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Change is in the air with Covid-19, and like everything else, preparing for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in 2020 will look different from previous years. 
Some parents in our KSP community have confessed that they are “very worried” about this year’s PSLE cohort, and fear that their children are “badly affected” and falling behind due to home-based learning. 
In such times, it’s natural to feel heightened anxiety about your child’s readiness for the PSLE. However, it’s important that you don’t let your anxiety overwhelm you, or affect your child’s morale. The coronavirus situation is evolving, and there may be new developments that are beyond your control. Let go of what you can’t change, identify what your child can work on, and focus on that.
Below, we highlight some ways to support your child for PSLE 2020.
<h4>Stay Informed</h4>
Singapore’s Ministry of Education <a href="https://www.moe.gov.sg/news/press-releases/mid-year-holidays-brought-forward-as-schools-adjust-academic-calendar-institutes-of-higher-learning-to-extend-home-based-learning">announced in April 2020</a> that they would be removing “Common Last Topics” from national exams, which includes the PSLE. These are the topics that would typically be taught last by all schools, closer to the end of the academic year. (For official details and updates, refer to the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board <a href="https://www.seab.gov.sg/home/examinations/psle/psle-formats-examined-in-2020">website</a>.)
Here’s what parents should know:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The Common Last Topics for PSLE Mathematics, which will not be examined in 2020: Speed, Volume, Pie Charts, Solid Figures, and Nets.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The Common Last Topic for PSLE Science and PSLE Foundation Science, which will not be examined in 2020: Interactions within the Environment. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">The Common Last Topics for PSLE Foundation Mathematics, which will not be examined in 2020: Volume, Geometry, and Pie Charts.</li>
</ul>
However, there won’t be assessment changes for “skill-based” subjects such as English and the Mother Tongue languages. For these subjects, the disruption to curriculum time will be taken into consideration during marking and grading, to ensure that students are fairly assessed.
With this information, you can already draw up a revision plan for your child. As any experienced PSLE parent would advise you, it’s best to start early—right now, if possible. 
<h4>Decide What To Revise</h4>
Currently, your child likely has all of his or her schoolwork at home, so it’s a good time to go over what’s been done, to see what mistakes have been made, and where the problem areas might be. Independent learners can do this on their own, but struggling or reluctant learners may need your support. 
You can use The Learning Lab’s guide to <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/avoid-these-15-mistakes-during-the-psle/">15 common PSLE mistakes</a> as reference, to check if your child’s mistakes fall into the listed categories. (In particular, look out for—and note down—any mistakes that occur more than once.) The guide also includes tips for dealing with errors and bad habits.
Next, if your child has already completed all holiday assignments, decide with your child whether to work on:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reviewing past mistakes: If your child has made a mistake on a question, it’s good for him or her to try the question again, rather than just reading the solution. If your child has scored poorly on any home-learning work, you can ask your child’s teacher to reassign the exercise or test, so that your child can attempt the questions again on a blank slate. This will also alert your child’s teacher as to whether the instruction and subsequent correction has been effective.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Reading textbooks, guidebooks, and notes: If possible, stick to a single source as your “spine” material e.g. the notes provided by the school, and supplement only where truly necessary, to avoid confusion or overloading your child. To demonstrate that they have understood concepts, children should be able to explain these concepts in their own words, and provide examples where relevant. They can quiz themselves orally, or this can be done by you or a tutor. </li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Topical exercises: These are useful if your child needs more practice in a certain topic.</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Exam papers: These are important for your child to get familiar with the exam format, as well as hone time management skills. One tip (for stronger students) is to use the allocated marks to gauge the length of the answer, as well as the time that should be spent on the question, e.g. one minute on a one-mark question. Don’t forget to leave out the topics that will not be tested, to save time and effort.</li>
</ul>
As for how much time to allocate to revision per day, you can read about how parents <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/p6-revision-timetables-parents-share-their-kids-study-routines/">have done it in the past</a>. However, you would be the best person to help your child create a plan that is both realistic and sustainable. Note that for struggling learners, even 15 minutes of seatwork could be a challenge—read our guide to find out how to <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/success-in-the-psle-helping-weak-students-to-improve/">encourage and support weaker students</a>.<a href="https://www.thelearninglab.com.sg/info/psle-preparation/?utm_source=partnerships_tll_20tlllgpslepush__editorialbanner__ksp"><img onerror="kspReplaceCdn(this)" decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-86561 size-full" src="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/files/u170058/TLL_pslemay2020_kiasuparents.gif" alt="" width="336" height="280" /></a>
<h4> </h4>
<h4>Spend 15 Minutes A Day On Oral Exam Preparation</h4>
This is something that can be easily done at home. First, take turns to read aloud to one another, and these are the 5 “Ps” that you can look out for:
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pitch: Is there variation in pitch, to lend interest to the story?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pace: Is the pace appropriate? Does it make for pleasant listening?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pauses: Is your child rushing through the story or pausing at appropriate points, such as during commas and full-stops, and between paragraph changes?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Power: Can your child be heard? Is the volume appropriate for the emotion being conveyed?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pronunciation: Unsure of how a word is pronounced? Check the dictionary promptly! This includes word stress as well.</li>
</ul>
Second, engage your children in conversation throughout the day, or during mealtimes. Whether you’re talking about daily life or current affairs, teach your children to back up their opinions with reasons and examples. At the same time, let them know that it’s OK to say “I’m not sure about this,” or “I haven’t read much about this topic, so I don’t have an opinion on this issue.” (In such instances, get them to formulate questions to find out more.) Make efforts to ask your children open-ended questions, which will challenge them to think harder. You’re not merely preparing your children for an oral exam—having good conversational and thinking skills will serve them well in the future.
<h4>Make The Most Of E-Lessons</h4>
It’s unlikely that we’ve seen the last of home-based learning for the year, and in any case, some parents have found ways to maximise the learning opportunities online. One suggestion is to approach your children’s schoolteachers for extra online help if they need to catch up during or after the holidays. You can check with your child’s class if other kids are keen, and signal this interest to the teacher. If the teacher is agreeable, get each participant to submit a list of the questions that they need to ask, so that the teacher can structure the lesson accordingly.
With online learning, it’s best to keep the group small as there are already lags and other distractions to contend with. You may find that lessons shouldn’t stretch beyond an hour, as online interactions can be draining for all involved. Having questions or notes shared on a screen can make it easier for participants to focus. Do observe these sessions, whether they are conducted by your child’s teacher or tutor, so that you can give pointers for improvement. For one-to-one online tutoring, it’s probably more efficient for the tutor to assign work to be completed and submitted before the actual session, so that the online time is spent going over mistakes and reinforcing teaching points. 
<h4>Form A Support Group</h4>
You don’t need to do this alone—all local parents with children in Primary 6 this year are adapting to the changes as well, and many are willing to lend help where they can. Don’t have a parent support group yet? Your child’s class Whatsapp chat is a good place to begin. If you find something that works for your child, take the initiative to share it with others. If you encounter a problem, don’t be afraid to talk to others and seek help. The PSLE is not a competition, and by pooling resources together, everyone wins.
Need someone to talk to about your PSLE 2020 concerns? <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&amp;t=92241&amp;start=60000">Join the conversation on our forum</a>!

Help! Covid-19 Is Affecting My Child’s PSLE Prep!

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How are Singapore families coping in the final stretch of the PSLE journey?
It&rsquo;s life as usual for one KSP member.
Read on for her tips on keeping stress at bay.
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<h5>#Have A Daily Plan</h5>
The general guideline that we follow is to only have one &ldquo;major&rdquo; task, such as completing an exam paper, per day. If there is an answer scheme available, my daughter marks her own work and takes note of her score. We&rsquo;ve encouraged her to <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/exam-prep-getting-kids-to-study-on-their-own/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">study independently</a> since her lower primary days.
On a school day, if my daughter already has a paper to complete as part of her homework, that will be considered her &ldquo;major&rdquo; task for the day. If time permits, I will check if she can fit in some &ldquo;minor&rdquo; tasks, such as vocabulary review&mdash;she spends 10 minutes a day testing herself on a <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/power-up-your-childs-vocabulary-and-yours-too-a-mom-tested-approach/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vocabulary app</a>&mdash;or memorising a composition for Chinese, which takes her about 30 to 45 minutes.
At the end of each day, I&rsquo;ll ask my daughter to note down what she&rsquo;s accomplished for the day in her daily planner. This way, she can see at a glance what she&rsquo;s covered, and think about what still needs to be done.
<h5>#Rely On Your Support Network</h5>
We&rsquo;re fortunate as we live in a neighbourhood with a cozy enrichment centre just minutes away. The centre&rsquo;s charges are easier on the pocket, compared to brand-name centres, and the tutors are dedicated and experienced, so we&rsquo;re getting the best of both worlds.
My daughter has been attending a group class for science, and in this final stretch, I&rsquo;ve arranged for additional two-hour sessions at the centre, at $5/hr. During these sessions, my daughter spends an hour working on either math problem sums or science open-ended questions, and the next hour discussing the answers with her tutor. We also have a private tutor for Chinese.
I&rsquo;m grateful that we&rsquo;ve been able to afford tutors&mdash;it&rsquo;s enabled me to stay on the sidelines and focus on my own work, while ensuring that my kids lead a balanced life.
On days where my daughter has tutoring, she doesn&rsquo;t set herself additional work. If there is homework from school, she brings it to the enrichment centre to complete.
I should add that my daughter&rsquo;s school teachers are also a wonderful source of support. They&rsquo;ve held extra classes before and after school, and the students (as well as parents) are able to message them with questions at any time.
<h5>#Be Purposeful</h5>
With time running out and the need to conserve energy, it&rsquo;s crucial that a child is aware of the objective of each revision task.
For instance, I worked with my daughter on her composition writing during the June holidays. We wrote several stories&mdash;each with multiple drafts&mdash;on the same topic, to address specific problem areas for my daughter. She learned to omit superfluous details that didn&rsquo;t contribute to fleshing out the story&rsquo;s characters or advancing the plot. She also focused on creating stories close to real-life situations that she was familiar with, and practised writing conclusions that summed up the life lessons illustrated in her stories, without being overblown or trite.
I was heartened that my daughter saw an almost 10-point jump in her composition score for the prelims, and we received positive feedback from her English teacher as well.
I&rsquo;ve also been checking in regularly with my daughter&rsquo;s tutor regarding her private sessions at the enrichment centre. Instead of having her tackle questions first, and discussing the answers after, we&rsquo;ve decided to reverse the process&mdash;discussions first, followed by writing the answers down. I felt that this could help my daughter with information retention. We&rsquo;ve also decided to use this final month for her to reattempt questions that she&rsquo;s previously struggled with, as opposed to trying new questions.
The last thing that we&rsquo;re working on is her time management&mdash;her tutor will time her for each question that she&rsquo;s attempting and alert her when she&rsquo;s taking more time than is recommended.
<h5>#No Work After 6PM</h5>
That&rsquo;s our ideal schedule, and we try to keep to this as far as possible, since bedtime for both my kids is 8:30PM.
My daughter also takes breaks after each task, to read or surf. We&rsquo;ve cut out enrichment activities for this period, and once it&rsquo;s time to relax, it&rsquo;s fuss-free entertainment for both my kids&mdash;park walks, card and board games, badminton at the void deck, simple playdates with friends, and movie nights on Netflix.
I don&rsquo;t think she&rsquo;s too stressed out, and neither am I, which is the way it should be!
<h6>Contributed by Evelyn, a KiasuParents member and <a href="https://datewiththenights.wordpress.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parent blogger</a>. Find out how other parents are coping with the PSLE in our <a href="https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=69&amp;t=84699&amp;p=1869004#p1869004" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2018 PSLE Discussion</a>.</h6>
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