Secondary 2 Streaming

[Zeal mummy]

Dino\" post_id=\"2008804\" time=\"1608597603\" user_id=\"6726:

Wow. Anyway i was just hoping to hear some experiences from some of the gurus here...... cos i also don't know what's the interests...... haha times have changed 1080 deg from the time i took my o levels.... sounds like i damn old..... haha

Yeah times have changed.

My advice as a fellow parent...
If my child is taking the IP, I will let him take the subject that he enjoy more. Try letting him pick which textbook he chooses to read first? Lit? History or geog?
If O levels, I will encourage him to take the one that he scored the highest in his final exam. Maximise his chance to get a good score.

[MerlionInGermany]

Dino\" post_id=\"2009017\" time=\"1608620566\" user_id=\"6726:

if take double humanities, one of the subjects has to be a pure subject and the other an elective?

If in the o level stream, and take 2 humanities subjects, the first has to be an elective (this one first), and the 2nd is a full humanities subject.

Not every school gives the (easy) option of taking 2 humanities subject though. My neighbour in Kuo Chuan took 7 subjects — phy, chem, elective history. Their 8-subject combi is trip sc with combined humanities, or double sc with full Lit, and full Lit has a prerequisite which according to the girl, not many people will qualify so effectively there will be very few, if any, taking 2 humanities subjects. But then I dont know if that has changed, the neighbour has graduated.

[sharonkhoo]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2009040\" time=\"1608622663\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2009040 time=1608622663 user_id=53606]
Another burning question that I have: why does subject combi matter for IP students?? Don't they skip O levels anyway??[/quote]

Yes, they skip the O levels, but there are a few reasons for needing to choose subjects carefully:
- to avoid doing a subject that they may hate, or do badly at;
- to obtimise their grades at the end of Y4, which may affect what combinations they can take in Y5;
- some subjects have to be taken in Y3-4 if the student wants to take them in Y5 (sciences & Maths mainly)

[phtthp]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2009106\" time=\"1608634795\" user_id=\"28674:

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2009040\" time=\"1608622663\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2009040 time=1608622663 user_id=53606]Another burning question that I have: why does subject combi matter for IP students?? Don't they skip O levels anyway??

Yes, they skip the O levels, but there are a few reasons for needing to choose subjects carefully:

- to avoid doing a subject that they may hate, or do badly at;

- to obtimise their grades at the end of Y4, which may affect what combinations they can take in Y5;

- some subjects have to be taken in Y3-4 if the student wants to take them in Y5 (sciences & Maths mainly)[/quote]

Hi,


1)

For IP4 students coming from (RGS / RI),

if pupils have gotten a ( C5 or C6 ) grade in their IP4 Pure Physics subject overall at the Promotional year-end IP4 assessment,

can students
still proceed to take H2 Physics in Year 5 (RI JC1),

or

only allowed to take H1 Physics ?



2)


By the way,
Is there any bridging Bio course inside RI (Year 5),

for IP students who have never done (IP3 nor IP4) Bio before in RGS / RI, yet

contemplate to switch over to Bio, instead of continue with Physics ?


3)

Do IP4 students from (RI and RGS),

take the same common, identical exam papers,

for IP4 year-end exam in these 5 subjects (English, Integrated Maths, Integrated Pure Physics, Pure Bio, Pure Chem),

so that

there is a common ground yardstick of measurement,

to allocate them into different, various IP5 or Year 5 subject combination, when they moved up to RI JC1, before the JAE students come on board to join them after release of their O-level results ?

[sky minecrafter]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2009106\" time=\"1608634795\" user_id=\"28674:

...- some subjects have to be taken in Y3-4 if the student wants to take them in Y5 (sciences & Maths mainly)...

Yes, same criteria for both my kids', for instance to offer BI in Y5.

[zac's mum]

Another question…is it common for primary schools to introduce beginner Literature during English lessons? Eg. in DS school booklist, they had:


P3 - The House on Palmer Road (mostly read for fun, but also invited the local author to speak during school assembly)

P4 - Stone Fox (introduction to detailed character analysis…but I’m not sure if this is only for Comprehension techniques purposes)…I observed the lesson during HBL and found it very insightful how the teacher facilitated the discussions about the various themes in the book…and came away quite impressed that the boys showed a very mature understanding of the book

P5 - The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (a very interesting book that has deeper and more nuanced themes…I don’t know yet how they will use this text)

Does any of this help build a foundation for Sec 1 Literature? Are they expected to write essay-type answers in Sec 1? Can’t remember from my own days cos the teacher’s style turned me off from the subject.

[MerlionInGermany]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2009115\" time=\"1608636583\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2009115 time=1608636583 user_id=53606]
Are they expected to write essay-type answers in Sec 1?[/quote]

Yes.

[sharonkhoo]

MerlionInGermany\" post_id=\"2009117\" time=\"1608636933\" user_id=\"2964:

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2009115\" time=\"1608636583\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2009115 time=1608636583 user_id=53606] Are they expected to write essay-type answers in Sec 1?

Yes.[/quote]

My kids weren't in Sec 1 in Singapore, and it would have been years ago anyway, but this is my guess.

There are essays and there are essays. In the US-style curriculum, kids start writing essays in grade 5. But those are basic 5-paragraph essays - intro, 3 main points (using something like PEEL, but I can't remember what acronym was used now), conclusion. Not long, not complex. This basic structure is used as they go up the grades, but will get more complex in terms of sentence structure, arguments, elaboration, etc. Also, the curriculum didn't divide English and Lit into 2 separate subjects - they combined them and called it Language Arts. Grammar and vocab was taught using parts of the reading texts as examples.

I presume that Pr schools that introduce Lit are following that style of teaching. In Sec 1, they will probably have to write something like a 5-para essay, not the long ones that students write in JC.

[sharonkhoo]

phtthp\" post_id=\"2009110\" time=\"1608635768\" user_id=\"35251:

Hi,
1) For IP4 students coming from (RGS / RI),
if pupils have gotten a ( C5 or C6 ) grade in their IP4 Pure Physics subject overall at the Promotional year-end IP4 assessment,
can students
still proceed to take H2 Physics in Year 5 (RI JC1),
or
only allowed to take H1 Physics ?

2) By the way,
Is there any bridging Bio course inside RI (Year 5),
for IP students who have never done (IP3 nor IP4) Bio before in RGS / RI, yet
contemplate to switch over to Bio, instead of continue with Physics ?

3) Do IP4 students from (RI and RGS),
take the same common, identical exam papers,
for IP4 year-end exam in these 5 subjects (English, Integrated Maths, Integrated Pure Physics, Pure Bio, Pure Chem),
so that
there is a common ground yardstick of measurement,
to allocate them into different, various IP5 or Year 5 subject combination, when they moved up to RI JC1, before the JAE students come on board to join them after release of their O-level results ?

My info is dated - you may want to post this on the RI/RGS threads if you want confirmation. And 1 & 2 didn't apply to my daughter, so I can't remember.
1) I believe there is a minimum grade to be allowed to take Physics at H2 level in JC.

2) As far as I know, there was no bridging course. I also can't remember if it was allowed to take Bio if the student hadn't taken it in Yr 3-4.

3) Y4 students in both schools took the same papers for some subjects. I believe they were Eng, Maths and Chem. Again, I can't remember for sure.

[sharonkhoo]

zac's mum\" post_id=\"2009115\" time=\"1608636583\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2009115 time=1608636583 user_id=53606]
Does any of this help build a foundation for Sec 1 Literature? Are they expected to write essay-type answers in Sec 1? Can't remember from my own days cos the teacher's style turned me off from the subject.[/quote]

Forgot to address this question. Yes, it does help. I don't know when \"your days\" were (probably long after mine), but I know that in Pr school we only did \"reading\", which was more comprehension than anything else, and even in lower sec, we weren't taught anything very useful. Lit was more just remembering the story. We plunged into themes, characters etc. suddenly in Sec 3, and most people just memorised model answers and couldn't wait to drop Lit (I was in a Science class). In my day, my class had to do 2 arts subjects for O levels as there was no triple science and subject combinations were fixed for each class. So we all did Geog and Lit, which I greatly enjoyed, but I was in a small minority in my class.