Tag Archives: PSLE

PSLE Year Week 2 Update

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On Thursday, I was in BB & GG’s school to talk to their teachers about their DSA plus attend the P6 Curriculum Talk. It was very illuminating to say the least. GG & BB also joined me after their CCA ended and it was a long day for all us!

I took copious notes and photographed the key slides. My take-aways from this talk were these:

  • This is a very short, hence action-packed year for us. Curriculum has be completed by mid-year and term 3 will be the start of the exams (orals and listening comprehension) plus revisions for the main exam which will happen in term 4.
  • The t-score is such a secretive thing that no one, not schools, not parents know how it is calculated. Yes the formula is open to everyone, but the cohort mean score for the subject and the standard deviation is something that only the good folks at MOE know. Without these magical numbers, whatever we do and calculate is only speculation!
  • If a child gets a U (below 20) in any subject, he may be retained back in P6. This is especially worrying for us for BB since everyone knows how his Hindi is…

  • Important dates for us
    • March: Register for PSLE
    • April: Pay PSLE fees
    • August 20-21: Oral exams
    • 18 September: Listening Comprehension
    • October 1-7 Written exams
    • October 19 – 22: Marking
    • November: Results
    • December: Posting to Secondary schools
  • Direct School Admissions or DSA is an alternate method of entry into a secondary school, especially if the child is skilled in the niche area of the school. Some schools however, take in their entire cohort through DSA.
  • The DSA exercise happens something like this:
    • Applications May to June
    • Selection by schools June to August
    • Selection outcomes in the form of letters in September
    • Exercise school option in October
    • Secondary school posting in November/December

  • The school also gave us some study strategies for the different subjects. It was nothing really new, but since there were loads of students in the audience on Thursday and this is something that parents keep reiterating, hopefully, now that these things are endorsed by the school, it will seep into their heads!
  • Strategies for English included reading a lot, including newspapers and books in various genres, speaking and discussing using stimulus and using language correctly.
  • For Maths, it was nothing more than Practice, Practice and more Practice, especially under test conditions!
  • Strategies for Science included a thorough knowledge of the content, basically everything you’ve learnt from Primary 3 onwards as each year builds up the knowledge of the preceding year, understand the process and apply the process skills. Children should also read the exam question thoroughly, including all diagrams to understand what it is they are expected to be answering using key words to answer the question.

We also had a presentation a school which is BB’s dream school (not putting the name down fear, for fear of being jinxed, though if (fingers crossed) he gets in, I’ll definitely put the results and the school name here). He loved the presentation and I am going to do all I can to ensure that he makes it in! The school is perfect for him. Since he is interested in one aspect of science (mainly aeronautics), the school will be able to nurture it. Also Additional Math is compulsory as is Pure Sciences in Upper Secondary. This is great as because of his Hindi marks, it is possible that he may not get these subjects in Upper Secondary and without them, an engineering degree or even a diploma is out of the question! The school also spoke about a school trip to NASA and at that point I turned to look at BB and you should have seen his face! They also have the Singapore Flying Club as one of their CCA’s, which is another place BB wants to get to as soon as he is able! So all-in-all his “Dream School”. Please pray hard for my boy that he is able to get into the school of his choice!

For GG, our original choice may not be the best one for her. One, it is super far (at the fringes of the CBD area) and so getting there will be a minimum one hour bus ride. To get to school by 7:30, would mean leaving home by 6:15. Not sure if this is best for a girl who loves her sleep! Plus the educational system is something where students have to be self-driven. Not 100% sure if this learning style will be suitable for her. So brainstorming with the teacher, we’ve come up with some other schools. Now have to keep an eye on their open houses and see which one excites her the most!

OK, long post already, so going to stop here. Will talk more about the DSA process as we go through it.

PSLE Year Week 1 Update

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Another update that I wanted to do as a seperate post was on BB & GG’s final year in Primary School. They will give their PSLE exam this year in October and this weekly update should serve as a diary of sorts for me, to use as a guide of how they are doing in school this year and what we as parents can do to make the transition to secondary school easier.

Week 1 in school was a suspended timetable week with no co-curricular activities (CCA) or supplementary and enrichment classes scheduled. This will all start from today when out of five days a week, they come home straight back from school at 2 pm only on Fridays. When you add tuition to the mix, what you will get will be two very tired children at the end of the day. This is how their schedule will loosely look from today:

  • Monday: School ends at 1:30, Supplementary classes from 2-4 pm, back home at 4:30 and off to Hindi tuitions at 5. Back home around 6-6:30, time for some homework, dinner and then sleep.
  • Tuesday: School ends at 3:30, with online Hindi classes from 6-8 pm. Dinner in the middle, then homework and sleep.
  • Wednesday: School ends at 1:30, Supplementary classes from 2-4 pm, back home at 4:30 and Maths Tuitions from 6-8. Dinner before tuition and then time for some homework before bed!
  • Thursday: School ends at 1:30, Enrichment classes and CCA from 2:30 – 5:30 pm. No tuitions on Thursdays as they will be exhausted!
  • Fridays: The one day in the week they come back at 2 pm. Only have Hindi tuition at 4 pm. So will have time to do a bit of studies.
  • Saturday: Hindi school from 8:30 to 12:30, then music lessons from 5-6.
  • Sunday: No rest on Sundays too with one tuition from 8-10 am and another from 10-11 and 12-1! The evening is free…

The school pace has started to become faster than they are used to with teachers putting their noses to the grindstone and also reminding them of their PSLE exams.

I will be meeting BB’s Maths and Science teacher this week during their curriculum talk to discuss how we can help him for his Direct School Admission. I will also be speaking to one of GG’s teachers for her DSA! More updates on that later.

GG’s class also filled up a form where they had a list of some of the schools in our area plus other good schools and the scores needed to enter the school. They were asked to put 6 schools they want to go to and also their final score they need to get in! Hopefully this will motivate them to do their best! (Fingers crossed)

School year (or “The Madness” as I’d like to call it) begins

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School started yesterday and BB & GG enter a new phase – they will give their Primary School Leaving Exam (PSLE) at the end of this year and leave the safe, secure and, perhaps a little too comfy world of Primary School and enter the independent world of Secondary school. This, along with grappling with the trials and tribulations of being a teen!

My posts this year may be a bit too much about the PSLE, but since it’s such a major exam in Singapore, and with two of them taking it together, it’s quite understandable, me thinks!

Also, this is probably the last year, the two of them will be together in the same school. Who knows what the next year will bring, although I am praying with all that I have that they get admissions into the schools of their choice (should I actually reveal it here or is that tempting fate?)

While dropping off GG & BB at their school yesterday morning, I saw all the fresh faced Primary 1 children and their parents, all crowded around the children in the school foyer and this took me back six back when me and S were one of those parents. We huddled around our children and followed them to their classes. Parents are not allowed inside the classroom and we were all outside, our eyes searching for offspring and clicking away to glory! After a few minutes, they ask you to go down and wait in the canteen so that teachers can bring the class to order and also get to know the children. We waited till recess and then again a mad rush to see our children. Most of the children buy food, but we’ve always sent BB & GG with home-cooked food to school, be it recess or lunch! Then another wait till school dismissal. I think I went home and came back at dismissal.

Their school also has a tradition of giving every incoming Primary 1 child a medal on the third day of school (the last day of the orientation and before the teachers start  the real teaching) and parents and their seniors (aka Primary 2) are invited for the ceremony. The Principal usually gives a nice speech about the school, it’s values and how they hope the children imbibe these values and make the school proud of them….

Now it’s my children’s turn to do well in their PSLE and make their school proud of them….

Speaking of which, BB is getting an Edusave Merit Award this Sunday for doing well in school – he came in the top three in his class for Maths, Science and English and if not for his pathetic marks in Hindi, will be in the top class! GG is jealous as she got this award last year, along with BB, but P5 proved too much for her. I’ve consoled her that if she gets the marks and the T-score she is aiming for in the PSLE, she will definitely get the award next year.

SA1 and PSLE

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The first semester exams have just ended and the results are in. BB & GG have fallen a full band down in raw scores. I asked around and was told this happens. Apparently Primary 1 & 2 are supposed to be the easy years and then Primary 3 takes that up a big notch! But the results have resulted in both BB & GG (and a very angry mama) being very disappointed with their marks. So we’ve decided to come up with strategies to make sure this does not happen for the next exam. Even though their school is not one of the branded schools, but just a neighbourhood school which is not a neighbourhood school, the papers were set at a level just slightly above what was taught in school. In BB’s class, apparently 40% of the class failed in the Maths paper! But the school also has alternative assessment so those marks may increase scores for the children and that 40% may drop.

The past few days I have been reading about about what is possibly the most dreaded exams every Singaporean child will undergo – the PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam). Children here take it at the end of their primary school education when they are about 12 years old and in Primary 6. Although BB & GG have another 3.5 years before they sit for the PSLE, what I read has made me really scared. This exam pretty much determines your future and to get admission in a good secondary school means you need a very good/decent score. Also the exams are apparently set at about a year to two years more advanced than what the children are taught in school and all this higher order thinking skills means that they need to start now! So operation PSLE will start from the school holidays this year. I need to get BB & GG to start reading books meant for teens now so that they will be reading adult literature when they reach P5/P6. This will help them in English. Now to source for resources for Maths, Science and Hindi.