Is it a new practice that current JC2 student to receive an invitation to take psychometric test for PSC scholarship so early in the year (e.g. in January). Has not even completed JC2 first term, anyone know how students are selected?


Thanks in advance.

Hi,

Hope to get some help here regarding the parent portal.

I reset my password for the college parent portal and the system send me an email for the new password but not the user id. Anyone knows what is the default user id?

Use to be “p” + Child’s birth certificate for the high school portal but seems not the case for the college portal.

Thanks in advance.

asiancow:

My DD got 256, what schools should she realistically try ? The score is borderline for IP ... so better try O level schools ? Among IP schools - which is best : RV SCGS NJC ?

Shouldn't worry about coping with IP if that is the school that she really preferred after doing her research.

Doubt there is any difference between PSLE score of 250 or 270 when come to coping in secondary school. In the HCI symposium two years ago, their principal kind of suggest they gauge their DSA offer base on an indication that the student have high chance to score around 250 and so far it works well for them, as you couldn't really say one student is really intellectually more capable using PSLE T-score variation (I.e. Hardworking, additional resources, learning style, motivation, etc all contribute to the PSLE score variation and not every student have the same baseline to begin with)

Don't worry too much, guide your DD think through her option, consider on the positive that the school might offer and let her make her own decision.

zeemimi:

I think there is the perennial questions of RI vs HCI, RGS vs NYGH, A levels vs IB, Sch A vs Sch B.


Some past threads may be useful , eg
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=12662&start=760
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewforum.php?f=48

Very often the parent already has a school in mind and just want confirmation here. Best is to post in the schools' individual thread and ask parents with children in the school.

I look at this thread I also get intimidated cos it looks more like a top schools thread with kids scoring above 260. :siam:

All schools are good schools and it's never too early for kids to learn how to adapt with new environments and culture, and also to take responsibility of their own choice in life. Personal view is we parent can have an opinion on school choices and share perspectives with the kids, but ultimately coach the kids to make their own decision and learn from there to maximise on the choice they make. Most will turn out fine in whichever school they choose.

gbsl99:

Hi Parents,


Does anyone know where to find historical information about % of students score above 250?

Thanks

Should be 10% thereabouts. This is usually the cut off point for Foreign language Programme (Foreign language offer is included in the result slip)

BonaFides:

Dear Parents

Kindly share your thoughts about pros & cons of RI & HCI. My DS has 276 and now we don’t know whether he goes RI or HCI.
If you know the cultural differences between these two schools, also kindly share with us.

Unable to provide comparison but can share about HCI (I.e. Son will be in Sec 3 next year). Culture wise I would say it focus on getting the kids to be independent in term of their learning journey and encourage self discovery thru project works, independent study on subjects outside of high school curriculum, community work, and Chinese morality. (I.e. student is to bid and given dedicated time for independent study on any subjects that interest them, student has to clock minimum community service hour annually, etc)

The belief system is you cannot prepare the road for the child but need to prepare the child for the road. There is a good out reach program where about 30+% of the student will be put into special IP program to focus on research work in Math/Science, language, or humanities. These students will have a chance to work with professional institutions (DSA) and participate in international student forum. Also it is a must for these student to spend several weeks in China as an exchange program. The China exchange program is also extended to some student in the normal IP program as well. (I.e. One of the side intention for having special IP program is to integrate the iSpark consortium (i.e. Very small group of GEPer and student who score 270+ in PSLE) back to the main stream education by grouping them with students who had faired well academically during Sec 2 into the same curriculum. Having say that it doesn't mean normal IP is of lower standard as it is also about student making their own choice. Student who did well enough to qualify for special program might choose not to go for it due to other interest or commitment.

School does go to a great extend to make sure student are able to cope. Historically about 10% of student who did not meet the minimum msg in Sec 2, will be allocated to structure IP curriculum which is a more guided teaching to prepare student for success in O level. Historically about half of the structure IP student will move back to normal IP and progress to Hwa Chong JC directly, while the remaining will have to sit for GCE O level exam and be posted to JC based on their O level result. The famous comparison is that back in 2015, only one out of the ten RI students who have to take the O level track qualified for JC while HCI has 100% track record in preparing student for O level and accepted into JC under the structure IP approach.

My sense is that HCI students in general know they are from an elite school (academically wise), but most of them don't feel or demonstrate self entitlement. In my opinion its balance approach that focus on self awareness, diversity acceptance, and sense of belonging is a key contributor to this general perception of HCI students.

Hope that helps.

jollybea:

Hi everyone,


I noticed that this DSA forum thread is all about elite schools such as
Raffles Institute, Nanyang Girls Secondary, NUS High and another one or two
Others.

Sorry, not trying to sound sour grapes. But what is it about these schools that
parents are so looking forward to ?

How about schools like Dunman High, Catholic High, National JC etc etc?

When the kids do the GAT, it's only Catholic High which require them to do extra papers.
National JC which requires kids to do their internal papers.

And these so called elite schools only requires the kids to do only the
GAT.

Doesn't the whole pictures of the DSA process says something about schools like Catholic High or
NJC ? Whats so great about elite schools, when I see them on par with other schools which equally
Requires the GAT ? When yr children went for the interview do the schools require the kids to bring their
portfolio, in order to check on them further ?

From
A mum why do not understand
( my boy got CO from both NJC and CH )

There are quite a few conversation on NJC and CH as far as I can recall. You might hear more of those \"Elite\" school now because they just releases their DSA result last few days.

NJC and CH are definitely good elite school too in my opinion. I however wouldn't compare the test methodology each school used and correlate that to superiority. It's just a method of filtering that the school is comfortable with and no one know wether interview or written test contribute more to the final selection. Congrats on your DS receiving CO for two very good schools.

Just my logical interpretation of the DSA process. Concept of DSA is to provide alternate assessment other than PSLE result to enrol student into school. Hence most likely school will start by first determining the type of DSA categories (I.e. Sports, Math, Music, GEP, general academics) to form basic allocations.


From there, each category will have number of allocation pre assigned to achieve that diversity intention. Once the kid are invited for selection in a category, the historical academic capability should not matter anymore within the selection itself. Hence all GEP students will be competed among the GEP counterparts based on the selection criteria of that category. Top GEP student not being selected could be the kid does not demonstrate a trait (i.e. Creativity) during the interview process within that category. School will not deliberately reject student because they think they can make it through PSLE, they will have to rely on their selection criteria of each group and gauge independently on that day performance.

As far as whether DSA student can academically adapt to the school standard, that should already been considered in the screening process (hence the reason why school ask for historical academic credential when you applied DSA). No perfect system, and it is a matter of supply and demand. Caveat, above is only my view point and I am only familiar with HCI DSA where my DS applied.

iamtsumtsum:

Anybody waiting list HCI ?

HCI issue email notification yesterday around 4:30pm. So yes, there are CO, WL1, WL2, etc

klao:

DaddyL:

One of my kid's classmate already receive CO from HCI for sports category. Anyone else in the forum already receive notification from HCI?

when did he receive? is it before June? They are some CO before June.

Cannot believe that.

Not before June. Receive the CO last week via phone.