Helping Students with PSLE Mathematics - NIE Mathematics ...

A Seminar for Parents
Helping Students
with
PSLE Mathematics
February 2010
www.askyeapbanhar.blogspot.com
Yeap Ban Har
National Institute of Education
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
banhar.yeap@nie.edu.sg

Type Mark Number Type Mark Number
Value
Value
MCQ 1 mark 10 (10%) SAQ 2 marks 5 (10%)
MCQ 2 marks 5 (10%)
3 marks
SAQ 1 mark 10 (10%)
LAQ 4marks 13 (50%)
5 marks
SAQ 2 marks 5 (10%)
Paper 1 (50 min)
Paper 2 (1 hr 40 min)

Type Mark Number Type Mark Number
Value
Value
MCQ 1 mark 10 (10%) SAQ 2 marks 10 (20%)
MCQ 2 marks 10 (20%)
3 marks
SAQ 2 marks 10 (20%)
LAQ 4marks 8 (30%)
5 marks
Paper 1 (1 hr)
Paper 2 (1 hr 15 min)

Ann, Beng and Siti each had some money at first. Ann gave Beng $0.50.
Beng then gave Siti $0.75. Siti spent $0.25 on a ruler. At the end, they had
$3 each. What is the difference between the amount of money that Ann
and Siti had at first?
(1) $1.00
(2) $0.50
(3) $0.75
(4) $1.25
Ann $3 $3.50
Beng $3
$3.75 $3.25
Siti $3 $3.25 $2.50

The rationale of teaching mathematics is that it is “a
good vehicle for the development and
improvement of a person’s intellectual
competence”
.

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Find the value of 12.2 ÷ 4 .
It is not expected that P6 students need to
perform written working to do it.
P4 students may need to perform written
working as their ability in mental strategies is
not as developed as that of P6 students.

12.20 4
12 20 hundredths
Number Bond Method
3.05
12.20
12
0.20
0.20
0
Long Division ision Method

A show started at 10.55 a.m. and ended at
1.30 p.m. How long was the show in hours
and minutes?
It is not expected that P6 students need to
perform written working to do it.
P3 students may need to draw a time line as
their ability in using mental strategies is not
as developed as that of P6 students.

1100 1330

Prawns are sold at $1.35 per 100 g at a
market.
What is the price of 1.5 kg of prawns?
$13.50 + $6.75 = $ …
Answer: $_________

Find

The height of the classroom door is about __.
1. 1 m
2. 2 m
3.10 m
4.20 m
Some tasks simply do not require written
working.

Cup cakes are sold at 40 cents each.
What is the greatest number of cup cakes that
can be bought with $95?
$95 ÷ 40 cents = 237.5
Answer: 237 cupcakes

Basic Application Item

Find the value of
(a) 99 + 97
(b) 56 ÷ 8
Find the value of
(a) 200 – 53
(b) 9 x9
Find the value of
(a) 73 – 15
(b) 42 ÷ 7
Find the value of
(a) 169 + 34
(b) 8 x 7

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + … + 95 + 96 + 97
The first 97 whole numbers are added up.
What is the ones digit in the total?

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + … + 95 + 96 + 97
The first 97 whole numbers are added up.
What is the ones digit in the total?

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + … + 95 + 96 + 97
The first 97 whole numbers are added up.
What is the ones digit in the total?

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + … + 95 + 96 + 97
The first 97 whole numbers are added up.
What is the ones digit in the total?
The method is difficult to communicate in
written form. Hence, the problem is
presented in the MCQ format where credit is
not given for written method.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Table 1 consists of numbers from 1 to 56. Kay and Lin are given a plastic
frame that covers exactly 9 squares of Table 1 with the centre square
darkened.
d
(a) Kay puts the frame on 9 squares as shown in the figure below.
3 4 5
11 13
19 20 21
What is the average of the 8 numbers that can
be seen in the frame?

Table 1 consists of numbers from 1 to 56. Kay and Lin are given a plastic
frame that covers exactly 9 squares of Table 1 with the centre square
darkened.
d
(a) Kay puts the frame on 9 squares as shown in the figure below.
3 4 5
11 13
19 20 21
3+4+5+11+13+19+20 13 19 = 96
96 ÷ 8 = 12
Alternate Method
4 x 24 = 96
96 ÷ 8 = 12
What is the average of the 8 numbers that can
be seen in the frame?

(b) Lin puts the frame on some other 9 squares.
The sum of the 8 numbers that can be seen in the frame is 272.
What is the largest number that can be seen in the frame?
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48
49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56

Rena used stickers of four different shapes to
make a pattern. The first 12 stickers are
shown below. What was the shape of the 47 th
sticker?
………?
1 st 12 th 47
th

Rena used stickers of four different shapes to
make a pattern. The first 12 stickers are
shown below. What was the shape of the 47 th
sticker?
………?
1 5 9

Rena used stickers of four different shapes to
make a pattern. The first 12 stickers are
shown below. What was the shape of the 47 th
sticker?
………?
4 8 12

The rationale of teaching mathematics is that it is “a
good vehicle for the development and
improvement of a person’s intellectual
competence”
.

3 cm
3 cm 5 cm
9 cm 2 6 cm 2
7 cm
With visualization, one does not need to know a formula to
calculate the area of a trapezium.

Parents Up In Arms
Over PSLE
Mathematics Paper
TODAY’S 10 OCT 2009
SINGAPORE: The first thing her son did when he came out from
the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) maths paper on
Thursday this week was to gesture as if he was "slitting his
throat".
"One look at his face and I thought 'oh no'. I could see that he felt
he was condemned," said Mrs Karen Sng. "When he was telling
me about how he couldn't answer some of the questions, he got
very emotional and started crying. He said his hopes of getting
(an) A* are dashed."
Not for the first time, parents are up in arms over the PSLE
Mathematics paper, which some have described as "unbelievably
tough" this year. As recently as two years ago, the PSLE
Mathematics paper had also caused a similar uproar.
The reason for Thursday's s tough paper, opined the seven parents
whom MediaCorp spoke to, was because Primary 6 students were
allowed to use calculators while solving Paper 2 for the first time.
…
Said Mrs Vivian Weng: "I think the setters
feel it'll be faster for them to compute with a
calculator. So the problems they set are much
more complex; there are more values, more
steps. But it's unfair because this is the first
time they can do so and they do not know
what to expect!"
…
"The introduction of the use of calculators
does not have any bearing on the difficulty of
paper. The use of calculators has been
introduced into the primary maths curriculum
so as to enhance the teaching and learning of
maths by expanding the repertoire of learning
activities, to achieve a better balance between
the time and effort spent developing problem
solving skills and computation skills.
Calculators can also help to reduce
computational errors."
…
Another common gripe: There was not
enough time for them to complete the paper.
A private tutor, who declined to be named,
told MediaCorp she concurred with parents'
opinions. "This year's paper demanded more
from students. It required them to read and
understand more complex questions, and go
through more steps, so time constraints would
have been a concern," the 28-year-old said.

chocolates
sweets
Jim 1
2
Ken 1 1 1 1 1
1
2 2 2 2 8
2
3 parts 12 + 12 + 12 + 12 + 18 = 66
1 part 22
Half of the sweets Jim bought = 22 + 12 = 34
So Jim bought 68 sweets.`

180 o –2 x 21 o –2 x 28 o = …

The tickets for a show are priced at $10 and
$5. The number of ten-dollar tickets available
is 1.5 times the number of five-dollar tickets.
5 out of 6 ten-dollar tickets and all the fivedollar
tickets were sold. The ticket sales
amounted to $5 600. How much more would
have been collected if all the tickets were
sold?

The tickets for a show are priced at $10 and $5. The number of ten-
dollar tickets available is 1.5 times the number of five-dollar tickets.
5 out of 6 ten-dollar tickets and all the five-dollar tickets were sold.
The ticket sales amounted to $5 600. How much more would have
been collected if all the tickets were sold?
$5
7 units $5600
1 units $800
$10
This amount would have been
collected: $5600 + $800 = $6400

Azman had 25% more marbles than Chongfu.
Chongfu had 60% more marbles than Bala.
During a game, Azman and Bala lost some
marbles to Chongfu in the ratio 3 : 1. In the
end, Azman and Bala had 780 and 480
marbles left respectively. Howmany marbles
did Azman have at first?

Azman had 25% more marbles than Chongfu. Chongfu had
60% more marbles than Bala. During a game, Azman and Bala
lost some marbles to Chongfu in the ratio 3 : 1. In the end,
Azman and Bala had 780 and 480 marbles left respectively.
How many marbles did Azman have at first?
Chongfu
Azman
Bala

Azman had 25% more marbles than Chongfu. Chongfu had
60% more marbles than Bala. During a game, Azman and Bala
lost some marbles to Chongfu in the ratio 3 : 1. In the end,
Azman and Bala had 780 and 480 marbles left respectively.
How many marbles did Azman have at first?
Chongfu 100
60
Azman 60
100 40
Bala
100

Azman had 25% more marbles than Chongfu. Chongfu had
60% more marbles than Bala. During a game, Azman and Bala
lost some marbles to Chongfu in the ratio 3 : 1. In the end,
Azman and Bala had 780 and 480 marbles left respectively.
How many marbles did Azman have at first?
Chongfu 100
60
Azman 60
100 40
780 – 380 = 300
Bala
100

Some stamps were placed in Album A and
Album B. If 30 stamps were removed from
Album A, the ratio of the number of stamps
in Album A to the number of stamps in
AlbumBwouldbe1:4.If60stampswere
removed from Album B, the ratio would be 5 :
2. How many stamps were there in Album B?