GEP 2012 - Screening & Selection
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FQW:
That makes you non-kiasu too. But most of us know that already.[/quote]I want my kids to be happy and successful as much as the next parent, I just don't think GEP is necessarily the only way (or even an important way) to that goal.
No.3Boys:
[quote=\"FQW\"]
Hypothetically speaking, if your ds didn't get in and you realised that your friend's ds - though not as gifted as your ds - got in and he went for prep class, will you be sore about it?
As an experience, I'm sure GEP is worthwhile, for those who are GENUINELY equipped to deal with it. So, whilst I have NO expectations whatsoever, in the off chance my boy is selected, we will likely apply.
There is an upside and downside risk to GEP selection prep. To me, the downside risk of being a 'false positive', far outweighs the benefit of avoiding inadvertently being a 'false negative'.
So no GEP prep, and I am at peace with myself. Its just me, YMMV. -
DoDo Bird:
It's from word of mouths, my friends' kids, my nieces/nephews who had been through and basically GA is more or less IQ. I do not have specific material, just that I love IQ games and I played a lot of them, so I selected some basic ones to go through with her.jershejos:
My DD is 2nd kid of mine and she's intellectually and academic better than my DS1, hence I had always wanna put her to the limit. However, through the years, I'd realised that she is not interested in scaling the limit beyond the curriculum, so I let her be. When she was selected for 2nd round, I msg my DH \"surprise, surprise\". I intend to do little preparation on the GA before the test so as to let her has some idea what it will be, but she was vomitting the day before test. Was already thinking for not letting her going but she pull herself up the night to ask me to go through the GA with her, that I know she is interested and not willing to give up her chance. DH was a little unhappy of me letting her continue with the test but I know if I do not let her taking the test, she may be sad and I may regret. Luckily she went throught 2 days and it's done!
What I wanna say is, there are some kiasuism and some none-kiasuism in various situation but parents should understand the kid's ability and interest and practice the kiasuism at their best interest!
There's no right or wrong in many case, we are human after all.
Where do you get the GA materials ? How do you DD feel about the 2 day test ?
She's glad that I went through stuff like \"ABCD\" is to \"BCDE\", hence \"CDEF\" is to \"DEFG\" kinda question and it did came out. Too bad that GA2 is all about shapes and patterns that I did not go through with her, but this is really IQ kinda Q that you can see it you can, you can't you can't.
My idea is just to let her see what kind of questions she may face and not to teach her hence I only do it the day before.
She is all along better in EL and hence she finds the EL paper easier than the MA paper, and GA papers are easier as compared. -
Ragamuffin shinobi:
Why do you say that tuition centres focus only on the child remembering the steps and not guiding them? Are ALL tuition centres like that or are you over generalising?
Not that I can resist, child did not do well in academic, however, have always believed that one should not depend on tuition to do well. When do we need to stop child from having tuition? Importantly is to cultivate the thinking process and learning, they need to enjoy their childhood. What happens when you drill a child? Will child be able to response well when she come across a problem that she has never encountered? Will she know what to do? If the tuition centre focus on child to remember the steps instead of guiding her or reasoning wih her why the steps need to be done, I do not see any advantage except in term of academic grades.baobei:
[quote=\"monmon31\"]
U r v strong to resist the urge to send your kid for any lessons. All of us would hv succumbed to 'peer' pressure to a certain extent w our kiasu streak... Tats why we join the kiasuparents forum...haha
I don't think we should depend on tuition or deprive our children of their childhood but sometimes, we are not the best in coaching our kids. I couldn't help my kid in science so I sent her for class. She learnt the logic behind the lesson a lot easier and faster than I could read/understand and explain to her.
Just my two cents worth here.[/quote]I would believe that the science teacher in school would have done the basic work. If gifted, the child would be able to perform higher order thinking and ask the school teacher. Anyway, just my believe that tuition should be for children who are struggling to pass and not for children who are to be tested if they are gifted.
For example, at the same age, my bro and myself, given the same question, bro who is smarter is able to answer the question without coaching. I need to be coached to do it. The next time, when the same question is asked, I would be able to do it. To me, he is a smarter child. -
jershejos:
You should be happy that she is so keen to want to take the tests. There may be some kids who may not be interested but 'pressured' by their parents to take it because of 'face' issue.My DD is 2nd kid of mine and she's intellectually and academic better than my DS1, hence I had always wanna put her to the limit. However, through the years, I'd realised that she is not interested in scaling the limit beyond the curriculum, so I let her be. When she was selected for 2nd round, I msg my DH \"surprise, surprise\". I intend to do little preparation on the GA before the test so as to let her has some idea what it will be, but she was vomitting the day before test. Was already thinking for not letting her going but she pull herself up the night to ask me to go through the GA with her, that I know she is interested and not willing to give up her chance. DH was a little unhappy of me letting her continue with the test but I know if I do not let her taking the test, she may be sad and I may regret. Luckily she went throught 2 days and it's done!
What I wanna say is, there are some kiasuism and some none-kiasuism in various situation but parents should understand the kid's ability and interest and practice the kiasuism at their best interest!
There's no right or wrong in many case, we are human after all.
I agree with you on the practise of kaisuism and non kiasuism. We cannot deny we dont exhibit any traits..just the degree.. -
FQW:
Struggled as he has to hard work and sometimes work smart as work can really pile up, esp in P5 and P6. P4 is quite a honeymoon yr, though I personally find the Social Studies the toughest (but just need to pass. haha) He is just not mature in his line of thoughts for the commentaries, but maybe also weaker in Eng compared with math. I tried to be in the loop when he was in P4 and even took an interest in his work, esp the sc project on the solar cooker. We \"helped\" in getting the oil tin and cutting it for him and did a trial at home - not successful!
Yours is the first post I read that said your ds struggled with GEP despite the fact you didn't prep him in advance.
Very often we read things like: \"If you prep your child, he'll struggle in GEP ... and so on and so forth.\" Well, I've friends who didn't prep their kids for GEP, and their kids are struggling too.
All these made me wonder, are those prep classes as bad as they are made up to be? Is the GEP standard stretched beyond that of the average GEP candidate. Interesting food-for-thought.
When he failed his 1st math test, there was no material or practice paper to try and i had to set my own paper for him based on his mistakes. He failed due to careless mistakes and lack of practice for speed and accuracy.
When he was in P5 and P6, total hands off from us his parents - he understood and agreed that he wanted to be more independent. He struggled with his IRS project (in P5) but reluctant to let us know but came to me when he was really late for the project. He had to collect data from P4-P6 but he was intimidated by the P6 boys, who seem scary and not helpful. I spoke with his tr mentor and we were prepared for him to fail the IRS but tr said should at least hand in by completing it. In my confinement, I went with him to sch at 6.30am (for 2 days) to interview a few classes b4 assembly and we thanked those who consented with some gummies and M&Ms. He learnt to do the same for the next 2 days on his own and completed the collection of data. He realized it was not that difficult after all.
His results are not outstanding- usually in the range of 70-80. That is why we did not bother with DSA via academics, as we wanted him to enter a sec sch based on his psle results.
He struggled but I believe he enjoyed doing the math and math projects, love doing the 'extra reading material' for sc topics, enjoyed the friendship that he has made these 3 yrs, going to various birthday parties, staying back in sch to kick soccer. Just that I personally find him more argumentative - not sure if he was trained to do that in GEP - to bring his point across more strongly or just part of growing up.
Had he remained in the mainstream, I believe he would enjoy his P4-P6 as life would be a lot easier but he won't be stretched as much and maybe not as humble. -
Hi pecalis… Thanks for yr sharing. May i ask is yr ds is p6 or sec 1 this year?
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My ds is going thru the same phase as pecalis’. He is quite laid back, we have to keep reminding him abt deadlines…sigh. My ds is also more argumentative, when I nagged him to prepare for his sa2, he said PM Lee said don’t be so kancheong. Just have to wait till he gets his results, then I will start my nagging again
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PiggyLalala:
Hi pecalis... Thanks for yr sharing. May i ask is yr ds is p6 or sec 1 this year?
Hi, PiggyLalala, he's P6 this yr. -
pecalis:
Your story is similar to what I heard from friends. They didn't prep their kids, kids got into GEP by own merits, yet they struggle to cope with the workload [almost endless project after project + exams].
Struggled as he has to hard work and sometimes work smart as work can really pile up, esp in P5 and P6. P4 is quite a honeymoon yr, though I personally find the Social Studies the toughest (but just need to pass. haha) He is just not mature in his line of thoughts for the commentaries, but maybe also weaker in Eng compared with math. I tried to be in the loop when he was in P4 and even took an interest in his work, esp the sc project on the solar cooker. We \"helped\" in getting the oil tin and cutting it for him and did a trial at home - not successful!
When he failed his 1st math test, there was no material or practice paper to try and i had to set my own paper for him based on his mistakes. He failed due to careless mistakes and lack of practice for speed and accuracy.
When he was in P5 and P6, total hands off from us his parents - he understood and agreed that he wanted to be more independent. He struggled with his IRS project (in P5) but reluctant to let us know but came to me when he was really late for the project. He had to collect data from P4-P6 but he was intimidated by the P6 boys, who seem scary and not helpful. I spoke with his tr mentor and we were prepared for him to fail the IRS but tr said should at least hand in by completing it. In my confinement, I went with him to sch at 6.30am (for 2 days) to interview a few classes b4 assembly and we thanked those who consented with some gummies and M&Ms. He learnt to do the same for the next 2 days on his own and completed the collection of data. He realized it was not that difficult after all.
I simply wish to verify if this comment is accurate - \"if you prep your kids, they will struggle\" which seems to apply the opposite is true as well. A bit like the bogeyman.
That somewhat contradicted what pple told me in private [and now by you as well].
Anyway I personally doubt the effectiveness of GEP prep classes - perhaps only useful as a placebo effect. -
Your story is similar to what I heard from friends. They didn't prep their kids, kids got into GEP by own merits, yet they struggle to cope with the workload [almost endless project after project + exams].
I simply wish to verify if this comment is accurate - \"if you prep your kids, they will struggle\" which seems to apply the opposite is true as well. A bit like the bogeyman. That somewhat contradicted what pple told me in private [and now by you as well].
I agreed, Kids that didn't go thru Prep Class may struggle to cope as they didn't go thru any trainning or exposure likes those kids in the GEP prep. There will be a gap between these 2 groups of kids. This is what I am worried if my DD pass and selected as she didn't have any Prep / trainning. It will be a hard time at start. But I believe they will catch up very fast and in track . Frankly till now ,I m still not sure which is the right choice if DD selected. Stay in mainstream where she will has easier life & childhood OR in GEP where she needs to handle tons of works and stress at this age. :slapshead:
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