The Primary 6 mid-year exam, also known as the Weighted Assessment 2 (WA2), serves as a key checkpoint for students four months before the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) in Singapore [1, 2]. Experts advise parents to avoid emotional reactions or lashing out after seeing WA2 results to prevent damaging their child's confidence.
"For students, confidence is everything. If a child believes he or she is not good enough, nothing will work," said Mr Moses Soh, deputy chief executive and head of academic innovation at Mind Stretcher [1]. Parents are encouraged to privately process their own emotions first before discussing results with their child, ensuring a calm and supportive conversation [1, 2].
Starting these discussions with empathy helps children feel understood rather than judged, especially if they are disappointed or discouraged by their scores [1, 2]. Children who voice feelings like "I'm just bad at this" or "Nothing I do works" require extra reassurance and gentle reframing, noted Ms June Yong, counselling associate at Focus on the Family Singapore [1].
Parents should review WA2 results in relation to the child’s prior goals and past performance to make an accurate assessment [1, 2]. Any improvement should be praised as positive feedback. The review should be a joint effort between parent and child focused on building confidence and identifying areas for support, rather than simply highlighting mistakes [1, 2].
"Then they should work together with their child on what support he or she needs," said Ms Evelyn Nair-Guillet from Thinking Factory [1]. Parents are advised to analyse if errors stemmed from poor time management, carelessness, knowledge gaps or other issues and address them accordingly [1, 2].
The WA2 results offer a valuable opportunity for children and parents to reflect and build confidence ahead of the PSLE, which takes place in about four months [1, 2].