All About GEP
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ks2me:
The GEP students have a different curriculum and they sit for different papers as the mainstream. Their papers are much harder and higher level.
Pardon me for my ignorance, is 70% very difficult to achieve in primary school now? Is my expectation too high? I thought if it is a GEPPER, their average score should be at least 80%+. And GEPPER English at 65% can still be a GEPPER, I will be concerned.kiasulang:
In order to maintain his/her GEP status, the child has to achieve an average overall score of 70% for his subjects. Individual subject has to be at least 70% for Math, Science and Social Studies, 65% for English and 50% for Chinese.
Some P4 GEP students when they took their first test, got a big shock out of their lives. From 90+ in P3, suddenly,they are getting 60+ and 70+ is considered good. And some even fail the first test. -
My son made it thru the 2 screening tests to start GEP in P4 this year.
To be honest my son is not very hardworking or diligent in his schoolwork.
He tends to be careless in exam too.
He is good with math (perfect score in his SA2 last year) and quite good in English and science but a bit weak in his higher chinese.
He tens to lose marks in open ended type of qustions in exams.
He probably would not have made it if the GEP selection tests are not in MCQ.format.
My wife and i decided to let him try out the GEP since he was already in a GEP+SAP school so there was no need to change school.
GEP is totally different from P3.
There are lots of projects, surveys, writeups etc.
He has 3 projects due in March.
As there are no desigmated textbooks, it’s quite hard to follow his progress in class.
The math worksheets are tough.
For English, it’s mainly reading as many books as possible. They were given a list of over 60 supplentary books to read this year.
For Chinese it’s the same like all his peers but the higher chinese may be tough for students who switched from schools previouly doing normal chinese.
For science it’s more on reserch than studying of facts like what his peers are doing.
Then there are the additonal examinable subjects like social studies.
The GEP students are required to stay back once a week too for computer lessons that include microsoft office,webpage designing, chinese computing etc.
At least he has no problem of fitting into a new school like those students from other schools. -
ngbrdad:
Hi ngdrdad,My son made it thru the 2 screening tests to start GEP in P4 this year.
To be honest my son is not very hardworking or diligent in his schoolwork.
He tends to be careless in exam too.
He is good with math (perfect score in his SA2 last year) and quite good in English and science but a bit weak in his higher chinese.
He tens to lose marks in open ended type of qustions in exams.
He probably would not have made it if the GEP selection tests are not in MCQ.format.
My wife and i decided to let him try out the GEP since he was already in a GEP+SAP school so there was no need to change school.
GEP is totally different from P3.
There are lots of projects, surveys, writeups etc.
He has 3 projects due in March.
As there are no desigmated textbooks, it's quite hard to follow his progress in class.
The math worksheets are tough.
For English, it's mainly reading as many books as possible. They were given a list of over 60 supplentary books to read this year.
For Chinese it's the same like all his peers but the higher chinese may be tough for students who switched from schools previouly doing normal chinese.
For science it's more on reserch than studying of facts like what his peers are doing.
Then there are the additonal examinable subjects like social studies.
The GEP students are required to stay back once a week too for computer lessons that include microsoft office,webpage designing, chinese computing etc.
At least he has no problem of fitting into a new school like those students from other schools.
So are you glad where he is now and what would be your main concern of this course, if any ? Do you have to help him with his project and homework? -
lizawa:
The GEP students have a different curriculum and they sit for different papers as the mainstream. Their papers are much harder and higher level.
Pardon me for my ignorance, is 70% very difficult to achieve in primary school now? Is my expectation too high? I thought if it is a GEPPER, their average score should be at least 80%+. And GEPPER English at 65% can still be a GEPPER, I will be concerned.ks2me:
[quote=\"kiasulang\"]
In order to maintain his/her GEP status, the child has to achieve an average overall score of 70% for his subjects. Individual subject has to be at least 70% for Math, Science and Social Studies, 65% for English and 50% for Chinese.
Some P4 GEP students when they took their first test, got a big shock out of their lives. From 90+ in P3, suddenly,they are getting 60+ and 70+ is considered good. And some even fail the first test.[/quote]Thanks for the explanation, it makes sense now. No wonder they cannot score as high. I hope parents or teachers explain this to them otherwise it will affect their esteem unnecessarily. They should at least know that they are being stretched and not that they have deteriorated. No doubt kids are smarter these days, we still have to remember they are children, with very little real experiences in life yet relative to an average adult. -
Have http://www.hedgehogcomms.blogspot.com/2008/09/gep-testing-and-kiasu-ism-at-its.html being posted before?
I particularly find this line amusing...
In Singapore, I suspect if you're looking for a job, most companies won't care if you were in the GEP, unless it's the civil service. And I have never heard any kid say, \"My dream is to be in the civil service!\" -
jedamum:
That's a very good post. It echoes my feelings. But I thought it would have been more effective if the author's kid herself is not in the GEP class.Have http://www.hedgehogcomms.blogspot.com/2008/09/gep-testing-and-kiasu-ism-at-its.html being posted before?
I particularly find this line amusing...
In Singapore, I suspect if you're looking for a job, most companies won't care if you were in the GEP, unless it's the civil service. And I have never heard any kid say, \"My dream is to be in the civil service!\" -
ChiefKiasu:
I know what you mean but if she does not have a kid in GEP, she runs the risk of being a sour grape. In any case, she does not have expectations of her second going into GEP, so she is 50% outside the fence and 50% inside...so there is still credibility.
That's a very good post. It echoes my feelings. But I thought it would have been more effective if the author's kid herself is not in the GEP class. -
ApronMama:
We had a detail briefing by the teachers in charge of GEP in the school
Hi ngdrdad,ngbrdad:
My son made it thru the 2 screening tests to start GEP in P4 this year.
To be honest my son is not very hardworking or diligent in his schoolwork.
He tends to be careless in exam too.
He is good with math (perfect score in his SA2 last year) and quite good in English and science but a bit weak in his higher chinese.
He tens to lose marks in open ended type of qustions in exams.
He probably would not have made it if the GEP selection tests are not in MCQ.format.
My wife and i decided to let him try out the GEP since he was already in a GEP+SAP school so there was no need to change school.
GEP is totally different from P3.
There are lots of projects, surveys, writeups etc.
He has 3 projects due in March.
As there are no desigmated textbooks, it's quite hard to follow his progress in class.
The math worksheets are tough.
For English, it's mainly reading as many books as possible. They were given a list of over 60 supplentary books to read this year.
For Chinese it's the same like all his peers but the higher chinese may be tough for students who switched from schools previouly doing normal chinese.
For science it's more on reserch than studying of facts like what his peers are doing.
Then there are the additonal examinable subjects like social studies.
The GEP students are required to stay back once a week too for computer lessons that include microsoft office,webpage designing, chinese computing etc.
At least he has no problem of fitting into a new school like those students from other schools.
So are you glad where he is now and what would be your main concern of this course, if any ? Do you have to help him with his project and homework?
They even have counsellor for GEP students who need emotional support.
More or less we know what to expect.
But the workload is quite heavy.
For the projects some parental help are needed definitely.
I have a younger son in P2 now and he is very keen to be in GEP as well but we think he will probably not make it thru the test. He is the type who cannot think outside the box but have very good memory.
The school has a uniques system called twinning whereby the top non GEP students join GEP students in the same class for half a day before recess.
After recess they will break into two GEP classes and 2 twinning classes.
The twinning classes learn quite a fair bit of GEP materials. I think my younger son is probably more suited for this than GEP. -
ngbrdad:
This sounds like an interesting idea, how long do they practise this twinning? 1 term, 2 terms or throughout the year? Are these learning activities included in their final exam or purely fun-based? Thanks for sharing.
The school has a uniques system called twinning whereby the top non GEP students join GEP students in the same class for half a day before recess.
After recess they will break into two GEP classes and 2 twinning classes.
The twinning classes learn quite a fair bit of GEP materials. I think my younger son is probably more suited for this than GEP. -
ks2me:
Think they started the twinning programme for past one or two years.
This sounds like an interesting idea, how long do they practise this twinning? 1 term, 2 terms or throughout the year? Are these learning activities included in their final exam or purely fun-based? Thanks for sharing.ngbrdad:
The school has a uniques system called twinning whereby the top non GEP students join GEP students in the same class for half a day before recess.
After recess they will break into two GEP classes and 2 twinning classes.
The twinning classes learn quite a fair bit of GEP materials. I think my younger son is probably more suited for this than GEP.
It's for the duration of whole P4 to P6.
Top students who did well in the GEP screening but did not make the cut off are selected into twinning .
In the morning the class will do non GEP subjects like Chinese, music PE etc.
After recess, the 4 twinning classes break up to form two GEP and two twinning classes.
The twinning classes will take the same school tests/exams like the rest of theri peers but a lot of their learning materials are the same as GEP.
Just that they don't do as much research/projects, and maybe social studies not as detail as GEP students.
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