Are you smarter than a Singapore P6 student?

RimBlock · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:23

The Primary year 6 exams here have been critizised quite heavily here for their difficulty.

P6 is for 11->12 year olds.

An example from the maths test paper;

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

How does this compare to the current difficulty in the UK for the same age ?

I don't remember primary school being this hard....

RB

BigglesPiP · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:34

Like our current higher paper GCSE TBH.

But I'm pretty sure our primary schools used to teach similar stuff.

Strife212 · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:40

I'm at university doing computer science and I can't be bothered to work that out, what does that say

It is really early though

Clum · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:50

Strife212 said:
I'm at university doing computer science and I can't be bothered to work that out, what does that say

It is really early though

It says you need to write a program to do it for you.

Ken bought 68 sweets by the way.

Abraham · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:50

is it not just a quadratic equation? which used to be pre-gcse, moved to just gcse higher and I've a feeling have started getting lower again, either SAT or lower.

[FnG]magnolia · 20 Nov 2009 at 08:53

I suspect that's more demanding than in the UK. I see someone has mentioned GCSE's which are 15/16, aren't they? Or is it 14/15?

We had O Grades when I were a lad *mumble mumble mumble *

Moredhel · 20 Nov 2009 at 11:49

We definitely did ratios and calculating number distributions based on ratios at primary school, back in 1994-95.

Gaygle · 20 Nov 2009 at 11:50

No.

But i bet i can run faster or jump higher.

Killerkebab · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:24

Abraham said:
is it not just a quadratic equation? which used to be pre-gcse, moved to just gcse higher and I've a feeling have started getting lower again, either SAT or lower.

No. We're given ratios of various items compared to each other, your job is to work backwards

Liquidfox · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:31

Jim bought some chocolates and gave half of it to Ken. Ken bought some sweets and gave half of it to Jim. Jim ate 12 sweets and Ken ate 18 chocolates. The ratio of Jim's sweets to chocolates became 1:7 and the ratio of Ken's sweets to chocolates became 1:4. How many sweets did Ken buy?

Ken bought 24 sweets, since he gave half to Jim and he had 12. Most of the question is just babble.

Kenai · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:35

Liquidfox said:
Ken bought 24 sweets, since he gave half to Jim and he had 12. Most of the question is just babble.

No, the ratio isn't just babble, you're assuming that by Jim eating 12 sweets, he ate all the sweets he had. The ratio part tells you this is not the case and that in fact they both still have sweets and chocolate left in those ratios.

Liquidfox · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:35

Yep, i realised. Hoping nobody had posted i was going to do a ninja edit

Abraham · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:36

Killerkebab said:
No. We're given ratios of various items compared to each other, your job is to work backwards

mm, I suppose the logic is the same I just solved it like I would a quadratic equation

Kenai · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:36

SexyGreyFox · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:37

Here in Ingerland 11 to 12 year olds are in High School and classed as year 7 (could be 8) if that makes a difference.

And the answer is very easy.

scorza · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:40

Pretty sure I was doing similar questions when I was 11-12 in England.

Goldy · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:47

Well I'm stumped. Anyone got it yet?

We could really do with that cat brain now.

Abraham · 20 Nov 2009 at 13:57

Clum said:
It says you need to write a program to do it for you.

Ken bought 68 sweets by the way.

Goldy said:
Well I'm stumped. Anyone got it yet?

We could really do with that cat brain now.

If I remember rightly Clum was right when I worked it out

Mr Jones · 20 Nov 2009 at 23:45

Ahh.. I remember these type of questions...
That is indeed a typical PSLE (Primary School Leavers Education) question. I was stumped when I came over here when I was 15, to find the UK's GCSE maths question to be those that I was doing in Secondary 1, 2 and 3 (13/14/15) A maths level (We had 2 type of maths, E Maths (Elementary and A maths, advance). In Singapore, Maths and Science levels are among the highest in the world though. We're still on the 'O' Level before 'A' Levels.

AS maths did caught up and then A level maths was round about the same standard (assuming it's based on Pure and Applied Maths). Further maths is on par with with A levels Advance Mathematics.

jas72 · 21 Nov 2009 at 00:52

thing is it's probably a simple equation but since I've had no need for that particular equation since I sat my exams 22 years ago i've forgot what it was.

I'd be more surprised if I could get a higher score than a 12 year old at mathss.