All About GEP

[HyperKiasu]

Yes, the kids are stressed at a relatively younger age...two round of national test/exam (GEP selection test at age 9 and PSLE at age 12)

What's so stressful about GEP selection test? That's not a national exam. It's not even compulsory to take

Agree. Self-induced stress lah...

All stress is self-induced, right? including those for PSLE....

[HyperKiasu]

Yes, the kids are stressed at a relatively younger age...two round of national test/exam (GEP selection test at age 9 and PSLE at age 12)

What's so stressful about GEP selection test? That's not a national exam. It's not even compulsory to take

yes, it is optional. If you read other thread about GEP, you will understand why it is stress....

[keroppi]

Yes, the kids are stressed at a relatively younger age...two round of national test/exam (GEP selection test at age 9 and PSLE at age 12)

What's so stressful about GEP selection test? That's not a national exam. It's not even compulsory to take

yes, it is optional. If you read other thread about GEP, you will understand why it is stress....

There is nothing stressful abt it. There is no need to prepare for GEP selection test at all. If your kid can get in great, if not, just move on - getting into GEP is no big deal anyway.

[daisyt]

There is nothing stressful abt it. There is no need to prepare for GEP selection test at all. If your kid can get in great, if not, just move on - getting into GEP is no big deal anyway.

Actually, I have the same thinking too. If a kid is really gifted, no need to push, no need to put in extra effort, he/she is naturally gifted. Its naturally inside him/her, not tailored to be one.

[tamarind]

How effective are the measures by the ministry to transform our education, without changing the legacy assessment methods by which we rank our children? The GEP is seen as a fast-track to elite Secondary schools coveted by parents so much so that they try to train their children to excel in the GEP selection tests. The IP schools are now coveted by parents because they are seen as the warranty of a place in the Universities. The "teach less, learn more" principle is thought of by parents as the schools telling us to give our kids more tuition because teachers no longer provide the answers, which are necessary so that our kids can ace their examinations!

I salute Mr Ng not just for recognising this conundrum, but also having the courage to initiate changes. The removal of examinations for P1 and P2 is a great start. Unfortunately, the public furore over the attempt to tweak PSLE weightage shows how difficult it is for anyone to change status quo, even if it may have resulted in a less stressful and better learning environment for our children. I pray that this setback will not diminish the MOE's efforts in continuing to tweak our education system to prepare our children for the uncertain future.

My girl's primary school still conduct exams at P1. They changed the name from exam to Semestral Assessment on the paper, but the teacher still call it exam. I think schools will continue to do what they think is "necessary" instead of following strictly to MOE guidelines.

I will support any change of assessment methods, provided it is done fairly. It should not be changed for mother tongue only in order to make it easier to pass.

I will also support MOE if they decide to scrap the GEP and IP schools. There were no such things when I grew up and my generation of people are doing perfectly fine now. In fact, I am more worried about the kids who are stressed at such a young age. Especially those supposedly gifted ones, now made to study only for perfect scores.

Note that I was responding to ChiefKiasu's post, read his statement in bold.

Yes it is true not all kids will be selected to take the GEP selection test.

While some kids enjoy GEP, there are many other kids who are being pressurized by their parents to study very hard in order to pass the GEP selection tests. I believe that every bright kid will be told to study hard in order to be selected to take the test.

I walked pass Morris Allen recently, they had a 10 day GEP preparation course that charges $888 And parents are willing to pay !

The worst is those kids who studied so hard, took the GEP selection test, but did not pass the test. Imagine feeling like a failure for the rest of his life, at 9 years old.

Off topic liao.

[Zann]

Zann, Way2go, Clueless mama,
The normal worksheets on this are much tougher than the practice papers he brought back and teacher confirmed the test will be on arithmetic sequences.
Hope this helps.

Dear all,
Don't be unduly worried.
Sleep well tonight.
The kids will be alright!

Thanks and agree. Let the experts teach them... let them learn naturally...

[tankee]

There is nothing stressful abt it. There is no need to prepare for GEP selection test at all. If your kid can get in great, if not, just move on - getting into GEP is no big deal anyway.

Actually, I have the same thinking too. If a kid is really gifted, no need to push, no need to put in extra effort, he/she is naturally gifted. Its naturally inside him/her, not tailored to be one.

agreed. what's the point of "pushing" a child into GEP when the child is not gifted. The child will not be able to cope and may ended up losing self-confidence.

[lego]

While some kids enjoy GEP, there are many other kids who are being pressurized by their parents to study very hard in order to pass the GEP selection tests.

The worst is those kids who studied so hard, took the GEP selection test, but did not pass the test. Imagine feeling like a failure for the rest of his life, at 9 years old.

Unfortunately, for kids of such parents, they would be stressed to study and ace the exams, with or without GEP.
I believe GEP/IP/ specialised schools like NUSH etc exists so that we can better cater to children with different learning abilities and the problem arises NOT because there's such an avenue, but because of parents who wants to push/drill their children to THAT route irregardless of their abilities. Children should not be made to feel that they are a failure just because they can't go to GEP because in the first place, GEP is meant to cater to ONLY 1% of the cohort, not the majority. Btw, i do not have any child that is in GEP or IP programme, my dd is only 8 this year.

[verykiasu2010]

this is off topic :

GEP test for Pri 3 kids are on "opt out" basis since at least 2007

top 5 % of the whole national cohort goes into second round

top 1% of the whole national cohort gets into GEP

some schools started (since 2008) HA (high ability) classes for those just missed the GEP cut off - these are usually the top mainstream classes ex-GEP.....some of their performance can surpass the GEPpers

[tamarind]

this is off topic :

GEP test for Pri 3 kids are on "opt out" basis since at least 2007

top 5 % of the whole national cohort goes into second round

top 1% of the whole national cohort gets into GEP

some schools started (since 2008) HA (high ability) classes for those just missed the GEP cut off - these are usually the top mainstream classes ex-GEP.....some of their performance can surpass the GEPpers

You mean all students have to take the GEP test at P3 ? Unless their parents opt out ? I thought only some students will be selected to take the test.