Last Minute Preparation For UPSR 2017

Countdown To UPSR 2017 

At the point of writing this, UPSR 2017 is only 30 days away! The countdown clock is ticking, and for students and parents supporting their children for the upcoming exams, it may seem like the clock is going on a fast motion.

UPSR 2017 Dates And Calendar

First of all, go here to read our earlier post on the dates and timetable for UPSR 2017 . I have prepared a free printable calendar or planner for parents of our Facebook group to print out for their children's use to support their preparation for the UPSR 2017. I have purposely kept the calendar design as plain as possible so you can use it to fill in the blanks with your own planning or alternatively, you can use it as a countdown calendar. I included blank boxes and filled in the exam dates to make the calendar as flexible as possible for use. I have not included weekends because of the different weekends we observe for different states in Malaysia. With this calendar, you can easily see at a glance how many weekends you have left to help your kids prepare for their exams.

You can click to enlarge and print the above or use the download link here to download and print both pages of this UPSR planner Calendar in pdf format. 

Last Minute Preparation For UPSR 2017

Parents may also find the following last minute tips useful.

Tips On How To Study 4 Days Before Your UPSR Exams
Exam Day Tips For UPSR Students

Important Information For Parents

The children will not be allowed to use their regular pencil cases. They will need to carry something transparent or tie their stationery together using a rubber band as shown below. (Unfortunately I couldn't find a sharpener or ruler to complete the set, however I am sure you get the idea). In any case, please make sure your children check what's allowed with their teachers.

On other preparation for what's allowed and or required at the examination center, do trust the teachers and your children. All you need to do now is stay calm so that you don't pass on your own anxiety and worry to your child who is sitting for the exams. Good luck to the candidates of UPSR 2017!

Tips For Tackling SJKC Science Paper 2 UPSR New Format

Before reading this, please refer to our previous post on the new format for Science for UPSR 2016. 

There has been a lot of talk and emphasis on the extra English paper in UPSR 2016. However, one should take note that there is significant change in the Science paper as well. Just like the English paper, the Science paper has also been split into two papers. The difference is, English is now counted as two subjects but Science is still considered as one subject. 

Notwithstanding that, there is no denying that the Science paper is now two separate papers, one hour for each paper whereas previously it used to be one paper to be done in one hour 15 minutes. In other words, there is now more emphasis on Science Paper 2 (which used to be Part 2 of the one Science paper).

The new Science Paper 2 has 8 subjective questions which are broken into sub-parts eg. Q1a (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), Q2b, Q3c(i), (ii), Q4d(i), (ii) and so on and so forth.  

Science Paper 2 usually test the students knowledge on conducting experiments.

Now, here's the tip. For SJKC students, do make sure your child knows all of the following terms. Not only memorize the terms but know and understand what they mean. Previous format, may use these terms to ask the questions directly. The new format may ask questions based on  your understanding of the terms and may not use the terms to ask questions. 

If you are a non-Chinese speaking parent who send your child to SJKC, you should also recognize and know these terms so you can help your child. In Science, we can teach our kids concepts in English and then get them to learn the important terms in Chinese. 

To answer paper 2 questions on experiments, the student MUST know and UNDERSTAND the Science terms associated with conducting experiments. Do not be confused or use the terms interchangeably. 

Here is a free printable of the Science terms in Chinese. Pinyin as well as English translation has been provided for non-Chinese families who send their kids to SJKC to help mum or dad assist their child with homework or revision. The printable is for our website members only.

Members may go to the link below to download the free printable.

Science Experiment - Terms You Should Know (Bilingual Chinese with pinyin/English)

Note: Find the printable that looks like the image on the right to download and print for your home use.

Test Yourself: After you have learned the terms,  go to this page for sample questions. Here's what to do.

1. Go to this link: Bank Soalan SJK (C) Pei Hwa (They have an excellent collection of past year papers for download)
2. Select "English Version"
3. Click on 2015
4. Click on Std 6 (Last green tab)
5. Click on the Sains Tahun 6 tab (That's the 7th yellow tab counting down from the top)
6. Click on Sains Paper 2 (any month) 
7. See how many of the terms you can spot in the questions. (The questions are bilingual so you won't have trouble understanding them. Note that they are in the old format still as the school has not put up the 2016 ones yet)
8. You can check your answers here: Collection of Exam Answers from SJK (C) Pei Hwa.

Study these terms well and half the battle is won in answering Science Paper 2 questions on experiments. Those in Upper Primary, Std 4 and 5 can start learning these terms to familiarize themselves. By std 6, they should know and understand these terms well.

Meanwhile, here's a YouTube video to quickly and easily explain Scientific Variables to kids. (The first three items in the list of terms in our printable).

You may also find this short article useful to understand the difference between inference and conclusion in Science.

You may also like: Strategy For Answering UPSR 2016 New Format Chinese Paper 1 on Pemahaman

Strategy For Answering UPSR 2016 New Format Chinese Paper 1 on Pemahaman

This post is for parents who are trying to help their kids with the Chinese Paper 1 for UPSR 2016. Non-Chinese speaking parents can refer to this to inform tutors on which area to teach should they lack the focus.

Before you read this post, please refer to our previous post on the UPSR 2016 Chinese Paper Format What's New. This will give you an idea of the new format for the Chinese Pemahaman or Paper 1 of the Chinese Paper for UPSR.

In short, there is now more emphasis on Paper one. The time allotted has been increased from 50 minutes to 1 hour 15 minutes while the total marks for this paper is now 50 instead of 40.

Previously the paper had 40 objective questions, 1 mark each. Now the paper is divided into two parts. The first part has 20 objective questions, 1 mark each. While the 2nd part has 5 subjective questions. Some of these questions have sub questions so there are actually 9 questions in all if you count all the sub parts. 30 marks for the 9 subjective questions.

The main difference is previously there were 2 passages. In the new format, there are 3 passages. The third passage is rather long and requires subjective answers. 

Previous Format Chinese Pemahaman Paper 1
40 Marks
Q1-Q30 - Various Multiple Choice questions
Q31-35 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Q36-40 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions

New Format Chinese Pemahaman Paper 1
Part 1 (20 marks)
Q1-Q4 - Various Multiple Choice questions
Q5-Q12 - Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Q13-Q20 - Ancient Chinese Passage followed by multiple choice questions
Part 2 (30 marks)
Q21 a,b,c,d - Subjective questions
Q22a,b, Q23a,b, Q24, Q25 - Long Passage (about 2 pages) followed by subjective questions (see example below)

In the recent UPSR diagnostic test, this is what happened. Students score part 1 easily obtaining 18 or 19 out of 20 marks but were pulled down by Part 2 ie the subjective part which has a higher weightage in terms of marks.

It is therefore clear, that emphasis should be given on how to answer this section ie Chinese Paper 1 (Pemahaman) Part 2. The strategy for answering UPSR 2016 New Format Chinese Paper 1 on Pemahaman is therefore to do a lot of practice exercises on this part of the paper especially questions 22-25 which comes after the long third passage. There are no shortcut methods. Lots of reading and practice required.

Subjective Questions 22-25 that comes after the long 3rd passage under the new format for Chinese Pemahaman or Chinese Paper 1 in UPSR 2016 (Sample taken from the Skor 8A book by Hup Lick Publishing (M) Sdn Bhd)

Tip for non-Chinese speaking families:

When buying workbooks, look for one that says 理解练习 This means Practice Pemahaman. Look inside the book to make sure it is the new format practice ie with subjective questions (not objective ones) and make sure sample answers are provided. 

Example of workbooks using the new format long passage followed by subjective questions
for practice pemahaman or 理解练习

 Extra Tip:

To improve on Q13-Q20 on ancient Chinese Passage, watch Chinese history cartoons like the Three Kingdoms. This is to help improve on the general knowledge to help in the understanding of such passages



Next Post: Tips For Tackling SJKC Science Paper 2 UPSR New Format

Disclaimer: The views above are authors own after consulting with teacher.

What Will BM Penulisan For UPSR 2016 be like?

Read our latest article UPSR 2016 New Format updated on 29 September 2015.

My son just brought back his most recent BM Penulisan paper. He is in SJKC.

I noticed a few differences in the BM Penulisan paper compared to previous years.

For this BM Penulisan paper which incorporates the HOTS (KBAT) style of questioning he had to answer questions in the following format.

Part A = Passage (Petikan) with 4 questions. Subjective answers required. 1 mark each for the first two questions. 2 marks for question 3 and 4 marks for question 4 which is a KBAT question - Total 8 marks

Part B = Bina 5 Ayat based on given words (No graphics given) - 10 marks

Part C = 4 scenarios or situasi given. Students must indicate what they will do in each situation (What will you do?) - 2 marks; then state which nilai murni it is referring to (Which nilai murni?) - 1 mark. That means 3 marks per question - Total 12 marks

Part D =  3 choices of karangan. Write one in not less than 80 words - 30 marks

My analysis - Part A not too difficult accept for the last KBAT question. Part B harder compared to the previous sentence making questions. No graphic clues. Only words which includes kata adjektif and kata nama besides kata kerja. Previously students should  know their kata kerja well to make sentences from given graphics. Part C is also harder. Although not required to write a passage of 40 words on the nilai murni, the student  must write what he thinks is the best thing to do under the given circumstances. (Previously students memorized the penanda wacana for the nilai murni so the passage was not too difficult to write). Part D also got harder from 60 words to 80 words.

This appears different from some of the articles on UPSR 2016 BM Penulisan Formats I've read like this for example.

The previous format was as follows:

Bahagian A - Bina 5 ayat based on given graphics - 10 marks

Bahagian B - 3 choices of karangan given. Write one in not less than 60 words - 30 marks

Bahagian C - Write 4 nilai murni from a given passage. Not more than 40 words. - 20 marks

HOTS = High Order Thinking Skills
KBAT = Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi

So the question is what will BM Penulisan For UPSR 2016 be like? Did your child sit for a BM Penulisan Paper recently? What was it like? Just curious whether it was different from school to school.

Science Mind Maps For Primary School Standard 4 To Standard 6 UPSR

While doing research for my previous post on the KSSR Standard 5 Science on Survival of Animal Topic, I came across some interesting mind map slides which offer a summary of the entire Standard 4 to Standard 6 Science syllabus. Though this syllabus is for KBSR previously, many topics are more or less the same. This should come in handy for UPSR revision.

I have embedded them here for easy reference.

This one is in English and has 114 pages in all. Excellent summary presented in mind map format for Science for Primary School Level Standard 4 to Standard 6. For UPSR 2015 this Science Mind Map for Year 4 to 6 is still very relevant as the Science paper is still in English and Chinese, BM or Tamil. From 2016 onwards, Science will be in Chinese or BM or Tamil only so you can use this as reference to explain concepts but children must learn the Chinese or other terms.

Peta Minda Sains Tahun 4,5,6 from marziana80

The one below is also a Mind Map or Peta Minda or Carta Minda in Bahasa Malaysia for Science or Sains in Malay presented in Bahasa Malaysia for Sekolah Kebangsaan students for Darjah 4 to Darjah 6.

Carta minda upsr latest 2014 t hn 4 yr 5 yr 6 from roslinur