School Test Paper Important?

[san76]

westmom:

Yes- I think it is worth doing school test papers as they are set by school teachers or school HOD themselves and they are very much in tuned with the \"wind\" of MOE.

Thank you very much. Now that he is practicing with the test paper from popular and some schools lat year test paper. Beside he is only P1, am I expecting too much from him?
Thanks and appreciated

Enjoy your long wkend

[westmom]

san76:

Thank you very much. Now that he is practicing with the test paper from popular and some schools lat year test paper. Beside he is only P1, am I expecting too much from him?

Thanks and appreciated

Enjoy your long wkend

Aiyoh..P1? Let go a bit lah. But you can let him do as a form of disclipine to gear up for upper primary. Maybe half an hour a day at fixed time for your \"homework\" on top of his school work since i doubt the school will give him much to do. Once he get used to it, he will not protest violently as he goes up the level!

[san76]

westmom:

Aiyoh..P1? Let go a bit lah. But you can let him do as a form of disclipine to gear up for upper primary. Maybe half an hour a day at fixed time for your \"homework\" on top of his school work since i doubt the school will give him much to do. Once he get used to it, he will not protest violently as he goes up the level!

Thank you for your advise. Now the sch is also eyeing on those who score well for P1 & P2. They will segregate them in P3. More stress!!!!
Top 3 classes will be given more attention and will nuture them, correct?
The rest will be just studying as per normal going to sch and etc? I am actually very stress that he will not be able to make it to the top 3 classes. Everyone in the sch is so smart.

Thank you

[westmom]

san76:

Thank you for your advise. Now the sch is also eyeing on those who score well for P1 & P2. They will segregate them in P3. More stress!!!!

Top 3 classes will be given more attention and will nuture them, correct?
The rest will be just studying as per normal going to sch and etc? I am actually very stress that he will not be able to make it to the top 3 classes. Everyone in the sch is so smart.

Thank you

Yes, thats what we parents hope for ie for our child to be in the top classes because we are naturally KSP, afraid of our child losing out from perceived low quality teachers in other classes. After going through the academic \"life\" for 6 years, I have come to the conclusion that quality of teachers do not have such a big role to play in your child's success. It is the external support that will have a bigger impact on his progress be it from parents or tutors. In my time, it is 1 teacher : 40 students, how much attention can a teacher give to your child? Of course, for kids who are not fortunate enough to get external support and have to depend on school teachers, then one have to pray and hope that he is lucky to get good teachers. My advice is not to get too hung up on whether the child ends up in top classes or not in the early primary yrs- but rather focus on building foundation to tackle the upper primary years. Everychild has his own quirks and develop at a different rate. Concentrate on providing exposure, love for reading, discipline and \"gauging\" him as he tackle his homework/spelling etc. Where his weakness lies? Short term memory, long term memory, comprehension, calculation? Then gear your \"time\" towards remediating these weaknesses instead of giving him worksheets to do. Do not emphasis about needing him to go to top classes because if he is unable to, can you imagine how \"small\" he feels. Most schools are aware it is detrimental to publicly disclose to the kids which are the top classes (but parents somehow finds out). Some schools even \"filter\" according to different abilites (eng/mt/maths) so they are no \"top classes\".
Celebrate with your child his \"progress\" instead (& not which class he goes to), he will feel more encouraged and will not feel the burden that can kill his interest in working hard. Just to share with you about \"every child develops at different rate\"...My friend's hubby was always failing in his primary school years (despite working hard and external support) and he always ends up in the bottom classes. He moved on to secondary school and when he turned about 15, he \"suddenly\" changed. In no time, he emerged top of the school in his last year. Went on to Uni and is now financially successful with many properties! So - let's just throw out this \"top classes\" mentality out of the window and just nurture our child to realise his/her potential in their own \"time\".

[BlueBells]

I don’t think the top three classes will be given more attention and nurturing, it will be more like targeted learning for P3s.


However, there are still pit falls to it that we must remember. We should not forget that while our child can easily grace through P1 and P2, it may not necessary be the same in P3.

In P3, you have the same number of teaching hours per week, but the real hours spent teaching on each subject would be decreased due to the additional Science subject. Teaching pace might, therefore, be increased. Not every child can cope with changes in increased pace in teaching, additional subject, new classmates, heighten peer presure, etc., and may begin to actually fall behind in the class.

A child in the top 10 in class position may become the bottom 10 in the top 3 classes, and if this aspect is not well handled, then what this can potentially lead to is a drop the child’s self-esteem. Being in the top 3 classes is like a double-edged sword. It works both ways, but the most important thing we need to bear in mind if we are pushing our child towards it is, "Can my child handle it?"

[westmom]

BlueBells:

A child in the top 10 in class position may become the bottom 10 in the top 3 classes, and if this aspect is not well handled, then what this can potentially lead to is a drop the child's self-esteem. \"

True...for a non-competitive child, she may \"withdraw\" instead of thrive if put in a class with many other smart/motivated students. Self esteem and confidence erode and results dip...

[bishanman]

agree wiht west mom.