Month: October 2021

The Maths Olympiad is a common term tossed around throughout math tuition in Singapore, but did you know there are two kinds of Maths Olympiads? While there is an International Maths Olympiad, there is also one tailored specially for students in Singapore – the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad. It is this prestigious competition that many students vie for a chance to participate in.

What is the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad?

Founded by the Singapore Mathematical Society, the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is an annual competition where students compete in different divisions to test their Secondary and Primary Maths ability. There are three different sections of the Olympiad, divided by age. Each section comprises two rounds, the first of which is usually held in late May or early June, and the second in late June or early July.

Junior Section

The junior section is geared at lower Secondary Maths students. The first round consists of five multiple-choice questions, each with five options, and twenty open-ended questions. Questions may come from topics in the lower Secondary syllabus, such as algebra, number theory, geometry, pattern recognition, and simple combinatorics. The second round is three hours long and consists of six essay questions. Students have to come up with detailed proof and formulae for each question, explaining their working process and findings.

Senior Section

The senior section is open to upper Secondary Maths students. Similar to the junior section, the first round of the senior section consists of five multiple-choice questions with five options each, and twenty open-ended questions. However, the scope of the topics tested is different, based on the upper syllabus. Students are expected to have a firm knowledge of probability, algebra, number theory, geometry, and combinatorics. Only the top scorers of the first round are invited to continue to the second round, which consists of a four-hour-long paper including five questions of varying difficulty. Since the participants are narrowed down in the second round, one can expect the competition to be much fiercer.

Open Section

The open section is meant for pre-university students. Unlike the junior and senior sections, the open section does not have any multiple-choice questions. Instead, the first round is made up of 25 open-ended questions, testing the topics of probability, algebra, number theory, geometry, combinatorics, and also occasional calculus. While the topics are similar to those in the senior section, the difficulty level is considerably higher. Just like the senior section, only the top scorers of the first round are invited to continue to the second round, where they will have to take a 4.5-hour-long paper of five essay questions. The six top scorers of the second round will then be selected to represent Singapore in the International Mathematical Olympiad.

How Can My Child Prepare For the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad?

The Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is not your regular exam. While a child may be doing well in their A-maths tuition in Singapore, they may not necessarily possess the skills required to do well in the Maths Olympiad. Usually, each school selects a number of top students to represent the school in the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad, providing them the training and material to master the problem-solving and answering skills required for the Olympiad. However, many students and parents alike worry if this is ample preparation for one of the fiercest mathematical competitions.

It can be difficult to prepare for the Maths Olympiad as there are no textbook answers like in the regular O-levels. That said, there are resources and past-year papers from the Olympiad that can help your child familiarise themselves with the answering format and required concepts. It is important to consider that if your child is in Secondary 1 or Secondary 3, they will be competing against students who are one level higher than them and thus have studied the syllabus for an additional year. As such, going through the school syllabus, even the topics they have not learnt yet, can help to put your child on par with their seniors.

Time management should also be a concern. In the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad, mastering the different types of questions is not enough – your child must also be capable of completing each paper within the time constraints. This makes it all the more important to practice so that your child will know each question like the back of their hand.

Does Math Tuition in Singapore Help My Child Score in Maths Olympiad?

Has your child been selected to represent their school in the Maths Olympiad? Congratulations! You may be wondering if it is necessary to start on A-math tuition in Singapore in preparation for this rigorous challenge.

Since the Olympiad syllabus and question format differs from the regular school syllabus, mastering the regular questions in Secondary and Primary Maths tuition may not be sufficient to prepare one for the Olympiad. While there are some tuition classes geared toward preparing students for the Maths Olympiad, we believe it is possible to achieve top scores as long as your child focuses on drilling themselves for the competition. Remember that the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad is intended to be difficult and challenging, so it is important not to get discouraged if a question proves too daunting. Hard work and perseverance is the key to success!

Deciding whether coding is right for your child can be a tricky matter, but by letting them learn to code, you’re giving them a head-start to a world full of opportunity and help them achieve their dreams. Here are 7 benefits why.

As a parent, you would want your kids to be able to succeed in life by having a great career and to be able to persevere in this wonderful yet complicated life on Earth. But how is success related to kids learning how to code? Experts suggest that getting kids enrolled to coding programmes at such a young age will help them think more logically and develop life-long skills such as problem-solving, visualisation, organisation, and even confidence. In fact, it’s a prime time for kids to absorb all kinds of information and they are smarter than you think.

This provides an edge to them in the long run when the world continues to evolve towards a more automated future. To understand more,  here are seven potential benefits of enrolling your child in a coding class in Singapore.

Technology today is so much more advanced than it was 20 years ago.

No discussion of our technological evolution would be complete without a nod to the ever-growing marvel that is the World Wide Web. And by teaching your kids about how technology used to be 20 years ago (and how it is today), they will have a better understanding of why we all need to care for the Internet. A coding class for kids will allow them to gain deeper insight into why technology should be nurtured with care, and how it will allow them to participate in a global economy.

Your kid will gain a vast amount of knowledge.

Our world is so interconnected that we can never really be far away from everything, from our friends, family, world events and even community issues. Getting your child enrolled in a coding programme will help them get a peek at some of the lesser-known (but very important) aspects of our community. You wouldn’t want your child to feel as if they are just another digital blob in the crowd. And getting them into the Coding Nation could prove to be the perfect way to inculcate the values of a “smart citizen”.

You’ll get them set for the future

I’m no psychologist but getting them into this learning programme at such an early age will help your kids to stay up-to-date with the latest trends, technology and future trends. The information will give them the confidence to tackle the real world and push for a career in technology. And Global Education is one of the best institutions that offer a coding class in Singapore.

It gives them exposure to a number of professions

You could point out that coding isn’t just about learning the language but it opens a pathway to endless careers that require IT knowledge. And that doesn’t include only programmers or software engineers, but also professional IT consultants, graphic designers, financial analysts, marketing specialists, and a lot more. As the demand for technology experts continue to grow, teaching your kids coding will only give them a better insight into what the future holds and what their aspirations will be.

It will help expand valuable skills such as logic, problem-solving, and organisational skills.

Getting them involved in coding classes will allow them to learn to solve their own problems and challenges. It will also help them to develop the habit of solving problems by thinking logically while getting them acquainted with problem-solving skills that are necessary for this modern age. It will be interesting to see how your kids would tackle the trickier task of solving a problem if given the flexibility to code it up in a different way. That will bring them closer to their target career, and give them better tools to help them grow in the future.

It could shape them into a conscientious and thoughtful citizen.

Computer science is the language of the future. But it also seems to be the language of today with more schools teaching the concepts of coding and helping kids be prepared for what’s ahead of them. As kids and teenagers continue to learn about the evolving nature of technology, it will also make them be more mindful of how impactful technology can play for society. This will help them gain a better understanding of how they can contribute to make our world a better place. In return, kids will foster a sense of empathy, teamwork and diplomacy as they get older.

Finally, it teaches them how to be resilient in the face of adversity.

Most believe that one of the most important lessons that we should teach children is how to deal with challenges and be more resilient when adversity is in the picture. One recommended option is to get them involved in the coding nation as it will offer them a sense of how to deal with any challenges thrown at their face. With experience and time, they will learn to handle their problems in a different manner and be more resilient. This will equip them with better coping skills to tackle life’s toughest situations.

Final Thoughts

As technology continues to disrupt, change and transform, kids need to have the skills and knowledge to cope with these changes. By allowing them to be exposed to coding, they will get a taste of what’s ahead in the world of technology and bring them into the 21st century. So it will be a win-win situation for all.

The importance of critical thinking skills has been gaining popularity over the past decade. Although formal education is beginning to promote critical thinking skills more extensively, for many of us, it has become more of a necessity in our everyday lives.

Kids should also develop these skills when learning English because it is an extremely useful tool for understanding the information more fluently and providing a way to evaluate sources and draw conclusions.

Having said that, this article will explore 7 important reasons why critical thinking skills can help your kid excel in primary and secondary English in Singapore. But before we get to that, you must first understand the meaning of critical thinking.

What are critical thinking skills?

Critical thinking is an important and useful skill that everyone must learn. And the best time to start is during school by engaging them in primary and secondary English. This is especially important because critical thinking isn’t limited to one field but it can be applied to anything we do and how increasingly useful it will be as we grow and learn.

Key areas that critical thinking skills should cover include reasoning, problem solving, critical analysis, exploration of alternative explanations, personal interpretation, and logical reasoning. At some point of time, everyone has got to think critically and it’s always best to teach kids how to think critically from an academic perspective like primary English and secondary English.

7 Important Reasons Why Critical Thinking Skills Is Important?

#1 Critical thinking skills are imperative for English language learners.

As a subject, English is an important language for kids to learn but one of the key reasons why some kids struggle with the subject is because they are unable to think critically or interpret from what they have read, heard or observed.

As teachers, they will need to infuse this skill trait into young learners so that they can think for themselves and derive meaning from it. This is one of the reasons why critical thinking skills are crucial for English language learners.

#2 Critical thinking skills help your kid understand the context and write better

How your kid writes or puts their writing through critical thinking skills can make a huge difference on how well they understand the material, in return, also help them to write better and clearer.

We can’t expect kids to master this skill right away but once they do, they will be able to summarize an argument accurately, locate the thesis of an argument, and provide evidence to support their thesis. This is the critical thinking skills that we want our kids to learn at an early stage and the better they get at it, the more they’ll learn to apply it to the rest of their life.

#3 Increased ability to synthesize and translate information

When kids read a book, they must learn how to  analyse the language, the vocabulary, and the sentence structure. That way, they will be able to make sense of the information and interpret them more clearly. Without a strong understanding, they would often sidetrack and have a difficult time understanding or comprehending the context.

Here, we can encourage young kids to read more on any book they love reading and justify them in their own sense. That way, the kids will become well-informed and confident readers and thinkers.

#4 Critical thinking skills aid critical reading and writing skills

Students and teachers alike agree that critical reading and writing skills are a good place to start when it comes to learning critical thinking skills. Critical reading and critical writing skills help us understand a book, article or an idea in a different way.

Critical thinking skills teach students to use their critical thinking skills to understand and evaluate text and literature. Critical thinking skills help us understand the stories and the subjects in a text, the way it was written and how it was arranged.

When kids get the ability to analyze texts better, they can develop greater comprehension, and deeper critical thinking skills. This way, they will be able to better identify themes in literature and choose appropriate texts for the student’s learning.

#5 Improved vocabulary skills

Sound reasoning and clear analysis of a text is the mark of a successful reader, a skill critical for success in reading and writing.

Yes, more than a language, language skills are a crucial component in a student’s daily learning process. And learning the ability to interpret the text is one of the key components of reading and writing that help children learn to read and write better.

#6 Increased ability to focus and evaluate English literature

Having great knowledge about what we read and why we read it helps us to understand more complex and interesting ideas. Reading great works of literature and understanding the context is critical for students to be able to write well and understand complex ideas. Thus, it is crucial that parents encourage reading of literature and encouraging kids to understand the culture and context of the world.

#7 Changes their point of view

By spending time reading and learning how to interpret the meaning in a text, kids would become very well versed in the subject and take a different perspective to whatever topic they are studying.

When it comes to applying this skill to something they are passionate about, it can even change their whole outlook on the world. It can help them develop a keen insight into how things work and what it means to live in the world.

Critical thinking is important in order to understand the world around us. It is important to be able to interpret and understand things by studying the details and context in every issue, from economics, politics, medicine, sociology and more.

Conclusion

These are some of the most relevant reasons as to why critical thinking skills are important in reading and writing during primary English and secondary English. The same skills can be applied to subjects like science and mathematics. Children should not be dependent on adults to tell them what is a fact or a lie. They should be able to identify the facts in books and determine the validity of certain claims. This will make them become better researchers, creative thinkers and analytical writers.