GEP 2012 - Screening & Selection

[simple2005]

teddy:

If moe thinks that they don't need to take psle because they have a different path of education, they can always exempt them like they created the gep program for these gep kids. There is no reason that these kids can't do well in psle, that's why moe still want these gep kids to take psle.

I'm not a policy maker, but I don't believe that it would be 'easy' to just take them out of the PSLE test, I shan't comment on what might be if we take them out of the PSLE or not. However the original discussion here was what are the expectations of their scores, and why they 'must' be scoring 260+ etc., which I feel is not a right way to look at the program, as mentioned, it's not only about the scores. I leave it at that that we don't see this the same way.

teddy:

Do you know that moe wanted them to score at least 250 now in order to get eesis scholarship. I think this is a very easy target for them as 10% p6 kids can make it. They don't have this criteria in the past as long as they maintained their gep status n get into IS school. Why now?

It's fair enough to think that a lot of the GEP students can achieve this, why now? To be honest, I do not know the reason(s). And it should not take away the fact that these students are still in the program for reasons being on their ability, even if they do not meet this score.

It is not a good idea to get hung up on scores that must be achieved just because someone is in a program. As mentioned by others in the thread, they should not be expected to be out-scoring in the PSLE, they are mostly expected to do well, but it's not about the PSLE score, but what they are able to learn during these 3 years.

teddy:

Based on my observation, psle exams have been drastically changed recently to Have many difficult questions( those you can't prep) which are cater for them. Those will be too challeging for mainstreamers to tackle unless those kids have attended maths olympaid.

And this is where one of the concern is, it all boils down to PSLE, and the questions, and the syllabus, and now the need to review the PSLE . No matter what, it is still tied to a restrictive assessment, that is not entirely fair.

What do we say about a student who does alright/so-so for the SAs, but shines for those tests from other sources, and obviously did not study for those?

teddy:

I don't deny that every kid needs help. You sound like gep needs a lot helps, not just these kids needs help, majority mainstreamers need help
too!

Everyone needs help, but there is a general concern that many people take it that GEP students don't need help, so I mentioned it. And yes, they do need special help.

It's the form of help meted out to them that needs to be different, and I'm not necessary talking academically.

I leave this discussion at this point, but as mentioned, it's not all about the points they score in PSLE, is also about the education they receive. Not that the points don't matter, but it's not only the points that matter.

So if there's a question being raised (today) about how much the GEP students score, and statistically how 'successful' they are in reaching the top tertiary institutions, the one who asked that question may just be missing the point about GEP education (or at the very least, what I perceive it should be).

This was a good discussion, by the way, I hope you see it (the discussion) the same way.

Cheers.

[simple2005]

teddy:

...

So, don't assume that you are exempted and not expected to do well in PSLE for sec placement

I can speak for myself that that is not what I assume as a parent. What some of the replies to you here is, do not expect them to be all going for 260++ scores, that should not be the focus. So correct me if I'm wrong if this is not your expectation.

I don't think many of the parents here think that they are 'exempted' either, this seems to me like a misconception, I hope not everyone thinks so either (either in GEP or in mainstream).

Cheers.

[Otah]

marcolisa:

My son is not good at CL, should he still choose HCL in GEP school? Is there CL in NHPS?

Just wonder how bad is the \"not good\" for his CL? May be not as bad as your think?

[teddy]

My observation is that many are not hand-on and use rote-learning approach for study and hence can’t apply theory into practice and vice versa to link back to concept. Many has learnt the syllabus and subjects in the program without realizing it and let alone answering the questions correctly.


Angmo is totally different and they don’t do drilling at all but they grasp the concept well and able to use and apply it and do very well!

When I did my post-grad n was teaching assistant in one of the university in UK, I witnessed those ‘Smart Angmo’ played all the time n just did minimum study (just 1 week before the exams) while most Asian studied all day long. When come to exams, ‘those smart one’ still scored better than those studied all day long throughout the whole year. When come to experiment, they needed no coaching. They finished the experiments much early even before the given timing and got their tutorials all correct for experiments, while Asian were still figuring out the steps and needed a lot of assistant from us for their experiments and always had problems to answer tutorials correctly.

[Melodies]

Err.. I thought Teddy is trying to give a message that GEP kids are after all competing with main-streamers for secondary placement. As many have mentioned that DSA rules have changed over the years and even some girls who has scored 85% are rejected for DSA to NYGH.


Whether you like it or not, if you fail to secure a CO/WL from any secondary schools, you have no choice but have to use your PSLE T-score for S1 posting. If the cut-off point is 260 for RGS or 261 for NYGH, you must do as well to compete with main-streamers.

I think Teddy is trying to say if you do not expect them to be all going for 260++ scores and not focusing on PSLE, you will not be competitive.

simple2005:

teddy:

...
So, don't assume that you are exempted and not expected to do well in PSLE for sec placement

I can speak for myself that that is not what I assume as a parent. What some of the replies to you here is, do not expect them to be all going for 260++ scores, that should not be the focus. So correct me if I'm wrong if this is not your expectation.

I don't think many of the parents here think that they are 'exempted' either, this seems to me like a misconception, I hope not everyone thinks so either (either in GEP or in mainstream).

Cheers.

[ss501]

teddy:

...Please do not think that psle exams is all about the drilling. The fact is many gep kids can't answer those psle questions are those high order thinking questions which mainstreamers obviously find difficult to answer.
So, don't say gep kids are not expected to do well. They have all it takes to do well in psle than mainstreamers :please:

I wonder where you derived that \"fact\" from? How do you know that gep kids can't answer those PSLE questions? No offense, but are you a PSLE marker?

[PiggyLalala]

Anyone back fr the briefing today? Any latest news to share?

[garyliu]

what time is the briefing?

uote="PiggyLalala"]Anyone back fr the briefing today? Any latest news to share?[/quote]

[PiggyLalala]

garyliu:

what time is the briefing?

uote=\"PiggyLalala\"]Anyone back fr the briefing today? Any latest news to share?

[/quote]

I do not know. I have the impression that the GEP briefing talk is this morning. Or have I made a mistake. Maybe parents whose kids are selected for the program this year can confirm the briefing time and date. Sorry if I have made a mistake.

Hi, I think I am right. The briefing is in this morning. Hope you did not miss the briefing. If u have, u may want to check with the GE branch on what u may have missed out today. Or do you have any friends whose child has been selected for the program? U may want to check with them too.

[JAR]

PiggyLalala:

Anyone back fr the briefing today? Any latest news to share?

Glad that we went for the briefing. DS is convinced that GEP curriculum is something he would like to try, he thinks the student briefing is great and he actually enjoyed the session. From not wanting to go to he is definitely going for it.

For the benefit of other who might want to know, this year out of 4000 who cleared first round, 557 made it to GEP, of which 325 are boys and 232 girls.

School posting result out on 26th Nov.