Top School Exam Papers

Friday, January 8, 2010

Top PSLE student from Qifa Primary

The top primary six student this year is Qiu Biqing, 13, a girl from Qifa Primary
School in West Coast, with an aggregate score of 290.

The top Malay and Eurasian students, Syafiqah Nabilah Bte Shamshera and
Samantha Annabelle Neubronner are both from Raffles Girls' Primary School.

The top Indian student is Muhammad Saad Siddiqui (below)from Anglo-Chinese School (Primary).
Other top students come from Nanyang
Primary School,Gongshang Primary School, Rosyth School, South View Primary School, Greenridge Primary School, Nan Hua Primary School and Rulang Primary School.

A total of 48,541 Primary six pupils sat for the Primary School Leaving
Examinations (PSLE) this year. Among them, 47,117 pupils (or 97.1 per cent) will proceed to secondary school.

In terms of course eligibility, 63.1 per cent are eligible for the Express course, 22.4 per cent for
the Normal (Academic) and 11.6 per cent for the Normal (Technical) course.

The 2009 Primary six cohort is the first batch of pupils under Subject-based Banding who sat for the PSLE. Subject-based Banding, a refinement to the previous streaming system, was implemented from the 2008 Primary 5 cohort to give pupils the flexibility of taking a
mix of subjects at Standard or Foundation levels depending on their strengths and abilities in each subject.

Only 1,424 students did not pass the exam, they have a choice of enrolling in Assumption Pathway School or NorthLight School, or re-taking their PSLE.

Out of 44 children who were home-schooled, 37 took the examinations this year. Seventeen, or 46 per cent, did not meet the benchmark.

Top PSLE girl could hardly speak English

When Qiu Biqing came to Singapore at 10 years old, her English was so bad that she had problems forming full sentences.

Three years down the road, she is Singapore's top PSLE student, with a score of 290 and an A* in English. She also says she wants to be a lawyer or a writer. Biqing came from Guangzhou in 2006 and started school in Singapore at primary three at Qifa Primary School.

Her father, Mr Qiu Guo Hua, 45, is a research fellow at the National University of Singapore, and her mother, Madam Xie Xiaojin, 42, is a research assistant there. They both work in a physiology lab. At the time, she was too embarrassed to speak to anyone with her broken English. She only started to improve after much encouragement from her classmates and teachers. She told Lianhe Wanbao, "My form teacher in primary three was Indian, which
forced me to speak in English - that really helped me a lot."

To improve her English, she read English books widely. From picture books from the children's section, she has now progressed to Harry Potter and books by Jodi Picoult (author of "My Sister's Keeper"), which she said are her favourites.

Principal Debra Saw said, "Qiu Biqing's is very modest, and very helpful towards her classmates. She is the most well-rounded student I have come across in recent years."

Here's why PSLE maths must be tough

Here's why PSLE maths must be tough AS EXPECTED, this year's Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) mathematics paper evoked an emotional outcry from some parents, as was the case in previous years. It will not be the last time either.

Some students cannot solve mathematics problems because of lack of aptitude or attitude. Some can solve only the types of problems they have been taught to solve, and using only prescribed methods. Only a few can solve new types of problems using original methods.

Every exam, especially a public one, should identify these three categories. Complaints will naturally come from the second but for the good of Singapore and the really gifted, the third must be discovered and nurtured. Parents may cry foul but how can there be unfairness when all pupils sit for the same papers?

Should fairness be such that every pupil is eventually classified as 'average'? Fairness should give every student an equal chance to learn and do his best; it should not decapitate those who are head and shoulders above the rest.

We should be realistic enough to realise that equal opportunity does not mean, and should never produce, equal achievement, painful as this may be to accept personally.

What is unfortunate is that in Singapore, a student's future is so often determined by just one exam.Some flowers which blossom late can also be of matchless beauty. Not doing well in any exam does not necessarily mean a student is inherently poor in that subject.

On the other hand, good exam grades may only be due to the mastery of examination techniques. Is a student good at maths and science? Only time will tell. Some parents complain that if they, as adults, cannot solve the maths questions posed in this year's PSLE, how can one expect a child to do so. Well, it all depends on the adult or the child. Or how about another common complaint, that the maths poser was phrased in language which was so hard to understand when the exam was not to test a pupil's English skill?

Well, there is no such thing as an exam of maths only. The PSLE maths paper is an exam on maths in English. We cannot divorce any subject from the linguistic medium used, whether it is in maths or any other subject.One should aim high and climb hard, but one should not expect the mountain top to be whittled away for one's benefit.

Ee Teck Ee

More top scorers from neighbourhood

[Photo: Top PSLE students from South View Primary, John Zhang, 12, and Michelle
Lim, 12.]

NEIGHBOURHOOD schools have trumped their more storied counterparts in producing top students in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE).

Seven of the 13 best students this year came from schools in the heartland: Qi Fa in West Coast, South View in Choa Chu Kang, Greenridge in Bukit Panjang, Rulang in Jurong West and Gongshang in Tampines.

Last year, only two neighbourhood schools produced top scorers.

Top student from Qifa Primary

Name /School / Score
Qiu Biqing /Qifa Primary School /290
Chen Muhe /Nanyang Primary School /287
Joyce Sin Jie Yin /Gongshang Primary School /287
Choong Kai Xin /Rosyth School /287
John Zhang Jiong /Yang South View Primary School /286
Lim Xuan Li, Michelle/ South View Primary School /286
Syafiqah Nabilah Bte
Shamshera /Raffles Girls' Primary School / 286
Chua Gek Yee / Greenridge Primary School /285
Yap Kwan Yi / Nan Hua Primary School /285
Lim Kai Bing, Danson / Nan Hua Primary School /284
Faith Nadine Choo Yun
Sum /Raffles Girls' Primary School /283
Roscoe Lim Yi Cheng /Gongshang Primary School /283
Katie Chan Kar Yan /Rulang Primary School /283

source:
Thu, Nov 26, 2009
The Straits Times