2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[Peony]

jedamum:

Dear psle 2012 and earlier parents.


Would like to seek your suggestions
My p5 boy is facing difficulties completing his math papers on time even for paper 1, no time to check depending on difficulty of the paper. He is able to get above 80 if we give him additionall time to finish, meaning, he spends too much time thinking Ann lacks practice. He only has so much time for math revision per week and we try to squeeze in one paper a week, timed and recording his time to see how long he needs to complete the paper. What else should I do to improve his speed and accuracy?

We are prepared to make him drop hcl end of the year to free up more time to practice math if situation does not improve by then- will it be too late? Thanks.

Personally, at this stage - early Feb in P5 - that would not be the way I would tackle this. I would instead dissect it into which types of qns is he spending too much time with? Then, I'd select such qns for him to practise and gain confidence (hence speed) in.

When time is limited, we have to be more strategic. Always identify weakness and stem that first. Overall marks will always improve when weakness is identified and conquered.

[mummy so kiasu]

jedamum:

Dear psle 2012 and earlier parents.


Would like to seek your suggestions
My p5 boy is facing difficulties completing his math papers on time even for paper 1, no time to check depending on difficulty of the paper. He is able to get above 80 if we give him additionall time to finish, meaning, he spends too much time thinking Ann lacks practice. He only has so much time for math revision per week and we try to squeeze in one paper a week, timed and recording his time to see how long he needs to complete the paper. What else should I do to improve his speed and accuracy?

We are prepared to make him drop hcl end of the year to free up more time to practice math if situation does not improve by then- will it be too late? Thanks.

Hi Jedamum,
Your boy's Maths foundation should be OK since he could get above 80 marks. You don't have to give him extra worksheets if the school has given him sufficient to practice. If he can complete the test papers in school on time & still have sufficient time for checking then he should be fine. He will need extra practice if he could not complete his school test papers within the time frame given.

My boy also took his own sweet time to do his Maths homework at home & I did not bother to time him. No extra worksheets except those given by the school. He did well for his Maths & he has been getting A* in school as well as PSLE. The school will advice parents to drop HCL if the kids did not perform up to expectation at the end of the year. My boy did not take HCL as he did not like to read Chinese books. It is his weakest subject. I am already happy that he got A for Chinese in PSLE.

[jedamum]

Thanks peony.

How to identify weaker question? Get him to sieve out questions he spends saymore than 5 min on? Sorry, I am new to this, what is the average speed required to complete a typical 4 mark problem sum?

I had told him to identify questions that he spends too much time on, but at this point, we still can’t gauge how long is too long per question. Should we timed each question?

[jedamum]

Thanks, mummy so ks for your note.

So far, there is only one timed paper done in school. Not much comparison for this gan chiong mum who freakdd out when he flung his paper two that I tested him at home when time ran out before he could complete the paper. He was half hour short.

[mummy so kiasu]

jedamum:

Thanks peony.

How to identify weaker question? Get him to sieve out questions he spends saymore than 5 min on? Sorry, I am new to this, what is the average speed required to complete a typical 4 mark problem sum?

I had told him to identify questions that he spends too much time on, but at this point, we still can't gauge how long is too long per question. Should we timed each question?

Did your boy spend too much time on one or two questions? Is he able to proceed to the rest of the easier ones then go back to the one or two challenging ones? 4 or 5 marks questions are usually more challenging. Sometimes such questions could only be solved by the high ability students. How much time should be allocated to each question will depend on the marks allocated & the level of difficulty. Usually take less than 10 mins for a 4 to 5 marks question.

[jedamum]

Thanks again mummy soks for the ballpark figure.

I currently told him to move on when stuck. Guess he needs to get familiar with how long is too long as sometimes when he felt too long, time to move on, 20min already past!

[ruohoo97]

fifiyeo:

janet_lee88:

[quote=\"isetan\"]Have your DC collected their PSLE certificate? Any deadline to collect from school?

Collected already...Dec 10.

Me too! That's why we are KSP!!! :evil:[/quote]OMG, I haven't collect my dd's.

[mummy so kiasu]

jedamum:

Thanks again mummy soks for the ballpark figure.

I currently told him to move on when stuck. Guess he needs to get familiar with how long is too long as sometimes when he felt too long, time to move on, 20min already past!

I think you already got the answer. That is where he lost his time & unable to complete the paper. Time management is very important. Do proceed if he can't solve the question & get back later. He will end up losing marks on those easy questions that he did not have time to do.

Btw, don't have to panic so soon. P4 to P5 is a big jump. P5 & P6 standard is similar. School starts preparing the kids for PSLE in P5. Quite a no. of my boy's classmates did badly in CA 1 & they picked up in SA 1. Your boy will be fine. Give yourself & him some time.

[pixiedust]

jedamum:

Dear psle 2012 and earlier parents.


Would like to seek your suggestions
My p5 boy is facing difficulties completing his math papers on time even for paper 1, no time to check depending on difficulty of the paper. He is able to get above 80 if we give him additionall time to finish, meaning, he spends too much time thinking Ann lacks practice. He only has so much time for math revision per week and we try to squeeze in one paper a week, timed and recording his time to see how long he needs to complete the paper. What else should I do to improve his speed and accuracy?

We are prepared to make him drop hcl end of the year to free up more time to practice math if situation does not improve by then- will it be too late? Thanks.

jedamum,

As mentioned by others, P5 CA1 Maths, most pupils will see a drop in marks as this is the first paper they encounter which follows the PSLE format. I personally think it is a little earlier to make the decision of whether to drop hcl or not.

For Paper 1, 50 mins, 30 questions.
There will be some easier question and some thougher ones but on average, if 1.5mins is used for each question, there will be 5 minutes left to check. In the book by See Jaik Yong (which she describes her experience in helping her daughter with PSLE), she listed some important things which can be \"memorised\" or rather drilled for maths to ensure faster computation. eg. 20%=3/10=1/5=2.0. Your boy has good foundation in Maths, so he can look through these and with practise, it will become 2nd nature (also known as \"Maths sense\").

For Paper 2,
I feel that it is continous practise to gain exposure to the different types of questions. For many questions, I myself took a long long time when I first try to solve them. I am often \"mentally exhausted\" before I reach the end of the paper so I can \"understand\" what the kids are going through. Try a timed paper yourself, it is a good way to understand what the kids face. For my son, the biggest problem is remaining focused as this is a 100min paper.

Keep up the hard work, you will see improvements in the long run.

[jedamum]

Pixiedust and mummysokiasu for sharing.


Guess I am a bit gan cheong. Will monitor him closely.::