Sharpen These Key Thinking Skills In Our GEP Prep Class

Do you think your child has what it takes to enter the Gifted Education Programme (GEP)? Do you think your child is brighter than the average 9-year-old kid in Singapore?

With the GEP screening test coming up, some parents may have concerns, questions, and hopes for their child regarding their chances of getting into GEP. For example, what kind of questions do they test students in the GEP screening test? What type of skills does the paper test for? What can I expect my child to experience in GEP?

In this article, we will focus on dissecting some of the GEP-style questions and skills needed to tackle these questions. We also go through some of these questions in our GEP preparation class to familiarise our primary school tuition students on how to approach them.

Pattern recognition

Google for “IQ tests” online, and chances are you will find a range of pattern recognition tests. These usually look like a series of shapes, and the test-taker is asked to choose the shape that comes next. You will notice that there isn’t really any ‘rules’ to learn – you either get it or you don’t. But after doing more pattern recognition tests, you begin to – well – see the pattern in the patterns.

As part of our GEP preparation class, we prepare students by letting them try various types of pattern recognition tasks – including those involving shapes, numbers, and letters. Try some of the example questions below!

Creative problem-solving

Here, we are not talking about artistic creativity. It is being able to think outside the box for solutions, even when the problem is something you haven’t seen before. Students may need to use their existing knowledge and think laterally to solve the problem. Sometimes, there may be more than one way to find the answer – so, similar to how we train students in Math Olympiad training, we challenge students to think about different ways to solve the same problem and  figure out the most efficient method.

These example questions seem straightforward – but a bit tedious. Can you think of alternative ways to solve these questions even quicker?

Logical reasoning

Logical reasoning involves making conclusions based on the information given. This might be tested in a visual form, which is similar to identifying patterns. This might also be tested in a verbal form, where students read a few statements and have to draw a conclusion from it. In our GEP preparation classes, we try to expose students to a wide variety of questions to exercise their logical thinking skills – be it verbal, numerical, or visual.

It might help to draw out simple diagrams to help you visualise logic problems. Can you figure out the below questions?

Verbal reasoning

Is your child familiar with word puzzles? Having good vocabulary and grammar is not everything for the GEP English questions. Students should also be able to do things like scrambling and unscrambling letters (to form anagrams) and decode ciphers. These are not skills that the school syllabus focuses on – but indicates a child’s ability to think flexibly and make connections.

We have a huge bank of verbal reasoning questions that our students can try out and gain exposure to. Try some of them below!

Conclusion

Above, we have shared some skills and examples of how they are tested in the GEP screening and selection tests. For the most part, these are abilities that some people are naturally better at – and so our GEP preparation class serves the function of exposing students to these types of questions to naturally develop their own abilities.

If you observe that your child is gifted in these areas and they are already handling their mainstream curriculum well – GEP might be the pathway for them! Letting your child try out some of these questions can also help them explore if they enjoy a good challenge.

Our GEP preparation classes are the ideal place to get your child started on GEP-style questions. And even if they don’t end up passing the screening and selection tests, these question tasks are also brilliant for training up your child’s general abilities in reasoning and critical thinking.

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