Seems to me like it always rained on the first and last day of the examinations. Today, the turbulence of the wind was worse than before.I nearly lost my umbrella to the wind and almost destroyed it due to the air resistance. Anyway, today was the last paper,finally.
We were in the canteen, talking about which questions to expect and going through the formulae one last time, before heading up to the hall, prepared and ready. I did not expect the questions today to be simpler than I had expected.There were only a handful of questions that were hard,but solvable,although I have the doubt I will not score well for these questions.
Anyway, I'm dying to get this post over and done with, so, let's just skip over to the final moments...Ms Lim had our post-examination treat waiting for us in the canteen!Nice!I could skip lunch and save up morethis week(make up for the money I lost due to forgetfulness-did not know I left my ruler in the bag, and had a spare pen in my pencil case).Thanks MS Lim!
The most surprising thing, was that many people I knew were boarding the same train after the examinations today.Strange, but maybe it was because it was the adrenaline rush to do some post-examination shopping with someone close(Right, Siang Ling???)...
Anyway, going off for now... hope that tomorrow will not be feeling so bored...
Hate to say it, but why did many friends made their wrong decision 2 years back and are only feeling remorseful only now?Why din't they appeal,and why did they not thoroughly consider their applications before submitting their choices???
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Recovery...
Today, my main focus for the examinations was to recover from the wrekage I caused on Friday. We had our Science(Chemistry) paper 2 on Friday. I messed up for my time management, as I read the wrong time. It was suppossed to end at 9.17am, but I misread the time as 9.47am, as that was suppossed to be the time for the Secondary 4 Normal pupils. Well, this was the first time, but once is ENOUGH. The carelessness was enough to kill me of my target of A1, which was my grade since I took this course.This is going to be my first and last time I got a grade lower than that.
Anyway, back to story. Today the 6 pure students were not here, as they did not have any papers today... So, the eight of us, being the minority who took the Science(Biology) papers, had the first 8 seats. Fortunately, I finally got the chance to seat under an air-conditioner!Call me sick and everything, but I enjoy the cold. I did better this time round, aceing through paper1. the questions were challenging, of course, but there were more questions that required thinking. I went down for a drink of coffee so that I would not see the wrong time again(luckily, this time there was only 1 paper). As I did not have the habit to do last minute revision for all my examinations(since primary 1), I decided to relieve myself by tutoring those who took the Science(Physics) paper 2? Their notes were downright simple! 1 thing that I found out about most students I helped(no offence), was that they were not strong with thier formulae(common for those who did last minute revision/did not do frequent practices) or had weak concepts(I'm one of them under this category).Hope they did well for the examination though...
Anyway, that's all for now, there's the last paper tomorrow which I am not so worried about, excpet that I have yet to conquer my weaknesses in the topics I'm weak in...
This brings the "O" Level Mother tongue paper a lot closer, to 2 weeks away, which is the following monday... All the best for all those taking this examination!
Anyway, back to story. Today the 6 pure students were not here, as they did not have any papers today... So, the eight of us, being the minority who took the Science(Biology) papers, had the first 8 seats. Fortunately, I finally got the chance to seat under an air-conditioner!Call me sick and everything, but I enjoy the cold. I did better this time round, aceing through paper1. the questions were challenging, of course, but there were more questions that required thinking. I went down for a drink of coffee so that I would not see the wrong time again(luckily, this time there was only 1 paper). As I did not have the habit to do last minute revision for all my examinations(since primary 1), I decided to relieve myself by tutoring those who took the Science(Physics) paper 2? Their notes were downright simple! 1 thing that I found out about most students I helped(no offence), was that they were not strong with thier formulae(common for those who did last minute revision/did not do frequent practices) or had weak concepts(I'm one of them under this category).Hope they did well for the examination though...
Anyway, that's all for now, there's the last paper tomorrow which I am not so worried about, excpet that I have yet to conquer my weaknesses in the topics I'm weak in...
This brings the "O" Level Mother tongue paper a lot closer, to 2 weeks away, which is the following monday... All the best for all those taking this examination!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Elites???
Yuan Ching Secondary School,Semestral Examination,Day 4,Thursday,10th May 2007,Secondary 4,Express Stream,English Language Paper 2, Physics papers 1 and 2.
Reached school at 7am to meet Andy, Steven and Jun Jie. Revised Physics notes, formulae and concepts 4 hours before the examination began. Summarised version of today:
English paper started at 9am as school starts late on Thursdays. It was considered to be an esay passage together with practically simple-to-answer questions. I am confident of getting near,if not, hitting distintion this time round.Sadly, although the paper ended really early at 10:40am, the 13 of us had to stay on for 2 papers which started at 11:25am.
Headed to the canten, watched the "unpure" people heading out of the school gate one by one. the boys gathered at the canteen, stocking up on our mental fuel. We struggled through the final moments of memorising to ensure nothing was left out during the crucial two-and-a-half hour papers.
11am. The whole hall was empty, leaving only the pure and the "elites"(Randall and I thought of that name for the thirteen of us) to dominate the whole area. During paper 1, we were seated wrongly, as if free-seating was allocated for the paper(damn it, should have taken the table all the way at the ohter side of the hall). Anyway, an hour later at 12.23pm when the first paper ended, we were rearranged in the correct order this time round(luckily, still no air-con spot). We agreed that this time round the multiple choice questions were very straight forwars and easy to answer. Fortunately, there was a ten-minute transition period before the next paper started at 12.34pm. I headed for the washroom first,since I had a stomache during the first paper, but luckily,it did not cost me much of my concentration. The paper started,and I was perspiring like anything in the hall. Who had turned down the temperature of the air-conditioners?I did not care, just keep the jacket on(who would want to waste time on trivial matters?). I lost concentration at the start, due to that problem, causing me to "donate" a couple of marks to the marker. Anyway, the rest of the paer went on quite smoothly, and I managed to finish it 10 minutes before time-out. After that,left for home immediately at 2.19pm...
imagine us on the actual "O" Level examination, The Elite Sanctum having their Pure Physics paper in the hall, taking up only 13 places and leaving the rest of the seats empty...
Reached school at 7am to meet Andy, Steven and Jun Jie. Revised Physics notes, formulae and concepts 4 hours before the examination began. Summarised version of today:
English paper started at 9am as school starts late on Thursdays. It was considered to be an esay passage together with practically simple-to-answer questions. I am confident of getting near,if not, hitting distintion this time round.Sadly, although the paper ended really early at 10:40am, the 13 of us had to stay on for 2 papers which started at 11:25am.
Headed to the canten, watched the "unpure" people heading out of the school gate one by one. the boys gathered at the canteen, stocking up on our mental fuel. We struggled through the final moments of memorising to ensure nothing was left out during the crucial two-and-a-half hour papers.
11am. The whole hall was empty, leaving only the pure and the "elites"(Randall and I thought of that name for the thirteen of us) to dominate the whole area. During paper 1, we were seated wrongly, as if free-seating was allocated for the paper(damn it, should have taken the table all the way at the ohter side of the hall). Anyway, an hour later at 12.23pm when the first paper ended, we were rearranged in the correct order this time round(luckily, still no air-con spot). We agreed that this time round the multiple choice questions were very straight forwars and easy to answer. Fortunately, there was a ten-minute transition period before the next paper started at 12.34pm. I headed for the washroom first,since I had a stomache during the first paper, but luckily,it did not cost me much of my concentration. The paper started,and I was perspiring like anything in the hall. Who had turned down the temperature of the air-conditioners?I did not care, just keep the jacket on(who would want to waste time on trivial matters?). I lost concentration at the start, due to that problem, causing me to "donate" a couple of marks to the marker. Anyway, the rest of the paer went on quite smoothly, and I managed to finish it 10 minutes before time-out. After that,left for home immediately at 2.19pm...
imagine us on the actual "O" Level examination, The Elite Sanctum having their Pure Physics paper in the hall, taking up only 13 places and leaving the rest of the seats empty...
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Conflicts
The events that occured today all revolved around this word, "conflict". The first incident occured as early as this morning, as I was struggling to wake up. Now,being a "fine" Tuesday morning, the journey to school was short, and yet filled with many incidents. A female student and another teenage girl having a conflict at an escalator landing, followed by two paramedics leaving the Clementi MRT station shortly after 6.30am. No wonder those flashing lights were turned on at the opposite site of the road.
Now, in school, I had some sort of an emotional conflict?Should I tellthe others that the classroom can be opened, or should I not, since it was almost seven in the morning, and that meant only twenty minutes before school actualy started for the day. Never mind, just walk on, and there they were, at the staircase opposite the admin block. At first, I thought, should I go over?Unfortunately, I was spotted. Am I such an ominus person(as Im someone who seemed to be the least interesting)? nevermind, let's just head over to the canteen, have a little chat with Gabriel before heading over to them later on. Went there, took a short break, saw Ms Lim with Zing Zai heading to the office to get the keys to the classroom.Headed up the stairs. Where have they gone? 3N2 classroom. Andy,Steven,Banu and the both of them, as well, were in there(See that, I still can't make up my mind whether or not to list their names down!!!). Helped Andy with his revision, since, if I was unable to get those acts in, might as well help those who were still willing to take the risk and make full use of the last minute revision.
After assembly, the whole class was wondering which way to take, since we were the first to head to the hall. Once there, examination started, I could not make up my mind about which essay question on conflicts would help me sustain a 2 this time round? Guess, after that futile attempt,that grade would only be wandering in my dreams. English Language Paper 1. My favourite. Did the question on "Singaporeans today are more demanding and impatient becuase they are more educated. Do you agree?"This one was much betterthan the two essays I did earlier this morning. I finished it in twenty minutes,inclusive of planing time. Guess what?I broke my record for writing a discussive essay(previous best:30minutes, inclusive of planing time, as well as using only a piece of paper to write a single essay for the first time), Here,I had a battle of words to propose about the ideas for the letter writing, with the main attraction being my one hour of pondering over the format to use for the proposal. In all, I used up an hour and twenty minutes to complete this section. The remaining 5 minutes? I did a mindmap about the title,"Freedom". If you had watched the anime series, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, you will know what is the freedom Gundam. Well, you guessed it, I wrote out a plan about the description of the Freedom, as well as the conflicts it and its pilot went through.Surprisingly, I took only 2 minutes and a half to come up with the plan, but, I sort of erased the plan in case someone found out about that.
Anyway, after that, headed home, had a mental conflict this time, Should I even touch the computer? That was my undoing tonight, for I had wasted 3 hours' worth of revising for the coming examinations, which I have completed only 90 or so percent. Seems like its time to stope here, as I have brainwashed everything that had happened to day right here... Seems like I won't have to worry about today until the results are released next week or the week after...
Until today, I have never known the true meaning of stress, not even last year, when I fumbled while at the frontline of the uniformed group. Till today,I only know that I had met my worse enemy, fear, and stress has yet to make its first appearance. ..
Now, in school, I had some sort of an emotional conflict?Should I tellthe others that the classroom can be opened, or should I not, since it was almost seven in the morning, and that meant only twenty minutes before school actualy started for the day. Never mind, just walk on, and there they were, at the staircase opposite the admin block. At first, I thought, should I go over?Unfortunately, I was spotted. Am I such an ominus person(as Im someone who seemed to be the least interesting)? nevermind, let's just head over to the canteen, have a little chat with Gabriel before heading over to them later on. Went there, took a short break, saw Ms Lim with Zing Zai heading to the office to get the keys to the classroom.Headed up the stairs. Where have they gone? 3N2 classroom. Andy,Steven,Banu and the both of them, as well, were in there(See that, I still can't make up my mind whether or not to list their names down!!!). Helped Andy with his revision, since, if I was unable to get those acts in, might as well help those who were still willing to take the risk and make full use of the last minute revision.
After assembly, the whole class was wondering which way to take, since we were the first to head to the hall. Once there, examination started, I could not make up my mind about which essay question on conflicts would help me sustain a 2 this time round? Guess, after that futile attempt,that grade would only be wandering in my dreams. English Language Paper 1. My favourite. Did the question on "Singaporeans today are more demanding and impatient becuase they are more educated. Do you agree?"This one was much betterthan the two essays I did earlier this morning. I finished it in twenty minutes,inclusive of planing time. Guess what?I broke my record for writing a discussive essay(previous best:30minutes, inclusive of planing time, as well as using only a piece of paper to write a single essay for the first time), Here,I had a battle of words to propose about the ideas for the letter writing, with the main attraction being my one hour of pondering over the format to use for the proposal. In all, I used up an hour and twenty minutes to complete this section. The remaining 5 minutes? I did a mindmap about the title,"Freedom". If you had watched the anime series, Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny, you will know what is the freedom Gundam. Well, you guessed it, I wrote out a plan about the description of the Freedom, as well as the conflicts it and its pilot went through.Surprisingly, I took only 2 minutes and a half to come up with the plan, but, I sort of erased the plan in case someone found out about that.
Anyway, after that, headed home, had a mental conflict this time, Should I even touch the computer? That was my undoing tonight, for I had wasted 3 hours' worth of revising for the coming examinations, which I have completed only 90 or so percent. Seems like its time to stope here, as I have brainwashed everything that had happened to day right here... Seems like I won't have to worry about today until the results are released next week or the week after...
Until today, I have never known the true meaning of stress, not even last year, when I fumbled while at the frontline of the uniformed group. Till today,I only know that I had met my worse enemy, fear, and stress has yet to make its first appearance. ..
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Preparation for the storm
It's drawing near, so I'll keep this short and simple. I did my second "long distance" revision, or revision marathon today. I had been laxed since the start of the year, not doing much intense reivision and such, I had even ben sleeping in class and skipping homework? That was the first time it ever happened...Now, the consequences are showing up. Forgetting some basics, unable to reabsorb most of the information taught in class and such. It has past. Now, the best thing to do is to try to revise as much as possible before the final moments draw near.
Anyway, forget about that for a moment, and just take a short break for now. It's not like I can just go on without refuelling. Anyway, many things, both pleasant and unpleasant have surfaced this week, however, these things seemed to have been more intense than those I faced during the past few weeks. Whats more, impossible as they seem, it's like the past is being repeated somehow.I just don't really know how to phrase all this for now, so, maybe I'll just think a little more in depth for the moment, at least, till the startof the examinations.
Friday, did quite little, and the only two events that I remember were the netball finals and the Jurong Point trip. Although our class did their best, they did not come in first, but second. They are not at fault, since, the nature of this class is more toward the frontline on the examinations, the class of the elites, as we have been told many times. Anyway, even though the break for them was a pathetic 2 minutes, but they seemed to have more or less recovered from the previous match...
After that, went to Jurong Point with Andy and Zhong Rong, for he had wanted to buy a few items for the examinations. After that, we went to Macdonalds to grab a bite, talked about the future of the CCAs and a couple of societies, before calling it aday and heading in our own ways....
It seems like we will all see each other for a few more months, before we all part in our own separate ways the same way when we all first came in and met one another...
Anyway, forget about that for a moment, and just take a short break for now. It's not like I can just go on without refuelling. Anyway, many things, both pleasant and unpleasant have surfaced this week, however, these things seemed to have been more intense than those I faced during the past few weeks. Whats more, impossible as they seem, it's like the past is being repeated somehow.I just don't really know how to phrase all this for now, so, maybe I'll just think a little more in depth for the moment, at least, till the startof the examinations.
Friday, did quite little, and the only two events that I remember were the netball finals and the Jurong Point trip. Although our class did their best, they did not come in first, but second. They are not at fault, since, the nature of this class is more toward the frontline on the examinations, the class of the elites, as we have been told many times. Anyway, even though the break for them was a pathetic 2 minutes, but they seemed to have more or less recovered from the previous match...
After that, went to Jurong Point with Andy and Zhong Rong, for he had wanted to buy a few items for the examinations. After that, we went to Macdonalds to grab a bite, talked about the future of the CCAs and a couple of societies, before calling it aday and heading in our own ways....
It seems like we will all see each other for a few more months, before we all part in our own separate ways the same way when we all first came in and met one another...