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Primary level test papers sold online
For $60 an academic year, parents can access
website's database; popular schools' papers modified
By Tracy
Quek
PHOTOCOPYING shops and neighbourhood stalls that have been
turning a quick profit selling top primary schools' test and exam
papers are facing competition from a new website.
The site - http://www.testpapers.com.sg/ - set up by
Education Revision Papers and Material last May, capitalises on
parents' penchant for these papers. They can pay up to $112 for a
stack of Primary 6 ones, so their children can keep up with their
peers.
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| What some teachers
say |
| THE Sunday Times obtained a Primary 5 mathematics
paper meant for a mid-year examination from testpapers.com.sg, and asked teachers
from Raffles Girls' Primary and Henry Park Primary to
assess the standard and quality of the paper.
Head of the mathematics department at Raffles
Girls' Primary School, Mrs Ching Cheo Mah, 57, who has
taught at the school for 40 years:
It's very suitable for Primary 5. An EM1 class
would score well, but an EM3 class or a weak EM2 class
may just manage to pass.
It tests basic concepts, but it lacks challenging
sums.
The language is clear, but some problem sums are
wordy. Children who don't have a good command of English
may not understand these questions.
The questions follow the PSLE format, so it's
good as a practice paper.
Mr Lim Chew Hiong, principal of Henry Park
Primary, got his mathematics teachers to go through the
paper. They said:
It's an average paper. The items are based on the
teaching syllabus. It tests the basic concepts and so is
very much like a worksheet.
There are no challenging problems. Most sums can
be solved easily by using models. It won't prepare
pupils for the present PSLE-type questions. 'Thinking'
items are missing.
The questions are clear.
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For a $60 subscription to the website, good for an academic year,
parents can access the site's database of test questions on
mathematics, English, Chinese and science, for Primary 1 to
6.
Its online offerings, claims the website, 'are like the real,
full-length test papers from the top primary schools in Singapore...
very similar in structure, format, style and level of
difficulty'.
Just one year after he started the business, Mr H. C. Teo, in his
40s, says he has more than 7,000 subscribers.
Most are parents who heard about the service from friends, or who
picked up the flyers he distributes outside schools and places such
as Shenton Way.
The website organises its papers into continual and semestral
assessments. Questions are also sorted by topic.
The continual assessments are like the mini-exams that schools
hold before youngsters sit for their semestral assessments - the
mid- and end-of-year exams.
The father of three young children, who declined to be
photographed, hit on the idea when preparing his eldest son for his
Primary 1 exams early last year.
He got hold of papers from relatives with children in popular
primary schools, crafted new questions based on those in the papers
and posted them on the Internet to share with friends. Word spread
and more parents wanted in.
His website now has a bank of about 50,000 questions, which he
and five editorial and technical staff members, none with teaching
experience, culled from papers supplied by friends and relatives. He
also pays teachers from 'reputable' schools to develop some
questions.
To get around the copyright law, the original questions are
'modified'.
'IF YOU BLANTANTLY COPY WORD FOR WORD, YOU COULD BE SUED, BUT IF YOU MODIFY, MIX AND MATCH AND PUT EFFORT INTO CREATING A DIFFERENT PRODUCT WHICH IS NOT A CARBON COPY, THEN, IT'S UNLIKELY THERE'S AN INFRINGEMENT.'
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- Lawyer Stephen Loke, partner at Loke & Seah
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'The structure, concept and complexity of a question are
retained, but we could change a drawing showing 10 ducks into 10
balls instead,' said Mr Teo.
Two lawyers told The Sunday Times that copying an original work
word for word infringes the law.
But whether altering and changing some aspects of a work also
does, is not as clear-cut.
Mr Tony Yeo, director of law firm Drew and Napier, said: 'It's a
call a judge has to make if such a case appears before
him.'
Popular primary schools such as Catholic High, Ai Tong and
Raffles Girls' say they have not agreed to any commercial use of
their papers. Neither do the principals intend to take any
action.
Miss Tan Siok Cheng, head of Raffles Girls' Primary, said: 'It's
fine to share. If parents want to practise, go
ahead.'
However, the others said using test papers from schools other
than a pupil's own may not be the best way to prepare for an
exam.
Mr Lee Hak Boon, Catholic High's principal, spoke for others when
he said: 'Test papers are set to test concepts, methods teachers
have taught their pupils. Some set questions to stretch a bright
class.
'Pupils not from the school and without any of the teaching that
comes before it, may understandably find the paper tough.'
But that has not stopped parents such as Mrs Angela Wong, 42,
from signing up at the website.
The housewife, who bought a subscription for her eldest son, now
in Primary 4, said: 'It's good practice. After all, these are the
schools that set the standard and produce top pupils.' |
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MAY 25, 2003 SUN
