2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy
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:rahrah: We came back from our 4 day staycation at Sentosa and it was a great break!! Pontang school was a great feeling for our kids too and we didn't have to fight for breathing space with other staycationers.
Finally saw DS's report book and got a shock of my life. We didn't do a single revision for his Chinese other than he attending Berries class, and that was his best performing subject!!! He made a 20 mark jump from CA1. In fact, he topped the class for Chinese! Should I stop revising other subjects?? :yikes:
Maths was most disappointing - put in most effort and yet was worst performing. He lost 17 marks from sums that were within his ability!!! Maybe the good news is that's the unrealized potential that can be realized in the coming PSLE.
English DS has made marked improvement and our grammar strategies have worked very well indeed. DS scored almost full marks for most questions which require him to use grammar rules. Our intensive spelling bee sessions have also worked out. I'm most happy about this!
Science DS has maintained and I can see that's really still good room to do better in both papers.
Lessons learnt from the SA1:
1. Topical revision is most effective. One topic at a time, one section at a time. We didn't do whole papers at one go. We targeted specific skills and topics and that will be our strategy for Prelims.
2. Annotation works! We used that strategy for Chinese Compre OE - I got DS to write his annotation in English and he did very well - that was what got his high marks. But it didn't work as well for English Compre OE. Lots of analysis to do for why he didn't do well. I don't think it's the annotation issue but teaching him inferential skills.
3. Maths - I've done a gap analysis and realized that DS still has gaps in conceptual understanding. So this holidays, it's plugging those gaps. Lesson learnt - focus on ensuring the concepts are really learnt properly before going into intensive practices. You can do hundreds of sums but if there is a gap in conceptual understanding, child cannot apply whatever heuristics he has learnt.
4. Continue to reinforce the use specific exam techniques such as highlighting, slowing down the reading, annotation, time management. DS & I didn't set specific marks as our goals. My only goal for him is to use the exam techniques. I believe the marks will fall in place if we have done the work. It's always about PROCESS & PROGRESS. I told DS when I examine the exam papers, I look for evidence of his thinking & application of strategies & skills, not the final result. -
DS did badly for CA1. Don’t know what got into him but he was up to all sorts of mischief then and exams didn’t seem to be of any concern.
For SA1, his grades fell again!!!
Don’t about CL and EL but his Math / Sci teacher told me that she was pleased with his improvements compared to CA1. Moved up 30 positions for Math and 60 positions for Sci against his mainstream peers in school. DS was so pleased with himself. Hope that’s some kind of motivation and not run out of steam again after a week. -
fifiyeo:
:rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: Jiayou!DS did badly for CA1. Don't know what got into him but he was up to all sorts of mischief then and exams didn't seem to be of any concern.
For SA1, his grades fell again!!!
Don't about CL and EL but his Math / Sci teacher told me that she was pleased with his improvements compared to CA1. Moved up 30 positions for Math and 60 positions for Sci against his mainstream peers in school. DS was so pleased with himself. Hope that's some kind of motivation and not run out of steam again after a week. -
PSLE is really tough...saw the shots on channel 8 about program on P6 intensive tuition during June hols. I brought son out to orchard rd on tue as there was no tuition...or else I will go :siao:
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janet_lee88:
PSLE is really tough...saw the shots on channel 8 about program on P6 intensive tuition during June hols. I brought son out to orchard rd on tue as there was no tuition...or else I will go :siao:
PSLE is a test of stamina not just on the child but also the parents. As long as 孩子父母一条心 , we can \"ride it out\" together
And yes, take whenever breather or breaks instead of couping up at home all day long.
:rahrah: :rahrah: Jia you , everyone :rahrah: :rahrah: -
janet_lee88:
PSLE is really tough...saw the shots on channel 8 about program on P6 intensive tuition during June hols. I brought son out to orchard rd on tue as there was no tuition...or else I will go :siao:
Ya I really wonder whether these intensive courses are effective. Teaching the kids all year long itself sometimes did not bring fruitful outcome. Just in a week or so, how can they grasp so many things? Very puzzled. May be smart kids can catch balls but smart kids already should be smart, then why attend these courses? Big Sigh!
Janet, take a good break and start on the revision. Don't worry too much. Everything will be fine. -
Chenonceau:
:rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: Jiayou!fifiyeo:
DS did badly for CA1. Don't know what got into him but he was up to all sorts of mischief then and exams didn't seem to be of any concern.
For SA1, his grades fell again!!!
Don't about CL and EL but his Math / Sci teacher told me that she was pleased with his improvements compared to CA1. Moved up 30 positions for Math and 60 positions for Sci against his mainstream peers in school. DS was so pleased with himself. Hope that's some kind of motivation and not run out of steam again after a week.
Thank you!
I was glad to hear that from DS's teacher. So he gets rewarded.
Sometimes it's so stressful because we can't really tell if our DC imporve or is doing worst as the standard of the papers don't stay consistent. -
fifiyeo:
:rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: Jiayou!Chenonceau:
[quote=\"fifiyeo\"]DS did badly for CA1. Don't know what got into him but he was up to all sorts of mischief then and exams didn't seem to be of any concern.
For SA1, his grades fell again!!!
Don't about CL and EL but his Math / Sci teacher told me that she was pleased with his improvements compared to CA1. Moved up 30 positions for Math and 60 positions for Sci against his mainstream peers in school. DS was so pleased with himself. Hope that's some kind of motivation and not run out of steam again after a week.
Thank you!
I was glad to hear that from DS's teacher. So he gets rewarded.
Sometimes it's so stressful because we can't really tell if our DC imporve or is doing worst as the standard of the papers don't stay consistent.[/quote] :rahrah: :rahrah: That is very good. This will motivate you and your DS to put in more efforts. All the best. -
fifiyeo:
:rahrah: :rahrah: :rahrah: Jiayou!Chenonceau:
[quote=\"fifiyeo\"]DS did badly for CA1. Don't know what got into him but he was up to all sorts of mischief then and exams didn't seem to be of any concern.
For SA1, his grades fell again!!!
Don't about CL and EL but his Math / Sci teacher told me that she was pleased with his improvements compared to CA1. Moved up 30 positions for Math and 60 positions for Sci against his mainstream peers in school. DS was so pleased with himself. Hope that's some kind of motivation and not run out of steam again after a week.
Thank you!
I was glad to hear that from DS's teacher. So he gets rewarded.
Sometimes it's so stressful because we can't really tell if our DC imporve or is doing worst as the standard of the papers don't stay consistent.[/quote]In terms of absolute marks, DS improved across the board in all subjects. But his ranking in class dropped. This means he did worse than when his marks were low. In a way, I am glad for this drop in ranking. -
Our experience with PSLE Oral:
a. Study for Prelims or prepare for Oral?
Amazingly, even though the PSLE dates are all out and schools have liberty to schedule their Prelims almost \"as and when they liked\", for various reasons such as marking/term end programmes etc, Prelims and PSLE Oral are really close. But for DD this was a no-brainer; a quiet child, I knew we had to work on Oral - yes, even English Oral. We were not trying for any special programme because we had affiliation, so we kept the the written papers practice on the back burner and spent the afternoons focused on Oral preparation.
b. Different days, different questions/topics, of differing difficulty
DD was fortunate, she got the \"easy\" Chinese topic; some of her friends were not so lucky and had to decide on the spot whether to do a literal translation of \"student's corner\" from English to Chinese or use some other term. BTW, I've always wondered about this but never found a satisfactory answer - why are the words in the pictures for Chinese Oral eg words on signages like school gate, warning signs, always in English? For one of DD's school Chinese exams, the picture showed the gates of a school called \" Sun Primary School\" - should the kids say \"tai yang xue xiao\"?? Pray share if you know the answer to this one - I'm still curious.
c. Bored testers, fierce testers, friendly testers, testers with a heavy accent
We practised what to do for each scenario. Eg Bored testers - continue to smile at them as if they were interested; fierce testers - stay calm, polite and carry on - do not be intimidated; friendly testers - remember not to lapse into \"casual speak\" with them; testers with a heavy accent - \"I am sorry but I could not make out what you just asked/said; could you please repeat that for me once more?\" I told DD it was acceptable to say this for every question/statement made to her if it was so necessary.
d. Stumped
We practised for this too. Eg. Do you think we should have a Special Olympics? and the child does not know what the Special Olympics are. Oral is not a test of general knowledge - it tests whether you can hold a conversation in that language so it is perfectly acceptable to reply \" I am not familiar with the Special Olympics. Is this a special type of sports event\" [ at least this can be deduced from the name itself]? The tester should reply to explain the event and the conversation can carry on from there.
e. Panic
We practiced for this too. DD found our Oral notes comforting and after having read them through so many times, parts of it became internalised and when in a fix, she tended to resort to what she had remembered from these notes and adapted from there.
f. Mummy's Panic
Perhaps since this was the first real PSLE testing so Mummy's panic was at a much higher level than DD's. \" What if she won't open her mouth and merely nods and shakes her head?\" \" What if...\" \"What if....\" I found solace in the Christian PSP group who gathered to cover and pray for each child in the cohort by name throughout the Oral exam period.
g. Aftermath
Things had gone well enough for DD so with a quick \" Ok?\" and her nod in reply, we estatically junked our 3 boxes of oral notes and hunkered down for Prelim preparation.
One battle done.... :rahrah: so many more to go... :imdrowning:
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