of outsourcing to external tutors and at home (we used fabian Ng, Andrew Er, challenging maths enrichment books - you name it and I have them at home) and during the school common tests, she usually can get above 90 out of 100 for maths paper. But when it comes to the SA1 and SA2 paper, she will panic and freak out very easily when she hit a difficult problem and it will have spiral effect on the subsequent Qs - her mind just seems to stop working and many a times - she can't solve simple Qs that she could easily do so (as we have practiced many a times at home and in school) - what can I do to help her overcome this problem

also - is there any way we can get a child to avoid making careless mistakes as at times - they simply got no spare time to check thru thru answers before the time is due

Hi, interestingly, I can't bring myself to make my children do the Fabian Ng and Andrew Er or the 4-in-1 challenging math books. I find such drills boring. When a child cannot solve slight variation of qn, it probably means he/she has not completely grasped the concept. When a child find some qns extremely difficult, it means he/she has not been exposed to difficult qns.

The 4-in-1 challenging math book is NOT challenging but just very tedious - requires the child to do many steps just to get the ans.

To be exposed to challenging qns, I think Math456.com qns from top sch good and also the A* series from Learning Interactive. I also subscribed Math Oasis for my children which they enjoy.

Careless mistakes can't be helped but I remember I was rather careless when younger but I'm also aware of my weakness and I had to remind myself - danger zone - tend to make careless mistakes and thus, take special effort to check those steps first b4 proceeding. I also made my kids check their Math paper by working backwards or use alternative mtd to solve, so as to confirm answers are correct.

If a child does not have enough time to check answers or complete the paper, it means the child needs more practice to solve in a faster pace. I don't believe in drilling - doing many qns of the same type. I believe in doing enough qns of the same type to get the speed and move on to the different variations and be exposed to challenging qns.

These are just my personal experience and preferences. Hope nobody will get offended

[Brenda10]

For Maths, timing of speed is very important.


For paper 1, try not to exceed 35 minutes and leave at least 15 minutes for verifying.


For paper 2, if not much problem there should be likes 30 minutes left for verifying.

Just my 2 cents thought

[kitty2]

Hi, interestingly, I can't bring myself to make my children do the Fabian Ng and Andrew Er or the 4-in-1 challenging math books. I find such drills boring. When a child cannot solve slight variation of qn, it probably means he/she has not completely grasped the concept. When a child find some qns extremely difficult, it means he/she has not been exposed to difficult qns.


The 4-in-1 challenging math book is NOT challenging but just very tedious - requires the child to do many steps just to get the ans.

To be exposed to challenging qns, I think Math456.com qns from top sch good and also the A* series from Learning Interactive. I also subscribed Math Oasis for my children which they enjoy.

Careless mistakes can't be helped but I remember I was rather careless when younger but I'm also aware of my weakness and I had to remind myself - danger zone - tend to make careless mistakes and thus, take special effort to check those steps first b4 proceeding. I also made my kids check their Math paper by working backwards or use alternative mtd to solve, so as to confirm answers are correct.

If a child does not have enough time to check answers or complete the paper, it means the child needs more practice to solve in a faster pace. I don't believe in drilling - doing many qns of the same type. I believe in doing enough qns of the same type to get the speed and move on to the different variations and be exposed to challenging qns.

These are just my personal experience and preferences. Hope nobody will get offended :)[/quote]

Hi,

Thanks for sharing May i know where is Learning Interactive?Is the A* series for only Maths.Do you have any good recommendation if a child is weak in section C?

Thanks for sharing

[Brenda10]

Hi Kitty2


I think is A*Maths Problems booklet - total 7 pcs from Learning InterActve.