2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[PiggyLalala]

Chenonceau:

PiggyLalala:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]Yes yes yes... we must upload the difficult questions. Piggy will tell us from her experience if PSLE is easier or more difficult!!


:please: :please: :please:

I will upload when we get the stuff back.

Yup.. please upload the difficult questions. You may want to do a google search on PSLE questions. I remembered some students actually typed out the PSLE questions immediately after the PSLE paper on that day. The Maths papers on 2010 is relatively easy. As such, some kids can finish the paper in one hr. It is very important to teach the kids to use the remaining time to check on their answers. The skills of checking for checking careless mistake is important when the paper is easy. For the 2009 Maths, a few questions are really difficult. The kids have to read the questions and understand the 'underlying' meaning. The question on sweets and chocolate - one has to understand that if the question says A gives half the sweets to B, it means A and B have the same number of sweets in the end. For the 2011 paper, what i heard from my nephew is that the questions are not very tough but tedious. He rushed through the last few sums. So if yr child is already good, do train him for speed and accuracy.

Hi chen, my ds1 barely passed one of his chinese test. I think it is time for me to do something. If not, his chinese result will just be going down each year and each test. Yes, I will remember to pray too.

Piggy... if I upload the questions then people will know which school my son is in... and which class. Since I have complained so much about his English teacher, I am not keen to have that generally known. Can I PM you for your email and email you?

Thanks for the head up on the PSLE questions. I will go and google. Never thought of doing that![/quote]I have just send u a pm.

[mother777]

thank you all for your explanation of the 4H1W and circling of tenses

[PiggyLalala]

pixiedust:

PiggyLalala, thanks for the sound advice. I have same concerns as Chenonceau.


I looked through the paper, it was not really very \"killer\", in my opinion - just that those typical Q18 questions, they gave 3 of it, Q16,Q17,Q18. and the pattern question, they incorporated area.

I believe most of the kids were stumped due to lack of time management skills. My son completed the paper but he spent a long time back-checking one of the problem sums...anyway, CA is done and over. We are moving forwards.

What are the so called typical Q18 questions? Why can't the students do them? Is it because the teachers have not taught them the skills to solve such questions or is it the case where the teachers have taught but the students do not really understand the solution and hence cannot come up with the solution on their own in the test. A good Maths teacher must be able to explain the main concept behind each question. It is not easy for a student to memorise the steps if he cannot understand the solution.

[pixiedust]

I would say those questions which requires (1) comprehension and then apply (2) analysis and application.


Example :
total apple to total pear in known ratio.
apple removed in multiples
pear removed in multiples (different from apple).
at the end only apple left xxx number.
ask to find the total number of original fruit.

-difficult to apply model as no more than/less than
-seems to be units+parts unitary method but the change is given in removal of multiples instead of ratio or numbers. hence requires some thinking and analysis.

I won’t say it is because the teacher teach or did not teach well but from what I heard, most of the pupils were stuck at some questions for too long so basically it is (1) mental stamina of completing Paper 1 & Paper 2 (2) time managment skills.

[hshs]

mother777:

belieber13:

I'm in secondary1 now, but after reading all your comments, I can advise that for English, it is much easier to write small notes at the side and what can help is that the child highlights the 4W1H and circles the tenses. For Maths, slowing down and reading the question helps a lot. For Science, I agree with beanbear. Patterns must be seen in order to answer the questions correctly.

All the best to all the mums,dd and ds!

Hi,

Pls help to ellaborate what you mean by 4W1H (sorry don't understand the abbreviation) and circles the tenses for English paper?
Where can this strategy be used?

You may wish to use the cub method. That is to
1) circle the questioning words such what, why, how
2) underline the keywords
3) box the tense

Pls refer to attached website for a more detailed explanation. Hope it helps.
http://www.slideshare.net/HazelHuang/cub

[PiggyLalala]

What about synthesis for english? What is the most efficient way of training our kids to do well in synthesis?

[Zekezachzoom]

PiggyLalala:

What about sythesis for english? What is the most efficient way of training our kids to do well in sythesis?

This is also my DS weakest link. Always loose marks from this section and is very expensive! Hope to hear some sound advice here

[mother777]

hshs:

mother777:

[quote=\"belieber13\"]I'm in secondary1 now, but after reading all your comments, I can advise that for English, it is much easier to write small notes at the side and what can help is that the child highlights the 4W1H and circles the tenses. For Maths, slowing down and reading the question helps a lot. For Science, I agree with beanbear. Patterns must be seen in order to answer the questions correctly.

All the best to all the mums,dd and ds!

Hi,

Pls help to ellaborate what you mean by 4W1H (sorry don't understand the abbreviation) and circles the tenses for English paper?
Where can this strategy be used?

You may wish to use the cub method. That is to
1) circle the questioning words such what, why, how
2) underline the keywords
3) box the tense

Pls refer to attached website for a more detailed explanation. Hope it helps.
http://www.slideshare.net/HazelHuang/cub[/quote]Hi HsHs,
Thank you for the great link. Really has good examples about what to do and how to answer questions. :thankyou:

[janet88]

PiggyLalala:

What about synthesis for english? What is the most efficient way of training our kids to do well in synthesis?

YES, I agree with you completely.
This is a very 'expensive' section...but with lots of careful checking and practice, the pain can be lessened. One missing alphabet or wrong tense, the whole answer is considered wrong.
Compared to P3/4 when connectors were more predictable, it is not so any longer. Eng teacher asked me to get son to practise more connectors and comprehension OE should time permits.

[Chenonceau]

Does anyone know whether PSLE markers will accept comprehension answers that are phrased in multiple short sentences, instead of a single long sentence?