Changes to PSLE Science and Mathematics Examination Format

PSLE SCIENCE EXAMINATION FORMAT REVISED (2017)

	Item	No. of Qns	Marks per Qn	Total Marks
Booklet A	MCQ	30 28	2	60 54
Booklet B	Structured Questions	14 12-13	2 – 4 2 – 5	40 44

Duration: 1hr 45min

 

PSLE MATHEMATICS EXAMINATION FORMAT REVISED (2017)

Paper	Booklet	Item	No. of Qns	Marks per Qn	Sub Total Marks	Total marks	Duration
1	A	MCQ	10	1	10	40 45	50min 1hr
			5	2	10
	B	Short- Answer	10 5	1	10 5
			5 10	2	10 20
2		Short- Answer	5	2	10	60 55	1hr 40min 1hr 30min
		Structured	18 12	3,4,5	50 45

Duration: 2hr 30min

Changes in Presentation

Arrows are allowed in doing percentage and rate questions

Arrows are not allowed in other situations

Eg.

100% = 20 (WRONG)                      vs          100% –> 20 (CORRECT)

10 men = 20 hours (WRONG)       vs          10 men –> 20 hours (CORRECT)

Equal Signs are used in units questions and the word “unit”must be written fully instead of using the letter “u” to represent.

Eg.

10 u –> 20 (WRONG)                       vs           10 units = 20 (CORRECT)

 

UNDERSTANDING HEAT AND HOW TO ACE SCIENCE TEST – HEAT

What is this topic:

Ans: Heat Expansion

Explain how this happens:

In the day, it is hotter, the surrounding temperature is higher. Since metal is a good conductor of heat, the heat will cause the metal tracks to expand. The gaps are constructed to allow for expansion during the day to prevent buckling of the tracks and causing the train to derail.

Different Materials Used for Different Parts of Cooking Pot

What is this topic:

Ans: Heat Conductors

Explain how this happens:

For cooking pot, heat is required to be conducted from the flame to the base of the pot fast in order to cook the contents in the pot, thus using material like iron, copper etc which are good conductors of heat is preferred. 

As for the handle, since our hands will touch it often and in order not to scald our hands, using material like plastic or wood will be ideal as these materials are bad conductors of heat / insulators and they will conduct heat slower from the pot to the handle and our hand will not be scalded.

What is this topic:

Ans: Heat Travels from Hotter Place to a Colder Place

Explain how this happens:

Iron rod is a good conductor of heat. As the candle is heating the iron rod at one side, the heat will travel along the iron rod from a hotter place to a colder place. Since Thumbtacks  P is nearer to the candle, the wax at P will melt first causing Thumbtacks P to drop first.

UNDERSTANDING MAGNETISM AND HOW TO ACE SCIENCE TEST – MAGNETISM

Objects floating above one another

What is this topic:

Ans: Magnetism

Explain how this happens:

The objects are magnets or have magnets in them. The like poles are facing each other (North pole facing north pole or south pole facing south pole) so they repel each other and float above one another.

Paper clip remains at same position when iron sheet is placed between it and the magnet but floats when iron sheet is being replaced by a wooden plank

What is this topic:

Ans: Magnetism

Explain how this happens:

Although paper clip is a magnetic material, the magnetism or magnetic force of the U-shaped magnet is unable to pass through the iron sheet because iron sheet is a magnetic material, thus unable to attract the paper clip. However magnetism of the U-shaped magnet is able to pass through the wooden plank which is a non magnetic material, thus attracting the paper clip and making it float towards the U-shaped magnet.

Device use for separating iron from sand

What is this topic:

Ans: Magnetism

Explain how this happens:

When the mixture of iron and sand fall onto the belt, they will be carried to the left along the belt since the magnetic wheel is turning anti-clockwise. As the belt travels down towards container X, the sand which is non magnetic material will fall onto container X due to gravity. While the iron which is magnetic material will be attracted by the magnetic wheel as well as the magnet object placed above and between container X and Y. The iron will not fall as the magnetic force is greater than the gravity force acting on them. However once they pass by the magnet object, there is no magnetic force acting on them and they will fall into container Y due to gravity. The process repeats again until all the iron and sand are separated.

Understanding Condensation And How to Ace Science Test – Condensation

Water Droplets On the Outer Surface of Cold Bottle

What is this process:

Ans: Condensation

Explain how this happens:

The warmer water vapour in the surrounding air touches the cooler outer surface of the cold bottle and loses heat to condense into water droplets.

Water Droplets on the underside of the Lid

What is this process:

Ans: Condensation

Explain how this happens:

The warmer water vapour/ steam from the hot content in the pot touches the cooler underside surface of the pot lid and loses heat to condense into water droplets.

Water droplets found on the outer surface of the car window

What is this process:

Ans: Condensation

Explain how this happens:

The warmer water vapour in the surrounding air touches the cooler outer surface of the car window and loses heat to condense into water droplets.

Mist formed Above Pot During Cooking

What is this process:

Ans: Condensation

Explain how this happens:

The warmer water vapour/ steam from the hot content in the pot touches the cooler surrounding air and loses heat to condense into tiny water droplets called mist.

Cloud forming in the Sky

What is this process:

Ans: Condensation

Explain how this happens:

The warmer water vapour rises and touches the cooler surrounding air in the sky and loses heat to condense into tiny water droplets called cloud.

8 Tips to Ace That Oral Test

How many of you would like to score high in Oral Test? I bet all of you would, isn’t it?

Attaining outstanding results from the biannual oral examinations is possible if you learn and stick to the following constructive tips:

1) Smile and Greet the Examiner

Be polite. Give your Examiner the most brilliant smile and greet him/her. By doing so, you are highly likely to secure an impressive first impression. You may practice this at home by checking your smile in the mirror, do this a few times and you will improve and who knows you can master the ‘smile with your eyes’ look and stand out among your classmates and leave an everlasting impression on your examiner.

2) Sit Up Straight 

After greeting the examiner, you will be asked to take a seat. Now sit up straight, do not slouch, you do not want to appear to your examiner that there is no energy flowing in you nor do you want to give your examiner an impression that you are bored or unmotivated. Next, do not sit or rock your chair on two legs because you do not want to look like a fool should you lose your balance and fall.

3) Read Aloud in a Lively Tone

When reading the passage, read aloud so that your examiner does not have to strain his/her ears to ear your mumbling. Do not read in a mono-tone and should you do this,you can easily drive your examiner to boredom within seconds, so READ IN A LIVELY TONE! It will be better if you can have the appropriate expressions on your face which can definitely engage your examiner to enjoy listening to your reading and grant you with high scores.

4) Pronounce and Emphasize lightly words ending with ‘t’, ‘d’, ‘s’, ‘k’

Oral exam is test on your pronunciation thus it is important to pronounce clearly each and every word and by doing so, you are required to emphasize the ending of every words. For instance, students tend to read the word ‘baskets’ without the ‘s’ and the word ‘appeared’ without the ‘ed’. Practice reading aloud whenever you chance upon any passages. With practices, you will soon master pronouncing every single word and it will come out from your mouth automatically.

5) Slight Pause at Every Comma and Full Stop

The purpose of commas and full stops is to break up sentences. Likewise, when we read, we need to give a slight pause for every comma and full stop, otherwise, it would be rather difficult to understand the passage should you read the passage without any pauses.

6) Different Tone for Dialogues

When there is dialogues in the oral passage, give a different tone from the normal tone you read the passage.

For example, <The old man said feebly “Can you give me some food, I’ve not eaten for three days“> Portray the tone of an old man by reading the dialogue in a slow, weak and low tone

Another example, <The lady complained loudly “Your service is very lousy!“> This time round the tone for this dialogue should be in high, slightly louder and in a frustrated tone.

Should you be able to read in the appropriate tones for different dialogues, the examiner will find your oral reading entertaining.

7) Attempt to Pronounce Difficult Words

If you chance upon words that you do not know how to pronounce, break the word up and try to pronounce with confident. Do NOT Pause at the word and wait for the examiner to help you! Sometimes, the examiner does not even realize that you have difficulty reading that word because their concentration span decreases after listening repeatedly to so many students reading the same passage over and over again.

8) Thank the Examiner

Lastly, towards the end of the oral examination and before you stand up to leave, remember to thank the examiner. Once again, be polite, smile brightly. Leave the examiner your best everlasting impression.

By adhering to the above 8 tips, you are not far from attaining high score for your oral exam. Best of Luck! 🙂

6 Common Mistakes Made in Mathematics Topic: Time, Hour and Minute

When it comes to the mathematics topic, Time, Hour and Minute. Many students tend to have some misconceptions and bound to make the following mistakes. Students should avoid making such blunders, in a bid to secure the marks in their test.

Mistake 1:

Convert 0.30hr to mins.

0.30hr is NOT equal to 30min but Equal to 18min

Working:

0.30hr = 0hr and 0.30hr

30/100 x 60min = 18min

Convert 5.50hr to Hrs and Mins.

5.50hr is NOT equal to 5hr 50min but Equal to 5hr 30min

Correct Working:

5.50hr = 5hr and 0.50hr

5hr + 50/100 x 60min = 5hr 30min

Mistake 2:

Convert 0.40min to secs.

0.40min is NOT equal to 40sec but Equal to 24sec

Correct Working:

0.40min = 0min and 0.40min

40/100 x 60sec = 24sec

Mistake 3:

Convert 45min to hour.

Common Mistake:

Students will derive the answer as 0.45hour.

Correct Working:

45/60 = 0.75hour

Mistake 4:

Convert 12sec to min.

Common Mistake:

Students will derive the answer as 0.12min.

Correct Working:

12/60 = 0.2min

Mistake 5:

Adam left house at 11.45am and reached school at 1.15pm. How long did he take to reach school?

Students forget to convert time in pm to 24hr format, that is 115pm to 1315hr.

Mistake 6:

When the number at Min column is too small to deduct a bigger number, after borrowing from the Hr column, students add 1 to the Min column

Correct Working:

Student should first change 115pm to 1315hr.

After borrowing 1 hr from the Hr column, add 60min to 15min to become 75min.

Take 75min – 45min = 30min

Thus Adam took 1hr 30min to reach school.

Above are some common mistakes made by students while doing practices or during exam. Hope students can take note to avoid marks lost due to these mistakes. I welcome comments or suggestions. 🙂

A Good Tutor Should Teach Students On Survival Skills – Both Academically and In Life As a Whole

Time have changed. Even education systems have changed and adjusted to suit future expectations. It is no longer restricted to focus on just the grades on certificates, but is moving towards a more diverse and broad-based education to ensure a holistic development, both in and out of the classroom. Singapore’s education systems hope to nurture young Singaporean to establish a set of sound values so they have the resilience and character to handle life’s inevitable setbacks and that they have the determination to work hard towards their dreams.

If education is constantly evolving, tutors should also continue to improve and upgrade themselves to match the system. Tutors’ task is no longer restricted to just passing down of knowledge alone, tutors today should be equipped with the capability to train their students to learn to be independent, diligent, creative, positive and a dream chaser. In short, Tutors in today’s modern world should adopt the holistic approach as well in order to influence and nurture our next generation.

Thus, does the tutor you have engaged belongs to the above mentioned category or he/she is just an another obsolete “theory passer-down” tutor? Below is a checklist to determine if the tutor is receptive towards such holistic approach and did he/she apply such approach:

Discourage Spoon Feeding

If your tutor applies the spoon feeding approach by teaching them every practice without giving your child a chance to attempt and giving the meaning of vocab your child is unsure of, then these actions are absolutely spoon feeding. Spoon feeding discourage independent thoughts and actions and as a result, your child will rely heavily on others for solutions. Good tutors should make your child attempt every practice on their own, make them think once or twice before stepping in to guide them, this encourage your child to face every challenge with no fear and to attempt to source for solution before giving up easily. Good tutors should ask your child to find the meaning of words they do not know instead of giving them the definition straight away. This can train them to be independent and diligent instead of reliance or laziness.

Embrace Failure

This is a tough nut aspect. From my experience, many parents and tutors are still very conservative towards failure and this is highly likely due to the past education system which allowed no space for failures. Think about it, how do we learn if we do not make mistakes? Allowing failure and embracing it allows your child to learn, they harder they fell, the more they will learn. Talk to successful people, guess 99.9% agree that lessons are learnt through failure. Thus if your child makes mistake, tutors should point out to them and make them learn. A tutor who reprimands your child for making mistakes would only discourage and obstruct the route for your child to learn and as a result the fear in them to try. A quote to ponder “Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently” Henry Ford.

Value Diligence

Good tutors should teach your child to be hardworking instead of looking for short cut. Some examples of students who look for short cuts are those who copy answer (with answer sheets) or those who simply do (without answer sheets), both just to be answerable to their tutors. Experience tutors are able to discover these tricks instantly and great tutors should let them know the consequences of doing so and guide them to the correct path by emphasizing that there is simply no shortcut to success. Great leaders embrace learning not just in school but throughout their entire life. Jim Rohn once mentioned, “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenge, wish for more wisdom”. Excellent tutor should teach your child the meaning behind every learning.

Inject Positivity

Your tutor should be positive and encouraging instead of negative and discouraging. Tutor’s attitude can greatly affect and influence your child’s mindset and in turn affect his/her learning attitude. A good tutor should be constantly motivating your child by giving sufficient praises, showing and demonstrating to your child yes he/she can achieve better.

If your tutor exhibits the above traits, it is a sign that this tutor is able to transform your child into a better person, both academically as well as in life. Grab on!

How to choose a good private tutor

No time to coach your child? Struggling with their syllabus? It’s time to engage a tutor to take over the task. So what make a good tutor? Not sure? How about a checklist to help you decide if the person you have engaged is the ideal tutor for your child.

The Tutor’s Education Background

The tutor should excel in the relevant subjects they are teaching. The better they performed in the subjects, the more they are able to pass their knowledge to your child. Ask for proof of their academic results and relevant certificates. Tutors with good results are more than happy to present their certificates.

The Tutor’s Teaching Experience

Tutors with rich experience are no time waster. They know how to prioritize and know at their finger tips of what is essential to teach during lesson. They are able to pin point immediately of what your child should take note. The more students they have taught, the more capable they are able to handle kids with different levels of intelligence, characters and personalities. They know what approach works best on individual kids. Thus the tutor’s teaching experience is one crucial criteria to take into consideration when looking for a tutor.

Is the Tutor Able to Access Your Child Within the First Few Lessons

Experienced or observant tutor has the ability to access your child’s character and performance one or two lessons. He/she knows which approach is best for your child. Without such observation, the tutor applying his/her own teaching method will somehow be futile as all children are different and not one approach can work well for all children.

Did The Tutor Ask About Your Child Previous Grades and Results?

A good tutor will be keen to know more about the student, especially the past results because the tutor’s tasks is to ensure improvements to the student’s grade. If the tutor shows no interest in the student’s grades, how is he/she going to help the student or determine there is any improvements in the long run?

Did The Tutor Set Goals with Your Child?

Goals setting is important as it gives your child a long term vision and short term motivation. It is the first step towards goal achievements and puts him/ her into real action. Thus a good tutor should spend some time with your child to set his/her goal and guide them along by helping them organize his/her time. By doing so, the child will have a target to work towards, instead of having tuition for the sake of tuition.

Determine if Rapport Between The Tutor and Your Child Is Good

Gather feedback from your child about the tutor. Does your child like the tutor? If yes, rapport has been established between your child and the tutor. Good rapport is critical for the lessons to be enjoyable. Enjoyable lessons can motivate your child to look forward to every lessons and they are more receptive towards the coaching of the tutor, thus in turn resulting in more productivity from the lessons.

Determine Tutor’s Passion and Enthusiasm

Chat with the tutor, observe how the lesson is conducted, try to determine if the tutor is passionate in his/her teaching. Is the tutor enthusiastic during lessons? Did the tutor make sure your child fully understand the mistakes made during practices? Is the tutor proud of the results his/her students produced? If the answer is yes to the above questions, congrats! Your tutor is highly likely passionate in teaching!

Is the Tutor Positive, Patient and Motivating Determine The Tutor’s Confidence Level

A positive tutor can motivate your child during down times. A patient tutor will not lose temper and give up easily, he/she will have the patience to spur your child on, as motivating is not just a one-time effort but it takes time. Thus if your tutor has the positive vibes and is patient enough, congrats! Grab hold of him/her.

Is The Tutor’s Responsible and Committed

To determine the level of the tutor’s commitment, one is able to observe through the number of lessons the tutor cancelled within a time period. If the attendance of the tutor is 100% or close, the tutor is committed. On the other hand, if he/she cancelled lessons every now and then, the commitment level is lacking and this can seriously affect your child’s progress.

Parents would definitely prefer a responsible tutor, isn’t it? A responsible tutor should notify the parent in advance if he/she is not able to turn up for the tuition or he/she is going to be late. A responsible tutor should check through the given homework and go through all mistakes your child has made. A responsible tutor should have lessons planned before hand and not waste time during the tuition. Thus getting a responsible tutor is definitely more beneficial than having a time wasting tutor.

Is The Tutor Strict Smart in Exam Techniques Is There Improvements After Few Months

Solely passing the knowledge to your child is not good enough, the tutor should be familiar with the exam format, paper duration for different subjects, so that he/she can guide your child along to better prepare them for and during the examination. A good tutor is able to pin point which are the popular topics or questions. He/she will also help your child in time management, so that your child can maximize the time not just to complete the paper but also has the allowance to check through the paper for careless mistakes.

Did The Tutor Communicate and Update the Parents 

All parents wish to be involved in their children’s education, however most parents are tied up with their work and they have limited time, thus the least they need is update from the tutor. A good tutor should communicate with the parent on the child’s progress time to time, let them know the problems (if there is any), so the parents can know what is happening and are able to plan and execute the next step.

The above are some pointers parents can take note when engaging a tutor for your child, hope this checklist can help you in deciding if the tutor is a gem to keep or it’s time to change for a better one.

Primary 6 Top School Maths Problem Sum – Percentage/ Fraction/ Ratio

Posted this Primary 6 maths problem sum in my Instagram, inviting students or anyone interested to challenge themselves. This is extracted from one of Singapore’s top schools maths CA1 and the question involves mathematics topics Fraction/ Percentage/ Ratio. For such questions, I would always teach and encourage my students to solve it by drawing models because it is definitely much more clearer, do you think likewise?

Should you have any comment to the above article, I sincerely welcome your feedback and thoughts. 🙂

Tips for Students Without Tuition

Majority of the students in Singapore have extra classes after school either in a tuition center or with a private tutor, while the rest do not. I have specially prepared the following tips for parents of students without tuition or the students themselves to help them to better conduct their self study which could eventually improve their grades.

Pay attention in school

I know there are times that students might just day dream in class and lose their focus in what the teachers are teaching, however, what the teacher taught in class are the most basic and essential information. Students need to understand these basics in order to answer to the most simple question. The more the students pay attention in class, the more they are able to follow through the syllabus and the more they can handle other challenging questions. Vice versa, they more they day dream in class, the higher the chance of them not able to catch up with the syllabus (this is especially true for the subject Mathematics) and they more they are going to be lagged behind in class.

Go through the school textbook and activity workbook/ worksheet

School textbooks have the most basic and essential information, by going through them thoroughly, noting on the keypoints and totally digesting every information and having the ability to answer all questions in the workbook, students have half their battle won.

Invest in topical assessment books that follows the syllabus

Doing questions in topical assessment books can test the students’understanding of each and every topic, as well as allowing them to practice more questions which are out of the school activity workbook.

Invest in top school exam papers

These school exam papers usually contain CA1, SA1, CA2, SA2 papers. Practice them accordingly to what is relevant. Always buy the most up to date test papers (last year exam papers) to ensure it is according to the most up to date syllabus, other wise practicing on out-of-date syllabus might not be as effective. Always treat every paper like a real examination, give time limit. By doing so, not just students can practice on more questions, they can also practice on their time management as well as to be more familiar with exam the format and thus, be more confident during examination.

Learn from mistakes

Practicing on assessment books or exam papers will not be effective if students do not make an attempt to find out why they got the questions answered wrongly or why they lost the marks. It is only upon that they learnt where their mistakes are, will they have better understanding of the topics, which will then improve on their grades.

The above pointers may seem general, however to really adhere to them and practice them in the long run is not that easy. Thus should the above pointers be diligently and constantly practiced, students do have high chance to do well for the exam, independently, and this could in turn help the parents to save money spent on tuition centers and private tuition.

Should you have any comment to the above article, I sincerely welcome your feedback and thoughts. 🙂