Honestly , u gotta filter out junk replies not from the tutors advertising but parents who had no idea what they are talking about. Moms come here to go on and on about how well they handle it but in reality, adds no real value to the thread. Back to your question, heres some guidelines if that make sense for you, go for it. <br><br><br>1. A gentle reminder NOT to buy assessment books for P3. In short, they do more harm than good. Too much variety for first time learner will end up confusing them than adding value. Once confused, its very difficult to un-confuse. <br><br>2. Do not get multiple tutors. P3 (and P4) too, they need foundation and stability in order to have a good grasp of the subject. Like learning a langauge, u dont want to get different teachers with different accents n pronunciations/usage of words to teach a new learner. That will throw him off.

3. Practice only past year paper. Thats the best and update-to-date material to work on. Assessment books can claim its written by ex-moe teacher but past year paper is done by current teachers. U want the current one, dont u ?<br> <br>4. Dont try to use maths method on Science. Not sure u will understand this but i`ll try to simplify. The topic for maths is very narrowed-down (example "addition of fraction with similar denominator"), therefore having more variety of questions on this narrowed-down topic benefits the student. However, topics for Science can be very broad. Broad topics should be pair with narrowed-down questions (past year paper) to greatly benefit student.

5. Lastly, scoring science is not about answering complicated and difficult open ended questions. Too many parents are caught up with this (search the forum and see for yourself). Scoring in Science is about reducing careless mistake to zero.

Good luck.

Entice the boy with games and prizes since thats what hes after. No point telling him adult logic as he wont understand anyway. However, control the the games and prize in a way that he is working hard and thinking.<br><br><br>Example like time table, he keep getting 6x7 onwards wrong or slow. Write and cut out all the time table equation (2 sided per piece) , mixing the easy and difficult one together. Tell him if he can randomly pick up 5 pieces and answer correctly within a certain timing, he can get a shot to win a prize. Get a tic tac or something with different colours capsule and assign his colour. If he can answer the 5 pieces of equation in time, he can shake the box and \"win\" the tictac if his colour tictac rolled out. Once the 5 pieces are answered, u put them separately, the remaining pile is going to be more difficult as he had already answered those easy ones. As the game progress, he might answer 4 but got the last one wrong and he nearly missed the chance of winning his prize and the game restarts. That will get him to try and think harder. Usually, hes probably gonna get at most 2-3 tictacs in a session. He still need to shake the box and get the his colour to win. Its hard. If hes able to keep winning tic tacs, that means he had already mastered timetable.


For Science, the biggest problem is MCQ careless mistakes. Give him a easy deal and a prize that dazzles him to get him in the mood to do work. Entice him with a prize like allowing him to play games during weekday for 2 hours when he come back from school but in reality you cannot let him win the prize. Condition is he must get all the MCQ correct and able to explain. If he could not explain, then its counted as guessing and the prize cannot be awarded - explanation this is the part where u deny him of the grand prize. Create a tier like full marks = grand prize. 1 mistake = 2nd prize, 2 mistakes = 3rd prize. The 3rd prize is the one u want to give him as form of small reward for the effort like 20 mins gaming, the rest is unattainable. <br><br>You want him to check his work hard enough so that he can detect careless mistakes by himself. Let say u check and he got 5 mistakes. Tell him he could not even win the 3rd prize and he had to redo everything. Here, u will see him getting disappointed but give him a \"second\" chance and if he can detect 2 mistakes, he still can win the 3rd prize. In a way, stimulating checking your work in exam. You want to cultivate his habit of real checking in them not those half hearted checks where you know deep down he isnt actually checking but going through motion.

In essence, u want to give him small rewards for his efforts but entice him with dazzling prize to make him try his best and keep trying. Good luck.

no subject

Short version : Just go for past year exam paper (http://www.sgtestpaper.com ) + Past year PSLE paper (Popular bookstore). The rest are just reserve for students with exceptions.



Almost 300 page thread “Science Guide Books” (since 2009) summarized into 3 points

1. The magic pill we`ve been searching for . They bought many assessment books and then bought “X” recently, the student scores after doing book “X”, they thought that must be the best book out there and start recommending. U go see 4 doctors. 3rd doctor gave you the cure but it takes time. Meanwhile u are anxious and go to the 4th and got M&Ms as prescription and after eating that u are cured. U recommend M&Ms because u thought that`s the cure.



2. Buy all or be sorry. They bought 4 different books and finally the kid score well. Now they are telling others these 4 books are vital for students based on this one time. Its never their intention to mislead others and they really want to help. People also asked for recommendation for assessment book first and they are just sharing from their experience. U go see 4 doctors and and try 4 different medication and finally u are cured. Since u don`t know which one is the actual cure, next time u are sick again, u say must visit all 4 doctors then can. (Even if I think go 1 doctor can already but later no good u blame me how ? I try 4 i say 4, better be safe or sorry)


3. More is good. More variety of assessment book means more exposure for various type of questions which is good for exam. Sounds goods but not necessary useful. In reality, its just gonna confuse and demoralise students with so many variation of questions and answering techniques in OEQ. Book A say this answer, i use on book B u say wrong, so i follow book C but in exam, teacher say this instead. So many, which one to follow ?




1. I want to have practice questions that are closest to the latest MOE syllabus. If now = 2018, latest = 2017 paper.

2. I want to find commonly tested questions. Not books with “commonly tested questions” written on it but actual commonly tested questions set by current, update to date MOE school teachers. No revised edition but first printed in 2006 type. Thanks.



Next year, 2019. If you are doing 2018 top school exam paper , these are questions set by actual school teachers in 2018, following the MOE syllabus for year 2018. If your school a MOE registered primary school, I think that is as close as it can be.

If there are 15 top school exam papers, set by 15 different MOE teachers from different MOE schools and yet you see a few similar type of question appearing within these 15 papers. What does it mean ? These are the commonly tested questions you are looking for man. If majority of 15 MOE teachers can all agree on something , I think the chances are pretty high here.


BEST OF LUCK

Estéema:

Pangyx,


Nice to see you helping the kids in Science again. Thank you.

You shld post more learning techniques for handling OE Qns. Pls post more for each topic, esp those on Magnets, Energy, Forces, etc

Do it early, start Oct/Nov/Dec so that the P5s can start early & feel more confident by P6. You'll help them reduce stress.

Go Pangyx, Go!

lol relax. The best learning techniques is to let them play during the exam week and spend 1 hour to summarize it all the night before the paper. Rest and sharpen your axe before the battle. :imcool:

When they study, u play. When they play, u study. When they stress, u dont.

Basic exam strategy to target A


Time allocation MCQ : 55 mins (56 marks)
Time allocation for Open ended : 50 mins (44 marks)

Be mindful of 4 types of MCQ as mentioned.
Estimate time to do : 35 mins
Check : 20 mins
Total : 55 mins


Open ended : 50 mins

More time to be spent on the easy questions (1 word, sentence type, drawings included) - Make sure u dont lose marks from it.

Strategy on hard questions : Do it once will do, do not check and waste time. Either u have the key words for the question or you don`t. No point writing long sentences and still get 0 to half mark for that. Spend the time on checking. Remember MCQ is 2 marks per question.

If questions is hard : Throw in the key points that u can think of and try to form sentences that make sense from the keyword. Worst case scenario, use point form, its better than to leave it blank.

If there is a graph/table : Quote the information from the graph first, then use the same method. Throw in the key points that u can think of and try to form sentences that make sense from the keyword


Summary : What u what to focus on

1. The 56 marks in the MCQ

2. The approximately : 20 marks from the easy, 1 word, 1 phrase/sentence answer.

3. For the remaining difficult open end questions : Don`t aim for perfection unless u are a top top student. Salvage whatever you can with the keywords and sentences that make sense.

What is this

A set of pattern/trend observed from past year PSLE Science MCQ from 2015-2017 used by the question setter.

What is the pattern/trend
4 types of questions set in 2015,2016 and 2017 that are repeated throughout. (For reference only)

1. Basic concept question (average of 14-15 questions per paper )
2. Deep concept question (average of 5-6 questions per paper)
3. Trick question (average of 5-7 questions per paper)
4. Indirect and tedious question (average of 4-5 questions per paper)

As 2017 MCQ format is changed to 28 questions instead of 30, so the above average is based on 2 papers of 30 MCQ.

1. Basic concept question - question that test on basic concept, very straightforward, little room to make careless mistakes

Where to find them ?
2017 PSLE Paper : Question 1,2,3,4,5,7,15,16,17,18,19,25 (12/28 questions)
2016 PSLE Paper : Question 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,15,18,19,20,22,23,28 (14/30 questions)
2015 PSLE Paper : Question 1,3,4,5,9,11,12,16,18,21,23,26,29 (13/30 questions)


2. Deep concept question - question that test your in depth understanding of a concept, usually you are given very close answers and you must be absolutely sure in order to score.

Example : Water cannot evaporate at 0 degree C. True/False ?
Answer : False, water evaporates at any temperature

Where to find them ?
PSLE 2017 : Question 5,9,11,28 (4/28 questions)
PSLE 2016 : Question 9,10,11,16, 21,28 (7/30 questions)
PSLE 2015 : Question 8,14,19,22,30 (5/30 questions)

3.Trick question : question where students have no problem doing but often overlooked a word/hidden point within the question

Another common trick identified is MCQ option 1 is often the closest wrong answer. Suspect it is for students who overlooked the question, then read and choose option 1 thinking its correct and move out without looking at option 2,3,4. Very high occurrence***

Where to find them ?
PSLE 2017 : Question 8,10,12,14,21,24,26 (7/28 questions)
PSLE 2016 : Question 3,12,27,30 (4/30 questions)
PSLE 2015 : Question 2,12,17,20,24 (5/30 questions)


4. Indirect/tedious question : question that usually require students to read all options either in the diagrams or answers in order to conclude the correct answer. No tricks involved, just indirect and time consuming.

Where to find them ?
PSLE 2017 : Question 6,13,20,22,23 (5/28 questions)
PSLE 2016 : Question 13,14,17,24,26 (5/30 questions)
PSLE 2015 : Question 6,7,13,15,25,27,28 (7/30 questions)

Final thought : Do you think 2018 PSLE Science MCQ will follow the same trend and pattern ? Follow at your own risk


Also : Seems like the format for first 14 questions of the 28 are Life Science questions. The next 14 are Physical Science.
Cheers.