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Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:34 am
by Ceirelav
My boy scored 197 and has the option to choose express or normal academic. Please advise. We are intending to take express but seem like there is limited school for selection. We have previously rejected dsa offer, is it ok if we choose the school again?

Any suggestion and/or advise for school selection? We thought of following:
1. Bowen
2. Mayflower
3. North Vista
4. Edgefield
5. PHS
6. AMK

Thanks & regards
Ceirelav

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:43 am
by milkbun
Ceirelav wrote:My boy scored 197 and has the option to choose express or normal academic. Please advise. We are intending to take express but seem like there is limited school for selection. We have previously rejected dsa offer, is it ok if we choose the school again?

Any suggestion and/or advise for school selection? We thought of following:
1. Bowen
2. Mayflower
3. North Vista
4. Edgefield
5. PHS
6. AMK

Thanks & regards
Ceirelav
PHS is a good choice.

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 8:57 am
by Beikiasu
How to choose?my gal is in express/normal.
she scored 190.She wants to go to sister school, all her friends also going, but not enough points.If she choose other school she can go to express. Is it hard to promote from N level to o- level.I want my gal take O level not N level.

The sec school principle said that if you get 75% in the first six months in sec1 you can promote to express. is it hard get 75% in sec1?
It is really one nightmare to the other nightmare.

1)CHIJ katong Normal
2)Ping yi Express
3)Bedok North Express
4)Bedok Town Express
5)Bedok View Normal
6)Springfield Express

Bedok View is the nearest to home. Temasek Sec near our home but cop for normal is 196-199. anybody heard of Ping yi this school?
Can anybody advise?

Thanks

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 9:44 am
by koguma
Beikiasu wrote:How to choose?my gal is in express/normal.
she scored 190.She wants to go to sister school, all her friends also going, but not enough points.If she choose other school she can go to express. Is it hard to promote from N level to o- level.I want my gal take O level not N level.

The sec school principle said that if you get 75% in the first six months in sec1 you can promote to express. is it hard get 75% in sec1?
It is really one nightmare to the other nightmare.

1)CHIJ katong Normal
2)Ping yi Express
3)Bedok North Express
4)Bedok Town Express
5)Bedok View Normal
6)Springfield Express

Bedok View is the nearest to home. Temasek Sec near our home but cop for normal is 196-199. anybody heard of Ping yi this school?
Can anybody advise?

Thanks
Frankly it is not a bad idea to do NA due to the recent changes in the NA/NT Curriculum. You can read the changes here >>
http://www.moe.gov.sg/education/seconda ... l/changes/

Not sure which Sec school principal you talked to, but I understand from most schools website, you need to get 70% overall percentage. However some schools will have additional criteria. You need to check with individual school what other additional criteria they have.

If you choose NA course, you may want to consider Bedok Green Sec. The school has produce good results for its NA & NT programmes for the past few years, considering their students low PSLE score . Their criteria to promote from Sec 1 NT to Sec 2 NA is also less stringent :
Average > 70%
EL & Maths > 70%
Recomm by teachers

Personal view, if you want to do express, i will recommend Bedok North and Bedok Town over Ping Yi. However do expect some extremely "bad/mischievous" students from all these neighbourhood schools in Bedok area. However, no worry as all my nephews / niece / kids of neighbours survive their 4 or 5 years study in these schools. some have produce good N or O level results despite low PSLE score.

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 1:08 pm
by xavnme
DS scored 195 & i've the same concern as you. There are very limited choices we have for express in bishan area

1 Bishan Park
2 Whitley
3 Guang Yang

So far we only manage to visit Bishan park open house as the rest are not having any.

We visited another 3 schools today & was impressed with Pierce Sec. The only issue is, we have to give up express and opt for normal:(

Any suggestion from parents in bishan area?

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:01 pm
by Beikiasu
koguma, :thankyou:

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:27 pm
by MorningrainSngtsm
My girl scored 195, decided to let her go for Normal Academic.
1. Fuhua Sec
2. Huayi Sec

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:37 pm
by rains
Hi parents,

I just want to offer my two-cents:

If your kid gets to choose express/normal academic, do try to choose express even if the school is not so fantastic.

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Sun Nov 24, 2013 2:14 pm
by xavnme
rains wrote:Hi parents,

I just want to offer my two-cents:

If your kid gets to choose express/normal academic, do try to choose express even if the school is not so fantastic.
Hi Rain

Thanks for the advice, i'm actually having deep tots for the past 2 days. Normal or express :frustrated: Only issues is not much choices in bishan area if we opt for express having said that we would give it a shot :xedfingers:

Re: Express or Normal Academic

Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2013 12:36 am
by Ceirelav
I am quite lost and stress......

Shall I choose normal academic or express for my boy who score 197. It is really tough.

For express, we can choose schools as follows:
Xinmin
Zhonghua
Phs
Bowen
Amkss
Anderson
Mayflower

But for NA, only schools like following:
Yckss
Serganoon garden
Chong boon
Peicai
Hougang sec

Please advise.