All About GEP

[jtoh]

comfy:

jtoh:

[quote=\"25hr mama\"]Hi everyone It is kind of worrying for me after reading all your posts abt tuition. My dd in p4 this year. She did quite ok for the 1st 2 terms(I think), with 90+ for Math, & HMT, SCI, ENG 80+ respectively. Average for all subjects came up to 85%. This term, there isn't any test for SCI, for HMT 85, ENG 70 and Math 74 (all marks here have not included daily work or filing). Pls advise, at what stage or score then we parents should consider tuition. Currently my dd not attending any tuition, hope some parents here could share your experiences to help me with my decision. I wouldn't want to load her with tuitions unless itz really necessary (want her to hv rest n play time too), but also do not want to be over optimistic b4 itz too late. All inputs are most appreciated, thank you.

I would say that in P4, you should be able to score >80% for overall average easily. In P5, grades will drop as the work gets more difficult and the student has to juggle more projects plus competitions, IRS etc. Compare your dd's score against her cohort. If she's below the mean, you might want to consider getting help for her to bring her up to speed before the subjects get more difficult.

Just want to share that not so easy to obtain > 80% for overall average, my dd for example & I have a few friends same situation too. So if your kid is like my dd, take heart and seek help if you are concern about it. Me, has started looking for tutor/enrichment centre etc.[/quote]Hhhmmm.... >80% in P4 is not that difficult. If you do score <80% in P4 it's wise to get help because P5 is going to get a lot more difficult. Sometimes the kids don't do well not because the work is too difficult but because they're not used to the new pedagogy and they're adjusting to the new school.

[jtoh]

comfy:

jtoh:

[quote=\"comfy\"][

Hi JenniferHJ, since you mentioned your time (06-08) and just like to share with you and my dd did quite well for a math paper in your time but not in the current time. Standard of GEP math has increased quite alot but not dd's gift in math. Sigh... this is fact and I have not consider when putting her in GEP. If she was born 5 or 6 six years ago, then perhaps I might not need to send her for tuition. What to do, now have to play catch up or let her get borderline grade. Common test and exam grades are still very impt in GEP like in mainstream no matter what they said about totally enrichment, projects work etc are relevant. Sometimes I wonder it might be better for the GEP centre just select those top positions in schools for GEP prog. since they value and emphasise so much on grades and don't really teach the kids in my dd's case (assuming they are smart enough). Ps. this is how I feel but not saying all GEP teachers are like that.

comfy, how old is your dd now? I don't think the standard of GEP math has gone up. It's just that some kids are more gifted in math, others in english/science. So you'll find some GEP kids struggling in Math, while others score 100% for every GEP exam. GEP Math has to be set at a higher standard to cater to those who are gifted at it. So it's not surprising to find students who used to score 90-100 in P1-3 suddenly scoring only 80+ in GEP.

Hi Jtoh, my dd is 10 years old. Why I said that is because I let her try a 2006 papers and a 2011 papers, she said that the 2006 is kind of easy to her. She did well for 2006 but don't well for 2011 papers. Looking at the both papers, some topics has been brought forward from P5 to P4. Hence more challenging as they have more topics to study and practise. Sometimes the brain (in my dd's case) is not develop fast enough or not really to understand such topics ( else why the needs to have certain topics studying in different level in school ). That why I said that dd is born with '2006 math' brain of understanding. I think it is the same of other subjects too but EL and Math keeps on rising. I just heard from a math expert from a Math specialised enrichment centre and he himself said so too. So level of GEP math will continue to be tougher as the years go by, this is reality.[/quote]I suppose if the standard of Math in mainstream is going up, GEP Math has to go up as well, otherwise how do you challenge those who are gifted in Math?

[smurfette3]

vlim:

Hi firefly38,

My p6 ds didnt have tuitions except for chinese. My p3 dd is with TLL taking English since beginning of this yr. Yet to see great improvement from her exam results as all the while her English results is slightly above average. But she loves attending TLL English lessons and loves the teacher. But in long run it should be beneficiary to her looking at the things they were taught

Hi vlim,

So did you coach her for her math? I do not know what to do for ds. He is also getting demoralized by his math marks and he says he is near the bottom of the class.

[comfy]

jtoh:

I suppose if the standard of Math in mainstream is going up, GEP Math has to go up as well, otherwise how do you challenge those who are gifted in Math?

True but I think the teacher ought to discern who is more gifted and teach according just like in mainstream-- subject banding. Else the not so gifted will be left behind and need to seek tuition which I think some parents don't think that should be the way.

[jtoh]

comfy:

jtoh:

I suppose if the standard of Math in mainstream is going up, GEP Math has to go up as well, otherwise how do you challenge those who are gifted in Math?

True but I think the teacher ought to discern who is more gifted and teach according just like in mainstream-- subject banding. Else the not so gifted will be left behind and need to seek tuition which I think some parents don't think that should be the way.

I agree. In my dd's time, the school would conduct a test before teaching a topic to see the level of understanding among the different students. The students would then be grouped according to ability and taught accordingly. It could be the dedication of the teacher, bec she was very against tuition and made sure her students got help when they needed it. There were remedial lessons for the weaker students. Doesn't your school offer remedial?

[jtoh]

Hi comfy, do you really need a math tutor who’s experienced in GEP math? Can’t a regular math tutor who teaches lower secondary and is familiar with primary school syllabus do the job as well? I’m just thinking that a good math tutor should be able to look at your child’s worksheets and work out a programme for her. Good luck in finding a tutor for your dd.

[PiggyLalala]

Yes, there should be remedial lessons for students who are weaker in the subject, be it english, maths, science or chinese. However, like in the main stream, there are good and not so dedicated teachers in GE too. If the teacher does not really teach or if your child cannot understand from the teacher’s teaching, then you may need to seek help elsewhere.

[PiggyLalala]

jtoh:

Hi comfy, do you really need a math tutor who's experienced in GEP math? Can't a regular math tutor who teaches lower secondary and is familiar with primary school syllabus do the job as well? I'm just thinking that a good math tutor should be able to look at your child's worksheets and work out a programme for her. Good luck in finding a tutor for your dd.

I agree with jtoh too. I feel that a good dedicated math tutor who teaches lower sec and is familiar with primary school syllabus can do the job too.

Maybe you can introduce algebra to your child. I have this feeling ( though I may be wrong) that most GE pupils eventually used algebra to solve the word problems (especially when they reach in P6.)

[comfy]

jtoh:

comfy:

[quote=\"jtoh\"]I suppose if the standard of Math in mainstream is going up, GEP Math has to go up as well, otherwise how do you challenge those who are gifted in Math?

True but I think the teacher ought to discern who is more gifted and teach according just like in mainstream-- subject banding. Else the not so gifted will be left behind and need to seek tuition which I think some parents don't think that should be the way.

I agree. In my dd's time, the school would conduct a test before teaching a topic to see the level of understanding among the different students. The students would then be grouped according to ability and taught accordingly. It could be the dedication of the teacher, bec she was very against tuition and made sure her students got help when they needed it. There were remedial lessons for the weaker students. Doesn't your school offer remedial?[/quote]Your dd is so fortunate as this is first time I heard of such thing. How I wish my dd's school has such testing and every GEP teacher is like that. Just my luck or her less of luck to get into such school and a teacher who said that it is up to me (as parent) to decide whether to engage tuition for my dd. Yes there is remedial lesson but not of much use as it didn't help much and it the same for quite a no. of students who attend the same remedial lessons (not much improvement in the results). This teacher should do some 'serious thinking' :stupid: but I have yet to see that. Just keep feeding back the same remark/comment like previous term. If she is a dedicated teacher she should realise something is wrong and do something. Seriously hope that next year my dd will get your dd's kind of teacher, someone really against tuition and can think of ways to help the kids.

[jtoh]

comfy:

[

Your dd is so fortunate as this is first time I heard of such thing. How I wish my dd's school has such testing and every GEP teacher is like that. Just my luck or her less of luck to get into such school and a teacher who said that it is up to me (as parent) to decide whether to engage tuition for my dd. Yes there is remedial lesson but not of much use as it didn't help much and it the same for quite a no. of students who attend the same remedial lessons (not much improvement in the results). This teacher should do some 'serious thinking' :stupid: but I have yet to see that. Just keep feeding back the same remark/comment like previous term. If she is a dedicated teacher she should realise something is wrong and do something. Seriously hope that next year my dd will get your dd's kind of teacher, someone really against tuition and can think of ways to help the kids.

Sorry to hear that your dd's teacher isn't very good. I thought this was common practice among all GEP teachers. I guess my dd was lucky to have had mostly dedicated GEP teachers.