The End of O Levels

It had been almost a month since O level started. Zaky took his English Listening Comprehension paper on 15 Oct. The following week, he had a paper almost every day, including on his bday. The week of 26 Oct was the busiest but mainly maths and science papers, which he claimed no sweat. This week, he only took a paper on Monday and 2 science paper 1 today. 

That’s it! He would be a free bird this afternoon, but a chubby one, bcos he put on so much “study” weight. He claimed that he would lose it all when he finally get the time to exercise again. Oh yes, the metabolism of teenager boys (I hope).

Zaky has definitely slowed down his rate of revision during the past week. He was going out, playing basketball, watching social media throughout the week. Yday, I was wfh and saw him do some papers in between video watching. He confidently told me that he would do well for both the papers. 

This morning, there was a mad rush and crazy scare. Nana has her Maths paper at 8am. Zaky’s 1st paper was at 8am too. Her maths and physics now require this special calculator that cost over $100. Nana inherited hers from a senior. This morning, her calculator hung. Seriously, at 6.20am. 

In the end, Zaky took a Tada to school and Nana managed to borrow a calculator from a classmate who took H1 maths and didn’t have a paper today. Daddy Lim drove her to Buangkok to pick up the calculator and then to school. He then took half a day of urgent leave and had coffee and bfast at Star Vista. Both kids updated that they made it to school on time and safely.

Last night, while some may still be mugging and others resting, Zaky lugged all his books and notes into a few piles - the textbooks are to be donated, the others all to be sent to the recycle bin. 

There are a lot. I wonder how we are going to bring these to their respective places. 

Anyhow, Zaky’s room is still very messy. The books and notes were either piled up on his table or stacked up on his shelf previously and now onto the floor. The remaining messiness is still messy. Maybe it is not such a great idea to have him move the piles onto the floor so quickly. I can already foresee one of the Chis pouncing onto the stack or the fan blowing the loose papers somewhere. 

Regardless, Zaky has officially completed his O levels. Congratulations to him and to his parents. Hooray! One kid done, one more to go. 

Mummy Lim

Zaky’s O Level Prelim

Zaky has completed his prelims before the school holidays. Am I worried about his O levels? Absolutely!

Nana is the hardworking one and never fail to show/ tell us how hard she is studying. 

I duno why Nana was trying to squeeze everything into that one piece of paper. 

I barely get to see Zaky studying. It would always be too late/ early/ tired/ hot/ cold/ sunny/ rainy/ whatever to study. He said that he did and studied hard, but I barely get to witness. I got even more anxious when I heard that the other 3 tigers are doing well - ER got DSA via vball to ASRJC, T got EAE to do Business in TP and V, who is always the hardworking one has set his eyes on a good JC. What about Zaky? Sob!

His prelims results have come hack since school re-opens and he did quite well. He has got A1 for Emaths, Physics and Electronics, A2 for English and Amaths and B3 for Chemistry and Geo/SS. He totally didn’t expect the Geo/ SS results, as he wouldn’t need humanities to go to Poly and was giving it much less focus. His Chinese O levels is a B3 but I don’t think he would need his Chinese grade (hopefully not!) for his L1R4 or R5. 

Based on his prelims, his L1R4 would be 7 points and L1R5 would be 10. While he did much better for prelims than Nana, I wasn’t at all worried when Nana got 15 (L1R5) got prelims bcos NH is notorious for setting extremely hard prelim papers. SST is not as academically driven as NH. I can only hope that he could ideally improve a little bit more for O levels or at least maintain the same standard. 

I have always think that Zaky is as capable academically as Nana. While Nana is more hardworking, Zaky grasped concepts much easier, making him stronger in Maths and Sciences. I have been trying to be more positive. The truth is that he wouldn’t have any issues getting into that SP Engineering course that he is eyeing. It has a COP of 13 points and I am confident that Zaky can do much better than that. What I wanted is for him to do very well for O levels and make us proud. Or do so well that he would be tempted to go JC. It is for my own selfish motives. May God grant me the heart to take whatever results. 

Next up, Nana’s prelim results. While she only has 5 subjects, her prelim stretches forever and her last paper would be on coming Friday. I am less hopeful for good results. Everybody struggles with A level prelims. 

Mummy Lim

O Levels Chinese Result - Zaky’s Turn

Zaky’s era is still that of 2 chances to take Chinese O level. His paper 1 and 2 were in June while Listening and Oral were in July. Did we work hard? Of course and we started earlier than in Nana’s time. 

Zaky is weird. He can read many of the Chinese words and I would assume that he knows them, only to realise that he could read them but didn’t understand them. Zzzzz. His short term memory is horrible too. Like Nana, he also memorised the 词语 from his sec 2 to 4 手册 but the 词语 doesn’t stick long in his head. What surprised me was his willingness to do the TYS paper without the needing me to breath down his neck. When attempting paper 1, Nana would go for the storyline question while he attempts the argumentative type. 

After doing numerous papers and with his tutor’s help, he sort of make better sense of the comprehension. Even his tutor commented that he had improved. However, the 1st 2 parts of the paper 2 are his nemesis and he could barely get a few questions correct. 

I think that his chances lies in how well he could do in his oral. Did we practice hard? Not really. The material from his school wasn’t a lot, compared with the almost 200 pages notes that Nana had from NH in her year. We tried but almost everyday, he was tired. Zzzzzz. 

After his oral, he texted us that he probably screwed up bcos he couldn’t understand what is “xin fu” is in one of the final questions and he simply babbled. I knew that his A2 had flew away. Ya, he doesn’t know 幸福. Zzzzzz.

Zaky is a Maths and Science student, which is why he is in SST. Did I have the same hope in him as Nana in Chinese? Not exactly, but I can still hope, right? 

The result was released this afternoon. Zaky got a B3, which is what I had predicted, but I was also holding on to the tiny hope of his kissing an A2. Zaky was very happy, bcos he needed a B3 before SST would allow him to drop Chinese. He is totally dropping Chinese. If it had been Nana, I would struggle with whether she should retake Chinese. With Zaky, I didn’t bother. The journey to make him retake and re-study Chinese is too hard and painful. I shall save myself some heartache. I also think that he would do well enough in his Maths and Sciences, such that he wouldn’t need his Chinese grades in his L1R4/5 score. 

I am still hoping that if he do well enough in O levels, he might change his mind to want to go JC. At some point in the recent months, he did consider. He signed up for SAJC and ASRJC basketball DSA and was called up for trial. The night before SAJC trial, he told me he still decided on Poly. Zzzzz. He did attend the SAJC trial but sprained his ankle again 10 mins into the trial and didn’t play. He said that it was God’s will. He totally skipped the ASRJC trial. My heart…

It is now the prelims. I remembered Nana had studied very hard for prelims and went for the school’s night study. Zaky simply said that he didn’t sign up and he didn’t like studying in the night. I don’t know anymore. 

Mummy Lim

Zaky’s Sec 3 PTM

One interesting thing about SST is this annual PTM thing where the parents meet the teachers with their kid. I know the drill - the kid is supposed to share in the presence of the teachers, to the parents, how the term had been for him/ her. This covers the main bulk of the conversation and the rest of the time is for Q&A, if any. 

Zaky and I headed to school on Thursday morning for the 8.30am session. I was to go to the office thereafter. Nana has HBL and I saw her in the morning, then she disappeared. I was thinking that she probably left to meet friends or something. Yes, this HBL thing is quite fake. 

Shortly after Zaky and I started our journey, Nana called to say that she was locked out of the house. Zzzz… she had gone skating and claimed that she told me and didn’t bring her key. I told her that the best that I could do is to head home after the PTM and she had to wait. 

The journey to SST took about 40 mins. We had to walk to the LTR station, then change to the MRT at CCK, then switch to the green line at JE, alight at Dover and take the bus for 1 stop. Phew! While it took me about 50 mins to go to work, at least it is 1 straight train. I am not sure if traveling will become easier (lesser changes despite longer distance) for the kids after shifting. 

We arrived slightly late and got to meet his teachers immediately. Then, the show began and I was listening to Zaky’s sharing while trying my very best to hold back bursting into laughter. Some of the things that he said were plain BS. Hohoho. But as a respectful mother, I smile and nod at the right junction. 

I did learn new things about Zaky. He campaigned and was made the House Captain earlier this year (this I know) and he was very proud of it, although he didn’t fulfil any of the promises that he declared in his speech. Lol. It seems like a big thing too bcos his teacher had asked why didn’t he shared about that (to me). I was also told that he is one of the quieter students in the class. What!!?? His teacher was just complaining about him being one of the rowdy ones last year. Apparently, his rowdy gang is now in a different class. Last but not least, he is doing above average in his Electronics class. Not bad. 

The session was less than 30 mins. Zaky stayed back in school bcos he wanted to visit the career fair, specifically the armed forces booth. I didn’t know that he has an inclination for that! I encouraged him to work hard for a scholarship. Haha. I had to leave for home to go rescue Nana who was waiting pathetically outside the door. 

Mummy Lim

Post PSLE Results

Some mummies posted this. 

The next moment, all done. 

Last night, while tucking Zaky to bed, we both agreed that it didn't feel like he had just gone through one of the most major event of his 12 YO life that same morning. So strange. 

The primary school mummies' chat is buzzing with discussion on the S1 options (choosing secondary school). I felt left out. There is nothing to study and decide bcos there is only one option in the S1 portal - SST. Oh, Zaky can opt to take up Malay, Arabic or Bahasa Indonesian too. Nana had that option and she said that she cannot even cope with Chinese, let alone another language. Zaky just looked at me like I am crazy to even think about it. Hoho. 

Bcos everybody is talking about the schools, I cannot help to take a peek too. With AL 10, Zaky could have entered NH (11D) or SJI (10). Heart ache again. Luckily ACSI's COP is at 9 or my heart would bleed even more. 看爽的. 

The only sliver lining is the distraction from SST. I joined the parents chat group formed by the parent volunteers. The booklist and uniform purchase is up on SST website and the chat is buzzing with information. I found out that Zaky could inherit most of Nana's textbooks and SST does not have Literature, FCE and D&T. Science textbooks are optional (or use digital version) and no need to purchase Geography textbooks bcos the teacher will use notes instead. I think we can save alot on books. On the other hand, Nana's books are either hardcopy and digital bundle or new syllabus, meaning that she needs to buy all of them, eroding whatever savings from Zaky's side. Hahaha. 

Mummy Lim

PSLE Results the 2nd Time

I was so anxious when it was Nana's turn 2 years back. I had trouble sleeping the night before and was jolted awake at 5am bcos I dreamt that she got 237 and told me that she wanted to go to Bukit Timah Secondary school. I woke up and Google what schools had COP of 237 and where the hell is this Bukit Timah Secondary school, only to realise that it didn't exist. Lol. 

With Zaky, the anxiety is a big notch down bcos of his SST CO. But I panic a little when I doubted if we had accepted the DSA CO properly. I double checked a few days back and all good. He needed a AL 20 and below score to be accepted into SST and I very much think that it is do-able. Zaky simply says, "I think so". Not reassuring at all. Lol.

I thought I would have no trouble sleeping but actually was very awake when I lay on the bed at midnight. Looks like I am anxious afterall. The next moment, the alarm clock was ringing; I had no idea when I fell asleep. Hohoho. Obviously not anxious enough.

Zaky was very chilled this morning. He was still sleeping when the whole house was up. He happily played his computer games, had his bfast and then back to his games. I had to remind him to get out of the house at 10am. 

Probably the last chance to wear his school uniform. He had his track shoes on bcos it is an effort to cramp his toes into his black school shoes. I don't think the school cares anyway. 

When we just boarded the train, the fellow mummies in the parent chat already arrived in school.

Make me gan cheong. We were supposed to be seated by 10.50am and the results were supposed to be released at 11am. I was thinking if we would be late. 

Happily on the bus.

We arrived right on time. Zaky went to join his class. 

The hall was already filled. 

It was then the waiting game and the MOE video was broadcast, messaging that PSLE result is not the end to everything. Yawn.. boring. 

Finally at 11am, somebody started speaking. I don't even know who. The principle didn't even turn up and the parents were joking on the chat group that she is in Qatar chasing the world cup. Hoho. Like usual, some slides on how well the school did. 

On seeing the high %, people started clapping. Good meh? They haven't look at the details lor. Then the 2nd slide. 

Only 65.7% eligible for express lor. If you ask me, that is not great plus express cut off is 20 points. Maybe majority of the students eligible for express also didn't do fantastically well too. Ya, I am not impressed with their primary school and have been pinning for the day they graduate. There are 22 successful DSA applicants and I thought to myself that hey, Zaky is one of them!

Then, the outstanding results students were recognised. 

They were asked to stand up and almost all of them are from Zaky's class. 

No, Zaky is not one of them. Hahaha. Just like Nana's name didn't appear on the screen 2 years back. 

Finally, the result is released to the students one by one. 

How did Zaky do? Drumroll.......

AL 10!!!! 

In the old system, his score would be about what Nana had achieved. I was happy and not happy. I teared. I am happy with his good results but not happy bcos he could have gotten into NH like jiejie (indicative COP 11) but we have already accepted SST CO and there is no avenue to reject. Sob. Zaky on the other hand, was very proud of his achievements and kept telling that he wanted to go to SST, regardless of his results. With that, I am comforted in my heart. 

What was the breakdown?

Maths: AL 1 (above 90)

Science: AL 2 (85 - 89)

English: AL 3 (80 - 84)

Chinese: AL 4 (75 - 79)

Zaky had always been very strong is his Maths and Science (and thus SST). I was glad that he didn't kill himself with Maths careless mistakes. He said that it was an easy paper. I had expected him to obtain AL 1 in Science. The English and Chinese results are a pleasant surprise. I had never expected him to do so well for Chinese and thank his Chinese tutor, who worked so hard with him in the weeks leading up to PSLE. 

I think I had too little faith in Zaky's academic. I have always thought that he is equally strong as Nana academically but his inconsistency worries me. I didn't expect him to do so well in PSLE even though I know that he is capable of achieving this result. As such, I applied for SST. My bad but he is happy with SST. It all worked out well. Zaky said that we needed to have a celebratory lunch. 

One more milestone achieved. Couldn't be more proud of him.

Mummy Lim

A Day@SST

The day is almost coming. MOE has emailed, to remind us that we have 31 Oct to 4 Nov to decide if we wanted to accept the DSA CO and to rank if more than 1 CO received. Ya, while we felt that this DSA journey isn't as easy as we thought, there are students who received multiple COs. They must be super good, hotcakes!

I wasn't 100% sure if we should take SST CO. I am jaded by the high % (45%) of their graduating cohort heading to Poly. Every now and then, out of the blue, I would ask Zaky/ Daddy Lim if we should accept it. Zaky is sure bcos he isn't confident of his PSLE result. I think he took things alot more relaxed the moment he heard that he had the CO. Hoho. 

SST must have known that many parents are like me and have arranged an open house for all students (and family) who have received a CO or is on the WL. The event is from 8am to 11.30am on Saturday. The 1st item listed on  the itinerary is to try out bfast at the SST canteen. Sounds great!

There is a straight bus from our place but about 10 mins walk away. Otherwise, to take the MRT to Clementi, then bus for 3 busstops. We opted for the latter and left the house at 7ish, earlier than my normal work day. 

I had thought that SST is very new and am surprised to learn that they have started since 2009. 

There are several activities ongoing at 8am, including bfast. Zaky insisted that we should start with bfast. There are a total of 6 stalls and 5 were opened. He decided on fried rice. 

Look how pleased he was. The stall auntie still asked if he has enough fried rice. He must have looked like a hungry boy. 

This fried rice and chicken cutlet cost $3.50. Zaky says that he needs more allowance. Even Nana says that this is more expensive than her usual canteen food, priced usually between $2.60 to $2.80. Their parents need to work harder to earn more $$. 

Zaky was very pleased when we spotted a "cafe" across the canteen. They sell sandwiches, ice cream and even ice chocolate. Zaky is very excited about the food choices and I am very worried about his waist line. Hohoho.

We finally started our "tour" after bfast and visited the exhibition area to see some projects. Then, to the labs to see what the students will learn when they take up one of the 4 (?) compulsory applied subjects in upper secondary. 

This is biotechnology and I think it is the most popular applied subject. I can see why. Even I was interested. 

There were 2 talks, one with current SST students and parents and the other one, a formal briefing with the school. 

I like what I heard and seen. Maybe all secondary schools have such great project work to showcase or this is the only physical open house that I have attended and thus I am impressed. This is probably one of the more important slides from the talk. 

There is an IDP (not sure what it means), which is a through-train program with Ngee Ann poly starting for the selected Sec 3 next year. About 50 out of the 200 cohort will be selected and these 50 would not need to take the O levels. The criteria ranged from interests, to academic results to teachers' recommendations. While I am not a fan of poly then university, the Principal puts in very appropriately - this is only for students who are already very sure of what they wanted to do next and most of them do well in the poly course. Thus, the diploma is definitely not the end of the road for them.

My key takeback (from what I hear and read from kiasu parents forum):

- if the kid has received a CO from SST, it is already a good indication that he/ she has a good inclination for the SST's curriculum;

- most of their students do well enough to qualify for JC (parents don't even have to worry about thus) though the % heading to JC after O levels only made up about 55%;

- the SST students are trained to question and are prepped for the future world beyond just academic; and

- the mindset of poly being the 2nd class sibling to JC needs to be changed and it is also not a longer route to university. 

The last stop was to explore the CCAs. Zaky had wanted to do basketball, just like J (Nana's ice skating mate). I second that bcos I need him to be active with all the good food served in the canteen and cafe. Lol. We were just nice for the TKD demonstration. 

I don't mind Zaky joining that too and his Junior Black Belt would come in handy. He isn't keen and the TKD troops didn't seem to work very hard too; we need something that work Zaky harder physically. Lol. 

The most popular CCA in SST has to be the robotic club and I have to say that the stuff that they produce is indeed impressive. Zaky says he knows nuts about robotic. Good lah, let all the others opt for robotics and thus not much competition to get into the basketball team. Lol. 

With that, it marked the end of our visit. 

I am now with Zaky and think that he would enjoy himself in SST. Did I tell you that their school uniform, particularly their school jacket is quite chio? Even Nana says that we must buy their school jacket and she would love to wear it. Lol. Ya! Let's opt in on Monday. 

I snapped this picture to show the family the SST uniform, only for Nana to exclaim that this is her ex-primary school friend. Small world. 

Mummy Lim

End of PSLE

Oh yes, we are so done. Hoho. 

We had a normal weekend doing usual weekend stuff. I didn't feel as anxious as pre-PSLE since the weekend. I thought maybe I have gotten used to the heat or maybe I just don't care anymore. 

Zaky has his CL papers on Monday. We didn't do much revision, relying on Teacher S and her Sunday morning 恶补. We did try to look through some P6 词语 on Sunday and decided that we are done. Hoho.

Has Zaky improved in his CL? I think he did. I am impressed with the Chinese Oral stuff that he had memorised, like 父母是我们的启蒙老师. Who is 启蒙? While I still roll eyes at his composition, he has now managed to use some very chim 词语 and 成语, like 数落, 倒抽一口凉气 and 送人玫瑰，手留香. Chim right? Just the other day, he told me "Mummy, I am 佩服". Wah, I never expect this kind of Chinese vocabs to come out of his daily spoken Chinese lor. We saw these Chinese words on a van's rear window and am glad that he can read them, while Daddy Lim cannot. Hahahaha. 

Does it mean that he would do well for Chinese? I don't know. He has unfortunately not mastered how to transfer the hard work that he has put in for Chinese into tangible results. But we have tried our best. 

Yday he had his last Science paper. It is his favourite subject but he is even more excited at the prospect of completing PSLE. He bounced out of bed and was all smiles. He said that P1 was tough and tricky but P2 very manageable. He doesn't care anymore. PSLE is so done. 

Zaky had his plans rolled out for after PSLE. He is talking about lunch with classmates after school on Thursday, playdate with the boys during the marking week, USS with his friends, prawning... he got to sleep in this morning as it is the HCL paper but woke up at 8am to play game with his friend. 

The exam baton has been passed on to Nana, who started her EOY exam yday. Today, she is taking History and Art and got a ride to school bcos Daddy Lim didn't have to send Zaky. 赚到. Looking at her art pieces, I don't have much hope actually. Hahaha.

Now is the time to start thinking. SST or not? Aiyo!

Mummy Lim

PSLE - 2 More Papers

Yay! English and Maths completed! I am so looking forward to the end of PSLE. 

I already got very excited on Thursday after Zaky's 1st paper and started thinking which incomplete assessment books and what textbooks to pass down to who. Zaky's "study table", which is actually more like my wfh work table, is piled with books and papers. I cannot wait to dump all of those into the recycle bins. 

Zaky has "completed" the last of his tuitions except for a last Chinese session on Sunday morning. Almost there, just a little more. Fighting!

How were the papers so far? Zaky has been adopting this "I forget everything after the paper" attitude since Prelims. His answer will always "OK lah" and if I probed a little bit more, he will tell me "I don't know". As if he hit on the "delete all" button the moment he stepped out of the exam hall. 一问三不知. 

I think he did try hard. At least for Maths, which is one of his favorite subjects, he was about to tell me that he knows how to do all the questions, and bcos he checked his work, he was ale to catch himself and saved himself from losing 13 marks. Wah, how blind is he to begin with? 

2 years ago, on the Saturday in the middle of PSLE, we took a break and had MacD bfast. That was right in the smack of covid height. This time round, while the PSLE kids are encouraged to stay at home, we decided to head to the Kallang skatepark for a little break. We had MacD bfast too but forgot to take pictures. Hoho. 

Nana came along this time. We toyed with the idea of her picking up aggro skates when the rink closes for renovation, which is I duno when. I didn't want to buy her a new pair of skates though bcos our house has enough pairs to open shop already. Then Zaky outgrown his pair and has his old pair to pass down. Yah, I can no longer boast that the 3 of us have the same shoe size and can share shoes. Zaky's school shoes are so tight and I am asking him to tahan just a little bit more, until the end of the school year. 

All fully decked out in protection. When warming up, she was exclaiming about how different it is. The skates are definitely much stiffer and less maneuverable. 

I went about my hamster rounds at Kallang while the boys enthusiastically teach Nana the basics of ramps and stalls. Her 8 years of ice skating definitely helped. 

My turn to join the family? Thanks but no thanks, my bones are too precious. 

Oh yes, there is so much mess. The amount of logistics to skate as a family filled up the entire car boot. 

Luckily the kids are all big enough to carry their own bag/ skates/ guards. 

2 more days! 2 more papers! This morning, we sent Zaky to the very last of his tuition. 没有了!

Mummy Lim

PSLE D-Day -2

Seriously, I can't remember much about Nana's PSLE journey. I do remember signing her up for Science tuition after SA1 bcos she had asked for help, as well as her pushing back when I ask her to do practice papers. Checking back my blog posts, she did do papers for me and didn't push back as much as I remembered, except for Maths. Back then, she had a very on the ball Maths teacher, who already helped to grill her very hard. 

Zaky had 3 days of study week before his 1st PSLE paper tomorrow. Looking back, I realised that Nana had that too. The difference is that Zaky attended none of the school zoom sessions. He insisted that those are for students who have questions for the teachers and he had none. He generously offered the time to others who needed help. Zzzzz. Now that I saw Nana attending the zoom classes, I think I kena smoked by Zaky.

I had intentionally WFH on Monday so that I  could watch over him. Without any control, I wouldn't be surprised if his "sturdy week" is spent on studying computer games and YouTubes. 

Monday was so difficult bcos I am so right. While he obliged to work on some papers, he kept sneaking breaks in between bcos I was busy at work. Once he started on his games and videos, he got lethargic and only wanted to "finish" the assigned papers ASAP, which usually means rubbish work. He even forgot to attend the zoom class that his Chinese tutor offered. Of course I got upset. I had to ban him from his phone and laptop in the afternoon. It wasn't a good start. 

Yday, the Chinese tutor asked for last minute f2f Chinese tuition from 8.30am to 11.30am. Go, pls go. I don't think I can control my blood pressure if I face him another day at home. I took the chance to go to the office too and sent him to his tutor's house enroute. 

This was him finishing the homework on the train. 

Fortunately, it was only a few pages remaining. 

Tomorrow is D day. Is Zaky prepared? Well, he has worked hard but not as hard bcos there is the SST CO dangling in the air. Even I pushed him less hard. I had told him that he still needed good grades to get into SST even if we accepted the CO. He found out from his peers, that he only needed an AL20 and below PSLE grade, which he knows he is totally (and probably easily) capacable of. I have switched my pitch to self-challenge but that is a difficult angle to sell. 

Obviously he isn't the only one working hard (well, he said he did). The other 3 tigers are also working hard (and so are their mummy). The school's parents chat group is also buzzing with Maths questions, asking for help. I didn't bother but occasionally asked Zaky if he could attempt one or 2 of the questions. 

Let's hope that we have an easy day today. Zaky is already up and the 1st thing is to ask to play game until bfast at 9am. He agreed that he will abstain from the phone and laptop until lunch at 12pm. I wonder why the Singapore education system puts us through all these stress. Haiya!

Fighting!

Mummy Lim

The Last Push for PSLE

I was just updating my calendar and saw that we are 3 weeks from PSLE. Regardless of the Confirmed Offer from SST, we continue to work hard for PSLE. 

Zaky is definitely feeling the toil. He was absent from school the last week before the school holidays due to viral fever and didn't know what homework was given to be completed during the holidays. He found out (and received the worksheets) when he went back for study camp on Thursday and Friday. He complained that he has lesser time (than his peers) to complete the work before school reopens tomorrow. 

Yday, he had his makeup Maths tuition in the morning and then his makeup Chinese tuition in the afternoon. It is his pay back time for the Malaysia holidays. He was obviously tired and whining that he didn't want to go Chinese tuition but obviously didn't have a choice. Then in the night, he was struggling to complete his school maths homework. He still has his Science and Chinese school homework to go. 

This morning, he went for his intensive Chinese tuition again. We are so blessed to have Teacher S, who truly cares for her P6 students. She has initiated to give her P6 kids extra intensive classes, though Zaky obviously isn't very thrilled with her proactiveness.

Zaky went for his Chinese tuition at 8am and that is supposed to last till 1pm. Daddy Lim had to cancel his aggro skating class, which will also take a break nearer PSLE bcos we need to keep him safe from injury. As a compensation for Daddy Lim, we got to eat this lor mee for bfast at the market near to Teacher S' house. Hohoho. All lor mee taste nice to me. I like lor mee.

Zaky said that Teacher S has wanted to do this intensive Chinese tuition for the rest of the Sundays until PSLE. I can see the "sianness" in his face. We can only keep encouraging and reminding him that it is only 3 more weeks to go before he has his freedom. He had asked if he can go to his friend's house for sleepover, or go prawning, or some other play dates after PSLE. Go, go, go. Fighting!

On a different note, the closed Terrarium that had been the lead in Zaky's SST 1-min show and tell has finally given up and died. 

We now gave a closed Terrarium without a plant. Hohoho. The other opened Terrarium isn't looking too good either. 

它们死的不明不白. The girls said to ignore them and they will thrive. That was what I did but I duno what happened still. Meanwhile, let's just keep to the plastic ones. See, these look so healthy. Lol.

I told the girls that we should go make something non-living in the future, like paint a painting or bake a cake. 

We are really thankful to the closed Terrarium. It had done great contributions in sending Zaky to SST. Yes, we have passed the theory test 100% but apparently failed the practical test miserably. 

Dear Terrarium, you will be missed. 

3 more weeks! Fighting!

Mummy Lim

DSA Result

The SST DSA result would be released by 12 Sep 22. That didn't stop me from checking my email daily (and several times a day on many other days) in hope of seeing the results earlier. I is gan cheong. 

I have told Daddy Lim that I was actually confident that Zaky would be accepted into SST bcos round 2 is on talking and Zaky can talk. Then again, nobody can predict and I didnt want to be overly disappointed if he didnt get accepted. So I was preparing myself for the worse and anxiously hoping for the best.

Nana's skating buddies - R and J were in the exact situation a few years back. R is Nana's senior in NH and J is Sec 2 in SST now. They had both applied for SST. I spoke to their parents (and R and J) before deciding to apply for SST. R said that if she can reverse time and had gotten an offer from SST, she would still have taken the SST offer. Why wasn't she offered? Her mummy said that R is the quieter one and would probably have lost out on the group discussion and presentation. 

I attended the SST e-open house back in May. One thing that bothers me is the high entry rate to poly - 45% of their graduating cohort goes to poly and that is a high %. The school shares that the average PSLE COP is 10 to 11, which sounded great but is actually very different from a good school with a COP of 10 (i.e. NH). The school was also evasive of the average L1R5 score of their graduating students, reminding parents times and again that students should be opting for SST for their unique curriculum and not solely focused on the students' O levels score. I wish I could say the same but I am all for my kids doing well and heading to JC after O levels. SST even have a new special IP not not A levels but poly. Not keen. 

I still couldn't figure out if the high % (to poly) is bcos the O level results are not meeting the cut or the more hands-on curriculum approach influences the students to opt for diploma after O levels. Adding on peer pressure, it increases the % headed towards poly. Like in Nana's case, she has set her eyes on JC bcos majority of her peers has the same vision. Either way, the high % to poly didn't sit well with me and I wasn't sure if SST is the way to go.

However, as the PSLE pressure mounts, Zaky and I both caved. He said that we should just take the SST's offer if the school is willing to accept him. I started feeling the same way too as I pulled hair over each bad practice paper that he completes. I don't remember stressing the same way with Nana. I also realised that the new grading system contributed to it. In the past, no one can really tell the eventual PSLE score due to the complicated calculation methodology. Now, we stressed over the possibility of a 0.5 mark (rounding rule) that could move up 1 precious AL. Haiz. Why MOE wants to stress parents this way? 

While I was in India, I was still checking my email daily. One day, my eyes popped on an email subject that mentioned DSA. Then I realised it is ACSI finally officially informing us that Zaky didn't make the cut. Chey, I also know. 

On Friday, I received another email with the DSA subject. This time, it is the REAL thing - Zaky has a confirmed offer (CO) from SST!!! Woohoo! I wanted to say "Mummy knows best" and "I told you so". Lol. The news was quickly shared with the family. We were all very happy for Zaky except for Nana, who still thinks that Zaky should go to NH. 

The preference submission period is from 31 Oct to 4 Nov 22. That will be after PSLE but before the results are released. If we opted to accept the CO, it is likely that Zaky would get into SST. Zaky has made up his mind to take the SST offer. He says that he likes the way he would be studying in SST, with plenty of hands-on and project work. I don't believe him, he sucks at group project work. Hoho. I think he is just happy to be relived of the PSLE stress. I started to feel the same way as well, especially when we started to take back the prelims results. I asked him to improve but apparently the opposite has happened. He then went on to argue that prelims is always more difficult than PSLE and everybody drops grade during prelim. 

The moment we decided that he would take up the CO, the PSLE stress is immediately lifted. I like. I find myself not wanting to push Zaky but still had to bcos he might change his mind about SST. Even if he is to take up SST CO, it is a challenge against himself to do his very best. 

3 more weeks!

Mummy Lim

PSLE Starto

It is finally D-Day. 

The PSLE Chinese and English oral took place on Monday and Tuesday morning. I seriously didn't remember much about Nana's PSLE oral but worked so hard for Zaky's. Strangely, I am so much more anxious and stressed over Zaky's PSLE. Why ah?

Chinese has always been Zaky's weakest link. We started him on 天下 since he was 4 yo (or 5?) but his results only slide downwards. We had to take him out bcos he was going to class to stone and I felt that I was burning my $$ away. We went on one to one tuition and by God's grace, eventually managed to persuade Teacher S to take Zaky. Teacher S was Nana's tutor. I can imagine her hestiation in taking Zaky. If I am a tutor, I would want to take an easy student too. Hoho. 

Teacher S is really dedicated and cares for Zaky. On Sunday, she got all her 5 P6 kids together for an intensive Chinese oral prep from 11am to 3pm. My job is to go through P4 to P6 生词 with Zaky and to revise the oral topics too. Teacher S provided us with loads of material, so much so that Zaky cannot remember.

She is really worried for Zaky and told me that she can zoom with him for round 2 at 8.30pm but Zaky rejected her flatly. Lol. What we did instead is to read aloud a few passages that she sent over. It was then that I realised that Zaky never read aloud the oral passages during the preparation stage! He reads them in his head and in the end, the 声调 all go haywire when he finally read out loud (for the 1st time) in front of the examiner. 

Then Teacher S said that there were speculations among the tutors that the topic could be on 家庭和谐. She said that she had already gone through that with Zaky and had given him notes. As an added protection, she asked me to go through with Zaky one more time. I tried and Zaky only gave me blank looks. Wah lah eh, I wonder how much really stuck in his head after all these hard work. 

That was really the last bit and Zaky told me, "mummy, enough le, I think we tried our best le". Thank you for recognising my effort ah. I also think I have tried hard.

I was super gan cheong when Zaky left for school on Monday morning. Before he even came home, I heard about the topic and then saw it in the parents' chat group. 

As for Zaky, I think he hit the "delete" button the moment he left the examination room. He cannot remember anything. Zzzzz. But he said that he could read the passage and understood the questions much better than prelim. I hope man, he scrapped through prelim oral, scoring 27/50. If it is any worse than prelim, I don't know how le. 

Then for the rest of Monday, he said that he needed to rest. We barely prepped for English oral. 

This is the topic today.

I was eagerly to find out how he performed for the English oral. Again, he hit the "delete" button. 一问三不知... haiz. 

Prelims start next week and then PSLE in another month. So fast, so fast! I am not sure if I am wishing for more time before PSLE or for it to quickly come and us to be done with. I think I got more white hair le.

Mummy Lim

SST DSA

For the past week, we had been practicing the show and tell. From the original 3.5 mins, we were down to slightly less than 2 mins. I don't see how else we can further cut it down. You really cannot say much in 1 min. 

Daddy Lim happened to be off yday and was able to send Zaky to SST. We did one final practice and were on our way. 

I was surprised to see the number of students for the selection test in all sorts of uniforms. We dropped Zaky and had to leave the school compound. While driving off, I saw this kid with this very impressive and professional looking charts, something about rubber bands. Our material looks so kiddish in comparison. I gan cheong. 

As we drive off, I started babbling to Daddy Lim bcos I was so anxious. Daddy Lim just ignored me. Lol. I was reminded of the time where I was in their primary school, waiting for jiejie's psle results. Not as bad but gan cheong nevertheless.

Daddy Lim and I had some good shopping before turning back for Zaky. The moment he got into the car, I started bombarding him with details of the session. 

Zaky said that the show and tell was done individually in front of 3 examiners. While he overran the 1 min, he wasn't cut off. There were some questions asked but he can't remember what. Zzzz. He did say that the examiners appeared impressed with his interactive cards. When asked who helped him, he said that mummy helped him to print the pictures and he then "helped me" to complete the work. Wah... whatever lah. So long as the examiners are really impressed. 

After the show the tell, it was a 10 mins brain storming session (alone) on the question - "how do we make the kopitiam toilets cleaner and odorless?", before a group discussion. Zaky said that his team only had 3 pax instead of the normal 4 pax. Finally, it was the presentation of their ideas to the examiners. Zaky said that the discussion went well and one of his ideas was adopted by the group. However, the presentation wasn't bcos everybody was stuttering. Nevertheless, he totally enjoyed the session and now tells me that he would love to go to SST if he is selected, if this is how classes are going to be carried out. 

Zaky told me that the show and tell cards were kept by the school. Aiya, I haven't taken proper pictures. I only have our lead actor sitting at home now. I think it is for confidentiality as there is another session next week. 

The results would be out by 12 Sep. The competition is so stiff! 

Meanwhile, let us work hard. Psle Oral is taking place on 15 Aug (bite nails). Fighting!

Mummy Lim

DSA

It never cross my mind to DSA for Nana. There aren't schools that take in ice skaters to begin with. Other than ice skating, I don't see other "talents" that she has that would qualify for DSA. 

Thankfully, she didn't disappoint us and got good results on her own merits. I do remember the last few months that led to PSLE, how she claimed that the school is giving her so much and indirectly warned me to back off. 

It is now 2 years later and we are going through the same nightmare with Zaky. I think Zaky is about jiejie's capability but his inconsistency scares me. He is stronger in Science but so much weaker in his languages. While he whines when I give him practice papers, he takes them in his stride more steadily than Nana. Or maybe it is not time yet and he would soon be screaming at me to back off too. Hoho. 

Unlike the last time, we explored DSA for Zaky this time and I come to realise that every Tom, Dick and Harry had applied for DSA too. Seriously, the idea that once accepted for DSA, the PSLE results matter little is unresistably appealing. It is like buying toto, buying a hope and almost no pain if not selected. 

After much deliberation, I applied for ACSI under Science and SST under Maths and Science. I would love for Zaky to get into ACSI. It is an academically strong school, not too far from our house and affliated to ACJC. Oh yes, I have also realised the value of school affiliations. ACSI is a long shot. I would imagine how many DSA applications they would receive and how low priority the school would give to Science. Moreover, other than what Zaky had done in school, he has no impressive awards or competition results. 买个希望啦 . As expected, we didn't even hear from ACSI. 

SST isn't too far from our house as well and their entire cohort entered solely via DSA. Every student who applied to the school gets to sit for the selection test. I heard that it is a combination of Maths, Science and general aptitude questions. Zaky took the test while I was in Jakarta for business trip. I was a gan cheong spider and called back to check. He said that there were 14 questions to be completed in 2 hours and proudly told me that he knew 4 of them for sure. Huh? Then the remaining 10 how? 

After an antagonising long wait, we finally received the school's notification to attend the Phase 2 selection test on 6 Aug. This is the final round. Previous years, the kids were gathered in small groups to work on questions/ assignments under the observers watchful eyes. This year, we were told to prepare an about 1 min show and tell on any projects/ activities that the students had done related to Science, Technology, Engineering Asthestic and Maths (STEAM). Wah, scratch head. 

We thought about all such activities/ projects he had done and wonder if they were too simple to showcase. Then again, 1 min is super short and it is probably more articulation skills that the school is looking for. In the end, Terrarium emerged victory over the wind propelled car and we started building the materials for the show and tell. 

After several evenings of work... tadah!

The school says up to 3 physical/ digital pictures. We sort of cheated with 3 cards and then interactive flip cards. I hope it is still considered as "3 pictures.". 

Ya, of course I helped. Zaky and I talked through the concept and what he wanted to present and we worked on the craft together. He did most of the coloring. Thought it isn't professionally looking end results, I thought it is very decent and visually interactive. 

He tried it out with Daddy Lim and jiejie. We am quite impressed. When showcasing to jiejie, he actually took 3.5 mins. What can one seriously say in 1 min after the introductions? 

In the next few days, we would be working on getting more fluent on the script (which is in his head, we didn't write one) and shortening some parts of it. I don't supposed we need to strictly stick to 1 min but 3.5 mins is probably too much. 

Zaky is very much looking forward to the selection test. I think the pressure of PSLE is obviously mounting. Just a few days ago, he told me that we should just send him to SST if the school accepts him. Nana is screaming "noooo.. ", she wanted Zaky to go NH too. NH must be so pleased to have such a loyal and prideful student. Haha. 

Mummy Lim