2013 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[HAPPYH]

Goodluck8:

yahoo-user:

Today is my first day with kiasu parents.... My son is P5, taking PSLE next year.


I didn't catch up on all the threads but it's true that P5 big jump from P4. My son's performance for all subjects dropped 10 to 20 marks :sad:

So if you have any tips, please share with me! :thankyou:

Try to get as many marks as possible for his best subject. And the other three subjects, try to maintain at 80.

Even he is very good at certain subject, still needs to continue to revise. Otherwise, they will forget what they have learnt and give you a shock when the result is back.

Precisely. I did not revise Science for sometime thinking that she knows the answering techniques. To my horror, she forgot at least 20% of what she already learnt and mastered (?) when I asked her to do the past year question papers (last week). It took 3 papers before she can come to a correct form. So constant revision is important.

[Chenonceau]

Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

[fightingmom]

Chenonceau:

Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

:thankyou: Chenonceau for the sharing.

[Pen88n]

Chenonceau:

Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

Chen, don't be disheartened. PSLE standard will take into consideration nationwide standard. Keep up the calm and happy environment at home - that's the best support for your little boy!!

[yarna]

Chenonceau:

Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

Thanks for sharing.

DS will be having his prelim next week and I do not know what to expect. If the schools want to make the paper difficult in order to spur learning, it should be done earlier - not now. The prelim papers should be set at PSLE level. DS came back and told me that some kids last year had a total black out and these are good kids who have been consistently doing well in school.

[Chenonceau]

Pen88n:

Chenonceau:

Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

Chen, don't be disheartened. PSLE standard will take into consideration nationwide standard. Keep up the calm and happy environment at home - that's the best support for your little boy!!

I don't have much faith in my son's school. Looking at
(1) the sparse handouts and materials produced by his school to supplement the textbooks (i.e., little exposure to necessary material),
(2) the demoralizing shocks it administers frequently to kids (i.e., demotivating influence)

... I don't think it can compete with schools that really do teach properly. Its tests may be harder than top school papers BUT it does not have the teaching capability (nor the school-based materials) to bring the kids up to that level. Unless with access to good enrichment (and I have been stubborn in refusing enrichment because I want him to learn NOW to be self-reliant), kids have neither the motivation nor the necessary training to perform at the standards of the school prelims.

I can't do much now except to shield my son.

[verykiasu2010]

Chenonceau:

Pen88n:

[quote=\"Chenonceau\"]Sharing our experience at prelim so that 2012 PSLE parents have time to react.


http://petunialee.blogspot.sg/2012/08/69-marks-for-psle-prelim-math.html

Chen, don't be disheartened. PSLE standard will take into consideration nationwide standard. Keep up the calm and happy environment at home - that's the best support for your little boy!!

I don't have much faith in my son's school. Looking at
(1) the sparse handouts and materials produced by his school to supplement the textbooks (i.e., little exposure to necessary material),
(2) the demoralizing shocks it administers frequently to kids (i.e., demotivating influence)

... I don't think it can compete with schools that really do teach properly. Its tests may be harder than top school papers BUT it does not have the teaching capability (nor the school-based materials) to bring the kids up to that level. Unless with access to good enrichment (and I have been stubborn in refusing enrichment because I want him to learn NOW to be self-reliant), kids have neither the motivation nor the necessary training to perform at the standards of the school prelims.

I can't do much now except to shield my son.[/quote]I just went to read your blog on the 69 marks

if he could do NY papers under exam conditions (timing etc) and self marked to be ok, then no fear, regardless of what the prelim marks say. Just keep up the practice on those tricky questions. Most of the time the questions are not super difficult, just tricky, and watch the wordings! And for simple questions, it is simply easy to lose marks by being careless

in fact, NY has communicated to parents that they actually don't pitch the paper way above the PSLE standard - skill sets and knowledge imparted during curriculum time need to be boosted by self-confidence, which is more important in the run up to PSLE. Even after NY \"lowered\" the prelim standard, they still managed to get everyone scoring higher than prelim t-scores. So it is proven that setting extra hard prelim paper to so-called wake up the kids could be counter-productive in wrecking morale

[Chenonceau]

verykiasu2010:

I just went to read your blog on the 69 marks

if he could do NY papers under exam conditions (timing etc) and self marked to be ok, then no fear, regardless of what the prelim marks say.

Thank you dear... this makes me feel a little better but not much. It's CL Oral tomorrow so I took him out for a nice meal at Liang Court. It was a strain for me to smile kindly at him throughout the meal.

verykiasu2010:

Just keep up the practice on those tricky questions.

Any lobang where to find these tricky questions? All I have are the Top School papers. I am so tired trying to source for materials. We've even gotten the Math Olympiad questions from Popular and found those easy. He's even done papers from the NY GEP stack and found them manageable.

verykiasu2010:

Most of the time the questions are not super difficult, just tricky, and watch the wordings! And for simple questions, it is simply easy to lose marks by being careless

He lost 5 marks to carelessness. The rest is really cannot do.

verykiasu2010:

in fact, NY has communicated to parents that they actually don't pitch the paper way above the PSLE standard - skill sets and knowledge imparted during curriculum time need to be boosted by self-confidence, which is more important in the run up to PSLE.

This is what I think is reasonable too. Self-confidence is important in performance. I am bottling all this in and putting up a smiling face just to ensure his self-confidence remains intact.

verykiasu2010:

Even after NY \"lowered\" the prelim standard, they still managed to get everyone scoring higher than prelim t-scores. So it is proven that setting extra hard prelim paper to so-called wake up the kids could be counter-productive in wrecking morale

Precisely so! I really do feel better now. I was confused a bit but now I am convinced that shielding him was the right thing to do. It took me 1 week before I could even bear to blog about it.

My heart goes out to those kids who failed the paper. Many kids in the 2nd best class failed. Some kids in the best class also failed. But I have no way to help others now. I can only help my own son. Giving feedback to the school is no use. I gave feedback in CA1 to a HOD... nicely and reasonably. No use. Just suck it up.

[Sun_2010]

Chenonceau:

Thank you dear... this makes me feel a little better but not much. Its CL Oral tomorrow so I took him out for a nice meal at Liang Court. It was a strain for me to smile kindly at him throughout the meal.

Hi Chen,
Get a sand bag toy, and bash it up . Or something that will make you feel better. Because while faking it is the next best thing to being emotional, it is very far from the real thing.
I guess you know better than anyone else that children can pick up parent's ' vibes very fast even without consciously trying .

Chenonceau:

He lost 5 marks to carelessness. The rest is really cannot do.

can you assess these questions he could'nt do- are they sensible question?
have they gone thru the solution in school, if so what is his opinion?
May be your son is the best person to assess -
Are they brilliant questions?
Solutions to brilliant questions help one get a new prespective. Or are sometimes simple that make you go , oh , why didn i see that?
Or were they just too complicated in words and/or in solution?
If it was then it belongs to the category of tought-question-for-the sake-of-it. Just ignore that set. :siao:
They are the outcome of some sadist, or misguided teacher who feel compelled to make it tough.

After that take out the marks of all those questions. Now calculate the percentage of marks he would get with this new total.
I believe you will have reason to celebrate. :celebrate:

Your DS has such cute twinkling eyes, wouldnt want to see them dampen. give him an extra :snuggles: , if he still lets you.

[Chenonceau]

Sun_2010:

Hi Chen,
Get a sand bag toy, and bash it up . Or something that will make you feel better. Because while faking it is the next best thing to being emotional, it is very far from the real thing.
I guess you know better than anyone else that children can pick up parent's ' vibes very fast even without consciously trying .

I do feel better after venting here.

Sun_2010:

can you assess these questions he could'nt do- are they sensible question?
have they gone thru the solution in school, if so what is his opinion?
May be your son is the best person to assess -
Are they brilliant questions?
Solutions to brilliant questions help one get a new prespective. Or are sometimes simple that make you go , oh , why didn i see that?
Or were they just too complicated in words and/or in solution?
If it was then it belongs to the category of tought-question-for-the sake-of-it. Just ignore that set. :siao:
They are the outcome of some sadist, or misguided teacher who feel compelled to make it tough.

After that take out the marks of all those questions. Now calculate the percentage of marks he would get with this new total.
I believe you will have reason to celebrate. :celebrate:

Your DS has such cute twinkling eyes, wouldnt want to see them dampen. give him an extra :snuggles: , if he still lets you.

Papers have not been returned. I'll make sure I get Little Boy will need to analyze and explain to me these things when he gets back the paper.