PSLE is Like Having a Baby

PSLE is like having a baby. As amused as you may be, it really is. To start off, it is a ten months long project.

It Starts in Dec

Preparation for this important event starts in December, the year BEFORE the actual exam, when the child is still in Primary 5. In the December of that year, it is important to let your child know about the timeline of the PSLE year, so as to better prepare him mentally and emotionally.

It would be good to revisit the Primary 3, 4 and 5 syllabus during the December holidays. You can do it lightly by going through the notes or doing SA2 exam practice papers. If the child is weak in a certain subject, like Science, it would be good to re-learn the weaker topics and follow up with topical practice papers and a mini-test afterwards. Do not wait till January as it does take some time, usually weeks, to revise 3 years of syllabus(P3, P4 and P5 syllabus). When school re-opens, your child will not have the time and space to revise these older syllabus as he will be occupied with learning new P6 chapters in school. This is also a good time to get his engine started and be mentally and emotionally ready to start the P6 year, building up his laser like focus for the PSLE exam. (For those interested, here’s how you can revise P3, P4 and P5 Science in 9 days)

Ten Months of work in Seven Months

Schools usually teach P6 syllabus for all subjects from January to June/July, squeezing ten months of teaching into seven months. There is also a lot of daily homework, remedial classes, CCAs, after-school activities, tuition classes, ballet classes, enrichment classes etc. With 15-20% more work given in the PSLE year, students are actually doing ten months’ worth of work in seven months! It is made even more intensive and overwhelming with CA1 exam and SA1 exam in the midst of it. However, this is not the toughest part.

Toughest Period: Final Revision

From August to end September, it is 8 weeks of intensive revision. Stacks and stacks and stacks of exam practice papers, for 4 to 5 subjects, day in, day out. It is a tiring routine which may sometimes lead to exam-fatigue. Other than doing practice papers in school, an average student will get about 2-3 exam practice papers for EACH subject per day as homework.

2 papers x 4 subjects = 8 exam practice papers per day, it is that tedious.

This is partly the reason why some schools have no time to go through all the answers in class or teachers just provide the answers without giving full explanations on how answers are derived. It does not help that the haze sometimes returns during this time of the year. It affects the general health of students, resulting in restlessness, lack of focus, breathing difficulties, uncomfortable eyes and many more. Throw in the Prelim exams in July/August and you can imagine how stressful it is during the toughest period of a student’s PSLE year.

It would be good for parents to take note of your Child’s health as he may not be getting sufficient sleep, working into the wee hours of the night to finish the mountain of exam practice papers or not eating properly due to stress. Let your Child take more vitamins, more water and get more sleep during this period. Be a listening ear when your Child is frustrated. Offer a hug. Go for a stroll together. Let your child know he has the support of his parents and family.

This is also a good time to find out how your child relieves stress. Whether it is by listening to music, exercising or just talking about his problems, it is a crucial part of well-being. Life is a long journey and there would always be problems. Knowing your way of relieving stress will help in Secondary school and later in life when you have to face more challenges as you grow older. Studies have found that teens turn to drugs and binge-drinking as they did not know how to cope with stress in their growing up years, and thus choose to escape from reality through drugs or alcohol. Use PSLE to discover more about your child and parents are usually the best candidates to help them. PSLE is more than a battle of academics, it is also a training ground for one’s mental and emotional well-being.

Final Countdown

There is a saying, “Train your troops for a thousand days, in preparation for one day of battle”/养兵千日，用兵一时, this is definitely the case for PSLE. All the hard work should be completed one week before the PSLE exam. The rest is waiting.The seven days before exam is a time to calm your nerves, to get yourself emotionally and mentally ready and have sufficient rest and water. It is strange if the child is still doing last minute work seven days before the exam. With everything prepared and poised for action, the child is confident to take the exam, in the best of health, achieving top-notch performancein the PSLE exam.

Mandy Zhang is a Science Coach, Director-Founder of Learnintt that specialises in PSLE Science Flashcards and has helped over 800 students in her years of private teaching.

Here’s How you can revise P3, P4 and P5 Science in 9 days

You can get the flashcards here: http://learnintt.com/psle-science-full-bundle.html