cherryc:In other words, our non-IP secondary schools are failing to teach our students the necessary or relevant skills. Thank you very much for that enlightenment. In a nutshell, this looks like a systemic failure to me at the secondary school level. I take back what I said earlier about there being a reasonably level playing field.pirate:[quote=\"him4mixer\"]The new ‘A’ level examination started in 2006 with the introduction of H1, H2 and H3 subjects. The papers (not the MTL) btw are NO LONGER set by Cambridge!! Instead the questions are now set by MOE (through XXX branch).
What’s the difference?
Many of us who took the ‘A’ levels in the good ole days could do well just by constantly practice & practice TYS. It worked because many of the questions then were LOT (lower order thinking) like recap and recall. Few questions were on HOT (higher order thinking) like data analysis and application. Those who took ‘S’ paper would work on questions requiring them to synergize and extrapolate the concepts/knowledge learnt.
Unfortunately now this is not so…
H2 papers nowadays have literally no recap and recall questions that will favor the hardworking students. Instead the papers are filled with thinking questions where it will favor the thinking students.
Example: I had no problem finishing 40 MCQ qns within 20 min in the old syllabus and achieve perfect score. However now even if I am to finish the MCQ paper in time (as a capacity as an experienced teacher!), I am not confident to achieve perfect score. Some of the concepts tested in the paper were what I learnt in the university, up to Masters!
Thus the IP schools start to teach these HOT skills real early so that they will be well prepared when they come to us as JC students. Life is never fair but that’s how it works. The smart ones have now a better advantage IF they can benefit from our system.
Minister Sir, are you reading this?
Now you know why PSLE is so stressful. If your kid does not score tops enough to get into IP, they will have to go to a secondary school that will fail to teach them the required and relevant HOT skills necessary for them to prepare for the A-levels.
I think we have more hurdles than we think we have. Anyway, thanks him4mixer for sharing! I just wonder if equipped with all these \"HOT\" skills means that the kids will do very well in university. I am puzzled cos with A levels in UK being \"easier\" than Singapore's , I wonder if it means that Singapore students will excel in UK universities or in other overseas universities. I don't think the level of difficulty (and stress) in other countries' junior or senior schools have shot up as much as ours. And also with all these desirable HOT and other skills and advanced knowledge, do they become better graduates and workers ? I check with some university lecturers , I am surprised to know that some of them are the \"old school\" types so are they able to relate to these HOT skills? In fact, in some faculties, I think the curriculum has not changed as drastically as we have changed our Pri-JC curriculum. Imagine learning advanced level of Physics up to tertiary/master degrees standard at A levels, then seriously go university to learn what ?[/quote]Ironically, our A level students have no advantage over those from other countries who learned LOT when come to the admission selection for those oversea universities though they have scored A in HOT questions which are equivalent to deg/master level! :slapshead:
