Preparing kids for P5 in 2011

[janet88]

Hi JRLam,

Thanks for your helpful advice. I’ve cut and copy your post to hubby.
Math is completely greek to me. Yeah, have to find out what the centre is doing these 2 weeks. Hope son knows what the enrichment centre teacher is teaching when he attends this Fri.

Son’s teacher just returned the Onsponge Math to allow parents to work on it.

[Peony]

Hello everyone,


SA1 fever hit you yet?

My DD had compo exams today and will be having oral tomorrow.

Hope she has the stamina to last till the last paper on 12 May as she tends to fall sick this time every year…

[pixiedust]

Yes, hit us big time !


Peony, compo exams on different dates ? Ours paper 1 and paper 2 same day, with a break inbetween.

I’ve been boiling soup every few days. It has been a really tough term 2. We will take a good rest after SA1.

All the best to P5 mommies and kiddos.

[Peony]

Yup, paper 1 and 2 have got 1 week gap!


HMT is next Thursday... it all ends on 12 May. Hate the \"slow death\".

Take care everyone! Sleep early!

GOOD LUCK!! :salute:

[Chenonceau]

DS had HMT today… compo, Orals and Listening Compre last week. He was very nervous about HMT last night. I kept having to remind him that failing doesn’t kill anyone. No blood is drawn and no one’s tongue gets cut out.


All the best to all P5 Mommies and kiddos!!

[JRLam]

Chenonceau:

DS had HMT today... compo, Orals and Listening Compre last week. He was very nervous about HMT last night. I kept having to remind him that failing doesn't kill anyone. No blood is drawn and no one's tongue gets cut out.


All the best to all P5 Mommies and kiddos!!

Your son seems to take every exam very seriously. It is good that he is conscious to do well on his academic work, and that's definitely better than those who bo-chap in the leading-up to the exam and equally nonchalant on the eve of the exam! But, I am not sure if they are too serious on it, will it be detrimental to their confidence level shall they not do well, or up to their expectation? I mean, this is just 1 paper out of so many other exams in the whole life?

Difficult to strike the right balance, huh?

[janet88]

With May 9 set to be a public holiday, I wonder if exams are going to be pushed back one day…so far no news from school yet.


Hi JRLam,
I agree with you…if the child takes exams seriously, then we as parents don’t have to nag and worry…but we don’t want them to see exams as such a BIG thing that their confidence level depends on it. No employer will want to know how they scored but exams are just one of the many they have to sit for in life.

[Chenonceau]

JRLam:

Your son seems to take every exam very seriously. It is good that he is conscious to do well on his academic work, and that's definitely better than those who bo-chap in the leading-up to the exam and equally nonchalant on the eve of the exam! But, I am not sure if they are too serious on it, will it be detrimental to their confidence level shall they not do well, or up to their expectation? I mean, this is just 1 paper out of so many other exams in the whole life?

Difficult to strike the right balance, huh?

Hey... thanks for the timely note.

DS has very high achievement motivation. Both my kids do. I used the years from preschool to P2 to develop diligence and achievement motivation even though it meant that they scored at bottom of the class. You're right that it can be a problem in some situations. In secondary school, my older one landed in hospital because she had overworked herself. I had to lock up her computer for a month and ban homework.

Because they are both high on achievement motivation, I actually have to IMPOSE mandatory rest days before exams. Also in the 2 to 3 weeks leading up to exams, I lighten the load and only give positive feedback. Every other teacher in school scrambles to give exam prep and feedback in these last weeks. Usually, by then, my kids are pretty prepared, so even the Teacher gives positive feedback at this time. DS was praised yesterday for being the only one to make a particular inference for English compre. If I don't do this, both of them will get panic attacks.

He's actually looking forward now to the Science, Math and English exams. He won't be top in any of these but he'll do well enough to please him and me. But for HCL and CL, we both know the jump in P5 is too big for him to bridge so he's quite nervous. I had no choice. I had to tell him \"You WILL fail. But I will still love you as long as you learn from your mistakes.\" In every other subject his goal target is 90+ because that challenge will spur his effort. Chinese alone is calibrated at 50 because the challenge of 90+ will demoralize him completely.

If he gets above 50 for either HCL or CL, I am gonna make a big deal. We are gonna CELEBRATE.

[janet88]

The jump for Math is so big that I am praying hard he can give me a pass…that’s sufficient.

Like what Chenonceau mentioned, we will make it a BIG DEAL and celebrate.

For the other subjects, I hope he can try to reduce his careless mistakes.

[ksme]

Good luck to all children and mummies for the coming SA 1. My kid starts 1 of his paper today too. Can’t wait for all the papers to be over in 2 weeks time.