The jump from P4 to P5

Key things to note in helping P5 kids cope with increased volume in questions in P5 English Exam Format:

1. Read Read Read. Instill the habit of reading at least 1 news article a day. If you don't subscribe, read online news and print out 1 or 2 interesting articles a day to get your child interested. Choose an article which is in hot discussion or may interest your child. Draw a word mindmap (using the main topic, branch out related words) to increase vocab and also to understand that certain words will be used in certain scenarios.

2. Have a dictionary ready within easy reach. If budget permits, get an electronic one which can store a word list which you can upload onto the computer and print out. If using the hardcopy, make sure your child knows how to use it.

3. When reading, highlight phrases that always go together (phrasal verbs). E.g. He was taking down the poster when he fell off the ladder.
They will need phrasal verbs for Compre Cloze.

4. Make it a habit to underline/circle/highlight KEY WORDS/CLUE WORDS.
This is what I teach in class for Compre OE/MCQ: Take note of the QUESTION WORD, the clue word (tenses) and the key word (what are they referring to in the question). And if need, make simply annotations. E.g. *circle* "WHY" *write8 " --> REASON" Which means that the question is look for a REASON (not anything else).

5. For S&T, there's a few good books which give good examples and also re-explain the grammar rules. I think it's called "Synthesis & Transformation P6" by Marshall Cavendish. However, for practise purposes, I still prefer Teachers @ Work, Conquer S&T. Use the one from MC to 'teach', then use the exercises in Conquer for more practise.

Hope this helps!!