SEAB says PSLE Chinese Paper Fair to Pupils

[atutor2001]

The fact that one of the pitures for the Chinese oral was not a common event happening locally makes me wonder if the Head is from PRC.

[watmekiasu]

atutor2001:

The fact that one of the pitures for the Chinese oral was not a common event happening locally makes me wonder if the Head is from PRC.

Care to describe the pic?

[jedamum]

watmekiasu:

atutor2001:

The fact that one of the pitures for the Chinese oral was not a common event happening locally makes me wonder if the Head is from PRC.

Care to describe the pic?

i think atutor2001 meant the picture about a farewell party for the teacher.

[finder]

jedamum:

i think atutor2001 meant the picture about a farewell party for the teacher.

quite a few kids take it as celebrate teacher day

[NYCWTC]

kohjl:

For info. Please see link as well as article reproduced for yr easy reference:


http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20091014/tap-312-seab-says-psle-chinese-fair-pupi-231650b.html

SEAB says PSLE Chinese Paper was fair to pupils
Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, October 15
SEAB says PSLE Chinese Paper was fair to pupils

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said it has in place a process to ensure all examination questions are carefully set and vetted — so that they are fair to all candidates.

The board’s comment followed feedback that the recent PSLE Chinese examination paper contained a comprehension passage that was familiar to some students.

Some parents told online forums that the passage had previously appeared in an assessment paper with minor changes. They said it was unfair as students who had done the passage before would get more marks.

The board said questions are set by experienced and reliable examiners. The questions are then moderated through several rounds by specialists from SEAB and the Ministry of Education.

Papers are also trialled to ensure they are fair and to determine the level of difficulty.

The board said that although the setter had drawn reference from an external source, the passage is not a reproduction. It added the content and language in the passage had been substantially modified to be aligned to the assessment objective.

Comprehension questions set on the passage were not taken from any source. The board assured parents that pupils who had seen the other passage would not have been unfairly advantaged over those who did not.

This is the second time this year’s PSLE examinations are coming under the spotlight. Earlier, the PSLE Mathematics paper drew criticism for being too tough.

— CNA/sc

How could the SEAB just say that it is fair and let the mattle rest? I think it just really very unfair. Those pupils who had already seen the passage will definetly gain advantage.

[tutormum]

kohjl:

Sure, it was not a \"reproduction\": afterall, they changed \"mangoes\" to apples, didn't they? :roll:


Hmm....the fact that many students recognised the passage makes me wonder just how \"substantially modified\" it was!

My son's classmate did the comprehension in his tuition class. He has a superb memory. He said that the only change was the name of the fruit. Yes, he did enjoy the advantage cos though he did it sometime in Jan, he still could remember even the questions asked. His classmates who did it with him has no memory at all. :siam:

[kohjl]

tutormum:

My son's classmate did the comprehension in his tuition class. He has a superb memory. He said that the only change was the name of the fruit. Yes, he did enjoy the advantage cos though he did it sometime in Jan, he still could remember even the questions asked. His classmates who did it with him has no memory at all. :siam:

I am sad for my son, and for similar ones like him who are not strong in Chinese. No matter how well he has done in his other subjects, this is going to pull down his overall aggregate....and in the final outcome, that's the only thing that matters.

[caroline3sg]

kohjl

My girl’s best subject is chinese. I am equally sore if she gets a low T-score due to high mean (more than 80% of cohort will get more than 75 marks).

I do not know how MOE is going to compare the difficulty level amongst 4 subjects. There is no way to compare, it is guts feel / guesstimation.

[chk707]

kohjl:

For info. Please see link as well as article reproduced for yr easy reference:


http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20091014/tap-312-seab-says-psle-chinese-fair-pupi-231650b.html

SEAB says PSLE Chinese Paper was fair to pupils
Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, October 15
SEAB says PSLE Chinese Paper was fair to pupils

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said it has in place a process to ensure all examination questions are carefully set and vetted — so that they are fair to all candidates.

The board’s comment followed feedback that the recent PSLE Chinese examination paper contained a comprehension passage that was familiar to some students.

Some parents told online forums that the passage had previously appeared in an assessment paper with minor changes. They said it was unfair as students who had done the passage before would get more marks.

The board said questions are set by experienced and reliable examiners. The questions are then moderated through several rounds by specialists from SEAB and the Ministry of Education.

Papers are also trialled to ensure they are fair and to determine the level of difficulty.

The board said that although the setter had drawn reference from an external source, the passage is not a reproduction. It added the content and language in the passage had been substantially modified to be aligned to the assessment objective.

Comprehension questions set on the passage were not taken from any source. The board assured parents that pupils who had seen the other passage would not have been unfairly advantaged over those who did not.

This is the second time this year’s PSLE examinations are coming under the spotlight. Earlier, the PSLE Mathematics paper drew criticism for being too tough.

— CNA/sc

Can SEAB have the capability without taking references? If they can't, it proves that they r lazy and r not bright. In addition, its unfair to the pupils as it depends on luck if they will be able to do the assessment that has that passage in it. Those that have done it b4, will get a better understanding of the passage and will most probably do better. :x

[MdmKS]

[quote=\"NYCWTC

How could the SEAB just say that it is fair and let the mattle rest? I think it just really very unfair. Those pupils who had already seen the passage will definetly gain advantage.[/quote]

What do you think would be the best way to settle this matter by SEAB ? Re-test and take the best score of the two or simply grant eveyone extra T-score in the two subjects?

I recall for those years when people complained about PSLE papers, they would eventually settle down after PSLE result release, when people see their good results. This is probably how it will be done. I recall in year 2007 PSLE , there was complaint about Maths paper, in the end, PSLE release the \"better then expected\"results, including a new top score of 294, there came no further complaint anymore. Perpahs, it will happen again in Nov this year.

Last year(2008) was the year which nobody complained about PSLE papers and you see the overall performance not as good as year 2007.