Pros & Cons of no SA1 for P3/P5 Students

Dear Parents,

Now that P3/P5 children need not take the SA1 examinations, some parents are more relief after all it is one less exam to prepare for. On the other hand, others are worried and MORE stressed over the SA1 removal citing the lack of checkpoint mid-year being a key concern. What are your thoughts?

Yes to “No SA1”

Less exam allows more time to learn
Less stress from the limited time given to prepare for mid-year exam
Unaffected morale since No SA1 = No Good / Bad results to grade the child

Concerns to “No SA1”

One less checkpoint to identify and rectify any learning gaps early
Less visibility of progress ascertained through a benchmark
Compressed time to review, revise and recap a whole year’s syllabus with learning gaps only to be identified close to the SA2

The benefit of removing SA1 examination appeared more emotive, giving comfort and less tension in the short term. It does however compromise on one’s insight to a child’s state of progress in the soonest possible time for appropriate actions to be taken before the gaps get bigger by the year-end exam. After all, ample time is needed to address, strengthen, and improve on the child’s weaknesses well before the promotional SA2 exam. Removing the SA1 is technically eliminating the process of monitoring your P3/P5 child’s progress through a benchmarking platform that has worked well over the years. Also, a one-exam-a-year system disregards the higher anxiety that will occur from the lack of experiences and mental preparation needed to perform under exam-stressed condition.

The key to a child’s effective learning is constant monitoring of progress along with the discipline to address the gaps regularly. Oodles Learning do so in the form of monthly reviews and term assessments that are taken across all 11 centres. Through these assessments, our students will know their strengths and gaps as well as how they perform when benchmarked against their peers from more than 80 primary schools across the 11 centres, island-wide.

Our decade of teaching experience has seen students performing better when they are prepared mentally through these simulated exams and assessments. It is tested-and-proven that having regular checkpoints in place is critical for our students’ progress and performance.

If you are now thinking about where and how to status check your child’s progress without the SA1, we have good news for you!

For the first time, onSponge is offering the Term Assessments to the public! Known as the onSponge Syllabus Readiness Checkpoint (SRC), today you can sign your P3 or P5 child for the assessment for him to be benchmarked against our 11 Oodles Learning centre students from more than 80 Primary Schools in Singapore! Happening only during this period and limited to 10 students per assessment sign up today to secure a slot.

Till our next email!

Yours Sincerely,
The onSponge Team

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