Secondary 2 Streaming

[reddiechan]

Actually it isn’t true that only Math and Sciences matter. Your strength in the languages will put you in good stead for lots of career choices. Government service, for one - you’d get a headstart once you hold an Honours degree in anything (from reputable institutions, of course). When you’re good with languages, I assume you’d be able to talk well and present yourself well - clear articulation and eloquence is something that’ll make you stand out too.


If you don’t like Science, then take the one SC1 course and excel in it - I heard from a teacher double Math is compulsory for everyone in Cat High, so no escape from there. Like what your principal said during the briefing - enjoy the entertainment on the luxury cruise ship along the way!

[rains]

If you are a language person, go ahead and do Arts - Lit, Geog and History are considered Arts too.


Don’t go the way everyone is going just becos everyone is going there. If you don’t like something, chances are you won’t do very well in it.

I did badly in Maths and Science throughout my school life, sometimes scraping through them and at other times, failing them. I followed my peers and seniors in enrolling for a finance and banking course and failed two Maths modules in the first year. I decided to withdraw from the course rather than repeat the year. I thought I was done for in life but fortunately my language subjects helped me in gaining employment and furthering my studies.

Do what you like and you are more likely to do well in it.

[sharonkhoo]

Ichigokun:

...So it seems like I'm more of an \"Art\" student - but I don't like Arts such as Music or Art, and well, everyone is talking about choosing Double Science or Triple Science, as if Art is non-existent, basically because most people think there are very limited choices for Art students (which is true)


I kind of think Singapore's education system is flawed because if you are good in languages, you can't do anything with that. If you are good in Maths and Science, who cares if you do badly for languages, as long as you pass English.

I'm really clueless on what to pick now because of that. And it seems like almost everyone around me is going to Science while I'm going to Art.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

Best Regards,
Ichigokun

I'm not sure if you mean 'Arts' or 'Art'? With the 's', that generally refers to humanities subjects, which in school essentially are Lit, Geog and Hist. Without the 's' would refer to the fine arts like music, art (drawing, painting, sculpture etc), dance, theatre etc.

I'm going on the assumption that you mean 'Arts' with the 's'. I chose to study humanities at 'A' level as I realised that Maths and Science were really not my thing, and I have not regretted it. I was told to my face by an uncle that 'only stupid people do arts' and my choice was generally regarded as not wise (this was in the earliest days when the humanities programme hadn't become much known) and my maths/science results were pretty good up to that point. Over the years, I have learned that what you learn is not as important as how well you learn how to learn, and you do that better when you enjoy what you are learning. It is certainly not true that you can't do anything with humanities, and the scope will broaden as you grow, with options such as law, political science, sociology, anthropology and lots of other '-ologies' besides the conventional lit/hist/geog. At the same time, some basic amount of Maths (especially statistics) is important for any course of study, and some science is also good training for the mind and is compulsory in sec school anyway, but you can do the minimum and fill your other options with what you are interested in. It can be difficult to go against the flow, but ask yourself if you want to spend the next 2 or 4 years struggling with subjects you are poor in when you could be really learning a lot in subjects you enjoy. Just my thoughts.

[zbear]

My DS will be doing his Sec 2 streaming. DS is strong in languages but with the help of tuition n self study, he has improved in his Maths/Science. His FT said that he shldnt have a problem choosing a combination of Triple Science or Double Science/Double Humanities.


It has always been the '‘in thing’ to do Triple Science as that combi is deemed to be for the Smarter Ones.

I have been advised not to pressure or make the selection for my son. Instead, he shld go for the subjects that he like n will do well. So I will encourage him to choose what he is happy in n not succumb to peer or parental pressure.

Also, if I am not wrong, I think L1R5 requires at least 1 Science n 1 Humanities?

[koguma]

Just to share my niece’s experience. She is in JC 1 now this year.


Same as you, she is extremely "cluessless" to Maths. No matter how much tution she went, she still struggle with E Maths. However she is good in Both Languages (Eng and HCL) and Humanities subjects.

When I helped her to choose the subjects, I discouraged her to do Physics. However I still encourage her to do Pure Chem and Pure Bio as there are less Maths components compare to Physics. Furthermore at that time, she wanted to do medicine courses in University, as a result of watching too many CSI programmes !

Throughout Sec 3 and Sec 4, beside struggling with E MAths, she also struggle with the 2 pure sciences. Eventually the school asked her to drop Pure Bio as she did badly in her Preliminary Examination.

For her O, she scored As for 2 languages and 2 Humanities (SS+Hist, Pure Lit). For Pure Chem she gets a B3 (BIG Surprise to everyone considering she did not do well in Prelim). In JC, she is now doing H2 Lit, H2 Econ, H2 Hist and H1 Maths. She still struggle with her Maths !

So my advise is if you really good in Humanities, choose 2 Humanities subjects. Do not follow the crowd and do 3 Pure Sciences. Recommend that you do Pure Chem (more useful out of the 3 Science) and perhaps one more Pure Sci if you are not sure what you want to do in University.

Hence 2 Lang, 2 Sci, 2 Humanities, 2 Maths combination.

Do consider what you want to study in JC when you choose the subjects for your sec 3.

[Ichigokun]

Hey Everyone


It's actually quite difficult for me - considering I have trouble even passing Science and unable to get into Double Science - especially since the Science paper this EOY is incredibly difficult.

I kind of saw the Chinese Literature O Level paper for last year. The standard is way too high and off course for me - having to write thousands upon thousands of Chinese characters in 1 hr 30 mins is practically impossible and the SEAB hasn't really simplified it since although many CL teachers have brought up the problem to MOE.

This cancels out another choice for me.

@zbear; L1R5 requires 2 Humanities and 2 Sciences

My school does not have Chem/Bio Combined Science, only Chem/Phy - which org subjects are the ones I hate the most. And A Math is compulsory as well.

@simkhoo; Yes I'm referring to Lit, History and Geography

@reddiechan; Everyone keeps talking about how Combined Science = Bound to Poly though, and the Combined Science (SC1) is Chem/Phy - a combination which I don't like at all and enjoying the \"luxury cruise\" is an exaggeration to me; Primary school to Secondary School is a huge change and I still can't adapt to it after 2 years. The Singapore education system doesn't really allow space for a gradual change. Once you hit Primary 5 - it's chaos all the way until the day when you retire.

As for Pure Humanities, I'm taking English Literature, and for Elective I'm deciding upon History or Geography. There are tons of essays to memorise for history and we have to write a lot. However, there are lots of fieldwork and projects for Geography.

As for the others I have no choice whatsoever

[koguma]

IMHO, Pure Sciences are important only if you want to study H2 Sciences in JC. If you are going JC to do Arts stream or going Poly, you don’t need to do Pure Sciences. Even in poly engineering courses, i feel that combined science is sufficient, but A Maths is a MUST if you want to do engineering in Poly.


Perhaps you can do
2 Lang,
Pure Lit,
SS+Hist (Hist will help you with your GP in JC),
E Maths
A Maths (Sec 4 syllabus is easier than Sec 3, so don’t get disappointed if you do badly in Sec 3)
Combined Science or Pure Chemistry if you want to take up the challenge

For L1R5, you can use
L1 & R1
– Higher Mother Tongue (if L1 is English Language)
– English Language (if L1 is Higher Mother Tongue)
– Mother Tongue (cannot be counted if R1 is Higher Mother Tongue)

For the remaining R4, you can use
– 2 Humanities,
– 1 Maths + 1 Science OR 2 Maths

You can double confirm with your teacher whether you can exclude Science for your L1R5.

[koguma]

Btw, if you do combined Science (Phy/Chem) and you get A1 for O level, some JCs will allow you to do H2 Physics or H2 Chemistry. Hence it is not right to say that combined Science cannot get you into JC.


Only problem is you have lots to catch up as compared to those who study Pure Sciences for their O.

[Ichigokun]

koguma:

IMHO, Pure Sciences are important only if you want to study H2 Sciences in JC. If you are going JC to do Arts stream or going Poly, you don't need to do Pure Sciences. Even in poly engineering courses, i feel that combined science is sufficient, but A Maths is a MUST if you want to do engineering in Poly.


Perhaps you can do
2 Lang,
Pure Lit,
SS+Hist (Hist will help you with your GP in JC),
E Maths
A Maths (Sec 4 syllabus is easier than Sec 3, so don't get disappointed if you do badly in Sec 3)
Combined Science or Pure Chemistry if you want to take up the challenge

For L1R5, you can use
L1 & R1
– Higher Mother Tongue (if L1 is English Language)
– English Language (if L1 is Higher Mother Tongue)
– Mother Tongue (cannot be counted if R1 is Higher Mother Tongue)

For the remaining R4, you can use
– 2 Humanities,
– 1 Maths + 1 Science OR 2 Maths

You can double confirm with your teacher whether you can exclude Science for your L1R5.

Hi Koguma,

So... We will still be taking both English and HCL? Because I thought that Chinese Literature is the form of which HCL will turn into. If not, that would actually be better for me if HCL is still here to stay.

And if my L1 is Higher Mother Tongue, can I take one R1 to be English and another R to be normal Mother Tongue?

Here's what I'm planning (currently)

L1 - English Language
R1 - Higher Mother Tongue
R2 - Pure English Literature
R3 - History Elective
R4 - E Maths & A Maths (Compulsory for my school, sadly)
R5 - Combined Science (Physics + Chemistry)

And no, Science is compulsory for my school as well. Whilst I'm in a SAP school that has its motto to make every student \"bilingual\" - I'm seeing that it's largely more Math and Science-oriented. Not what it always appears to be - a more Chinese-oriented school.

One thing strange is that they said the criteria for Combined Science is a pass for Science overall - but what if I fail?

First time taking part in such a streaming myself so it's kind of confusing. Thanks for your help everyone

[reddiechan]

Just mentioned your story to my boy and he said you could both give each other tuition…his strengths and weaknesses are the exact opposite of yours.


I took Chinese Lit during my time.Not too difficult during the process, and we had a really inspirational teacher. We loved lesson time… full of colourful stories. But it seems the criteria is A1 for higher Chinese. Rather steep, isn’t it?