PSLE 2012 - Results Discussion

[jedamum]

With schools setting different difficulty papers and 4A yielding 220+ at times, how do one set targets?

[Skyed]

jedamum:

With schools setting different difficulty papers and 4A yielding 220+ at times, how do one set targets?

Full marks for everything

[Nebbermind]

Skyed:

jedamum:

With schools setting different difficulty papers and 4A yielding 220+ at times, how do one set targets?

Full marks for everything

I know that even when one has no aptitude for Chinese n consistently low B or C, can still get A in psle. If one can hit high As for all four subjects, I'm sure that would be at least 250...maybe even mid 250! So that grades aren't really reflective of where u stand within the cohort.

[wonderm]

It is very interesting to see how differently we parents work with our kids.


For us, we never set any T-score target not because we think it will give them too much stress, but because even we parents do not know how to translate 270, 260 or 250 to actions. Since T-score is a ranking score, to us, it is meaningless for us to set a goal for them to be top 3% or top 10% of the national cohort. They wouldn’t know how to be top x% of 40,000+ students. We also do not set any goals in terms of marks like above 90%, 80% or 70% because it really depends on how hard the papers are… Since there is no way we can know or control how hard the teachers set the papers, I think it is unfair or not very useful for us to set such goals.

Instead, we monitor the children’s learning attitude and also the type of mistakes they make. From the mistakes we can tell if they don’t fully grasp the concepts or they are making too many careless mistakes, these need to be addressed as and when it happens, not till after the exam. If we sense they lack concentration or motivation during their revision, we will also give them feedback and make them understand they are studying for themselves. With these things addressed, we always re-assure them that the final result will take care of itself and whatever the T-score, it is good enough that they have worked hard and done their best.

[rains]

It’s different strokes for different folks.


Not exactly a numerical person, I had no inkling that only the top 1% gets 270. I read ‘PSLE Survival Guide’ and the kid targeted at 270 to get 247. I thought it would be a ‘safe’ t-score to target at even if it’s unrealistic.

It’s no use telling my kid that she had to study for herself. For herself, I reckon she would think passing would be good enough. It’s no use telling her that she just needed to do her best, because her best would be defined as finishing an exam with every question answered - correctly or not, that’s another matter. She wanted a good score to get into her dream school, but how much effort to put in and how to get that score, she had no idea. To give my sleeping beauty an idea of what ‘studying hard’ means, we had to give her a target score and explain the implications of getting that score. Her school churns out t-scores since P5, so it’s easier for her to see horror where she stood. Of course, that doesn’t mean the end of the works, but that’s another story.

[Jakaranda]

slmkhoo:

watmekiasu:

[quote=\"Nebbermind\"]If parents had already pumped in extra resources such as tuition and the kids still did not do well, shouldn't the kids take responsibility to what happened?


I think the parents should take the responsibility for this. They should have checked to ensure that the tuition was effective. I am a hands-off mum but I make a point of giving my dd the past year papers during SA1 and SA2. From there, I can tell if the tuition is effective and her weaknesses. I take action from there.
Tuition may be 'effective', but it doesn't mean the child will necessarily do well, just better than without tuition.

[/quote]More importantly a pupil should take in and absorb every bit of information learnt in school. The school should help you firm up your foundation and tuition is supposed to teach you something that is higher than the standard level, more like an enrichment. I always listen with 120% attention during lessons, ask whenever I have doubts and complete my homework with my best effort. Also, I take my time to relax at home after school (and completing my homework) as my self-studying is done either in school or the library. (And I did pretty well in PSLE!)
It's just not about the duration but the quality of studying.

[Jakaranda]

Nebbermind:

What is 270?


If 260 is that top 3%, I would guess that 270 is like the top 1%.
If the school psle cohort is 250~300, that would generally equal to the (regular) top 3 kids if it is distributed equally throughout the SG cohort. But since we know it is not, then most schools will have no more than 1~2 kids with that kind of score.

Did I get the numbers wrong in my estimation...and being realistic? :scratchhead:

Hmm, GEP schools might be an exception. As far as I know there are more than/around 10 ppl scoring 265-280 in my school. All of them--except for one classmate and me--came from the GEP/TAG/best class in mainstream, though.

[Jakaranda]

jedamum:

With schools setting different difficulty papers and 4A yielding 220+ at times, how do one set targets?

Ask seniors for opinions (such as difference btw difficulty of sch paper&PSLE) and estimate one's standard as accurately as possible

[Jakaranda]

Just realised that I have not set a target (academically) in my whole life…But my mum has set one for me now since I got into RGS: Either I try Oxford, Cambridge or get into Havard…

[BlurBerry]

wonderm:

It is very interesting to see how differently we parents work with our kids.


For us, we never set any T-score target not because we think it will give them too much stress, but because even we parents do not know how to translate 270, 260 or 250 to actions. Since T-score is a ranking score, to us, it is meaningless for us to set a goal for them to be top 3% or top 10% of the national cohort. They wouldn't know how to be top x% of 40,000+ students. We also do not set any goals in terms of marks like above 90%, 80% or 70% because it really depends on how hard the papers are.. Since there is no way we can know or control how hard the teachers set the papers, I think it is unfair or not very useful for us to set such goals.

Instead, we monitor the children's learning attitude and also the type of mistakes they make. From the mistakes we can tell if they don't fully grasp the concepts or they are making too many careless mistakes, these need to be addressed as and when it happens, not till after the exam. If we sense they lack concentration or motivation during their revision, we will also give them feedback and make them understand they are studying for themselves. With these things addressed, we always re-assure them that the final result will take care of itself and whatever the T-score, it is good enough that they have worked hard and done their best.

I most certainly agree with you on this.