Depressed over p3 results

[BeContented]

mommylow:

I feel that you need to really understand your DD's learning capability and where she actually stands. If she is a bright girl and grasps concepts easily, then getting Band 3 despite having help from tutors is not justified. Find out from DD why she is performing this way and does she feel proud of her the kind of grades she is getting? Make her understand that she is responsible for the quality of work done and if this laidback attitude goes on, the going is gonna get more bumpy in P4-6. Let her see the importance of taking charge of her own studies and not rely on tutors to solve all her problems. Instill in her the need for independant learning and self motivation. Tutors can only do 'that' much for you as they only see you once or twice a week. It's really not enough as true learning is a daily thing, you work hard daily and consistently and not mug when exams are near. It's too late. Parents must play a part by reinforcing what their child learns in school or during tuition. You cannot simply leave it to the school or tutor to do the job. After all parents spend more time with their kids than teachers do with them.


Also if a child is bright but is not getting great grades, it also signals certain underlying issues like the child is distracted with something or even unhappy or feels neglected. She may have low self-esteem and needs more prep talks and encouragement. Sometimes it is simply due to the influence of friends especially when they are also the unmotivated and disinterested type of students.

If the learning capacity of a child is average or below, then it is not her fault to get unimpressive grades. In fact, she could have probably done her best. Of course, being careful in work can jack up her marks substantially but learning to grasp concepts, internalize and the apply require more time and effort for not so capable learners. The student has to be much more diligent than others. If the bright ones put in 1 hour for study, the weaker student has to double the effort and time. There is no other way. Of course every student good or weak has to learn to study smart.

One thing about tutors, try to get those that teach full-time. The commitment is really there unlike part-timers or students. Also most tutors don't really teach students good thinking skills when answerng questions. They are more interested in providing answers readily. To give great correct answers is to first understand and read the mind of the setter who sets the questions. So think, what does the setter want me to do? What concept do I apply with the given clues? This is essential.

Never expects average performed to improve by leaps and bounds. Make little steps and set realistic targets. Diligence, encouragement and patience is the key.

:goodpost:

[kaitlynangelica]

Hi Mummylow


Yes. I do indeed feel that she is very bright! And all her tutors have rightfully mentioned so.

Am not fully sure what is her problem but like I mentioned in my earlier post, I think it is due to lack of maturity…interest and all.

To make it worse, her daddy takes it easy. And she knows it! He will constantly tell her its okay…maths is difficult…dunno never mind. For compo writing, simple words is fine…to need to have more vibrant language. Whats wrong with a normal story line? Blah…blah…blah

This afternoon I was going through her homework and discovered a tonne of careless mistakes. Instead of telling the answer like before, I just circled those that were wrong, told her to re-look at it, and she came back with 90% of them correct!

I don’t expect her to be the top…she is not one of those kids that have been hot-housed since young. I didnt send her to schishida and all. For pre-school, she only went to a half-day montessori in K1 and K2 unlike her other classmates then who were attending ICR, Berries, CMA and all.

But I think for me to expect 80% is not unreasonable.

[kaitlynangelica]

Hi Mummyofthree,


Yes thanks. I am getting in a full-time tutor today for maths.

Damn ex tho…$45 an hour because she is an ex-MOE teacher.

[kaitlynangelica]

Hi all,

When I analyse her results,

maths was really carelessness
Chinese was due to poor marks in oral cause it carries 30% now
English was a difficult paper

[shawnlim88]

kaitlynangelica:

Hi all,

When I analyse her results,

maths was really carelessness
Chinese was due to poor marks in oral cause it carries 30% now
English was a difficult paper

hi,
i think you DD has no problem, except has to brush up her Chinese Oral
and read more english books

just my view
shawn lim

[KSP]

kaitlynangelica:

I really don't know what to do....my P3 gal's results has been going southwards.

Its really depressing when I read how most kids are still getting band 1.

For SA1, she had band 3 for three subjects.

Has tuition for all subjects but it doesn't seem to be improving. In fact its getting worse

Worse of all, she doesn't even seem worried.

Short of intensifying her tuition, I don't know what else to do.

I would suggest creative writing lesson for EL and CL. I'm sure the tutor will encourage dd to read more in order to write better. And by reading more the overall for EL and CL subjects will improve.

For Maths and Sci need to expose her with different kind of questions like doing other school exam papers. But Sci would be challenging if dd wants explanation to the ans and getting external help would be another option.

JMHO...

[kaitlynangelica]

Finally got the maths tutor in....she seems to think my dd is fine. Just totally unfocused! And tends to be careless a lot.....


Now I am like :siao:

How to overcome this problem?

[Mychildren]

kaitlynangelica:

Finally got the maths tutor in....she seems to think my dd is fine. Just totally unfocused! And tends to be careless a lot.....


Now I am like :siao:

How to overcome this problem?

I may have reply late.
Take it easy, you & your child still have a long way to go.
Once a week tuition is slow to c progress. Not asking u to go for 2 or 3 days a week kind of tuition.
You need to monitor her work. Meaning going through her school files, c what's wrong with her work in school or tuition work & go through with her when u back home. She need to know her own problem to counteract.
I do find that a lot of time, parents just dump their kids to tutors or tuition centre, without knowing whether their kids not understanding what's been taught.
Sit down & talk more with her to understand her problem since she is your only child. I've 3 children, I find myself squeezing time trying to do this especially with my 2nd DS cause he is different from the eldest.
But I do find that challenging. Now, I try to think of ways to guide him instead of acting :stompfeet: & become :siao: .
Don't give up, spend some time in the evening to chit chat with her before you ask her to do any work. Motherhood is forever a learning process, no one can claims hers the best or the most efficient because we all have kids of different characters & they do change as they grow.
You are in fact a good mum to come here & try to find solutions for your girl!

[kaitlynangelica]

Thanks MyChildren.


Yes I do monitor her work.
She is my only child! How can I not do the best I can for her?

But the other problem she has is that I find sometimes she can do her work but strangely, unable to perform under exam conditions. Meaning her daily work can be quite okay but the actual exam results come out like ???

[Trina]

kaitlynangelica


I remembered panicking like you last year when my DD1 was in P3 an her grades shifted downwards from P2. So I can fully understand how you feel.
For most kids, P3 poses a lot of challenges especially chinese compo which is a new examable item for non-SAP schools. The worse thing is that there was very little practice in school. Interestingly, DD1 did well at compo writing during enrichment classes but the SA2 marks were a disappointment. I discovered that it is because she was very attentive in class and copied all the phrases that teacher suggested but couldn’t remember or understand them.
DD1 is doing much better this year in P4 although did not score Band 1 in most subjects and I learnt not to be stressed out over it. Despite not having Band 1s, she is still above average in her cohort so I think the school standard is pretty high. On the highsight, I shouldn’t have panicked in P3 cos there’s a lot of new stuff in P3 which takes time to learn and adjust. Things like compo and oral takes time to master and our kids do have time till P6 to get it right.
All the best for SA2!!