All About Math Olympiad Training & Questions
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mjl:
Yes, Lim Jeck is truly a talent in maths and gifted. Wondering why he was not in the GEP programme? How many Lim Jeck can we find here? Rare, very rare. But our education system can train kids to be another Lim Jeck. How? First parents can start drilling them or send their kids for special training to take an important exam in P3. If the child is selected, he/she is gifted (or is it that you are selected to be trained as 'Gifted').lim jeck has neither received formal training in primary school (a neighbourhood sch, not any of the GEP schools who get maths trainers to teach the p4-6 GEP maths) nor in any training centres. he only gets the maths training at NUS High (part of the school maths curriculum) and at NUS (after doing well in SMO and got selected into the national-level training teams).
I think external training is not necessary if one is passionate about the subject and has some talent in it.
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> Wondering why he was not in the GEP programme?
GEP selection is based on maths and english, not just maths alone.
>How? First parents can start drilling them or send their kids for special training to take an important exam in P3. If the child is selected, he/she is gifted
Please try to look thing in a bigger picture. Not all GEP kids went through "special training" or "drilling", there are a lot of truely talented kids in GEP. Do you have a better way than current system to do GEP screening? If so, please call GEP branch and suggest to them. There are a lot of talented kids in both GEP and mainstream. As long as you are gifted, you will be discovered and recognized somedays. -
Merlion:
Yes, agree that GEP selection is based on Maths & English, so those who are gifted in Maths but weak in English will not be in GEP. But I think MOE has realised that some mainstream students could also be talented, in recent years, the non-GEP students are joining the GEP students to attend certain classes. But it only happens in GEP schools.> Wondering why he was not in the GEP programme?
GEP selection is based on maths and english, not just maths alone.
>How? First parents can start drilling them or send their kids for special training to take an important exam in P3. If the child is selected, he/she is gifted
Please try to look thing in a bigger picture. Not all GEP kids went through \"special training\" or \"drilling\", there are a lot of truely talented kids in GEP. Do you have a better way than current system to do GEP screening? If so, please call GEP branch and suggest to them. There are a lot of talented kids in both GEP and mainstream. As long as you are gifted, you will be discovered and recognized somedays.
Yes, I also agree that as long as one is gifted, one day he or she will be discovered and recognised. It really doesn't matter whether he or she joins GEP in primary schools. -
Just to share that there are many talented kids out there, whether they are in GEP or not. Is being selected for GEP so important? If you are good, the school will definitely pick you out to place you in a better class isn't it?
I was selected in P3 for GEP program but my parents chose not to change my school just to attend a GEP school. Why? They believed that a bright child will always excel no matter where they are. & at that time, GEP wasn't very 'well-known' & my parents were quite clueless.
Also, there are many gifted children who did not make it into GEP because they thought the test was just for fun & did not take it seriously! I had classmates who submitted empty papers because the teacher said it's not included in their report books! At that age, would kids really understand the importance of the test?
& I recall during my time, we were not informed of the test beforehand. We were simple told to seperate our tables, keep our books, take out our pencils & start writing once we recieve the script!
Is it really so important for us to 'train' kids to get into GEP? Maths should be fun & Olympiad Maths can be fun if no pressure is given to the child. If the child is able to enjoy & master it, then the child is truly talented
Which is more important?
Being a genius & enjoying it? or
Being the greatest genius but not enjoying it? -
> Maths should be fun & Olympiad Maths can be fun if no pressure is given to the child.
I agree but it is real hard not to have pressure these days. Singapore IMO team trained for 2 months (full time) for the recent IMO in Germany. I heard that the team members did nothing but maths for 2 whole months. They fall behind in other school subjects and now have to work extra hard to get back. :?: -
Merlion:
If they are passionate about Math I don't think it's a sacrifice. It's just like being very involved in a sport. You train very hard for the competition, sometimes at the expense of your schoolwork. But you derive a lot of satisfaction from the hard work you put in.> Maths should be fun & Olympiad Maths can be fun if no pressure is given to the child.
I agree but it is real hard not to have pressure these days. Singapore IMO team trained for 2 months (full time) for the recent IMO in Germany. I heard that the team members did nothing but maths for 2 whole months. They fall behind in other school subjects and now have to work extra hard to get back. :?: -
turquoise:
Totally agree. I trained very hard for my sport in my JC days (yes, my schoolwork took a backseat) and the reward was a medal. Now, years later, is it the medal that I remembered or the grades that I achieved in JC?Merlion:
> Maths should be fun & Olympiad Maths can be fun if no pressure is given to the child. .
It's just like being very involved in a sport. You train very hard for the competition, sometimes at the expense of your schoolwork. But you derive a lot of satisfaction from the hard work you put in.
It is important to remember not to 'force' your child into anything, be it sports / arts / maths etc. If he loves what he is doing, it will not be considered a 'sacrifice'. -
Merlion:
To get selected for \"GEP\" programme here, first English must be good enough to interpret the math question correctly.> Wondering why he was not in the GEP programme?
GEP selection is based on maths and english, not just maths alone.
>How? First parents can start drilling them or send their kids for special training to take an important exam in P3. If the child is selected, he/she is gifted
Please try to look thing in a bigger picture. Not all GEP kids went through \"special training\" or \"drilling\", there are a lot of truely talented kids in GEP. Do you have a better way than current system to do GEP screening? If so, please call GEP branch and suggest to them. There are a lot of talented kids in both GEP and mainstream. As long as you are gifted, you will be discovered and recognized somedays. -
I think the english used in maths problem (in GEP selection test or PSLE or MO competitions) is usually plain and simple. Students should not have problem understanding it. But whether they know how to solve it is another issue.
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Merlion:
I think the english used in maths problem (in GEP selection test or PSLE or MO competitions) is usually plain and simple. Students should not have problem understanding it. But whether they know how to solve it is another issue.
The English paper, compre and close are not easy too.
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