With a score of 190 for psle .. which will u opt for? Express stream for a not so ideal sch or Normal Academic for a better school?

Speaking from experience. I scored 189 during my PSLE and I had the chance to choose express or NA stream. I opted for express and landed myself in a sec school which people regard it as the worst in that neighborhood. But I still made it to JC and uni. There will still be good teachers who are passionate about teaching in every school. Regardless of which school, there are also good and bad students. So it depends very much on the individual whether he or she is easily influenced by peers. Back during my time, NA does not offer subjects like A Maths which is really helpful when the student enters tertiary level. So it can be a struggle. Not sure it is the same now but this is something to consider. :)

With e score, i will go for NA. I believe u know whr ur child's standard is. Itz not so much abt how gd e sch is but how ur child is gonna cope when he enters sec1. In a so called gd sch, there is bound to be stress. I'm a tutor & hv heard many cases whr students r very stressed up. I hope that parents will go for wad is best for e child & not let our child enter a sch or stream based on our expectations. Every sch teaches e right values & morals and every sch has gd teachers. By the way, parents r supposed to teach their child morals & values, and not juz depend on e sch to teach all these. Teachers hv their jobs to do which is to teach well. Tis is a teacher's job which parents muz truly understand.

There is really no significant difference btn 190 and 200 which is the usually express stream score. I think I would ask my child which he/she prefers. There are other factors like distance from home, cca available, opportunities available and where friends are going. I dun think he will struggle much in express or normal acad. if u do choose to go na, some schools have the policy of upgrading to express if u score 70% or something like that for average at the EOY exams. I would go express and not waste the additional year. The gap from N level and O level is a bit big and some pple find it hard to bridge the gap due to different style of testing

I agree with Anonymous above. I was one of those who had the option to go to Express and Normal Academic, and at the advice of the principal, I went to Express. I was glad I did that because I went on to improve and topped the class. In fact, later on I had another similar situation - to choose between JC and polytechnic. I chose polytechnic and till now, I regretted my choice. I now strongly believe in going for the best education to the best of your ability.

I say normal academic. As a once NA student, I honestly preferred this route although we often get judged as being useless/dumb, it doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Rather how willing you are to work hard for your goals. I have classmates who went to poly and are currently in NUS, so my point is, it’s okay to take the longer route as being in NA is not the end of the world. In the end, it’s not how well you start, it’s how well you end

I scored 191. I remember I forged my mum's signature so that I could go to NA. After she found out, she was furious. Went to the principal to explain n got me into Express. Her wish came true for one year only. Second year I went back to NA. I feel it's better to speak to your child n understand what he/she needs. Eventually if your child is resistance to go Express, don't force as it might not turn out the way you wanted.

Don't mean to sound rude but you could check with the Form Tr whether 190 is based on your child's usual ability, hard work or luck. If happened to be lucky or have to work super hard, then you should opt for NA as he/she may not cope at Exp. If your child can do better than 190, can consider taking Exp. Howver if the sch environment is very important to you, can always take NA first then try to get into Exp later.

I will discuss with my kid about the 2 choices and see what he/she feels. Weigh the different options together. Ideally I would choose express stream, even if the school is not ideal, I think that teachers are what matters. NA for a better school might cause my child unnecessary stress too.

Ill definetly stick with NA for a better school. School is not just about academics. It also teaches morals, values, principles, social surrounding. Your child will be in school at least half the day, it would be his second home. Do i make sense? My thoughts

I would opt for express stream as I would not want to waste one year and get my child lots of tuition and possibly quit my job to personally tutor Hin or her for sec 1