Preparing kids for P5 in 2011

[Brenda10]

JRLam:

Yesterday my son came back from his CL Paper 1, mummy was all geared up to do last minute revision for his HCL Paper 1 & 2 that are to be held today. Then he told me he had lots of hw to be submitted the next day, ie today Friday - 1) complete the entire 2010 SA1 Sci exam papers Booklet A & B, 2) corrections for another exam papers, & 3) some outstanding Art projects (THIS is my son's fault for not finishing that earlier on time). I was fuming! With all these hw on the day before another exam, how are the children going to find time to revise?


I know it is partly our fault to do last minute revision, but who doesn't? With so much hw to do and such challenging exam papers, P5 is really a year to sprint! While I am not expecting him to cover the entire P5A CL textbook within a day, I will certainly appreciate the last half-day or so to do some minimal revision .. even that hope was dashed!

So, for the 1st time in his school examination preparation history, hahaha, he didn't TOUCH a single page of the subject he is supposed to be tested on the following day .. cool! I will be happy if he pass the papers .. I just look forward to the GE long weekends .. thanks to the govt .. hahaha.

Don't worry lah. For language like EL or CL is not necesaary to revise the text book lah. Just my 2 cents thought.

As for 2010 SA1 Exam papers from other school as homework (EL and Maths - 1 set each, Sciecne - 2 sets), the teacher also given the answer key to the parent to verify themselves.

[jesschan]

Janet,

I think u r really super stressed up. That will also stress up your kid and affect his academic performance. Do relax a little. In my opinion, now u should just ask him to do self revision and refer to u when in doubt. Give him some space and let him learn to manage his time. Avoid giving him new work to practise since exams just round the corner.

[phankao]

Janet, i guess have to let your son really just rest during the hols. If not, become like my son - rebel against doing any work by end of p5 and also in p6.

[jesschan]

Hi, I posted this question in another thread but receive no response, maybe someone here can enlighten me. The phrase is found in the P5 HCL textbook, but I think it is also in the normal CL textbook. My son encountered this in a MCQ, not but both seems correct to me…


Can someone advise which of the following is the correct usage of 损伤 ：
1) 损伤眼睛
2) 损伤心灵

[pixiedust]

Ah, the thread has been merged to the PSLE Chinese.

Folks, please give your opinion to jess's question here:
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=2298&p=415220#p415220

[janet88]

Hi Mummies with children in P6,

I was a little kiasu and thought of getting P6 assessment books in June…asked my friend whose son is in P6 this year for some recommended titles. She advised me not to get any…reasons are
1) no time bcos teachers will be cramming 6A and 6B so as to finish syllabus early.
2) assessment titles are not close to exam format, as such most of those she bought are not used.
3) do past year papers

I believe there will still be CA1 and SA1 in P6. If I do not get any like 短文填空，完成对话, 完成句子 and 理解测验 (OE), how can the tutor coach him ?
Oh yes, is 口试/听力 70% ?? That’s really heavy. Kindly advise. Thanks a million.

[QuiteKSMum]

Hi janet_lee88,


This was our experience for PSLE 2010 ( 1st yr of syllabus change) :

1. We did get a few Chinese Assmt bks (as I’ve listed under the Chinese Assmt Bks thread) - most of the bks were done as & when the T progressed with the chapters. My son could still manage to do all 3 bks for Semester 1. These were marked & gone thru by the pte tutor.

2. Even last yr wh. was the 1st yr of change (hence fewer titles corresponding to the new format), there were still relevant titles in the market. Most of the titles we bought were the relevant type.

3. We didn’t do much past yr papers due to the fact it’s the 1st yr of change. We only managed to do around early Sep the top schools prelims papers. As by then, time was really short, we only focused on 1-2 full paper, the rest (all the MCQs (except Compre)) were done as revision.

After T had completed the 6B txtbk, I got him 1 Bk which goes by sections, & again we only managed all the MCQs, & one or two compres ( both MCQ & OE) only, due to lack of time.

The exam component is :
1. Oral 50 mks
2. LC. 20 mks
3. Compo. 40 mks
4. Paper 2 90 mks
Total. 200 mks

Within Paper 2, if I rem correctly, Compre ( both MCQ & OE) % is more than 50%.

Personally, I feel that it’s tough to complete most of the Compre sections - we can only be selective & catch the skills / techniques of answering certain types of qns. After all, the chance of an exact passage/ qns coming out in PSLE is almost negligible.

Also, I feel that it might be wise to focus a bit more on the Oral ( & LC too) component as they are easier to brush up on & hence score. Compo, for a kid with an avg proficiency ( even for low to mid-end A graders), I feel it’s more difficult to score that extra 2 - 3 mks …

Just our own experience …

Why don’t you wait till Dec hols b4 getting these P6 bks? By then, the 2011 PSLE mummies will be ready to share their actual experience with us .

Cheers!

P.S. Our experience with son’s sch ( a neighourhood sch) in P6 was that a lot of time was spent on Maths, due to the wide differing standards in his mixed ability class. CL & EL - reasonable time. But for us, Science was under-focused, even in the supplementary classes.

[janet88]

QuiteKSMum:

1. We did get a few Chinese Assmt bks (as I've listed under the Chinese Assmt Bks thread) - most of the bks were done as & when the T progressed with the chapters. My son could still manage to do all 3 bks for Semester 1. These were marked & gone thru by the pte tutor.


2. Even last yr wh. was the 1st yr of change (hence fewer titles corresponding to the new format), there were still relevant titles in the market. Most of the titles we bought were the relevant type.

3. We didn't do much past yr papers due to the fact it's the 1st yr of change. We only managed to do around early Sep the top schools prelims papers. As by then, time was really short, we only focused on 1-2 full paper, the rest (all the MCQs (except Compre)) were done as revision.

After T had completed the 6B txtbk, I got him 1 Bk which goes by sections, & again we only managed all the MCQs, & one or two compres ( both MCQ & OE) only, due to lack of time.

The exam component is :
1. Oral 50 mks
2. LC. 20 mks
3. Compo. 40 mks
4. Paper 2 90 mks
Total. 200 mks

Within Paper 2, if I rem correctly, Compre ( both MCQ & OE) % is more than 50%.

Personally, I feel that it's tough to complete most of the Compre sections - we can only be selective & catch the skills / techniques of answering certain types of qns. After all, the chance of an exact passage/ qns coming out in PSLE is almost negligible.

Also, I feel that it might be wise to focus a bit more on the Oral ( & LC too) component as they are easier to brush up on & hence score. Compo, for a kid with an avg proficiency ( even for low to mid-end A graders), I feel it's more difficult to score that extra 2 - 3 mks ....

Why don't you wait till Dec hols b4 getting these P6 bks? By then, the 2011 PSLE mummies will be ready to share their actual experience with us

Hi QuiteKSMum,
Thanks for your valuable info.
Although my friend told me teacher will be cramming 6B with 6A, I feel certain sections still need to be improved. Regarding comprehension, tutor told me to leave out those passages which are too difficult.

Will take your advice...wait till Dec to get CL assessment. Believe the mummies here will be able to advise more. Thanks.

[Brenda10]

QuiteKSMum:

This was our experience for PSLE 2010 ( 1st yr of syllabus change) :

1. We did get a few Chinese Assmt bks (as I've listed under the Chinese Assmt Bks thread) - most of the bks were done as & when the T progressed with the chapters. My son could still manage to do all 3 bks for Semester 1. These were marked & gone thru by the pte tutor.

2. Even last yr wh. was the 1st yr of change (hence fewer titles corresponding to the new format), there were still relevant titles in the market. Most of the titles we bought were the relevant type.

3. We didn't do much past yr papers due to the fact it's the 1st yr of change. We only managed to do around early Sep the top schools prelims papers. As by then, time was really short, we only focused on 1-2 full paper, the rest (all the MCQs (except Compre)) were done as revision.

After T had completed the 6B txtbk, I got him 1 Bk which goes by sections, & again we only managed all the MCQs, & one or two compres ( both MCQ & OE) only, due to lack of time.

The exam component is :
1. Oral 50 mks
2. LC. 20 mks
3. Compo. 40 mks
4. Paper 2 90 mks
Total. 200 mks

Within Paper 2, if I rem correctly, Compre ( both MCQ & OE) % is more than 50%.

Personally, I feel that it's tough to complete most of the Compre sections - we can only be selective & catch the skills / techniques of answering certain types of qns. After all, the chance of an exact passage/ qns coming out in PSLE is almost negligible.

Also, I feel that it might be wise to focus a bit more on the Oral ( & LC too) component as they are easier to brush up on & hence score. Compo, for a kid with an avg proficiency ( even for low to mid-end A graders), I feel it's more difficult to score that extra 2 - 3 mks ....

Just our own experience ....

Why don't you wait till Dec hols b4 getting these P6 bks? By then, the 2011 PSLE mummies will be ready to share their actual experience with us .

Cheers!

P.S. Our experience with son's sch ( a neighourhood sch) in P6 was that a lot of time was spent on Maths, due to the wide differing standards in his mixed ability class. CL & EL - reasonable time. But for us, Science was under-focused, even in the supplementary classes.

Hi QuiteKSMum,

Thank you for sharing.

We did not do the assessment book on CL since the school has given enough coverage of practice on those paper 2 components.

I only get dd to attend the weekly CL compo. class in view of this compo. requires time to build up and the coverage by the school is definitely not sufficient.

For this SA1 Exam, we just clear all the MCQ (语文应用, 短文填空，完成对话) and go through certain open and end questions which carry good ci yu and phrases from the top school past year papers.

We also revise through those key words like 矛盾, 事与愿违,逆境 etc so as to attempt to those quesiton require to use on your own words.

I also agree that oral and listening compreh (70 marks} 35 marks of 100 marks) are important to do well so as to help the compo. .

[Brenda10]

janet_lee88:

Although my friend told me teacher will be cramming 6B with 6A, I feel certain sections still need to be improved. Regarding comprehension, tutor told me to leave out those passages which are too difficult.

Hi Janet

Don't worry. The content of P6 CL Book is much lesser than P5.

6A- 6 chapters
6B- 4 chapters

The teacher can finish the syllabus quite fast and have more time to revise through those ci yu had learnt.

I can see dd CL spelling list are focus more on revision lah.