2012 PSLE Discussions and Strategy

[GLORYmum]

Chenonceau:

The discrepancy in impressions is not surprising. Historically, PSLE Math has the widest spread in marks. There are very low marks and very high marks (i.e., the difference between the lowest mark and highest mark is large). In contrast, the language papers have the narrowest spread of marks (i.e., the difference between highest mark and lowest mark is smaller).


If you imagine all the PSLE scores plotted on a graph... there will be 4 bell curves looking like the following... See here for a picture of the bell curve - http://www.robertniles.com/stats/stdev.shtml

(1) Math - wide bell bottom
(2) Science - less wide bell bottom
(3) English - even less wide bell bottom
(4) Chinese - narrowest bell bottom

In order for EACH subject to have equal weightage, statistical operations have to equalize the spread across subjects. This means that they will have to have the same size bell bottom for all the subjects.

Now, if your bell bottom was narrow... you would have to pull it wider to fit the spread of the t-score curve. If your bell bottom were wider... you would have to compress the spread to fit the spread of the t-score curve. The t-score curves for each subject have EXACTLY the same spread.

This means that every 1 mark increase/decrease in raw score for Chinese (narrow curve that is pulled wider) gives you a higher increase/decrease in t-score than every extra mark in Math (that is compressed narrower) raw score.

A friend of mine works in After School Care... and there are some kids who could not finish HALF the paper. Yet, there are kids from Tao Nan, who complete with time to spare. This just follows the same pattern as every year's PSLE, there will be a wide spread in marks.

Hi Chen, thanks for the explanation and yours is by far the best.
Now I can fully understand the relationship between each subject and t score and what equal weightage means.
:thankyou:

[Nebbermind]

Chenonceau:

worldangel:

I wish to also assure all the parents (and also the kids who are here!) that finishing early does not guarantee high marks in the exam. In fact I would get very worried whenever my kids told me they finished very fast and spent the rest of the time of the exam sleeping or going to the toilet. It is good to be confident, but not over-confident as some questions are quite tricky and it is better to spend time reading the questions carefully rather than rushing through the papers and making careless mistakes instead.


Two papers are done and over with - now they are left with two/three more next week. Means half of the battle has already been fought! Ensure that they don't lose their stamina over the weekend as they need to continue to 'fight' next week! :rahrah:

:goodpost:

I thought this is such a wet blanket for those who managed to finish early and savouring the moment of feeling accomplished. :roll:

[Chenonceau]

Feeling accomplished can also lead to loss of focus. I told my son this. Just stay focused now. You can jubilate when results are out. 2 more papers.

[Chenonceau]

GLORYmum:

Chenonceau:

The discrepancy in impressions is not surprising. Historically, PSLE Math has the widest spread in marks. There are very low marks and very high marks (i.e., the difference between the lowest mark and highest mark is large). In contrast, the language papers have the narrowest spread of marks (i.e., the difference between highest mark and lowest mark is smaller).


If you imagine all the PSLE scores plotted on a graph... there will be 4 bell curves looking like the following... See here for a picture of the bell curve - http://www.robertniles.com/stats/stdev.shtml

(1) Math - wide bell bottom
(2) Science - less wide bell bottom
(3) English - even less wide bell bottom
(4) Chinese - narrowest bell bottom

In order for EACH subject to have equal weightage, statistical operations have to equalize the spread across subjects. This means that they will have to have the same size bell bottom for all the subjects.

Now, if your bell bottom was narrow... you would have to pull it wider to fit the spread of the t-score curve. If your bell bottom were wider... you would have to compress the spread to fit the spread of the t-score curve. The t-score curves for each subject have EXACTLY the same spread.

This means that every 1 mark increase/decrease in raw score for Chinese (narrow curve that is pulled wider) gives you a higher increase/decrease in t-score than every extra mark in Math (that is compressed narrower) raw score.

A friend of mine works in After School Care... and there are some kids who could not finish HALF the paper. Yet, there are kids from Tao Nan, who complete with time to spare. This just follows the same pattern as every year's PSLE, there will be a wide spread in marks.

Hi Chen, thanks for the explanation and yours is by far the best.
Now I can fully understand the relationship between each subject and t score and what equal weightage means.
:thankyou:

Welcome! Took me a while to figure it out too.

[worldangel]

Nebbermind:

Chenonceau:

[quote=\"worldangel\"]I wish to also assure all the parents (and also the kids who are here!) that finishing early does not guarantee high marks in the exam. In fact I would get very worried whenever my kids told me they finished very fast and spent the rest of the time of the exam sleeping or going to the toilet. It is good to be confident, but not over-confident as some questions are quite tricky and it is better to spend time reading the questions carefully rather than rushing through the papers and making careless mistakes instead.


Two papers are done and over with - now they are left with two/three more next week. Means half of the battle has already been fought! Ensure that they don't lose their stamina over the weekend as they need to continue to 'fight' next week! :rahrah:

:goodpost:

I thought this is such a wet blanket for those who managed to finish early and savouring the moment of feeling accomplished. :roll:[/quote]Why would it be? :scratchhead: If they finish fast and know that their answers are correct, then good for them. There is no need for them to feel affected by my post.

If you think that my post would affect those who finished fast, then have you thought about how their posts on comparing who finished faster would have affected those who actually couldn't finish the paper or took longer time to finish? Is finishing faster and talking about it supposed to make them feel superior as compared to those who took longer?

I don't think I am being a wet blanket here; I am merely cautioning the children to be more careful in their work and to spend time reading the questions carefully. Anyway, there is no award for who finishes the fastest in every exam

[GLORYmum]

:goodpost:[/quote]

I thought this is such a wet blanket for those who managed to finish early and savouring the moment of feeling accomplished. :roll:[/quote]

Why would it be? :scratchhead: If they finish fast and know that their answers are correct, then good for them. There is no need for them to feel affected by my post.

If you think that my post would affect those who finished fast, then have you thought about how their posts on comparing who finished faster would have affected those who actually couldn't finish the paper or took longer time to finish? Is finishing faster and talking about it supposed to make them feel superior as compared to those who took longer?

I don't think I am being a wet blanket here; I am merely cautioning the children to be more careful in their work and to spend time reading the questions carefully. Anyway, there is no award for who finishes the fastest in every exam [/quote]







欲速则不达

[mlim321]

kitty2:

mlim321:

My child has gone to school for supplementary class. Monday after the MT paper also need to stay back for the last supplementary class. The Science teacher has just woken up and realized that PSLE is here!

:rotflmao: My friend's son,his science teacher is still sleeping,HOD somemore!!!!

My DS came back, damned tired and is sleeping now. He said the science teacher was late for 1/2 hr. Thought the teacher would go through the unmarked worksheets. Who knows, DS said it's a \"free-and-easy\" session which children asked any questions and the teacher answered! Now not sure to let DS go to Monday's supplementary class. Felt it's a waste of time...!

BTW, mine also a HOD!

[Big fish]

I don't think I am being a wet blanket here; I am merely cautioning the children to be more careful in their work and to spend time reading the questions carefully. Anyway, there is no award for who finishes the fastest in every exam [/quote]





Great minds think alike, I totally agree with you, that is why I urge students/parents to be sensitive and humble.
And a student posted he/she finished Paper one in 20 mins, what is she trying to show??????

[GLORYmum]

Great minds think alike, I totally agree with you, that is why I urge students/parents to be sensitive and humble.

And a student posted he/she finished Paper one in 20 mins, what is she trying to show??????[/quote]






Freedom of speech lah.
Best would be ti Move on to focus on coming subjects.
:xedfingers: :please: :please:

[Chenonceau]

I thought it is nice that every year they break the PSLE into 2 parts. 2 papers before weekend and 2 after the weekend. Gives the kids time to rest. We watched The Dictator last night... OMgosh soooooooooo VULGAR!! I had to send DS out of the room twice.


But a good break from exam tension.