In the end, it depends entirely on the student’s objectives and assessment of what he/she wants. Ultimately, they are going to reap what they have sowed, and I am affirmative that if they put in hard work consistently, for real, scoring A1 for a pure science subject would not be a bane at all. Some students tend to think that it is a stigma to drop to combined science. They know themselves well, and if they do not think that they have the aptitude to do well in this abstruse subject, then it would be apt to relinquish the subject.


In a nutshell, education is similar to gambling, but it does not involve massive sums of money of course, unless if you consider tuition, enrichment courses, etc. If you choose this subject out of your own volition, you take it and excel it. Yes, there is a way to drop the subject, but you can do so after a year studying the subject. After that, there is no way Cambridge is going to reimburse your exam fees.

Most school teachers print exam papers from other schools freely. You may have to inquire from the teachers about the exam papers, i.e. where they got from and how.

Anyway, are there any other websites which store copious number of exam papers where anyone can freely download them for free? The websites can be something similar to xtremepapers. I am sure everyone in this forum can benefit from it.

This book befits for any level, but I would suggest that the earlier your child get accustomed to perusing it, then the results reaped will be much more abundant and efficacious.

It all depends on your preferences and ingrained beliefs, that if you surmise that a top school will guarantee your child success in their future. I must say that primary schools are not that paramount, it is the child’s effort that matters. As long as my child gets into the top cohort of his school (a not so prominent school), I am proud of him. You all have to let go of this unduly stress and go with the flow.

I understand about the predicament students are ensnared in, and yes, the difficult maths questions are to be blamed. But employers don’t see your PSLE results, they only see your highest educational qualification. If the results are execrable, then forget about it. There is no point being troubled by the past.

All those so called ‘‘enrichment centers’’ are there to earn profits, and not to impart their ‘‘secrets’’ for success.

The main problem is that if you don’t know Cantonese, you would find it difficult to communicate.

For Social Studies, it would be quite a grueling subject for idle students, well unless if you really put in the effort to memorize all the exact facts and subtle details in order to score well in the essay questions. The other questions, based on the given sources A, B, C and such, require intensive pondering and good English vocabulary. From my experience, these questions need certain frameworks to write upon, so I suggest that you buy for your child assessment books on Social Studies Answering Skills. (By the way, History and Social Studies are a bit related. It will be an added advantage for History students.)


For Geography, it’s all just memorizing really, except for the map reading (topographical) questions. That requires you to integrate some of the textbook knowledge into your answers. I have learned that long answers don’t necessarily entail higher marks.

These are my advices for you.

I will be scoring 10A ones too! It is not impossible!