Here are some suggestions as to how to help a child minimise careless mistakes in PSLE Science exams.

1) Sufficient sleep = Mental alertless.

2) Lower anxiety, don't panic.

3) Don't rush. Stay calm. Unlike in math exams, usually students are not so hardpressed for time in science exams.

4) READ Every word in the question. Many students have the habit of seeing the diagram and not reading the stem of the question. Basically, if you don』t know the problem, how are you going to solve it? Teach the child to use a ruler to place under each line of words. Read every word in every line.

5) Students must HIGHLIGHT (underlining or using colouring pencil is a far cheaper option) usually one or two key points in the question. Often, kids simply cannot tell what is important. Given a highlighter, they highlight almost everything. If this is the case, confiscate the highlighter. Its a waste of money.

6) Examples of what to highlight include:

-> Aim

-> Differences in the diagram (e.g. in a control and experimental setup)

-> The variables changed or kept constant in an experiment

-> Negatives like 「False」 or 「Not」

-> Words like 「other than」, 「based only on the diagram above」

-> Sweeping statements are usually wrong. Highlight warning words like 「all」 「never」 「always」 「none」. e.g. 「All plant cells have chloroplast」. 「All mammals give birth」. Both of which are false statements.

-> Units

-> Other keywords

-> In electricity questions, the pathway of the electric current.

-> In web of life questions, use different colours for different food chains to count.

-> In forces, note 「Extension of spring」 or 「Length of spring」

-> "dark」 in photosynthesis questions

7) Do lots of writing for MCQ on the Question paper.

-> Tick and cross options.

-> Writing T or F.

-> Thought processes should be recorded quickly in pencil (e.g. key concepts, keywords, equations, diagrams). Descriptions should be sketched into a diagram. It does not have to be neat. (Sometimes just writing a respiration or photosynthesis equation or drawing a quick sketch of the circulatory system or water cycle can help clarify the child’s mind, but they are over-confident that they know it so well or they think its too much effort to draw it out. With practice, these bits of information only take less than 10 seconds to sketch out and could in reality save them quite a few marks.)

8) There's no glory in doing things mentally. I hate it when people tell me they did things in their heads. That’s not smart. Not for Science exams anyway. Doing things only in your head opens up the floodgate of careless mistakes. I tell my students that if they didn』t write it down, it means they haven』t bothered to analyse the question properly. It may seem time consuming at first but it gets faster with practice. Not everything is important to pen down. With practice they get the idea of which type of questions need 「working」. This often this helps reduce errors.

9) If possible, know the answer and write it down (in short point form) BEFORE looking at the options. Why before? Because options are often (though not always) written in a way to trick the students.

10) If you don』t know the answer, then eliminate options. If you still don』t know, circle the question, take a stab in the dark and shade a guess first and come back to it later when the paper is completed. (If you really don』t know, and cannot even form a hypothesis (educated guess) don』t keep changing answers, your first gutfeel is probably your best bet.)

11) Shade the optical answer sheet as you do the paper. Not after finishing.

12) In Section B (Short Answer), it is VERY important to reread all the answers if time permits. Especially, those 2 to 4 mark paragraph type answers. Often in their haste, students can slip up and even write 「gain heat」 instead of 「lose heat」 「conductor」 instead of 「insulator」 due to carelessness. When asked the same question outside of an exam situation, they show full understanding. Its just mental fatique in the exam that causes slip ups. Giving the mind a break and then re-reading answers will hopefully alert a student to such slip ups. (Even as adults, we have to write and rewrite drafts, all the more children, though time may not permit.)

13) If there is time for checking, check! If you first did the MCQ question by choosing the correct option, try redoing the question by eliminating options. Try to solve questions in a different way. Work backwards. If necessary, integrate knowledge from different topics. This sytem of double checks is important.

Able to Score A* in Math and Very careless in Science?

There are some students who can score up 98% and above regularly in math but tend to make alot of careless mistakes in Science. How can this be? Some children are used to working well with speed and numeral accuracy. However, in Science, some questions alone can be long (Question, not answer space). Much detailed analysis of the paragraphs and diagrams has to be done. Every word must be read.

For example, in a photosynthesis and respiration question below, if the child reads too fast and misses out the word 「dark」 which is only mentioned once, then there is no way they can get the answer right for that question.

In addition, verbal accuracy is different from numerical accuracy. In Section B, students must be very precise in their answers, provide complete explanations and yet answer to the point. Its not about writing alot. Its about being able to give a precise account using key science concepts.

Students often speak informally using words in a lose way. But this is not acceptable for science.

E.g. In science when asked about

a) heat you cannot answer in terms of temperature,

b) mass you cannot say the weight changed.

c) water’s properties you cannot say it is white, rather it is colourless, odourless.

d) Clouds you cannot say its a gas, they are liquids (tiny water droplets).

e) Steam from a kettle you cannot say it is a cloud of steam rather an invisible gas.

f) Results you cannot interchange the words Accurate and Precise. They are not the same.

Also consider the following answers:

Which is a better answer to the question : What is the role of the chloroplast in a cell?

a) To make food for the plant.

b) To trap light and so carry out photosynthesis.

c) It contains chlorophyll, which traps light so that the plant cell can carry out photosynthesis and make food.

Which is a better answer regarding respiration and photosynthesis of a plant?

a) In the day, plants produce oxygen during photosynthesis. At night they produce carbon dioxide during respiration.

b) Plants produce oxygen in the presence of light because the rate of photosynthesis is faster than the rate of respiration. In the dark, plants do not photosynthesise but only respire, so carbon dioxide is produced.

A child who can process numbers very quickly and accurately may also understand science well, but it does not mean that he or she can provide an explanation to a science concept with sufficient depth and accuracy with the key words to score the full marks. If for most of section B, the child cannot score the full 2/2, then the chances are they would get twenty someting out of forty.

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