Seeking tips & information about NUSH entrance test in Math & Science subjects, the written test for all applicants.


What are the best way to prepare? What kind of problems are typical? What are the key topics? Are there topics beyond primary school curriculum?

From what I gathered so far, it seems like the Math will be Math Olympiad-like, thus their NMOS book is a good resource, but what else? And on Science, it seems like ICAS is a good reference too, anything else?

Rockmelon\" post_id=\"2067651\" time=\"1652688808\" user_id=\"146067:

Hi, I just realised that both RI and NUSH selection tests falls on 2 July morning. In this case, we should only apply to either school? Thanks.

I have asked in today's RI's e-Open House as well as NUSH's Open House to the principal directly. The NUSH principal assured that \"the two schools have deconflicted the schedule\" and parents are advised to contact both schools in the case of clash. Basically on case by case basis should be able to arrange different timing or right after one another.

https://postimg.cc/fktkXVFS

Lavanya123\" post_id=\"2067660\" time=\"1652691023\" user_id=\"143620:

I am starting to fill out the DSA portal form. And I have these following questions:

1. My son is keen on joining nush, so in the DSA application portal form do I focus on only Math and Science based achievements or should I group things and include other stuff like chess, prefect, soccer, taekwondo, books he reads, etc?

2. My kid's school has included his participation/awards related to NMOS, Science Buskers, Sony creative award, CoderZ competition etc., in his report book. Do I key in these info again in the application also or should I leave these out and focus on SASMO, Vanda kind of competitions conducted by SIMCC(he has a handful of medals in this category). The school says they do not upload any information, but the secondary school has access to these records. So, I am wondering if I dont present these in the application form, will nush go to the trouble to looking for it themselves?

3. More of a basic question related to my 1st question again, since he has more than 10 achievements that can be keyed into the portal, do I still stick to top ten achievements or group similar achievements together and present as 10 items?

Any advice in this direction is much appreciated! TIA

(I did post this same query in the nush thread, but so far no response, so asking in this thread as it seems very active ha ha. Sorry about that!)

What I do: put all or as much as we can into the 10 records within the space limits. You can use this template: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1VuXcKe0SPeuA4n9DHoEfySTSGHlJLQ5zDBMs4g3lGuk/copy

My son’s draft so far:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGLhSDwH0ejd13owa1B3ulMcCcsonQz-tTSp29xxOaQ/

All the best! Hopefully both our sons can become schoolmates at NUSH!

SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2067656\" time=\"1652690160\" user_id=\"188234:

Click on \"Academic Domain Criteria & Schedule\"

http://www.ri.edu.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-library/admissions/2022-year-1-dsa-acad---amended-ic.pdf?sfvrsn=5ad6a43a_0

Thank you… They’re probably intentionally aligning with the same dates to force parents/students to make up their mind first, reducing the chances of confirmation offers being dropped.

At this rate we may end up with just NUSH in the DSA option. All or nothing.

Rockmelon\" post_id=\"2067651\" time=\"1652688808\" user_id=\"146067:

Hi, I just realised that both RI and NUSH selection tests falls on 2 July morning. In this case, we should only apply to either school? Thanks.

Oh no! Where is this information at? I couldn’t find it at RI’s website.

phtthp\" post_id=\"2067594\" time=\"1652636046\" user_id=\"35251:

Don't get yourself confused with MOELC (Bishan).


1) What is MOELC (Bishan), for ?

Answer -

To teach Secondary school students, 3rd language. MOELC (Bishan) don't teach 2nd language (Mother Tongue). It is not the responsibility of MOELC (Bishan) to go and teach 2nd language.

Again,
one need to be clear, what is the difference between 2nd language vs. 3rd language.


2)
So, where do students learn their 2nd language, from ?

Answer -

They learn in schools.
They learn 2nd language (Mother tongue) in Secondary schools' premises itself, from Monday to Friday,
either
during built-in school regular curriculum time from ( 7.45 am to 2 pm dismissal time )

Or

they learn after school, after their lunch.

======≈================

3)
For MOELC (Bishan), to learn a 3rd language, how many times per week do students go down to learn 3rd language like

German / Japanese / French ?

Answer :

only ONCE a week !
Key word is \"ONCE\".


4) in contrast, to learn a 2nd language called \"Mother tongue \", how many times or in Total, examine your 2022 Sec 1 timetable, go & count the Total number of lessons your Secondary school premises have assigned for your Mother Tongue, per week ?

Very heavy, isn't it ?
Definitely, more than once lesson assigned, across Monday to Friday, per week.

Thank you so much for your detailed answers! And others who have replied and advised too 🙏 now I feel embarrassed and naïve to have assumed that SAP schools are suitable for non-Chinese speaking students too, in hindsight this should have been a basic knowledge.

We were too laser-focused on optimizing for Informatics Olympiad learning journey, and we saw that all Gold medals in NOI are taken by only 3 schools: NUSH, RI and HCI: https://noisg.comp.nus.edu.sg/noi/noiTwentyFifthResults.php

Thus we automatically hoped & assumed HCI can be one of our options in DSA, especially since it's the only one explicitly with Infocomm talent area. Thanks for preventing us from making this dumb mistake of wasting one DSA slot 😂

Now it become clear that one parent's advise was spot on: consider ACS-I and NJC-Sec. They're apparently the only other options aside from RI, NUSH, SST, when we filter by IP/Specialised + non-SAP + relevant DSA area. Temasek JC-Sec and Victoria School were there too but way too far for us who live in the west.
https://postimg.cc/23CBc2D7

SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2067500\" time=\"1652521935\" user_id=\"188234:

Note, HCI only offers Higher Chinese. If your son is taking Malay (subjects listed on non-mainstream school tab in the xls), I think he cannot enroll there. Best of luck for whatever three choices he goes with!

Wouldn’t other mother tongue (in our case, Malay) be directed to separate classes by MOE at Bishan? Or is it true that he won’t be able to even enroll to HCI as Malay?

Mima\" post_id=\"2067510\" time=\"1652525169\" user_id=\"194754:

Any specific reason for not applying to SST?

Let’s just keep it at “it’s his personal decision, choice, preference”. We have weighed the pros & cons and perhaps not wise to share the cons (as it’s very subjective, from his/our point of view only) as it may inadvertently affects others reading this forum now & in future.

His order of preference (as at now):
NUSH DSA Math
RI DSA Math
HCI DSA Infocomm
NUSH SIE
RI PSLE
Any “top” school PSLE
SST SIE
Any PSLE from Sec 1 Posting exercise

Momof2childs\" post_id=\"2067488\" time=\"1652515271\" user_id=\"106468:

My child has almost similar profile as yours’ except the coding experience even though he likes coding, is in computer club CCA and has attended few Python classes here and there. What I am thinking about for my child is NUSH, RI and NJC. Actually a bit sceptical about RI since I believe Math domain would be too competitive and I don’t want it to be a chance wasted. Not sure what will I select, if not RI. Probably ACSI(but being IB would focus on Eng Lit and my child not really good in languages)/SST(after reading a few responses here). All the best for the DSA exercise. We will be going through it next year.

Thank you! All the best for your child next year!

Really true about RI DSA Math domain being a risk of \"a chance wasted\". Assuming around 5 students only (perhaps at max), then really unlikely for non-Platinum/Gold math olympians. RIPMWC itself already filters only top 60 Primary 6 children for Round 2 (which my son almost made it but didn't).

Specific on Coding/Infocomm/Computational Thinking DSA talent area, there aren't many options, top school there is HCI:
https://postimg.cc/B8GjpBGW
https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/sg.parent/viz/SingaporeSecondarySchoolSearchDSA/Search

We've just attended e-Open House of SST today, and my son had a chat with an SST student also afterwards, and he decided not to put SST among the 3 DSA options. As it stands now, we'll take the chance and aim for: NUSH Math, RI Math and HCI Infocomm.

Wish us the best of luck!

Hi! Thank you for your kind advice & detailed response!


I do been wondering if \"less than Gold/Platinum/top\" in NMOS, SMOPS, and RIPMWC stands any chance for DSA Math into RI/HCI. There's probably higher chance for NUSH due to their 100% DSA policy with cohort size of ~180 students. So your \"prima facie\" reply nailed it.

I guess I'll go for full transparency here as we need as much advice as we can get, and we do not have any friends who'd been in this similar DSA Math journey. We do have friends who gotten into NUSH but via SIE (after PSLE), and into RI via Sec 1 posting. But we're not confident with PSLE either due to mother tongue & English.

So here's my son's full DSA awards/activities list, would love to have suggestions & comments please 🙏 to maximize his chance getting into NUSH or RI or HCI or SST or NJC via DSA Math/STEM/Infocomm route: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CGLhSDwH0ejd13owa1B3ulMcCcsonQz-tTSp29xxOaQ/edit?usp=sharing

floppy\" post_id=\"2067211\" time=\"1652293718\" user_id=\"97579:

I think the important question you should consider is what you hope to achieve out of this DSA.
For experience? Aim for only the dream school(s), failing which, fall back on PSLE AL score? Schools that you think best fit?

Unless there are other information that you have not included, prima facie, your son is not likely to make the DSA final cut for NUSH and RI.

If the approach is to go for all the top school(s) and hope for the best, you can consider HCI (Hwa Chong Institution; Hwa Chong International is an International school) or NJC. However, the most likely outcome for HCI is going to be the same as above. Unless the 3 schools (NUSH, RI and HCI) decide to broaden their base and include as many people as possible for their tests / interviews, your son may not even clear the first cut and gain any experience out of this exercise.

Realistically, your best chance lies with SST. If the approach is to ensure that he secures a school that satisfies his interest and strength in this DSA exercise, you would probably have to include it as one of your 3 options. Furthermore, like NUSH, SST intake is by DSA and supplementary intake only. If you miss the boat now, opportunities from supplementary intake may be limited.

Therefore, my suggestion would be to pick the following:
1. NUSH
2. SST
3. Anything