River Valley High School [*IP]

[pepper spice]

Thanks, justsay and daisyt.

Son printed out the whole list showing the cohort’s subject combi. I noticed from list that there are numerous kids with NRICs starting with 94, 95, 96 and even 98. When I asked son about the 94s, he said they are probably the China students and are 3 years older. If son is correct, then when son’s batch is 15 years old, they are 18. When son takes A levels at 18 years old, they are 21 (which is the age - for girls - graduate from university!)

[Snow Crystal]

pepper spice:

Thanks, justsay and daisyt.

Son printed out the whole list showing the cohort's subject combi. I noticed from list that there are numerous kids with NRICs starting with 94, 95, 96 and even 98. When I asked son about the 94s, he said they are probably the China students and are 3 years older. If son is correct, then when son's batch is 15 years old, they are 18. When son takes A levels at 18 years old, they are 21 (which is the age - for girls - graduate from university!)

Yes nowadays quite common to find such older kids among the secondary school cohorts, and usually from China. Guess their English set them back by a year or two, but they pick up English real fast.

[pepper spice]

difference of 2 years is already a lot, diff of 3 years?! me finds it difficult to stomach. tsk tsk tsk

[WeiHan]

PRC scholars are usually 1 year older. At the most 2 years older, 3 years older is too much.

[MandyMummy]

When the PRC scholars join our students in Sec 3, most of them have already completed their secondary school education. They find our sec sciences and math very simple as they have already covered them.

[rosecy]

thought MOE only allow international students to be at most 2 years older than their sg peers at the same level of study?

[pepper spice]

I kaypoh and counted 3 kids with NRICs starting S94… and 5 kids with NRICs starting S95 … (NRIC starts with ‘S’, so are they sporeans?) Then there is another group whose NRIC starts with G09… or G10… (believe these are the non-sporeans).

[jtoh]

pepper spice:

I kaypoh and counted 3 kids with NRICs starting S94... and 5 kids with NRICs starting S95 ... (NRIC starts with 'S', so are they sporeans?) Then there is another group whose NRIC starts with G09... or G10... (believe these are the non-sporeans).

S94 in Sec 3 next year? That's like 17/18 years old right? I imagine they must be China or other foreign PRs converted to SG citizens? Otherwise why would they be so old?

[jtoh]

MandyMummy:

When the PRC scholars join our students in Sec 3, most of them have already completed their secondary school education. They find our sec sciences and math very simple as they have already covered them.

No wonder they excel in Math and Science. Is there an age limit to joining Olympiads etc? They would have a distinct advantage over our local kids if not.

[MandyMummy]

jtoh:

MandyMummy:

When the PRC scholars join our students in Sec 3, most of them have already completed their secondary school education. They find our sec sciences and math very simple as they have already covered them.

No wonder they excel in Math and Science. Is there an age limit to joining Olympiads etc? They would have a distinct advantage over our local kids if not.

I think some of the National Olympiads, eg Chemistry Olympiad go by level, eg open to all Sec 3 & 4 students. Some of them, eg SMO and Physics Olympiad go by age limit. However, there is always the Open category in these Olympiads to cater to these full time students who are over the age limit.
Ya, PRC scholars usually shine in these Olympiads because of their age advantage and also because the content they learnt in China is more advanced than ours.