Posted in Pri Math Olympiad

P3 MATH OLYMPIAD JUNE HOLIDAY ENRICHMENT

The P3 MATH OLYMPIAD JUNE HOLIDAY ENRICHMENT is a 4-day (each day 1.5 hrs) programme conducted during the June school holidays to introduce P3 students to techniques and skills involved in solving non-routine P3 Math questions. As some of these P3 Math Olympiad questions are also similar to the difficult math questions found in P5 or in the PSLE, the heuristics learnt in this course will be useful to these students in their later primary years.

It is widely agreed that some of the non-routine or difficult PSLE Math questions are very similar to Primary Math Olympiad questions. Thus to get an A-Star for PSLE Math it may be necessary to acquire some Primary Math Olympiad problem-solving skills. Hence we encourage ALL primary school students to attend some kind of math Olympiad training before they take their PSLE Math exam. Primary Math Olympiad skills may also be useful to students taking the GEP or DSA selection tests.

Level/Subject:  P3 MATH OLYMPIAD

Dates:  Tue 2/6, Wed 3/6, Thur 4/6, and Fri 5/6 (four 1.5 hr sessions)

Time: Mornings 9.15 am – 10.45 pm

Location:   Blk 644, Bukit Batok Central, #01-68. S(650644).

Our location is just a 3-min walk from either the Bukit Batok MRT station or the Bukit Batok Bus Interchange. Buses that stop along the roads surrounding our location are numbers 157, 178, 66, 506, 173, 174, 176, 187, 985. Buses services which terminate at Bukit Batok Bus Interchange are 61, 77, 106, 173, 177, 189, 852, 941, 945, 947.

The objectives of the programme are as follows:

  1. To introduce students to heuristics commonly used in Primary Math Olympiad
  2. To give students confidence in solving non-routine or difficult Math problems.
  3. To train students to look at Math problems from multiple angles.
  4. To train students in analytical thinking and logical reasoning.

Focus: CONCEPTUAL UNDERSTANDING & METACOGNITION

Format: Teaching + Worksheets + Discussions

Fee: $120

TO REGISTER, SMS <STUDENT NAME> , <P3MOLYMPJUN> TO 97860411.

As places are limited, pre-payment is encouraged to confirm your attendance. You can make payment by visiting the centre at the address above.

Posted in DSA, O Level

Mid-year (SA1) results important for DSA to JC or Poly

I think many students are not aware of this. If you are good in sports and intend to apply to a JC or Poly via DSA in June, they will look at your mid-year exam results. Thus you should aim to at least pass all your O-level subjects with a B4/B3 average at the least, else the JC or Poly would tell you to re-apply again with your prelim results instead.

The problem is, the S4 mid-year exam is always the hardest exam to do well in due to the following reasons:

(1) Teachers would have just finished teaching some topics and then the exam comes;

(2) There is little or no revision time for older topics;

(3) It tests the S3 topics as well and in the case of Math it tests all the topics from S1;

(4) Exam-setters typically make it very hard in order to “wake-up” the students.

Thus S4 students often fail most of their subjects for SA1. The results don’t matter much if you are NOT applying to JCs or Polys via DSA in June. But even if you don’t intend to use DSA, poor results at SA1 doesn’t bode well for your performance in the prelims, which in turn will not give you the confidence you need to face the O-levels.

THUS DOING WELL AT SA1 IS STILL IMPORTANT NO MATTER HOW BUSY YOU ARE. PLEASE PRIORITIZE YOUR TIME CORRECTLY AND AIM TO DO WELL IN ALL EXAMS.

Ilyasa

Posted in DSA

Direct School Admissions (Secondary) Exercise (DSA) 2014 – 2015

My P6 daughter is also applying to some schools via DSA and since it’s quite a hassle to visit and explore every desired school’s website to look for DSA deadlines and such, I shall do interested parents here a favour by putting up the necessary info and links on a single page.

If you wish to view the Flowchart of Stages in 2014 DSA-Sec Exercise, click here.

If you wish to view the List of Secondary Schools Participating in 2014 DSA-Sec Exercise — for Admission to Secondary One in 2015, click here.

DSA for Integrated Programme (IP) and Specialised Independent schools:

(click on the school name to visit its DSA web page)

1. ACS (Independent). Deadline: 20/06/2014.

2. Catholic High School. Deadline: 01/07/2014.

3. Cedar Girls’. Deadline: 04/07/2014

4. CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ .  Deadline: 01/07/2014

5. Dunman High. Deadline: 01/07/2014

6. Hwa Chong Institution. Deadline: 02/06/2014

7. Methodist Girls’ Sch (Sec). Deadline: 20/06/2014 and 01/07/2014.

8. National Junior College. Deadline: Not stated but should be 01/07/2014.

9. Nanyang Girls’ High Sch: Deadline: 04/07/2014

10. NUS High School: Deadline: 20/06/2014.

11. Raffles Girls’ Sch (Sec). Deadline: 01/07/2014

12. Raffles Institution. Deadline: 01/07/2014

13. River Valley High Sch. Deadline: 30/06/2014 with GAT taken.

14. School of Science and Technology, Singapore (SST). Deadline: 07/07/2014

15. School of the Arts, Singapore (SOTA). Deadline: Not stated but should be 30/06/2014.

16. Singapore Chinese Girls’ Sch. Deadline: 01/07/2014

17. St Joseph’s Institution. Deadline: 01/07/2014

18. Temasek Junior College. Deadline: 30/06/2014

19. Victoria Sch. Deadline: 01/07/2014

Regards,

Ilyasa

Note:

(1) Starting from 2013, Catholic High School, CHIJ St Nicholas Girls’ School and Singapore Chinese Girls’ School will be offering both the GCE ‘O’ Level Programme and the Joint Integrated Programme. The Joint IP will lead up to the GCE ‘A’ Level Programme offered at a new government Junior College.

_______________________________________

TUITION CLASSES:

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EDUCATIONAL SERVICES:

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By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS

@ BLK 644, BUKIT BATOK CENTRAL, #01-68. S(650644).

CALL 65694897 OR SMS 98530744 OR 97860411.

 

 

 

Posted in Personal, Schools

My personal views on the changes to the education system (PSLE, DSA) announced at NDR 2013

I was interviewed by the media yesterday about my views. Since the televised version of it is just one minute, I will write my full answers here plus extra perspectives. : )

Q1. How was it like when you had to register your child for P1?

Although my wife is an alumnus of a popular school, we decided to send our girls to a nearby school instead. We were disappointed that even though we live less than 1 km from the school, we still had to participate in balloting. Although our children did get into the school, it would be quite stressful if they didn’t. To me, children who live less than 1 km from a school should be given a higher priority to enter that school than children whose parents are simply alumni.

Q2. What do you think of the changes introduced?

I think the changes introduced are too minor and vague to make any significant impact on the education system here, if the intention was to reduce stress in the system. If the intention was to have a greater diversity of student backgrounds in a school, the impact will still be minimal. For example, what if there are more than 40 students with no prior connections to a school wanting to go to that school which is near their home? 40 places is not a lot. As for DSA, higher-income parents will be able to groom their children to have some sporting or artistic talent. As for good character or resilience being a consideration for DSA, it is very subjective; students can also be pretentious and parents can force their children to undergo activities that show or document that they have good character or desired personal attributes.

Q3. As a parent, how stressful is PSLE for you?

Because both my wife and I are educators, it is not very stressful for us as we are able to develop our kids academically ourselves. But this may not be the case for other parents, especially those who are not teachers or tutors.

Q4. How do you think the change to PSLE scoring will impact the way children learn?

Not much. Just because I won’t be able to know whether my child gets 235, 265 or 266, it doesn’t mean I will not push them to get 4 A-stars. Parents still want their children to get the best grades.

Q5. As an educator, what are your thoughts on the option to do higher level subjects in Sec 1?

It’s still quite vague what the subjects are that students can do. Apparently, it’s only for Normal stream students to do an Express subject, not for Express stream students to do a higher level subject. It may be good for some able students, but just because you have done well in some previous exam it doesn’t mean you are ready to do a more rigorous subject.

Q6. How will the change to DSA impact your child’s preparation for Secondary School?

Hardly any. Personally, I don’t like a backdoor method of entry to a school. If I want my child to enter a top school, I want her to be intellectually ready to compete with other top students.

Q7. Is it realistic to move towards a “every school is a good school” reality in Singapore?

It will take some time to convince parents that every school is a good school. In the first place, the term “good school” is problematic. What exactly constitutes a good school? I think the government contradicts itself by saying that “every school is a good school”, yet it wants to preserve the notion of “top schools”. So there are good schools and there are top schools. So as a parent, why should I not push my child to get into a top school rather than a good school? What will be more obvious to the public is, all schools are good schools, but some are better than others.

My interview will be aired tomorrow at 9pm in VoicesTODAY. I think it will be repeated on Saturday at 5.30pm, and I was told it would also be available on Youtube.

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Posted in DSA

Suggestions on how to answer DSA (P6 to Sec 1) essay questions

Related links:

O-LEVEL | SEC | PHYSICS TUITION

O-LEVEL | SEC | A. MATH TUITION

O-LEVEL | SEC 1-4 | MATH TUITION

O-LEVEL | SEC | CHEMISTRY TUITION

O-LEVEL | SEC 1-4 | ENGLISH TUITION

O-LEVEL | SEC 1-4 | MALAY LANGUAGE TUITION

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The DSA tests can consist of many parts and vary from school to school. Typically you will have MCQs and short structured questions on English, Math and Science. The hardest section of these MCQs would be on Abstract Reasoning (AR), because students are not prepared for it. (Thus I intend to conduct a holiday workshop for AR in Mar and June 2014. For this year, I may conduct an AR course in Sep, Nov or Dec for those who want to be exposed to it early).

Another difficult section of the DSA tests is the short essay part, where you will be asked to write, in about 300 words, about something you are passionate about, or why you want to enrol in the school, or about your personal characteristics. I believe Singaporean students find difficulty in writing such essays, probably because (i) their passion in something non-academic has never been encouraged or groomed, (ii), they are applying to the schools only because their parents ask them to and (iii), they are not sure about their own strengths and weaknesses in non-academic areas.

Since some parents have asked me to give advice on the matter, I shall write about my suggestions on how to write the essays in a manner that might catch the assessors’ attention (but if everyone of you were to follow my suggestions, then you WON’T get the assessors’ attention, so you’d still have to innovate and add the flesh of the essay yourself).

Let’s examine a typical essay question that you might get:

Q1. In not more than 300 words, describe something you are passionate about or something that is important to you, as it helps us to understand you better.

My advice:

(1) DO NOT WRITE MORE THAN 300 WORDS (or whatever they specify, such as ‘Do not use more than the space given’), not even 301. You must at least show that you understand English, that you can count, and that you can take serious instructions seriously. I’m serious. Ignore me at your own risk.

(2) If they ask you to write and not type, then they are studying your handwriting as well. Please check up the internet on what your handwriting tells others about yourself. But it’s hard to change your handwriting, and many horrible hand writers become doctors anyway.

(3) You should not be writing about what you USED to be interested in (because if you are passionate about it, why did you stop doing it?) or what you would like to explore in future (because if you are passionate about it, why haven’t you started on it?). What you are passionate about is something which you have started some time ago, which you are currently doing, and which you intend to bring to greater heights in the future. It can be anything from a musical instrument to a sport or even a CCA. It should NOT be something academic; imagine writing that your passion is to attend lessons in school, or having tuition, or doing lots of assessment books or reading textbooks ( do you realise that most applicants to top schools are already doing all these intensely?) So let’s say your passion is badminton (I hope you realise that LIKING to play badminton is different from being PASSIONATE about IT). You should be describing about how and when you got introduced to it, why you liked it, how often you play it and where, the big brands and the big names in the sport, the major tournaments, your discoveries about the sport, your efforts to improve your performance in the sport etc.

Q2. In the space given, write down the reasons why you would want to be enrolled in our school.

Here, you have to praise the school. You’d need to do a quick research on the school’s history, motto, emphasis, strengths and niche areas, and why the school would be able to allow you to reach your full potential, and if you can, why only this school would be able to accomplish that.

Q3. Describe some characteristics about yourself that might differentiate you from other applicants.

Here, you have to praise yourself a bit, in a confident way without sounding arrogant. Besides personal traits such as diligence, persistence and resourcefulness, the school would also be interested in your leadership and inter-personal skills. You can’t just say that you are a team player; do you have evidence to prove it to some extent?

Q4. Write about your academic interests or your reflections on your studies.

Here, you can’t be writing about how you love reading books, doing homework and completing assessment papers. It’s about how deep your interest is in certain subjects and what you do to nurture that interest. As for reflecting on your studies, you’d need to be metacognitive in your approach; what your academic strengths and weaknesses are and your learning styles.

 Q5. Write about your future plans.

Here, it is not just about what your ambition is. It should be more about how the school you are applying to will facilitate your entry to the next stage. For example, if you ultimately want to be in a certain college, course or university in the future, how would the secondary school you are applying to prepare you to succeed at these future stages. But for the short term, you can still write about how you can contribute to the success of the school, for eg., in CCA and so on.

 

Posted in Schools

Direct School Admission (DSA) to Sec Schools …

TUITION CLASSES:

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_______________________________________________________________

EDUCATIONAL SERVICES:

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______________________________________________________________

By EX-MOE TEACHERS & EXPERIENCED TUTORS

@ BLK 644, BUKIT BATOK CENTRAL, #01-68. S(650644).

CALL 65694897 OR SMS 98530744 OR 97860411.

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ORIGINAL POST (OUTDATED):

 

According to the MOE, “The Direct School Admission (DSA) Exercise aims to promote holistic education by giving participating schools greater flexibility in selecting students while holding to the key principles of transparency and meritocracy. For students, the DSA provides them the opportunity to demostrate a more diverse range of achievements and talents in seeking admission to secondary schools.”

The 2012 DSA-Sec Exercise will be conducted in 3 stages from 25 June 2012 to late Nov 2012.

For more information on the DSA-Sec, click here to visit MOE’s website on DSA.

List of Secondary Schools Participating in 2012 DSA-Sec Exercise —for Admission to Secondary One in 2013: click here.