@MommyNg and Swee Joy and to the young student in question,

I do not have to ask the management about grading by bell curve. I have taught at a local university for decades and the departments simply do not grade by Bell curve. If you are reasonbly good, it is not difficult to get grade A. The management does not control the exam proceedings. The exam proceedings are strictly confidential. I would be interested to know which department overseas allow exam to be retaken until you are satisfied (like an A grade). I would advise not going to that department.
When I said "universal" experience, I meant NOT everyone would have the same rosy experience as you have painted.
Just because you have followed not exactly the path that I suggested and did not like it does not give it a compelling reason to suggest going overseas.
I am advsing a young person who have multiple offers of local scholarships but instead choose to go overseas. The cases that I cited are not in isolation, many have not obtained their desired class of degree, many have just got a passed degree and some just never completed their studies and some just simply switch to some thing else. If you do choose to go overseas, whether you succed or not, just remenber that failure is not the end of the world, but also think of the persons (most likely parents) who will be financing your studies (in these days, to the tune of 300 to 400 thousands dollars at the minimal) and where in your aspiration you place them. I trust that you will make the right choice.

On a positive note, Professors at our local universities are amongst the best in the world. First class honours degree graduates from our local universities are sought after by overseas universities and indeed also locally. Many many distinguised eminent professors at our local universities studied at our local universities.

mommyNg:

I would say it depends on how reputable the overseas universities are as compared to the local ones. If the overseas universities are like top-tiered in the world, I would say go for it. Otherwise, our local universities are better than the middle-tiered ones. The experience of studying in a top overseas university is immensely useful and an eye-opener. Also, the kind of friendships and network that you may build there is quite different than if you stay in Singapore.


One thing I don't agree about is that one should focus on getting a solid first degree locally first and then venture overseas later (for post-graduate courses), that is, if you already thinking of going overseas next time. For one, local universities grade by bell curve and they don't give many As, as compared to say, the US universities. So when you use your undergraduate degree results to apply to these overseas universities, you may have a disadvantage compared to their local students. Of course, if you are the top 15-20% (the As) in our local universities you should be fine, but the competition to get there (top 20%) is very intense (you would be already the top 30% of your cohort to be admitted into local universities, which means you are effectively the top 6% of the entire cohort). Compared to overseas universities, the competition to be the top 20% on average is slightly less intense. Plus, if you study overseas, you may get real face-time and personal interaction with professors and researchers that you would like to work with (rather than just correspondence). It would be a lot easier to get their recommendation letters to support your graduate school application (or internship opportunities).

Studying is not about reputation. I for one had studied overseas and did not relied on parents' finance or scholarship. As for the picture that you painted, \"The experience of studying in a top overseas university is immensely useful and an eye-opener.\", is not an universal experience. An good eye-opener would be that the \"the university\" is not what it seems to be portraited, the lecturers' are not that great as you would imagined. The experience of managing your times, work (I meant real working experience), lived on your own, looking for places to live, the interation with local students as well as international students and the interaction with local commnuity as to have some semblance of attchment to how people in genral live there is very valuable for one's balanced view of life. As for the kind of network and friendships that you can forge overseas, you can equally well do that in your very own commnunity.

It is a myth that local universities are stingy giving out grade A. It is also a myth that overseas unversities do not grade by bell curve. As for some really reputable departments in overseas universities, the percentage getting to a first class degree is very small indeed. There are students literally struggled to get through to graduate. And there were also tragic cases of students committed suicide after their last exams. One case was a student of LSE whose parents were hawkers and left a note that saying as much that he could not face the parents and could not see how to repay the years of sacrifice the parents had made.

As an undergraduate, you normally would not have any professional interations with researchers unless you are already engaing in research, which is not like the case. Yes, you may have some personal interaction, such as a personal tutor or counsellor but that is all. Recommendation letters can always be obtained from lecturesr or professors who taught you. What I propose is that a graduate study is not a natural extension of undergraduate education. A good students should find a research area and already have some ideas of what to studies and have already begun to read and study some research papers and corresponded with the research authors and make enquiries of possibility to go under his tutelage. I am speaking of students who are really very good and obviously if he had multiple offers of scholarships.

Sweet Joy:

What would you say to a young person who is offered scholarships by local universities, but like to go overseas instead(without scholarship)?

First of all, most universities local or overseas offer similar course contents. Nowadays, the corporatisation of universities meant that the contents are not what it used to be local or abroad. (Universities fight for their income in more subtle ways than before.) Why choose overseas university for your first degree, when you have little ideas of what you will be studying and in what depth to achieve a mastery of the subject (as oppsed to getting the paper qualification)? More often, the urge to go overseas comes from peer pressure. For instance, all my friends are going overseas, so too must I, in order not to lose out. Sometimes it is the expectation to follow parents' foot step. If my parents have gone overseas for their education, so it would seem I should do that too. Of course, if parents can afford it, then one consideration is the ability to survive outside your comfort zone, or if you really, really can afford it bring the comfort with you overseas.

My advise is this, study and examine in detail, what course of study you want to pursue. Write down and do a bit of research of the area of specialisation you may be thinking of or likely to be extemely interested. Look up which local university would offer such a course of study. That's not all, bearing in mind that the courses taught may be somewhat lacking in depth, read and study and research beyond the comfort zone of do-able courses that are designed for large classes of may be two to three hundred students. At the end of the day, by the time you graduate, considered yourself one proud graduate ready to go into research or innovation or creative endeavours. If you do and I expect you will, you will then be able to accesss which overeseas universities offer the best research and the opportunity to joint frontier and monumental projects. Post graduate scholarships here and abroad are always available if you are good. If you have studied whole heartedly for the degree, you may have correspondence with the researchers you are likely to be working with you. By this time, you may know which overseas countries you will be going.
In short, get a solid first degree locally and then venture overseas.

Not an extreme problem. The normal stuff in Pure Math papers in the 60’s. Part (a): tear out cos^2(x) from the integrand write in terms of cos(2x), expand and apply integration by parts and simplify. Part (b) integration by parts on the integrand will yield the formula directly. For part apply integration by parts to the integrand (integrate x and differentiaete the other factor) simplify (changing occurrence of sin^2(x) to 1-cos^2(x)) will give the formula in part .

It is a good practice in integration by parts, in each part, there is only one integration by parts to perform. Parts (d), (e) and (f) straightforward. Part (g) requires an integration by parts and putting the parts together gives part(i) and the Squeeze theorem finishes the last part. This is Euler’s formula.

It depends on expectation. There is really one kind of maths. If you are dealing with word problem, the learner must be receptive to first the question data. i.e., know what the question says and what the question is asking. Secondly think about the question data and ask if learner can see any relation among the question data. That is the key to solving the problem. Then use the relation effectively towards the solution: this require some conceptualization of the data, some times encoding it in "algebra" is most efficient, if not think of a way to embody the data in say some symbols, (the school likes to use blocks but some teachers can confuse you) , e.g. a basket or a container and learn to think "algebraically". This habit can be extremely useful and when your child goes to sec school (the so-called block method will become an impediment to learning algebra and calculus), it will be an advantage. Encorage your child to question and learn the meaning of mathematics, not found in school curriculum.

Most kids do not really know what they want out of an under graduate education. Nowadays most respectable universities (including our local universities) provide similar academic and intellectually challenging education for most disciplines. Going overseas does not necessarily guarantee a good honoiurs degree and not all students can adapt well to life on his/her own physically, emotionally and spritually.


Here are some simple facts:
1. Having good A level results does not imply ability to obtain a good honours degree, that is, Second class upper division and above.
2. Prestigious universiies also have their share of mediocre students just like any other universities. Able to get in a prestigious university does not mean able to cope with the studies. With better universities comes the stress associated with competing with more or equally capable students.
3. Living in a different culture and environment without the comfort of home and having to deal with unfamiliar faces, unfamiliar places, unfamiliar customs and practices can be quite devastaing for some.
4. For some students, the stress of not being able to do well/ or maintain impressive performance can be overwhlemingly stressful and affect their mental health.
5. You can get an excellent undergrdauate education at the local universities, that is, if you know how to excel beyond the usual norm. After obtaining a good hons degree locally, it would be easy to go overseas for a post graduate degree on ones own with teaching assistantship, etc.
6. A first degree is considered a basic qualification. What you are capable of much depends on how you go about getting and studying for the degree.

For every success story, there are unsuccesful ones and sometimes very tragic and sad ones. There are suicide related stories.

Sending your son/daughter overseas for studies, is not just a simple case of affordability. He or she should do some homework as to why an overseas degree at a particular uni in a particular discipline is so desirable as oppose to a degree at a local university. An important consideration is if your child/daughter do know what his/her interest lies in pursuing the studies. At least you will know to some extent where their intellectual development is heading. If you are rich, of course, it does not matter, much of the problem with living abroad can be alleviated with a generous living allowance and if they survive the rigour of the courses they will bring home a degree. Even then, some will blame you why send them overseas to suffer when they could have gotten similar degree at home. Some may even tell you they are doing the degree for the parents and that they are not actually interested in the discipline they have studied in.

Taking a scholarship in Singaore, normally involves the whole family. with the sureties, bond and a hugh liability. In addition to the 6 points above for consideration, there is the bond and the sureties for liquidated damages in case of unsuccessful completion or non compliance with certain rules. The scholarship holder is normally bonded for five to six years after he or she has completed the degree course. Your son/daughter must take this into consideration, a period of eight or nine years commited to serving the organization that gave the scholarship. The decision should not be taken lightly. The consequences of failure to complete and compliance is grave and devastating.

Lastly, our local universities do have excellent and better than excellent passionate academic staff and do provide excellent, challenging and well balanced education. Root your son/daughter in Singapore before sending them overseas.

Is there a good indicator or rating of the service provided by a student care centre? How do we know the children are properly taken care of, in terms of health, school work supervision/help, play, basic exemplary manner, community bonding (with students in the centre)? If the supervisory staff are not even confident enough to help the students with p1 and p2 English and Math and speak broken English, then this will set an example that it is alright to speak broken English uncorrected, in an environment where little or no help is provided with English or Math. Are student care centres required to show what those in the supervisory capacity are able to do and are clearly capable of leading a team of student care teachers? And if so, how can a parent find out?


Off tangent to the above: Does anyone know why and exactly when the Jurong Central Stuent care centre closed about one and half year ago ?