Significance of PSLE Chinese
Performing well in Chinese exams for your child is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, Chinese is the first language of many Singaporeans, and it is essential for communication and cultural heritage ties with the older generation and our grandparents who grew up in Chinese-speaking communities. With a growing emphasis on billingualism, Chinese language is also becoming more important in education. More importantly, Chinese is a compulsory subject in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE), a high–stakes national examination in Singapore that all students take to move on to secondary school.
PSLE Chinese Weightage
With equal weightage between the 4 subjects in PSLE, students will now need to make sure they do well in every subject in order to avoid having their score being pulled down by one weak subject. Good grades in the PSLE Chinese Exam can open more opportunities for students at secondary school and beyond. Hence, one should start preparing for the PSLE Chinese as early as possible. These tips can also be applied to those who are not taking the PSLE this year but wishes to improve their Chinese.
The PSLE Chinese Weightage for the exam is divided into four papers:
Paper 1 (Composition Writing) - 20% of PSLE Chinese Paper
Paper 2 (Language Use and Comprehension) - 45% of PSLE Chinese Paper
Paper 3 (Listening Comprehension) - 10% of PSLE Chinese Paper
Paper 4 (Chinese Oral) - 25% of PSLE Chinese Paper
Check Out our PSLE Chinese in-depth Guide
10 Tips for Achieving Success in the PSLE Chinese Exam
1. Setting a Benchmark For The PSLE Chinese Paper
The very first step of every game plan is to establish a benchmark. Hence, for your child, this would mean having a reference point to reflect his/her current proficiency level in the Chinese language in preparation for the PSLE Chinese paper.
2. Setting an Achievable PSLE Chinese Goal
Setting an achievable goal is another crucial step to achieve your child’s desired grades in the PSLE Chinese paper. It involves defining a realistic and measurable target that aligns with your child’s current proficiency level and desired outcomes. An achievable goal should also consider the complexity of the PSLE Chinese exam, the time available for preparation, and your child’s individual learning capabilities. This goal-setting process helps students stay focused, motivated, and committed to their studies. An example of such a target would be “To improve from an AL6 grade to AL 3 in 6 months by learning 20 new Chinese characters daily and completing weekly Chinese assessments”.
3. PSLE Chinese Revision Game Plan
Planning a revision game plan provides a clear roadmap for checkpoints on your child’s efforts, making it more likely that they will achieve their desired results in the PSLE Chinese examination. Taking the example above, improving from an AL 6 to AL 3 grade is not an easy feat, and should be broken down into smaller goals to incorporate into the schedule. This involves clearly defining what needs to be done to achieve the next check point. Below are some tips and tricks to improve on your child’s weaknesses to achieve this.
4. Incorporate Chinese into Everyday Life (日常生活)
Performing well in the PSLE Chinese Papers is a marathon, not a sprint. An immersive Chinese environment is needed for your child to be consistent with the Chinese Language via daily practice of the language. As the PSLE Chinese Papers include not only reading and writing, but also listening and oral, daily exposure to the Chinese language in your child’s everyday life is essential to doing well in all 4 components. One way you may help your child to integrate Chinese into their daily lives is by making an effort to speaking proper Chinese at home. Other leisure activities such as watching Chinese TV shows together and reading Chinese storybooks will help immensely as well.
There are also a number of online resources and apps that can help children to learn Chinese in a fun and engaging way. LingoAce has a fun and educational series called Word Whiz, whereby participants must solve various Mandarin Chinese language puzzles and defeat Dr. Jiang at her own game to escape the Slime lab. Watch the engaging series together with your child to learn some fun facts, words and idioms from LingoAce’s very own Teacher Roi!
Check Out our LingoAce Word Whiz Series With MediaCorp!
5. Building a Strong Foundation in Chinese Vocabulary
With a large percentage of the PSLE Chinese paper focusing on the reading and writing aspects of the Chinese language (Paper 1 and Paper 2), having a solid vocabulary in Chinese vocabulary is essential to doing well in the PSLE Chinese paper. To do so, regular revision of Chinese vocabulary can be very helpful in reinforcing your child’s memory. Generally speaking, Chinese vocabulary can be classified into two broad categories: 1. 识读字 - These are Chinese characters that your child would need to recognise and understand the meaning of.
2. 识写字 - These are Chinese characters that your child would need to be able to not only recognise and understand, but also write.
You may refer to the primary school vocabulary character list (小学华文生字表) that is aligned to Ministry of Education (MOE’s) 《欢乐伙伴》curriculum to help your child hit checkpoints in terms of their Chinese revision. Download Your vocab List Now!
6. Regular Chinese Revision and Practice
The key to doing well in language examinations lies in the combination of both retention and application.
Firstly, retention, as with all examinations, Chinese revision should be done on a regular basis to better retain knowledge through spaced repetition. As a baseline, your child should be mastering the primary school vocabulary character list as it is an essential component of the Chinese PSLE paper. As Parents, you can help your children by creating a regular revision schedule of at least twice a week to follow.
Secondly, your child may apply what they have learned by finding practice materials, such as assignments, mock tests and more. This should be accompanied by regular personalised reviews of their work to understand their mistakes, which will be helpful in helping your child improve to achieve their desired grade.
By assessing their strengths and weaknesses, students can determine where they need to improve and set specific objectives accordingly. LingoAce’s Comprehensive assessment system is able to customise the most suitable learning plan for your child by showing regular lesson and unit learning progress reports to identify your child’s strength’s and weaknesses.
7. Practicing Chinese Mock Test
Past year PSLE Chinese papers and mock tests are a great way for students to practice for the PSLE Chinese exam. With the removal of mid-year exams from 2023 onwards, it is even more important for students should try to complete as many past year papers and mock tests as possible to allow your child to assess their knowledge and readiness for upcoming exams. The benefits of the Chinese Mock tests includes: 1. Familiarity with the examination format
By having prior exposure to the format of the real PSLE Chinese exam, your child will have an increased level of confidence in the actual examination as they know what to expect.
2. Test taking strategies – Time management
Students should learn how to manage their time effectively during the exam and how to answer different types of questions. Mock tests often come with strict time limits which allows students to learn how to pace themselves during the PSLE Chinese examination to ensure all questions are answered within the allocated time.
3. Building good habits
Careless errors such as misreading questions, omitting answers and more are common mistakes that students often make that cause them to lose precious marks. By making sure that a good habit of always checking their work is built during Chinese mock-tests, your child will be much more equipped to get a better score in the PSLE Chinese Examination!
4. Identify weak areas
Mock tests also highlight a student’s strengths and weaknesses. By reviewing the mock test together with a teacher, your child can identify which areas they need improvement on to focus their study efforts accordingly.
5. Adaptability
By incorporating regular assessments and Mock tests at crucial checkpoints in your child’s study game plan, one can better gauge their progress to make the necessary adjustments to the study plan.
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8. Mastering high-yield Chinese Exam Component (Choose your battle wisely)
With so many different components that makes up the PSLE Chinese Examination, one way to ensure a good score is for your child to focus on mastering the highest weightage segments by focusing on areas that plays to their strengths and are easy to score.
Chinese comprehension is one of the most important components of the PSLE Chinese exam with the biggest weightage in paper 2. With sufficient practice in reading and understanding Chinese passages, one can master the technique to answer comprehension questions.
A tip to quickly comprehend a Chinese passage is to underline the keywords in the passage that answers the – Who, When, What, Why and How.
9. Chinese Exam Cheat Sheet For Last Minute Revision
The creation of a cheat sheet might be a useful tool for last-minute revision during the last stretch of PSLE Chinese exam preparation. This cheat sheet is a shortened version of the major details, terms, and points to note that your child has been learning over the past few months. The day before the big test, it offers a quick and simple reference for them to review important information. For example, a Paper 1 Chinese Composition cheat sheet can consist of the various opening and ending techniques as well as good idioms and phrases to use.
10. Ensure Sufficient Rest
After months of revision and preparation, your child should be more than prepared to tackle to PSLE Chinese Examination. Prior to every Chinese paper, ensuring that your child gets enough rest the night before is paramount. Getting enough sleep is important for cognitive function and memory consolidation, which plays a big part in every examination. The brain analyzes and consolidates the knowledge acquired during the day only during deep, restorative sleep. This indicates that a child who gets enough sleep is better prepared to take on the difficult PSLE Chinese paper. Lack of sleep can result in increased stress and impaired focus, which are the last things a student wants before such a crucial exam.
Bonus: Attitude & Parents Expectations
With all said and done, your child’s attitude towards the PSLE Chinese Examination plays the most pivotal role in their success. However, as parents, your role in this is especially important. Being parents, you would most definitely want the best for your kids and tend to have high hopes and expectations. However, this can lead to undue pressure on your child should a balance not be struck. There is a need to balance your own expectations and being able to provide a supportive atmosphere to develop the right attitude for your child towards their own studies. Rather than fixating on a specific PSLE Chinese grade, focusing on the journey of learning and improvement will often yield better results for you and your child.
Conclusion
By following these tips, parents and students can help to ensure that students perform well in the PSLE Chinese exam. It is important to remember that success in the PSLE Chinese exam requires intentional planning and the execution of regular revision and practice. Best of luck to you and your child! Remember, having a productive and enjoyable learning experience often yields the best results!
If you are looking to help your child succeed in the PSLE Chinese exam, please visit our website or contact us for a free trial class! We offer a variety of programs and services to help students of all levels to improve their Chinese language skills.
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