CoffeeCat

CoffeeCat

revils_ling\" post_id=\"2134474\" time=\"1717146448\" user_id=\"136480:

My DS is now leaning towards DSA Infocomm for HCI instead of DSA Maths after doing some online research on this domain today. But he doesn't have much to show, except for the HCIC results he received today. I was wondering if it's worth trying since his Infocomm achievement will just appear as a 1-liner in his DSA submission. 🤔 A part of me being a parent is wondering if he will have a higher chance in this domain as compared to Maths. He's not dying to get into HCI, but I think he wants to have this option if possible. His 2 other options are NUSH and SST. Would appreciate any advice on this. Thanks!

Some background info:
The results for HCIC 2024 were released this morning, and to our amazement, my DS did surprisingly well. He doesn't have a background or any prior accolades in coding/programming so it was really out of the blue. So far, he has only dabbled in HTML on his own on rare occasions, and for this competition, it was meant as a try for fun activity since he doesn't attend any coding classes and was never particularly keen to. To prep, we borrowed some Python- and robotics-related books from the library for him to read up about 2-3 weeks before the competition. We didn't expect much because most of his afternoons were spent on attending MOs and revising for school common tests. I think he only spent less than 8-10 hours in total reading the books, and about 2 hours trying out the codes on the computer. So when we saw the results this morning, we were dumbfounded and it made us wonder, is this area another strength of his that we didn't know about? His almost 12 years of life has mostly been about his love for Maths only, so we naturally thought that he would just try for DSA Maths when the time comes and that would be it. Now we (including my DS) are not so sure anymore. 😅

Personally I believe a good result in HCIC is quite shiny, because there isn't many coding competitions at the primary school level.
Besides computational thinking and coding, Competitive coding also involves algorithmic thinking and problem solving (some problems are also mathematical in nature), and often people who do well in maths also tens to do well in the latter aspects, so I believe by this logic, your DS's math achievements would also add value to his portfolio for DSA infocomm.

Also, I think it's not strange or rare for some students to discover that they are good or interested in maths and infocomm coding/programming, there exists (and I know at least one Hwa Chong person) who excelled in maths and coding at the international olympiad level.
One thing to note is that competition maths at the secondary school level is quite different from the primary school level as there is a shift in emphasis and transition from solving problems and computing numerical answers to proving mathematical statements. This proving aspect is much harder and may seem more abstract, and many students may lose interest halfway.

CoffeeCat

Sweetclar2011\" post_id=\"2134055\" time=\"1716133308\" user_id=\"201972:

Hello,

Any of your girls struggling with Math in Sec 1 G3? We were taken aback with how challenging the WA1 and WA2 papers were despite time duration of 45 mins. The questions were pitched higher than what was taught and teachers typically just briefed through the chapters.

According to their teacher, the failure rate is more than 60 percent in the class.

Perhaps you and your kid can check out this book, to see if the more challenging questions that came out in the WA are similar to the ones in this book.
Although the book says IP, I believe it still follows the usual school syllabus but has tier-ed questions (i.e. more challenging questions than usual). However there is only final answer at the back of the book and no worked solutions, so an alternative might be the \"Mentor Mathematics\" book.
https://postimg.cc/23FYy7LN

Missylee\" post_id=\"2134354\" time=\"1716860035\" user_id=\"151705:

Hi, my kid is in P5 and has never gone thru any MO training. Last year, he joined the NMOS and got a bronze. Not sure if it’s too late to have proper training for MO now to see what he can achieve by next year. Any recommendations for MO training centre in AMK, Bishan, Novena area? Thanks!

While there is only 1+ month to P5 Mathlympics and NMOS, there's still 10 and 11 months to P6 RMO (formerly RIPMWC) and APMOPS, plenty of time for a serious and motivated learner to improve by leaps and bounds!

AFAIK the centres that seem to fit the location (in no particular recommendation order):
1. Terry Chew Academy https://terrychew.com.sg/math-olympiad-singapore
2. Mathlete Training Centre https://www.mathletetraining.com/
3. Global Education https://www.globaleducation.sg/math-science-olympiad
4. One Target Education https://www.onetargetedu.com/
5. Think Academy https://www.thinkacademy.sg/
6. Nicklebee Tutors https://nicklebeetutors.com/small-group-math-tuition/

Other Centres that may not fit your location (in no particular recommendation order):
1. Coco Education https://sgcocoedu.com/ (Hougang, which may be near enough, have youtube channel of question walkthrough on https://www.youtube.com/@COCOEDUCATION)
2. The MathClassroom https://www.themathclassroom.com.sg/
3. Maths Hub and MathArena https://www.mathshub.com.sg/
4. GATE https://www.gifted-school.com/high-ability-math/
5. Kangaroo Study https://kangaroo.study/course/index (have an active youtube channel of question walkthrough on https://www.youtube.com/@mathsolympiadinsingapore5881)
6. Avocado Lab https://avocadolab.sg/

I think most of these centres have been around for some time and have their share of \"producing good results\". But of course, one's mileage may vary. So I suggest trying to go for trial lessons and see if your child can follow the lesson and the trainer, especially since a centre often has different trainers conducting the same course at different timeslots. While I believe most centres would cover mostly similar topics, different centres may have different styles that suit different learners.

Also, it is highly likely that these centres would be following a structured curriculum at their own pace, pacing topics weekly and over a few years. Hence students who joined their programs midway (e.g. since your child does not have prior MO training) might missed out many of the foundation topics.
I would recommend looking at the Terry Chew math olympiad books to cover some of the foundation topics, and buying the \"TYS\" for NMOS and Mathlympics to cover the remaining gaps. Lastly, knowledge of Algebra is already assumed for P5 MOs, so can invest in an algebra specialty book such as this. Sec 1 level suffices. (Yep, I bought it during one of those Popular Flash Sales

)
https://postimg.cc/dLHhfYB1

TYS Book Sales[list]

CoffeeCat

yitchieh\" post_id=\"2133392\" time=\"1714953398\" user_id=\"176771:

Hi , can a child take NUSH DSA selection test and apply DSA for other schools at the same time?
My second question is for DSA leadership, what are they going to do at the secondary school? Need to commit just the leadership training programme or need to hold certain positions?

My 3rd question for DSA science if my child only have Merit for a SPSO..other comeptitons just participation cert. Does he stands a chance?
Thanks

To your first question, yes, because everyone is allowed to apply to 3 schools, so naturally one can take NUSH DSA selection test while applying to other schools.
To your third question, technically he would stand a chance for schools like NUSH and SST which conducts a selection test for everybody who applied. Not too sure for other schools, they may do a shortlist before inviting for selection test, so may not have much chance.
To your second question, i hearsay some schools will appoint them as prefect, some force them enrol in uniformed groups. It depends on the school, best is check with them maybe during their open house.

CoffeeCat

Trooper\" post_id=\"2133259\" time=\"1714580180\" user_id=\"170470:

Hi,

Just wondering for DSA dance, do we need to submit videos during the initial application? Thanks

Hi Trooper, i think it depends on the school you are applying for, and you would need to check the website of your desired school for the information.
As an example from google search in 2022 SCGS did require submission of video during the initial moe portal application by including the link to uploaded video
https://www.scgs.moe.edu.sg/files/SCGS-DSA-Info-Sheet-2022_final.pdf

Guest

CoffeeCat

reinersu\" post_id=\"2131345\" time=\"1711423617\" user_id=\"192784:

I cant find information for H2 Computing. Is this still offered in school? If yes, can past the link here?

https://www.dunmanhigh.moe.edu.sg/academic/subjects-overview/
Computing is there right at the end of the page

CoffeeCat

Chin99\" post_id=\"2133216\" time=\"1714373152\" user_id=\"120803:

My Child is keen on Robotics. Anyone know of a a good external vendor for training with the idea of DSA next year?

IMO Nullspace Robotics https://sg.nullspace.co/ and School of Robotics (SOR) https://www.sor.com.sg/ are two of the bigger and more popular robotics vendor with good past record in robotics competitions (e.g. FLL, NRC, WRO), if robotics (i.e. building small robots with LEGO parts and programming them to move) is what you and/or your child is looking at.

They both have a structured robotics curriculum for newbies to get to the can compete in robotics competitions level.
SOR's course is the traditional 1 lesson/week kind while Nullspace Robotics' course (called Robotics Certificate Programme) is that it is flexible and at your own pace, so your child could rush through by booking say 3 lessons/week. This flexibility comes \"at the expense\" of class size, so each of their bookable class session is limited to 4 students, so 1 robotic instructor would guide a maximum of 4 students who could be progressing at their own pace.
Nullspace Robotics and SOR (AMK branch) uses the newer Spike Prime, while SOR (main branch-Bukit Timah) is still using the older EV3 last year. LEGO is deprecating EV3 with Spike Prime as the replacement kinda, and secondary schools are in their own individual pace of transitioning.

After the child complete the course, they are now competition-ready, but in order to take part in the traditional robotics competitions (i.e. FLL, NRC, WRO), they would have to take part as a team with a coach, so if they are not part of a school team/club, they can sign up the competition package with a centre (again NUllspace or SOR or some others), where the centre would form teams and the coach would be guiding them during weekly sessions.
One key difference here is that SOR allows students to sign up a competition course and structured robotics course concurrently. Nullspace robotics requires the child to have some background already (e.g. by completing their advanced course) before they can participate in their Robotics competition course, which is by-invite only, with limited slots but popular demand.

Also the reality of robotics competitions is that students have to form teams of 2-3, with different roles to play, like one is the main coder while the other is backup and focus more on building. And so usually the schools with robotics DSA would also have their own selection tests to evaluate the students' robotics coding as well.

If you want to take on robotics competitions as a portfolio for DSA, the timeline would be quite tight, because NRC/WRO is held around term 3 holidays (aug-sept) and FLL is held around March, while registration, forming of teams and training usually start around 3 months before. So if your child is P5 this year, realistically could only aim for P5 NRC/WRO and P6 FLL.

https://www.nushigh.edu.sg/nmos/

This was probably announced 1 month ago but looks like there are some *big* changes to this year's upcoming July NMOS.
This year's NMOS is open to Primary 5 Students only (previously open to P1-P5), consists of one round only (no special round), and comprise of 35 Questions (instead of previous 30 questions).
No change to time limit, still 1 hour 30 minutes.
Breakdown here https://www.nushigh.edu.sg/news-and-events/primary-school-competitions/mathematical-olympiad-of-sg/rules-and-regulations/
Q1 to Q10 - 1 mark
Q2 to Q20 - 2 marks
Q21 to Q30 - 3 marks
Q31 to Q35 - 4 marks

The below is not new though, but feels like NUSH is encouraging female participation!
This time the number of TOP individual winners who will be shortlisted to join the training squad for IMSO is not specified, but was stated to be 20 last year.
https://www.nushigh.edu.sg/news-and-events/primary-school-competitions/mathematical-olympiad-of-sg/awards/[list]

CoffeeCat

:thankyou: tinker_bell and mummyof3angels for the compilations!

Adding on to here a link to my old compilation of 2001-2009 tough psle questions. https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9494
Probably too old to be relevant, and links are probably too old and broken, requiring Internet Archive.
e.g. Flawed? 2005 question
https://web.archive.org/web/20180619110701/http://www.math.nus.edu.sg:80/aslaksen/papers/PSLE2005.pdf

Perhaps this thread could be made sticky or something to be more visible to future visitors and not lost to timestream? Something like our own museum of PSLE tough questions :lovesite:
Meanwhile I shall add this link to my own profile for \"bookmarking\"

CoffeeCat

@CoffeeCat