CNA | Talking Point | E32: Are PSLE maths papers too difficult?

PSLE mathematics papers have been a thorn in the side of some parents who claim they are just too tough for 12 year olds. But are they really? Are students being adequately prepared for such questions? Talking Point finds out.
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[@NangongReng1973]

They say it is too hard every year since many years ago.

[@applelah]

Non Non w-who are you

[@sriraam4331]

Nah man last yr was rly easy this yr is slightly harder

[@osmomosis9216]

Non Non get some help my friend

[@KironManuelCards]

Education should bring up people not put them down.

[@KironManuelCards]

Education should bring people up and not put them down.

[@jason8923]

Student: I've studied for years and yay I am well prepared for the exam! PSLE: I'm about to end this man's whole career

[@Jack-el7iv]

Student: *exists* Exams: i dont think so

[@lavilovesz]

I'm about to have my psle In a next few weeks😭😭😭😭😭😭🔪👹

[@ao-phantom6293]

@@lavilovesz same bruh

[@imgonnaputsomedirtinureyedabs]

@@lavilovesz same! it"s this coming Friday!

[@memcake]

@@imgonnaputsomedirtinureyedabs its today 😭

[@kitkat8986]

Every year I look back into the recent PSLE and will solve the fun tricky questions. Sad that the O levels additional maths paper are just dry and pur cancer.

[@catsto5553]

Lol the paper was ok tbh

[@demonetization6596]

I am taking this next year and this does not help

[@milkman2962]

Add Maths for O levels are easy if u can remember the ways to solve it

[@demonetization6596]

Weaboo Nation I can get 85 in my school,but my school standard is low

[@jordanloo7361]

E Math Huan was actually interesting and not brain dead okay. #2018EMath

[@zav455]

Half of the comment section is parents agreeing with this, other half is Sec 4s who just did their O levels complaing too

[@ngthomas1609]

And there is me here in the A level stream trying to help everybody out

[@KironManuelCards]

I knew a high level maths teacher whose daughter went nuts,I mean crazy.

[@bruhbro1181]

@@ngthomas1609 I took the exam myself in 2019 (im S3 this yr taking el, amath, emath, chem, phy/bio, ss/hist/computing)

[@ngthomas1609]

@@bruhbro1181 Wow, really brings back memories.

[@BryanTan]

Siding with Dr Yeap on the idea of those tricky questions being deliberately designed to not closely resemble exercises seen before. If they are too similar to past problems, you only encourage students to recall fixed problem forms and their associated solving routines (aka "vomit out" whatever you crammed in mugging), but not actually test their mathematical/analytical skills by applying on new unseen problems.

[@sadness3337]

Sounds like U.S soldiers going into the Vietnam war

[@CptGqM]

@@sadness3337 Reminds me of Nazi Germany stepping onto Soviet soil(and snow).

[@CryoSwordsman]

That in theory is very logically sound, however you are not considering the full picture. The singapore education system is built on the idea of a meritocracy where the elite league of students are granted with the most oppurtunities to pursue their education and career. The singapore education system demands a systematic and uniformed method for analysing a student's grasp on the syllabus and thus determining a student's potential. It is very unwise to test a question which it's execution of concept is very rarely examined and analysed in school into an important national exam such as PSLE. You shouldn't design questions such as these on the basis of "breaking associated solving routines" as they break the fundamentals of what the Students were taught and are thus giving all of them a grave disadvantage. These harder to grasp concepts should be discussed in the _classroom_ where innovative thinking and problem solving is encouraged and not durig PSLE with the student'a future education on the line. An examination should be a test of concept and the syllabus and not a "surprise" trap to scare the students and cause exam stress.

[@jareddaigre4550]

This sounds great in theory, but it reality, it is completely ridiculous. What you're describing is an IQ test, not a math test. If the exercise questions are model after real-world problems, then what's the problem of creating a test that trips the students up? Experience is a form of knowledge, and attempting to eliminate experience learning as a valid measurement of knowledge is absolutely ridiculous!

[@sheldonpopesp]

I thought it is meant to test knowledge lol giving something new in a test doesn't test knowledge at all

[@charlie-tg4rw]

I took the psle this year and at the egg tart math question, i was like ‘oh gosh, i like egg tarts, i want to eat one now’ 😂😂😂

[@kay6254]

Gwen Villamor egg tart question was the one that was the hardest. Not the semi circle one

[@charlie-tg4rw]

Kate Yeow ye it was quite hard. Not to flex but i got it correct but the semi circle one i got wrong .-.

[@ngthomas1609]

Both the questions were easy! You just needed to understand the concept of the question and answer accordingly.

[@cc-nb5fb]

yunzhen wu chill bro

[@lcvlyjams]

yunzhen wu I wouldn’t say it is easy but it’s possible to do , u just need to take ur time and study it properly

[@LWL-sz5lh]

9:25 "This qn is part of sec 1 syllabus" Clearly has never heard of "heuristics" before.

[@ji4y.]

besides they would never test u something out of ur syllabus,,they just make what you've learned tougher in a certain way

[@ystoh133]

Problem with students nowadays, even I myself admit being a final year uni student, that we often study for the sake of studying, eyeing only at the end result, and often flush off all knowledge once the papers are completed. Students are not applying the thought process as well as concepts taught, which is why they're finding it tough. Like what the last guy said, if you encountered a similar/same question in the exam, it's no longer considered a problem.

[@jaytai4521]

he clearly stated that this was a "pattern problem" and clearly patterns were taught since p3/4. The objectives of the primary mathematics programme are to enable pupils to: • Develop understanding of mathematical concepts: • Numerical • Geometrical • Statistical • Algebraic • Recognise spatial relationships in two and three dimensions • Recognise patterns and relationships in mathematics it is even stated in the official curriculum recorded in black and white.

[@pokiish]

AHA TRUE

[@mastersnake2071]

Wow patterns are sec 1

[@PhysicallySane.]

PSLE tackles one's "thinking out of the box" skills which makes it hard for students. In terms of solving, it's simple, but the questions in PSLE are tackling students visual aspects rather than just solving the question. Pattern questions are one of the good examples of literally thinking beyond what you can see and stuns you(not everyone) due to the unusual question that has never been attempted in practices, making it hard for students to solve them. However, with practice and dedication, which is the biggest hurdle for learning literally anything and the hardest to master, you can also shine like those who deemed to be a "genius".

[@ruiying3954]

Honestly, it's good that there are tough questions. Do we really want students to be regurgitating whatever they learnt in tuition? As for the patterns question, it wasn't too bad, just a step further from our typical exercise questions. After all, we do need something to set the kids apart. And I say this as a person who took the PSLE last year

[@voidnoidoid]

The paper is fine lol the parents are just whiny

[@shazar7782]

Ikr,They will use any excuse if their Child did not do well.

[@piccolo5725]

Ok boomer

[@ryanwong8967]

Yeah

[@shazar7782]

Bruh.........Lol I wish KZbin allowed stickers now so I can use my ok boomer

[@handsoap1097]

@@piccolo5725 you dont know what boomer means ur just following the trend

[@zoolz1186]

Tbh these questions for me i think are designed for multiole different reasons.Since Many parents prepare their sons/daughters for PSLE that if the questions are not challenging most would score well.Thus i think that they are designed to differianciate between students who can/cannot think outside of the box

[@chandar6214]

Think about it, there are only max 1-2 hard questions that’s require out of the box thinking, this is to separate the smart from the smarter students. The other questions are usually well practiced before-hand. Furthermore, even if it is true that a certain question is really difficult, the psle scoring system works in a way where your marks are pit against other pupil’s marks around Singapore, which means that no matter how tough questions are, your marks depend on how you perform as compared to your peers. Parents need to understand how the t-score system works and why papers must have varying difficulty levels.

[@vivienlee1671]

i agree！

[@Alpha-kt4yl]

I would agree, if not for the fact that schools do not teach students how to think out of the box. I believe it is unfair to spend so much time training students for an exam, that many consider crucial, just to ask questions that you did not prepare them for. I am not asking for students to be prepped on every single possible question, I ask that if the test is going to test out of the box thinking then we should teach students to do that.

[@unbrokendawn4673]

I would definitely agree with this statement. However, the PSLE score system has changed...

[@joan7204]

9:50 learn in secondary 1 Me in sec 1: got learn meh

[@straykids_8791]

you’ll only learn it in sec 1 math olympic i think

[@aashesprod.34]

Do they know what is heuristics or not?

[@alvinmath]

U learn nth terms tho

[@benpei6452]

This years PSLE is giving all the students stress

[@owenlok2325]

It's all major exams...

[@benpei6452]

@@owenlok2325 hahahahaha true thoo...

[@phantasmagorical5040]

Disagree

[@phantasmagorical5040]

If students had prepared sufficiently and thought outside the box, it would be easy. I took it this year

[@fortnitemamba1912]

I surprisingly got an A for this years math PSLE test

[@albertongoogle]

The adults tested suck at math :p I think those question are ok if they represent the hardest questions on the test. But parents should not be forced to send kids to extra tuition. If these tough questions are to be in the exam, it should be taught in school. If the teacher cannot teach it, perhaps the teacher or curriculum should be reviewed first.

[@buzzyz7234]

My math teacher told my class that they have taught us the Concept of the questions so we just need to apply it. But I think that it relies more on common sense.

[@ItsRaining12345]

Agree

[@owenlok2325]

The questions rely on common sense but we are scrambling to find something teachers have taught

[@murch62]

You think our math teacher time traveler meh? You’re studying a higher standard ofc you would think this type of question is easy.

[@NHWK]

They literally tested a surgeon bruh

[@shdbbdnd]

If they made the paper easy, everyone will do well and there is no point in exams....if they make it tougher with hard qns, the exceptional students can be picked out...i think all the parents should rethink about this....i took the papers before and they had tough qns as well....its not like their entire life is ruined just by that one qn

[@sakthimohan9242]

So why is O-levels so easy ?

[@sweet813one]

Thats why the tougher questions are lower in quantity

[@N____er]

Yes, but the tougher questions are lesser in quantity but the marks are like 5 marks and if you have like even 4 questions of these wrong thats almost 20 marks lost (assuming all 4 questions are 5 marks, but maybe 1 or 2 may be 4 marks), which is quite quite a lot

[@beezlebub9]

@@N____er precisely. Imagine not being able to do half or more than half of Section C questions.

[@masteroogway2377]

You can learn everything with textbooks. So why the schools?

[@markleong4667]

I knew how to solve those questions mentioned in the program cos i learned what my kid learned in the past few yrs. she got A for her maths in this yr’s PSLE. 19:05 is the essence of what one can learn and practice to solve many primary school maths questions today. It’s simple but very powerful. Incidentally, my interest in UML may hv help me to visualise how an application works and designed to work and more depending on which role one is holding in a IT project.

[@Cedric-wk5yt]

at this point singapore media just milking ppl complaining abt psle, this looks like they copy paste from kiasu parents and put on nice slideshow xd

[@ChengXinJin]

This is hilarious especially when parents think they are qualified to decide if questions are difficult. I'm sure most would not be able to do a PSLE Science or Mother Tongue paper. Leave it to the experts and teach your kids to deal with disappointment. Its just PSLE. A small part of their life.

[@circustoyourclown2937]

me who anyhow do the last second question but got correct Me: *laughs in luckiness*

[@shreinlu]

Swag YanJ same, it was easier than the other questions infront

[@priyavicky3401]

Steve is the best host ever. He really does have good energy and speaks very well.

[@damsie64]

The semicircle and pattern one I just write nonsense

[@shariena_0068]

Well , in my case , i kinda know the answer but im not sure , and i got it correct.

[@rtrn_1369]

Lovely Neko is the answer 36?

[@shariena_0068]

@@rtrn_1369 Yeah.

[@aloysius987]

@@shariena_0068 @MrPandaBear Not bad that both of you who are half my age could have solved the question. I thought it was as easy as adding up everything and dividing by 2. But you actually need to do 22 - 12 = 10 then 10 + 10 + 16 = 36. Working backwards helped me find out the logic. :(

[@sriraam4331]

The answer was 36 Just simultaneous equation the whole thing ez game

[@thinkpadx60]

this brought back so many memories. I like the way the last person spoke about not drilling mathematics but visualising it.

[@osasinator7583]

Imo the psle paper is to differentiate the students between the streams so even if you do not fare that well for psle you could still do well in the future if you try hard enough.

[@alvachan88]

8:58 since no one has pointed this out, i shall. If any person, student or not, can solve part b which requires knowing how to find an arithmetic sum (apart from brute force), how does part c require a more advanced concept? It's just converting a fraction to percentage form.

[@serone8651]

ya part C is so easy lol

[@alvachan88]

@@serone8651 not sure if you are trolling or need help so here goes. part c isn't easy on its own but if a person has the skill to solve part b, they can use the same skill to solve part c. the only other non-skill required is conversion as stated in my previous comment.

[@besteventclock]

Part b can be solved using 250*250 Part c requires either arithmetic series formula or difference between white and grey They are not the same concept

[@ascepts4808]

Ngl the area triangle one and ribbons one was pretty ez lmao

[@immahappygurl]

a few difficult questions within a paper is definitely necessary to differentiate students who can think more critically than others. rather than difficult questions, i feel like the increasing number of mental health issues among the younger generation is more often caused by how people, especially parents, view psle and how the notion of psle being able to determine one's life is instilled in children from a young age. a question or two that can throw students off is very reasonable to test them on whether they are able to apply concepts correctly instead of simply regurgitating. therefore, rather than having simpler papers, i think the way to go about solving the problem of increasing mental health issues among the young is to try to eradicate elitist mindsets and to change the way academic success is viewed in our society.

[@avanimoye1848]

I took the psle with the semi circle and the number pattern question and I think that although it was hard, the rest of the paper was what was taught in school. Plus the parent who said it was secondary 1 syllabus clearly hasn’t seem the updated syllabuses. The fact that parents are making such a big deal of probably 2-3 question which are there as higher order thinking questions is honestly baffling. Of course if a child goes home crying about the paper, the parent is going to be angry but they can’t expect their child to never face disappointment. Also, i honestly don’t think parents are in the position of deciding whether a question is hard or not, if their child can’t do it then of course it will be ‘hard’. Also, the moment they go to secondary school, anything related to psle becomes redundant, so like it honestly doesnt matter if a student doesn’t know how to do a couple of question.

[@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735]

Dear students who are studying: I am a mathematics and pure science student in my O levels in 2018. No I was not smart, I was very close to failing English, took foundation chinese, failed social studies What I have learnt while in secondary school is a few important things: 1) it's ok if you didn't do well. My psle was a 200, and PSLE was 20. Slightly lower than average (I think). I am taking nursing in polytechnic. Struggling with a little of studying, but manageable. 2) always find a different perspective rather than solving. Finding a different perspective would be easier to solve the question (may take 3-4 minutes longer for the huge questions) but it is better than not solving at all. For the circle question, if you draw 2 straight lines down they are both the same length and you can solve from there

[@kay6254]

NorthernStal The famously unknown penguin the semi circle question isn’t that hard. 3 semi circles+24=2 semi circles+16+44 1 semi circle= 16+44-24=36 1 circle =36x2=72

[@deathmessiah7273]

3:38 OMG!! They cried over question like this?? I remembered i smiled and laughed doing my PSLE Maths.

[@derraumdeuter2109]

Lol same. So ur sec 2 now right

[@Matt-vv8js]

Enjoy the holidays guys

[@dariuslee6983]

@Non Non simi lj

[@dariuslee6983]

@Non Non again 🤣🤦‍♂️

[@requimics8585]

Omg ikr psle math is so simple i wanna go back to p6 the moment i started sec sch i kept getting D7 or C6 for math and when i get C5 i would litterally jump in joy

[@limhocksiew8501]

If the exams now are becoming harder.Imagine the future where P6 students take exams with the same difficulty as O level paper. -P6 student

[@peachcat2812]

don worry psle 2020 was ez

[@yoho6804]

@@peachcat2812 ya a lot easier than 2019

[@masummiah5945]

i am taking psle next year

[@jarryllim343]

@@yoho6804 lucky. 2021 was painfully hard in the range of questions 11-16 P2.

[@goldverylameisback550]

i hope i get a 16 or better for psle

[@loveit347]

The real question is: do spending on expensive tuition and stressing students with tight schedule even helpful, when hardest questions are so "daily day basis"?

[@sadness3337]

The answer: it's called slavery

[@fezmelon2234]

I feel like, yes, it does help to have tuition to *SOME* extent, but if it is too frequent or the parents put too much stress on them, then the students will most definitely do worse than they could have.

[@limbokhenglimbokheng5032]

For the question regarding to the triangle question, I found it pretty challenging. It may requires the knowledge of sequence and series to solve the question. Others I could not comment too much as each person has different abilities. It would be an advantage for those who have been exposed to higher level mathematics.

[@elfase2181]

It's not challenging. You've been Thot to find a formula to solve pattern qns since P4. Most parents just dk heuristics are taught so they find it tough. Rlly tho, that's a giveaway qn. 5 marks at that.

[@Ugh99]

Ikr, as someone who took psle this year, all questions are manageable. However, it is the time constraint and pressure that makes PSLE a hard test.

[@user-ph5eb2tz9z]

When i did psle in 2019, i got my A star. I felt that all the questions were easy. But now that im sec 3 and i try them again, they are much more confusing. I just became more stupid

[@julianne7133]

Whenever I find math easy I always get careless mistakes and do badly but when I find the paper difficult I do relatively well

[@suzanneho4470]

Hahaha....sounds like a yearly refrain as my daughter took her PSLE this year and a different group of parents with the same issue. But the difference this year is a new school placement scoring system, hope some consideration can be taken to accommodate this.

[@sus-tl8vw]

imagine if those we're only level 1-2 questions, imagine doing a level 3-4 question 💀

[@HQR000]

I dont think kids would feel as bad about not being able to do tough questions if parents werent so competitive and put so much pressure on their kids. Sometimes its not the issue of the system, but the parents of the children themselves and the way they react to it. Exams are meant to have questions with a range of difficultly, if everyone got a perfect score theres no point in having exams at all really.

[@linzixuan29]

Agreed

[@yijun6831]

The semi circle one is ez cuz a lot of students over think it. But the pattern one Is hard for p6 students. Not impossible but just hard. But when u reach Sec 1, you will learn how to easily solve the pattern within 1 min! So it's okay if u can't solve it now! You will eventually learn it!

[@hugoyang6641]

I will be taking the PSLE this year, and this video absolutely makes my blood boil. I don't see how this is to "assess our ability" to place us in an appropriate secondary school - I only see this as a challenge to our mental health. I have had many sleepless nights this year, sacrificing every hour just to cram all the "necessary" knowledge into my mind. If adults can't solve it, why let teenagers solve it? Completely unreasonable. Has the Government responded to the public's complaints? Absolutely not. Starting from the 2012 PSLE Math Paper to the 2019 PSLE Math Paper, more questions are becoming more mentally demanding and have higher thinking order. I also feel that the AL System is extremely unfair. The lower mark band having a higher range? All I see is the Ministry focusing only on the top students and leaving the average students out. All students should be receiving equal and fair treatment. I grew up in Singapore thinking that we have equality in every part of our country. Starting from the Education system, I have lost all faith for my future here. Examinations are getting increasingly more difficult every year, and I don't see how this is necessary at all. I definitely agree that having 1 or 2 difficult questions would be necessary as a slight challenge, but the final grading process isn't fair to all pupils. I hope that in the coming years the education system would be further improved. 😔

[@wangterry475]

Bro this is so relatable my parents don’t know how many times I was crying to sleep because of stress

[@wangterry475]

This year I already fucked up my CL oral and all of EL; now I’m preparing to fail my maths

[@sunny-143]

FRFR I AGREE WITH THIS SO MUCH

[@popoio3]

PISA 2019. China > Singapore now = more stress on future students.

[@tocrob]

China's four "provinces" are not nearly as representative as Singapore's. Better access to better pre-schools (happening now) will reduce that future stress.

[@sadness3337]

And censoring all the bad stuff about themselves

[@dinoT_T]

@@sadness3337 does any countries not do that? :)

[@okawari5431]

I'm taking PSLE this year (2020) and have done many of these past year papers. Tbh, I felt that those so called 'hard' questions were actually pretty easy.

[@Homelander489]

3:36 That was the question ALL of my classmates were arguing about after the exam. I didn't think it was such a big deal... but it ended being in this video. Still got A* for the paper though😌

[@dindings]

You guys should try the European competences, the guidelines are aimed to improve student's life and competences so they can improve and keep learning. The best one is called Learn to Learn where it looks for the student's own personal growth

[@sadness3337]

Especially Finland

[@dindings]

@@sadness3337 its a common regulatory policy that every school across the EU should follow, it's a loosely held legislation, but it does the trick. In certain countries it's not enough but it's aimed not only to raise perfect A students but also students that know how to balance work and personal

[@twirlingtulles]

This video would have been made more complete if they interviewed MOE, the Minister for Education and an actual person who set the PSLE exam. MOE should also provide figures on the numbers of As, Bs, Cs and Ds received for the maths papers and how that translates into a more skilled workforce vis-a-vis counterparts from other developed nations. Right now they only got remarks from people on the sidelines profiting from the difficult papers.

[@beezlebub9]

Surprised that this comment got so upvotes.

[@Lazaruszzz]

Tbh compared to Sec schools, psle math papers are too easy

[@damnfreakingsien]

KaguyaLaz YOU DONT SAY Compared to As, sec sch is too easy. I took my psle a decade ago when we were the first batch to be tested with calculators. I was well prepared. But the questions were such a shock that I broke down.

[@cometchaser847]

Part of the cohort of 2021. This is the PSLE Math day. I solved all of the 2019 questions with ease (the pattern one is easy if you know about triangle numbers, the gray ones are even triangle numbers. Fig. 2= Triangle№2, Fig. 3= Triangle №2, Fig. 4= Triangle №4, etc. Then Q15 pops up. I did it like this: Finds mass of total coin (if all is 50¢) (in grams) Divides by 2.7 for no reason. GETS A WHOLE NUMBER! (this usually means you are correct, in my experience when I get a decimal I made a mistake somewhere) Gets Helen, and $20. Checks and realises it is wrong. Does Q16 and 17 first. Goes back and gets into a giant loop of random simultaneous equations. Gives up, knowing that my correct answers on the other questions will give me AL2 anyway. Also if you use algebra most of the hard questions suddenly become extremely easy. That's what I did. The semicircle one can be solved with simultaneous. So, learning slightly higher than your level is good.

[@rattamytata1970]

That semicircle diameter question is really interesting, but probably not a question to put at the end of the paper. The students are probably expecting it to be a circle question but it's actually an algebra question, and since you don't get much experience with what an algebra question can be in primary schools, it seems too punishing. They may get stuck and lose too much time.

[@besteventclock]

It isn’t algebra . Yes , one of the methods is algebra , But there is a geometrical property that can be used to solve the question without algebra

[@Ukiringo1991]

I think the answer for the ribbon question is as follow. 25m * 100=2500cm 2500/110= Max amt of ribbon per roll (round down) 200/max amt of ribbon per roll = answer (round up) I am curious how the semi circles can be solved. And the rectangle questions seems like a secondary school question.

[@lynlemon8709]

answer for ribbon question is 10. give me some time to remember the circle questions yet again please 😓

[@lynlemon8709]

for the semi circle: reference for the images.app.goo.gl/dDLqb76AXCFmjqnbA look at first two semicircles from the left take 22cm - 12cm =10cm this is possible as they are all identical semicircles, meaning they have the same diameters. the part where the first two semis. overlap are equal. this means that the part of the second semi which is not overlapped by the first one is 22cm. take 12cm away from that 22cm and you find the length of the non-overlapped part; which is 10cm. move on to the third semi and see that the middle non-overlapped part is labeled 16cm. this also means that the other two sides that are overlapped are equal. from the first equation where we got 10cm, the first overlapped part is 10cm, and the second one is also 10cm. add 16cm and the two 10cms and you get 36cm which is the final answer. my explanation may not be the best, so i recommend to go on youtube and just run a search of a more detailed solution by a professional. :)

[@samegawa_sharkskin]

rectangle questions?

[@alucard6312]

Wow the 12 years old Ian is my classmate lol

[@felix5981]

Well then, do you want every child to just breeze through the exam without having to think? Those hard questions are to sieve out the gifted students in maths. They have to be difficult so students are not just regurgitating everything they've been taught and actually think and analyse through the question

[@joshuakurian4827]

It's quite difficult if many PSLE questions wind up on the mindyourdecisions channel, which is by no means a math channel for those who are just trying to keep up with their primary school work.

[@baconpancakes8899]

I think algebra should be easier than using the bar model.

[@gifantheorys998]

definitely, especially for the circle's question

[@flmkrp2486]

the fact that they dont teach algebra to primary school students made the last 2 questions so hard. I managed to solve the circle questions last minute by using logic but didnt manage to complete the sequence question

[@CryzVoid]

literally the jump of math syllabus from p6 to sec 1 is quite weird. alot of the p6 syllabus you learn you dont apply to sec 1 maths. sec 1 maths is literally algebra and algebra.

[@sweet813one]

Me in sec 2: laughs in 6/7 chapters involving algebra

[@ngthomas1609]

Me, A* for math and science for his year. Laughs as I goes to A levels, in a top school. The question given is really quite easy. Sure it is a Sec 1 question, but it is thought in class. The question was actually really quite simple and easy. Sitting through the exam, I wasn’t surprised when I saw the question. That year wasn’t too hard, the re wasn’t any simultaneous equation questions, except for the 5 semicircle question, which wasn’t too hard. I don’t know about other schools but my school and math teacher thought me well and thought us good methods to tackle these “difficult” questions. All you need, is the basics and foundations of the topics and learn to apply these knowledge. I really love mathematics and found that math isn’t hard at all. Good luck to the next group of people taking the math PSLE. If you need any help, you can talk to your Teachers to correct any misunderstandings or understand a topic better. 😄😁😆😃😀😀😄😁😃

[@sylviazhu1807]

3:36 i clearly remember this question when im doing my psle in 2017

[@user-wc9pf1ff8y]

maybe because im past the psle age so i really dont know how to gauge the paper using a 12yo's standard, but the questions shown on this video was solveable for me?

[@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735]

1:57 would be a "easy" secondary 1/2 simultaneous equation If you substitute the diameter of the circle for X then solving would be pretty easy, but I am not sure if PSLE students know this, anyone can confirm? I took O levels last year so I'm not familiar with PSLE now.

[@lea2467]

For me, I just used shifting to take 22 to subtract 12. The answer multiply by 2 and added to 16 will be the diameter

[@ericchia7237]

The only reason why some questions are more difficult than others is because it requires the student to think more deeply and look for the hidden clues within the question. No advanced techniques such as those taught in secondary schools (as stated in this program) is required. Once these clues are found, the rest would be just simple calculation.

[@leblackrosethorn3834]

I didn't even learn part c questions when was in sec1 lol. pattern questions are meant to be hard so those who are truly gifted, those who can somehow link it back to what they already know, will get them right. all hard questions usually link back to the concepts u already know, it's just how well u can link it back.

[@andysixxx1263]

3:53 an adult stunned over this ?? you’ve gotta be kidding me

[@cursebr2937]

andy sixxx no the English phrasing is wrong that’s why stumped

[@gregoriysharapov1936]

Looks like basic English honestly. Probably was confuses them is the 110 cm and 25m. Probably didn't see the unit. Idk.

[@ellenma6002]

@@gregoriysharapov1936 Nah, it may be because they did not know if the left over ribbon could be sewn together and used or be discarded.

[@cheerlin]

Adult will buy based on budget available only haha

[@ZephySeffeh]

Honestly, this is totally blown out of proportion by parents. There will always be a few complex questions in every tier of Singapore's exams.

[@shengyi1701]

As Daniel Craig aka James Bond said to Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), “It’s all a matter of perspective.” And when you ask a student who just aced the PSLE Maths paper how it was, he would say, “Shocking! Positively shocking!”

[@jrukawa11]

tuition is a very lucrative cottage industry due to the education system. many teachers left school for the tuition fortune (but they say for making more impact to the education)

[@postman00100]

The MOE educators are too ego and want to show others that how good they are on setting questions. But reality, they did not follow their job scope, doing out of curriculum. Its very problematic when they did had done a bad job and still giving poor excuses after parents complaints. Its too shameful that they are not condemned and sacked but these problems continuously plaque the society. The worst, MOE still ask everyone to less focus on studying too hard but in reality resulted differently. Nowadays, tuition centers and tutors take these chances to con more parents to their money making campaign advertisements. These conman will show you how to solve (after they secretly took days to think) But if you let them do it within a frame time of a shocking question, they also caught with their pants down. Telling parents to sort those smart outs are a very lame answer. It showed how low respect and IQ person to give such an answer.

[@dt4654]

hahahaha...wait until they have to do their O or N levels 😂 that one is going to get harder every year also.

[@jayxone]

The semi circle one is actually pretty easy for a P5 like myself, move the bottom two semi-circles in opposite directions 22cm then take 16+((22-10)x2) and it will give you the answer of 36 cm

[@kamsiahjantan6044]

3:54 a snapask ad came out lol

[@19yingluo51]

22:28 !!

[@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735]

Dear parents: Most of the mathematics questions are very real life related. I would suggest it would be much easier to see in a better perspective if the parents were to demonstrate a little bit

[@jugemujugemugokonosurikire4735]

@Neffos Unown Excuse you!

[@beezlebub9]

Err, quite unlikely.

[@jiro7077]

2019 psle is hard 2021 psle, u see students crying at mrt stations and buss stops, both paper 1 and 2 hard, even i whole scored highest in class for prelims felt it was hard. I only managed to complete it 2 mins before the end timing, moe and seab needs to reduce the difficulty for psle especially when we have covid pandemic affecting us a lot this year.

[@JesusLovesHisCreations]

Read the question carefully and it’s not difficult at all, most of them don’t read the question and straight jump into trying to find the answer by looking at the pic only.... Q4) Since the semi circles are the same, hence let D=diameter of all 5 semi circles 3D+12+12(top)=2D+22+16+22(bottom) 3D+24=2D+60 3D-2D=60-24 D=36

[@Ryzetc2]

Me when i see psle math questions: ☠️💀☠️💀☠️💀☠️

[@elmo431]

14:24 you haven't paid yet

[@randomdudh]

I graduated last year, i remember praying to god that 2022 was going to be an easy one after doing 2021 math, but it turns out that they were answered because i got 246 for the whole psle and got into a solid sec school

[@twobytwoplayer7790]

That circles question … Cries

[@dylanangya2656]

I don’t think it was hard because other than the last and second last question, the rest was very easy

[@Ng-nv9to]

Regarding the indian claiming unfair. Epiphany moment: Since when was life ever fair? Suck it up and make the best out of your current situation.

[@ljk20001]

9:31 fully agree...lower secondary would find them easier....

[@Sadlaxy]

Watching this reminds me of how I screwed up my paper. It wasn't difficult, it was really simple, I just couldn't find the method.

[@Allahummabaarik]

It's ok. You can be good in other things. Not only in Mathematics.

[@yvysz]

i passed the psle maths HAHAH i’m so proud of myself

[@sweet813one]

Same

[@cantcube7569]

I did the paper it’s not really that hard it was moderate and it seemed pretty fair for me

[@jonnyjohn8435]

Kleaven Ng Scary guy

[@cantcube7569]

Lol

[@znn773]

i think maybe its just to separate the normies from the slightly higher ability students the circle question just use algebra i took psle in 2020 and had to do 2019's paper as practice circle question isnt a problem just apply different concepts where you wldnt usually and itll be fine for anyone who needs to see this; try getting on simple algebra. works wonders on "tough" questions, and will be helpful in sec sch when you build on those concepts, no olympiad or tuition required fyi, i didnt have either, or anything outside what school taught me for that matter

[@cbmajor6017]

1:53 I was bored so I solved it Let the diameter of the circle be x and set an expression for the length of the line for both sides: x+12+x+12+x 22+x+16+x+22 Since they share the same line, we can set them equal to each other: x+12+x+12+x=22+x+16+x+22 12+12+x=22+16+22 24+x=60 x=36 The diameter of the circle is 36 If I did something wrong, sorry!

[@elfase2181]

Welp I used guess and check cuz I couldn't observe a thing...

[@user-le4tt4dq4v]

You're correct

[@gisellez9250]

Honestly the paper was fine 🤷‍♀️ , I took it this year

[@2d_09_kirsteny6]

It was average honestly:/ I got a B for math n I’m quite satisfied lol

[@lucientan7166]

Ikr I got full marks

[@lucientan7166]

Ryan Poon They will specifically tell you

[@2d_09_kirsteny6]

I Guess?

[@rach0325]

@@lucientan7166 no they wont. u need to pay like 50 dollars just for another person to read ur paper and they probably told u that u got all correct.

[@takebackthenight4390]

PSLE math is way harder than O level math...

[@moonylanatm_]

takebackthenight ikr like u most likely not gonna use the knowledge in secondary school and it’s true u might most likely won’t use it in life when u turn adult only some of them

[@buzzyz7234]

And that's why I rant all the time... Why must we learn this kind if shit when 90% of the time it is not applied to our daily lives.

[@kitkat8986]

What a joke, if u take a maths in secondary school of course the regular e math will seem easy. Psle so damn easy

[@shawnatan5760]

Although I am watching this talking point episode now, my school did teach me how to solve pattern questions and even gave a booklet of problem sums to practice doing pattern questions. (I'm p6 this yr)

[@bhavyamudgal3087]

The answer of the semicircle question is 36 cm i.e. Diameter of every semicircle = 36 cm

[@kfobsgw]

now for my PSLE I hope I get at least an A now XD

[@gafeldxo]

i just want to go NA

[@Yami.F_x5879]

BasiicDreamz same>~

[@IAmMrNg]

PSLE Math: cry over the one question you can’t solve O/A Level Math: must get A1/A Most NUS math mods: can do half of the paper I happy liao

[@dt4654]

the 3rd was me when I had to do actual math for my ite course 😂 by that point, can do even a fraction, can liao

[@beezlebub9]

I had distinctions for English and Maths at PSLE and “O” levels. However I am not I support of setting young questions to separate the wheat from the chaff. And clearly, this seems to have been a vicious cycle and the papers have become tougher and tougher as the years go by. The goal of the paper should be to test knowledge and application of skills and knowledge specifically at PSLE; no more no less. Going down the thread, where people are speaking about “heuristics” and have done these questions - where they done as part of the school syllabus or part of tuition or enrichment classes. I suspect it’s the former. These paper will then unfairly penalise student whose parents cannot afford tuition and erode the basis of meritocratic society.

[@danieafadzil6960]

Tbvh i think the last questions is not that bad since i had done a similar questions before PSLE , i dont really agree of that is a secondary questions as my teacher has introduce me those kinds of questions before

[@prata6938]

the kids who cry over the paper r probably the ones who “if i don’t get full marks i’m not good enough”

[@joshualow5547]

I got a B for the 2019 PSLE math

[@yachinno]

I got an E kiddo...mind you I took PSLE in 2015....

[@joshualow5547]

ヤスミン oh I had to do that one as revision I got an A

[@yachinno]

@@joshualow5547 Good job! I honestly suck at math...and now I will be waiting for my GCE N lvl results lol.

[@memehub4287]

Senior I got B for everything and got 197, my mother nag at me to na to St. Andrews

[@bobo-bi3gr]

I am the father of my p6 daughter in China. During this covid stay home no school period starting from Feb., we have finished the study of total 6 junior high school maths textbooks and intensive exercise for the first two textbooks. Now we are doing intensive exercise for the remaining 4 textbooks. Wish we may finish this task at the end of June. Then in July and August, we may practice senior high school admission test papers. By doing so, we are three years ahead of other students and very confident to achieve an extraordinary result in the test of 2023. I strongly agree with these sayings, no pains, no gains, early birds catch worms, practice makes perfect. Is PSEL math a competitive exam? I don't know now, but I am going to check it. If yes, I don't think it helpful for students and parents to discuss it is hard or not, fair or not. Maybe it is much better to have a correct evaluation of current situation, develop a practical study plan, and most important, fulfill it. This program is very inspiring, I learned a lot from it. Thanks for the team.

[@thehoppiplover]

tbh its not hard, u just need to think out of the box sometimes. it helps to understand the concept needed. i failed some mock exam practices because i didnt understand the concept the question wanted to highlight but after understanding the concepts i ended up with al1

[@unown293]

2015: coin question 2017: ribbon question 2019: semicircle question 2016 and 2018: no controversial question so 2020’s paper *may* not be that bad

[@jasper8368]

Phew lucky I took PSLE in 2018

[@walter-st3fb]

nah I took 2019 paper... the semicircle question was easy lol, nobody complained about the paper, only the parents did

[@harumi_rumi]

2021: Helen and Ivan question 2022: *oh god lets just see what happens* (Btw im taking the 2022 psle wish me good luck! 😨)

[@kingtheconflagration1551]

I feel Lucky that I got an A for this year

[@icreateabstractart6221]

Me too

[@deathstorm5371]

I got A*

[@jeeeerrrrmmmm2778]

I got B :p

[@CommanderCrocky]

I got C

[@elvian9492]

idk why, but I have this feeling they're going to add some triangle question similar to the infamous semi circle question

[@fsxlfcfandom2362]

i guess the Ann Ben o level math question this year was a payback for that 1 dollar question in 2015