For many preteens, the Primary School Leaving Examination (or PSLE) is a daunting obstacle on the way to Secondary School. It has the authority to decide what much of the rest of their lives will look like based on what they score, and is likely their first exposure to the world of standardised testing that dominates most of the Singaporean educational experience.
Of all the subjects, many struggle with the Science Exam tremendously. The PSLE Science curriculum introduces many new concepts about the world, the human body, and generalised science concepts that permeate our environment, but some kids may struggle to understand this.
How, then, can you best help your child prepare well for this exam? Let’s look at a few common ways of doing this.
Helping your Child at Home
While primary schools cover very similar curricula and even provide supplementary or remedial lessons for kids that need them, the truth is still that every child learns at very different speeds and have different capacities for learning. If you want your child to do well in the PSLE science exam, it may not be enough just to rely on external parties (schools, tuition centres) to help your child understand concepts. Few of them are individualised in learning, and your child may struggle with concepts.
Make it a habit to guide your child from the moment they start schooling outside. This is less about completing assignments, and more about absorbing the information and content. It also allows you to better understand how your child prefers to take in information, and also helps your child realise the same about themselves.
While the information is important, what is more important is that your child learns over the years how they best retain information. Some kids have short attention spans and need to intersperse some kind of physical activity between study sessions. Some kids need snacks to motivate them. Some kids need music or conversations in the background, and others need absolute silence. Some prefer to watch videos with visuals to grasp concepts, while others prefer textbooks and rewriting them.
Over time, your child will be able to figure out the best ways to retain information for themselves, and they will grasp the concepts being covered at school in a way that comes naturally to them. This approach has proven to be far more effective than traditional methods of completing assignments.
Hiring a PSLE Science Tutor
Many parents do not feel confident in teaching their kids, and this is where PSLE Science tuition in Singapore comes into play.
Many PSLE Science Tutors in Singapore are well-versed and up-to-date with the PSLE curriculum, whether they come from a tuition centre or are individual tutors. In fact, many tutors likely used to be schoolteachers at MOE schools as well, and are used to teaching a wide variety of student types.
You can enroll your child in tuition classes with other students, or you can consider hiring private PSLE Science Tutors for your child, depending on how your child best learns or works. Either way, the extra materials and new methods being used during tuition – as tuition teachers often develop their own methods, mnemonics, etc. to help students – will help with retainment of information, and may even provide new perspectives for your child to consider a subject in.
Using Practical Connections
Your child is in the process of learning. No matter how tedious school gets, it is important that your child understands the wonder and beauty of learning about science and the world. From physics and biology to chemistry and ecology, science is all about learning to get to know the world better.
Incorporate elements of play and exploration to what your children are learning. If they are beginning to explore plants and animal biology, perhaps a visit to the local park would help. If they are starting to learn about forces and magnets, a pack of fridge magnets and an endless amount of patience for their exploration will help them grasp concepts much, much faster.
An exploration of the world and its wonders will naturally instill in your child a curiosity about what they are learning, and being able to directly connect what they cover in class and tuition to their environment at large also prepares them for their future learning in secondary and tertiary education.
In Summary
Cramming for the PSLE Science Exam may be common, but it does not instill a proper grasp of concepts in your child. To ensure that your child not only does well, but has the proper scientific foundations for the next steps of education, spend some time with your child, look into PSLE Science tuition in Singapore, and use practical connections to ensure that they are engaged with their content and are retaining it as much as they can.
More than anything else, this constant interest will make sure that they are able to tackle all sorts of problems in the PSLE Science Exam.