Secondary 2 Streaming

[sharonkhoo]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913287\" time=\"1559615972\" user_id=\"1429:

but is it enough to just remember facts? the papers are more than just facts... moving alot into inferential kinda questions?

Both History and Geography require inferential skills. For history (in the guidebook I edited), I saw a number of questions based on cartoon drawings or quotations, and students had to start from what was in there and write about how it reflected certain views or aspects of the history of that event. For Geography, they might be given a diagram, chart, photo, and then have to discuss something based on what was shown. In both cases, general understanding is tested by getting the student to relate what they are given to the facts they have learned in order to answer the question.

I recall there was a \"map reading\" paper for A level Geog in my time where we had to answer questions based on an analysis of a map (of some unknown place) we were given - eg. looking at the various markings on the map and discussing the agriculture, climate, urban distribution etc. of that region, depending on the questions asked. Same idea, but now at O level too.

[floppy]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913287\" time=\"1559615972\" user_id=\"1429:

thanks Floppy! will it be useful to flip through the sec 3/4 text to decide? the content wise...

but is it enough to just remember facts? the papers are more than just facts... moving alot into inferential kinda questions?

Exams will be more than just facts of course. However, those 'facts' are needed to connect the dots. You can't make the inference without knowing where to look.

slmkhoo just did a very good post in between our posts. Highly recommended.

While I agree with her that history is a little tougher for the children today, it is not entirely due to more rote memorisation. The challenge for the young people today is to relate events in the past. e.g. rise of Nazism, Cold War, etc with the world they live in today. History in exams isn't about regurgitation, there's also a need to analysis it's impact on the world today. Unfortunately, as slmkhoo says, our children \"lack the maturity to understand the politics and international relationships that are involved.\"

Lacking maturity, is also a reason why it is lagi, super difficult for them (so, please don't take my suggestion to study literature earlier seriously). Literature is made up of words describing human tragedies, desires, and feelings. Students have to relate to it and then express purposes in the world today. It's a very difficult thing to do

[deardear07]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"1913286\" time=\"1559615921\" user_id=\"28674:

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913265\" time=\"1559613573\" user_id=\"1429:

can someone pls advise? what does history n geog consist of at upp sec? tried looking at the o level papers but that doesn't share much of how much syllabus/ content to absorb.. or mayb im not reading it well enough

i only know the geog papers have smaller bite sized questions with of course the structured essay questions.. probably making it easier to score? whereas history has a whole lot more of structured essay questions... so alot more writing...

is history really more of memory work? what to expect?

I'll start off by saying that I am biased towards Geography (studied it up to A level, and coached 1 daughter at A level too), and have not actually studied History beyond Sec 2. But I recently edited an O level History guidebook. I am also not very sure what the current O level questions are like for either subject.

In general, Geog is about the \"real world\" of the present - physical features, climate, urban/rural issues, migration, etc. It helps if the student has some interest or curiosity about people and how they live, society, globalisation, and also the physical world. I found it relatively easy to understand and write about because it was more real, and many of the issues could be seen around me or through reading the news, while travelling, etc. Understanding the systems and issues also meant less rote memorisation.

History is about the past, although some modern history will impinge on the present, of course. I find that the problem for younger students is that they don't really know much about the past, lack the maturity to understand the politics and international relationships that are involved, and so end up just memorising lists of facts and list of factors that are in their books and notes. How many Singapore students know (or care) about the Cold War and what happened in Cuba? So my overall impression is that History does require more rote memorisation than Geography because you mostly have to learn it from books, not real life.

Not sure if this will help your child decide.

talking about news.. the tr did mention that history is also about current affairs, not just the past. so also need to read up on news and understand the situations around.. is that right understanding?

[sharonkhoo]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913345\" time=\"1559632633\" user_id=\"1429:

talking about news.. the tr did mention that history is also about current affairs, not just the past. so also need to read up on news and understand the situations around.. is that right understanding?

Yes - all history has some reprecussions and will affect the politics and international relations of today.

Similarly with Geography - the student should have current awareness of natural disasters, agriculture, trade, migration, urban planning...

[deardear07]

floppy\" post_id=\"1913297\" time=\"1559616817\" user_id=\"97579:

Exams will be more than just facts of course. However, those 'facts' are needed to connect the dots. You can't make the inference without knowing where to look.

slmkhoo just did a very good post in between our posts. Highly recommended.

While I agree with her that history is a little tougher for the children today, it is not entirely due to more rote memorisation. The challenge for the young people today is to relate events in the past. e.g. rise of Nazism, Cold War, etc with the world they live in today. History in exams isn't about regurgitation, there's also a need to analysis it's impact on the world today. Unfortunately, as slmkhoo says, our children \"lack the maturity to understand the politics and international relationships that are involved.\"

Lacking maturity, is also a reason why it is lagi, super difficult for them (so, please don't take my suggestion to study literature earlier seriously). Literature is made up of words describing human tragedies, desires, and feelings. Students have to relate to it and then express purposes in the world today. It's a very difficult thing to do

ah yes yes, agree with the post. it's just difficult to help explain the difficulty and decide on the subject at the upp levels.. BIG SIGH

[deardear07]

if i may add… it also doesn’t help when the tr said that the sch syllabus isn’t quite the information that we can get in popular bookstore assessment books… meaning to say that is not a good means of revision too…only way they said was to get 1-1 tuition and refer to sch library for past exam papers… omg… where to find such help? it’s gg to be v expensive n difficult to find too!

[sharonkhoo]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913348\" time=\"1559633016\" user_id=\"1429:

ah yes yes, agree with the post. it's just difficult to help explain the difficulty and decide on the subject at the upp levels.. BIG SIGH

If, after all this, you still can't decide which he will prefer or be better at, then it probably doesn't matter which you choose. Just pick one and tell him he has to do his best.

[sharonkhoo]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913351\" time=\"1559633284\" user_id=\"1429:

if i may add... it also doesn't help when the tr said that the sch syllabus isn't quite the information that we can get in popular bookstore assessment books... meaning to say that is not a good means of revision too...only way they said was to get 1-1 tuition and refer to sch library for past exam papers... omg... where to find such help? it's gg to be v expensive n difficult to find too!

Isn't it the teacher's job to make sure the students know what is in the syllabus? Tuition may be useful if he can't grasp the technique for answering questions, but that can usually be learned in a few sessions. And teachers usually cover that in detail through repeated practice in class work. Content is surely the teacher's responsibility? At A level, my daughter had huge amounts of notes (for Geog, but History should be similar), and I imagine O level should be the same.

[deardear07]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"1913365\" time=\"1559637275\" user_id=\"28674:

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913351\" time=\"1559633284\" user_id=\"1429:

if i may add... it also doesn't help when the tr said that the sch syllabus isn't quite the information that we can get in popular bookstore assessment books... meaning to say that is not a good means of revision too...only way they said was to get 1-1 tuition and refer to sch library for past exam papers... omg... where to find such help? it's gg to be v expensive n difficult to find too!

Isn't it the teacher's job to make sure the students know what is in the syllabus? Tuition may be useful if he can't grasp the technique for answering questions, but that can usually be learned in a few sessions. And teachers usually cover that in detail through repeated practice in class work. Content is surely the teacher's responsibility? At A level, my daughter had huge amounts of notes (for Geog, but History should be similar), and I imagine O level should be the same.

that is not what i see in my child's sch... some notes yes. not thick thick kind... so not sure how to help too...

Spoke to the tr n was told - assessment doesn't help coz not similar.. if wana get tuition, also 1-1 n tutor has to be able to figure out what the tr is teaching in sch to guide the child... i was feeling under pressure to ask him at point blank - then can u teach my child as a tutor privately too? coz the words seem to imply that... there are some remedial or structured study classes as they call it, some help but i dun see the big improvement.. during exams, significant number of students can still fail... i wonder what kind of \"O level\" style of papers they are trying to mimic for the lower sec... basically sounds like scaring off the students right from the start...

[floppy]

deardear07\" post_id=\"1913367\" time=\"1559637889\" user_id=\"1429:

that is not what i see in my child's sch... some notes yes. not thick thick kind... so not sure how to help too...

Spoke to the tr n was told - assessment doesn't help coz not similar.. if wana get tuition, also 1-1 n tutor has to be able to figure out what the tr is teaching in sch to guide the child... i was feeling under pressure to ask him at point blank - then can u teach my child as a tutor privately too? coz the words seem to imply that... there are some remedial or structured study classes as they call it, some help but i dun see the big improvement.. during exams, significant number of students can still fail... i wonder what kind of \"O level\" style of papers they are trying to mimic for the lower sec... basically sounds like scaring off the students right from the start...

Sorry, I’m puzzled. What school is that? Sounds like a very bochap teacher

My cousin is a geography teacher for both upper and lower secondary in a typical neighborhood school, don’t think that’s the basic level of expectation for teacher / students.