How To Prepare Your Child For PSLE

In Singapore, one of the major examinations that our children will take is the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE). Primary school is where your child learns the basics of every subject and where they can discover what they are interested in.

In Primary 1 and Primary 2, students are transitioning from kindergarten to regular classroom hours in school. Primary 3 & 4 is when they transition from using pencils to pens and are first introduced to the subject of science. Finally, Primary 5 and 6 is when your child starts preparing for PSLE more intensively.

The transition from Primary 4 to Primary 5 is crucial in your child’s preparation for PSLE. Primary 5 is when your child is first exposed to what they should expect in the PSLE. They will be introduces to new topics and concepts that are more challenging.

These sudden changes might put a lot of pressure on students who are not mentally prepared for this shift and will eventually struggle to keep up and lose interest in what is being taught in school.

Understanding some of the changes can help parents help their child transition.

New Concepts

In Primary 5, your child will be expected to learn more topics, new concepts which are more challenging. Across all subjects, they will be tested new questions that test their understanding and application of what they have learned.

Be Understanding

Your child’s grades might drop during the start of Primary 5. This is because it takes some time for your child to adapt to the new concepts, topics and types of questions that they are tested on.

Try to be understanding as they are still adapting to the new changes they are facing. In addition, refrain from adding more pressure to their plate by avoiding comparison to other students. Every child learns at a different pace.

Encourage

Constantly encourage your child to work hard and persevere through their examinations in Primary 5. Parent’s encouragement toward a child can help them to build their confidence and reduce the pressure that is on them. This will help them cope with the pressure during the PSLE exam as well. Help your child understand that he/she is not alone in their learning journey.

Provide Assistance

As the curriculum is always evolving, you might find it difficult to provide assistance to your child as you did when they were in lower primary. The questions that upper primary students do are of higher level and have specific methods to answer.

You might want to consider getting primary school tuition Singapore for your child if you find that they are struggling to adapt and you are unable to help.