Eat your Maths

While flipping through the newspaper, Mr Fong chanced upon a newspaper article (following a tip-off from fellow conspirator- Bobo) in the Straits Times on the 3 PSLE questions that students contributed 'from memory', for SEAB refused to disclose the questions.

The SEAB does not stand for "Set Easy, Ask Bull****" (how come got four asterisks wan ah? what is it??)!

Similarly, the SEAB would never set such difficult questions to surprise you, only to share them genially over coffee with the next batch of students. Who knows, they can use the same questions to surprise different students!

Well, these are the 3 reported questions. Mr Fong (now trying to search his teacher's conscience) knows such questions are very, very common, and in fact, have been done about 100000 times during Eatyourmaths sessions.
For the first question, the students should chant,

''The difference stays the same!"

For the second question, they should echo,

"Change to equivalent fractions! Change to same denominator!"

And for the third question, Eatyourmaths ~~gluttons~~ participants should all roar, in unison,

"Use the formula loh! Height = Volume divided by Base Area!"

That's all. Theoretically, 12 marks in the bag. Hehe, you must all be on your way to 'The Goal called A*!' Hahaha... However, Mr Fong has some doubts to share:

1. They interviewed a teacher with 40 years of PSLE experience, who took 19 minutes to finish three questions, with the help of a calculator.

What is the point of printing this? Is it to show that the paper was horrendously tough, or that teachers nowadays are slipshod and unable to do questions they are supposed to teach? This nuanced view is just... [leading to next point]

2. An art of journalism

As Bobo noted, the Straits Times would regret if they did not report on such a big debate, and hence this reporter was writing for 'his 5 seconds of fame'. Mr Fong agrees- there was a deliberate effort to show both opposite camps with different stands about the paper. What is the purpose? It smacks to Mr Fong of pure journalism used to incite emotions in the reader, and in point 1, the teacher was most probably taken out of context (just look at the punctuation!). Take it with a pinch of salt- eh no, two pinches...!

3. The students are providing questions that they tackled almost 20 days ago.

In such a high-stress situation, it is impossible that the questions were 100% correct. True enough, question 1's phrasing raised a storm, and question 2 was seen as contradictory and too easy (you see- too hard we complain, too easy we complain too). The general assumption is that the questions are accurate. However, is that really so? This inaccuracy is proven by the revelation that...

4. Question 2 was wrong.

Well, Mr Fong just dropped the biggest hint/bombshell. Question 2 is supposedly (with help from, ahem, 'spies and messengers'..) :

"Chairs were arranged into rows. 3/7 of the chairs were arranged into 18 short rows. 1/2 if the chairs were arranged into 7 long rows. The chairs left were stacked up. Each long row had 16 more chairs than a short row. How many chairs in total were arranged into rows? "

That's all Mr Fong can say about his espionage sessions *runs before guilty look consumes his ~~handsome~~ face*...!

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction, with the callous intention to deceive and mislead. Do take this post with a pinch of salt, unless you want to stumble like a blind drunkard into the PSLE Exam Hall. All of you- the poor, deceived readers- have no right to sue 'Mr Fong' for his spewing of balderdash, for 'Mr Fong' is just a fictional character who does not exist. Any attempts will be met by his bodyguard-cum-lawyer, who is known to be Big, Armed and Dangerous (B.A.D, in short)...

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FYI, in case you were wondering, his B.A.D 'bodyguard-cum-lawyer' does exist. Beware. Be very careful. Be worried.