starlight1968sg:

Indeed, what is an exam compared with a life threatening disease?

So if we meet people who complain about little things, we should feel happy for them. Because these are the people who have almost nothing worth worrying about if you see life on a broader scheme of things.

A HOD was complaining to me - why I hire an admin person need other department to kaypo? Why they so like to gossip?

My reply to him was - we should feel happy for them. These are the ones who feel job security, so they can gossip in office. Likely, home front is ok too.

If I worry about home or my job is hanging on a thread, I don't think I have the mood and energy to kaypo other department's matter.

PiggyLalala:

不要让我们等太久。。。:)

Cant rem how my boys feel the night before the round 2 test. So many years ago le.... Talking about not able to sleep before an exam.... big boy experienced that when he sat for his A level. He has always been 以平常心when it comes to exam, not the super chiong type and 不把results 看得太重的。 His normal routine before an exam is revise a bit when home fr sch followed by a nap, dinner and then do one paper and it is sleeping time again..very relax de...haha...i will not associate exam stress with him at all ..... so it came as a total surprise when he had difficulty in sleeping during the A level ..national exam is just different...i guess.....

aiya, you already finish the story, know the ending!

Wise uncle once said - for some it is an option, for others it is a mission. I guess as it become more and more insignificant for me, it grows in importance to tofu boy. He must have wanted to have it, to be identified.

During exam time, we play and talk. I hope we can continue to be like that. I think it takes the stress off the kid.

ammonite:

:hugs: Indeed. Spent a fair amount of time in hospital the past year and attended a few funerals, some old, some not so old. Two died of sudden stroke, one only 40,the other 56. A young child had limb amputation due to cancer.


Life is for living, psle is only a small event in the bigger picture.

Hope the lady and her family are coping okay.

I saw the husband yesterday. He looked more alert and cheerful. I believe that means the wife is doing better.

Let’s trace back to August, before the first round of screening test. The parents (in our P3 watsapp group) were all hyped. The kids were even more excited. At our end, we were calm. I couldn’t help being curious – what was tofu boy thinking? His reply was a beautiful one,” Mummy, this is one exam which I don’t need to worry about. If I am, I am. You said it before.”


Right, I said so. That’s my belief all this while but hearing it from him made that sounded so different. So he went for the tests without any baggage, from me or for me. After the tests, we picked him and we had lunch and spend the rest of the afternoon in leisure.

His school gave out the Round 2’s result later than many schools. I was pretty sure he would clear Round 1 but as I heard this school given out the letter, that school given out the letter, I felt my heart sinking. Oh. So my son is not as intelligent as I thought. Fine, I adjust my attitude.

So you could imagine how happy I was when he showed me his letter. I was contented, that’s all I needed to know – cleared Round 1. Round 2 was even more uneventful for us, I thought. Until the night before Round 2 tests…

At 11pm, the night before Round 2 tests…
Son: Mummy… mummy…
Me: hmmm…. (totally sleepy)
Son: Mummy, I cannot sleep.
Me: huh… why?
Son: tomorrow GEP test.

Wait. What?! So he was stressed about what I thought was a non-event. I had woken up.

Me: Silly boy. It is ok. All mummy had hoped for was for you to clear Round 1. This is a test which should be painless, right? If you are, you are. Remember?
Son: (nodded)…. Can I bunk in with you?
Me: sure, just tonight. It’s late already. Don’t think about the tests, they should not bother you at all.
Son: Right.

And he turned over and slept, leaving me wide eyes till 2am. :rant:

I didn’t pick him up after Round 2 tests, so we caught up during dinner. I asked the usual questions like how ar, what questions were there? Like Round 1, he was confident and said he would clear Round 2. If anything, I thought he was more sure after Round 2 than Round 1. A small part of me was happy to hear that. Maybe I really have a potential candidate here.

After a few days, I thought over it and did some calculation. Nah…. He cannot be. I decided to speak to him, to prep him so that he would not be too disappointed if he didn’t get the big envelope.

Me: you see, only about 1% will get it. Let’s assume this 1% is evenly spread out all over the schools. If you calculate, that’s like 2 from your school. Do you think you are one of the two?
Son: Erm… dunno.
Me: Maybe not. The chances is too slim. I am not saying you are no good. You are very good, but maybe MOE is looking for someone else.

He kept very quiet for a while and then replied,”Let’s focus on SA2.” Yeah right, boy, that’s the attitude. That was what I thought was the end of our brush with GEP but Almighty has different plans for him...

to be continued

Imami:

2pm. A lady called, asking for some arrears. Normally, I don't need to handle such calls but somehow that day was different. I picked up her call. Speaking to her, I thought she was checking on behalf of her boss. Then she revealed she was his wife and poured out a few year's family/medical history. Long story short, she was sick for the past few years due to cancer... Had several operation to remove a few organs. The husband was in a mess (in terms of financials and paper work) and hence, owing us money. She revealed that it was not just us, but also a few banks, government bodies, individuals etc. Not that they don't have money, just because he has no time to sort things out as it has been her duty.

Towards the end of the conversation, the line had blurred. I almost felt like I had known her for a long time and I could tell she didn't really have someone she could really talk to for a long time. I hope I had given her a bit of time to channel her pent up emotions.

Remember this lady I have mentioned before?

She had cancer. I got to know that her son just took PSLE and out of concern, I asked how the boy and the family coped, given that the pillar of the family (ie the mother) was sick. Her reply stuck me hard - having fallen so sick, PSLE is reduced to something small. When your life/your loved one's life is threatened, what is PSLE?

Indeed so.

Happy70:

Speaking about P4, I personally thought that the P4 math was pitched at P5 or possibly even P6 levels of difficulty. At least, my son was, at P4, finding P5 and some P6 mainstream test papers easier than his math papers. He was also learning algebra and the nth term concepts in P4.

I thought there were fewer surprises with P4 science. At least, the content that they were tested on in tests and exams are not hugely different from the mainstream.

Eng seemed quite advanced to me. They have to do book reviews, analysis of characters (like an intro into literature), and that sort of thing.

And then there are projects and field trips.

If your child got in based on his /her raw abilities, I think it should not be a problem to do reasonably well. It's just that the workload for the GEP sons seemed heavier than the workload for my mainstream daughter.

Thanks Happy70.

CMMom:

To ‘senior’ geppers parents, can I bother you with one question below:

This year, the school selection will only be confirmed in mid Dec. In about 2 weeks time we’ll need to settle the uniform and such. For books, I read that only Mother Tongue use mainstream textbook. Does that mean there is no booklist to purchase?
Thanks in advance

Posting result will be released by mail on 27 Nov, not mid Dec.

Happy70:

Actually, the real headache starts when they start the programme next year

Care to share, what headache to expect?

I think cancer must be the top killer (in terms of medical reasons which rob us of our lives).


In just one day, I got to know of 4 people who died due to cancer. Some recently, some ages ago.

Early one morning, we received news that one of our cleaners had passed away. He had lung cancer which was seemingly getting better after a series of chemo. Just a day shy of the next review, there was a relapse and he was warded into the hospital again. The fight lasted only 2 days. He died in the ICU.

At around 11am, while conducting an interview... This candidate forgot her original time slot and we had to re-schedule. I asked her for the reason for the mixed up. Mean hor? However, I was totally glad I asked. This girl's mom just passed away, due to cancer. That particular day was supposed to be a praying day. She readily admitted that she had applied for several job openings and coupled with the recent loss of her mom, she lost track. Her mom died of cancer, and she started tearing up. Next to me, my co-interviewer then said,\" my mom died of cancer too, when I was 8.\"

:faint: I couldn't help blinking my tears away hearing this.

2pm. A lady called, asking for some arrears. Normally, I don't need to handle such calls but somehow that day was different. I picked up her call. Speaking to her, I thought she was checking on behalf of her boss. Then she revealed she was his wife and poured out a few year's family/medical history. Long story short, she was sick for the past few years due to cancer... Had several operation to remove a few organs. The husband was in a mess (in terms of financials and paper work) and hence, owing us money. She revealed that it was not just us, but also a few banks, government bodies, individuals etc. Not that they don't have money, just because he has no time to sort things out as it has been her duty.

Towards the end of the conversation, the line had blurred. I almost felt like I had known her for a long time and I could tell she didn't really have someone she could really talk to for a long time. I hope I had given her a bit of time to channel her pent up emotions.

Can someone recommend the tougher math assessment books for p4? Something topical will be good.


Something similar or tougher than Challenging Math by Sandhya Sundar will be ideal.