1) Get yourself a dedicated studystation.
Have your assessment books ready and arranged at arms length. Have all your equipment organized within a radius of 1.5 metres. Have water, food and whatever you need to be comfortable near you so that you don’t have to walk away to pick things up. Have a dedicated studystation that does not need packing and unpacking every time you study. It is yours and you do not need to put all your books away after you are done studying.
That way, the moment you sit down, you are all set to study. Walk away when you are tired, and when you are refreshed, come back and study. No packing. No unpacking. It is always there. The easier you settle down to do your studies, the less time and energy you waste walking around getting your studying organized. Because it is always there for you and organized as well in a small footprint of your house. You don’t have to grab things from all over the house when it is located only in one place.
2) PSLE is like any other examination.
Every time you go for examinations, treat it as if it is your PSLE. Primary 6 has 4 main exams before the PSLE. CA1, SA1, CA2, Prelimns. Treat all these exams like PSLE. Study hard, prepare for it, and keep evaluating where you can improve yourself. With experience, PSLE will be a breeze and you’ll get it done proper. Organize yourself into studying for English PSLE, Mother Tongue PSLE, Science PSLE and Mathematics PSLE and when the day comes, psyche yourself up and get those grades.
3) Improve your memory.
Without a good memory, it will always be the problem of learning something and forgetting it altogether. So why start to begin with? Spend time memorizing what you learn and do it the same day that the topic was taught to you. Also learn tricks to improve your memory.
Generally speaking, to memorize anything is basically a case of not forgetting. Hence, the more we spend time repeating something, the lesser the chance that we will forget something. Come back again and test yourself another day just to make sure you remember it and over time, it will be in your long term memory banks.
4) Speed is mind over matter.
Not completing a paper is the worse way one can lose marks. PSLE in Singapore generally runs within a week and the papers are completed in 1-2 hours. There are situations where students mismanage time and spends too much time on questions. To solve this problem, allocate time for your studies and set an alarm whenever you attempt a question.
General guidelines are: 1 mark for every minute.
So if you attempt a 5 mark question, you are only allowed 5 minutes to complete it. Past that, you will need to jump this question and start doing the next question. Come back and attempt it when you have completed the rest of the questions.
5) Ask and you shall receive.
This is by far the most important thing to do for PSLE preparation. Teachers, parents, friends and family will not know what you don’t know unless you ask. The more you communicate your needs, the more people can help. Tell them what problems you face. There is no problem so big it cannot be solved and no problems too silly that they will make fun of you. Everyone has to start learning from basics sometime before they become masters. And master you will.
“He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever.” – Chinese proverb
