National Day Rally 2012

At yesterday's National Day Rally 2012, our Prime Minister (PM Lee Hsien Loong) highlighted the achievements of our students at the recent International Math and Science competitions. He only mentioned International Biology Olympiad and International Mathematics Olympiad. I think the reason is, the media reported only these two in July, hence PM Lee did not pick up the notable achievements of the other Science olympiads. It also does not help that our local media has a propensity to publicise more on sports, and less on academic competitions. I shall help our PM to give our students their due recognition (words in bold are not part of PM Lee's speech, they are inserted by me :) ).

" .. our schools, students also do well across the board. And at the top this year, they shine at the international competitions. This year our team won the International Biology Olympiad, we hosted it, and our team won 1st place. Our student, Nol Swaddiwudhipong from RI, was 1st. At the International Mathematical Olympiad, a Singaporean student, Lim Jeck, from NUS High School of Math and Science, was the top student. He came in 1st, the only one to score full marks this year. At the International Physics Olympiad, our Singapore Team did extremely well, winning 4 Gold and 1 Silver medals. I am also proud that our International Chemistry Olympiad team had won 2 Gold and 2 Silver medals, and at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics, our Singapore team received 1 Gold and 3 Silver medals. .... It makes me proud that as a tiny red dot in the world map, we are able to achieve much ...."

International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) team - Joseph Kuan (RI), Huan Yan Qi (RI), Ding Yue (RI), Wayne Soo (NUS High) and Ang Yu Jian (NUS High)

International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO) team - Tan Zhi Yang (NUS High), Liu Aofei (RI), Rachel Lim  (RI) and Gerard  Low (RI)

International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) team - Kendrick Wong (NUS High), Ang Yu Jian (NUS High), Wang Ye (RI), Jee Kai Yen (RI) and Wayne Soo (NUS High) 

Kheng Leng (my niece, from Ngee Ann Polytechnic and now studying in NUS Year 1) was also mentioned by PM Lee.

RI's Yellow Form



Lim Min received a yellow form (Good Student Report).

The Special Awards 2012

It is heartening to see that Singapore is striving towards an inclusive society. At the Special Awards presentation ceremony 2012, not only were awards given to students from top schools (e.g. we have The Prime Minister's Book Prize given to outstanding bilingual pupils, The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science given to top achievers in Mathematics and Science), we have other awards given to normal course students (The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Outstanding Normal Course Students), ITE College students (The Lee Kuan Yew Scholarship to Encourage Upgrading), polytechnic students, and also Assumption Pathway School and NorthLight School students (The Lee Hsien Loong Award for Special Achievement). There are also other awards for outstanding all-round achievement and all-round excellence. The MOE press release with all the awards and winners is here.

Lim Jeck receiving The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science (Secondary Section) from  Mr Lawrence Wong, Senior Minister of State, MOE and MICA

Recipients of The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science (Secondary Section) 

Recipients of The Lee Kuan Yew Award for Mathematics and Science (Pre-University Section)

The award - $400 (20 x $20) POPULAR gift vouchers

Prodigies of the maths universe

IN Depth
The Straits Times, 13 August 2012
by Sheryl Quek
Pdf Version

Click for a larger image. Lim Jeck and Ryan Kor are not in the photo. Perhaps they were not comfortable to be dressed as ancient Roman/Greek Olympians. :)

Mad About Maths

The Sunday Times 12 August 2012
Mad About Maths
by Eve Yap

Click for a larger image

CGMO 2012 Singapore Team Results and CWMI Selection Results

Left - NUS High team and right - RGS team 

The China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO) results were out. Singapore has won 3 Silver and 5 Bronze. The Silver medals are won by Tan Pin Lin and Jazlene Ong from NUS High and Zhang Boyu from RGS. This year, the cut off point for Gold is 108 (out of a total of 120 points) and for Silver is 75 (Surya missed it narrowly by a few points!). Heard that everyone who scored below 75 got a Bronze medal. Congratulations to all the girls!

Singapore will be sending 2 teams to the CWMI (China Western Mathematical Invitational) which will be held in Inner Mongolia from 26 to 30 September. In the past, students in the SIMO national team who have not participated in any IMO or who have not won a Gold before in previous years' CWMO (China Western Mathematical Olympiad) would take a selection test, from which 8 students are selected to participate in the CWMO typically held in October/November of each year. This year, there appears to be a change as students are going to CWMI instead (CWMI may be the new name for CWMO). The following 8 students have been selected:

1. Bay Wei Heng (HCI, Year 5)
2. David Lin Kewei (RI, Year 3)
3. Way Tan (NUS High, Year 4)
4. Teh Jiun Harn (RI, Year 4)
5. Yap Jit Wu (NUS High, Year 5)
6. Clarence Chew Xuan Da (NUS High, Year 1)
7. Liu Yi Jia (RI, Year 2)
8. Sheldon Kieren Tan (RI, Year 2)

More Photos, and Problems from IMO 2012

Closing Ceremony

Day 1 Problems of IMO 2012

Day 2 Problems. Unless previous years, the students' scripts were not returned this year.

Year 6 Term 3 Common Test Results

Lim Min's JC2 Term 3 Common Test Results

I think Lim Min did reasonably well for her Term 3 Common Test, scoring above 50th percentile for all her subjects. She could have done better for Chemistry and Economics though. Based on RI's yearly spectacular 'A' levels results, most students would score at least 2 grades above common tests and preliminary results. Hence I would think Lim Min should score at least 6 Distinctions (she has already obtained 2 Distinctions so far, in H1 Chinese and Project Work; she had sat for a H3 Math exam but result is pending) for her 'A' levels.