Questions for this week

Dear all,

Here are the questions for this week. I know it is a tiring weekend for you with Chingay but do take some time to complete and practise the questions.

English:

The focus is on vocabulary this week as it is identified as one of the section you really need a lot of improvement on. Exposing you to as much vocabulary words as possible will expose your words knowledge range. For those who have problems in remembering, remember to cover the answers and go through the paper once or twice or as many times as it helps you to remember.

Science

The topic is on respiratory system (P5 topic).

Answers will be out on Sunday or Monday. Happy revising!

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

answers for week 4

Dear all,

Here are the answers.

English Synthesis and transformation:

Q1. Gary asked Peta why he had to play soccer the following/next day.

Q2. Teddy told Ben that that hotel had been demolished thousand of years ago.

Q3. Peter asked if /whether they were still going for that workshop then.

Q4. Mary asked if/whether she had to be a Singapore citizen in order to qualify for that scholarship award.

Q5. Mother asked if/whether I was certain I had remembered to take out the clothes from the laundry the previous night.

Science

Q1. What do you think caused cell X to burst?

Topic: Cells
Concept: Animal and Plant cells have different parts and functions. Cell wall and chloroplast are not present in animal cells.

Answer: 
The Cell X absorbed more water than its cell membrane could hold or The cell does not have a cell wall to contain the water.

Explanation: The cell wall is an important part of the plant cell to hold the cell in place and protect the cell from the outside. The cell membrane of both cells are semi-permeable (only allows some items to pass in and out through the cell) and without a cell wall to hold the cell in place, cell X will burst when too much water is absorbed. On the other hand, the cell wall for Y protects the cell.

Q2.

Answer:
The cell wall of Cell Y supported the cell structure and was strong enough to prevent it from bursting.

Topic: Magnets

Concept: Magnetic objects can be magnetized by the stroking method. Like poles attract, unlike poles repel. A magnet has a North pole and a South pole on each opposite end.

Answer:

Part (A) i and ii
C: South Pole
D: North Pole

Part (B)

Both of the poles of steel bar XY would be like poles (South and South). A magnet has two unlike poles in which both the unlike poles of the magnet has the ability to attract and repel other magnets. In this instance, both the ends are like poles and it does not fulfil the characteristic of a magnet.

Topic: Heat (Expansion and Contraction)
Concept: Heat expands items, Cool air contracts items.

Answer: The metal bridge will crack and might collapse. The gaps allow for the metal structure to expand during a very hot day due to the heat and contract during a cool day. If there is no gaps for the metal structure to expand, it will be compressed and the structure will push against each other, resulting in a crack and collapse of the bridge.

Explanation: There are two parts to the answer. The first part is an observation of what happens to the bridge when there are no gaps on a very hot day. The second part involves the use of concepts and key words to explain the answer.

The gaps allow for expansion and contraction (not just expansion only) during hot and cool days. This gives space for the processes to take place. Without the gaps, the structure will push against each other and will crack.

Questions

Dear all,

Here are this week's questions:

Science:

Question 1. What do you think caused Cell X to burst?

Question 2: Explain a possible reason why Cell Y did not burst.

English:

Synthesis and Transformation "Direct to Indirect Speech"

Q1. Gary asked Peta, "Why do you have to play soccer tomorrow?"

Gary asked Peta ________________________________________.

Q2. Teddy told Ben, "This hotel was demolished thousand of years ago."

Teddy told Ben that _____________________________________.

Q3. "Are we still going for this workshop now?" asked Peter.

Peter asked ____________________________________________.

Q4. "Must I be a Singapore citizen in order to qualify for this scholarship award?" asked Mary.

Mary asked ____________________________________________.

Q5. "Are you certain that you have remembered to take out the clothes from the laundry last night?" asked Mother.

Mother asked __________________________________________.

Thank you,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Answers for week 3

Dear all,

Here are the answers for this week's questions.

Q6. (1) complete

Explanation: made (past tense) Susan (Noun) [if a verb is used here, it is used in the base form, meaning present tense and plural form]

Q7. (2) herself

Explanation: Keywords to highlight are "who completed the project". This is a tricky question. We are finding out who completed the project and in this case, it is Miss Chew, a female and hence the pronoun, 'herself'.

Q8. (4) were

Explanation: The rule for 'either...or' and 'neither...nor' questions is to always look at the second subject and in this case, it is his friends (plural). Now, let us take a look at the tense to use and the word 'rang' suggests that it is in the past tense thus, the answer should be in the plural form but past tense.

Q9. (3) does he

Explanation: The question is phrased in a questioning form, thus the two parts of the sentences should be opposite in meaning to each other. In this case, you must read very carefully. The first part 'hardly ever goes to parties' means that he does not usually go to parties so the second part of the sentence should be opposite of 'does not'.

Q10. (4) flown

Explanation: The keywords here are 'ever' and 'before' which would suggest that the perfect tense should be used as it has already taken place. 

Fly (present tense) Flew (past tense) Flown (perfect tense)

 Q16. (2) infested

Explanation: 

infested is used on insects or animals ; meaning to be present in large numbers to cause damage and harm

invasion is usually used on people, e.g invaded by enemies, invaded by the French army.

Q17. (4) fell through

Explanation: 

fell through means not completed and stopped

fell out means to have a disagreement and stop interacting with someone

Q18. (2) yields

Explanation: This question is of a higher difficulty level. The key word you have to look at is 'harvest'.

yield is to give forth or produce by a natural process or in return for cultivation. e.g This farm yields enough fruit to meet all our needs.

reaps is to get as a return, recompense, or result: to reap large profits.

Q19. (3) accessible

Explanation: The key words are "offshore islands" and "motorboat". As such, it is talking about travelling and whether the place itself is accessible.

Q20. (3) subsided

Explanation: The key word here is 'flood' and we often talk about a flood subsiding.

Subside means to sink to a low or lower level.

I realised I have forgotten to post the questions for this. I will do so tomorrow. My apologies.

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Questions for this week

Dear all,

Here are the revision questions for English and Science for this week.

English

Science

Answers will be up on Sunday.

Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Answers for Week 2

English Synthesis and Transformation:

Q1. Helen prefers playing computer games to reading. 

Ans: Helen would rather play computer games than read.

• Explanation:

Prefer (verb --> continuous form) to (verb --> continuous form)

example: Prefer walking to running, prefer taking the bus to riding on the train


Rather (verb --> any form except continuous form) than (verb --> any form except continuous form)

example: Rather smile than frown, rather walk home than take a lift from him.

Read this link if you need more details on prefer __ to ___ and rather ___ than ____ rules.


Q2. We did not believe that Amy said that.

Ans: None of us believed that Amy said that.

• Explanation: 

In this case here, the tense of the verb is in past tense. If we are to use the present tense, none is usually accompanied by a singular tense, e.g none of us is going, none of us believes


Q3. He did not keep his promise. It upset me.

Ans: The fact that he did not keep his promise upset me.

• Explanation:

The past tense and participle tense of upset is still upset.


Q4. The toy is expensive. It is a waste of money to buy it.

Ans: To buy such an expensive toy is a waste of money.


Q5. Victor asked his brother, "Have you decided what gift to buy for James?"

Ans: Victor asked his brother if/whether he had decided what gift to buy for James.

• Explanation:

Remember the rules for direct to indirect speech:

1. Look at the tense of the verb outside of the speech. If it is in present tense, you do not need to change the tense of the verb in the direct speech.
2. If it is in the past tense, you have to change the tenses in the direct speech, present to past tense, past tense to past participle tense.
3. If the speech is a question, when you change from direct to indirect speech, the subject comes first followed by the verb, e.g 'Have you decided?' --> 'He had decided.'

Science Answers

Answer for 2(a)

She was trying to make a magnet by the electrical/electromagnetism method.

Explanation:

By passing electricity through a magnetic material, it could be turned into a magnet.

Answer for 2(b)

She did not coil the wire around the iron nail several times. She needs to coil the wire around the nail about 20 times. 

Explanation:

The nail did not become magnetised because the wire had not been coiled several times around it. If she coils the wire several time around the nail, it will become an electromagnet and pick up the paper clips. 

**To note:

A magnet cannot be attracted to a magnetic object. It is the magnetic object that is attracted to the magnet. Do take note of this when writing your answer. 

Answer for 3(a)

A: South Pole

B: North Pole

Explanation:

The magnets stay afloat because the are repelling one another. As such, based on the concept that like poles repel and since the bottom of C is the South Pole, the top of C is the North Pole. Bottom of B should also be the North Pole. The top of B is thus the South Pole and the bottom of A is the South Pole.

Answer for 3(b)
Take out the centre/middle magnet, flip it over so that the North Pole is facing upwards and then place is back into the centre/middle position.

Explanation:
Based on the concept that unlike pole attract one another, we need to let the unlike poles of the magnet face one another. We can do that by changing the direction of the poles in the centre/middle. The centre magnet must be arranged so that its North pole faces upwards and South pole faces downwards. In this way, all the unlike poles of the magnet face one another and attraction between the poles take place.

Until next week, study hard!

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Week 2 Questions

Dear all,

Here is week 2's questions:

English Synthesis and Transformation:

Q1. Helen prefers playing computer games to reading. 

Ans: Helen would rather _______________________________________.

Q2. We did not believe that Amy said.

Ans: None of ________________________________.

Q3. He did not keep his promise. It upset me.

Ans: The fact that he ___________________________.

Q4. The toy is expensive. It is a waste of money to buy it.

Ans: To buy such _____________________________.

Q5. Victor asked his brother, "Have you decided what gift to buy for James?"

Victor asked his brother _________________________________________.


Science P4 Magnets

Thank You,
Sincerely,
Mr Nelson Ong

Answers for Questions on Heat

Dear all,

As promised, here are the answers for the questions posed. Remember to revise through your past year topics each week. One topic/question a week will go a long way to help you for your final revision for PSLE. Lets' work hard together!

Answer for (a)

She would observe the drop of blue ink rising up the glass tube.

Explanation: Most matter expand when heated. When heat is supplied to the flask, it gains heat. The air in the flask also gets heated. This air expands, increases in volume and moves up the glass tube, pushing the drop of ink up the glass tube.

 Answer for (b)

The drop of ink would move down the glass tube.

Explanation: When the flask is placed in ice water, the flask and air cool down, contract and decrease in volume. The drop of blue ink oves down the glass tube.

Answer for (c)

It shows hot air expands when heated and contracts when cooled.

Explanation: The concept here is showing expansion and contraction when heated and cooled respectively. The matter involved is air.

Answer:

1. Good conductors of heat:

Aluminium, Copper, Silver

2. Poor conductors of heat:

Wool, Sawdust, Cotton

Alternative answer:

1. Metals:

Aluminium, Copper, Silver

2. Non-metals:

Wool, Sawdust, Cotton

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong

Questions on Heat

Dear all,

Lets' start with some questions on Heat. This blog will be a useful platform for you not just for your PSLE but also for your first common test. In addition to the topic of energy (P6) being tested, your past year topics will be also be tested. Usually, we would be rushing through your P6 topic and you might neglect the time to revise on your P3-P5 work, as such, this blog will help to contribute to your revision. Remember my golden advice! Revise through your P3-P5 work each week and not leave everything until PSLE.

This week questions focus on the topic of heat from the P4 syllabus.

Happy revision. The answers will be up tomorrow night or Monday :)

Sincerely,

Mr Nelson Ong