How to revise for your PSLE Math exam? Is there a best way to do it? What should I study?
Let’s answer these questions and share some PSLE Math preparation tips to help you out.
What’s the best way to prepare for the PSLE Maths exam?
If you are looking for a one-size-fits-all sure-win method, there isn’t one. What works for one child may not be as effective for another.
In order to prepare for PSLE successfully, you need to understand your child’s abilities and the amount of time they have before their exams.
It always pays to start preparation early with a solid revision plan.
Why is it important to start early?
PSLE is a 2-year course. This means that your child will need to be very familiar with the concepts that are taught in Primary 5 and Primary 6.
Since the PSLE exam is also a consolidation of what your child has learnt over their 6 years of primary school, don’t be surprised to questions from Primary 3 and 4 appearing as well.
Starting PSLE preparation early will ensure that your child has ample time to go through all these materials and brush up on what they have missed. Most importantly, having more revision time would also help to reduce the amount of stress you and your child face as opposed to last minute revision.
How early should you prepare for PSLE?
The best time to start is the beginning or middle of the year in Primary 5.
If your child is already quite strong in mathematics, starting PSLE preparation is simple. Doing consistent practice everyday and keeping up with what is taught in school is the key.
Some cases your child needs more time to adapt to the demands of Primary 5. Feel free afford half a years’ time for them to settle down and gain confidence.
How to plan a PSLE revision timetable?
There is no point creating a PSLE study plan according to what you want.
You NEED to get your child involved.
To ensure that your child is more willing to follow through your plan, discuss what they think is a reasonable amount of time to spend on studying and play and try to reach a compromise.
To guide you along, here’s what your study plan should include:
- Targeted Maths PSLE score
- Targeted score to hit for each Maths exam
- Amount of revision / topic to cover in a time period
Get them to write it down on a piece of paper. Keep track of their progress as they are doing their revision throughout the year.
If you need help on goal setting, check out this post here.
5 Tips for PSLE Math revision
1. Understand Your Child’s Current Math Level
The first, and most important, tip that we have for you is to know where your child is currently standing.
To get the most effective kind of revision, you need to know your child’s proficiency levels in the various Maths topics. Being aware of how big the learning gaps are helps you plan out the time and effort they’ll need.
You can either do this by keeping track of your child’s practice manually or use a tool like Practicle that helps you monitor their Math proficiency automatically.
2. PSLE Math: Focus on the Right Areas
You only have so much time to work with and you wouldn’t want to drown your child in a pile of unnecessary practices on top of their workload. That’s why it is important to make sure that any Math practice that they are doing for revision is targeted to their needs.
Focusing on the right areas ensures that your child spends a balanced amount of time strengthening their foundation. This is a much better approach to helping them improve. Rather than demanding them to be equally good in all areas which might led to unneeded stress.
In order to achieve this manually, you’ll need to have a nice blend of resources. Ranging from the usual Math assessment books to top school papers and use them as needed.
3. Ensure Regular Practice
When it comes to Math, practice really does make it perfect.
Build momentum by getting your child to practice daily. If you were able to do Step 1 and Step 2 right, your child will gain so much more despite the short amount of time since the practice they are doing is targeted to help them.
Consistent practice will also increase your child’s familiarity with numbers. Helping them to improve their accuracy and speed over time.
To do this, discuss with your child and come up with a working schedule to help them get into the habit of daily Math practice.
4. Teach Time Management
To save your child from the situation of running out of time during the PSLE Math exam, you need to teach them how to manage time effectively when they are doing their usual Math revision. Guide your child on how to divide their time amongst the different kinds of Math problems.
As a start, you can make sure they stick to it with the help of a timer during their practice and then slowly transiting to a clock.
5. Look out for Common Mistakes
As you are practising the problems to revise for PSLE Maths, make it a point to review your child’s mistakes and make them reflect on them. Helping your child be aware of the mistakes they tend to make will increase their sensitivity. Leading to preventing making similar mistakes in future.
One simple way to do this can be to keep a notebook of the usual mistakes that your child makes in their practices and review them on a regular basis.
Conclusion
After reading this post, we hope you now have a better idea about how to go about revising for PSLE Maths. All the best for your upcoming PSLEs!