Secondary 2 Streaming

[iFirefly]

Hi Ichigokun.. How have you been ? Thanks for starting this thread..


Like you, I am also trying to gather more information on Sec-2 streaming, as my DS1 is in same year as you (not in same school though)..

DS1 does not like Physics & English Literature, so he intends to take 2S 2H (Bio, Chem, Hist, Geog).. However, his CCA seniors have advised him not to drop Physics, as it is a very useful Science subject, especially if one plans to study Engineering in the University..

Btw, DS1's school offers Phy/Chem, Phy/Bio, Bio/Chem for Double Sciences, unlike CHS which offers only Phy/Chem (am I right?).. And most boys in DS1's school do Triple Sciences.. How about CHS ? Is Triple Sciences a popular option in CHS ?

Now DS1 says if he has to do Physics, then he might as well do 3S 1H (Phy, Chem, Bio, Hist).. And he does not intend to drop 3rd Language & Computer Elective next year (I have advised him to drop one Elective, but..).. Really worried if DS1's subject combination will be too heavy for him to cope, from Year-3 onwards..

[jtoh]

Hi firefly,


You mentioned that your son does not like Physics. Does he score well in it though? Because if he doesn’t score well and he doesn’t like it, then he’ll enjoy upper sec better doing his 2H 2S combination rather than a trip sci combination. After all, when he gets to JC, he’ll be doing only two sciences anyway. I assume your son will probably be doing an RA or two as well? Better to go with a subject combi he enjoys as he’ll have a really heavy workload.

[cylg]

firefly38:

DS1 does not like Physics & English Literature, so he intends to take 2S 2H (Bio, Chem, Hist, Geog)

Now DS1 says if he has to do Physics, then he might as well do 3S 1H (Phy, Chem, Bio, Hist).. And he does not intend to drop 3rd Language & Computer Elective next year (I have advised him to drop one Elective, but..).. Really worried if DS1's subject combination will be too heavy for him to cope, from Year-3 onwards..

There is no such combi of geog/hist. It's either geog/lit or his/lit

Also, we are not allowed to take two electives. Guess your son has to drop either 3rd lang or cep.

[starlight1968sg]

firefly38:

Hi Ichigokun.. How have you been ? Thanks for starting this thread..


Like you, I am also trying to gather more information on Sec-2 streaming, as my DS1 is in same year as you (not in same school though)..

DS1 does not like Physics & English Literature, so he intends to take 2S 2H (Bio, Chem, Hist, Geog).. However, his CCA seniors have advised him not to drop Physics, as it is a very useful Science subject, especially if one plans to study Engineering in the University..

Btw, DS1's school offers Phy/Chem, Phy/Bio, Bio/Chem for Double Sciences, unlike CHS which offers only Phy/Chem (am I right?).. And most boys in DS1's school do Triple Sciences.. How about CHS ? Is Triple Sciences a popular option in CHS ?

Now DS1 says if he has to do Physics, then he might as well do 3S 1H (Phy, Chem, Bio, Hist).. And he does not intend to drop 3rd Language & Computer Elective next year (I have advised him to drop one Elective, but..).. Really worried if DS1's subject combination will be too heavy for him to cope, from Year-3 onwards..

May I ask what 3rd lang your kid is taking?
Thanks.

[iFirefly]

jtoh:

Hi firefly,


You mentioned that your son does not like Physics. Does he score well in it though? Because if he doesn't score well and he doesn't like it, then he'll enjoy upper sec better doing his 2H 2S combination rather than a trip sci combination. After all, when he gets to JC, he'll be doing only two sciences anyway. I assume your son will probably be doing an RA or two as well? Better to go with a subject combi he enjoys as he'll have a really heavy workload.

Hi jtoh.. DS feels that it may be better for him to do 3S 1H coz, for the 2S 2H combination, he can only do Lit/Hist or Lit/Geog (no Hist/Geog option, sorry I made a mistake in my previous post).. DS says he prefers Physics to Literature, if he has to choose between the two..

Results wise, DS didn't do too badly for Physics actually, though it is the 'worst', compared to Chemistry & Biology..

[iFirefly]

cylg:

firefly38:

DS1 does not like Physics & English Literature, so he intends to take 2S 2H (Bio, Chem, Hist, Geog)

Now DS1 says if he has to do Physics, then he might as well do 3S 1H (Phy, Chem, Bio, Hist).. And he does not intend to drop 3rd Language & Computer Elective next year (I have advised him to drop one Elective, but..).. Really worried if DS1's subject combination will be too heavy for him to cope, from Year-3 onwards..

There is no such combi of geog/hist. It's either geog/lit or his/lit

Also, we are not allowed to take two electives. Guess your son has to drop either 3rd lang or cep.

Hi cylg.. Thanks for the info.. This shows how blur & ill-informed I have been.. :oops:

[iFirefly]

starlight1968sg:

May I ask what 3rd lang your kid is taking?

Thanks.

Hi starlight1968sg.. DS' 3rd Lang is Japanese..

[jtoh]

firefly38:

jtoh:

Hi firefly,


You mentioned that your son does not like Physics. Does he score well in it though? Because if he doesn't score well and he doesn't like it, then he'll enjoy upper sec better doing his 2H 2S combination rather than a trip sci combination. After all, when he gets to JC, he'll be doing only two sciences anyway. I assume your son will probably be doing an RA or two as well? Better to go with a subject combi he enjoys as he'll have a really heavy workload.

Hi jtoh.. DS feels that it may be better for him to do 3S 1H coz, for the 2S 2H combination, he can only do Lit/Hist or Lit/Geog (no Hist/Geog option, sorry I made a mistake in my previous post).. DS says he prefers Physics to Literature, if he has to choose between the two..

Results wise, DS didn't do too badly for Physics actually, though it is the 'worst', compared to Chemistry & Biology..

Hi firefly,

I see. Lesser of the two evils.

[starlight1968sg]

firefly38:

starlight1968sg:

May I ask what 3rd lang your kid is taking?

Thanks.

Hi starlight1968sg.. DS' 3rd Lang is Japanese..

Hi firefly38,
Thanks for your reply.
Is ds going to continue his 3rd lang in sec 3? Mine is struggling with french and unsure if should just throw in the towel.
Thanks.

[Ichigokun]

slmkhoo:

Ichigokun:

...

Hmm.. My parents sort of think its better to go for the Sciences and Math route - as there are plenty of courses available and there is a bright future for Science students (supposedly) and that the career choices for Humanities is likely being a teacher or something - but I sort of explained that there are many other paths in Humanities such as Sociology, Politics etc. (Being a translator would be good, but in Singapore, I don't think we need any more Chinese-English translators, right..? :lightrod: )

Like, for Sciences and Math, you can take up jobs such as Bankers, Accountants, Engineers etc.;

I'm created for humanities from the start I guess. I'm very, very interested in East Asian history, linguistics and ancestry - I even do some researching and posting on forums for my free time. Besides that, I also like studying languages - I've studied some Korean and Japanese so far.

When I see the A-Math paper for Secondary 4, my mind is just like \"&$@%^€£¥?!\" with the formulas. I also get tired and bored with Math and Physics very easily but I can put up with Shakespearean Old English for even longer.

I mean, I haven't seen much Singaporeans become historians or something like that, so I really have no idea am I just delusional with my future :?:

Thanks once again though for your help :thankyou:

If you think that way about maths and science, then I think it would be a mistake to go that route. The best academic decision I made was switching to humanities. It's definitely better to have good results in humanities subjects than weak results in maths and science. Your career is for decades, and if you become an engineer or go into some science field, do you really want to handle that kind of maths and science for decades? My father and I had an incredible row when I was applying to university - my first choice was Law (we agreed on that) but he wanted me to put Accountancy as the 2nd choice and I wanted to put a humanities. Looking back, I am so glad I never did Accountancy - I am really horrible at numbers, and can't imagine surviving the course, let alone working in a field that involves numbers all day!

Humanities is not a dead end, it just doesn't have a nice-sounding 'professional' name to most jobs. Translating is a huge field now with increasing internationalisation, and China needs a lot of stuff put into decent English. Publishing is another big field. So is mass communications, public relations etc. Many corporations need managers, and they need not just come from science backgrounds. Those with good grades in humanities would also stand a chance. For many areas, the quality of the grades matters more than the subject. The reason why it seems that many who do well in Singapore have science backgrounds is that many good students go the science route. Look at other countries and you will see that those with degrees in history, politics, English etc also do well. That's my stand, anyway.

Just found a few links which may interest you:
http://www.businessinsider.com/successful-liberal-arts-majors-2012-12?op=1
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130625075243-2259773-why-learning-the-humanities-is-a-key-to-success
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~janzb/humanities/humcareers.htm
http://www.uwo.ca/english/pages/ceos.html

Hi slmkhoo,

Yeah. I definitely do not want to look at complicated numbers and deal with them daily for the next 4 or 5 decades until I retire - by then I think I would already have gone :siao:.

My family members are also mostly more of the \"Physics, Math and Engineering\" kind, how weird it is I don't inherit those at all.

Speaking about working as a translator in China - maybe the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (漢語水平考試) from Crestar can come in handy I checked a few days ago and I got 271 for Grade 5 - according to the website I can take some courses in China if I want to.

History, translating, politics and sociology doesn't have a big field in Singapore - seems like it's better to try taking these jobs overseas. Singapore has a limited history of barely even 200 years - as for translation I'm very sure almost everyone in the parliament here in Singapore is bilingual of even trilingual (they probably wouldn't need translators).

By the way, is taking up Law a humanities course or a Sciences course?

:thankyou: :udaman: