The first milestone - SA1

The written exams for SA1 starts in two weeks' time. I went for the P4 briefing conducted by the school yesterday. In order for DS to continue taking Higher Chinese in P5, he has to pass all his subjects and attain at least band 2 (marks 70 and above) for both his languages. He is weak in his languages, so attaining band 2 is not an easy task for him. Especially when Comprehension Close is introduced in his English papers this year. He can practically score zero for that section and that would mean 10 marks gone. :(

Comprehension is another of his weak areas. His English teacher thought it was peculiar as he could speak in English. But when come to Comprehension, he would have problem converting the words in the passage to become his answers. Most of the times, he just copied the whole chunk of words which ended up losing marks. He also has problems with questions which requires him to infer.

Actually I worry more for his English than Chinese even though he failed his Chinese test in the first term. Probably because Chinese is something easier to teach than English. I have almost zero idea how to teach him English Comprehension and Comprehension Close though his teacher did offer some suggestions yesterday. It would not be easy for him to grasp it, especially in such a short time frame.

Earlier on, I had discussed the target score for each subject with him. These are the targets I've set for his SA1 this year.

English 71
Chinese 71
Maths 80
Science 80

It's probably a bit high for his current standards. But if he manages to achieve, he'll be able to fulfil his wish of having a party on his birthday. So, of course I have to set the target a bit higher right?