ten-year series

English

Alternative forms

• 10-year series
• TYS

Etymology

From ten + year + series.

Pronunciation

• (Singapore) IPA^(key): /ten jɜː sɪˈɹiːs/

Noun

ten-year series (plural ten-year series)

1. (Singapore) A compilation of national examination questions from past years.
   • 1970, “The Straits Times”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 11:

     Ronald is looking for someone who has a 10-year series of H.S.C. questions on pure and applied mathematics (from 1955-65) to lend or to sell.

   • 1993, Ng Wei Joo, Tan Seow Hon, “The Straits Times”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page Insight 26:

     For example, the traditional 10-year-series, a compilation of past year examination questions, now comes in all shapes and sizes.

   • 1996, Evelyn Yap, “The Straits Times”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page Life 3:

     The 10-year series is a compilation of 10 years of GCE O and A-level examination questions and model answers, which students use to "spot" and mug for questions in their own examinations.

   • 2000, Sandra Davie, “The Straits Times”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page Review 36:

     They are not worried - because questions are designed in such a way that the answers will not be found in any of the textbooks, classnotes or 10-year series.

   • 2005, Yu-Mei, “When a ten-year series is not enough”, in Too Many Thoughts‎^[1]:

     The "ten-year series" is a phrase used in local parlance to denote assessment books collating Cambridge examinations from previous years. Students use the ten-year series as practice exams for the real thing.

   • 2009, Liyana Othman in Pearly Tan, “The New Paper”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 13:

     She said: 'Before the new syllabus was introduced, I think students relied heavily on TYS to get good grades. They're like mock exam papers and they prepare the students for the real thing, and the questions are quite similar.'

   • 2015, Yonas Ngaturi, “Tuition was not so bad”, in Youth SG‎^[2], archived from the original on 28 December 2015:

     On top of the 10-year series and the thick booklet of other schools' exam papers we were assigned to do, I requested to get more English papers to practice my composition writing and comprehension skills.

   • 2016, Sim Kian Ho, “SPIRIT”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 1, page 56:

     Students are more exam-smart today. During my school days, there was no 10-year series. We just studied everything from textbooks, learned everything and enjoyed learning.

Usage notes

• The term ‘ten-year series’ is not literal – some ‘ten-year series’ contain compilations of questions from more or less than ten years.