Parents of students ACS(I) - R U Happy with the IP program

[autolycus]

phankao:

What I meant was - is it MOE does not take the IB Chinese paper as a valid fulfilment of requirement, hence the need to take the O level CL/HCL papers instead.

No, the IB Chinese paper is a valid fulfilment of the bilingual/MT requirement. However, if O-level HCL is taken, that fulfils the pre-university bilingual/MT requirement as well. The student may then do another language besides Chinese for the IB (which itself always requires a second language); in fact, if the student has done HCL at O-level, he shouldn't be doing IB CL Lang B, since that is actually of a far lower level.

There are also ACS(I) students who do O-levels, and those of course must do the MT or HMT paper as part of that certification. They have to do it even if they subsequently get into the IB course, since they wouldn't know if they had got in until the O-level results were released.

[COD Warrior]

Hi autolykus,


What are the second languages offered for IB students in IB-Year 5 at ACSI? (apart from Chinese, Spanish, French and German which you have already mentioned)

Thank you.

[autolycus]

COD Warrior:

Hi autolykus,


What are the second languages offered for IB students in IB-Year 5 at ACSI? (apart from Chinese, Spanish, French and German which you have already mentioned)

Thank you.

It depends on whether there is demand. I think some PRC scholars are doing English as their second language, and Bahasa Indonesia is also a possible option. IB offers many languages including classical Greek and Latin, but I don't think ACS(I) offers them all!

From the current school list (not sure if updated recently): Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Spanish, German, French.

[Faun]

Hi autolycus,


Thanks so much for all the info.

You mentioned the 34 points requirement. If we minus 3 points for TOK, Extended Essay and Creative, action service, that means it’s 31 points for the subjects for the 6 groups. That comes to about 5 points per subject. 5 point = average, I think. Is 5 point a B3 equivalent in O’level?

My son has started on the iB prog. He’s not strong in Chinese and I’m kinda glad the Chinese requirement is not that high for IB. In Y5&6, a second language is compulsory but must it be Chinese? My friend told me he knew an ACSI boy doing Malay for those 2 years instead because he kept failing his Chinese through the years. Just wondering if it’s possible for my ds to do, say Spanish instead as he’s more interested in that.

[autolycus]

Faun:

You mentioned the 34 points requirement. If we minus 3 points for TOK, Extended Essay and Creative, action service, that means it's 31 points for the subjects for the 6 groups. That comes to about 5 points per subject. 5 point = average, I think. Is 5 point a B3 equivalent in O'level?

This would be excluding bonus points. So you need to have a score of 34 for the best 5 subjects from Groups 1 to 5 and one other subject. For the ACS(I) pre-IB, 7 points is roughly 85% and 6 points is roughly 70%. 5 points is a B3 or B4.

Faun:

My son has started on the iB prog. He's not strong in Chinese and I'm kinda glad the Chinese requirement is not that high for IB. In Y5&6, a second language is compulsory but must it be Chinese? My friend told me he knew an ACSI boy doing Malay for those 2 years instead because he kept failing his Chinese through the years. Just wondering if it's possible for my ds to do, say Spanish instead as he's more interested in that.

The second language must be the Mother Tongue language in order to meet SG bilingualism requirements. However, if your son has met those requirements (e.g. by HMT) by Year 5, he can take another language. It is also possible for him to appeal to change his MT (or MT equivalent). I'm not sure what the procedure for that is, though; I think it must be something like applying to do CL B in the GCE course.

[UncleLim]

I don’t mean to be a wet blanket but any ACS(I) parent feel that your child is struggling or not enjoying this programme ? Any specific issues that are impeding their progress? Thanks in advance!

[Lynn2010]

autolycus:

COD Warrior:

Hi autolykus,


What are the second languages offered for IB students in IB-Year 5 at ACSI? (apart from Chinese, Spanish, French and German which you have already mentioned)

Thank you.

It depends on whether there is demand. I think some PRC scholars are doing English as their second language, and Bahasa Indonesia is also a possible option. IB offers many languages including classical Greek and Latin, but I don't think ACS(I) offers them all!

From the current school list (not sure if updated recently): Chinese, English, Malay, Tamil, Hindi, Spanish, German, French.

Hi Autolykus,

Do you know what if the child is exempted from MT and in the eyes of MOE, the MT is already deemed fulfilled. Does the child still need to do a second lang. in the IB program?

If a child does an entirely new language, eg. German, wont they have to start from scratch? Will a child without any German background be at a disadvantage?

Thanks.

[Frog]

ACS(I) is a good alternative to those who are considering SOTA but prefer a more well rounded academic environment. Their IB Visual Art results were 11 sevens and 3 sixes for the 2010 cohort of 14 students. Those interested in the Visual Art programme might want to take a peek at their programme this Sunday 6-8 pm when they are presenting their current cohort works set up for their IB graduation show (a requirement for IB Visual Art which include an interview in lieu of time based exam). They are offering 19 candidates this year. You would get a chance to meet the teachers and also speak to the students. Quite likely the new Principal would be there too I heard.

[phtthp]

so far, who are some of the prominent Ministers or civil servants whose alumni come from RI, Hwa Chong Institute, NUSH, Dunman - since mentioned (beginning of this thread) that they sort of disappear, compared to outstanding ACS boys who seek revenge at our education system, when comes to mid career level?

[LOLMum]

Notable alumni


PoliticsRaffles Institution has produced seven out of twelve of Singapore's Presidents, Prime Ministers and Chief Ministers.

Yusof Ishak, 1st President of Singapore (1959–1970)

Benjamin Henry Sheares, 2nd President of Singapore (1971–1981)

Wee Kim Wee, 4th President of Singapore (1985–1993)

Lee Kuan Yew, 1st Prime Minister of Singapore (1959–1990), Senior Minister of Singapore (1990–2004), Minister Mentor of Singapore (2004–2011)

Goh Chok Tong, 2nd Prime Minister of Singapore (1990–2004), Senior Minister of Singapore (2005–2011)

S Jayakumar, Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore (2004–2009) and Minister for Law (1988–2008)

S Rajaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister (Foreign Affairs) of Singapore (1980–1984), Minister for Foreign Affairs (1965–1980), Minister for Culture (1968–1971), Senior Minister of Singapore (1985–1988).

K Shanmugam, Minister for Law of Singapore(2008–present), Minister for Home Affairs (2010–present)

Abdullah Tarmugi, Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore (2002–present)

Michael Chew Koon Chan, Baron Chan of Oxton, Merseyside, second person of Chinese descent to serve in the House of Lords

Aziz Ishak, Malayan freedom fighter and former Malaysian cabinet minister

Tun Sardon Jubir, former Malaysian cabinet minister and Penang state governor.

Tun Abdul Razak, 2nd Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Lim Yew Hock, 2nd Chief Minister, Singapore.

Tan Cheng Lock, founder of the Malaysian Chinese Association, co-founder of independent Malaysia.

Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Member of Parliament for 26 years (1980–2006),
presidential candidate for the Singaporean Presidential Election, 2011.

Business and economics

Robert Kuok, billionaire and richest man in Southeast Asia

Lim Boon Keng, philanthropist and co-founder, OCBC Bank and Singapore Chinese Girls School

Peter Lim, Singapore billionaire and avid sports fan.

Others

Lim Bo Seng, World War II hero
Chandran Nair, writer, poet and artist.
T.T. Durai, former CEO of the National Kidney Foundation
Alfian Sa'at, Writer, poet and playwright.
Choor Singh, judge of the Supreme Court of Singapore (1963–1980)
Tee Tua Ba, former Chief Commissioner of Police Force
Tommy Koh, Ambassador-at-Large
Robert Solomon, Bishop of the Methodist Church in Singapore
Ong Teck Chin, former principal of the Anglo-Chinese School (Independent)