I recently finished my A levels after studying in a Junior College (JC) in Singapore, and like many of my peers and counterparts, I faced much hardships and had many complaints about what I had to go through.
And lets be honest, all those currently studying in JCs or those who had already finished their A levels (pshttt) would say the same thing: 'JC is dam sian', meaning 'extremely tiring'. And why wouldnt it be? The curriculum for most or all students are packed from the very morning to the late afternoon, filled with lectures and tutorials and completely sapping any vitality that students would have. There were loads of content thrown to me during lessons, that were difficult to memorise and even more so to understand. Atop of that, I usually did not have much time to process all the information on the spot. This meant that I have to bring my notes home and try and get my brain around whatever was taught, AND complete whatever tutorials (or homework) that I was assigned to complete. And WAIT, I forgot to mention, we only have a little less then two years before we face the 'ultimate challenge' that is the A levels. This is the examination that means so much to all students. The examination that will play a huge factor into deciding the universities that we will enter, the courses we will take up, and subsequently our career paths. Pretty much 30-40 years, but hey, no pressure :)
Hoho and then theres the Co-Curricular Activities (CCA). For those who joined CCAs that require little training/meetings, then great, this isnt much of a problem for you. But for those pursuing courses that generally require
more than just good results (Law, Medicine, etc), then you will probably join CCAs that are more rigorous and time consuming. Of course there are some who join these CCAs out of interest, but no matter the case, we all can agree that joining competitive sports and performing arts CCAs, as well as the Students Council (poor thing :/), will definitely have at least an influence on your academic achievements.
Many more other factors that I will not bother to mention, but I think it is quite clear that the life of a JC student, or even a Secondary School student, isnt easy. Students are drilled to memorise skills and content and regurgitate them during tests and examinations to the best of their abilities, and to be honest, very few students bother to think about the application of what they are learning in real life situations. I know I didnt. Many of my classmates didnt. All we could thinking of is 'OH CRAP A LEVELS COMING LIAO, FASTER STUDY'.
I personally did not do well under the aforementioned environment. Even in the Integrated Programme (IP) I was constantly scoring F9s for multiple subjects, and it was very, very depressing. Especially when you have classmates that score way above the cohort average, and you cant help but compare yourself to them. Why am I doing so badly? Why cant I just improve?
And we all try, dont we? But I personally didnt succeed. I failed so frequently that once before I received my paper for a test back I thought 'Im gonna fail, But who cares? This isnt the first time.'
And that is an incredibly dangerous thought to have.
The moment that thought comes to your mind, it means you are so used to failing you are just desensitised, and not meeting up the your own expectations as well as that of others no longer bothers you anymore. You no longer feel like trying, because you grade yourself even before the teacher grades you, and all the hard work put in to doing well and excelling in your academics is just thrown down the drain. You constantly compare yourself to others and you feel more and more depressed which every passing test or exam. And maybe you have parents that dont show care and concern the way you would want them to, and instead they add on to the bone crushing amounts of pressure you are already experiencing. I dont know if its just me, but this is how I was at one point in time.
And many people complain about this education system that forces students into being robots and zombies. But the fact is that we cant introduce a total system of change, because looking at it from a practical perspective, that will never happen. So I guess we have no choice but to succumb to this system whilst trying to introduce little bits of changes at a time to make education a more enjoyable experience for students. If we cant change this system that we might as well learn ways in which we can best manage with the overwhelming amounts of stress.
And so to all the students out there who are facing a terrible and hard time with your academics, I just want to say: Strive on.
You have to somehow escape that vicious cycle, and regain your confidence so that you at least have a fighting chance at improvement. You have to keep trying, with the belief that you WILL get better, and that maybe someday you will surpass your own expectations. I personally thought at first that such things will never happen. I made conclusions before attempts, and gave up before I started. Some of these sentences might be familiar to you: 'I will NEVER get above S for chemistry' or 'I will NEVER get above C5 for chinese'. These were some of the things I said in IP and in JC, and maybe some of you can relate.
The thing is, I attained a B3 for Higher Chinese O levels, which is the only O level exam I had to take, even though I had been consistently failing in school tests and examinations. I once got a B for chemistry in my JC End of Year (EOY) exam even though my usual score was a S or a U. And these arent SPECTACULAR results. But these are things I thought were NEVER possible. It just couldnt happen. Confirm plus chop.
But it did.
And how..... why..... huh? Wa, how come so lucky? And in retrospect it wasnt a matter of luck or chance. If 'flukes' were so easy to come by I would fluke 4As for my J2 prelims. It was a combination of factors such as support from friends and teachers that were always willing to help out and provided me mental and physical support throughout my entire journey.
And most importantly, I did not give up. If I had just wallowed in self pity, and resigned to the fact that I would never achieve a decent score, then I would never have done what I did. And as much as you think something is
IMPOSSIBLE, I hope I have convinced you: no such thing exists. You have to strive on, and believe that you are better than who you think you are. That is the ONLY way you can regain your self confidence and start to make improvements. There will be people who will help you along the way so you are never alone in this fight.
Whenever you see signs of improvement, no matter how small, be positive and tell yourself that its a sign you can do better. you might fail the very next test again, but you at least know you are capable of improvement. Have hope and faith, and strive on in everything that you do.
Of course, some might say that im making alot of generalisations, and that whatever I mentioned is just bull. That may be true, but I am just providing an opinion and encouragement to students who needs it. I have walked the path of failure and I am writing this purely to motivate my juniors with my own personal story, because I know it might make a huge difference to them. I dont try to critique the education system because that will spark too much of a debate, and I dont bother too much living under such a system, although I do wish it can change for the better in certain aspects. Lastly, I am a 19 year old, and I did not score extremely well for my General Paper grade, so please, pardon any language or content errors.
KZ
TRS Contributor