DSA Prep Strategy Example 1: Portfolio as Chief Editor of a Primary 5 Class Magazine

My P5 class magazine, in the era before the internet, .jpg and Microsoft Office were available to primary school students

Imagine you are a Primary 6 student preparing for DSA, and your proudest achievement in your life so far is serving as chief editor of your class magazine last year. How do you turn that experience into a compelling story for your DSA portfolio?

If you search online for sample portfolios, you will not find many examples. (Who would share?) I went back to my own past and dug out my primary school work to see how my experiences would hypothetically work in today’s DSA context. As a DSA guidance mentor at Ryse, I want to show my students how to make their achievements come alive, not just as a list, but as a story that truly reflects who they are.

Assume I was the chief editor of my class magazine. Being the chief editor was about so much more than just writing and editing. It meant leading a team of classmates, each with their own ideas and voices. I remember how we would brainstorm themes together, assign articles, and guide each other through the writing process. My job was to make sure everyone felt heard and valued, while also keeping our magazine on track and looking its best. Managing deadlines taught me responsibility and planning. These skills that matter just as much in life as they do in school.

My portfolio will not be just a list of duties or "work done". I will include photos of the magazine spreads, samples of my own writing, and some of the pages I helped edit. These visuals bring my experience to life and show what the class had accomplished together. I will also gather feedback from teachers and classmates. I remember everyone said the magazine was creative and well put together. One teacher told me I brought out the best in my team, and another said the magazine really captured our class spirit. These comments meant a lot to me because they proved my work had made a real difference.

When it comes to choosing DSA categories, my experience will fit perfectly under both leadership and literary arts. As a chief editor, I will have showed initiative, responsibility, and the ability to work with a team, all important qualities for leadership. My writing and editing skills will also make me a strong candidate for the literary or creative writing categories, depending on what the school offers.

What will make my portfolio special will not be just the list of achievements, but the story behind them. I will not just say I was the chief editor. I will show how I led, how I worked with others, and how I grew through the process. I will talk about the challenges I faced, like balancing everyone’s ideas or meeting tight deadlines, and how I overcame them. This approach will make my portfolio become real and memorable.

As a DSA guidance mentor, I always tell students to do the same. Do not just list what you did. Show how you did it, and why it matters. Talk about the skills you learned, the people you worked with, and the impact you made. Make your portfolio a story of growth, not just a collection of tasks/achievements.

This portfolio example is a snapshot of what I have learned and experienced in upper primary, as well as my achievements outside of school subjects. During this journey, I have grown not just academically, but also in character and leadership, and how I have come to know myself better. I loved seeing how the class magazine went from a seed of an idea to its publication, and it would hopefully become a memorable time capsule of my teachers’ and classmates’ lives.

It is an achievement I am proud of. To me, it was my magnum opus in primary school.

This is the first in a series of DSA case studies I will be sharing (using actual examples from my own past as a simulated case study for current DSA). Each one will focus on practical ways to build a portfolio that stands out, whether your talent is in writing, leadership or STEM. My next blog article will look at how to showcase technical and creative talents beyond the classroom yet still be applicable to the subject I am interested to study.

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