Jacelyn Tay ready to 'escape' after PSLE ends: 'The past one week has been intense'

Posted on 29 September 2023 | 23,722 views | 9 comments

Lim Ruey Yan
The Straits Times
September 28, 2023

Local former actress Jacelyn Tay is ready to “make an escape” after the national Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) ends next week.

“The past one week (has) been intense,” the 48-year-old single mum wrote on social media on Thursday, as the PSLE’s written examination kicked off on Thursday with the English-language papers.

“And a pat on the back for all mamas and papas like me who made ourselves jailbirds, accompanying our children to study,” she said. “I only started six days ago. He was on his own (for the preliminary exam).”

Tay said her son Zavier, 12, has never given her cause to worry over his schoolwork and that he has no tuition except for Chinese.

She added that since Zavier was a young boy, “I deliberately did not get involved with his schoolwork as I wanted him to be responsible for everything he does”. “It is not my job to make sure his homework is done.”

However, the wellness health coach turned into an anxious parent the night before the written exam.

“Frantically making sure that he has enough good pens to use during (the) exam, I found out that he only (had) two,” she said, reminding herself to get more pens for her only child on Thursday.

“And I just discovered that correction tape is not allowed during (the) exam,” she continued. “Hwah… no correction tape? Then how? Cancel and strike off the wrong word?”

Tay said she felt a sudden chill down her spine.

“Z, you try not to write too many wrong words, okay?” was what she told her son, even though she was not sure if that was good or terrible last-minute advice.

“I used to laugh at parents who were so anxious about PSLE. Sigh… now, I understand,” she said, before adding: “Think I will be worse when he goes (to the) army.”

Netizens offered Tay advice in the comment section, like replacing the battery for the calculator or the digital Chinese dictionary for the upcoming papers.

Jacelyn Tay posted on social media a photo of several marked mathematics practice papers as well as a photo of several assessment books. PHOTOS: JACELYN_TAY/INSTAGRAM

She also posted on social media a photo of several marked mathematics practice papers, writing: “After many days of jailing my son, maths now all above 90 finally.”

She recounted what the boy told her: “Mama, why don’t you open (a) tuition centre?”

She also posted on Instagram Stories a photo of several assessment books, likely used by her son for PSLE revision, and wrote: “To de-stress, I started packing all these books to give away right after PSLE.”

She also posted a photo of Japan, writing: “And now I am dreaming of flying off right after PSLE.”