So, there was this huge hoohaa in the PSLE Math paper that required the students to cry. It was this one that had more fame than the other. It was about Evan and Helen having coins.
Helen and Ivan had the same number of coins. Helen had a number of 50-cent coins and 64 20-cent coins. These coins had a mass of 1.134 kg. Ivan had a number of 50-cent coins and 104 20-cent coins.
(a) Who has more money in coins and by how much? (2)
(b) given that each 50-cent coin is 2.7g heavier than a 20-cent coin, what is the mass of Ivan’s coins in kilograms? (2)
I’m not sure what to think at this moment since my kid isn’t in the phase yet. Now, after a few rounds of this kind of crying from parents whose kids have gone through the terrible moments in PSLE, I have come to this conclusion. The questions are not all difficult. The questions have a mixture of levels of difficulties to sift out, if I may say that, the kids into different schools.
Everyone has different capabilities and of course, parents will want the kids to be in the best school to give them a better chance of studying in the university later on in life. However, how many children actually can reach university levels?
I had to fork out money after I started working to study at a long-distance university in hopes of getting that higher pay. However, if I can’t even handle the position of a director, what good is the piece of degree for me then? What good is it if I can’t handle high positions in companies and I can’t even be an entrepreneur?
Will such kind of heuristic questions be life making decisions for my children in PSLE results in future? Yes. Just that they get to study in a school that may have the right environment for them to study. Perhaps we should request MOE make a study out of such things. From PSLE to O levels to see if the kids do perform in the working life after graduation.