Dunman High School (Junior High)

[gearhat]

Snow Crystal:

gearhat:

Hi mamajoy

I did not have any tuition despite even my mother asking if I wanted any when I was failing econs hahaha. It was just a personal preference as I felt I would prefer the time to look through my problems on my own. And also if I had any problems I could always consult my teachers so I didn't see the need to engage a private tutor. Turned out well though, I got A for both

I'll being studying Engineering in London soon. School haven't start yet.

And to reply Snow Crystal about teachers, culture and how I cope:
I guess teachers in the school change over time (and more frequently now it seems, which I don't really like but anyway...) so I think my teachers especially JH ones may not be teaching in DHS anymore by now. However, I must say that there are quite a few long serving teachers who are really dedicated and well-loved by students. Total respect to them.

I really like the culture in DHS, which many people will describe as 'family-like'.

Gearhat- thanks for your inspiring posts. We parents tend to panic when our kids do not do well. You are really sensible to decide to study on your own for subjects you don't do well and lift them to As! Marvellous. All the best to your studies in UK! I am sure with your resilience, you will do extremely well in your chosen course.

Haha, thank you very much! But seriously though, don't panic! (and complain less also) Stay calm and find out the root of the problem. It's the only way to truly solve the problem.

I hope your kids do well in school as well As with all the other students and especially those who are trying to get into DHS.

[Interested]

:hugs:

gearhat:

Interested:

[quote=\"gearhat\"]Hi everyone!


Just came across this forum and found it very interesting to read. I'm an ex-Dunmanian who graduated last year and I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in DHS.

Should any of you parents have any questions regarding dhs/ junior high/ senior high/ a-levels or anything else I'll try my best to answer and give a student's perspective of course.

Hi, need help to advise for MEP other then YR1 can student apply in Yr2 ? How to go about it? TIA

Hi, I don't think you can join MEP in yr2. It's a special programme which starts in yr 1 and if you sign the contract in yr 1 you have to follow through all the way and to o-levels. So it also means you cannot drop it. You should double check with the MEP teachers though, since I am not particularly familiar with the programme. I'm not sure if exceptions can be made but I think it is highly unlikely.[/quote]Hi Gearhat, Thanks for your response and also your generous sharing in this threat.

Hope you will drop by frequently to share and give some advise. :please:

Just like our caring sister Augmum :hugs:

[JustKP]

Hi Gearhat,


Thanks for sharing.

I've heard lots of JC students (not just DHS) don't do very well in CTs and Prelims. But they will generally do much better in A levels. Is that true for DHS based on your cohorts (or among your friends)? Is it because the school papers are tougher than actual A levels?

gearhat:

Augmum:

[quote=\"gearhat\"]Hi everyone!

Just came across this forum and found it very interesting to read. I'm an ex-Dunmanian who graduated last year and I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in DHS.

Should any of you parents have any questions regarding dhs/ junior high/ senior high/ a-levels or anything else I'll try my best to answer and give a student's perspective of course.

Hi gearhat,
A warm welcome to u…….. :rahrah:
It’s great to see current or ex dunmanians' postings here….
So feel free to come in here often, and yes, likely that i/we will have questions to ask abt senior high…..
Hmm…..to begin with...so what is yr subj combination for yr 5 ?
how stressful isit in senior high ?

Hi Augmum!

I took PCME (Phys, Chem, Maths, Econs) in yr 5 which is one of the more popular combinations. and I'm more interested in the science subjects (rather than language/ humanities).

Most students will say that senior high is alot more stressful than junior high. I mean, of course lah, a-levels is nearing and everyone will enter 'exam-mode', much like psle period. But personally I felt like it was ok especially towards the end. I did struggle with Econs and GP in yr 5 because my humanities/ languages were weaker but with practice it became better during a-levels.

I think alot of the stress comes when students don't do well and they start to panic and start getting (too much) tuition because all their friends are having tuition also. I mean, some times tuition can help but alot of times it doesn't.

Curriculum-wise, there will be more paper work to do and less of the more fun stuff like in junior high. I remember I did alot of roleplay and creative projects in JH, not sure if its still the same now.

I think it's best that your child choose the subjects that she like so that she won't feel stressed while studying. I have alot of friends who were stressed because they were studying things that they were not interested in.

Ok, long reply but just to add something about SBGE. I was sorted into an SBGE maths class in yr3 and the only difference was that we had abit more enrichment in maths and maybe the teacher could go a little faster and teach more interesting stuff, like real-life applications of the things we learn. I was from normal sec 1/2 class though.[/quote]

[gearhat]

JustKP:

Hi Gearhat,


Thanks for sharing.

I've heard lots of JC students (not just DHS) don't do very well in CTs and Prelims. But they will generally do much better in A levels. Is that true for DHS based on your cohorts (or among your friends)? Is it because the school papers are tougher than actual A levels?

I can confirm that that is generally the trend. Most people will see an improvement from CTs/ prelims to A-levels. However, I will not factor it down to tougher school papers. They are generally not significantly harder than a-levels (ok, maybe they are abit harder, but not the completely undo-able kind). I think it is mostly accounted for by the phenomenon commonly referred to as the bell-curve or moderation. Generally the bell-curve will push the grades up slightly so that the bulk of students get the middle-range grades. If you're above average you will also ride the curve up. I wouldn't count on it though, since there's also a chance that if the paper is easy, the bell curve may shift the cohort grades down. How much this actually affects the results, we will never know as how it works exactly continues to be a mystery of the examination boards.

There could be other reasons still. There is actually around 3 wks - 1 month between the end of prelims and start of A-levels, and that is probably the time that students study harder than ever. Cannot rule out that students can make improvement between this time period as well.

[Augmum]

gearhat:

Augmum:

Hi Gearhat,
Thanks so much for yr sharing.
PCME is likely my gal's subj combo for yr5 too.

Yes, seems that most yr5 pupils do not do well in the initial stage as read in some postings here by senior high's parents,
not limited to DHS alone, also evident in other Top IP schools and JCs.....

Gal's senior high told her that DHS econs dept is not as good as other IP/JCs....
What is yr view on this ? DHS 's econ teachers and their resources ?

Congrats to u for gettIng As for both yr Econs and GP.
Hmm.... Since u did not take up yr mum 's offer of engaging an Econs tutor,
can u share or give advice to yr juniors HOW and What are the effective ways to ace yr econs N GP ?

Well, I've heard that said too many times with regards to DHS econs dept. The truth is that I, and every other student only have been through 1 set of teachers and resources in school, so nobody can say with absolute certainty that one school is inferior compared to others. I think we are in no position to judge since we haven't gone through 2 or more for accurate comparison.

There's this trend that when the a-level batch does badly, say like only 20%+ As for econs, less students in the next yr 5 batch will take the subject. Last year, my batch did quite well (50%+ As) and all of a sudden the subject is popular again. It is quite silly if you think about it seriously.

At the end of the day, it really depends on each individual student. Remember that for every school and every subject there is a span of students from A+ to fail. Having a high percentage of As doesn't gurantee an A for everyone. Same as the other way round. If most people fail, it doesn't mean that you can't be the one that does well. It really depends on how you interpret and use the resources and I think the teachers get a bad rep when students don't understand because they don't take the time and effort to understand. I think we students should take some responsibility in our own learning as well.

Again, I can only speak for what I've been through, but that having been said, I am incredibly grateful to my econs tutor for all the time spent of consultations and I do think the teachers are a dedicated bunch.

If you want to judge our econs dept using statistics and results (as we singaporeans always do), then I would say they are doing very well indeed based on last year's a-levels.

Effective ways of study depends on individuals again. Like, some people can listen to music and study, while some need complete silence. Generally, for GP, language skills is important so reading will definitely help. I'm not a good reader and find it tough to read through an entire book or novel, so I went to look for other kinds of text. I found that reading plays were much easier for me so I went down that route and looked for plays to read in the library. Stuff like that, you know? Just find ways to make things easier for yourself. Also general knowledge is important for GP, so newspaper and news should be a staple (cliche lah, I know lol).

For econs I realised much of the problem was that there was way too little time to write all the stuff needed for the exam questions. It's not that you don't know the stuff but the time pressure makes it incredibly difficult to think of the right things to write AND write everything out in time. It's something like writing 1.5 page essay in 10mins including thinking time. So you just have to be familiar with the material and train writing speed.

And for everything, practice is always important. Stuff like writing for GP gets better with each practice. Teacher can also go through the extra essays that you wrote in your free time to point out your problems. So in short, practice, check what you're doing wrong, change and improve.

Thanks again for yr informative and assuring sharings......  

It's indeed tired and sick of hearing the same comments wrt to the econs dept,
Not only fr our fellow seniors, also fr parents of other IP schs whom i met....
Thus, am glad to hear the positive views fr u......

Yes..... last yr A level batch, stat shown 57% of As for econs, (an increase of ???)
and the P was extremely glad with the % increase in his speech.
also heard that much effort has been put in by the econs dept for last yr, 
kinda of compiling more notes for their students ??
I am not sure of how true it is, juz some hearsay.....
btw, were there new teachers being recruited specially for the econs dept when u were in yr 5/6 ?

Gearhat, do feel free to hang ard here ......
as i can see that there are many concerned parents with kids in Junior High (not limited to DHS),
looking forward to read yr informative postings.....

Hereby, wishing u Great success and accomplishments in yr overseas studies...... :rahrah:

[Augmum]

Interested:

Just like our caring sister Augmum :hugs:

Thank you Interested.....so sweet of you......cheers.... :celebrate:

Btw, are yr child in DHS ?

[Interested]

Augmum:

Interested:

Just like our caring sister Augmum :hugs:

Thank you Interested.....so sweet of you......cheers.... :celebrate:

Btw, are yr child in DHS ?

Yes! my dc is very happy with the culture and student there
The student there although competitive they are willing to share and those who did well for the subject will give some advise to the class on how they do well for that subject...(some tips)...
He's given alot of opportunity and managed to get into the CCA and leadership role that he wanted.. :imcool:

[Augmum]

Interested:

Augmum:

[quote=\"Interested\"]
Just like our caring sister Augmum :hugs:

Thank you Interested.....so sweet of you......cheers.... :celebrate:

Btw, are yr child in DHS ?

Yes! my dc is very happy with the culture and student there
The student there although competitive they are willing to share and those who did well for the subject will give some advise to the class on how they do well for that subject...(some tips)...
He's given alot of opportunity and managed to get into the CCA and leadership role that he wanted.. :imcool:[/quote]Oh....which yr is yr son in ?? Din see u ard here .....or did i miss yr postings ?
Happy for yr son for what he wants in DHS.......

Yes....the pupils do form some study grps, exchanging of notes and advices.....
Sometimes, they even have some kinda of \"分工合作 type of deals\"..,, :rotflmao: :evil:

[mamajoy]

gearhat:

Snow Crystal:

[quote=\"gearhat\"]
Hi mamajoy

I did not have any tuition despite even my mother asking if I wanted any when I was failing econs hahaha. It was just a personal preference as I felt I would prefer the time to look through my problems on my own. And also if I had any problems I could always consult my teachers so I didn't see the need to engage a private tutor. Turned out well though, I got A for both

I'll being studying Engineering in London soon. School haven't start yet.

And to reply Snow Crystal about teachers, culture and how I cope:
I guess teachers in the school change over time (and more frequently now it seems, which I don't really like but anyway...) so I think my teachers especially JH ones may not be teaching in DHS anymore by now. However, I must say that there are quite a few long serving teachers who are really dedicated and well-loved by students. Total respect to them.

I really like the culture in DHS, which many people will describe as 'family-like'.

Gearhat- thanks for your inspiring posts. We parents tend to panic when our kids do not do well. You are really sensible to decide to study on your own for subjects you don't do well and lift them to As! Marvellous. All the best to your studies in UK! I am sure with your resilience, you will do extremely well in your chosen course.

Haha, thank you very much! But seriously though, don't panic! (and complain less also) Stay calm and find out the root of the problem. It's the only way to truly solve the problem.

I hope your kids do well in school as well As with all the other students and especially those who are trying to get into DHS.[/quote]Hi gearhat

Thanks so much for all the very inspiring sharings. Really helps us to understand how to do well in senior high. One more question, did you have to buy assessment books (apart from whatever material was given by school) to practise or study for the various subjects? I understand DHS does give quite a bit of worksheet, papers etc. Are those sufficient for A level preparation or do the students have to purchase additional assessment books, material etc to do well? THanks in advance.

[gearhat]

mamajoy:

Hi gearhat

Thanks so much for all the very inspiring sharings. Really helps us to understand how to do well in senior high. One more question, did you have to buy assessment books (apart from whatever material was given by school) to practise or study for the various subjects? I understand DHS does give quite a bit of worksheet, papers etc. Are those sufficient for A level preparation or do the students have to purchase additional assessment books, material etc to do well? THanks in advance.

No need for extra assessments at all. Most content subjects will require students to buy 10 yr series and may use that in class. Other than 10 yr series school will also print past yr school papers and other jc papers. Not all are compulsory but you must pay for those. That should be more than enough already. Before each exam (say, CTs) school will print 2-3 dhs past yr paper. After the exam you will have access to other JCs' CTs paper for that year (normally 5-8 will be made available for printing). Come prelims you get another round of everything and you still have 10yr series. That's like 32 sets of full paper for ONE subject. Cannot finish one, so you don't have to worry

I think I only completed around 70% of the papers I had by the end of a-levels, and I didn't buy any extra assessments.