Science tip: Many questions are about the conservation of energy. Remember that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only converted into other forms of energy. Answers must also be very specific. Instead of saying “The toy car eventually came to a stop because the kinetic energy was lost to its surroundings” you have to specify[…]
Examination tips Manage your time You have 1hr 45mins for the Science paper. 56% of the marks are in the MCQ and 44% in the open-ended section. This means you have roughly 1min per mark (2 mins per question on the MCQ). The MCQ is the biggest component with 56% of the marks, and with each[…]
Science tip: Sometimes the question requires you to go through a lot of detail and analysis. Here’s an example. Instead of lamenting why the boys didn’t do the experiment with one object at a time, let’s dive right in. Referencing the images from left to right, top to bottom: – Image 2 shows C and[…]
Science tip: Remember that melting point is the same as freezing point. They occur at the same temperature, even though melting means from solid -> liquid and freezing means liquid -> solid. Similarly, boiling point = condensation point. Here’s a question that tries to confuse between the two 🙂
Questions involving gravitational force and gravitational potential energy are common in the PSLE. Some are questions that even parents struggle to explain. This may be because a lot of content about forces is simplified for the primary school level. Although this makes the concept less intimidating, it becomes more an exercise of rote learning than[…]
Science tip: It’s very important to use and spell keywords correctly! Marks cannot be given for a keyword that isn’t used or spelled incorrectly. Example: Q: Explain why a durian higher up in the tree will fall and land with a louder thud than a durian lower down in the tree. Poor ans: The durian[…]
Science tip: Properties of heat conductivity, absorption of radiation as thermal energy, and heat capacity can be confusing. Heat conductivity is the property of a material’s ability to conduct heat. The better the conductivity, the faster heat can transfer from one end to another. The absorption of heat through radiation – sometimes less accurately called[…]
Interesting science fact: Not all insect-pollinated flowers smell good. Flowers that attract flies / beetles as pollinators attract these insects with smells of rotting flesh or dung! An example of this is the Rafflesia flower, which can be over 100cm in diameter!
Science tip: Questions relating to the differences between insect- and wind-pollinated flowers seem to be quite common. I will post some of these in the future. In the meantime, refresh your memory with this table! 🙂
Science tip: Gravitational Potential Energy – the more heavy the object and the higher it is above the ground, the larger its gravitational potential energy. Kinetic Energy – the faster the object is moving and the more heavy it is, the greater its kinetic energy. In this particular question – bag C starts off with[…]