lalalawheeebladada:

Bentan:

Several SOTA students came to http://singapore.math-chinese-tutor.com for Math tuition.


Being Arts-inclined, many SOTA students are weak in Math, since primary school. I was told that many of them scored B for Math in PSLE.

SOTA program is IB and students therefore do not need to take O-Level. Many SOTA students therefor do not really know how bad their Math is. Personally I think that their Math is really bad. I am encouraging all my students to sit for O-level as private candidate so as to benchmark their standard against the Express students.

omigosh puh lease! you are being quite stereotypical. arts students are not bad in their academics! if sota students are there, then they are aware they need help or they wld not need to go to for tuition am i not correct? Our curriculum ends at 5.15. The teachers give us less hw and everything they are very understanding however, you must admit that if your child's curriculum ends at 5.15 almost everyday but friday for some years, wld you as a parent want to place extra stress on your child by giving him or her additional academic tuition? I know the answer. NO. I have friends who're scoring as much as 44/45 in my math class. i'll have you know that arts students, or sota students, DO NOT HAVE BAD MINDS. We choose to go to sota because we respect the arts; we want to develop our passion. So mind you, don't go around insulting arts students like that because you might just end up ending embarrassing yourself in front of others. And i wld just like to express what i feel strongly about, sorry if you are offended.
P.S A lot of my friends scored A* for math and i myself have scored an A.

Bentan's comments rely on too much hearsay and sweeping statements.

\"SOTA program is IB and students therefore do not need to take O-Level. Many SOTA students therefor do not really know how bad their Math is. Personally I think that their Math is really bad. I am encouraging all my students to sit for O-level as private candidate so as to benchmark their standard against the Express students.\" - Seems like he is promoting Singapore Math Chinese Tutor by bashing SOTA students. Maybe his teaching method is poor that is why his students are not doing well.

Is it true that someone got in through appeal (not DSA) with only 244 PSLE score?

What a big relief! Child’s PSLE made it into express stream. Congrats to all those who made it to SOTA.

CuriousFrog:

Hi,


I'm currently a Secondary 2 student and I'm considering transferring into SOTA next year.

I am keen on playing the cello but I've only been taking formal lessons for a few months, and I haven't taken any exams yet although I will be taking the Grade 2 ABRSM practical exam next March.

When they say they are looking for 'talented students' does it mean that the student's technical skills need to be quite good? I really enjoy playing the cello and am willing to work hard to improve, but I want to know if SOTA will accept students even without 'talent' but are willing to work hard and have passion. In terms of skills, I'm definitely not a prodigy and such, and I'm not the easiest to teach (I forget frequently and have to be reminded a lot because of my 'thick head' haha) but I definitely at least try.

I was in my primary school's Chinese Orchestra for around 4 years, majority of which I was playing cello but got transferred to Double Bass for the last 1.5 years in CO. My CCA is a Uniformed Group though, and I was only recently able to start playing cello again.

If need be, I can put in as much effort as needed to get up to par with the other students. but still... just wondering if my lack of skills would be accepted if I passed the Talent Academy or if it would put me at a disadvantage.

Thanks for taking the time to read and answer my questions. I wanted to audition when I was P6, but lack of confidence landed me in my current Secondary School. Actually I still don't think I have the skills haha!

Hi Curiosfrog,

Do not be discouraged with having little formal lessons or lack of ABRSM certification. What is important is how you perform during the audition. My daughter applied for Music without any theory or formal background but got a confirmed offer anyway. That proves it is possible. Once you decide to apply, then work hard on practicing, ask your music teacher to give feedback for improvement, prepare for the performance delivery and interview, be confident but not over-confident. Good luck.

jce:

By \"talent\" they mean someone whom they see potential in. He/She may not be technically proficient at the time of audition but they need to see musicality and the potential to grow. Of course one is at advantage if technically sound.

i agree completely with the above statement. In truth, \"talent\" and \"potential\" are quite subjective and it is difficult to identify exactly what SOTA is looking for. For example, there were probably many talented applicants who did not receive a confirmed offer. This means that talent is just one criteria, they are likely looking beyond that during the audition, such as personality, resilience, likeability and also not forgetting academics.

deleted

Are kids grouped according to PSLE score in sec 1?


Are classrooms airconditioned?

Good luck to all on the Prelims!

dance and theatre:

Not everyone goes in with sterling results.




On the other end of this vacancy issue - there are kids who apply for SOTA, get a CO and then because they did really well at the PSLE, opt for mainstream schools. Personally I know of two girls who opted OUT of SOTA and instead chose RGS and Dunman High, they are doing well, they're still happily dancing with their ballet schools.

Once you accept a DSA CO, then opting out is no longer acceptable as parents are made to sign and acknowledge this in the application. In the past kids opt out after finding out their PSLE scores are able to get them in to other schools with higher cutoff point. MOE decided to close this loophole.

dance and theatre:

JRLam:

Hi, do u have any idea roughly how many applied for the Dance form this yr?

Just want to hv an indication of the success rate 30-40 seem low, given the high level of interest I saw at the symposium? Your dd must be really outstanding!

The way I see it : Dance Faculty is small and can only cope with 30 students per year as it relies heavily on Adjunct teachers who are themselves dancers, dance teachers or who run dance companies (like Sylvia Yong of T.H.E. Dance Company). Dance is not only just Ballet or Modern, it includes Academic subjects like Dance History which they must pass. Perhaps getting enough MOE teachers able to teach the Dance subjects is another issue.

Many dancers apply, but unfortunately the limited places make the it hard for many to get in, but this should not stop any child from trying out at the TA

Based on my dd's experience, I really recommend those interested to try for TA if they are passionate about it even if the chances are low Yes it takes a lot of precious PSLE revision time to prepare and go thru the TA but its better not to have regrets for not trying.