ngl2010:

entei17:

[quote=\"tigerdaddy1974\"]My DS qualified in PSLE but we stay in Bedok. Based on my various routing attempts on several websites, it needs a minimum of 1 hour one way by public transport.


I tried looking for the information but can't find mention in this forum.

Is there are school bus to HCI from Bedok ? I drive but shudder at the PIE traffic in the morning.

Are you asking about transport from Bedok to RI or HCI?

Use this to plan your transport. https://www.transitlink.com.sg/eservice/how2go/h2g.php
It takes 33 mins to get from Bedok MRT to Marymount MRT, which is 2 bus stops to RI taking bus 410.

Marymount MRT is a few steps away from RJC. No need to take 410.[/quote]A few steps away from RJC, not RI. The Year 1-4 section is 2 bus stops away.

phtthp:

aSecStudentFrom2019:

Anyone has any advice for third language(foreign language)? Wondering whether i should take a third language..

If you are offered 3rd language, give it a try. If don't try, u never know. Pick a 3rd language, that u are interested in. Just do your best, take one step at a time. Anything that u learn today, will benefit yourself, one day

Three decades ago in the 80s and 90s, the 3rd language seems enticing options. French, German and Japanese are useful given that Germany and Japan are economic powerhouses and French is useful in Europe and the Francophone world.
However, all three languages would not be of much economic value in the next few decades as their countries age. The foreign language you should learn is simply *drum rolling\" ..................Chinese!

China will drive the global economy for decades on, and our standard of Chinese taught in Singapore is no where useful to conduct business in China like the natives do. We already have a foundation, but we should strive to improve it even further until it becomes our first language, and not think in English then translate into Chinese.

The marginal value of the other foreign languages is actually negative as it distract you from the 8-9 different subjects you would be taking in secondary school.

peasants:

Wow, 2010 onwards, COP for RGS is like go lower than NYGH ever since. Wonder what really happened.

The COP (264 for 2018 S1 entry) for NYGH are for non-affiliated students. NYPS girls can enter through affiliation if they meet the minimum 250 (not sure with or without HMT bonus points, and they limit the number of affiliated students they take in). So you could say the average COP of NYGH is actually lower than RGS.

tigerdaddy1974:

My DS qualified in PSLE but we stay in Bedok. Based on my various routing attempts on several websites, it needs a minimum of 1 hour one way by public transport.


I tried looking for the information but can't find mention in this forum.

Is there are school bus to HCI from Bedok ? I drive but shudder at the PIE traffic in the morning.

Are you asking about transport from Bedok to RI or HCI?

Use this to plan your transport. https://www.transitlink.com.sg/eservice/how2go/h2g.php
It takes 33 mins to get from Bedok MRT to Marymount MRT, which is 2 bus stops to RI taking bus 410.

totoro:

zac's mum:

[quote=\"totoro\"]If the kid says no, will you persuade or respect his decision?

If the kid says yes, will you reiterate the expectation of the program ?

I thought the kid has to sign the form too??

I hated that my parents didn’t consult my 9-year-old self.

How will 9-yrs old kids know what they are signing up for the next 3years? I just don’t like too much time or emphasis on project and report writing and insufficient time for PSLE preparation. GEP meant to stretch EL, Math and Science, why there’s GEP HCL now? Got ability doesn’t mean got a lot of time and they don’t need to have their own time to do what they enjoy. Just don’t want next time being blame for it.[/quote]HCL is not a must. For some non-SAP GEP schools, you can take CL from the beginning in P4, or take HCL first and if you cannot cope, just drop back to CL in P5 or P6.

Estéema:

At that point in time, we met Mr Sherman Tseng fr ACADEMIA & found Ms Agnes fr W@W to hone in his skills.

But our search for good teacher/coach is worth every effort coz not only is W@W & Academia a lot cheaper, it's more effective. I'm sure there are smaller scale centres that beat TLL anytime. So, no need pay sky-high expensive fee lah.

Estéema, mind if I ask you why did you enroll in both ACADEMIA and W@W? They specialize on different parts of English? Thanks.

lovingkindness 9797:

Thank you for all the insightful sharing about A level and IB.

Anyone knows the minimum IB points to get into local Universities (NUS or NTU),a general degree e.g Science or Art course.
We have no intention of sending child overseas after IB, so would it be better to choose A level stream?
Thank you so much for all your help:)
Really appreciate

Unlike the previous posts that focuses on overseas universities, if you are planning to go for local universities, its seems the general advice is to go for the A levels. The 'locals' bell curve works against IB, given that most IB holders go for overseas universities (NUS, NTU and SMU do not even provide indicative grade profiles for IB because there is no critical mass).

This is what I came across http://singaporelearner.com/2014/01/15/which-one-to-choose-the-ib-or-the-a-levels/

With the average IB score among the locals probably around 40, its hard to distinguish yourself unless you are taking relevant HL subjects to their chosen course. Do the local unis compare A levels vs IBs in their admissions, or are evaluated separately based on a quota system? Most likely the latter but haven't see anything to answer this. UK's UCAS do award tariff points for grades from different certificates for comparison. https://www.ucas.com/file/63541/download?token=uz826-Cb

For those interested to know the indicative scores for the various local unis courses, you can refer to these
http://www.nus.edu.sg/oam/docs/NUS%20IGP%202018.pdf
http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/oad2/website_files/IGP/NTU_IGP.pdf
https://admissions.smu.edu.sg/admissions/indicative-grade-profiles-igp

floppy:

You are cherry picking data points to support your argument. To illustrate why statistics can be a pile of BS, take the article from CNA:
[quote]ACS (I) said 83.2 per cent of its students that took the examinations scored 40 points and above out of a maximum of 45. For HCIS, 33.0 per cent of its students scored at least 40 points, up from 24.8 per cent for the November 2015 cohort. As for SJI, 84 per cent of its students scored 40 points or higher. Additionally, SJI International saw 30.8 per cent of its students scoring 40 points or more...

While 40-45 points may mean distinction for every subject, 4 (or is it 3) H2 distinction is the equivalent of max 45 points as A Level result is not granular (and please, > 75% of the students getting 4H2 would likely be getting A in GP lah). Hence, you could argue 46% (ok, maybe 23% after giving a YUGE discount of 50% for poor GP results) of RI students scored the max points available vs 48 from ACS(I) and 10 from SJI. What percentages are those? 10%? That’s quite poor leh

Clearly, if you play the numbers / probability game, you would have a better chance of scoring full points in the A Level.[/quote]If I'm cherry picking data, it's because there are too many cherries to pick. There are a lot of data to prove my case.

You mention about the CNA article above that statistics is BS. But are you comparing apples-to-apples? Are HCIS and SJI International students of the same caliber as the ACS(Independent)? If they are, they would be paying much lower fees attending our public schools. And even when they are not, their results are actually good in the IB exams. The reason why I chose to compare ACS(Indp) and RI/HCI is that given the same caliber of students (similar COP), how easier is it for you to top/high score in the IB than in the A levels.

This is the summary stats by IBO for their Nov 2017 exams.
https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/bc850970f4e54b87828f83c7976a4db6/dp-statistical-bulletin-november-2017-en.pdf

Key highlights:
- 16,535 candidates globally (Singapore 1,996 of which 1,528 are Singaporeans, Australia 2,408, Ecuador 2,792, Peru 2,735, Argentina 1,687)
- Only 16 schools with >100 candidates of which only 5 with >200 candidates
- 91 top scorers of 45 points (or 0.55%). Note that in the May 2017 exams, there are just 278 top scorers out of 157,488 candidates (0.18%).
- 65% of candidates score at least 1 bonus point
- 1,388 candidates or 8.4% score >=40 points

More information about the Singapore IB 2017 exams. Half of SJI cohort (138) scored >42 points with 5 perfect scores (3.6%)!
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/singapore-schools-score-better-results-in-ib-exams

If you are equating 4 H2 distinction is the equivalent of max 45 points. Then you are comparing apples to bananas. A top student in the A levels typically take GP, MT, Project Work, 4 H2 and at least 1 H3, with the really top scorers taking 2 H3. H3 helps to differentiate between the good students from the excellent, and are taken to improve their chances in scholarships and applying admissions to the top universities. So students in RI/HCI take 6-9 subjects.

Remember that our Singapore-Cambridge GCE A level is unique to Singapore. It is harder than the Cambridge international exams or the UK exams. The Singapore A levels students are competing against their Singapore educated peers (total cohort of 14,000-15,000). The bell curve is shifted to the right. Whereas Singapore IB students are competing against A-Z countries globally as mentioned above.

Who would be equivalent to an IB 45 points? If you see that in each IB exams, only 0.5%-0.8% of the total candidates gets 45 points. If I apply the same percentages for the A levels, there should be 70-110 of A level students scoring 8 or more distinctions, which is roughly where the numbers are.

But to answer the question: \"If I am a PSLE Aggregate score of >260, should I go for ACS(Indp) IB or RI/HCI A levels, with the main goal is to score an admission into a top university in the US/UK?\"

Based on the data available, there is a 80-85% chance (past year results) of scoring >=40 points in the IB exam in ACS(Indp). Given the global average IB score is just 29-30, an IB score of 40 points (top 4.5% globally) can get you a foot into most courses in the top universities, depending on other non-academic factors.

Based on the same 80-85% chance/percentile, if you are in RI/HCI doing A levels, what grades would you have gotten? As mentioned earlier post, only 63%/60% of students in RI/HCI respectively get 3 H2 distinctions. Which tells you that at the 80-85% percentile, you at best get only 2 H2 distinctions (best case 5-6 distinctions). Is that enough to get a foot into most courses in the top universities? Most unlikely. I'm also not sure whether the universities differentiate AAA grades between Singapore, International and UK A levels, when they consider admission of A level holders.

So for the same effort/hard work you are willing to put in in both IB and A levels, you get better rewards in IB.

While I was researching this topic, I came across this. Read it at your leisure.
https://www.reddit.com/r/singapore/comments/7982kv/ib_vs_a_levels/

floppy:

entei17:

...
Our high performing education system means that e.g. 70% percentile students can end up being 90% percentile globally. This phenomenon can also be seen in the O levels. There are a lot more straight A1 students from the O level schools now than was the case a decade ago, because the IP students are not in the mix. These schools do have one or two of straight A1 students then but possibly not in such bigger numbers and frequency.

In conclusion, until more schools offer IB with more students taking part, it will be less competitive in IB.

Good analysis except for the conclusion:
Until more schools offer IB with more students taking part, it is impossible to tell how competitive it is in IB.

COP for IB schools are > 250, which place most of their students in the top 10 percentile of the cohort. While it may be a smaller number, it’s a very strong cohort. There’s no reason why their results shouldn’t be outstanding at the end of the journey. Chances are, strong results from these MOE schools are coming at the expense of private and international schools (with a much more diverse mix in terms of the quality of the students) offering IB.

As long as you are in the top 10 percentile and choose a curriculum that suits you, I’m quite sure the odds of getting a good result are in your favor.

Good point on the similar COP for both IB and A level IP tracks, which means both cohorts are of similar ability.

However consider the following stats below from the A level and IB results of 2017 for RI, HCI and ACS(I):

https://rafflespress.com/2018/02/23/a-level-results-2018-keeping-our-colours-flying/
http://www.hci.edu.sg/news/hcis-class-of-2017-have-performed-outstandingly-at-the-gce-a-levels-examina
https://www.acsindep.moe.edu.sg/lp_announcement/november-2017-ibdp-exam-results/

A level track. RI reported 63%/46% of their cohort who achieved 3/4 H2 distinctions respectively. HCI reported 60% (6 out of 10) who achieved 3 H2 distinctions. These percentages do not include GP which may not be a distinction.

Contrast that with ACS(I). 85% of the cohort achieved 40-45 points. Which if you read below, 40-45 points means distinctions in almost every subjects.

\"The highest total available for a Diploma Programme student is 45 points. Scores are based on the grades of 1 to 7 awarded for each of the six subjects, for a total of 42 points, and up to 3 additional points for the core components.\"

Therefore, there is a 25-40 percentage point difference of high achievers in A levels and IB, which is more than just random, and is significant to make a difference. Clearly, if you play the numbers/probability game, you would do better in the IB.

Of course, the results is one thing. To get into a top university and courses, you need your other factors of CCA, leadership, admission statements.

floppy:

aSecStudentFrom2019:

MGS vs NYGH? Can someone compare?

It’s like comparing BK and McD (but I prefer In-N-Out ).

One is IB. One is GCE A Level. Both get you to the same endpoint (university) but do so in different ways. Ultimately, it boils down to:
1. Which curriculum you prefer; and
2. The environment that you can do well in.

I hope I don't get flamed for the following analysis, but I'm looking to just purely analysing achievable grades from the numbers game.

Caveat emptor: I'm not familiar with the IB grading system, but assumed it will be based on the very commonly used moderation and bell curve, and not a raw absolute scoring benchmark. Your work is always compared to your overall peers to grade you.

With the bulk of the top students enrolled in the IP programs and in NUSH, there is reduced competition in the IB program, and therefore easier to score well/achieve perfect scores in the IB than in the A levels. The analysis/evidence focused on the perfect scores, but the same phenomenon should be seen down the grade clusters/percentiles.

Singapore is one of the few countries that have their major exams in the Nov/Dec month vs May/June for the Northern Hemisphere countries, and therefore could possibly dominate the Nov/Oct IB exams (A levels also similar). Nov/Dec students are only a tenth of the May/June (different year statistics quoted but the gist is there).

\"A total of 1,849 students in Singapore and 14,071 students worldwide sat for the IB exams in November 2016\"
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/more-than-half-of-global-perfect-ib-scores-from-acs-i-7535512

compared this to

\"In the year that the International Baccalaureate (IB) celebrates its 50th anniversary, over 165,000 students from 2799 schools across the world received their Diploma (DP) and Career-related Programme (CP) results.\"
https://www.relocatemagazine.com/education-schools-ib-students-celebrate-exam-results-in-the-organisations-50th-year

In the same ACS (I) article above,

\"ACS (I) students scored an average of 41.82 total points, compared to a national average of 38.27 points and a global average of 29.21 points.\"

\"ACS (I) said in a press statement on Thursday (Jan 5) that 48 of their students from the latest cohort attained the maximum score of 45 points, out of 94 students worldwide.\"

Our high performing education system means that e.g. 70% percentile students can end up being 90% percentile globally. This phenomenon can also be seen in the O levels. There are a lot more straight A1 students from the O level schools now than was the case a decade ago, because the IP students are not in the mix. These schools do have one or two of straight A1 students then but possibly not in such bigger numbers and frequency.

In conclusion, until more schools offer IB with more students taking part, it will be less competitive in IB.