Master war tactician, Sun Tzu, famously advised us to “know your enemy” so that “in a hundred perils you will never be in peril”. Although we do not want students to regard examinations as going into battle, the analogy is an apt one. If students prepared themselves by mastering every type of question they might be tested on, they would always excel in any assessment and hence, “never be in peril”. The truth is that while worthwhile, documenting and categorising questions is an extremely laborious task. However, there is good news for you. We have done the heavy lifting on your behalf! Taking it upon ourselves, we have trawled through countless examination papers and recorded every single type of question that has been tested. From 2017 to 2022, we have sorted and recorded, a little over 40 different grammar question types that schools in Singapore have tested their Primary 3 and 4 students. We have even noted down the frequency of which these question types get tested.
Our smart assessment approach is designed to complement Singapore's latest education reforms and support your child's development. Our approach accurately flags areas for improvement and suggests effective methods to correct those areas.
Think Teach Academy’s Primary Science Department presents to you an in-depth written analysis of the 2022 PSLE Science Paper. The analysis provides an overview of the question types being tested and highlight the more interesting questions that students found challenging. The analysis then proceeds to share the common pitfalls students would have made and how Think Teach Academy’s easy to apply techniques can be used to answer these questions.
Did you know? Although she is our Head of Chinese, Teacher Li Lin is as skilled in English as she is in Chinese. However, her love and passion for Chinese culture led her to pursue studies in Shanghai.
If your child’s in P4 this year, or you have a child in P5, you might find them struggling with the Assumption method in Math as it is the first heuristic skill they are exposed to. As such, we believe it is important for you to understand how this method works so that you can guide your child.
As with all educational systems, there were many changes over the years that have been made to ensure that the learning conditions are conducive to a student’s development. And for the first time in Singapore's education history, both primary and secondary school students will no longer sit for mid-year examinations this year.
Are you unhappy with the stream your child was posted to for secondary school? Fret not! There is always a chance for you to switch streams even in secondary school. We detail this, and more about adapting to secondary school in our newest blogpost.
We’re sure you’ve heard about the recent saga surrounding the way SEAB marks PSLE mathematics papers after a handful of students who usually score well for their school mathematics papers scored badly in the PSLE. We give our thoughts on this, analyse the PSLE mathematics paper, and offer you tips on helping your child to score all in our latest blogpost.
Recently, we received the most unexpected email. It was from the Korea Educational Broadcasting System or better known in short as EBS. Before we received this email, we did not know much about the EBS. But they seemed to know a lot about us. Our curiosity was no doubt piqued - why would a news outlet from South Korea contact us so suddenly and unexpectedly?
Has your child finished the PSLE and is about to choose their Secondary School? This important decision requires strategy, and knowledge about the new and revamped PSLE grading system based on Achievement levels, in order to choose the best and most suitable school for your child to learn in for the next 4-5 years. Dr Boon, our director here at Think Teach Academy, breaks this down and more in our newest blogpost.
Many can teach. But few can be teachers. Teacher Fiona is certainly one of the few.
Certain Chinese words have the same pronunciation, despite being completely different characters and of them may seem confusing. But fear not! As we will be breaking down and explaining some of these common Chinese homophones (同音字) to you today!
As many of you have already heard, or even experienced for yourself, Singapore’s education system is set to go through reforms in the coming years. Many debate the pros and cons of these reforms, and the speed of which they are impacting our children. With this upcoming change, are you and your child prepared to step into this new, uncertain future? Read our newest blog to understand how these reforms have, and will continue to impact your child for the years to come.
Natalie experienced a sudden drop in grades when she was promoted from Primary 4 to Primary 5. Hoping to bring her grades up again, her mother enrolled her in Think Teach Academy, where we analysed the mistakes she had made and how she could improve. Equipped with the right techniques, Natalie began to improve in her mathematics assessments. Find out more about Natalie’s story in our latest blog post.
A PhD student requires a high level of discipline and hard work to complete their studies. In Think Teach, we apply PhD standards to our PSLE approach, ensuring that our teachers are well updated and putting our curriculum through rigorous testing. In order to reach their fullest potential, our students are encouraged to think smart and study smart, much like a PhD student.
Is your child struggling to score for Chinese Comprehension Open Ended Questions? Find out how our student, Jun Kai, managed to improve leaps and bounds for his Chinese exam in our latest blogpost.
The MOE introduced the new PSLE Scoring System based on Achievement Levels instead of an aggregate T-score. One year on, we discuss if this new system has benefited our children and the new challenges that have been brought to the table. We present this exciting debate, and ways to overcome these new challenges all in our latest blogpost.
School Teachers Confirm That Editing Was Badly Done This Year. However, editing is not a difficult section and can be easily aced if approached in a systematic way. We are going to show you just what we mean.
We rack our brains on a daily basis to think of novel and ingenious ways to improve our Primary School Chinese programme. What this article is about is my personal sharing of the importance of Chinese in three areas of my past and present work, and how much I wish my Chinese was so much better than just “conversational.”
Parents often wonder if they should teach their children in advance with the PSLE Science Syllabus. The next concern is often how much they should kick start their child’s learning in advance.
Only a month is left between your child and the PSLE. How should you best prepare your child for the all-important exam? We give you tips and more in our most recent blogpost.
At Think Teach, we want our students to achieve more than just academic success. We want to see growth. We want our students to develop confidence, drive and an overall positive attitude to learning and life.
While I was not the first lawyer to leave the legal profession and most definitely would not be the last, I still always get asked why I chose to turn my back on a noble profession and a lucrative career and whether I had ever regretted my decision.
Our long-awaited September Holiday Programme is back and will take place from Monday, 5 September to Friday, 9 September. Equip your child with exam-acing techniques through our effective Primary 1 - 6 English, Mathematics, Science and Chinese programmes. In addition, with PSLE just right around the corner, we are also conducting Mock Examinations for all subjects for our Primary 6 students to gain confidence for PSLE.
Happy 57th Birthday Singapore!
Want to ensure that your child is well-prepared to tackle the PSLE? Join us at Think Teach Academy as we embark on our final PSLE revision in our weekly classes.
Ever felt it a struggle to get your child interested in learning? Read on to find out the tips we have curated for igniting academic interest in young students!
As mentioned in the previous 2 blog posts, each Chinese character has its own original tone, but when placed next to other characters, some of these original tones can change. This is commonly referred to as tone change （变调规则）.
How can you motivate your child to learn independently, and to be happy about their learning? We’re sure that as a parent, this is a big concern when it comes to preparing your child for the PSLE.
Every year without fail we notice parents flocking to POPULAR, searching for and emptying out the shelves of assessment books. The look in their eyes betrays the ardent hope they have that these books somehow contain the secret key that unlocks PSLE success.
As most of us would be familiar, there are 2 kinds of Situational Writing – one is Informal and another is Formal.
Looking at the past 3 years, there is simply no way to predict which type of Situational Writing the PSLE would test. Fortunately, we have come up with a technique that can be used to masterfully answer both Formal and Informal Situational Writing.
Does hearing that more than 20 Science topics will be tested in your child’s PSLE scare you? As parents, I am sure you always wonder how your child can score an AL 1 for Science. This always seems so impossible and daunting!
Sometimes, we argue and we wonder who the faster or more efficient worker is.
Bobby might say, “I took 2 and a half hours to build nine tools in Roblox!” while Billy might rebut with, “I took 1 hour and 15 minutes to build four tools in Roblox!”
To find out who the more efficient worker is, and to prevent them from getting into an argument, we simply use the Rate Table to make a comparison. In order to make a fair comparison, we need to make the “time taken” the same for both of them.
As mentioned in the previous blog post, each Chinese character has its own original tone, but when placed next to other characters, some of these original tones can change. This is commonly referred to as tone change （变调规则）. For a more detailed explanation, do check out our previous blog post!
Today, we will be explaining tone change for the word “一”.
Collective nouns are the names given to a group of people or things. Popular examples include ‘a swarm of bees’ and ‘a flock of birds’ while quirky and lesser known ones include ‘an embarrassment of pandas’ and ‘a memory of elephants.’
In this blogpost, we will be discussing the topic of Matter, taught at the P4 level. Within this topic, it is important to know:
- The 3 States of Matter
- The properties of the 3 States of Matter
If your child is great at following recipes, instruction manuals, and step-by-step guides, this before-after model-drawing question-type will be a piece of cake for them!
Each Chinese character has its own original tone, but when placed next to other characters, some of these original tones can change. This is commonly referred to as tone change （变调规则），which is context dependent in Mandarin.
Think Teach Academy’s June Holiday Programme 20222 will take place during the 4-week school holiday period (1 June to 22 June 2022). This year, in addition to our usual Primary 3 - 6 English, Mathematics, Science and Chinese programmes, we will also be offering Primary 1 - 2 Headstart Programmes.
In Primary School English, we usually draw up a table of 3 columns. These columns will be headed by 3 forms of a word: present tense form, past tense form and past participle form.
Do you find these 3 Chinese words confusing?
Today, we will be explaining the 3 Chinese words that are commonly misunderstood and misused by students especially during Chinese Composition, greatly affecting their language score!
Ever wondered if you are richer, or if your friend is richer? Who has more, and who has less?
Well, if you know that a certain fraction of your assets is equal to a certain fraction of your friend’s assets, you can simply equate the numerators to find out who the richer one is between the both of you!
Easy to pass, difficult to score. It's the section that separates the A from the A*s, or as we call it now, the AL1s from all the other Achievement Levels. In PSLE English, this all important component is called continuous writing. And it has long been a great foe to many a primary school tudent. But fret not, your Child can Score 40/40 for Continuous Writing with us!
This article post will cover the following:
2) Analysis of a school’s exam question
3) Introduce TTA Answering Techniques to tackle the school exam question with ease!
Today, we recommend students to use these 4 useful idioms to dazzle their way to top marks!
You either love it or you hate it. Yes, that’s right. We’re referring to the dreaded questions involving patterns.
This is a tricky topic as students might fail to see the pattern if they are put under pressure. Some students might not even have a framework in mind when they approach number pattern questions. Out of desperation, they resort to listing down every single step in a bid to derive an answer. Such a method is time-consuming and leaves much room for careless mistakes.
Would your child be able to work out the sum in a matter of minutes if the question is asking to complete the pattern for say, Figure 300? Fret not! We have broken down number pattern questions into two frequently tested question-types. Students simply have to figure out the difference in the pattern, and apply the box-and-arrow technique to get the answer. It is a handy tool that allows students to work out the pattern with as few steps as possible. Remember, the fewer the steps, the less room there is for error!
A common trend observed by teachers at Think Teach Academy is that many students have lost marks due to careless mistakes, which often also means that students end up with scores that are not an accurate reflection of their ability. Here are some of the techniques to reduce careless mistakes made for Math carried out by our teachers at Think Teach Academy.
Today, I would be discussing an examination question that tests on one of the most important processes of life - Photosynthesis!
In today’s blogpost, I would be discussing one of the most challenging “Experiment Type Question” that is often tested during examinations.
Today, I would be sharing with you a P5 question commonly tested on the topic of: Transport in Plants
We would be focusing on the topic of WATER CYCLE. This topic is heavily tested in examinations which is also related to the topic of Heat Energy. Unfortunately, many students are not able to tackle questions on water cycle accurately and are never awarded the full-marks.
We will be focusing on an Order of Operation question type that we see many students struggling with because they get confused with the many repeated numbers.
Over at Think Teach, we train our students to use fractions and ratio interchangeably and supplement their understanding with the ratio method.
Methods to solve the same Before Change After Question.
The above is a 5 step method, known as the Assumption Method, that can be used to solve such Guess and Check questions. The steps, Total, Extra, Difference/Sum, and Opposite, form the acronym TEDO, which we commonly use during our regular classes.
Many students have always found number pattern questions difficult to solve. Here at TTA, we have broken down all the number pattern questions that can ever come out for the PSLE into 3 different question types.
Word association is something you can also do to help your child improve their Spelling! The more grounded and logical your word association is, the better they can remember.
We are going to be looking at a tricky question type under Synthesis & Transformation. This question type appears under the topic of Word Class/Parts of Speech.
We are going to be helping your child understand the difference between ‘less’ and ‘lesser’, which appears under the topic of Quantifiers in their syllabus. This is not a mistake that students alone make. Many adults are also unaware that there is an actual difference between ‘less’ and ‘lesser’.
Word association is something you can also do to help your child improve their Spelling! The more grounded and logical your word association is, the better they can remember.
Language is 20 marks out of 40 marks for Continuous Writing. Hence, it is not just important to have good Content; your child needs to have a solid foundation in their Language as well.
We are going to be helping your child through some tricky Question Tag Grammar MCQs. Question Tags are those questions that have a positive part (+) and a negative part (-). Some of them can be quite tricky!
We are going to be sharing tips to do well for Synthesis and Transformation!
The Resolution paragraph is, arguably, the most important paragraph in the essay. Reason being, it is the last paragraph and so, it leaves a lasting impression on the examiner. Hence, students MUST impress with their Resolution paragraph.
