2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[Chenonceau]

blessed777:

http://m.yahoo.com/w/news_asia/western-pupils-lag-asians-three-years-study-034252404.html?orig_host_hdr=sg.news.yahoo.com&.intl=sg&.lang=en-sg

DS' English Teacher gave out 2 English compos in the past month and a half. Yesterday was DS' English exam and today, I found out that Teacher had not returned the 2 compos. What's the use of giving out compos to do if you don't return them in time for the exam? TWO some more.

The high literacy rates my son has that allows him to read and summarize this - http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/franklin/a_b_benf.pdf... with the help of this - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/visual-writing-anne-hanson/1101083691... is definitely no thanks to his Teacher.

The credit should come to me for the time I spent teaching him and the money I throw at his American online enrichment module provider. The only thing the system does to raise literacy rates is to test well above the norm so that parents like me are compelled to spend time and money to help our kids cope.

In other words, the credit for Asia's high literacy rates devolves to parents, NOT a system that gives easy questions for homework but tests way beyond... nor a system that assigns writing assignments of 5 sentences for homework but in exams require compositions of 4 to 5 A4 single-lined writing.

[Peony]

janet_lee88:

pixiedust:

[quote=\"beanbear\"]...This mother want to \"peng san\" from the fatique already. It's not just the revising of such difficult standard of P6 work but just keeping the spirits up and giving strength to my child....

Peony, yup comrade, row row row our boat.

Official PSLE dates are out on SEAB....soon we will all be counting down.
Take care mommies and all the best to CA1 !

My son told me Eng CA1 was tough...I told him it's over, forget it, just move on. He is working on math paper 1 now. Timing himself as well.[/quote]I allowed panic to set in my DD told me how tough her maths paper was.

Janet, you're really cool this time round! :congrats:

Need to channel that energy!

Thanks, pixie for being the voice of reason.

Have calmed down this morning coz when I probed more and asked about the paper, she said she was down because she thinks she cannot get A star for the paper :siam:

The fact that she was actually aiming for that score cheered me up tremendously coz maths is not her strength.

[Peony]

Chenonceau:

DS' English Teacher gave out 2 English compos in the past month and a half. Yesterday was DS' English exam and today, I found out that Teacher had not returned the 2 compos. What's the use of giving out compos to do if you don't return them in time for the exam? TWO some more.

:whut:

This is as bad as teachers who actually return a compo paper but without giving clear direction on how to improve it. DD once had a teacher who's idea of teaching compo was to share the examples of better ones without giving constructive feedback on the individual's work. And who taught the ones who did well? Certainly not that particular teacher.

[janet88]

Hi Peony,

I have to be cool this time…10% for CA1 was important then.
Don’t want to burn myself over this CA. Still have SA1.
Since the Eng paper was tough, I can expect Math today to be equally tough. But taking it easy makes a lot of difference.

[Peony]

janet_lee88:

Hi Peony,

I have to be cool this time...10% for CA1 was important then.
Don't want to burn myself over this CA. Still have SA1.
Since the Eng paper was tough, I can expect Math today to be equally tough. But taking it easy makes a lot of difference.

It's tough when you get thru a rough day at work and fetch a forlorn-looking child.

I still need to learn. The more down she is, the more I need to :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

[Chenonceau]

Peony:

janet_lee88:

Hi Peony,

I have to be cool this time...10% for CA1 was important then.
Don't want to burn myself over this CA. Still have SA1.
Since the Eng paper was tough, I can expect Math today to be equally tough. But taking it easy makes a lot of difference.

It's tough when you get thru a rough day at work and fetch a forlorn-looking child.

I still need to learn. The more down she is, the more I need to :rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah:

Peony... you are so brave a Mommy to have to fight your own battles and help her to fight hers.

The hardest part is for me to smile brightly at him and keep the panic out of my voice. This is part of the reason I don't assign him any work DURING the exam period. If I have to coach him right through exams, I don't think I can hide my anxiety so well. This way, whilst he is playing through the exam period, I am doing my own thing and we don't talk much about exams.

[janet88]

Hi Mummies,

Acting cool to keep anxiety is a torture…but then CA1 is not an accurate test of PSLE. Standard is way above…and totally demoralizing.

As I walked my son to school this morn, I reminded him to do what he can…skip the question if he is still stuck at it after 2 min…don’t give up the whole forest for a tree.

[Zekezachzoom]

My DS school set killer papers for this p6 ca1. I think is to serve as a wake up call for the kids ( or rather for the parents :)) the compo paper came back yesterday and his score was his lowest ever (25/40). Though English is not his strength, but he normally pulls in around 30 for his compo. He is pretty strong in math and science but he told me that he was spending 1/2hr for a math sum and hardly have time to check through the paper. HMT was a killer paper too. Sigh... I pray hard that he will not be too devastated when papers are marked and returned!

[janet88]

Zekezachzoom:

My DS school set killer papers for this p6 ca1. I think is to serve as a wake up call for the kids ( or rather for the parents :)) the compo paper came back yesterday and his score was his lowest ever (25/40). Though English is not his strength, but he normally pulls in around 30 for his compo. He is pretty strong in math and science but he told me that he was spending 1/2hr for a math sum and hardly have time to check through the paper. HMT was a killer paper too. Sigh... I pray hard that he will not be too devastated when papers are marked and returned!

Yeah...first Eng paper was already a killer. Dare not imagine the rest.
It is more of a wake-up call to parents. It's really pointless to be upset over this CA1...there is another SA1 to come and that will be another killer.

[fifiyeo]

janet_lee88:

Zekezachzoom:

My DS school set killer papers for this p6 ca1. I think is to serve as a wake up call for the kids ( or rather for the parents :)) the compo paper came back yesterday and his score was his lowest ever (25/40). Though English is not his strength, but he normally pulls in around 30 for his compo. He is pretty strong in math and science but he told me that he was spending 1/2hr for a math sum and hardly have time to check through the paper. HMT was a killer paper too. Sigh... I pray hard that he will not be too devastated when papers are marked and returned!

Yeah...first Eng paper was already a killer. Dare not imagine the rest.
It is more of a wake-up call to parents. It's really pointless to be upset over this CA1...there is another SA1 to come and that will be another killer.

Usually the schools will try to scare the hell out of us. So CA1 is usually not easy....maybe even killers. Agree with Janet that it is pointless getting upset. Not everything is in our hands.

Counting down...CL tomorrow.