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SEVEN UP!

After a long break from blogging (almost 2 fat months), I have now decided that my O level results would make a good time for a post. 7 A1s! still waiting for the truth to sink in.'

Never in my projections did I expect such a stunner. I mean the teachers were like egging me on since last year. "7A1s 7A1s" and of course with the pressure mounting, I would have at least thought that hitting the seven would be a possibility.

And then of course the exams came. Social Studies was a roller coaster. All the funny questions about ang mohs (aka Caucasians) working in Singapore as foreign talent. A lot of the sources were from forums. Looking back 3 years to when the papers were set. It was 2002 and guess what? I not Stupid had just appeared. To make the 'problem' worse, along came the structured essays and to everyone's horror, all the unexpected questions came out. Even those 'expected' topics were so twisted they were virtually mutilated. By the time I came out with the points, the clock had decided to squeeze my hands and I was left with an unfinished essay. At that point, it must be added that I did not do myself any favours by writing till the examiner walked past to collect the sheet. I was warned by him about the cancellation of my last page should this situation arise again. What a great start.

The next nightmare exam came in geography. At first it wasn't too much of a problem. It was 1 hour and 10 minutes into the 1 and a half hour paper that I realised that I might not be able finish. So I spent the next few minutes trying to chop my contents to fit the remaining 20 minutes. Jitters come whenever I feel something's missing, especially from a script that makes its way under the nose of some marker in England. Than along came physics with a whole bunch of questions on mobile phones. One must have thought the setters saw it as a fad. Not to be outdone, chemistry came up with its own killer questions. One of which was so biology-based I was feeling sorry for the non-triple science students.

The next two months then became a nice gentle period of suspense. Would I do well or crash in C territory? Thankfully JC life was so vibrant I was kept occupied. But the day of reckoning had to come. Mine came with a nice frothy, gastric filled stomach. Breakfast went down the toilet. Then was a nice long wait for the next 6 hours while an extremly helpful classmate 'counted down' the remaining time.

My teachers undoubtedly deserve credit for their clear teaching and dedication to helping me grow throughout my years in Monk's Hill Secondary School. Though we were small, yet we were closely knit together unlike any other school in Singapore. Yet I would also like to thank the Lord my GOD for his exceedingly bountiful grace upon me in granting me such a good score in spite of the unexpectedly tricky questions this year.

posted by Zhong Liang @ 11:37 PM