Secondary 2 Streaming

[zbear]

Hi, need advice from experts here. Surprisingly my ds did pretty ok for EOY so I think he can either choose Triple Science or Double Science/Double Humanities. But the problem is he is not sure what to take. He doesn’t like Biology becos its heavy content n he is very lazy. He also doesn’t like Geography.


Everyone seems to go for Triple Science (and I don’t know why - maybe its more atas to do so or is it easier to score for Science subjects rather than Humanities)?

Based on feedback from my kids, its more difficult to score for Humanities becos its very subjective n content heavy. However, my concern is that if you don’t take 2 Humanities but just 1 and if you do badly for the 1 subject for O Levels, wont it affect yr L1R5 score becos 1 Humanities subject is required?

[Ichigokun]

janet_lee88:

after a major competition last year, son will be streamed again next year...seems to have no end of streaming in schools :nailbite:

IMO, Singapore has a harsh, quick-changing education system and there is no time for gradual change.

Primary 3 - Streaming into different classes
Primary 5 - PSLE next year; remedials and preparation begins
Primary 6 - PSLE! A continuation of even more vigorous rounds of remedials
Secondary 1 - In a new school. Time to prepare for streaming next yr also (Remedial and Preparations)
Secondary 2 - Streaming into different classes (again)
Secondary 3 - O Levels Next year; more remedial and preparation
Secondary 4 - O Levels! Even more remedial and preparation
JC 1 - A Levels Next Year; in a new school; time for more hard work
JC 2 - A Levels! Time for even more hard work
NS - Tiring yourself out for 2 years
University - More studying and more stress
Working world - Even more hard work and stress
Retirement - Finally...

[Ichigokun]

zbear:

Hi, need advice from experts here. Surprisingly my ds did pretty ok for EOY so I think he can either choose Triple Science or Double Science/Double Humanities. But the problem is he is not sure what to take. He doesn't like Biology becos its heavy content n he is very lazy. He also doesn't like Geography.


Everyone seems to go for Triple Science (and I don't know why - maybe its more atas to do so or is it easier to score for Science subjects rather than Humanities)?

Based on feedback from my kids, its more difficult to score for Humanities becos its very subjective n content heavy. However, my concern is that if you don't take 2 Humanities but just 1 and if you do badly for the 1 subject for O Levels, wont it affect yr L1R5 score becos 1 Humanities subject is required?

It is actually true that Humanities is very subjective and content heavy; and that it's easier to score for Science. But it mostly depends on who is doing it. Humanities is more of a field that requires memorising, creativity and the skill to explain and a field that you can't really study for.

Science is all about practising. Biology is a kind of science that is closer related to Humanities compared to the other two since it also involves explanation and memorising - Physics and Chemistry is all about knowing your formulas and applying it on different questions.

Despite being a lazy person, I do better in Humanities (and Biology) but I don't memorise it - just pay close attention to it once in class and it can be quite easy to pull it out of your head during exams. I don't personally believe in memorising though because its tedious and rather time-consuming.

Application of skills is another thing. I can't do it because I can't really see anything if you give me an algebraic question most of the time. As I said, memorising is not my thing. For application of skills, you have to memorise different formulae.

Also, to put it in another way, some teachers think Triple Science is more atas than Double.

[Ichigokun]

starlight1968sg:

firefly38:

[quote=\"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.[/quote]Hi starlight1968sg,

It boils down to whether or not your DS is good at dealing with languages actually and the difficulty of the language. I would think French is a difficult language and dropping French would be a good idea. French pronunciation is difficult and it may sometimes cause confusion between English and French.

On the other hand, although it is probably more difficult for Westerners to deal with Japanese - Japanese is a easier subject than French as per context to Chinese because Japanese is essentially Kanji (漢字) sandwiched between Hiragana and Katakana - which are just sounds such as ka ki ku ke ko a i u e o etc.

Japanese would also help in improving Chinese but I don't see how French would help English. But Japanese may also be more difficult than French because of the SOV sequence found in languages like Korean, Japanese etc. instead of the SVO sequence found in English, German etc.

Mandarin is actually a very flexible language so I don't think the SOV in Japanese would find trouble in your DS' Mandarin.

SVO -> 我吃蘋果了 (I ate the Apple)
SOV -> 我把蘋果給吃了 (I apple ate)

Or even OSV

OSV -> 蘋果被我給吃掉了 (The apple was by me eaten)

Of course SOV and OSV sounds silly in English but it sounds fine for Mandarin

[Ichigokun]

Hi Everyone, just spoke to family members about my choice to take Humanities instead of Science. Everyone was very unsupportive of the idea of taking Humanities instead of Science and they said its very hard to 進軍 to China and try to take a job as a translator since there are like 7 million + university graduates in China annually.


I said that it's better to do Humanities - which is something I like and I'm good at - compared to Science; and they told me to just take Science & Math. :gloomy:

They were talking about how humanities required people to write a lot of essays full of words and about what jobs I'll be able to take in the future with Humanities.

I told them about politics and sociology but they told me \"What can you do with sociology in the future?\" And how politics requires Management skills (requires the use of Math) etc.

All this is super confusing but I have to submit my streaming choices by 17 Oct (which is a ridiculous date given by my school; considering I haven't gotten back any results yet) :imconstipated: :sick:

[iFirefly]

starlight1968sg:

firefly38:

[quote=\"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.[/quote]Starlight.. Does your DS enjoy his French lessons? Has he been doing fairly well in French? If the answers are NO, then it may be wise for him to drop 3rd Lang in Year-3..

DS enjoys his Japanese lessons very much, and has been doing fairly well so far.. I just learnt that DS can only take 1 Elective in Year-3.. So, between 3rd Lang & CEP (Computer Elective Program), DS will most likely give up CEP in Year-3..

Seems like the 3rd Lang classes have shrunk more than half from the beginning of Year-1.. Many students have already dropped their 3rd Languages mid/end of Year-1/Year-2..

[sharonkhoo]

Ichigokun:

Hi Everyone, just spoke to family members about my choice to take Humanities instead of Science. Everyone was very unsupportive of the idea of taking Humanities instead of Science and they said its very hard to 進軍 to China and try to take a job as a translator since there are like 7 million + university graduates in China annually.


I said that it's better to do Humanities - which is something I like and I'm good at - compared to Science; and they told me to just take Science & Math. :gloomy:

They were talking about how humanities required people to write a lot of essays full of words and about what jobs I'll be able to take in the future with Humanities.

I told them about politics and sociology but they told me \"What can you do with sociology in the future?\" And how politics requires Management skills (requires the use of Math) etc.

All this is super confusing but I have to submit my streaming choices by 17 Oct (which is a ridiculous date given by my school; considering I haven't gotten back any results yet) :imconstipated: :sick:

Show your family the websites I listed earlier?

[sharonkhoo]

zbear:

Hi, need advice from experts here. Surprisingly my ds did pretty ok for EOY so I think he can either choose Triple Science or Double Science/Double Humanities. But the problem is he is not sure what to take. He doesn't like Biology becos its heavy content n he is very lazy. He also doesn't like Geography.


Everyone seems to go for Triple Science (and I don't know why - maybe its more atas to do so or is it easier to score for Science subjects rather than Humanities)?

Based on feedback from my kids, its more difficult to score for Humanities becos its very subjective n content heavy. However, my concern is that if you don't take 2 Humanities but just 1 and if you do badly for the 1 subject for O Levels, wont it affect yr L1R5 score becos 1 Humanities subject is required?

I've just been through this discussion with my Yr 2 daughter, so I'll share our thoughts. My daughter is neither very science nor very humanities inclined, and has no strong preference for any subjects so far. So we were initially inclined to a 2S/2H combination, probably dropping Bio (thinking that it was something she could mug up quickly if she decided to take it later) and Hist. However, we have been told that if she drops a science now, she cannot take that science at 'A' levels, and since she cannot be sure whether she will want to take 1 or 2 sciences and which ones then, the safest choice is for her to take all 3 now. That same restriction doesn't apply to humanities. So she has opted for 3S/Lit. We know that it's supposedly harder to score for humanities, but we think that it really depends on the student's ability in that subject. Someone like me would definitely get a higher grade in Geog than Physics, for instance.

[sharonkhoo]

Ichigokun:

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

In terms of the way it is studied and the skills required, it's a humanities course. It's definitely not a science. But since universities have it as a separate faculty (and lawyers earn lots of money), it is typically not regarded as 'humanities' subject.

Just a note: in US universities, law is a postgraduate degree and you have do some other degree first.

[reddiechan]

Ichigokun: show your family members ‘Dead Poets Society’ and scare the wits out of them. I got my blu-ray DVD copy from NLB @Esplanade.


Their objection to your choice is most likely due to prejudice and their lack of exposure in this area.