PSLE exams.... what is it for???

[Sosaria]

50 minutes ago, Mkl22 said:

With skills in language you write well. Word processors and grammerly can only help somewhat with the sentence, but still cannot help too much in bringing the message across with the right phrases or in a convincing tone if one requires it. 

Precisely. Composing and writing with clarity is a skill that word processors and grammar checkers cannot help. Look at the procedures that keep rolling out from MOH and MMTF for dealing with covid positive situations and testing, you will know that this skill - write clearly and directly to get the message across - is sorely lacking out there now!

[Sosaria]

1 hour ago, Turboflat4 said:

It's not a bad question, especially if one uses algebra. The problem is that the "educators" here try to mangle our children's mental processes early in their development to cripple any algebraic thought in a very misguided attempt to push some weird "visual right-brain" agenda or something. So they need to come up with idiotic workarounds like shuffling coins back and forth. 🙄🙄🙄

Our math teaching here has emphasized the "model method" for a long time since, purportedly because it is a very visual method. Algebra is considered very abstract, too much so for kids. But I wonder if kids who are not visual or good at drawing, can understand this model method easily?

Example for part 1 of the said question, the two persons have equal number of 20 and 50 cents coins. If the student starts out by drawing two bars that are unequal in length (very bad at drawing ) or the quantities and differences are not drawn to a rough scale dimensions, then he or she would have a hard time eliciting the answer from the model drawn.

[Lala81]

I think the math pedagogy for Singapore primary school is well done actually. Very clear and illustrated.
I personally think it's easier to build higher order fundamentals on top of them for the average student.

I mean it's much better than our time.

But downside is that a few of the questions can be more challenging esp for PSLE level, will have "olympiad" level type of questions. So u need to get your kid exposure from primary 3-4 onwards to be more comfortable for the higher order questions that will appear in the paper. 

 

 

 

[Lala81]

50 minutes ago, sake said:

For those students/parents who have nervous breakdowns everytime a difficult PSLE exam question is encountered, please do not go to secondary schools like NUS High, RI, RGS.....

Problem is they meltdown precisely because they want to go to NUS High, RI, RGS........

I think someone who's aiming to go there, probably will have faced such questions before. And of course it can be crushing, to know you can't do something though u practiced so hard.

It's probably the average student who has limited exposure to Olympiad level questions who feel it's quite crushing and maybe demoralise u for the rest of the paper.

But actually i think most primary school papers usually have some difficult questions even in the WA. At least to get the students used to some difficult questions and able to move on and do the ones they can do.

[DOBIEMKZ]

12 hours ago, Playtime said:

 

sometimes i wonder.... what is the purpose really?

why when US EU etc dont do things this way, yet they are the FT talents here, they make the Nobel Prizes and make the inventions.

hell.... even Uptron is considered better in the end.

So.... why are we doing this to our children? Bragging rights?

 

 

The purpose of PSLE is ......You need to take that exam to leave primary school.

[Heartlander]

I think the types of question that make the parents very frustrated are those heuristic type that were not taught during the parents' time and so they cannot really teach their kids to do unless they themselves put in some efforts to learn. Imagine only 2 marks each for the question, so definitely not needing very long workings which algebra method will result in and which is not taught at this level. The question are not difficult but you need to understand the logic behind, and is easy to solve for those students who have been 'drilled' to solve them most likely by expensive tuition teachers. But for those unfortunate ones who do not understand, they simply will be stumped and morale affected so will do badly for the paper. And there are certain type of students who are definitely not cut out to handle such questions, even obvious among my younger kids who took PSLE the last 1 to 2 years. My conclusion is that some brains are simply not wired to handle such logic despite same level of resources put in.

[DOBIEMKZ]

Govt should abolish the GEP program at the Primary 3 level.
It is an unnecessary level of stress for students at such young age and also stressing the parents who wish that their children can be streamed into gifted programmes and transfer to elite schools.
It is also unfair to stream those "gifted" students into special programmes for special training and attention while neglecting the mainstream others.

[noobcarbuyer]

4 hours ago, Wind30 said:

This question is not hard. I bet my sec1 girl can get it. I wonder if my p1 boy can do it too….

I have seen much tougher psle maths questions where the method is not as obvious as this….

paper got let’s say 50 question. One question must be tough lah… else everyone get all correct meh???

since psle is calibrated over the cohort, easy maths paper is not necessary better as that test just solely carefulness which I feel is more risky. 

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/education/tough-2019-psle-maths-paper-5-challenging-questions-over-the-years

 

Well said! 👍

[mersaylee]

43 minutes ago, DOBIEMKZ said:

The purpose of PSLE is ......You need to take that exam to leave primary school.

Yalor, study so hard 'weather past or frail all soul mask gold'...😁 

[mersaylee]

1 hour ago, Sosaria said:

For me, if i see majority of the cohort crying, then if i didn't do too well, i won't be worried.

I will only cry if i see everyone cheering and smiling when they walk out of exam, but i personally found that it is a very tough paper!!

 

For me neber a tough or easy question...only know or donno or can copy ornot only 😁

[Lala81]

30 minutes ago, Heartlander said:

I think the types of question that make the parents very frustrated are those heuristic type that were not taught during the parents' time and so they cannot really teach their kids to do unless they themselves put in some efforts to learn. Imagine only 2 marks each for the question, so definitely not needing very long workings which algebra method will result in and which is not taught at this level. The question are not difficult but you need to understand the logic behind, and is easy to solve for those students who have been 'drilled' to solve them most likely by expensive tuition teachers. But for those unfortunate ones who do not understand, they simply will be stumped and morale affected so will do badly for the paper. And there are certain type of students who are definitely not cut out to handle such questions, even obvious among my younger kids who took PSLE the last 1 to 2 years. My conclusion is that some brains are simply not wired to handle such logic despite same level of resources put in.

Yeah lah, higher order questions definitely need some training or ability to understand it.
Or else how to distinguish A* from A or B.

At the start of the year when i have free time, i will actually flip through my girl's books and at least have an understanding what they are learning for the semester.

For those who aren't great at it, then train them not to be overwhelmed. For those naturally gifted type, teach them about checking for errors etc. 
Everyone can learn something from facing a difficult question.

What i think should be important is that these difficult questions don't carry too much marks. Just enough to distinguish a A* from an A.

 

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Lala81

[Chongster]

Sorry so how to do?  I stare at the question for 10 min already 

[Sdf4786k]

11 hours ago, noobcarbuyer said:

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/parenting-education/psle-parents-in-uproar-over-tough-maths-paper-say-it-was-unexpected-in?

PSLE: Some parents upset over tough maths paper, which left their children in tears

SINGAPORE - The difficulty of the PSLE maths paper has once again become a matter of contention, with some parents saying it was so tough that their kids were left in tears.

There were two maths papers on Friday (Oct 1).

One parent said she received a tearful call from her daughter after the first paper, saying it was more difficult than she had expected. 

Mrs Daphne Tan, 44, said: "I cried too. Especially since I knew that she had prepared so much for the exam."

The regional head of marketing said a school counsellor calmed her 12-year-old daughter down.

Exam preparations this year have been stressful, said Mrs Tan, especially since the whole family had been quarantined in August.

"Leading up to PSLE, I was watching the news every day praying that my child doesn't get Covid-19," she said. Mrs Tan has another daughter in Primary 4.

This year's PSLE for Primary 6 pupils started on Thursday and will end on Tuesday, with a number taking the exams under quarantine orders in the midst of Singapore's largest surge in Covid-19 cases.

Mrs Tan was among many parents who noted that the new PSLE Achievement Levels (AL) scoring system had mounted pressure on pupils sitting difficult exams.

Former director in the engineering underwriting industry Hong Lian Ai, who is in her 40s, said that unlike in the past, this group of pupils would not have their grades benchmarked against the rest of their cohort.

"Whatever achievement level they get is what they get, there is no longer a bell curve, and the exam felt harder than the 2020 paper."

This year's pupils are the first to use the new scoring system, which no longer grades them on their performance relative to their cohort in the form of a T score.

Instead, they are given grade bands between AL1 and AL8 based on their absolute scores, with 1 being the best.

The ALs for their subjects are then added up to give them their PSLE score.

In April, MOE director-general of education Wong Siew Hoong said the aim of the new grading system is to help pupils not feel like they have to chase the last mark.

Under the new scoring system, pupils will not need to achieve a perfect score to enter top schools.

Echoing other parents, Madam Gina Teo, 40, who works in sales, told ST that the pandemic has been a struggle of constant adjustment and adapting to two years of home-based learning.

On Friday, her daughter returned home saying she had given up on entering the school of her dreams as the paper was the toughest she had ever encountered.

Said Madam Teo: "All my friends were left speechless after hearing how hard the paper was from their children and that many were unable to complete their papers. We knew that the PSLE mathematics paper would be hard but they should have set the difficulty at the same level as last year's paper."

In response to queries from ST, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board (SEAB) said the disruptions and exceptional circumstances due to Covid-19 will be taken into consideration during grading to ensure that pupils are fairly assessed.

They added that the PSLE mathematics papers are aligned to the syllabus taught in schools, and there is an appropriate balance of basic, average and more challenging questions to cater to students of different abilities.

Their joint statement said: “The panel responsible for developing the papers comprises curriculum specialists from MOE and assessment specialists from the SEAB. In setting the papers, the panel adheres to a test blueprint that ensures the examination is aligned with the syllabus objectives and learning outcomes and the overall standards are maintained from year to year.”

Counsellor Priyahnisha N. told The Straits Times that this year's PSLE might be extra challenging for children, given the frequent changes such as heightened Covid-19 measures, school closures and fluctuations between in-person lessons and home-based learning.

She said: "As expected, not many children are keen or responsive to online learning and this might pose a challenge to retention and revision.

"As such, it may be more difficult and pressurising for children to perform well."

The counsellor from online counselling platform Talk Your Heart Out told ST that it is important for parents to acknowledge the stress and anxiety that children are experiencing and that having open conversations around performance and meeting expectations is important.

She said: "Being reassuring and affirmative of the child's efforts provides the validation and comfort that he or she needs."

Ms Bernadette Clara Yeo and Ms Lim Pin Xiu, co-founders of Bramble, a start-up which focuses aiding parent-child communication,  suggested that parents and their children make time for relaxation over the weekend instead of rushing to prepare for the next exam.

Ms Lim said: "Your actions, more than your words, will remind them that there's more to life than exams,"

"Take a mini-break together over the weekend! Go out for a walk, or treat them to their favourite ice cream."

ST has contacted the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board for comment.

Beyond a benefit of a doubt, we have move on but our education did not..

so while we are painfully aware of uptron, there is also IIT that we are not aware of , and that should be something the education NTU/NUS/SIT should shoot for .

 

Edited October 2, 2021 by Sdf4786k

[Mkl22]

33 minutes ago, DOBIEMKZ said:

Govt should abolish the GEP program at the Primary 3 level.
It is an unnecessary level of stress for students at such young age and also stressing the parents who wish that their children can be streamed into gifted programmes and transfer to elite schools.
It is also unfair to stream those "gifted" students into special programmes for special training and attention while neglecting the mainstream others.

Govt should abolish everything. Back to communist style. All equal. Everyone same. Wear same clothes ,same type of underwear. World peace. 😂

[Sosaria]

40 minutes ago, DOBIEMKZ said:

Govt should abolish the GEP program at the Primary 3 level.
It is an unnecessary level of stress for students at such young age and also stressing the parents who wish that their children can be streamed into gifted programmes and transfer to elite schools.
It is also unfair to stream those "gifted" students into special programmes for special training and attention while neglecting the mainstream others.

That would be a step backwards for the whole cohort leh... and holding back those that can be stretched and go further, all because of parents' attitudes that need to be adjusted? Worth it?

Those really gifted kids are very bored with mainstream syllabus, if something not done for them, potentially will create problems. 

Parents also got to understand that all the so-called special training and attention for GEP in most cases does not lead to any top jobs served on a silver platter. I know some teachers in the GEP that come from the GEP stream also  Most are doing run-of-the-mill jobs like any of us. Not ministerial or general level, ok.

[RadX]

When designing curriculum there is always the

basic

intermediate

advanced

 

its the design to see the 2 ends of the curve so what’s the issue

 

if al can get might as well al be given As. So might  as well be communist lo… all even

 

shessh these ppl

[Karoon]

16 minutes ago, Sdf4786k said:

Beyond a benefit of a doubt, we have move on but our education did not..

so while we are painfully aware of uptron, there is also IIT that we are not aware of , and that should be something the education NTU/NUS/SIT should shoot for .

 

My kid took the math paper yesterday. Said its a pretty ok paper. Math and honesty are not my kid's strong points though.

I've worked with 2 IIT grads in Sg. Both started off as engineers 20 years back. They are the rare proper talented ones but cant say the same for others . Both are now ceo-1 level in seperate mncs here.

[Watwheels]

I have two primary school going children. They are now taught by using such blocks or "models"(see my next post) that you see above. It is a lot more on visualization. And language when it comes to understanding the question.

Whatever we learnt in the past, it is better to unlearn them and adopt this. It is easier to solve than you use Algebra.

Once you can draw out the big picture you are there. Even for me I have to read the question for the problem sums several times to get it right. We say it is tough because we learn Math but we dont know how to apply it. We learned the way of solving equations. And then our standard of English also sucks.

Edited October 2, 2021 by Watwheels