Will unabridged (complete) PSLE past years' papers help?
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Funz:
Kids are kidsMychildren:
I remembered I made my own paper dolls and created some story lines to play with them. In additional, I made some snacks in the kitchen for my family during my primary school times in the afternoon when I had nothing much to do.
My kids do that. Draw and cut out the various characters and even with costume change. Even write up a story and issue us tickets to watch their puppet show. Haha.
They have no lack of toys but will revert to these 'simple' way of playing as they find it more engaging and fulfilling. And along the way, my maid will be roped in to play with them as well.Given the space and time, I have seen many of them reverting to 'simple' way of playing (especially when they are younger).
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Nebbermind:
\"One form or another\" ... I like it!We should just go back to the old ways. Textbooks without the fancy glossly graphics/prints, no extra large fonts.
Those days we had qns of various difficulty level...the teachers just select a few for homework and the rest we own time, own target...depending on how hardworking. All u need to know for exams can be found in one form or another.
Today, many parents ask their kids to do many assessment books, other schools' past year papers, enrichment/ tuition worksheet, ... and this is on top of the school's workload.
Is it necessary?
Take Maths for example, once you know the concepts well ... there are a lot of questions that are \"repetitive\"/\"similar\" which are unnecessary. I am not sure how a kid who already knows the concepts well feel when being \"asked\" to do such questions over and over again ... all for the name of \"practice makes perfect\"?
But I know I am the minority in this since even schools believe in dishing many similar questions these days.
Oh, I saw a JC student earlier today holding a very thick binder ... from the front page ... it seems to list ALL the JC names and it's those JCs' past year papers!!! :sad: :yikes:
I thought we only have 'O' and 'A' levels' 10-year series back then? -
notfreemom:
My dd is in p6. she is an average student and in the top class of a neighourhood school. She came back yesterday with her science mork paper, answer key is given but the teacher has no time to go through it. I was :scared when I browsed through her paper. They are tested beyond their level....poor kids nowadays. We, parents, must do something!
My DS told me that his teacher told him 3/4 of his class did badly for English. So really scary to think that even though 2nd best class already scored this kind of results. What about the rest of pupils in the school? Wondering if they set such difficult questions, why they beforehand never prepare the students well? That's why either parents and tuition comes in between this gaps. Sigh.... I'm already getting the stress cause no tuition means I need to come into the picture. My boys will not study hard on their own, all they know is play comes first.
Even for Math, I only knew last night that he had a paper in his bag whereby there were still questions that he don't know. He got mock test only last Thursday think go through on Friday with teacher. If I don't check his bag, thought he already prepared enough for the exam today. Quickly looked through his paper while he was sleeping, jot down the way to solve it on pieces of paper. This morning, woke him up at 5.45am and let him scan through before he leave for school.
OMG, I kind of tire and crazy now! Really scary to know my child still in fact did not grasp what was taught in school. I now understand that I've no time to idle till they know how to fish themselves. Will train them to be self discipline next week. Will risk to let them manage their time and give them the necessary guides for self study and by end of the day will ask their progress.
I don't want to carry these burdens when they are in secondary school. I want to have my own free time too. Need to do something now. That's for me. Just my sharing and thoughts. Your thoughts may differ, no worries. We all come here to learn from one another and also has some ears to listen and share our woe.
I'll write a lot when I'm exhausted. I'm really tired now!!! :gloomy: -
Mychildren:
notfreemom:
My dd is in p6. she is an average student and in the top class of a neighourhood school. She came back yesterday with her science mork paper, answer key is given but the teacher has no time to go through it. I was :scared when I browsed through her paper. They are tested beyond their level....poor kids nowadays. We, parents, must do something!
My DS told me that his teacher told him 3/4 of his class did badly for English. So really scary to think that even though 2nd best class already scored this kind of results. What about the rest of pupils in the school? Wondering if they set such difficult questions, why they beforehand never prepare the students well? That's why either parents and tuition comes in between this gaps. Sigh.... I'm already getting the stress cause no tuition means I need to come into the picture. My boys will not study hard on their own, all they know is play comes first.
Even for Math, I only knew last night that he had a paper in his bag whereby there were still questions that he don't know. He got mock test only last Thursday think go through on Friday with teacher. If I don't check his bag, thought he already prepared enough for the exam today. Quickly looked through his paper while he was sleeping, jot down the way to solve it on pieces of paper. This morning, woke him up at 5.45am and let him scan through before he leave for school.
OMG, I kind of tire and crazy now! Really scary to know my child still in fact did not grasp what was taught in school. I now understand that I've no time to idle till they know how to fish themselves. Will train them to be self discipline next week. Will risk to let them manage their time and give them the necessary guides for self study and by end of the day will ask their progress.
I don't want to carry these burdens when they are in secondary school. I want to have my own free time too. Need to do something now. That's for me. Just my sharing and thoughts. Your thoughts may differ, no worries. We all come here to learn from one another and also has some ears to listen and share our woe.
I'll write a lot when I'm exhausted. I'm really tired now!!! :gloomy:
Don't worry, u r definitely not alone in this war!!! My kids will finish their last paper today! :imcool: For the past 2 weeks, I have been staying up till 11pm to revise with them, complaining to my DH everyday that as if I am the one taking the exam! I even cancel all their enrichment classes yesterday because a lot of HFMD out there and today last paper.
I don't know how stress I will be :imdrowning: when my DS in P6 next year! :yikes:
Nevertheless, we must be persistence and encourage our children whenever we can, giving them the ultimate support ( although we might be feeling very weak inside). After all, we are the only ones who will 'kan cheong' about them, who else will. :grphug:
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Mychildren:
I can really empathize with you. For the last few days, I was sort of a 'zoombe', forcing myself to think of ways to help/revise my dd. The thing I don't understand is that why the school teachers tend to test or release their mock papers quite late (for her school). Some of them are done the same week as the real exam papers! How to revise thoroughly with the kids? :slapshead:
Even for Math, I only knew last night that he had a paper in his bag whereby there were still questions that he don't know. He got mock test only last Thursday think go through on Friday with teacher. If I don't check his bag, thought he already prepared enough for the exam today. Quickly looked through his paper while he was sleeping, jot down the way to solve it on pieces of paper. This morning, woke him up at 5.45am and let him scan through before he leave for school.
OMG, I kind of tire and crazy now! Really scary to know my child still in fact did not grasp what was taught in school. I now understand that I've no time to idle till they know how to fish themselves. Will train them to be self discipline next week. Will risk to let them manage their time and give them the necessary guides for self study and by end of the day will ask their progress.
I don't want to carry these burdens when they are in secondary school. I want to have my own free time too. Need to do something now. That's for me. Just my sharing and thoughts. Your thoughts may differ, no worries. We all come here to learn from one another and also has some ears to listen and share our woe.
I'll write a lot when I'm exhausted. I'm really tired now!!! :gloomy:
Is this poor planning or execution? After looking at these mock papers, need time to digest or find out why wrong? This is really stressful! So MyChildren, I do agreed with you that I , too, am looking for my kid to be in Sec school but then I heard that some sec kids still need tuition. So perhaps need to choose wisely which sec sch. Another headache?
Hi coast, I don't know whether publishing the past PSLE will help the kids. This might lead to more work for the kids and perhaps parents might push them to attend tuition/enrichment centres which concentrate/practise these past year papers. And this might lead to another vicious circle. -
Pris.tang:
:yikes:Mychildren:
My elder DS one day came home and told me that his friend was made to do one whole assessment book a day. I was shocked and wonder its true a not???
Some parents do that lei nothing surprising my DS classmate does 35pages of each subject a day and he told me mummy lucky u never do that to do me if not i sure will go crazy. -
Thanks, tigermom and comfy for all your words.
Maybe I'm sick that's makes me feel bad. I'm OK now with rest & have slow down my pace a bit. Sometimes, I feel like I'm mad woman handling 3 kids, rushing here and there (fetching, marketing, housework, coaching them in studies etc.) :frustrated:
Need to rest in order to go further. Thanks, really all your words comfort me and I getting up standing again.
:thankyou: -
Mychildren:
You are most welcome! :snuggles: It is good to release your frustration and stress, especially here where I am sure there are mommies feeling the same as you. Now that exam is over, have a good rest and build up your strength for the next one.Thanks, tigermom and comfy for all your words.
Maybe I'm sick that's makes me feel bad. I'm OK now with rest & have slow down my pace a bit. Sometimes, I feel like I'm mad woman handling 3 kids, rushing here and there (fetching, marketing, housework, coaching them in studies etc.) :frustrated:
Need to rest in order to go further. Thanks, really all your words comfort me and I getting up standing again.
:thankyou: -
I’ll give my thoughts as a teenager on the situation.
It’s good to have complete PSLE past year examination papers for students, definitely, as it helps to give them an understanding of the format and probability of questions asked. However, the Singapore government is trying to move away from rote learning (memorisation), so there would be more variety of questions that would require logical thinking skills.
Honestly speaking, tuition centres are using the wrong strategy to help children excel in PSLE. Practice is perfect, but only with the right kind. I honestly prefer if tuition centres actually focus on skills that enable students to:
-Understand the context of the question and teach students what to think about first when faced with a question phrased in such a way it’s hard to decipher.
-Thinking skills that encompasses a variety of topics enabling students to achieve better understanding of variety of questions. The MOE format for PSLE Maths is on their website, so they could actually use teach these skills through various means, and apply them in various circumstances, giving them an idea of how it is to be used.
-Answering of scripts - how to phrase responses to ensure maximum marks achieved.
-How to efficiently check the paper.
Schools need to set their papers from the bottom up, batch by batch. They need to evaluate from the very beginning of their education in primary school, and then work their progress from there. It’s not fair to suddenly set a hard paper when the class isn’t prepared. It’s like running a marathon - slow and steady goes the race.
I think the best way to evaluate is to actually analyse the responses of students to each question, and find the problem in three areas:
-Knowledge of topic
-Intepretation of question
-Phrasing of responses
…and other areas if necessary. Then, they should focus on them, and then set the same difficulty for those particular questions. Other questions must have a raised difficulty in that case.
I think 20 exam papers, one per week for each subject, would be good enough for each student. For the remaining time, they must develop their thinking skills - analytical, observation, and try to get practice on how to improve them. For English, Chinese and Science, it’s definitely hand to (causally) read books, especially National Geographic. That’s going to help them all the way until Uni. -
comfy:
Hi comfy, thanks for sharing your view
Hi coast, I don't know whether publishing the past PSLE will help the kids. This might lead to more work for the kids and perhaps parents might push them to attend tuition/enrichment centres which concentrate/practise these past year papers. And this might lead to another vicious circle.
Abridged PSLE past years’ papers are already in the market (e.g.,Popular), so having the complete (EXACT) papers is not going to make much of a difference in terms of additional work. Besides, it’s only 1 paper a year for each subject, compared to the top schools’ exam papers (15 or more schools?).
Except for the kid’s own school past year exams papers, I really do not see much need to practise other top schools’ exam papers if we have access to the EXACT PSLE papers, especially if the % of the “higher ability” questions is only a handful as widely believed.
The schools would have difficulty justifying killer papers (which you can read in this forum, even at P3 level) with a high % of “higher ability” questions, especially if they are not taught adequately in schools.
40% failed
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=22313&start=120
Questions in exams not taught in school
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=22313&start=110
The students who did well in these killer papers are usually those who have tuition, enrichment, coached by parents, access to quality materials… etc and unlikely to be those without such help, even if the child is bright and diligent.
If it’s common that 40% fail or quite a few questions came out in exams but not taught in school, is it a wonder that so many kids are going for tuition, enrichment, spending many hours on top schools' exam papers, worksheets, ...?
I wonder if schools submit their exams results to MOE? If so, how would MOE feel when they see poor exam results, especially P6 CA1, SA1 results (as mentioned by many parents that their schools set VERY DIFFICULT papers)?