Hi Suwei When you asked me to write an article about how I prepare the kids for exams, I did not quite know what to write. See, I am an unconventional kiasu parent living amongst the super-kiasu. Apart from school, their children have tuition plus countless assessement books shoved at them daily on top of the homework that they are given from school. They study and prepare well for exams. I, on the other hand (not sure if I am on the losing end), prefer to see that my childen learn for life. As a daily routine, after they complete their homework, I get the two older ones, P4 and P1, to do maybe 2 or 3 pages of a given assessement book. They are required to check their work when finished; afterwhich they get a break and can do whatever they like. I also ensure that they make it a point to read a few pages of my all-time favourite 'The New First Aid In English by Angus Maciver'. It equipped me with much knowledge so I stick by it. Usually I am fine with with my own system but I get confused and crack when I bump into a super-kiasu efficient mum who asks me if my P4 boy correctly answered question 16 on page 4 of Section B of the 2006 SA2 Science Practice Paper (???!!!). I will be like, "Actually I am not sure, you know. I asked him and he said he could so I took as that". The reply will be something like, "Wah! You know ah, everybody answer 'air can be compressed' but actually the correct answer is 'air has no definite volume' ah.......I tell you ah...bla bla bla...............". So then I have to try to be polite and stand there, sometimes up to an hour to listen to whose children answered what and which class had 7 failures for the Science Practical Exam. Ok, when I get home, I shake my head and wonder why these parents so want their children to be 'perfect' in their school work. I comfort myself that I do not put unnecessary pressure on my children. But come 6.40pm when my kids arrive home from school, the minute my P4 son puts his bag down, I go, "So how was school today?" As soon as he answers, "Ok", I go, " What was your answer for question 16 on page 4 of Section B of the 2006 SA2 Science Practice Paper?" Being the forgetful person that he is, he will probably not remember the question. Assuming that he was wrong in answering the question, I will then give instructions for him to go thorugh the topic on Air from his Science textbook the next day. So there, one topic covered. Truly, I have no fast and hard rules about preparing for exams. I do ask my children if they have any areas where they face difficulties in and we try to iron that out. I attended a talk at my children's primary school about 2 weeks ago. The talk was actually a briefing on the pilot curriculum for P5s next year. Streaming is no longer in existence so they are replacing it with subject-based banding, where children of similar strengths for every subject, are grouped together for lessons. To also encourage greater interaction among pupils with different strengths. However, students will be allocated form-classes based on their English and Math results (rationale behind suject-based banding?) Calculators will also be allowed for certain sections of the Math paper. Apparently MOE wants to cut down time spent on computation in answering the questions with many steps. The message from the Principal was clear - English will not be an easy subject for the P5s next year. The paper was going to carry 200 marks. The Principal wanted the parents to spend a lot of time with the children, during the recent week holiday, to study very hard for the exams. Personally, I do not know how one 'studies' English for the exams. I thought it would come naturally with proper daily usage as well as reading (??). I saw lots of parents taking notes from the Principal's speech. They wanted to drill the message onto their young ones so that the kids will end up in the 'point 1' class for Math next year. See, I do not understand the purpose of doing away with streaming and introducing subject-based banding. It is supposed to enable each child to develop at their own pace and abilities. However, as long as a child passes even 3 subjects, he is recommended to take 4 subjects at standard level. (They have standard level subjects and foundation level subjects that are supposedly taught at a slower pace). Listen to this ah, even when a child fails 2 subjects but passes the other 2 and scores say 80 marks for his Mother Tongue, he will be recommended to take 4 standard subjects and Higher Mother Tongue. Great! After failing 2 subjects, he is given one extra to do at a higher level!! Superb. I truly do not understand the purpose of these changes. To me, they do not make a difference - they actually create more confusion. Suwei, I think I'll stick to my way of preparing my children for life... incorporating exams. Cheers!!
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Thanks GMW for that contribution. I think your stragegy is great! Life does not have to take a back seat when exams are around the corner....:OP
Now as for pg 16, qn 2bii of section C, most people answered hydrogen peroxide when it should really have been common table salt!!! Like DUH...
(Hahaha.. couldn't help it...)
I don't understand the subject banding thingy and hope some kind knowledgeable MOE person might explain. But I have to say, the MOE does not have an easy job on their hand trying to individually tailor make education for masses.
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