PSLE results day: Unbearable wait, jangling nerves and burst of relief

SINGAPORE — Five days before the release of the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results on Thursday (Nov 22), Madam Suriana Mohamed Shah threw a party for her second daughter and some of her schoolmates, complete with food, movies and games galore.

Over four hours, the children — numbering about 15 or so — let their hair down and had a blast of a time at her place in Woodlands. “It’s to let them relax (before they collect their results). The kids talked about what schools they wanted to go to, and they are all positive about it,” said Mdm Suriana, 37.

On the eve of the big day, her daughter Lailatul Huda Abdul Razak and her friends living nearby hung out together at a park close to their homes, preparing themselves for what was to come.

Business development manager Nadiah Jamaludin, 32, was also feeling nervy in the lead-up to results day, as she vexed over how her son, Rudy, would fare.

“(I think about) what (happens) if he fails (the PSLE), what if he can’t go to the secondary school (he wants to go to), how it will affect him if he didn’t do well,” she said.

“It goes through my mind every time, at least until the results come out.”

She put her anxiety down to an “unavoidable maternal feeling”. Her son had a speech delay when he was younger, and was struggling with school work for most of lower primary.

With the help of tuition, he made improvements over the past few years. During his preparations for the PSLE, he would revise his books for two hours every night, Ms Nadiah said.

Mdm Suriana told TODAY less than 24 hours before her daughter was due to get her results that she was calm about it, given that her elder daughter went through the same thing just a year ago. “Because we didn’t set any targets for (Lailatul) as compared to my (elder daughter), there was less pressure on her,” she said.

THE BIG DAY

What a difference a day makes. “I have butterflies in my stomach now,” said Mdm Suriana when TODAY met up with her family about half an hour before the PSLE results were released on Thursday.

The family was making their way to Lailatul’s school, Si Ling Primary, where she would be collecting her results slip.

Lailatul added: “I’m also a bit nervous now, because I’m scared my results are not (what my parents and I expect).”

Mdm Suriana chimed in: “But I have already told her, whatever results she gets, we (both parents) will be okay with it.”

By 10.45am, mother and daughter, along with other family members, arrived at the school, where they first headed to the school hall for a cohort-wide briefing.

The pupils were then split up by class to receive their results.

As 12-year-olds across the island wait to find out how they did for the PSLE, Ms Nadiah — who was unable to take time off work — was so nervous that she was “unable to focus” at work.

Her husband and mother accompanied her son to Jing Shan Primary School.

Over the phone, her husband gave her a blow-by-blow account of what was happening at the school, as they await the results. “I was (telling him) to tell the teacher to hurry up!” she said.

At 11.19am, the message that she had been waiting for finally arrived: Rudy had passed and qualified for secondary school.

“I said ‘Yes!’ when I got the message,” Ms Nadiah said.

Rudy hopes to go to Anderson Secondary School, and the family will be looking at the options, said Ms Nadiah.

For now though, they can breathe easy.

After his last PSLE paper, Rudy got a PlayStation 4 as a present and the family plans on buying more games for him as a reward for his performance.

There was also relief and joy for Mdm Suriana.

Emerging from the school gates with her daughter and family in tow, she said her daughter had “performed within expectations”.

“We are proud of her,” she said.

As Mdm Suriana spoke to TODAY, Lailatul and some of her former classmates were excitedly discussing their results.

With a load off their chest, the family will head across the Causeway for a getaway on Friday, joining the extended family in Kuala Lumpur.

Because of the back-to-back PSLE examinations for both her daughters, the family has had to forego their annual year-end family holiday last year.

There will be some respite for now. It will be another four years before the family’s third child — out of four — sits for the PSLE, said Mdm Suriana as she heaved a sigh of relief.

But almost immediately, she realised something else: “But that’s when (Lailatul) will be taking her O-levels too!”

CLASS OF 2018’S PERFORMANCE

The Education Ministry (MOE) said on Thursday that 98.4 per cent of students who took the PSLE this year qualified to move on to secondary school.

Of the 39,041 students going to Secondary One next year, 66.6 per cent are eligible for the Express course, 20.6 per cent for the Normal (Academic) course, and 11.2 per cent for the Normal (Technical) course, MOE and the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board said in a joint media release.

Secondary 1 posting results will be released on Dec 19. Students are to report to the secondary schools that they are posted to on Dec 20 at 8.30am.