GEP 2017 - Screening & Selection

[nms1]

My DD feedback Maths and both days GAT papers are easy, most of questions test logical thinking.
But English paper is a bit hard and guessed some.
Top 1% is not easy, so just 平常心 and focus on coming SA2.

And just remember that we don't really know what they are looking for or how they mark. My elder boy went to round 2 last year and didn't get through. He has tested with a gifted IQ!

I fully agreed with what was mentioned above. Felt compelled to reply as I've seen some parents were surprised that their kids were not selected. I have a friend whose nephew is a member of Mensa Singapore at a tender age of 5 years old and yet he wasn't selected for GEP. MOE has their own definition of giftedness (seems to be gearing more towards academic..) and there were a lot of controversies over the years because so many were hoping that their kids will be in the top 1%. But bearing in mind that there is no special route for these 1% as they will also have to go through the same PSLE. In my opinion, if anyone of you are curious about the 'criteria" to clear the 1st round of GEP, It seems like for Maths, they are looking into the ability of problem solving skills. Able to solve is not good enough, the kid got to be fast. so speed is another key factor. For English, it will be how advanced they are. Having said that, it seems to me that for the 1st round, they are looking more on 'academic giftedness', nothing to do with IQ at all! (and we all know that kids with high IQ are really very smart!) Therefore for those who managed to clear the 1st round, it does not mean that they have high IQ but rather they are 'academically advanced' (whether or not they were trained since young -enrichment/tuition etc, only their own parents will know) 2nd round will really test whether the kids will be suitable for the program because there is GAT. Just want to let those parents who were surprised that their kids didn't make it to the program -that it is not because your kids doesn't have the capabilities, it is just that they didn't fall under MOE's version of "giftedness". In fact there were GEP students who doesn't score as well as their mainstream peers in PSLE. Maybe MOE should have just changed the name of GEP into SEP (Special Elected Program)or AEP (Advanced Elected Program) or some other more appropriate names, they shouldn't used the word giftedness to cater to their own version. My 2 cents worth of opinion.

I definitely agree on the naming of the programme; I think your suggestions would be much more appropriate. If they were just looking for gifted children, they could just do an IQ test!

I do think that the 1st round can be coached as it is based on the school syllabus and closer to normal school exams. I don't understand why parents do that but it is their choice. In my view, the general ability should be in the 1st round then it would make it harder for children to be trained for it.

[zac's mum]

DSP (Dunnohow Selected Program)
Just joking lah

[cafemug]

I was confident my boy would pass round 1 as he is doing pretty okay academically. He finished the 1st round math and english papers with more than half hour left.
But after round 2, he said everything 's difficult and he was sad as he knew he didnt do well (which i think is good lesson for him. For once he met difficulties in an exam! Cant be too complacent! LoL!) Round 2 papers are really to test the kids' mental abilities. Not how well they are trained in syllabus.

[678Yess]

I was confident my boy would pass round 1 as he is doing pretty okay academically. He finished the 1st round math and english papers with more than half hour left.
But after round 2, he said everything 's difficult and he was sad as he knew he didnt do well (which i think is good lesson for him. For once he met difficulties in an exam! Cant be too complacent! LoL!) Round 2 papers are really to test the kids' mental abilities. Not how well they are trained in syllabus.

I think those kids who find round2 easy are genius.....

[AppleCrumble]

In a fishing competition, five kids caught 50 fish in total. A is the winner - she got 12 fish. B and C caught the same number of fish and both are at second place. D is at fourth place. E came in last, got only 6 fish. How many fish did B get?“

Interesting question.. I will try to answer.

Total of B, C and D will be 50 - 12 - 6 = 32 fish

D must be > 6 (since fourth) and B + C must be even number (since both caught equal number of fishes). This means D must also be even number of fishes to arrive total of 32 fishes caught by B, C and D.

Guess and check
If D is 8, B+C = 24, this means B and C caught 12 fishes each. Not the answer since B and C each must be less than A.
If D is 10, B+C = 22, this means B and C caught 11 fishes each. Makes sense.

Therefore, B caught 11 fishes.

[VooVoo]

I think acing the English portion is more crucial than Math...according to hearsay, don't know how true

[melodyrain2]

My DD feedback Maths and both days GAT papers are easy, most of questions test logical thinking.
But English paper is a bit hard and guessed some.
Top 1% is not easy, so just 平常心 and focus on coming SA2.

And just remember that we don't really know what they are looking for or how they mark. My elder boy went to round 2 last year and didn't get through. He has tested with a gifted IQ!

I fully agreed with what was mentioned above. Felt compelled to reply as I've seen some parents were surprised that their kids were not selected. I have a friend whose nephew is a member of Mensa Singapore at a tender age of 5 years old and yet he wasn't selected for GEP. MOE has their own definition of giftedness (seems to be gearing more towards academic..) and there were a lot of controversies over the years because so many were hoping that their kids will be in the top 1%. But bearing in mind that there is no special route for these 1% as they will also have to go through the same PSLE. .........

Yeah, I agree with you that MOE has their own definition of giftedness. Likewise for Mensa Singapore.

The most important thing is our children are enjoying their learning journey regardless if their curriculum are named "gifted" or not or if they are tagged "gifted" or not because every child is special and precious.

http://www.mensa.org.sg/join-us/
How do I qualify for Mensa?

Membership in Mensa is open to persons who have attained a score within the upper two percent of the general population on an approved intelligence test that has been properly administered and supervised. There is no other qualification or disqualification for membership eligibility.

The term “IQ score” is widely used but poorly defined. There are a large number of tests with different scales. The result on one test of 132 can be the same as a score 148 on another test. Some intelligence tests don’t use IQ scores at all. Mensa has set a percentile as cutoff to avoid this confusion. Candidates for membership in Mensa must achieve a score at or above the 98th percentile (a score that is greater than or equal to 98 percent of the general population) on a standard test of intelligence to qualify.......

[sean wife]

I think quite common for kids to find round 2 difficult but still able to clear it. Vice versa also true. So kids and parents who are v keen to join GEP, still can hold on to your hopes:)

[AppleCrumble]

I think acing the English portion is more crucial than Math...according to hearsay, don't know how true

The Round 2 Selection Tests are set to specifically to identify P3 kids who are more advanced in their logical thinking and/or linguistics skills.

The question posed by kab for the Maths paper is a good example that MOE GE Branch is looking for kids with strong number sense and logical thinking. More often than not, their language skills are also quite advance (perhaps as a result of strong love for reading?)

The English paper is to look for kids gifted in languages. The vocabulary of these kids is impressive (I don't think I will ever use those words they use in presentations and essays even as an adult). They can even take foreign languages at higher levels despite being 9-year-olds.

So both papers for Round 2 are set for different purposes.

[AppleCrumble]

The red ribbon is twice as long as the blue ribbon. The green ribbon is 2cm shorter than the blue ribbon. A red ribbon and two green ribbon together measure 16cm. How Long is the blue ribbon? “

This one can be solved by using model method.

G -> 1u
B -> 1u + 2
R -> 2u + 4 (since twice of B)

Now, R + 2G -> 16

2u + 4 + 2u -> 16
4u -> 12
1u -> 3

Therefore, B -> 3 + 2 = 5 cm