2009 GEP Screening And Selection

[Puffer]

Hi TwaTau, Is your kid from RVPS? The info you’ve given coincides with what my kid’s FT told him.

[TwaTau]

Puffer:

Hi TwaTau, Is your kid from RVPS? The info you've given coincides with what my kid's FT told him.

Right on. Yours from the same batch or is taking the GEP test this year.?

Mine wasn't too keen to leave the school at first. Last year after getting the yellow envelope, it took us almost to the last minute to convince him to join GEP. Eventually, after he has agreed, we fax the consent form to MOE. Reason he cited was mainly of his attachment to his previous school and his knuckle head and very strong will. We cited that 1/4 of classmate will be leaving and with them gone, we are worry that he will lost all his competition. We told him to try it out and if he is not able to cope, we are OK for him to withdraw and return to mainstream.

After one year of GEP, I can see that he is enjoying the curriculum and his results is also OK. Social Science, Science and Maths he enjoy alot. English ok and HCL was the toughest for him. At end of second semester, first time he fail (Chinese composition) something in school. That really wake him up, getting us to buy Chinese story books from his reading list, which we gladly oblige. It was a good experience for both us parent and child.

[leeven]

I checked my DS school , the admin lady said :imsorry: no such info at all :? . Either probably the school dont have any students selected or still not send to the school. I totally now lost .00009 % hope to . Good Luck to other mums ...

[Puffer]

Hi TwaTau, My DS is awaiting result. There are more than 30 in his class alone who took the 2nd round, and I heard there are another 8-9 from the 2nd class. I think this year RV will reap better result in terms of the no. of students qualifying for GEP. This year DS is fortunate to be in good hand. His FT is a former GEP teacher, and I could see the quality in the assignments given to the class. The class has been undergoing something like the GEP-style of teaching. DS also told me that almost all who took the 2nd round voiced their intention to remain in the school.


Did everyone from your DS’ class who qualify for GEP leave the school in the end?

[Ah Beng]

[quote]I will be happy for the 1% of children that get selected for the GEP, but I will cry more for the majority who are bright kids who just could not make the cut, and left wondering if they will forever be inferior to the 1%[/quote]
Unfortunately, these children will always be inferior to the GEP students. According to Malcolm Gladwell, once a child has a certain IQ, what defines him/her is the training and the number of hours of education.

In the GEP, they are taught ?4 different ways of solving maths problems. Even in Pri 4 they are given problem sums that they need to solve in less than 4 steps. So as they try the different ways to solve these questions, they learn to identify the best and easiest methods for a given problem. By the time they reach PSLE they would naturally be far ahead of their cohort (and looking at the difficulty of PSLE maths this year, they would be at an advantage). And this is just in maths. Their reading list for English stretches their ability to think and appreciate the nuances that will again help them ace the comprehension passages.

Just my 2 cents worth as an Ah Beng

[TwaTau]

Puffer:

Hi TwaTau, My DS is awaiting result. There are more than 30 in his class alone who took the 2nd round, and I heard there are another 8-9 from the 2nd class. I think this year RV will reap better result in terms of the no. of students qualifying for GEP. This year DS is fortunate to be in good hand. His FT is a former GEP teacher, and I could see the quality in the assignments given to the class. The class has been undergoing something like the GEP-style of teaching. DS also told me that almost all who took the 2nd round voiced their intention to remain in the school.


Did everyone from your DS' class who qualify for GEP leave the school in the end?

I think all 11 left the school and join schools that offer GEP. 3 of them in his current GEP school and the rest I think end up in NYPS.

We were quite ignorant about GEP and just sign off the consent form not knowing what was it for, :oops: When DS came back to say he will go to the second round, then I started to snoop around for information, and that's how I came to this forum.

We were not aware of any special teaching that his previous school did for them. He is not among the top in his P3 class but come to school work, he is pretty much on autopilot and we are very much handoff,

[Emelyn]

Kiasu101:

Come to think of it...are we really anxious because of the good that GEP can do to our kids or because of our pride? For them to pass the first screening test was already a great achievement as that made them top 8% of the cohort. I have a friend whose kid is in GEP and who is depressed because of the endless homework and projects he has.

Have a fren whose son is in GEP P5 this yr. His son is very slow in doing things. EVERYTHING. Will take 3 hours to finish 1 page of Chinese compo. So, many times, he has to sleep at 12midnight just to finish up his project. And my fren has to help him burn the mid-night oil too. And in the morning, he has to wake up at 5:30am as he needs to leave for school at 6am.

He is really struggling. And because his group of friends are fast worker and smarter too.... he kind of feel that he is not good in everything.

However, my friend, probably because of face, still insisted that he stay in the GEP.

So, everytime i see the son, I feel v sad for him.

[glchua]

Ah Beng:

[quote]I will be happy for the 1% of children that get selected for the GEP, but I will cry more for the majority who are bright kids who just could not make the cut, and left wondering if they will forever be inferior to the 1%

Unfortunately, these children will always be inferior to the GEP students. According to Malcolm Gladwell, once a child has a certain IQ, what defines him/her is the training and the number of hours of education.

In the GEP, they are taught ?4 different ways of solving maths problems. Even in Pri 4 they are given problem sums that they need to solve in less than 4 steps. So as they try the different ways to solve these questions, they learn to identify the best and easiest methods for a given problem. By the time they reach PSLE they would naturally be far ahead of their cohort (and looking at the difficulty of PSLE maths this year, they would be at an advantage). And this is just in maths. Their reading list for English stretches their ability to think and appreciate the nuances that will again help them ace the comprehension passages.

Just my 2 cents worth as an Ah Beng
[/quote]Inferior? Definitely not. As explained in many previous posts here, the relationship between PSLE and \"giftedness\" is not as strong as percieved.

Any person with \"average intelligence\" can be trained in particular task to a high standard. A study on chess masters:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind

Maybe someone in the \"top 1%\" might learn whatever PSLE material faster. But that is it - faster. Any other child given the correct environment , training and time, would also reach the same state eventually.

And again, we shouldn't tranfix on this thing called PSLE. Look back at your own results and you can see that it's effect is much diluted by many other factors after a while.

[kiasimom]

Bing_He:

It is a myth.

All school has their own way of educating children.
It is up to us, as parent, to define good or normal school.
And compare to 80's, there are much more avenue to reach individual potential and not just few selected route.
Cheers.

I agree. No matter how good a school is, we as parents have to play our part as well

[kiasimom]

leeven:

Kiasimom, my side too he always do his things faster and distrub others , I had tried in P1 to keep tuition but teachers didnt want to accept that.

but now the tuition centre I am planning for said for such a kid just give a book to read while waiting for others to finish their work... Good advise so planning to follow. I am not to personal tuition as I want my son to sit with others to know QAs from his class mates and more over he cannot really sit alone for a while as said earlier (I have tried for MT tuition and need to stop her due to his reactions) :roll:

Hi. I am luckier. My DS can sit with me for hours. I do not want to put him to personal and group tuition as I tried both and none works for him :x
So as a matter of fact, I am the only suitable tutor for him.
It is quite enjoying as I can scrutinise his work and weak areas and at the same time my DD who is in P1 benefits by being able to answer the questions I post to DS as she is always sitting beside him when he has his lessons with me :celebrate: