Secondary School Selection 2012

[Bedoktutor]

underthesea:

The stress level is going up everyday but nothing much we parents can do. DD is so busy, doesn't seem to have time to do revision. Can only encourage her to do her homework properly, take it as revision.

Yes, indeed the stress kevel is inching up everyday for these PSLE kids,
and the fact that the stress level dont come to a halt even after the exam papers,
there are still the results' release day and S1 posting day (for borderline cases) to be dealt with.
All the Best.

[Bedoktutor]

julialai:

Ichigokun:

@mummy so kiasu;

True :B Dragon year have much more people sitting for PSLE compared to other years.

Thank god I'm not born in 2000 and sitting for PSLE this year! Much more stress!!

Heard from a reliable source that the teachers are expecting a relatively tough paper in PSLE because of the bigger dragon year cohort. To separate the high-achievers from the crowd, as places in the premier schools are still about the same.

Tough papers will favour those high ability pupils as their t-score achieve will be higher as compared to moderate papers.

[mummy so kiasu]

BeContented:

Paper tough or not, isn't outcome the same? Vacancies remains. Bell curve also same. Child is graded against whole cohort, his position around same whether paper easy or difficult.....cos whole cohort move together. Or my thinking too simplified?

You are right. Vacancies remain, only different is more kids taking PSLE this year lead to more competition.

[BeContented]

Bedoktutor:

julialai:

[quote=\"Ichigokun\"]@mummy so kiasu;

True :B Dragon year have much more people sitting for PSLE compared to other years.

Thank god I'm not born in 2000 and sitting for PSLE this year! Much more stress!!

Heard from a reliable source that the teachers are expecting a relatively tough paper in PSLE because of the bigger dragon year cohort. To separate the high-achievers from the crowd, as places in the premier schools are still about the same.

Tough papers will favour those high ability pupils as their t-score achieve will be higher as compared to moderate papers.[/quote]I have so far never really understand fully the t-score calculation, so in my simplified scenario.....
Easy paper - HA pupils will score and be at the higher end of the bell curve. Their t-score will be on the higher end.
Tough paper - moderation will still occur. HA will still be scoring higher and t-score naturally still on the higher end.

No?? :?

For many many years....while my kids in kindergarten, I have already wondered what's the hoo-ha. Many years later, now that DS is doing his PSLE this year, I am still in same stage :oops:
Still none the smarter or more enlightened. :rotflmao:

I'll see if I'll think differently next year when it's younger DD turn for PSLE

[mummy so kiasu]

underthesea:

The stress level is going up everyday but nothing much we parents can do. DD is so busy, doesn't seem to have time to do revision. Can only encourage her to do her homework properly, take it as revision.

Same here. My son has lot of homework to do & we have to discourage him to read his novel or he will have to go to bed at 12am.

[janet88]

mummy so kiasu:

underthesea:

The stress level is going up everyday but nothing much we parents can do. DD is so busy, doesn't seem to have time to do revision. Can only encourage her to do her homework properly, take it as revision.

Same here. My son has lot of homework to do & we have to discourage to read his novel or he will have to go to bed at 12am.

My son has tons of homework to do...but still can't finish at 1145pm.

[verykiasu2010]

BeContented:

Paper tough or not, isn't outcome the same? Vacancies remains. Bell curve also same. Child is graded against whole cohort, his position around same whether paper easy or difficult.....cos whole cohort move together. Or my thinking too simplified?

tough papers will \"benefit\" the high ability kids more as they can do more questions correctly and hence raw score is higher than peers, while the moderate performer will have lower raw score, and so in statistics, the standard deviation is higher, giving rise to higher t-score for the higher raw score, as the mean is lower plus higher standard deviation

when the paper is easy, both the moderate performers and high ability will have their raw scores bunched closely, as everyone could do similar easy questions; therefore the standard deviation is smaller and the t-score is lowered as the mean is higher than in a difficult paper

mean = t-score of 50, as a base, regardless what is the absolute number of the mean

as an example, if everyone scores 100% in the paper, mean = 100, standard deviation is zero because there is zero deviation from anyone, hence the t-score for that subject is 50.

if everyone score 100% in every of the 4 subjects, then everyone will get a t-score of 200 (4x50) for a perfect result in PSLE for everyone!

but in a cohort of 40plus thousand kids, it is impossible that everyone will score the same in every subject, hence the law of normal distribution sets in. because of this it is meaningless to compare the t-score of last year against the t-score of this year. Each year's t-score is a ranking exercise in itself. last year's 275 for easy paper could be having a much higher raw score than this this year's 275 of tough papers. hence it is observed that in a year of easy paper, the top psle score is lower while in year of tough papers, top score tend toward 28xhigh to 29xsomething

PSLE t-score is for ranking purpose and nothing else

[alng]

mummy so kiasu:

Same here. My son has lot of homework to do & we have to discourage to read his novel or he will have to go to bed at 12am.

janet_lee88:

My son has tons of homework to do...but still can't finish at 1145pm.

You mean your sons start to do homework from afternooon/evening till 11 plus 12 am? Wow, this is serious. I would suggest talking to the teachers. I talked to the teachers at the start of term 3 and they agreed not to assign homework on days where the students have supplementary classes. And they should allow more time (eg 2 days) to complete the homework. So far, I am happy with the homework assignment. Usually, the homework can be completed within 2-3 hours on non-supplementary-classes days.

[BeContented]

verykiasu2010:

BeContented:

Paper tough or not, isn't outcome the same? Vacancies remains. Bell curve also same. Child is graded against whole cohort, his position around same whether paper easy or difficult.....cos whole cohort move together. Or my thinking too simplified?

tough papers will \"benefit\" the high ability kids more as they can do more questions correctly and hence raw score is higher than peers, while the moderate performer will have lower raw score, and so in statistics, the standard deviation is higher, giving rise to higher t-score for the higher raw score, as the mean is lower plus higher standard deviation

when the paper is easy, both the moderate performers and high ability will have their raw scores bunched closely, as everyone could do similar easy questions; therefore the standard deviation is smaller and the t-score is lowered as the mean is higher than in a difficult paper

mean = t-score of 50, as a base, regardless what is the absolute number of the mean

as an example, if everyone scores 100% in the paper, mean = 100, standard deviation is zero because there is zero deviation from anyone, hence the t-score for that subject is 50.

if everyone score 100% in every of the 4 subjects, then everyone will get a t-score of 200 (4x50) for a perfect result in PSLE for everyone!

but in a cohort of 40plus thousand kids, it is impossible that everyone will score the same in every subject, hence the law of normal distribution sets in. because of this it is meaningless to compare the t-score of last year against the t-score of this year. Each year's t-score is a ranking exercise in itself. last year's 275 for easy paper could be having a much higher raw score than this this year's 275 of tough papers. hence it is observed that in a year of easy paper, the top psle score is lower while in year of tough papers, top score tend toward 28xhigh to 29xsomething

PSLE t-score is for ranking purpose and nothing else

Thanks for the clear explanation

Since each year's t-score is a ranking exercise in itself....the impact is really confined to students in that particular year right? Generally, the HA will already be getting better t-scores....so the number just get bigger with tougher paper. Other than the 'boosted t-score', any extra benefit? Will these higher t-score deprive others of any other things? If not, tough or easy paper again should not matter that much cos' the relative position will remain. PSLE t-score is almost useless once these kids enter Secondary school.

The only direct impact to me.....the higher the t-score, the more I can brag....haha :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

[verykiasu2010]

BeContented:

Since each year's t-score is a ranking exercise in itself....the impact is really confined to students in that particular year right? [YES] Generally, the HA will already be getting better t-scores....so the number just get bigger with tougher paper. Other than the 'boosted t-score', any extra benefit? [No, but more pride may be] Will these higher t-score deprive others of any other things? If not, tough or easy paper again should not matter that much cos' the relative position will remain. [YES] PSLE t-score is almost useless once these kids enter Secondary school. [YES, uesless]

The only direct impact to me.....the higher the t-score, the more I can brag....haha :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

you got it !