PSLE Maths: don’t start the word problem on line 1

An English story goes in order: Tom was hungry, he went downstairs to buy food, he ate, he was full. A maths word problem does not. It switches the sequence around, so the first line is usually not where the working starts. The trick: find the sentence with words like “equal”, “same”, “twice”, “three times”, […]

PSLE Science: is this the volume of the stick? The displacement mistake, on a beach

Measuring volume by displacement is one of the first practical methods in the syllabus, and it has two traps in it that cost marks. A stick is lowered into a bottle of water and the level rises. It is tempting to call that rise the volume of the stick – but only part of the […]

PSLE: is your child still not finishing the paper? P6 is too late to fix it

From our weekly teachers' meeting, where each teacher shares one thing that worked that week. She started timed practice with her P4 Maths class. During the practice she writes checkpoints on the board ("by 3:10 you should be at this question, by 3:20 at this one") so each child can see for themselves whether they […]

PSLE Science: does an iron bar have hair? The stroking method explained

How does stroking an iron bar with a magnet turn it into a magnet? And why does dropping or heating a magnet destroy it? The way this gets taught in class: an iron bar has hair. Inside the bar are countless tiny norths and souths pointing in random directions. Because they point every which way […]

PSLE Science: this cactus has LEAVES??

The spines of a cactus are its leaves. A cactus lives in dry conditions, and its leaves are shaped like spines to reduce water loss and to defend the cactus from animals. Its green stem makes the food instead. Book a trial class or WhatsApp us at 9826 4717.

PSLE AL bands are cruel – a tutor’s honest view

A tutor's honest view of the PSLE Achievement Level (AL) bands. Each PSLE Standard subject is marked out of 100 and cut into 8 bands: AL1 is 90 and above, AL2 is 85 to 89, AL3 is 80 to 84, AL4 is 75 to 79, AL5 is 65 to 74, AL6 is 45 to 64, […]