This was his first exam experience: sitting in the exam hall with other candidates, examiner walking around, no talking, looking around, working within a set time, etc. They only started really preparing for the whole "exam" rigmarole one month or so before the exam! Sure flies in the face of the conventional way that schools prepare their students for the big exams...
Of course, I love that it was his parents who lovingly undertook the whole duty of preparing him for this hurdle, not only academically, but physically, and more importantly spiritually. It is the child's relationship with God that will really secure him in any situation he finds himself in, amen?
May God bless this dear family and reward them for their hardwork!
PSLE's over. HURRAH!
Today I took the last paper of my Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). It was a very strenuous and stressful month of preparing for it. Now that it is over, I feel much lighter. I can’t wait for the results to be published.
In this last month, papa took it upon himself to take me for jogs every morning. It was a tough regime. I would wake up at 5.35 a.m. and go for our jog. After the jog, I would have a bath. After that, we would have our family devotion. Then at 7 a.m. sharp, I would start on a Maths paper. At 10 a.m., I would stop and do Wisdom Booklet for an hour. I would then carry on with Science. Then at 1 p.m. , I would have a lunch break for an hour followed by 3 hours of Chinese. Dinner was served at 5.45 p.m. after 1 1/2 hours, at 7 p.m., I would carry on with English until 8 p.m. From 8 p.m. to about 9.30 I would have consultation with papa. We would run through the most difficult questions and master them. I would then end the day by going to sleep. Sometimes, I would sleep at 10 p.m.
So now if you ask me to go to sleep at 8 p.m., I would think it is really early (8 p.m. is my usual sleeping time- before the PSLE).
Anyway, for the first half of the month, I scored 50% (average) for Maths, 70% (average) for Science, 50% (average) for Chinese and 75% (average) for English. For the next half of the month, Maths increased to 87% (highest score), Science to 90% (highest score), Chinese to 55% (highest score) and 81% (highest score) for English.
While doing there papers, I learned to check my work after I have completed a paper. I usually do English papers quite quickly so I have a lot of time left after I have completed the paper. When checking these papers, I check it with a fresh pair of eyes, not assuming the questions. I also learned the importance of doing my corrections after I have marked the papers so as to know where I had gone wrong or where I have done correctly and why. The key is to learn from my mistakes and not repeat the same mistakes in the future.
So as you can see, I really benefited from this regime. If I hadn’t gone through this regime, I would perhaps even have failed the PSLE! Now I am very confident that I would pass; it is very hard to fail indeed.
When I first entered the exam room for the first exam (English oral), I felt really anxious. I prayed to God for wisdom and this helped me to feel less anxious. God must have helped me do my exams well. This exam is my first external exam as well as my first national exam as a homeschooler, so I didn’t know what to expect. But after having sat for my English oral exam that day, I more or less had the feel of what the others would be like.
During the breaks in between the different papers, I got to meet some new friends. These other 24 canidates were homeschoolers as well. This exam is also their first national exam. All the homeschoolers who took the PSLE this year add up to 25 (including me). In the future, there would be more of such exams and this is just the beginning. I have to get ready for bigger challenges that lie ahead!
I would like to know what the national education quiz 2008 was like? the questions asked. Would be grateful for some feedbacks.
Posted by: sarah | June 08, 2009 at 06:01 PM
Hi Sarah,
I'll get back to you on this one!
Posted by: Suwei | June 11, 2009 at 11:04 AM