Promos 2005

Exams has been over for around a week. However, the stress levels at VJC seems to remain high. The S44 Chronicles investigates why:

"Promo results, PW, CHINESE LOR!!! Haiyo you think exams over only means stress over ar? Don't be so naive.. this is Singapore, this is VJC, where the stress will never end.. Aiyah nvm, I dun wan to waste time talking to you already. I still have PW to chiong, and my CHinese and R papers to study for!! No timee! Gtg.." our informant, Mr khan-chiiong informs us.

Indeed, although its the end of exams, students are undecided on whether or not to party and have fun, with a whole list of tasks awaiting them. While they want to just relax and stop thinking about work, the pressure of more Pointless Work and for some, Chinese are mounting up on them, denying them a chance for a deserved breather. To make matters worse, their promo results have been less than ideal...

"D E A D! I got D-E-A-D! I'm so DEAD! Might as well go jump down now you know.. " Mr Sucidaal tells us.

The S44 Chronicles interviews more people..

There were people who were irritable..
Mr. Angstt: "Just F OFF .. "

Then, there were some who just felt an A wasn't enough..
Mr. purrfectionist: "Don't talk to me.. I'm damn sad.. only got 95 for my Maths... ... Huh? Grades ar.. Need you ask? Of course 4 As. Anything less and I'd have failed. But.. how can I fail? OUt of the question. Shoo!"

Of course, some didn't have a clue..
Mr. dumbo: "D-O-D-O! i got DODO.. Is that good, or bad?"

And finally, after 1 whole day of searching, the S44 Chronicles finally found someone happy with his results.
Mr. Conttentted: "C-C-C-C! C for consistent! Woohoo!"

But whether the students received good or bad results, whether they were happy or sad, satisfied or not; they all still have tasks ahead of them to accomplish. Even in the holidays, there weren't be spared from the powers of the Evil Master Stress; there'll be modules for them to learn online too.

Continue to receive your crucial updates on the stress situation from your one and only web-newspaper.

-The S44 Chronicles

Well, I've plenty to say about the Promos results. To say that many of us received results that we're not happy with, would be a serious understatement. I think.. many have received the results and felt a utter gush of disappointment.

Well, I wanted to highlight a few things through the 'article' above. 1stly, we're all in this together. The Promos, PW, even Chinese.. all of us have taken it. The stress each of us feel is undoubtedly different, but the syllabus we take is the same. I guess, at the end of the day, its the attitude we have which will make us or break us.

But.. think about those guys who didn't make it to VJ, those who didn't even make it to JC.. and those, who had no choice no matter how hard they studied - they had to go to ITE. Its a prvilege that we're above so many others academically. And an even greater privilege that we're at least living in a safe country, away from quakes, hurricanes, or even terrorist attacks (so far).. not suffering in poverty. Well, I think its human nature to always be envious of people better than you only and forgetting the people you're more privileged than. Like my previous DM said, "What has been given to us is a privilege, not a RIGHT." Imagine how much a kid starving in Africa would give up anything just to have 3 full meals a day.. while some of us, with the same kind of desire, wish to be living a millionaire's lifestyle. While someone is struggling to get past his O's, we are utterly crushed when we don't do well for promos?

Maybe I exaggerate.. Probably I exaggerate.. I believe all of us in this class has the resilence to overcome whatever disappointment we have. This is just merely a reminder, to be contented. But there's just a fine line between contentment and complacency too. Results we have received, we can't change.. If its good, keep it up. If its bad, and you know you can do better, then there is nothing to worry about. If you think you can't do better and its really bad, I guess you know deep within yourself that if you can make it to VJ, you can handle your exams here.
The only reason why we would become 'hopeless cases' is when we give up hope on ourselves.

I admit, before the exams, especially when the exams were nearing, I was very stressed up. Probably more stressed up than most of you around. I had expectations to meet, but I knew I was not very well on track, and well, I had to rush and compact all my mugging especially the days before promos. To give you an idea of my 'stress level', I studied for about 12 hours the day before the Chem paper.. After the chem paper, I immediately went back and studied mugging for Math until 2 a.m. For my whole life, I've always believed in sleeping early the day before so that I can concentrate for the morning paper the next day. However, in JC, my record was broken. First during mid-years - math (12 am) and now, broken again.

During the crucial 1 week period of the actual exams, it is when stress is the highest, for me at least. For mid-years, I never felt that kind of stress before, but I told myself that I won't let it happen - I'll be more prepared next time. However, I did well, and I let myself slacken for my promos. I'd say I'm lucky.. that the week before, I realised that it wouldn't be so easy to get good results again; so I went through every single topic for my Physics, chem and math the day before the exams itself, hoping that I will be able to retain the important information for at least a day.

Chemistry
I had the whole day before for it. However, I tried going every single thing; in the end, my brain could only take a portion and not all of it. So in the end, I often forgot bits of stuff here and there.. my brain was drained out and I did the paper too slowly. Panicked.. my heart was pumping so fast nearing the end of the paper and I could feel my hands turning cold. Didn't complete the last question in the end.

Ok I admit my aim was to get an A, well, coz I managed to get an A for my mid-years and I'll be letting myself down if I just aimed for a pass.

But well, I honestly didn't think that I would reach my target for Chemistry. Somehow, one can sort of gauge how well one would do for math and sciences. In my mind, my best possible result was an A. But i was expecting around 60s.. and at worst 50+, but yes, I was confident I would pass.

In the end, I scraped an A with 70.0 on the dot. Just any 1 more careless mistake and I would not get it. So what else can I do but be extremely thankful for it?

Math
I did study for Math, in fact, quite a lot. However, my approach was wrong. And therefore, I was quite unprepared the day before, especially with Chem ending at 5pm. (Just to correct some mis-understandings, if I study for 1 whole day but absorb nothing, I would say I did not study much. I think its useless to delude yourself on the amount of effort you put in unless you're sure it materialized into something useful) Well, I studied the more important topics way too early, (like 2 wks). It would have been ok if I had left this remaining time to revise everything, but however, I did not study the 1st 6 months topics and therefore, I had to cover them then.

In the end, I forgot quite a lot of stuff which I could easily have remembered if I just went through the main points of every topic the day before.

So yes, I aimed for an A. The paper didn't go too well, but hey I still got a B and I'm still happy about that.

Physics
I knew I made mistakes on studying for chem and maths. I gave myself too much stress. Since Physics was the last paper, I had less stress, and this time, I just went through the key points of each chapter; as well as the more important ones. There was sufficient time too.. the paper went well, and I knew it was my best paper.

Yes I'm happy with my results. My Econs and Chem could very well be Bs.. Yet, for these results, I guess I also cannot fully credit myself. I have to thank God and all those who ever prayed for me. Maybe it was because of the faith that God will help me that I never gave up.

Well, to those of you out there who didn't do as well as you would have liked,
1. Never stop believing in yourself
2. Consistent and last-minute work are all very important
3. Its not the end of the world even if you aren't very good at academic work. Everyone is unique, we know that, and has their own talents. I could never play music like Liang Hong nor Nigel (Goh) nor terrence; I can't even draw for nut's sake (can forget about comparing with Nigel or mining / huiqing la huh); I'm not as sporty as Jenn Haur and Nigel (Goh) - yes, the only reason why pple call me fit is coz I really trained hard, and I won't give up; I don't have the leadership skills like Jenn Haur; I can't sing like the choir pple; I can't manipulate techonology like the computing guys; I don't have the light hearted - always laughing personality of our 'package' (Shuyu,jiejun,yiting,szemin); and my academic results are also worse than Mohan and HuiQing.

haha.. see, in the end, its not academics that determine everything. And we will always be better than someone in something but worse in another - its fair. Even a highly successful person would have less leisure time than you.

So know that there're people better than you, but be content with your own results. :D

- WilbuR -