Is P5 the worst year?

[ZXmum]

I have heard from a few parents that P5 is the worst year for the students. But have no chance to clarify why. Any parents here who have P5 kids and would like to enlighten me.

[lizawa]

Hi Zxmun,


There is a great jump in the level of difficulty for all subjects.

For English, Chinese and Maths, there are more questions in the exam paper, more demanding answers for Science. Science exam covers P3 + P4 sylllabus as well.

Maths, more challenging questions, so to do well, expected to be fast and accurate. English and Chinese compo will be marked against 40 marks instead of 20. It's quite easy to score 18/20 in P3/P4 but to score 36/40, it become quite difficult. English paper becomes so difficult suddenly because of cloze passage (with no helping words) and synthesis & transformation section. This will be same format for PSLE, so the school starts them off at P5. Suddenly, all the marks start to drop. So both the parents and children get a shock after SA1. Just need to drop an average of 5 marks per subject, you will see a 20-mark drop overall.

And for those non SAP students, there may be an extra subject, Higher Chinese to do. So an extra subject means more to study and more homework.

But most parents are mentally prepared for this. That's why you are asking now.

[ZXmum]

Hi lizawa,

thanks for the information.

[mckenzy]

so how can we help prepare our kids (and of course ourselves) to clear this terrible year?


looks like for English (to deal with the close passage issue), we need to address reading/writing…?

Science is p5 science PLUS p3 and p4 revision… hmm…

[Jennifer]

My 2cts.


Foundation is very important, esp in Maths. I saw a 20 marks drop in my P5 boy’s CA1. He was in shock as he has been scoring close to 100 all the while. Luckily his foundation is good and he pulled back to 90+ in his SA1.

To do well in English, the child must read widely. My boy is reading everyday. He tops his class in English in the SA1.

As for Science, gotta to read and read and then be able to apply the understanding of concept.

[Tang]

Do not fret. There is a new P5 Maths Blog for P5 pupils. You may want to make full use of it and excel.


http://p5mathsquestions.blogspot.com/

[James Ang]

There may be a drop in scores, but relative positions should not change for those who are strong in their foundation. In fact there is an opportunity for good students to excel and with the use of the calculator for Maths, students acquire new skill sets to help them do well in their PSLE year.


I would say P5 is a crucial year, if the student got "lost" in P5 work, they cannot easily and/or fully recover their "loss" in the final PSLE year.

[schellen]

I believe that those students who adapt quickly to P5 will have no problem coping with the sudden increase in workload, new subjects and change in style of learning and answering questions when they go on to Sec 1.