When I read some of the questions posted here, I can't help but feel the Math teachers in our primary school are sadistic, cruel people

I don't know why they must make the questions look and sound so convoluted. They can make a grown person cry. Our kids are only 12 years old!!

Okay, rant over :siam:

To tuition or not to tuition? That is the question.


I'm a FTWM, so tuition is something like me compensating for not being there to revise my DD3's work with her, and making sure she follows-up on her revision. My DD3 is definitely not an independent learner, she needs to be prodded, scolded, shouted at and threatened before she picks up her books. Also, I'm totally hopeless in Science, and feel helpless when my DD3 turn to me for help. So tuition is totally necessary for her, otherwise she will put in the bare minimum to get just her daily schoolwork done.

At the end of the day, the tuition must add value to the child's education. The tutor must give that something extra to the child that the teacher is not able to give. One is of course the individualised attention, another is learning customised to the child's style and ability, another could be extra notes (especially for Science) that will help score in tests and exams, and yet another could be just to give encouragement and motivation.

But I'm not obsessed over tuition. I hv 2 older kids and I only started them on tuition when the oldest was in P5 mainly for Math. In secondary school, they had no tuition except for MT last year, which I stop this year coz they hated it (even though the tuition helped pull up their scores). This year, because my DD1 is taking O levels, I gave in and let her have tuition because she wanted it. Again for Math, and Physics & Chem. Same thing with my DD2 in S3, she also wanted help in E Math (nearly failed last year but mainly because of her CCA).

Tuition is not necessary if exams are not part of the child's life, especially one as crucial as PSLE. But that's not possible, is it? So unless we're satisfied with our child just coasting by with a B or C average (which is still ok, but we wouldn't be kiasu parents in that case, would we ), tuition is a necessary evil that will take some time to wear off.

I prefer weekends where I can keep an eye on the tutor too but my DD prefer weekdays. She stays back aft school 4x a week for supp n CCA. Happen to b the tutor is avail on the weekday she doesn’t stay back so it’s all working out. Good thing her supp ends at 3:30 n the teacher doesn’t gv supp h/w so her evenings are basically free to do normal h/w. My girl is the happy-go-lucky sort so she’s not stressed AT ALL. Which makes me worried bcos secondary school life is v hectic based on what I see my older DDs go thru.

janicelhl:

hi, thanks. i also think that there is a problem with the question.

Welcome
Actually, there's one more thing wrong with the question. It doesn't put a limit on the number, so it can be 33, then 39, then 45 etc Pattern repeats itself. Is the question from your DC's school?

janicelhl:

Hi please help.


A group of more than 30 students were asked to get into equal groups. If they were to group themselves into grouos of 6 ,there would be 2 students short. If they were to group into groups of 7 ,there would be 3 students left.
how many students in total were there in the group?

I tried Guess and Check, starting from 31, and omitting multiples of 6 and 7, but the pattern shows that it is impossible to get a number which will have combi of shortfall and remainder as above.

BUT, if you change it around, ie if group of 6, left 3 students, and if group of 7, short of 2, I get answer as 33.

ie if total is 33
Groups of 6 = 5 groups (30), remainder 3
Group of 7 = 5 groups (35), short of 2

You can also get an answer if the combi is Group of 6, remainder 2, Group of 7 short of 3
Answer is 32
Group of 6 = 5 groups (30), remainder 2
Group of 7 = 5 groups (35), short of 3

If it's really a mistake in the question, then this is one of my BIGGEST pet peeve - when teacher set question wrongly, and student and parent almost go crazy, wasting precious time trying to do it. I find at least one mistake for every 10 questions the teacher set for homework for my DD problem sums.

Anyway, I stand corrected. I don't declare myself a math expert

Nightmares.:

Maths Tutor Mr. Lim:

last year psle maths paper is a jokes, happen about once every 50 years :rotflmao:


psle exam paper difficult or easy not important, why?
% of A and A star (standard Subjects) National 2013 (2012)
eng 44.4 (44.7)
maths 45.3 (44.5)
science 42.0 (42.3)
chinese 77.8 (80.7), think...............

0.75 = 3/4 easier to remember compared to 0.72 (use by school teacher)
both also not accurate, need to +-10 or +-20
may be 0.7212348903489234879352 more accurate :rotflmao:

more than 100 if, not just 2 if, think........
eg
if fainted during exam :rotflmao:

Not really. Coincidentally, it was rhe same year MOE decided not to release top scores and also decided that the PSLE scores will be graded by bands soon. MOE seems to be attempting to apply less stress on the PSLE. 0.72 is pretty accurate, probably what I would have gotten if I hadn't stepped up my game in the final few days. :hi5: Maybe you're just afraid you'll lose business if it becomes known that PSLE is going to be easier?

:hi5:

:thankyou:

Wow, bebe, your DD sounds exactly like mine! She also lacks a lot of confidence and don’t have enough self-motivation to study. Usually, it’s only after a hard talk from me or hubby that she takes initiative to write her own notes, or do revision, but not even within a day, she revert back to her usual self, lol!


Thanks for sharing your experience. I think it’s a good idea too to try the easier exam papers. That’s what her Math teacher told me also back in P4, let her try P3 assessment papers to build her confidence and then go on from there. I’m intending to let her try P5 assessment papers to revise back, especially on her weaker topics.

In the other page, rains suggested going through corrections. This is a fantastic idea too. But can be frustrating when after u go thru with her, and ask her to do similar questions, she freezes up or does the same mistakes, sigh.

And that’s the other challenge my DD has. When she does her daily work, she can usually get the concepts and do her problem sums on her own. Because the questions are already grouped by the pattern. But when it comes to exams where all the questions are mixed up, that’s where she freezes. Some of the questions don’t even appear similar to the daily questions she did in class or for homework. So I don’t blame her also for not recognizing which method to use. But I think it’s a basic issue for her - identifying what kind of question it is, and what method to use. She is still not grasping it so I need to help her with this. Any tips or short cuts to share? Are there any notes available on the Internet for me to refer to? I thought of writing out my own notes for her, but thinking about it makes me scared

Spartanmum, all of us are supermummies because we care so much for our children. Thanks for the encouragement!

Hello everyone. Just found this thread. This year I have double bonus. One child taking PSLE and the other taking O levels. Yay for me! :boogie:


The tutor who's been teaching my P6 girl EMS for the past 2 years decided to change jobs and withdraw from tutoring. So I hv to find a new one But after thinking hard about it, I've decided to tutor her in Math myself. It's her weakest subject. I noticed even from K2 days, she was having problems. I acted too late on it and now she has to pay the price. I think it's because I never send her to any music lessons when she was growing up, unlike her older sisters who now seem to excel in Math. That's my theory anyway

I'm a full-time working mom, so this is going to be a challenge for me. It's going to be a test of my discipline as much as it is hers but I want to do it for her. I find that she is most receptive to my teaching. Back in P4, I took leave just to coach her for her final year, and she did pretty okay so I think she benefited from it.

My DD is one kind. She's so quiet. She won't ask if she's not sure, even when with me and that makes me very agitated because I'm not getting the feedback I need from her. And the more agitated I get, the more she shuts down...and off.

And she will NOT study unless there's someone sitting beside her making sure she studies. If she does on her own, she gets easily distracted. She gives up fairly quickly also. Many times, she waits until I come home when she cannot do her homework, and when I go over the question with her, I discover that actually the solution is easy. She just doesn't want to think too hard because she knows I'll be there to bail her out. How to stop her from having this attitude? I always tell her \"Mama cannot be there with you when you take your exam\" but she just brushes it off.

One more problem she has is she's so distracted with the smartphone. Want to control also problem coz I cannot have eyes on her 24h. So I'm gonna 'ban' the phone from her, can only use to make phone calls, no more watching cute kitty videos on YouTube!

I've tried all sorts of methods to help her improve her Math but none seems to work, I even send her to a centre run by a Super Tutor and tutor who 'specialises' in teaching very weak students. But results have been disappointing. So now I'm using myself as a tutor as last resort and when (not IF) I see her improvement, I know it's because both of us work hard at it.

I'm setting aside my Sunday mornings for this and am preparing myself with resources I can use. Her current tutor (the one who quit) said that his approach is to spend more time doing practice papers and going over her P5 work, and lesser on her P6 syllabus. Is this a wise approach? I also come across this website pslemathonline.com that gives out 3 questions a day to for the student to practice. Anyone used them before? Any feedback to give? Advice and tips from other mummies and daddies much appreciated!

I don't set high expectations on my DD. I'm happy as long as she can make it to express course, even for neighbourhood schools. No need to aim so high when I know what she is capable of. In fact, I'm preparing myself for the possibility that she qualify for Normal and if she does, I want to make sure she at least qualify for a good Normal school. I'm staying in the East and my aim is for her to make it to Temasek Sec like her middle sister, either Normal or Express. Maybe I don't qualify as a kiasu parent, but I don't want to stress myself and my DD out aiming for something that will be unrealistic. I read about mummies here discussing about DSAs for RI, SJI, ACSI and sometimes it just irritates me because in one breath they complain abt their kids results, and in the other, they talk about DSAs into the top schools. Sorry, no offence to other mummies I myself came from one of the top girls school but have given up hope of any of my girls making it there. Oh well :sad:

Anyway, thanks for reading this and I look forward to lurking about and reading more about tips and strategies.

Is onsponge suitable for kids who are weak in maths, or is it more for kids who are already ok and want a little challenge? My DD is in P4, and she’s weak. Some concepts which I thought is pretty simple she still can’t grasp (eg questions asking ‘how much is the increase’ –> she still doesn’t grasp that they are asking for ‘difference’ or ‘minus’ operation). Any recommendations?