Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by EducationABC

CIE vs Edexcel (ease of scoring)

EducationABC — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:30:09 +0800

Hi there, I plan to take Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Further Mathematics for my A levels next year. All I need to do is to choose which board. Assuming all other factors (effort etc) are equal, which of these 2 boards gives me a higher chance to get 4A*s? From previous threads, I have arrived at the following conclusion, can someone either confirm or deny these?

Edexcel Pros:
1. Ease of retaking
2. Less tricky calculations involved, more towards practical application (science)#
3. divided into 6 units, once tested, topics in units are not repeated during next exam ?(i.e. topics tested in June 2013 will not come out again on January 2014)
4. For Physics, Edexcel covers less than CIE.
5. Maths has option of disregarding Statistics entirely(focus on mechanics)
6. Options in certain papers
7. Generally easier

Edexcel cons:
1. Limited past years and revision material due to syllabus change in 2008
2. Less well structured.
3. Higher requirements for A* grade (something to do with raw scores converted to UMS?)
4. Questions less predictable when compared to CIE and recent papers are getting harder?

CIE pros:
1. Lots of revision material and past years available
2. Questions more predictable?
3. Slightly lower requirement for A* grade?
4. Less papers to sit for. (less detailed assessment? 2 Exam seasons instead of 3?)
5. Well structured syllabus

CIE cons:
1. Troublesome to retake in order to improve grade
2. generally harder (academic rigor)
3. Recent papers getting harder, again?

Undecided:
1. CIE contains more tricky calculations (Maths and Physics) while Edexcel more towards understanding and application. Pro or con?

2. CIE has practical exams while Edexcel has only written ones. Pro or con?

3. CIE better preparation than Edexcel for university. True or false?

Now, I have not neither taken A levels nor compared the syllabus, so obviously I don't know what a levels exams are truly like. I may have mistaken a pro for a con and vice versa, please enlighten me. If my sole aim is to get top grades, which is easier considering all the factors above?

Olimpiad Matematik Kebangsaan

EducationABC — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 17:46:52 +0800

Recently a friend of mine expressed his interest in participating in this annual competition, I'm interested too. Has anyone participated in this competition before at Sulung( Form 5/Form 6/ Matrikulasi setara) level? I found out that some Bongsu level (Form 1/ Form 2) sample questions tests students on Form 4/5 syllabus material. Does that mean I have to study Form 6/A level material if I wish to participate in this competition next year? Can someone who have participated in this competition before share what is the sulung level competition like? I cant find past papers for sulung level.

[URGENT] IB or A levels? After or before Form 5?

EducationABC — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:44:08 +0800

Hi, I am a form 4 student this year. After just finishing my mid term paper, I immediately got the feeling that I am wasting half, if not most of the time in my form 4 classes. BM and English are simply not taught the right way, Moral is total bullshit, Sejarah is too centered on Islam and does not cover enough world history and Civics is just.......=.= Anyway, these are just a partial list of GOOD reasons I am not happy with form 4/5. The only reason I am still considering it is because of the Sciences and Maths subjects (bio, chem phy, mod&add maths). I am afraid without them, it is hard for me to get a good start in pre-University courses that I am interested at, IB or A levels.

There are two things I have to be clear about by the end of this thread:

1) Should I discontinue Form 5, and enroll into IB at an international school? ( since they do not require SPM anyway)

2) If not, after form 5, should I choose IB or A levels? Which is better for my condition?

Obviously, no one could answer those questions without me giving more information about myself.

My Aim:
a) Primary objective: To enter the best universities in US or UK to study Chemical/ Mechanical Engineering.

Secondary objective: To enter good universities in US/Canada/Australia/Singapore/Malaysia to study the same thing.

Primary objective universities: 1) US: MIT, UBC, Stanford, UCLA, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Caltech, Harvard(Chemistry)
2) UK: Cambridge and Imperial College London

Secondary objective universities: 1) US:Georgia Tech, U of Michigan,, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carnegie Mellon university
2) Singapore/Canada/Australia: NUS, U of Toronto, Melbourne
3) Malaysia: UTP, Nottingham

Which university specifically I would like to enter depends on the offers I get and does not matter in this discussion.

My Strategy:
Which strategy I choose depends on this discussion and my parent's consent.

Strategy A: 1) Discontinue Form 5, enter an international IB school in January 2012, age 17.
2) Subject choice: (Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics) HL
( Economics, Mandarin ab, English ) SL
3) Work hard and aim for 7,7,7 in all subjects(if possible) and try my best to get 3 additional points in TOK and EE.
4) For CAS: C, it depends, A: learn to swim, S: social service in rural areas?
5) Finish IB by January 2014, age 19( I think? Should be 2 years)
6) Start self study for SAT, SAT I and SAT subjects test in Maths level 2 and (Physics or Chemistry) and Cambridge TSA
7) At the same time open a small tuition center at my house teaching Chemistry or Physics Form 4, learn to drive and cook, learn to use
Microsoft Office(all), get results, and if possible get a scholarship, and perhaps volunteer for National Service
8) Sit for TOEFL and SAT in an appropriate time, do mock interviews, practice writing personal statements, apply to universities,
admissions etc.
9) Enter university in year 2016, age 20

Strategy B: Continue Form 5, enter IB school and follow the same route as Strategy A

Strategy C: 1) Continue Form 5, enroll in A levels at KYUEM, or Sunway College in January 2013, age 18
2) Subject choice: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics (additional subject depends on college)
3) Work hard and aim for A* in Chem, Phy and Maths and a A for FM
4) If at KYUEM, participate in maximum amount of co-curricular activities
5) Finish A levels by June 2014, age 19
6) Same as (7) and (8) in strategy A, only in a shorter amount of time (6 months less)

Notes: - I will defer NS at 2013 no matter what happens because I think am not well prepared enough for that.
- I am going to study straightaway after SPM in January of the following year

What I know about A levels, IB and University Admissions

1) American top universities(Ivies) place more emphasis on well roundedness, hence they would prefer IB as they guaranteed to produce
a well rounded student. This can be seen in many university admissions web page.

2) British top universities(Oxbridge) place more emphasis on academic achievement, meaning they do not care much about co- curricular
activities. However, they do emphasize a lot on passion, soft skills, critical thinking, confidence and leadership, since participating in co-curricular
activities is one of the ways to promote them, I might as well do the same.

3) The "well roundedness" they meant, I think is more than just academic roundedness, e.g take eng lit or general paper in a levels, its more about
your personality, e.g soft skills. Hence, I think IB will give me an edge over others.

4) I think the grades that are safe for me to enter the best universities are 42 points or A*A*A*A, does anyone have an idea about the difficulty of
achieving those grades?

My current situation, and other questions I would like to ask

1) I got 91/100 for my Form 4 physics, and high scores for my maths and other sciences as well. I wonder if knowledge in Form 4 and 5 sciences are
necessary for me to cope well in IB?

2) I have no financial constraints whatsoever, so anything related to money should not be discussed here.

3) My English is not as good as it seems to be, and since in IB there are a lot of oral presentations and essay writing, this might be a problem.
I heard that students are required to write a 1500 word long essay in Language A1 from this link http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/431949 ,
the longest essay I have ever written is 600 words in 2 hours

4) I have studied in SJK© school, got A in UPSR and PMR Chinese, and currently continuing Form 4 Chinese, can I take Mandarin ab initio as a
second language? It might reduce my burden. It's not cheating, right? I don't really like literature.

5) As for A levels, how well are A levels perceived in the United States?

6) I have contradicting responses from others about the difficulty of A levels and IB. Some say IB insanely hard, some say its easy. But when I
check the statistics of IB grades, the average is 30. And 30 is...... ABB in A levels? There are also claims that the standard of A levels is slipping,
and IB is getting more and more recognition and preferences by universities. Which is true?

7) Less than 1% of all students got all 45 points in IB according to its officail website, and in average 10% of all candidates who sat for a
CIE A levels subject got an A* in that subject. If so, statistically, which is harder? 40-45 points in IB or A*A*A*A in CIE A levels?

8) I do better in an paper based examination environment, but I can also adapt to the IB way of assessment. it might be harder, but not impossible.

Lastly, I urge all lowyatians who have taken IB or A levels or better, both to help me out and solve this problem, I notice that the following members
might be more helpful, based on their previous posts on IB

LightingFist
spunkberry
atzn

English Science and Technology(EST)

EducationABC — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:27:49 +0800

Hi, I am form 4 this year. I am interested to take EST next year in my SPM as the subject seem to suit me. It seems pretty easy--- read a text about science and technology and fill in the blanks of missing information. The objective questions are easy as well, the only slightly trickier part is the writing part. I wonder if there is any things that I should know before taking the subject and must I go for a EST tuition or do any preparations for the exam? Any format required in the writing?

Confusing academic titles

EducationABC — Wed, 04 May 2011 22:47:22 +0800

Nowadays the academic title of universities all over the world is very confusing. In UK, most unis offer a 4 year MEng or 3 Year BEng. But in Australia and Germany MEng is awarded after 5 years of studies (3 Years BEng followed by 2 Years MEng), In Singapore NUS and American MIT however you have 4 years for BEng. BEng and MEng look like the same all over the world and yet the number of years of studies differ. Can someone shed some light on how these BEng and MEng are recognised? And do employers look to the number of years that you study or just the title? The Malaysian government accredits all 4 year engineering courses, does this mean some BEng may be accredited while some are not? Assuming time counts a lot for me, which is the best route? By the way, I am referring to Chemical Engineering.

Please clear my doubt. Thanks. (Hopefully this thread will be a hot topic) javascript:emoticon(':D')

Note: BEng Bachelor in Engineering
MEng Masters in Engineering

ESOL CPE, TOEFL and IELTS

EducationABC — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:59:44 +0800

Hi, I am currently Form 4 and I will be gaining a Cambridge ESOL CAE(Certificate in Advanced English) next year. By the time I finish my A levels, I would have completed the next level, CPE (Certificate in Proficiency in English). Both CPE and CAE are recognised english qualifications for studying in UK universities. But there is little mention of it in the universities of Australia, US, Singapore and Canada. Almost all of them however, have TOEFL and IELTS. So I am wondering, is IELTS and TOEFL more superior in terms of recognition when compared to CPE? CPE is a very advanced exam. My teacher says that it is more preferable in UK universities, but I cant find them in other universities of other countries. CPE is quite special, you MUST attend a course for a few years that costs thousands of ringit in Malaysia in order to get it. If its is indeed not as recognisable as the other 2, I would rather quit it after CAE and study myself for IELTS as I don't want to take 2 english qualifications exams.

Please clear my doubt.

A level subject enquiries for Chemical engineering

EducationABC — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:19:57 +0800

Hi, I am a form 4 student and currently exploring my ambition. After reviewing all pre-U programmes available, I decided CIE A levels suits me the best after SPM. I want to do chemical engineering in the future and I plan to take Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and another 1 or 2 subjects. My question are,

1) as a chemical engineer, which will help me more: Further maths or Biology? I notice that most UK universities (places I will be most likely studying), states that both are "helpful". And is it possible to take both?( I doubt it because most college offer 3 or 4 only) or should I take FM and then Bio at AS level?

2) I notice that CIE A level mathematics are divided to Pure maths 1, 2, 3 Mechanics 1, 2 and Statistics 1, 2 where candidates must take PM 1 and
(PM 2 or M1 or S1) in AS level, (PM 1 and PM 3) and {(M1, S1) or (M1, M2) or (S1, S2)} in A2 (Full A levels) level.
The logical choice I suppose is P1, P2, P3 and M1, M2. Correct me if I am wrong. I wonder if we can really chose this way or is it pre-determined?

I am fine with mathematics and Biology, with no preference between them. I believe that if I work hard enough, 5 subjects won't burden me too much.
The purpose of taking more subjects is to gain more knowledge before entering university, and if possible, increase my chances in getting admitted to the best universities.

Education expert opinion required.