Ten year series
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Ten year series (TYS) is a colloquial term used by Singaporeans, in particular students, to refer to official compilation books of examination papers in past years for the Primary School Leaving Examination, GCE O-levels and A-levels, approved by the Ministry of Education and University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate respectively.
In Singapore schools, these books are known to be used extensively by teachers and students both inside and outside the classrooms, in preparation for similar questions that may be asked in future examinations. Most students review these past examination papers in order to seek to reveal applications of concepts as well as encounter the forms of various new concepts which would be covered in examinations but not explicitly in the syllabus.
Critics of the education system claim this phenomenon to be signs of rote learning, that goes against the emphasis for creative thinking by the government in the recent years. However, examinees vouch for the quality of the questions by pointing out they are answered in essay format, as opposed to multiple choice, and often tie into utilitarian real world applications.
The term is not always truly literal since some of these books have compilations containing papers from more than two decades worth of examinations, which means that students will thus often be doing practice papers that are set even before they were born. Ten-year series should not be confused with assessment books, which serve as an additional practice, or as a form of enrichment. The latter are privately authored and sold in bookstores.
The method of preparing for the GCE examinations by students is similar throughout the world, a wide range of which countries include Japan and Morocco. This method is to solve past examination questions even if the format of future exams have changed. An analogous American practice would be practising on the "10 Real SATs" books.
[edit] Four year series
Four year series are not to be confused with the homophone Fourier series, though both are used extensively by National University of Singapore engineering students, the Four Year Series is an extension of the practice of preparing for GCE O and A Level preparation using Ten Year Series in Singapore.
Proponents of such series would argue that these provide convenient collections of problems to practice on. Its critics prefer to believe this leads to overreliance on past questions, and may lead to "spotting" rather than actually thinking about questions.
