“Just like all PSLE parents, my husband and I were anxious about our son’s PSLE preparation. We enrolled our eldest son into The Learning Lab to give him as much support as we could in the lead-up to his PSLE." 

- Zoe Tay, Mediacorp Artiste

The Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) is the first major exam in your child's academic journey. Like all parents, you want your child to do well in his or her studies and eventually achieve excellent results in the PSLE. 

As you and your child prepare for the PSLE, we know you may be feeling anxious. You may even find yourself asking: How can I help my child prepare for the PSLE? Does he or she need more help with revision? Is my child stressed out?

We are here to extend our encouragement and support.

According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), when it comes to PSLE preparation,

• 71% of parents found helping their child with numerous tests and exams stressful
• 60% were anxious about helping their child with the challenging syllabus
• 50% of the parents were concerned their child could not keep up with work or achieve desired grades. 

Mediacorp artiste Zoe Tay's children have been taking enrichment classes at The Learning Lab since 2017. Her three sons, who are currently in Primary 5, Secondary 2 and Secondary 4 respectively, have been through the same academic journey as the rest of our learners. Together with TLL, she kickstarted her eldest son's PSLE journey in 2017, and her second son's PSLE journey in 2019. Find out more about how Zoe Tay's experience was like.

From One TLL Mum To Another: A Journey Towards PSLE Excellence

Here, Zoe Tay shares 5 useful tips all parents should know on how you can help your child prepare for the PSLE effectively. 

TLL: Back in 2017, when you were a first-time PSLE parent, what were some of your concerns going into the PSLE year with your eldest son?

ZT: As first-time PSLE parents, we were unsure how to give our eldest son the best support. We did not know what to expect, except from what we heard from friends whose children have already finished the PSLE.

We wanted him to have good academic support to help him score well for the PSLE. Also, we were concerned whether he could manage the amount of revision leading up to PSLE — we were worried that he wouldn’t be able to balance revision and learning new p6 topics.

For his exams, we wanted him to be able to answer questions properly and accurately, instead of just repeating facts or information.

TLL: Having gone through the PSLE twice with your two sons, what are some tips you would like to share with other first-time parents?

ZT:  1. Plan A Revision Timetable For Your Child

We find that when there is a schedule, revision is easier to manage. We wanted to make sure that our sons had time to relax and were not studying all the time. Also, we wanted them to be sure that they didn’t focus too much on one subject over the other. So we set a revision plan based on the exam dates and on how much time they needed to revise each subject well.

2. Discuss Your Child's Priorities And Set Specific Goals

As parents, we always want the best for them (our kids). Our sons can be quite mature in the way they think so we did spend time talking to each of them about what they want to achieve and about how they could go about achieving their goals. We wanted to make sure that our sons do not put too much pressure on themselves and that their goals were realistic.

3. Identify Areas Of Strength And Weakness For Each Subject

We looked through our sons' past work and identified some areas for them to work on. We also used the constant feedback from their TLL teachers to help us understand which components of each subject’s exam paper would be their unique ”hurdles” and used their advice to help our two sons plan how to overcome them. Their teachers also pointed out some of their strong areas so we knew they could spend less time focusing on those. Having a clear revision focus helped them a lot in structuring their revision!

4. Choose A Strong Education Partner

Just like all PSLE parents, my husband and I were anxious about our sons' PSLE preparation. We enrolled our three sons into The Learning Lab’s English, Maths and Science programmes to give them as much support as we could in the lead up to their PSLE.

Having an education partner who is trustworthy and can deliver results is important. Signing our sons up with TLL was one of the best decisions we made for them for their PSLE journey. It was a perfect fit for all three of them and it was a perfect fit for us as parents too.

The materials are excellent while the teachers are caring and regularly update us on our children's progress. Our sons love the lessons and we have seen firsthand how TLL's lessons have helped them improve on their areas of weakness and instilled in them deep topical knowledge and critical skills.

5. Provide Your Child the Necessary Emotional and Psychological Support

As working parents, we do not get as much time to talk to our sons as we want. However, during the PSLE, we made it a priority to talk to them about how they felt and if they were stressed. We listened to what they wanted: more academic help with some subjects, so we took on more subjects with TLL - they really do enjoy them. We also told them that we support them and are proud of them for their hard work.

TLL: For a parent, how important is enrolling your child into tuition/enrichment in the PSLE year? How have the TLL programmes helped your sons in the lead-up to the PSLE?

ZT: The Learning Lab Primary 6 programmes map out a clear plan to guide P6 students towards PSLE excellence. They placed a strong emphasis on helping my sons consolidate knowledge and apply exam-centric skills.

Our sons, just like other Primary 6 students, faced the challenge of having to review all the work from past years whilst learning new topics to prepare for the PSLE. Having dedicated teachers to break down such a vast amount of content and hone key techniques in them was thus crucial.

TLL: Which aspect of TLL programmes was most useful for your sons?

ZT: Learning how to answer questions with specific methods was good. It helped them write answers that don’t leave out main points, so they won’t lose marks unnecessarily. They told us that the notes they received in class were very useful as a revision tool, so that really helped with their PSLE preparation. Being in a small class environment also helped them as they got enough individual attention from the teacher and being with peers on the same PSLE journey also helped to motivate them to keep working hard.

TLL: How did having TLL help you as a parent during your sons' PSLE journey?

ZT: The constant feedback from teachers was very useful because we always knew what was going on throughout the terms and we could see how much more needed to be done. Knowing that our sons were going for lessons that they enjoyed and learning worksheets and materials that they found useful for PSLE was also good for us — we knew that they were in good hands with their TLL teachers.

Resources for Your Child's PSLE Journey

The Learning Lab has a wealth of resources you and your child can benefit from. Read our other articles that break down each PSLE component in detail and impart strategic advice and study tips.

The Learning Lab is now at 8 locations. Find a location that suits your needs.

If you have any questions about our range of programmes or class schedules, you may contact us at 6733 8711 or drop us an email at enquiry@thelearninglab.com.sg.