Category Archives: Education

2019 Secondary 4 Week 23 Update

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This week saw the start of the school holidays here in Singapore, but for BB & GG, it was school as usual. Both had to go back to school for some intensive lessons so that the teachers can complete the syllabus.

The children also had a combined study session with BB’s besties. Since BB and his besties are pure science students, they were able to help GG with some of the issues she had in science which was a win-win situation for all.

This week also both have schools on different days and after this week, they can finally start their holidays. But this holiday (and all until mid November) are only reclassified as study breaks so it’s back to hitting the books for them. They also need to work on their EAE statements for the courses they are interested in.

That’s all for the week, have a wonderful Sunday!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 22 Update

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School is out for the semester, but this doesn’t mean that BB & GG get a free pass and get to enjoy your holidays. They have to go back to school some days this week and next before they can start their holidays. Also teachers have planned on giving them homework during the holidays, so this is a working holiday for them.

We went for the parent teacher meeting on Friday and BB’s teachers had good things to say about him even though he didn’t do so well in his mid term exams. They see a lot of potential in him and hopefully BB sees what we adults see in him and works hard during the next few months leading up to the prelims in August.

BB was given the model student award again for this semester. She won it for the first time when she was in Sec 1. I was surprised she won it this time because she didn’t do very well academically, but according to her form teacher, she was given the award for her positive attitude, her can do spirit and the fact that she is such a hard working girl. I am very happy for her.

That’s all from the schools for us. Have a wonderful Sunday folks!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 21 Update

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We are at the last week of school now, though both BB & GG have to go back to in the June holidays for extra lessons.

Both schools are also doing intensive lessons for those who take the mother tongue languages of Chinese, Malay and Tamil. They will have their first attempt at the O level exams in the first week of June. Since both BB & GG’s mother tongue language of Hindi is not in this scheme, they, along with other classmates sit in the library and self study during this period.

We are also gearing up towards the Early Admission Exercise for Polytechnics. Both have specific courses they are interested in and will apply for them when the portal opens in end June. If they get selected in the course of their choice, it means even if their O level results do not meet the cut off points of that course, they still get in as long as they meet the polytechnic entry criteria and course base criteria.

That’s all from us for this week! We have the parent teacher session at the end of the week and I wonder what both sets of teachers will have to say for the children.

2019 Secondary 4 Week 20 Update

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Both BB & GG got the results of their mid-year exams this week and the results have not been as expected. Their schools made the papers more difficult and marking was also stricter, the result being all of us disappointed with their results.

Long story short, their holidays will spent prepping for their prelims which will take place sometime in August.

I’ve had many conversations with both of them, especially BB and I am still unsure if what I said to BB has made an iota of difference to his thinking. I have also been doing a lot of thinking and I now believe that the right attitude is the key to doing well in examinations. If you study with the right attitude, then even a short study session will be more productive than a couple of hours of indifferent work.

I will probably need to do some more research on this and if it’s something that is worth sharing, I will do a separate blog post on the topic.

2019 Secondary Four Week 19 Update

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Exams are over and both children are enjoying a weekend of no school, no tuitions and no studying. I’ve given them this weekend off and told them that come Monday they are back to the grindstone.

They both, separately caught the Avengers movie with their friends and loved it! GG said she cried at parts and especially at the end.

When school starts tomorrow, they will start getting the results of their exams and I do hope they have done better than their common tests earlier in the year.

GG also conspired with her brother to buy me a Mother’s Day present. They are still asleep now, so I’ll know what it is when I see it.

Have a wonderful Sunday! To all the mums reading this blog, here’s wishing you a very happy Mother’s Day. You all are the superheroes of your family, and you rock every day!