SG_KP1\" post_id=\"2040800\" time=\"1633407044\" user_id=\"188234:

IMO, hard or easy is not going to eliminate balloting under the new AL system. If the papers are hard, a school that is normally AL6 may ballot at AL7. Conversely, if the papers are easy the same school may ballot at AL5. However, there is likely to be some balloting in all three scenarios.

I have no idea if the papers were easy or hard as I didn't take them nor do I have a single kid that took both of them (this year and last year). I would just add that last year everyone thought the papers were easy but the simulated AL COPs were basically what people expected (IP AL6-AL8/9, no AL5s). So maybe not as many people score as high as perceived or the papers weren't as easy as every kid thought.

Obviously, there is no point to have a paper where every question is 1+1 = 2 (everyone gets 100) or conversely the A Level F Math Paper (most of the cohort gets 0). Last year the papers seem to produce a reasonable distribution of scores and reading all of the comments taken together that is likely the case again this year.

Congrats to those who are finished. Good luck to those who have HMT tomorrow.

Not everyone can get into IP. Don't worry if you can't. I comment to this particular post because it states that most get 0 for F Math A Level. I didn't know that. My Express Stream kid - well below IP level - attempted the 2018 Victoria School F Math Preliminary Exam and got 17% for paper 1 and 68% for paper 2. He took it at the start of Sec 2. Parents who don't get their kids into the so-called top 4 schools should take a chill pill. Kids learn at different rates. My son struggled with Maths in primary school in P1. Never got 90% for it in P5 and 6. There's always a huge room for improvement. They will learn when they want to. And he's learnt a valuable lesson - he knows how it feels to fail and come through it on the other side.

Parents are given plenty of information on how the posting exercise works. They get a book "Choosing your Secondary Schools" which contains the relevant information. The key information is available online and schools also give details in one form or another. If you don’t understand, ask your school / MOE. But DSA is another matter altogether. My kid’s school gave out no information whatsoever (except for a leaflet from NUS High), and we didn’t know anything about how DSA works. I asked my kid to ask his classmates. I was disgusted when my kid told me that no-one wanted to say anything. They didn’t want to share any information (probably because if my kid applies too it reduces their own chance of getting it!). As an adult, I was appalled. Posting to secondary school should not be reduced to some Machiavellian game. I also feel sorry for those kids who didn’t get any of their 6 choices.

All this fuss about NYGH is misplaced. It is a good school. It filled up its available places. Well done to those kids who scored 258 / 259 and still put it as a first choice. Those who scored higher marks but did not put it as a first choice have no cause for complaint - and little chance of an appeal.

.zeit:

pirate:

[quote=\".zeit\"] :thankyou: That's very helpful! My relative's kid has zero tuition and scored 1 borderline A/B, 2 low As, 1 A* & HCL=D in the recent P5 exams. Hopefully their kid can fall within the 30% criteria or consider DSA (CL) to an OP school, as her grades fluctuate quite drastically...

That may translate into PSLE T-score of 260.

Yeah, like pendulum! That's why refused to drop her best leverage - HCL, despite all the words of conventional wisdom offered to the parents.[/quote]Under the 2021 new system, I am shocked that MOE states that a student with 4 grades of 74% scrapes into the Express stream and that the score is equivalent to a current T-score of 200. It shows you how close the current standards near the top are. Except for the very top scorers (280+) there is very little difference between the ability of the students. I know someone last year who got 2 A* and 2 A and received 264. Another person this year got 3 A* and 1 A (probably high A) and received only 253. Another student this year - who I hear was devastated by her grade - got 3 As and 1 B and got 220. Well, that grade is inconsistent with MOE's claim that 4 grades of 74% are basically equivalent to T-score of 200. (The fact that the new range for AL 5 is 65% - 74% is not relevant to this issue. As far as MOE is concerned, a grade of 74% has the same value as a grade of 65%.)

But the change overall is good. I think it is part of the national objective to ensure that children take mother tongue seriously. The grading change makes it more important than ever. Also, I think schools at the top end will have to take a wider range of student grade at the bottom end of their cohort (from the median to the current COP level). Such narrow distinctions are meaningless.

But I think the new system will increase stress.

oldman123:

cilipadi:

Students from affiliated schools get 2 bonus points when they select the affliated JC.

So I think it can be critical.

The other 2 bonus points can come from CCA or Mother Tongue. Maximum of 4 bonus points allowed.
Can read more here:

https://www.moe.gov.sg/docs/default-source/document/education/admissions/jae/files/booklet.pdf#page=26
[quote=\"oldman123\"]Dear Experienced Parents

Our child would have gotten into his dream secondary school, Fairfield Methodist, if we have put him in its affiliated primary school. However, due to our ignorance of the system, we did not. The non-affiliated COP is just too high at 241 compared to 200 if affiliated. He was greatly disappointed as he got 230+.

Not to repeat the same mistake twice, can experienced parents advised whether it is also critical to go to secondary schools that are affiliated with Junior College ?

Please advise. Thank you so much.
:thankyou:

Hi
Thanks. I think this \"affiliation\" thing is not correct. The government schools have no affiliation. Once you are in an affiliated primary school, it seem you are on the \"super highway\" to secondary and junior college. Everything should be by merit. Think of the hard work put in by each child. The children of today really put in a lot of sacrifices and hard work for the PSLE.[/quote]Government can't really change this one. You speak to any doctor, lawyer or accountant and it is very clear that they treat this policy as an entitlement. It is so entrenched I don't even bother to argue.

hwachie:

LKY1967:

I'm a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

System will give you No. 1 choice.

When looking at your choices, system will go down the list, the first school which you qualify for, you get.

e.g. T-Score 237
1st choice COP 239 (Child will not get in)
2nd choice COP 238 (Child will not get in)
3rd choice COP 237 (Child might get in, depending on decimal points)
4th choice COP 236 (If child didn't get 3rd choice, definitely will get into this school)

This is why there's no need to put 2nd choice COP higher than 1st, since if meet 1st choice COP, will get in. If don't meet 1st choice COP, then confirm cannot meet 2nd choice COP (i.e. 2nd choice is wasted) and system moves down the 3rd choice.

What the other post might have been saying is if compare two students (A and B)

e.g. A COP 238, B COP 237

A's choices
1st Choice: School XXX COP 239
2nd choice: School YYY COP 236

B's choices
1st Choice: School YYY COP 236
2nd choice: School ZZZ COP 234

Since A won't be allocated to XXX, system moves down to YYY. System will allocate A to YYY before B to YYY, even though A put YYY as 2nd choice, B put as 1st, because A's COP is higher than B's.

Thanks. I'm just relieved that the focus is on the choice as well. Given that we make choices based on last year's COP (i.e. not on the COP that will in fact apply) there could be fluctuations. I don't mind the COP 250 school, but it's not our first choice. I would rather my kid goes to the COP 245 school. I think it makes sense that the computer system must look at everyone's first choices and will only look at second choices if the first choices are not satisfied. The alternative is no choice at all and all places to be allocated according to PSLE score, highest to lowest! Neither the PSLE handbook nor MOE website addresses this issue clearly. But as a matter of logic you must be right.

I’m a bit confused by the relevance of order of your choices. Someone earlier today appeared to assert that order is not important - and that the first school for which your child qualifies (i.e. the one with the highest COP) will be selected for your child. Really? I want to select as No. 1 choice a school with COP of 245, and No. 2 choice with COP of 250. Assuming my child has more than 250, will the system give me the No. 1 choice? Thanks.

I think it is difficult to answer the question about the balls unless you see the exact wording of the question as well as the picture provided.


Given the knowledge of the children (including those who are so-called "further thinkers"!!!) the most logical answer is (2) - B only.

The kids know that all objects have mass, and that mass is the amount of matter in an object. Therefore, some objects have more matter (stuff) inside of them than others. So the kids have been taught about density / atomic structure indirectly.

But I agree that answer 4 is also possibly correct! It is notably unscientific to have an exam paper that allows for contradictory answers. But let’s not kid ourselves. Such mistakes occur in every PSLE exam and every school exam. It’s the same for everyone, so it’s fair in a way!

I think it is difficult to answer the question about the balls unless you see the exact wording of the question as well as the picture provided.


Given the knowledge of the children (including those who are so-called "further thinkers"!!!) the most logical answer is (2) - B only.

The kids know that all objects have mass, and that mass is the amount of matter in an object. Therefore, some objects have more matter (stuff) inside of them than others. So the kids have been taught about density / atomic structure indirectly.

But I agree that answer 4 is also possibly correct! It is notably unscientific to have an exam paper that allows for contradictory answers. But let’s not kid ourselves. Such mistakes occur in every PSLE exam and every school exam. It’s the same for everyone, so it’s fair in a way!

Maybe good not to have SA1. A child committed suicide after SA1 a year or so back after getting their results. The schools set more difficult exams for SA1 than SA2 (so that the children don’t become cocky and switch off). This is not right. Unheard of in higher education at the best universities in the world. So why inflict it on primary school kids in Singapore? My youngest daughter is in the 2009 cohort.


I would get rid of PSLE altogether. A pointless exercise designed to foster social exclusion and elitism. Some secondary schools are effectively racially segregated (i.e. the good ones). I want my kids to grow up surrounded by kids from all racial communities. Eugenics out; racial integration in!