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Primary 5 question exposes stress that singapore students face
- Thread starter makapaaa
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No but all languages have a structure that should be adhered to. This is an exam question and they haven't even got the punctuation right.
A comma in the wrong place can sometimes change the whole meaning of a phrase. Surely precise language should be used in an examination setting or the futures of some children could be ruined because they misunderstood a poorly phrased question.
https://cybertext.wordpress.com/201...d-look-at-how-punctuation-can-change-meaning/
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I guarantee you if this question was put to ah tiongs or ah nehs, they will come up with a thousand different answers based on the positions of the punctuation marks and the semantics. 
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Boss you are right. All sinkie teachers must be culled and replaced with ang moh teachers. It is getting ridiculous when these low grade sinkie teachers are not just enforcing the singlish accent but even teaching the students to write in sinkie English.
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That will go very well with grunts and groans of "unf unf!" "ung ung!"
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This is the question if you want to work in MINDEF. Trust me, I know.
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Then pls do not answer that question.. it is a curse to be in MINDEATH
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Are you insinuating that Mindef operates on fallacies and unknowns?
By simple logic, if Cheryl tells Albert the month and tells Bernard the day of the month, Albert wouldn't know the day of the month and Bernard wouldn't have any clue which month was revealed.
By virtue that Albert's opening statement is to conclude he doesn't know, and that he knows Bernard also don't know. Albert's lying. To build upon that lie that Albert made, Bernard states that he didn't know at first but now he knows. Which is another lie or working on an unknown.
For a simple fact that if Cheryl told Bernard either 18 or 19, he would know her birthday immediately and thus affirm the fact that Albert lied in the first instance. Else if Cheryl told Bernard a range of numbers between 14 and 17, these were recurring numbers that appears on all the months given, i.e. Bernard is working on an unknown month and yet claiming that he knows the month. Bernard's lying.
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I feel better now. I have spent 3 days reading and analyzing the question and the many answers given and i still don't get it.
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Wah lau ...this Math problem is big news.
http://www.theguardian.com/science/...rt-bernard-and-cheryls-birthday-maths-problem
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-singapore-math-problem/article23906732/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/s...goes-viral-when-is-cheryls-birthday.html?_r=0
http://www.businessinsider.com/answer-to-singapore-high-school-math-problem-2015-4
http://www.theguardian.com/science/...rt-bernard-and-cheryls-birthday-maths-problem
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/news-video/video-singapore-math-problem/article23906732/
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/15/s...goes-viral-when-is-cheryls-birthday.html?_r=0
http://www.businessinsider.com/answer-to-singapore-high-school-math-problem-2015-4
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relax lah....just be yourself.
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The setter of that question blotched the whole thing with flawed logic and poor English.
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Singaporean high school logic puzzle sets internet abuzz after going viral
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 10:54pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 14 April, 2015, 10:54pm
Agence France-Presse in Singapore
The question, involving a girl asking two boys to guess her birthday after giving them seemingly scant clues, first appeared in an April 8 test organised by the Singapore and Asian School Math Olympiads (Sosma).
A maths problem that first appeared in a test for Singapore's elite high school students has baffled internet users around the world after it went viral, prompting a rush of attempts to solve it.
The question, involving a girl asking two boys to guess her birthday after giving them seemingly scant clues, first appeared in an April 8 test organised by the Singapore and Asian School Math Olympiads (Sosma).
It was meant for elite secondary school students aged 15 and 16, but swiftly went global after a local television news presenter posted it on his Facebook page Saturday.
In the question, Cheryl gives her new friends, Albert and Bernard, a list of 10 possible dates for her birthday - May 15, 16 or 19; June 17 or 18; July 14 or 16; and August 14, 15 or 17. Separately, she tells Albert the month of her birth, and Bernard the date. A conversation ensues.
"I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know that Bernard does not know too," Albert explains.
Bernard responds: "At first I don't know when Cheryl's birthday is, but I know now."
Albert: "Then I also know when Cheryl's birthday is."
Test-takers are then asked to use logic to deduce Cheryl's birthday from the conversation.
By Monday, internet users around the world were posting meticulously detailed answers to the puzzle on social media networks such as Facebook and Reddit, only to prompt a slew of comments disputing their findings and methodology.
Sosma later provided the full question and a model answer.
In a Facebook post late Monday, SOSMA provided the full question and a model answer.
I thought singlish is the national language. When people mentioned to me about Singapore nowadays I mentioned they speak Singlish in that country, not Mandarin, nor English, but Singlish.
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Solved the question in a couple of minutes.
The wording and grammar are atrocious. I had to use more logic to understand what the examiner is asking, than to solve the problem once I understood the question.
The wording and grammar are atrocious. I had to use more logic to understand what the examiner is asking, than to solve the problem once I understood the question.
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