Parents, not enrichment centres, are key to result
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Chenonceau:
Like mom, like son. So feircly caring . :hugs:ksi:
Chenon, at a personal level, I am confident your son will do well for PSLE. You have done a lot to get him to a good level of competency for this exam. Whatever you have done also matches his ability due to your good understanding of him so you will yield the results.
:hugs: I hope so. I really hope so.
Then again, like I said before, how well he eventually does is not important to me. Some mothers I know called me last year. They thought my DS took PSLE last year together with theirs. Their sons got into Hwa Chong or RI. The pressure is of course strong to want to set the same expectations for my son too. DD went to a top school. Husband and I have had strong academic track records. Our circle expects a lot from DS.
But I made very clear to all who called that my DS may not be as bright as their children, and I am unprepared to push him further than he can go. As long as he has tried his best, and I can tell you that he is trying his very best, whatever the result, I will still be very proud of him. I already am very very proud of him because he has matured so much... and become a real little man. In moments when I get frustrated that the school is so unhelpful, it is my son who hugs me and says \"It's ok Mom. We can do it. You just have to help me and I just have to work hard.\" And I can tell you that for sheer work ethic, I have yet to meet an equivalent of my son.
I've done some preliminary screening of secondary schools. I picked one school for each band of 10 right down to 210. This also is my way of letting DS know that it is perfectly fine to score much less than 250. This PSLE is tough... but man... it forms character.
And I completely agree with the last sentence - PSLE is a toughening up process for the children ( - provided it doesnt break them though ). It is a step towards the real world. -
Chenonceau:
Not sure if this is true for all GEP schools/classes, but from what a P5 GEPPER shared with me last year, the programme does teach them more stuff than the Mainstream. According to him, his teacher had covered Algebra and even introduced simultaneous equations. However, they were cautioned to avoid using the method if they couldn't master it.
Dunno leh... DS not in GEP mah...ksi:
If you mention from fail to full marks, then it is a major issue in teaching in school, is GEP teaching so bad huh?
Also, I need to specify that the fail was in Paper 2 for both my DS and my friend's GEP son. Seems like the GEP also dun teach... just like mainstream.
Onsponge books... yup, he managed to score 90+ in a test after going through the Onsponge book. I won't really attribute the success to Onsponge cos he isn't a very hardworking boy to begin with...
But it left me confused cos I thought GEP doesn't teach Mainstream Maths... -
Sun_2010:
Kekekekekeke!! I have only one son. I watch him carefully. The fire must temper him, not break him... and I do what I can to strengthen him with my presence and my love.
Like mom, like son. So feircly caring . :hugs:
And I completely agree with the last sentence - PSLE is a toughening up process for the children ( - provided it doesnt break them though ). It is a step towards the real world. -
chamonix:
Not sure if this is true for all GEP schools/classes, but from what a P5 GEPPER shared with me last year, the programme does teach them more stuff than the Mainstream. According to him, his teacher had covered Algebra and even introduced simultaneous equations. However, they were cautioned to avoid using the method if they couldn't master it.
Onsponge books... yup, he managed to score 90+ in a test after going through the Onsponge book. I won't really attribute the success to Onsponge cos he isn't a very hardworking boy to begin with...
But it left me confused cos I thought GEP doesn't teach Mainstream Maths...
Hah? Really ah... Must wait for Piggy to wake up and come on line. Her DS is a GEPper. She might know for sure. Actually, I dun really care if GEP learns more as long as what more they cover ain't in the PSLE.
But if they cover simultaneous equations then the PSLE needs those. And mainstream doesn't cover them. DS is learning himself from a secondary textbook. -
Chenonceau:
I had the exact same experience with my son last year. He too failed P5 Paper 2 and as a result, the Maths paper overall. I too was puzzled because I had all along thought that he already knew the material from the school Maths texts. After sitting down to look through the paper did I realise that the difficulty of the problem sums tested in the exam are definitely beyond what is in the texts.I was very puzzled as to why my son failed Paper 2 in early P5 when he had mastered everything the school had taught.
That's when I started looking for resources to help my son bridge the gap. We did find onsponge useful in that aspect. To us, heuristics or not, onsponge is useful because it teaches the techniques categorised by topics. So at least DS could look at a problem and decide that for example, this one can be solved by 'constant difference' or 'external changed' or what not. That helped him restore his confidence that he could tackle these sums. Slowly after he's familiar with these sums, he started solving the problems using other methods or develop his own ways. We managed to pull the marks up to 75 though he lost almost 10 marks due to carelessness (but that is another story). At least I can say we are not so clueless as when we started. Just sharing our experience...
Looking at the Maths school textbook and workbook just sets me thinking if questions/sums of exam paper difficulty levels could not be incorporated into the school texts. If there is a need to differentiate higher difficulty, group them into a section by themselves under each topic if need be. That way children from low income families who are unable to afford assessment books, past year exam papers or tuition can have access to such material. Then they can self-study or seek help if they need to. They can't seek help if they do not even know what to ask. -
Ksi, Chen,
It has been stimulating reading this thread. While I tend to disagree with some points, they have made me think and analyse my stand - and i realise at times my opinion is just my perspective , based on my love for maths and coloured by my experience of PSLE in 2010.
While I agree with Ksi in principal, I do think that better materials helps. DD managed to ace her maths with out any tution or enrichment. But the school provided some good materal. She managed to be amoung the top even though she was amongst the few who did not attend TLL for maths and the teacher along with the good books were critial factors.
That said , too heavy content will be overwhelming to kids who have not grasped the concepts well. Providing the material could do more harm. So personally I feel that while All schools should have the access good material , the discreetion should be with the teachers to decide to hand out the material. This of course will lead to its own set of problems with demanding parents.
Like I said , I can’t think on behalf of a wide demographic of children, but this is just my experience. -
Chenonceau:
PSLE questions do not need simultaneous equations. Such questions can be solved without using simultaneous equations, though at times some ( only 1 or 2) can be more easily solved using simultaneous equations than other hueristics.chamonix:
Not sure if this is true for all GEP schools/classes, but from what a P5 GEPPER shared with me last year, the programme does teach them more stuff than the Mainstream. According to him, his teacher had covered Algebra and even introduced simultaneous equations. However, they were cautioned to avoid using the method if they couldn't master it.
Onsponge books... yup, he managed to score 90+ in a test after going through the Onsponge book. I won't really attribute the success to Onsponge cos he isn't a very hardworking boy to begin with...
But it left me confused cos I thought GEP doesn't teach Mainstream Maths...
Hah? Really ah... Must wait for Piggy to wake up and come on line. Her DS is a GEPper. She might know for sure. Actually, I dun really care if GEP learns more as long as what more they cover ain't in the PSLE.
But if they cover simultaneous equations then the PSLE needs those. And mainstream doesn't cover them. DS is learning himself from a secondary textbook.
Some children do make mistakes when they use alzebra because their concept isnt strong. A strong foundation in models helps in internalising the problem, then alzebra is a breeze. -
Chenonceau:
Don't flame me lah... Perhaps different GEP centres teach differently?
Hah? Really ah... Must wait for Piggy to wake up and come on line. Her DS is a GEPper. She might know for sure. Actually, I dun really care if GEP learns more as long as what more they cover ain't in the PSLE.Chenonceau:
Your son is already receiving top notch training. :rahrah:But if they cover simultaneous equations then the PSLE needs those. And mainstream doesn't cover them. DS is learning himself from a secondary textbook.
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Sun_2010:
I do agree that algebra doesn't necessary have an edge over the perceived 'simpler' methods. Some questions are easily solved with the models or units methods. In fact, algebra may leave more room for mistakes during a stressful exam/test.
PSLE questions do not need simultaneous equations. Such questions can be solved without using simultaneous equations, though at times some ( only 1 or 2) can be more easily solved using simultaneous equations than other hueristics.Chenonceau:
Hah? Really ah... Must wait for Piggy to wake up and come on line. Her DS is a GEPper. She might know for sure. Actually, I dun really care if GEP learns more as long as what more they cover ain't in the PSLE.
But if they cover simultaneous equations then the PSLE needs those. And mainstream doesn't cover them. DS is learning himself from a secondary textbook.
Some children do make mistakes when they use alzebra because their concept isnt strong. A strong foundation in models helps in internalising the problem, then alzebra is a breeze. -
Sun_2010:
For some reason, my DS school doesn't give much material. Science materials are good but we need them least. The Math teacher, when asked a question, made us wait 2 weeks and still didn't answer. I got half an inch thick worth of CL oral materials from a neighborhood school in Woodlands but my son's CL teacher only gave out 3 sheets of double sided pictures. Then she asked the class to contribute resources the tuition teachers gave them. The EL teacher makes spelling mistakes when correcting compos, if she corrects them at all. At first, there was only a tick.Ksi, Chen,
It has been stimulating reading this thread. While I tend to disagree with some points, they have made me think and analyse my stand - and i realise at times my opinion is just my perspective , based on my love for maths and coloured by my experience of PSLE in 2010.
While I agree with Ksi in principal, I do think that better materials helps. DD managed to ace her maths with out any tution or enrichment. But the school provided some good materal. She managed to be amoung the top even though she was amongst the few who did not attend TLL for maths and the teacher along with the good books were critial factors.
That said , too heavy content will be overwhelming to kids who have not grasped the concepts well. Providing the material could do more harm. So personally I feel that while All schools should have the access good material , the discreetion should be with the teachers to decide to hand out the material. This of course will lead to its own set of problems with demanding parents.
Like I said , I can't think on behalf of a wide demographic of children, but this is just my experience.
Half the time I feel like I am working blind. If not for friends and KSP, I dunno what I would do. It is for people like us where good written materials are important. Otherwise, you're helpless if the Teachers are too busy or don't know.
Also, materials are given by class, my DS is poor only in Chinese. In P4, he was 90 plus in all other subjects. But he had to do volumes of really easy stuff for Math homework and still flunked Paper 2. If not for my friend, We would have been at the mercy of unhelpful Teachers and insufficient materials.
If you can't teach us, at least allow us the wherewithal to teach ourselves.
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