Advice from my mouth, hand and heart..
Monday, February 12, 2007
THIS POST IS OF MY OWN OPINION AND WHAT I THINK IS THE BEST. IT IS WHAT I FEEL AND THINK SO IF YOU ARE A PERSON WHO GETS OFFENDED EASILY PLEASE DO NOT READ IT!!
THANKS AND HERE IT GOES..
On February 9 2007, I reported to school to collect. When I saw my form teacher, I asked him how much I got, He said "You did okay, A average of 4". Then I calculated my 5 subjects x 4 which means I got 20 points. I was extremely sad because I had previously wanted to get less than 20 points. At the start of the year, I just wanted to get out of the school faster with whatever result I can get in Poly with, But as the exam came closer, I told myself to work harder and get a good score.
The day before collecting my result, I calculated my result. As I gave up on maths and wanted to just stick with C6 from last year, I didn't study much for it, I just flipped through it 2 days before.
I realised something then, For science, I only studied hard for Chemistry which is the weakest of my Combined Science and Physics I did not have time to revise much as Chemistry TYS took me a long time to finish. I went into the Physics with whatever knowledge which is still fresh. After the paper, I knew I was gonna completely fail my Physics paper.
For Social Studies, What I studied didn't come out except for one topic I think, Either that or 2 topics. I very afraid because I scored D7 for Humanities last year. But I had to finish the paper or else I would be wasting my time.
I prayed for my Source Based to save me because for the Structured Essay Questions, I can easily predict that I would lose 10 marks or even more.
Then for Geography, What Gabriel studied came out exactly and although I studied what came out too, My questions were harder compared to his.. I missed out on 5 marks at least because I did not have enough points or time, THen I thought of my past result which made me panic even more and after the paper I was very sad but the rest were all smiley and such.
Then I ultimately calculated my Results, English B3, Maths C6, Humanities C5, Science C5 and Chinese C5
Which means a total score of 24 points.. There was very few places I could go to, I could be back to where I was a year ago.
Then when the actual moment came, I scored a total of 18 points combined certificate, My grades are in the previous 2 posts.
Then I was very happy but tried to maintain my cool but eventually I couldn't take it and cried. I was very happy I wasn't put down by the people who laughed at me, The people who looked down at me, The people who thought I was of no use..
Now I showed them that I am better than them.
I really wanna thank my principle who gave me the chance to retake my exam in school and my vice principal who convinced the principle to give me one more chance. Mr Ee, My former principle and Ms See, My former vice principle
And I would also wanna thank Ms Audrey Tan for putting aside so much time to teach me Chemistry, Mr Tsia for Physics, Mr Farizal for Social Studies, Mr Goh and Mdm Rozianah for Maths..
Had they given up on me, I would have wasted 1 more year and go back to square one.
But while I was happy about my result, I think of those who were in my shoes a year ago, Mainly those who did not made it or scored badly..
When I received my results 2 years ago, I scored 28 and was very sad but my friends were there to encourage me and tell me that I still have choices. But ultimately, I did not make it to any Poly. I started to blame everyone, I wanted to scream at them for not helping me and such.
But I did not, I went home and thought of my options. When all JAE and DAE postings were released, I made it no where and really wanted to go Private.
But I would be wasting money, Why? Private Diplomas are expensive considering they cost the same for Poly courses BUT only for 6 months to a year.
However established the school is, Like SIM, SIC and MDIS. All the connections they have with overseas Universities, Their certificates are practically useless.
If you put a person with a Diploma in Information Technology from any Poly and a person with a Diploma in Information Technology from any Private Institutes. However shallow it may sound, The employer would choose the one with a Govt Diploma why? Information Technology itself is already very general, It took the Govt student 3 years to complete it and the knowledge he has is still considered general. What makes a Private student who took 1/3 of that time?
More over, Their so called connections with universities overseas, Those universities are very unheard of, So the cert you come back to Singapore with might just be on the same level as a Poly Diploma albeit much more expensive.
The only good Private Institutes are La Salle and NAFA, As they are THE best arts and culture schools in Singapore
Then I thought of going to ITE and at the same time take Private Os. But the courses I wanted to ITE were all full except for Engineering which I have absolutely no interest in.
Alot of people might be going the ITE path while taking Private Os, But it is highly unadvisable. Some people may advise you with sugar coated words like saying "Take both then if fail again, At least you still have your NITEC cert"
But thats a wrong thinking, Can you imagine if you fail O levels again? You're already balancing both worlds which means 50% concentration each. You are just wasting money and time.
Let's say you concentrate on Os the last 3 to 4 months. It leaves you very little time for ITE. Then when you take your results, What if you make very few improvements? You would have to stay in ITE BUT because you concentrated on Os, You screwed up your ITE exams. You would probably have to retain again which makes you waste more time.
If you wanna concentrate fully on ITE, Then don't take Os anymore.
Then you tell me, "Hey what If I can make it?".
In ITE, They study totally different stuffs already so chances are you have to seek help to refresh your memories. Friends can help you but ultimately its the teachers that make the most impact. So now tell me, Which is a better choice?
For me, I would have gone to ITE if I had Business School option but it was all full so I went with retaking instead.
Then I told myself, I can't be going back to school!! Or I would lose my pride and all those stuffs, People would look down on me and such.
I went around to look for Private Schools to register with and I read all the Testimonies, And they all sucked very badly..
Most of them scored 25 to 30 the first time round but the second round all said they scored from 20 to 25. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY WHAT THEY SAY! THEY ARE AFTERALL JUST EARNING YOUR MONEY!!
Trust me, Going back to school is the better choice. I thought school was not gonna be a good place to study anymore, But thats just a sad excuse.
When I went back to school, I can say one thing is for sure. 5N students are much more better than 4E. I've been in Express all entire secondary school life.
I can say confidently that many 4E students like myself are complacent and take things for granted, We have a mentality that we are Express students, Hence we are smart and need not study. Then we blame the teachers when we fail.
But 5N students are different! They study very hard because they feel they are slower in the thinking etc.. When they fail, They blame themselves for not studying.
When I compare the 2, I can see that the 5N students are more hardworking.
Then of their mentality. I made alot of great friends in 5N and I can tell that they truly treat me as a friend. While in 4E, The people are extremely scheming, They give you nice words in front of you and while you turn away, They chop you with a parang from behind.
That is how things work in 4E, People backstab each other to get to the top whereas in 5N, They help each other get to the top.
So now you have a rough idea, Please don't be dishearten by what others say, Retaking in my honest opinion is the best choice by far and please put down whatever ego you have and just go back and fight for another year.
Good Luck!
Words I'll never speak..
12:35 PM
