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Top 3 Exam Skills to Score Higher Marks for the Problem Sums
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Actual PSLE Problem Sum for Year 2025 (FULL VIDEO SOLUTIONS AT THE BOTTOM)

Ann had a total of 285 red and blue beads. She used 45 red beads and 40% of the blue beads. After that, the ratio of the number of red beads to blue beads Ann had was 1 : 3.

​(a) What fraction of the blue beads did Ann use? [1 mark]
Give your answer in the simplest form

(b) How many beads did Ann have in the end? [3 marks]
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Top Exam Skill #1
Analysing the Question
Problem sums are a major challenge for many students. The first impression a student may get when seeing a problem sum is a feeling of overwhelm. Lengthy story-like question that includes fractions, percentage and ratio appears to confuse the student. To overcome this, we encourage students to adopt the R.H.M.C. approach to each problem sum.
Read Twice.
Read the question once to get a general idea of what the question is about.Reading it twice will allow the student to break down the questions into smaller bite sizes while reading and subsequently allow for theselecting of key words and numbers which brings us to the next step.
Highlight Key Numbers and Words
Most words in a problem sums are just noises. Noises that may distract the student from the true signals or keywords that will determine the method used.
For the question on Ann’s beads, the following key words are highlighted:
Ann had a total of 285 red and blue beads. She used 45 red beads and 40% of the blue beads. After that, the ratio of the number of red beads to blue beads Ann had was 1 : 3.  
As you can observe, most of the question have not been highlighted as they are not critical information i.e. they will not affect the method used.

​We placed importance to the before scenario where Ann had a total of 285 red and blue beads, the amount of beads she used(the change) and the after ​ratio.

​Identifying the method used is crucial too and can only come with the understanding of different problem sum types and their heuristics.

​For the above PSLE Problem Sum, a Before and After Heuristic(Both Quantity Changed) can be applied.

​Method and Check​ steps discussed in the next skills.
Top Exam Skill #2
Execute the Steps
Before executing the steps, the student must know how to accurately identify the question type and strategy required.

6 problem solving strategies are given here:

1) Guess & Check, Make a Supposition
2) Model Drawing
3) Listing and Drawing Tables
4) Before and After Concepts
5) Simplifying the Problem
6) Grouping
For the question above, we have identified it to be a Before & After question(both quantity changed).

Method (Identify the right concept and write the steps)

Each step carries meaning and should be written with clear labels.
Ensure that all important numbers and details are taken into account.
Check the steps as you are writing.

Top Exam Skill #3
Time Management and Check
Check
Check the final answer by inserting the final answer into the question and examine if the numbers, ratio, percentage and/or fractions provided in the question matches. Checking helps your child to gain confidence in attempting the other questions.

Remember that checking of answers is a good working habit that needs to be instilled even for your child’s daily work in other subjects. Time each question and do not exceed the time allocated for each question. Many students who underperform for Maths fail to complete the paper. They spend too much time pondering on a small marks’ question, leaving behind the questions with more weightage.

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