2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[Verysuperkiasu]

EN:

Hi! I'm back again if anyone on this thread remember me still. DS will be sitting for 2013 PSLE. I agree that need to start preparing at pr 5. Well, haven't start yet actually. Any tips, any information or any threads that I should have a look, I'm most greatful. My dd just finished her PSLE this year. Don't ask her result pls. I just want to redeem my past for my inability to juggle work life balance. Hence the early start for ds.

maybe share with you what I did with my dd who's also taking PSLE in 2013. DD is a slower learner than her brother who, like your dd, took his PSLE in 2011. Therefore, I tried to help her as much as I can during the Dec hols.

Science
I started going through concepts taught in P5. After each topic, she will draw out the whole concept map. Next stage - application - she attempted questions in assessment books. From there, I could see she more or less understood what has been taught to her (I want to reserve the past year questions for later).

Chinese
I managed to cover Unit 1 to Unit 7 (first 7 topics of 5A). Go through vocab and how to use them. Familiarise her with the type of questions/format in the exam.

English -
I stressed on her weakness - commonly misspelt words. There is a component in PSLE paper called 'editing'. So I know she will lose alot of marks there if I don't tackle this weakness. I started making her spell words which are commonly misspelt like occurred (not occured), separate (not seperate), dilemma (not delimma), occasion (not ocassion), etc. At the same time, I make her understand the meaning of the words (vocab area tackled). But English is so wide, so I also make her read as much as possible.

Math - her weakest!
I send her to attend math workshops where she was taught the strategies to math problems. I have briefly introduced the topic on ratio and average. I feel more can be done for Math - she needs more practice and exposure to different questions. I want to do more, but there is just not enough time - because I wanted her also to have some time to play and relax.

Hope what I've done will give her a headstart in P5 (she takes a long time to learn a new concept, that's why I did the above)

Hope the above helps....

[Newlykiasu]

Verysuperkiasu:

EN:

Hi! I'm back again if anyone on this thread remember me still. DS will be sitting for 2013 PSLE. I agree that need to start preparing at pr 5. Well, haven't start yet actually. Any tips, any information or any threads that I should have a look, I'm most greatful. My dd just finished her PSLE this year. Don't ask her result pls. I just want to redeem my past for my inability to juggle work life balance. Hence the early start for ds.

maybe share with you what I did with my dd who's also taking PSLE in 2013. DD is a slower learner than her brother who, like your dd, took his PSLE in 2011. Therefore, I tried to help her as much as I can during the Dec hols.

Science
I started going through concepts taught in P5. After each topic, she will draw out the whole concept map. Next stage - application - she attempted questions in assessment books. From there, I could see she more or less understood what has been taught to her (I want to reserve the past year questions for later).

Chinese
I managed to cover Unit 1 to Unit 7 (first 7 topics of 5A). Go through vocab and how to use them. Familiarise her with the type of questions/format in the exam.

English -
I stressed on her weakness - commonly misspelt words. There is a component in PSLE paper called 'editing'. So I know she will lose alot of marks there if I don't tackle this weakness. I started making her spell words which are commonly misspelt like occurred (not occured), separate (not seperate), dilemma (not delimma), occasion (not ocassion), etc. At the same time, I make her understand the meaning of the words (vocab area tackled). But English is so wide, so I also make her read as much as possible.

Math - her weakest!
I send her to attend math workshops where she was taught the strategies to math problems. I have briefly introduced the topic on ratio and average. I feel more can be done for Math - she needs more practice and exposure to different questions. I want to do more, but there is just not enough time - because I wanted her also to have some time to play and relax.

Hope what I've done will give her a headstart in P5 (she takes a long time to learn a new concept, that's why I did the above)

Hope the above helps....

Wow VSKS, i m very impressed with yr effort and deligence! Yr dd is very fortunate

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

Hi Newlykiasu


Thanks for sharing. I'm really lost as I have been a hands off mummy for the past two years. I'm really interested in helping my son out in science.

ScienceWhen you say going through concept taught for pr5, what type of science book you're referring to? Do you do your reading in advance & prepare what to go through before sitting down with your dd?

Math
May I suggest that you get your dd to do math paper daily. If math is really bad (can't seem to remember 1 topic when moving on to another new topic), what you can do is to ensure that while she moves on to topic 2, get her to do daily (small portion of topic 1) and if move on to topic 3, get her to do daily topic 1 & 2 (small portion). She'll get better as time goes by. The effect will not be immediate though.

English
By now, I am not sure what his weaknesses are for English. Good that you know which area to tackle. Since my ds is slightly autistic, I guess the comprehension is pulling his mark down. But I'll just have to sit through with him to complete 1 paper to nail down what the issues are.

2nd Language
This is the most dreaded part. My strategy will be to go through past PSLE paper. Same strategy as how I approach English.

[Newlykiasu]

Hi EN,

I think u hv misread my post. Verysuperkiasu is the one who has shared her revision techniques with her DD. I m a hands-off mummy just like u

[jhjkksdad]

My recommendation:


For Science, use other schools Science papers as practice papers. Most of those revision exercise books in the market tend to have questions and answers that are not logical or just plain bad and may be more confusing to the child. IMO they cause more harm than good.

Don’t just let you kid do the paper and mark. You need to understand and go thru with the kid as well.

[Verysuperkiasu]

EN:

Hi Newlykiasu


Thanks for sharing. I'm really lost as I have been a hands off mummy for the past two years. I'm really interested in helping my son out in science.

ScienceWhen you say going through concept taught for pr5, what type of science book you're referring to? Do you do your reading in advance & prepare what to go through before sitting down with your dd?

Math
May I suggest that you get your dd to do math paper daily. If math is really bad (can't seem to remember 1 topic when moving on to another new topic), what you can do is to ensure that while she moves on to topic 2, get her to do daily (small portion of topic 1) and if move on to topic 3, get her to do daily topic 1 & 2 (small portion). She'll get better as time goes by. The effect will not be immediate though.

English
By now, I am not sure what his weaknesses are for English. Good that you know which area to tackle. Since my ds is slightly autistic, I guess the comprehension is pulling his mark down. But I'll just have to sit through with him to complete 1 paper to nail down what the issues are.

2nd Language
This is the most dreaded part. My strategy will be to go through past PSLE paper. Same strategy as how I approach English.

For science, I use guide book 'science exam booster notes'. I'm fairly familiar (but not expert) with the various blocks and concepts covered under each block and topic as I've gone thru this with my ds who took his psle 2011. Yes, during my ds time since he was P3, I read up the topics way ahead and looked thru exam questions before attempting to teach him. And it worked for ds....I hope it'll work for dd too (I'm talking about PSLE).

For Math, yes what u said seems workable too. Will try to let her do practices cumulatively. I need to expose her to more different types of questions asked to familiarise which strategies to use. I also must remind myself to be more patient with her (sometimes when I get impatient, I raise my voice).

Comprehension is also a bit tough. Questions asked not so straightforward anymore - questions are the inference type - where the child is required to infer from the passage. There is also another comprehension - graphic stimulus. Remind your ds to pay attention to fine prints too.

I presume your ds 2nd lang is Chinese? If it is, then should focus on vocab in text book first (PSLE for Chinese, all questions asked in Paper 2 all come from words in the text) For compostion, try memorizing good introduction, ending and some phrases/expressions.

All the best....:)

[Verysuperkiasu]

Newlykiasu:

Wow VSKS, i m very impressed with yr effort and deligence! Yr dd is very fortunate

Thanks, Newlykiasu. It's because she is quite slow in learning that's why I put in all the extra effort. Otherwise, she will suffer.

[Verysuperkiasu]

jhjkksdad:

My recommendation:


For Science, use other schools Science papers as practice papers. Most of those revision exercise books in the market tend to have questions and answers that are not logical or just plain bad and may be more confusing to the child. IMO they cause more harm than good.

Don't just let you kid do the paper and mark. You need to understand and go thru with the kid as well.

Thanks for your sharing. Yes, it's best to be alert when marking child's work as not all the answers are accurate. Even the answers to other schools past papers may not be accurate as I found out during ds' psle preparation last year - much to my dismay.

[ksfaith]

Hi All,


i am another kiasuparents. Btw would like to check will your be applying dsa? any tips for dsa?

[ksfaith]

Hi All,


i am another kiasuparents. Btw would like to check will your be applying dsa? any tips for dsa?