Scores

I’ve finally gotten back all of my marked test papers. Yesterday was Language Arts, Chinese, Physics and Literature. Today is Maths 1 and 2, Chemistry and History.

So basically, I shall reflect on this year’s test results and the subjects, stuff.

Language Arts (LA):
    LA this year was a real shocker. The teachers started having much higher expectations of us. The appearance of Mr Sng played a critical part too I guess. His papers definitely increased the bar of standard of LA tests. The teachers also wanted us to start writing essays in the General Paper format – one of the quirks of an IP school. I had a lot of difficulty with this and always scored a very low, on-the-dot B. Frankly, I even started to hate LA because of this. My comprehensions were poorly done; I just passed! My frustrations towards LA definitely did grow over the past year. I also felt irritated by my LA teacher – she always seemed to be spending lots of time on unnecessary things, she was also easily distracted at times. However, during the period nearer to the exam, my impression of her started to improve. The tips that she gave us just before the exams (read tips, not hints!) were very helpful, and also showed that she cared about us, albeit in a manner which I did not really like.
    My essays were pretty well-done! :) I got above 20 for both the situational and essay, which was a pleasant surprise since it was the ONLY time I got above 20, or in fact anything more than a B, for any LA essay in the past year. I did work hard for this, trying to memorise facts on media, sci and tech and ethics. I read some of my classmates’ works and tried to figure out what was wrong with mine. Super glad that my hard work paid off! :D
    I definitely could not study for Paper 2 - comprehension and summary. This component pulled me down; in fact, my essays ‘saved’ me. Comprehension was an improvement I guess (though Mr Sng did say he lowered the standard of the paper LOL). Summary was DREADFUL. I really need to work on this, HAIZ.
Overall, this test has revived my love for LA – I got an A!!! I think I shall continue to work hard on my essays since the results show hahahaha.

Chinese:
    Frankly, Chinese has been sidelined for this test because I needed to study more for the other subjects. Although, I did try to memorise some good sentences on the morning of the Chinese test. It turns out that IT WORKS. Hahahah. I got an A for Chinese, which is AMAZINGGGG. (Hoping to recreate this during o-levels LOL) Shall work hard during the next 20 days to hone my Chinese skills so that I shall be ready for the o-levels! :D
    Eat Chinese, think Chinese, talk Chinese, sleep Chinese.

Physics:
    Physics was not bad :D I think that I have been regularly and consistently paying attention to physics, mainly because I like it better than Chemistry. I have also decided to take Physics in Senior High so I worked rather hard for this too :)

Literature:
    This was a REAL surprise. I had Math 1 and Lit on the same day, so I chose to focus on Math 1, and basically only memorized the lit quotes and stuff on the very day of the test. I remember saying to myself that I had ‘given up’ on Lit, and that I was going to screw the test up. After doing the test, everyone had the general consensus that we were all going to screw the unseen prose/poetry section up, even though the Romeo and Juliet component was surprisingly manageable. However, our teachers told us that we had improved!!!! Major shocker. I remembered myself scribbling on the paper furiously whatever comes to my mind! How could that have been an improvement? All of us had huge wide eyes that showed utter disbelief. Even Ms Sangeetha who was in-charge of unseen prose/poem said that generally, it was well-written!! WOWOWOW. When I got back my Lit paper, amazingly, I got an A+! I was genuinely shocked and pleasantly surprised. It appears that we had unconsciously wrote essays, that were actually good!!
    There were comments that my essay was much more focused, which really made me happy. I think that it had something to do with the environment and atmosphere of the examination at that time. I had went in expecting to fail the paper – somehow, I am guessing that this assumption made me a lot calmer in that I was ‘expecting’ to screw the test up. The time limit, although much longer, also made me ‘panic’, work faster, and forced me to write straight to the point. LA also helped me to hone this skill further. In fact, when I was writing the paper, I did not actually believe what I was writing in! This is all so weird. It appears that the teachers are not looking for something too abstract, or too definite. I think this is why our essays managed to be quite well-done. We have learnt not to go overboard with our analysis and pre-conceptions, therefore not going out of point.

Math 1 and 2:
    Math 2 was done better than 1. Lots of careless mistakes. AGAIN. Nothing much to say. Hahahah. Although I would say that I was surprised that my class did not do as well as I thought we would. My class is also kind of sorry towards Mrs Kong, our math teacher, since she said she would treat us to macdonald’s meal if we all got Bs. Some of them did felt that we let her down :(

Chemistry:
    I would admit that my chemistry marks was although high, below my expectations. I am not planning to take chem next year, but I still want to do well in it. Call it my perfectionist attitude, but I do believe in doing my best in everything, even though I hate it. Apparently, this paper was quite badly done in that the teachers were disappointed with us. Chemistry was much harder to score because the teachers were very strict with the phrasing and wording. I had a couple of careless mistakes here and there, which did make me frustrated.

History:
    I did think that I would do better in this. I missed A by one mark D:
    I’ve worked much harder for history this year. Mr Tay was a nice and good teacher too, which kind of inspired me to work harder. I am guessing that somehow this effect was felt by my class too, which kind of suggests the improvement we’ve had (Teachers play a role!!). I did feel more confident about my history than last year. I still remember that I freaked out during the exam because it turns out that what I did not study came out. I wanted to do a question on one of the topics which I studied on, but it required a component which I did not prepare for. I was in a dilemma. Should I continue doing that question, or try another question on a topic which I merely briefly went through? In the end, I chose the latter, which turned out to be a pretty good choice. I got A for both essays, which made me pretty happy :D What pulled me down was by SBCS, GRRRR.
    Overall, I would say a certain improvement in history, though I have not yet mastered it fully. More practice needed.

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This year has been… rushed. The word very aptly describes it. Syllabuses were rushed through, studies were rushed through, the exams were also in a way, rushed through. The year has passed very fast – in the blink of an eye.

I felt that all of us has worked harder this year (or at least for this exam), whether harder in a large or small amount. I’ve also managed to do quite well for this exam :)

One thing that I really hate during script checking is when people get much lower marks than me (not that I want them to get higher scores, HAHAHA). It really puts me in an awkward situation because 1) I am not the type to comfort people, in fact I don’t know how to, 2) I have a higher score than them and definitely do not want to come off as arrogant/sarcastic and, 3) I cannot exactly celebrate in their faces. This leaves me brooding about exactly what I should do. Unfortunately, this situation cannot exactly be ‘solved’. I just hope that almost everyone will actually worry about this kind of stuff like me, because it does show that one is being sensitive to others. (I am not exactly praising myself, but you get what I mean)

I am currently mulling over which subject combi to take, and what cca as well. Tough decisions in your life uh. This is soooo confusing. I would definitely like to get into a cca that I like, enjoy, am proud of and proficient in. However, the chances of getting a cca that fulfills all that is quite low. *worrying*

Meanwhile, I hope that the exams go well for those taking o-levels! Good luck and jiayous! :D