Psle Causalty

[Nebbermind]

kaitlynangelica:

Hi,


I have been hearing a few PSLE 'casualty' stories.

Expected 260 got 203.
Expected 220 got 180
Expected 255 and above got 218
Expected to get into Victoria Secondry got 204.

What would be the possible reasons for such a drastic drop?

It's very scary......

Vice Versa......expected to get at most 220 got 248?

Shouldn't you be asking those who told you the stories and share with us here?

[kaitlynangelica]

Nebbermind,


I didn’t hear directly from the parents…Its a friend of a friend of a friend’s kid.
And from what I hear, the parents and child are more than baffled.

What people believe is that because the papers have been simplier in the last 2 years, but the kids have been prepped for the challenging questions and hence their minds over complicated. So when it comes to a simple question, they tackle it incorrectly.

The other thing is the state of mind or health on the day the child sits for the exam.

[ammonite]

kaitlynangelica:

Nebbermind,


What people believe is that because the papers have been simplier in the last 2 years, but the kids have been prepped for the challenging questions and hence their minds over complicated. So when it comes to a simple question, they tackle it incorrectly.

If this is truly so, it means they don't have a good grasp of the fundamentals but have been memorizing solutions for difficult sums. A return to solid fundamentals is good news, nothing to worry about if this is so.

[kaitlynangelica]

But besides math there are other components like science, english and chinese.

So even if didn’t do well for math surely the others should have pushed up the overall score?

[Nebbermind]

kaitlynangelica:

Nebbermind,


I didn't hear directly from the parents.....Its a friend of a friend of a friend's kid.
And from what I hear, the parents and child are more than baffled.

What people believe is that because the papers have been simplier in the last 2 years, but the kids have been prepped for the challenging questions and hence their minds over complicated. So when it comes to a simple question, they tackle it incorrectly.

The other thing is the state of mind or health on the day the child sits for the exam.

But the school also prep them using all others schools papers which would cover easier qns too. Also, if prep wrongly, it would have shown in the prelims.

[rains]

Perhaps it’s just unrealistic expectation to begin with?


There are parents who think 75 is an excellent score since it’s already an A. There are other factors as well like standard of papers and marking in school. Psle tend to be more stringent.

[Nebbermind]

kaitlynangelica:

But besides math there are other components like science, english and chinese.

So even if didn't do well for math surely the others should have pushed up the overall score?

If the expectation was 255/260, the kids must have been consistently getting like >85% or close to 90% for the past years and prelims. If really got 200~220, then the parents should have requested for review of the papers unless they did not tell the whole story.

[Mdm Koh]

Have the stories been verified? Perhaps the differences in scores aren’t that great? Maybe it’s expected 220 but got 203? It’s possible for details to be miscommunicated and exaggerated since it’s the child of a friend of a friend of a friend.


I don’t think it’s possible to have huge discrepancies in the grades for Maths and Science. Perhaps their EL and MT compositions were off-topic, leading to low scores. Another possibility is that the school papers were too easy, but I think this is unlikely as they should’ve tried past year PSLE papers before the exams.

[kaitlynangelica]

Mdm Koh:

Have the stories been verified? Perhaps the differences in scores aren't that great? Maybe it's expected 220 but got 203? It's possible for details to be miscommunicated and exaggerated since it's the child of a friend of a friend of a friend.


I don't think it's possible to have huge discrepancies in the grades for Maths and Science. Perhaps their EL and MT compositions were off-topic, leading to low scores. Another possibility is that the school papers were too easy, but I think this is unlikely as they should've tried past year PSLE papers before the exams.

Not necessarily Mdm Koh. I know of someone whose child was in the weaker class. FT told the mother that for this class, no point trying top school papers as they can't handle and it will just discourage them.