Kindlewhite:

Does RGS provide free Microsoft office in the past years ? The other day when I asked the vendor, he also said don’t buy first because often schools provide free ones.

My gal is in year 3 next year. MS office is not provided by the school, have to purchase separately.

So far No, she took the school bus to school. But come back by the trellis tower bus route

Tananya:

Hi,

My Kid is from Bedok North / chai chee. Any suggestion for transportation.

My girl use the school appointed school bus to school, and come back by public transport, but if you prefer can also take Bus 5 or 506 alight at Trellis Tower stop, change bus 105 to RGS. The reverse to come back home..

junemum72:

Anyone knows do we need to get testimonials from teachers? Or do they give?

My DD's form teacher distributed a form to document achievements/certificates and personally wrote testimonials for all the students applying DSA. As all well deserving \"Kiasu-ians\", we also very thick skin requested the testimonial to be countersigned by the principal. :imanangel:

meowchan:

My DS is in a neighborhood school, her grades aren't fantastic, however, she is around the top 10 in level for almost all subjects. She is also a band secretary as well as a assistant head prefect. She is very keen in trying for DSA under band, her teachers are very supportive too. Should we give it a try?

If your DS is really interested in Band and would like to take up Band as his CCA in his secondary school, give him your support and let him try.

sean wife:

Now that General academic domain for DSA has been removed, does it mean those in GEP who are just doing average and not particularly strong in any subject will not have a good chance to DSA?


Any recent update from the school or GE branch to the recent P6 batch on the changes in DSA criteria?

Thanks.

Actually, it is more correct to say that GAT will not be use as a criteria to admit students under the DSA scheme. General academic domain will still be there. Attached RGS website for easy reference http://www.rgs.edu.sg/admissions/admission-to-rgs/year-1-via-dsa/dsa-academic. However, officially, GAT is to be removed in 2018, there may be some schools which still require GAT this year. Have to check with the individual school.

jenao:

This is in addition to another change which is the places available for dsa will be cut, no longer 50% like previous year, so chances of getting dsa places will be even less this year.

I believe the understanding is from the 2018 DSA Exercise, all secondary schools will be able to admit up to 20% of their non-IP intake via the DSA. For IP schools, there may not be any change to the percentage of DSA intake. Though it is highly likely that the percentage of DSA for Acad domain will reduce starting from this year, and the percentage of DSA for music and sports domain may increase, so as to recognise talents in non-academic specific areas..

katongmum:

May I know the format of the RGS English Domain Selection Test?

My DD is now in RGS first year, applied under DSA English domain last year.
The format for RGS selection is;
Stage 1: GAT,
There is no requirements to take this in 2018, however, some schools may still require to take in 2017. I am not sure for RGS, u have to check. The test is mainly logical thinking, general reasoning ability, and it measures learning capacity, observational skills and problem solving ability. I know there are some tuition teachers who preach that they can tutor this, but in my opinion, this is not an academic subject where you can study for it. The GAT test was designed as such. EQ tests questions found online in some websites are formatted in similar ways, you may ask your DD to go though some of them. I remember I have some printed out some for my DD to try. May be of help to your DD.

Stage 2: half day programme,
When you receive RGS letter for half day programme, you will be happy like a bird. There were GEP students who skipped this and advances to interview stage. For the half day programme, you DD need to write a composition followed with an interview. The compo topic last year was \"Why the chicken cross the road\" and the other was to look at the picture and narrate the story based on what your see. The picture if I remember my DD saying was about a group of ducks on a cliff and one fell off or was pushed of towards the sea. Select one to write.
The compo looks to me is a test on the student perspective and imagination, even for the question on why chicken cross the road, to some the answer is as simple as to get to the other side, but to others may be even more insightful. I believe the questions were specially selected to see how the students interpret what have they see and read. My DD told me she wrote about the duck who fell off but found latent strength amid its fear and anxiety of facing death, remain calm, flapped its wings hard enough and flew up into the sky.
For the interview, the students were divided into groups and each group given a few topics to prepare. The students can discuss the topics with other students in their group waiting outside before their turn for the interview. Interview was conducted one student to a panel of teachers.
The topics my DD got that day was “Lazy Susan”, “Dumb Waiter” and “Rumba of Rattlesnakes.”
Even for me, these topics were unfamiliar, then I realise perhaps the school was not looking at the right answers but at teamwork and the willingness to share information between others even competitors.

Stage 3: interview.
Letter for interview may not be a sure chance of getting in, but chances at this stage should be pretty high. The interview was conducted in a group of a few students together in front of a panel of teachers. The questions were general questions. For my DD, the questions were like why do you like English, why do you think English is important and if you read the dictionary from cover to cover, does it makes you a smart person, etc. For sports or music domain, the questions would be relevant to the domain applied.

The above is what I understood from my DD's experience last year, purely for reference and sharing only and may not be fully accurate. Sorry for being so long winded. The DSA journey is indeed long and tiring but at the same time, enriching and interesting experience for both the children and parents. Do go for it, there is nothing to lose and a lot more to gain. Hope this is useful to your DD applying English domain RGS. All the best for DSA. All the best to PSLE.

anilkumar:

I am planning for dd to write DSA (cedar girls secondary) in 2017. Anyone share their experience about DSA (GAT) test. Please advise me how to prepare for test.


Thanks in advance.

There is quite a bit of discussion here on GAT, attached for easy reference...

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=4185&start=10

ziltransformer:

where can I find any template or reference to build the portfolio for DSA ?

Don't think there is any fixed template but this is the content of the portfolio which my daughter did last year...

1. Personal Particulars
Include name, birthdate, address, religion, hobbies, contact, etc
2. Get to know me...
Do a write-up (required for some schools, limited to a certain number of words). Talk about yourself, what are your aspirations, why u want to go to the school, actually anything...handwritten...
3. Testimonial
A good testimonial from the Form Teacher and preferably signed by the Principal will add a lot of credits. Try to ask for one.
4. Academic results
Attach P4, P5 and P6 mid year report cards
5. National academic awards
Attach national academic awards/certificates, examples.. edusave scholarships, EAGLES, character awards, Queen's commonwealth essay competition, etc...
6. Leadership or CCA accolades
Showcase photos, things done in school as a student leader like Head Prefect/Prefect, Monitor, President/V.President of clubs, Captain of sports etc
7. Other certificates and awards
Sports accreditation, Taekwando belt/grade, Music, Piano ABRSM grades, photographic awards, etc

Attach photos, hand drawn pictures, graphics and place everything in a file, with a proper content, numbered pages and use easy to view format...my daughter use a transparent pocket file ...make the portfolio interesting with a eye catching cover...

Many says, and I would agree, most schools do not even flip through the portfolio... However, we believe if you make it interesting enough, and spend good effort, perhaps.. it will help at least to get enough attention for someone to flip though it and maybe be lucky enough be called in for first interview. Maybe the portfolio did helped my DD... but who knows, anyway, the experience of doing it together, the bonding is already worth it.