The exam period can be a stressful time for you and your child. At the upper primary level, your child will be required to manage and tackle content from previous years of primary school.
With SA1 just around the corner, you may be looking for ways to ease the pressure your child is facing.
Focused Revision Is Smart Revision
"With the examinations coming so soon, I always emphasise to students the importance of practising skills, topics or concepts they will be tested on. If the exam involves solving word problems, you need to practise problem-solving; if the exam involves writing an essay, you need to work on composition writing."
— Ms Phua Kai Ying, Academic Director of The Learning Lab, Choa Chu Kang, Jem and Westgate
To better prepare your child for the upcoming SA1s, his or her revision should cover:
• a review of topical knowledge
• a review of exam skills
1. A Review Of Topical Knowledge
With more topics and concepts to cover at the upper primary level, ensure that your child include a quick review of important concepts from last year’s syllabus into his or her revision.
A large part of effective revision also includes reviewing past pieces of work or previous test papers — this includes corrections as well. Analysing past mistakes is a great way for your child to take note of areas to work on and to be more mindful about repeating similar errors.
Some of the common pitfalls upper primary students may encounter at the SA1s include:
| Common Pitfall | The Learning Lab Top Tip |
| English: Comprehension Open-Ended Failure to understand the passage |
Use headers and annotations to break down a long and difficult passage. Identify characters and sequence of events. |
| Math: Short-answer Questions Transfer error — filling in wrong values from the question |
Write the value of each variable in the question. Show number sentence and check that you have transferred the correct number before computing |
| Science: Free Response Questions Incomplete answer |
Revise past work to familiarise yourself with the phrasing or points needed for a complete answer |
It is important that your child has access to the right materials to engage in effective and targeted revision that allows him or her to consolidate the knowledge learnt thus far.
Download our series of SA1 revision guides which highlight a comprehensive list of subject-specific mistakes that upper primary students tend to make when tackling exam questions and detail how your child can avoid these common pitfalls.
2. A Review Of Exam Skills
Clue-sourcing and answer precision are two examples of key skills your child need to excel at the SA1s. Assess your child’s ability to apply what he or she has learnt by letting him or her try different types of questions from past year papers. Doing practice papers will help to familiarise your child with the examination formats and ensure that he or she is able to use his or her time effectively during the actual paper.
Related article: 8 Study Tips Every Student Needs To Know
Feel free to share these SA1 preparation tips and your own experience with fellow parents in the comments section below.
If you have any enquiries about our programmes, please email us at enquiry@thelearninglab.com.sg or call us at 6733 8711 and we will be happy to assist you.