is science tuition necessary for P3 or wait til upp pri?

[pixiedust]

Jennifer:

... Reading up model ans in good Science guide helps a lot. By end of P4, my elder boy was scoring close to 100 for his SAs. Then come P5, how to interpret a qn was another skill learnt. Again, no shortcuts here. I had to sit down with him and teach him to look for clues to understand the qn. Eventually he grasped the know how....

Jennifer, I pay you to tutor my boy ?
Can share your favourite Science assessment books - Janet Sim Challenging Science ?

24hr-mum, I've gone mad and then gain back my sanity (no choice, just got long road ahead). The sheer volume is overwhelming as the years go by. I agree with Jennifer must make sure the kids understand each year's syllabus.

For my boy, he is interested in Science and he likes to read so he got the facts in his head. However, he doesn't have good process skills and lose marks in open-end questions. He only do well for those questions/experiments we (yes, he and ME) studied from the assessment books. As the years go pass it is really impossible to remember and study so many different possible questions.

[24hr-mum]

oh its scary. eng n ch is just lang skill. maths the topic is limited tho the questions are hard. but for sci the knowledge seems limitless! i nvr take sci after sec sch and anyway outdated liao. so got to read before can teach ur own kids…better get tutor

[Jennifer]

24hr-mum:

oh its scary. eng n ch is just lang skill. maths the topic is limited tho the questions are hard. but for sci the knowledge seems limitless! i nvr take sci after sec sch and anyway outdated liao. so got to read before can teach ur own kids.......better get tutor

Dun worry too much

[Jennifer]

pixiedust:

Can share your favourite Science assessment books - Janet Sim Challenging Science ?

My copy of Janet Sim's Challenging Sci is from the old syllabus. Not sure if there is a newer edition. I think I hv enough science guide books at home liao, buy more also no time to read up :oops:

I underwent the headache period with my elder boy too. Just hang in there.

[Jennifer]

pixiedust:

As the years go pass it is really impossible to remember and study so many different possible questions.

Hm, I did not set the aim to answer all qns correctly for my elder boy. So feel less stress? The qn paper always hv one or two higher level thinking qn meant for the top top pupils. Not worth cracking our brains and spend too much of our time to get those few more marks. Just my humble thought.

[beepeebful]

i think these higher order questions are not impossible to do. students just have to apply the concepts taught in school, sometimes it could be a case of indirect application.

[ctct61t]

I’m afraid my DD can not bear with too much of tution class.

[Sci]

IMHO, The higher order thinking skills questions can be managed. Your child must ofcourse have quite good content knowledge of science first…so the first thing to do during the holidays is to get a good science guide and tell them its going to be "bed time story" for the next few months.


Next make sure they are aware of the key concepts and keywords. Unfortunately, they are very important if you want to score in your exam.

Students often forget its a Science Exam, so the explanation must be based on some science concept they have learnt before. Their first response is often to panic and say to themselves "But I’ve never seen this Q before". Students need to be empowered with confidence instead to think "For most of life’s problems that I face, I would never have "seen" or experienced them before, but i have to solve the problem with my given knowledge."


What are the keywords? Hmm… ask the school teacher or find all the words in bold in some of the science guides!!

[Sci]

Re Is science tuition necessary in P3 and 4? I think science tuition is not necessary at all if the child pays attention in class and an adult is willing to hold the child’s hand through it all. But time investment may be high.


The adult must have a good grasp of science and must be willing to read science guides…or the child must be motivated enough to read the guides themselves. The adult must also be willing to invest the time to train the child to speak and write accurately. Many children’s problem with Section B is that they cannot express themselves clearly. Even with keywords, if they cannot express themselves clearly, I believe its still hard for teachers to award marks. Many adult’s problems are that in our haste, we often interpret our children’s speech, so even when they don’t describe things clearly to us, we interpret and understand them. I choose to pretend not to understand them and make them find ways to speak until they can communicate their ideas precisely.

Then all you need in hand is a bunch of past year exam papers…and you’re set.

I find the ultimate science guide good. But it does not highlight keywords for you. Casco, has good detail for adults, but for some children (who are not interested in science) they may find the big words overbearing.

For a household where the child/parent reads science guides, most of the explanation would be in the guides. Some help a Science tutor can offer is for example by fine tuning Section B answers, highlighting to child how they should improve their answers, what key points their missing, how to answer to the point and explain or describe precisely. Breaking down the more difficult questions and so help a child see what thought processes are needed.

In short if you want to save money, no need tutor, do the work yourself and ask your child to pay 110% attention in class.
If you don’t have time, get a tutor by mid year P4. But you must still monitor homework. If your child does not do homework, don’t waste your money on tuition. Discipline issues must be solved first.
If you don’t have time, and don’t have much money, start tuition latest by mid year P5.
If you have too much money, start science tuition at P3.

That’s just a personal opinion… Many may beg to defer.

[Leanne]

Hello Sci,


Thanks for the explanation.



Just need advice, what is the sure way to hit perfect score for MCQ?DS missed by one, tho we have exposed him to many types of questions.
He doesnt like to read boring guide, is there one guide that is easy to read and that has captured the main facts that you can recommend?ds is primary five this year.thanks

rgds
Leanne

Sci:

Re Is science tuition necessary in P3 and 4? I think science tuition is not necessary at all if the child pays attention in class and an adult is willing to hold the child's hand through it all. But time investment may be high.

The adult must have a good grasp of science and must be willing to read science guides..or the child must be motivated enough to read the guides themselves. The adult must also be willing to invest the time to train the child to speak and write accurately. Many children's problem with Section B is that they cannot express themselves clearly. Even with keywords, if they cannot express themselves clearly, I believe its still hard for teachers to award marks. Many adult's problems are that in our haste, we often interpret our children's speech, so even when they don't describe things clearly to us, we interpret and understand them. I choose to pretend not to understand them and make them find ways to speak until they can communicate their ideas precisely.

Then all you need in hand is a bunch of past year exam papers...and you're set.

I find the ultimate science guide good. But it does not highlight keywords for you. Casco, has good detail for adults, but for some children (who are not interested in science) they may find the big words overbearing.

For a household where the child/parent reads science guides, most of the explanation would be in the guides. Some help a Science tutor can offer is for example by fine tuning Section B answers, highlighting to child how they should improve their answers, what key points their missing, how to answer to the point and explain or describe precisely. Breaking down the more difficult questions and so help a child see what thought processes are needed.

In short if you want to save money, no need tutor, do the work yourself and ask your child to pay 110% attention in class.
If you don't have time, get a tutor by mid year P4. But you must still monitor homework. If your child does not do homework, don't waste your money on tuition. Discipline issues must be solved first.
If you don't have time, and don't have much money, start tuition latest by mid year P5.
If you have too much money, start science tuition at P3.

That's just a personal opinion... Many may beg to defer.