ACJC Honors Day

Yday was the last day of school for Nana and also ACJC Honors Day. I have mentioned previously that I have never seen my kids onstage receiving awards. Ok, maybe I have; Nana was recognised on stage for her NH contributions to Council and Netball. She was in the Council Exco. 

There was a chance yday. Nana was nominated by ACJC for Colors Award. This is a National award from Singapore Sports School Council to recognise students for sporting excellence, character and sportsmanship. I asked her if she wanted me to attend the Honors day and she said that there isn’t a need. Ok! I am still haunted by Zaky’s painful 4 hours graduation ceremony. 

I excitedly asked her about her Honors day before bed. She said that it was very fun, and there were a lot of photos and autographs, given that it is also the last school day for their painful JC journey. 

Her class picture.

 

This is what she is getting her Colors award for - canoeing. I am mega proud of her. She was new to the sports, which required a lot of physical efforts and time commitment. They spent many hours every week, not only practicing canoeing in the waters but gym work and early morning before school runs to build stamina. She didn’t win anything in her 1st NSG; she was afterall barely 3 months into the sports. She almost gave up on the CCA, bcos it was way too tiring. She persevered and then was subsequently appointed team captain. In her 2nd NSG, she clinched 2 medals! I also think she deserves the Color award. 

Nana said that she was also recognised for Christian Fellowship service. In addition, there were 2 funny awards - ACenthu and AC BFF award. There were 3 winners for each of the award and she won both. 

 

I know. I am also wondering if she spent her JC years studying or having fun. 

Anyhow, school has officially ended. Zaky has started his O levels practical exams and his written papers will start in the 3rd week Oct. When Zaky is in his last week of exam, Nana will start her A levels. 

Fighting! 

Mummy Lim

Nana’s A Level Prelims

It is now Nana’s turn to get back her results. 

Nana takes 3 H2 subjects - Maths, Physics and Geography and 2 H1 subjects - GP and Economics. She has cleared her H1 Chinese in the beginning of the year with a B and had happily dropped it. She has also passed her Project Work, which is a prerequisite for Uni. For entry to university, she would only need her 3 H2 subjects and GP.  If she does well enough for Chinese and/ or Econs, these can be used to pull up her overall score. Otherwise, she can discard them totally. Nana has already decided that it is the latter and has placed minimum effort on Econs. Oh boy, Econs used to be my favorite subject. 

Nana was very worried about her prelim results bcos she felt that she did badly despite mugging really hard. It is ok, A level really makes everybody doubt their self worth. I remember doing badly for prelims too and got all confused if I was studying the right thing before the actual A levels. I survived and so would Nana. She is so capable academically but always think so little of herself. 

Finally, the prelims results are back. I think the results are better than she had expected. She got a D for GP bcos she wrote out of point for the essay and said that many of her friends got D too. At least she now know what constitutes writing out of point. For the other 3 H2s, she has obtained Bs. She said that they are mostly borderline Bs. 

It is ok, there is still time for the final dash. I googled and ACJC, like many JCs, tend to set papers harder than A levels. I thought her prelim results are already quite decent. 

Nana is indeed making the last bit worth and studying every hard. A levels will start in November. Meanwhile, Zaky starts his O levels today with a Chemistry practical. He said that it was ok and that there was a chemical that he couldn’t make out the composition. He peeked at the boy’s beside him, decided to write down the same compound and turned out to be correct. Ya, he peeked! 

I had the chance to send Nana to school on the day that we attended Zaky’s graduation ceremony. 

This is my cue to tell the kids how it was when I had to walk the serene path from the MRT to ACJC 30 years ago - the unsheltered pathway and without the commercial buildings that have now replaced the grass patches and trees. I used to count the number of Mercedes that stopped outside of the school gate to drop the wealthy kids. Do I miss my JC days? No.. JC life is indeed too hard. 

Mummy Lim

A Levels

JC is only 2 years and very short. Nana just got into ACJC for barely a month and she would be taking A Levels at the end of next year. While she mugs for A Levels, Zaky would be mugging for O Levels. Good ah, study together. Lol. 

The O Levels scoring system hasn’t changed and I am familiar with it. Daddy Lim was telling Zaky on Thursday night that the entry to JC will be revised to L1R4 too! But only in 2028. Lol. I read that the L1R5 for JC was decided bcos the passing rate for JC was super bad many years ago but we no longer have this problem, thus revising to L1R4 to relieve some study pressure. I think it is a good move but my kids are born too early.

The A Levels results for University admission is very different from my time. The grading still comes in the form of A to E but they now have this University Admission Score (UAS). The gradings are translated to numeric scores. 

The UAS is based on a maximum score of 90 - 3 H2 subjects (3 x 20 points) + 1 H1 + GP + Project Work (3 x 10 points). This will be revised to a maximum score of 70, where only the 3 H2 + GP will be considered. PW is graded either as pass or fail and whether the rest of the subjects will be considered as part of the UAS depends on whether they help to improve the UAS.

Bcos Nana has done well for O Levels, she is now taking 4 H2 subjects. In the event that she takes all the subjects at H2 level, the one with the worse score will automatically become a H1 subject. I think she has the option to downgrade one of the subjects to H1 in year 2 too and then.take it as a H1 during A Levels. 

So, when will the 4th H2/ H1 subject and Chinese results be taken into the UAS? Let’s say that the student scores A, B, B, C for the H2 subjects, B for GP, and A for MTL. 

UAS omitting both 4th H2 and MTL = 20 + 17.5 + 17.5 + 8.75 = 63.75 (this is the baseline)

UAS with 4th H2 = (20 + 17.5 + 17.5 + 7.5 + 8.75)/80 x 70 = 62.34 (4th H2 pulls down the grade)

UAS with MTL = (20 + 17.5 + 17.5 + 8.75 + 10)/80 x 70 = 64.53 (MTL improves the grade)

UAS with both 4th H2 and MTL = (20 + 17.5 + 17.5 + 7.5 + 8.75 + 10)/90 x 70 = 63.19 (4th H2 and MTL together pulls down the grade)

So, the UAS calculation with MTL added improves the UAS from 63.75 to 64.53. Hence, the final UAS is 64.53.

This calculation will be done automatically by MOE. Now, back to the question that Nana has asked on whether Chinese result is important. If she is intending to go into a highly competitive course (doctor/ law/ dentistry), then I am sure all subjects are important bcos when 2 or more students have the same UAS, the school looks into the subject scoring details. 

Sadly, Nana has no aspirations to go be a doctor, lawyer or dentist. Lol. That is also to say, MTL plays a much less important role in the UAS. Nana has worked very hard at the last minute and gotten an A2 for Chinese at O Levels. In the end, she didn’t even need to use her Chinese result score for her L1R5. I think the same will apply in her A Levels bcos I don’t think her Chinese result will be good enough to pull up her UAS. I think Nana will be super happy to hear this conclusion. She was just asking me the other day during her Chinese lesson, on how hard she has to work for her MTL. Lol. 

She is now taking tuition for Maths and Physics. As expected, she is enjoying Econs, I did too. I am not sure what is happening to her Geography and if she needs to downgrade 1 subject to H1, it is probably Geography. The other 3 subjects are too precious (and useful for University course selection) to take at H1.

That concludes my “study” of the UAS. I am so clever. Haha. 

Mummy Lim

1st week in ACJC

Nana reported to school last Wednesday and it was orientation for the rest of the week. She of course had a blast and had quite a few fellow NHians for companion but also made new friends quickly, especially those in her Orientation Group (OG). One thing for sure, there are many more good looking teenagers compared to the nerdy boys in NH. Hoho. 

She bought new uniforms from school on Thursday, didn’t try them and found them too big. Zzzz. We had to bring her to Bibi & Baba to exchange during the weekend. Oh yes, it was also Bibi & Baba during my time too. The uniform is still the same but I thought the material for the skirt seems thinner. They didn’t have the required size for the blouses and she had to do the exchange back in school.

Anyway, I waited to today to post bcos I had finally compiled all the different “looks”. Hoho. She was still in her NH uniform on Monday bcos she needed to do the exchange for the blouses. Full uniform is required on Monday and Friday. On Tuesday and Wednesday, she had her orientation Tee and she hand washed it.

On Thursday, she had her PE tee. It is still the same bright yellow shirt but dri-fit and not cotton anymore like in my time. 

Finally, in full uniform today. 

When we know that it is ACJC, I told Daddy Lim that I will go dig out my JC pictures that are hidden deep in the storeroom. I did! Me when I was 17! 

Grew out my hair when I was in JC2. 

I told Daddy Lim that I would take a photo in Nana’s uniform too but hasn’t done so. Hoho. 

Orientation is over and it is subject combi submission and CCA trials this week. ACJC is super flexible with their subject combi and Nana is opting for Physics, C Maths, Economics and Geography, which is almost the exact combi she wanted if she had gotten into EJC or SAJC. The only switch was Physics for the originally planned Chemistry. While she has more interest in Chemistry, seniors and tutors told her that Physics is relatively easier at A levels. 

School is still very lax until the subject allocation is finalised. The students are to attend lectures as per their preferred subject combi, but tutorial and the other H1 subject classes have not started. 

It is a different story for Zaky, who complains that his school days are now ending in the late afternoon almost everyday. He was struggling with his project work just this week. It had been a while since I saw him work so hard. Haha.

Fighting! 

Mummy Lim

ACJC

The posting result was released at 9am yday. I was in JB for business and had asked Nana if she would wake up at 9am for the sake of checking the result, which would be sent via SMS to her mobile. 

We had been hoping that she would be accepted into EJC. With a 2024 COP of 6 points for Science, EJC must be strong academically. That is also her top choice. She said that it looked like a fun school and the school has ultimate frisbee as a CCA and she really wanted to join that. We knew that there is a high possibility of not getting in bcos Nana just met the COP and the school is gaining popularity, thus more applicants and possibly pushing down its COP this year. Getting into the Art Stream, which has a higher COP is not an option. While Nana isn’t the strongest in her Sciences, doing 2 humanities subjects isn’t her strength too.

Her 2nd choice is thus super important. If she doesn’t get into EJC, she will make it into her 2nd choice. Like I mentioned previously, Daddy Lim and I were urging her to choose NJC over ACJC but we gave in after she insisted on how bad NJC is. I think she sorted of regretted; she mentioned last week that many of her friends did select NJC eventually. Arrrggggghh..

The posting result was released before 9am yday. She WhatsApp that it is ACJC. She was of course disappointed and contemplated when I asked if she wanted to appeal. If yes, which JC (EJC and/ or NJC), and she should figure out how to appeal and by when. 

Of course her mother is much more efficient and found that appeal is done directly through the schools’ website. To qualify for appeal, the students must 1st meet the COP and then to justify the appeal. I saw that the COP for EJC Science had dropped to 5. Haiz. So if we are to appeal, it is only to NJC, which COP for Science remains at 7. I passed the information to Nana, who eventually decided not to appeal to NJC bcos she said that it is very 麻烦 (zzzzzzz) but more importantly, she doesn’t see herself in NJC. Ok lor. 

Nana reported to ACJC this morning after 2 long months of vacation break.

She made an effort to wear her contact lenses, and was happy that she no longer needed to braid her hair and can wear track shoes to school. Daddy Lim dropped the kids on his way to work and this would be the arrangement for the next 2 years. She has arranged to meet her friends at the Buona Vista to walk to school together. I remember that walk from the MRT. The path was unsheltered and beside plenty of trees 30 years ago but is so much better now. Lol.

It is orientation for the next 3 days and I am sure that she will enjoy herself and will enjoy ACJC. It will definitely by more fun than NJC. Nana had been reminded times and again that she has to work hard, especially now that the environment is likely to be less academically pressurising. I really don’t want to tell her “I told her so” in the future. What will be, will be. It is God’s plan and the 1st time that she is in a Christian school. Amen.

Mummy Lim

Nana’s O Level - Part 3

I forgot to mention about last Friday’s dinner. We got to eat what the kids deemed as “good food” in celebration. Nana’s choice of food. 

The ice cream that we had was nicer but I forgot the pictures. 

After visiting SAJC, EJC and NJC, and what her tutor had said about wasting her good grades on SAJC,  she is now less keen on SAJC. SAJC was the 1st JC that they had visited and she said that the students were aggressively zealous. EJC tops (as expected) bcos of the new and fun environment. She visited ACJC yday and has to really decide on her 2nd choice very carefully.

We went into a huge debate with her on whether it is ACJC or NJC for choice 2. Her argument of why *not* NJC is the rundown facilities, the toxic environment and lousy school notes. We cannot see her perspectives. As working adults, we have seen our fair share of toxicity and are sure NJC is nowhere in comparison, maybe even a good training ground. Lol. While there are online comments that thrash NJC, there are a fair amount of existing and ex-students who stood up for NJC too. Isn’t that the case for all schools? Moreover, 2 years would pass so quickly - half her time would be spent learning new/ more in-depth subjects and the other half preparing for A level. 很快的. Most importantly, NJC sounded so much more prestigious than ACJC and produces students with good result. I know, I was from ACJC and should love ACJC but looking at my A level results…. Never mind. Hoho. 

We eventually left the choice to Nana, reminding that if she really did get into ACJC and results aren’t as ideal bcos her environment is too lax, then tuition lor. Before she even went for the open house, we already know that she has already made up her mind to choose ACJC over NJC. 

The options were submitted last night bcos I would be away for the next few days. She was given 12 options and  we found out eventually that only choice 1 is compulsory. But like all kaisu Singaporeans, we filled up all 12 choices. 

She compromised and put NJC as 3rd choice over SAJC. From choice 3 onwards, I think it didn’t quite matter. It would be EJC or ACJC. 

Anyway, choices are made and the rest is in God’s hands. Let’s see 4 Feb, 9am. 

Mummy Lim

Nana’s O Level - Part 2

Family and friends celebrated Nana’s good result with us. Zaky is also very proud of jiejie and was exclaiming his joy in the family chat group. I think he has forgotten that jiejie had just helped him raised the bar for O level results. Hohoho. 

All the while, Nana had her eyes fixed on SAJC. It is a Christian school and they have ultimate frisbee. Ah Kim had asked her about her options if she did better than expected but Nana was fixated. She actually didn’t think that she could do better (or so well), just like her PSLE. Other than knowing that she wanted to go SAJC, she didn’t do any homework at all and simply waited for the results. She has totally no idea what are in the polys. We talked about it last week and decided that if she has to go to the poly, she would still have time for open houses and researches. 

Yday, we spent time to really dissect the situation. Her final grades would allow her to enrol into better JCs. 

Seriously, we have no idea which JCs are good and what it now takes to enter university. The admission, based on A Level is so much more complicated than my time. We encouraged Nana to ask people/ seniors who are in JCs or recently done JCs. She also reached out to her tuition teachers.

A brief of A level system in my understanding. Regardless of whether it is science or art stream, to encourage students to have a wider exposure, they are to take 1 subject from the other stream. Students will take a min of 3 (out of 4) subjects at H2 level and 3 other subjects (English, Chinese and Project Work) at H1 level. At A level, if 4 subjects are taken at H2 level, then the one with the lowest score will automatically be converted to a H1 level. As to how the scores of the H1 and H2 subjects are tabulated for university, that is even more complicated and I haven’t done my study.

Nana isn’t the strongest in her Sciences but going into the Art stream would limit her choices in University. In addition, the Art Stream combination isn’t ideal, requiring her to take 2 humanities. While she has interest in Geography, JCs usually do not offer the Geography and History combo bcos the amount of work would kill. After some research, we saw SAJC and EJC offering a special combination of Geography, Maths, Econs and 1 Science subject in their Science steam. That is interesting. 

Nana had zero idea of what she wanted to study in the university or her work profession in the future. After a quick browse of NTU/ NUS website, we concluded that having only 1 Science wouldn’t put her at a great advantage for most of the Engineering/ Science courses. With this knowledge, it might be to her advantage to go for subjects that she would do well and enjoy then to try to take 2 Sciences. 

Then, it brings us back to the question - should she still go to SAJC? We tried encouraging her to explore her options and she is now keen on EJC. They have ultimate frisbee too. Hoho. However, the COP for their science stream is at 6, which also meant that Nana needs to put in her 2nd choice very carefully. If she doesn’t make it into EJC, she is very likely to get into her 2nd choice. Other than SAJC, there is also NJC and ACJC to consider. It is funny how rumours stayed on for years. Nana still tells me that ACJC is full of party animals and CJC has high pregnancy rate. This is what we heard 30s years ago when I was in JC and I am surprise that students still say the same thing now. Lol.

我们说到口水都干了. All it took was for her tuition teacher to tell her “can is can lah, but why waste your good grades on SAJC?” He was from ACJC and assured Nana that times are different now. Lol. She is now opened to look at ACJC.

Many of the JCs are having their open houses today. This morning, together with some of her batch mates, they were touring Singapore and visiting the various JCs. They went to SAJC, NYJC (Nana didn’t make the grade for NY but her peer did after 4 points deduction), EJC, and finally NJC. ACJC’s open house is on Monday. She didn’t know what an IB program is and thus didn’t consider SJI. Duman, VJC and TJC are too far away. She is also not interested in RV. 

She has to submit her options by this Wednesday and the results will be released on 4 Feb 9am. If accepted, she will report to the JC the next morning in her secondary school uniform. Heng ah, I haven’t throw away her uniform. Lol. 

Mummy Lim

Nana’s O Level - Part 1

The O level results are always released at about the same time of the year. The O levels results were finally released yday. The date was confirmed about a week back and the counting down started. 

Nana seemed not at all impacted. She wasn’t anxious and was happily enjoying her holidays up to yday. I was more eager to get this chapter over and moved on to the next milestone and less anxious about the result. Oh yes, the anxiety needle was so much lower compared to PSLE, maybe bcos there are so many options post secondary schools in Singapore. Some way, some how, it is not difficult to obtain a degree eventually, maybe a longer route and a little more $$. 

Unlike PSLE, O level results are released in the afternoon. By 2.30pm, results can be checked online. The students (and parents were invited too) were told to arrive at 1.50pm. Daddy Lim and I both took some time off. I was working from home and took a grab down to meet Daddy Lim in NH. 

We were supposed to leave the house at 1.15pm and was still talking to a colleague at 1.05pm. The gan cheong spider appeared and started hovering in the background, reminding that it was time to go. We did leave the house at about 1.15pm but the grab took forever to arrive. 

The last chance to snap a picture of Nana in her NH school uniform. 

I think she was more anxious about being late than the result but once that anxiety surfaced, it didn’t stop and she was gan cheong all the way. 

Daddy Lim was no where to be seen when we arrived and we headed up to the hall to a sea of students. Nana met her other gan cheong friends and I see the bunch of them all jumping around. I found Daddy Lim and made our way to the small little seated area for parents. Many parents had to stand bcos there were not enough seating. It was like so many of us were not expected. Haha. 

Only at about 2pm, the students were rushed to be seated as per their class. The students were told to keep all the phones and iPads.

As expected, there must be some speech. Then the overall performance of the cohort. 

The top O level students were recognised. The top scorer attained 9 A1s. Nana didn’t even take 9 subjects. Lol. The 8A1s and the 7A1s were also recognised. 

Athena’s name made it up the chart! That is Nana’s classmate that she recently came to our house! Nana said that it was expected that she would do well and she has already secured a spot in RI through badminton DSA. How come there are such clever and all-rounder students ah? After the top academic acheievers (I think about 25 students), they went on to recognise a few more students, who helmed various leadership positions and yet do well academically. 

By then, it was right on the dot at 2.30pm and the results would be available online. No wonder the students were asked to keep their phones and iPad but nobody checked anyway; they were all patiently waiting to receive their result slip from the teachers.

Finally! 

Nana’s teachers seemed exceptionally slow. We saw students from the other class already gotten their results and sharing with their parents while majority of Nana’s class was still sitting and waiting. 

Daddy Lim and I were getting more and more gan cheong. We saw Nana going up to get her results. That’s her at the table. I know, they all look alike. It takes parents to have super eye power to find their kids.

Right after, she started crying (expected) and hugging her friends. I have no idea what to read of the situation. Zzzz. 

If you cannot see her, she is that figure kneeing on the floor, blocked by a sea of white. 

She continued sobbing and hugging while we continued waiting. I was wondering at which point should I finally go up and ask her. Luckily the daughter remembered the poor parents and came running. She saw her results but didn’t quite make sense of how she had done. Lol. That was exactly the same when she received her PSLE results. She was so excited about the alphabets on the result slip, but didn’t know what was the aggregated score and started sobbing when she realised how well she had done for PSLE. 

Nana had studied very hard for O level and she had done very well! While she didn’t make it to the “honor board”, she had done very well in our perspectives. She has 4 A1s for English, Geography and A, E Maths, 3 A2s for Phyics, Chemistry and Chinese! For SS/ History which she had given up since day 1, she has a C5. Hoho. All in all, for L1R5, it is a 8 points and L1R4 is 6 points. Bcos of her achievement in CCA, and like many students, she will be able to further deduct 2 points for entry consideration for both JC and Poly. Woohoo! Many of her peers who took higher Chinese, are able to deduct 4 points.

We were still very gan cheong when we received Nana’s result slip and had to count and recount just to make sure that we were correct. It was simple maths but it took all of us to count together and also time to get it right. Lol. 

Then Boo found her. I wonder how come she is able to do so when all of them looked alike. Then there was more hugging and more crying. Nana had to stay back for some meeting. When we left, Boo and her were still hugging and sobbing. 

Yay! Finally the end of her secondary school journey! 

Mummy Lim

Nana’s Chinese O Level Result

The mid year Chinese O levels result was released at 2pm today. I have back to back meetings from 1pm and had been anxious the whole day. I told Nana to WhatsApp me when she receives her result. She has Chemistry prelim paper in the morning and will be in school to receive her results. 2pm come and went and there was no news from Nana. #gancheong 

During her Chinese prelims, she proudly shared that she was 1 of the 5 people in her 普华 class who passed paper 2. Majority of the students in NH took 高华. Then, she 离题 for her compo and she ended up with an overall C5 grade. Bcos of the 离题 experience, we had worked so hard on so many 作文大纲 to prevent the same situation.

Even if she has performed her usual on her prelims comp, she would probably gotten a B4 overall. We can only hope that NH has higher Chinese standards and set difficult prelims paper. 

We worked hard for her Chinese O levels. Yes, “we” worked hard. Not only did we work hard for paper 2 but on everything from 作文 to 口试. We were still drilling on the 口试 topics the night before the exams. Nana said that I drove her crazy. I wanted to say the same.

I half suspect that Nana is a B3 standard. A2 is probably attainable, if she performs at peak while the other students do badly. lol. I probably would ask her to give up retaking if she obtains a B4 or lower grade. To try to improve 2 or more grades is tough and I think she is better off concentrating on the other subjects. What if it is a B3?!? That would be a really tough decision bcos she might just get an A2 if she tries a little harder. Hmmm… This morning, when Daddy Lim and Nana were heading out, he asked me if I would make Nana retake the exam if she doesn’t do well. I don’t know….. retaking is too painful for both of us.

Finally at 3.05pm, Nana called. I was still in a meeting. She then texted that she has obtained a 2 distinction! We were excitedly celebrating when she suddenly asked “is 2 distinction = A2”? Huh? How would I know? She hurriedly went to ask for confirmation. lol. 

Confirmed! Chopped! Stamped! Nana has an A2 for her Chinese O levels! She even attained a distinction for her oral! No need to retake! 

Nana was very pleased and was sobbing away on the phone when we finally spoke. We were both very thankful and had been praying for a thankful heart to accept whatever result God would bless us with. 

We also updated Nana’s tutor, who provided us with so much guidance in the last few months before her exam. Zaky reminded Nana that she is now so done with Chinese. Indeed! I will now have all the time to concentrate on Chinese with Zaky. Kekekeke. I even asked the tutor if she could help Zaky with Chinese tuition next year. The last I asked, she appeared reluctant, maybe bcos I said that Zaky is worse in Chinese than Nana and that scared her off. Today, she said “ 好呀，有妈妈支持肯定没问题的”. Ah Yee said that it is bcos Nana didn’t pull down the tutor’s success rate. Hohoho.

Whatever the case, Nana is so done with Chinese until…. 

Mummy Lim

Chinese O Levels is Over.. for now

We did what we could in the last 2 evenings, going through the materials given by the school, which is over 100 pages, and also from our tutor. We have worked hard; I have worked hard. lol.

There aren’t many topics left after 5 days of Oral. We were trying to spot topics and I asked Nana to revise those during her breaks in the afternoon. She had a long break before the exam starts at 2pm. 

Nana called at 3ish. She was finally done but we kept missing each other’s call as I had a full afternoon of meetings. She sounded happy, which was good but I duno how much of the happiness was bcos she did good and how much was bcos O level Chinese is finally over…. for now. I think plenty for the latter. 

Nana at least thinks that she had quite some to babble about and speaks much better than her Chinese prelim oral. She has kind examiners as well, who repeated some parts of the question when she missed answering. 生米煮成熟饭, there is nothing we can do now. 

I think the results will be released in August. Last week, when she was super stressed, she said that maybe she should drop Chemistry, like stop taking classes totally, like what some of her classmates are doing. Huh? Just the beginning of the year, she had decided to swop from physics to Chemistry tuition bcos she thought Chemistry is easier to score and she would do better. My heart cannot take this drastic change of mind so quickly. 

After she calmed down, she agreed that she will wait for the Chinese results before making the next strategic move. Is it NH’s pace? Or she is just over stressing herself? If she really get into a JC, I will have to face this s**T in another 2 years’ time. Zzzzzzz.

Should we retake if she doesn’t get an A? Should she drop another subject? Aiyo. Fighting.

Mummy Lim

Last Weekend before O Level Chinese Oral

NH organised extra Chinese lessons for the 普华 Sec 4 students in the last week of school holidays. Nana said that they practiced on Listening Comprehension (LC) and was proud that she scored full marks for the practice. 

Her LC exam was on 3 Jul. I was in JB for a Company event when she called me to tell me how difficult LC was. She said that everybody has different answers (and thankfully not that she alone had different answers from everybody else) and eventually concluded that she had about 4 wrong. That is 8 marks flying away. Zzzz. Her tutor was very encouraging and commented that 只是比别人错多了一两题. We want to be so positive too. 

Her last hurdle is the Chinese Oral exam. The oral started on 4 Jul and the school scheduled the students in batches for the exam. Traditionally, NH had the 普华 students take the oral before the 高华 students. This year. The schedule was flipped. As a result, Nana would be taking her oral tomorrow, the last 2nd day of the entire period. Ya, majority of NH students are taking 高华. 

Preparing for the O level Chinese had been a pain. I lost count of the meltdowns that she had and heartache at the pushing that I had to do. We had been chewing Chinese oral materials for the many days, increasing the intensity during the weekend. 

Nana was supposed to earn extra bucks, helping out at Boo’s relative’s wedding last Sunday. She had to back out bcos of oral practice and Zaky took her place instead. He was very happy to earn the extra bucks as his social life becomes more colorful and he started the “no money” phase of his life. 

What sacrifices Nana had made. She blamed the late schedule but also recognises that being scheduled late means that she could better spot the oral topics. Well, the oral topics don’t run far away. The examiners are creative in how they twist and turn the questions but it goes back to those same topics. 

Her “compensation” for the sacrifices? 

Durians are so expensive now. 

Tomorrow is D day. Let’s hope for the best! 

Mummy Lim

O Levels Chinese P1 & 2 D Day

Edited:
Nana mentioned that she will look for the P2 answers on reddit. I didnt know secondary school students use reddit. When I was googling on when the results will be released, I saw the reddit thread and clicked. It was a good entertainment and we both laughed at how bad some other students are. Lol. Nana had been telling me that the O level results are moderated. Her science and maths tutors said the same but Zaky's SST teachers beg to differ. Anyway, if moderation really does take place, and there are really so many other students who are so bad in Chinese, we have hope. Lol. 

+++++++++++++

Finally, it is the day. We have worked hard for the past few weeks. In fact, it was literally full day intensive Chinese on Vesak Day and Sunday. On Saturday, I told her that she should go out and spend a few hours with her friends. She deserves a break and so do I. hahahaha. She happily went youth and had dinner with her mates.

We have really done a lot. We did about 3/4 of the 10 years series, she went through most of the Sec 2, 3 and 4 生词 in the last 2 weeks and we did countless 电邮 and 作文. In the last few days, we switched from doing full 作文 to making sure that she understands/ guesses cleverly the 题目 and doing 大纲, bcos writing the full 作文 is too time consuming and time is a luxury that we cannot afford. 

I think my Chinese improved. Lol. I remembered how much I used to enjoy writing 作文 and brainstorming on the 大纲 with Nana was fun. I bet she disagrees. 

Last night, she finished the last paper 2 practice at 9pm. It wasn’t well done but we were so done. There is no more 佛脚 to 抱. In that hour, trying to do one more practice or scolding her don’t help. The right thing is to pat ourselves on our back, go sleep and get ready for the D day. That was exactly what we did. 

This morning, she headed off to school after we prayed. She asked for prayers again before entering the exam hall. I told her that we did all we can and really to leave the rest to God. 

She whatsapped me at 10ish, and said that it wasn’t too bad. At least she understood both topics. 

She asked me if she 离题, which is the greatest nightmare. I don’t think so. I sent this to 黄老师, who then said “看起来不错”. Then we both thought, “黄老师 can read English meh”? Lol. 

Nana probably did some quick revision and then went back for her P2 at 11am and whatsapped me at 12.30pm. She said that she didn’t know how she has done. I hope it wasn’t too bad. At least she didn’t feel like she did so badly that she had to come home to cry. She had planned to meet her friends for lunch and happily went on her way. Good, good. She deserves the break. 

Later in the afternoon, she sent me her P2 and the answers that she scribbled. She performed like how she normally would for her practice papers. If she does improve on her oral, which we still have about 5 weeks to work, she may be able to hit an A2. Like I say, we did our best. If the result is not ideal, we will just have to 认命 and accept that the gap is too big, and that we needed more time. We will then have to try again at the end of the year.

Nana said that she would be grateful to me if she scores an A. Ya, I also want her to be grateful to me. Hoho.

Mummy Lim 

One Week to D Day

We are officially 1 week from the Chinese O level paper 1 and 2. #bitenails

Late last year, we started to realise that Nana needed help for Chinese, especially if she wants to do well for her papers in May. We found her a tutor but it didn’t work out. The progress was too painfully slow that we doubt if we would achieve what we needed by May. 

While only a pass in Chinese is needed to go to JC, we discussed and agreed that having a good grade would give her buffer against screwing up one of her Maths or Sciences. She struggled with these subjects too but at least we still have time. It is too wasted to not try hard to do well in Chinese, so that we can drop the subject and have extra time to concentrate on the remaining subjects at the end of the year. Ya, this is still how O level Chinese works until 2027, where the Ministry then scrap the mid year Chinese paper. 

We re-strategised a few months ago and found her a new tutor. This tutor had been tutoring the Fs for many years. On her 1st lesson, she had asked for Nana’s 10 year series, which Nana drew blank. There is a 10 year series for Chinese? I cannot believe my ears when Nana said that her school didn’t ask them to buy the Chinese 10 year series. Nanhua leh. Then she said that it may be in school. Ended up, I got her a new one a day later. We don’t have time to waste and the supposedly still in school is 10 year series is still MIA.

Given the little time that we have left, her tutor and I (her part time tutor), had been very focused on working on the 10 year series. Nana and I agreed on the target of completing the entire 10 year series before the Chinese paper. Unlike the rest of the subjects, that means double (20) papers. 

It had been plenty of ups and downs for the past months. Nana had to find time to study Chinese and work on her 10 year series amidst the heavy schoolwork and through her WA2. This means a ridiculous amount of tantrums including tears. I had to force her to do her papers and she gets upset bcos she is too stress. If I leave her alone, she gets stress too bcos she isn’t prepared and the D day is fast approaching. Then, she lost an entire week when she fell sick. Zzzzzsz. 

We are in our final week. Her tutor came for the last time yday evening and isn’t able to move her schedule for another lesson before her papers. I am assuming that she has many other O level panicking students as well. 

Maybe bcos the WA stress is over, or the other subjects teachers are giving more leeway for them to focus on Chinese. Nana’s condition for studying Chinese had been good for the past few days. I think she can also feel herself improving compared to a few months ago and is self motivated.

She has gotten her Chinese prelims results back. She said that she is 1 of the 5 people in her Chinese class who passed paper 2, though she was a borderline case. That calls for a celebration! She is at 58 marks overall, which is a C5, but bcos she had 离题 for her Chinese Comp, which is like the greatest nightmare. If she had done her usual standard for her comp, she would have achieved a B4 and improving to an A for O levels seems achievable. 

She has picked up her 词语手册 again, after insisting for a while that it is useless to try to study all the past years 生词, despite her tutor telling her that she should.

I duno what made her do so (my nagging?) but she found that it helped bcos 2 parts (15 marks) of her paper required her to know the vocab that had been taught and increasing her vocab generally helped her to read and understand the paper/ questions better. She is aiming to finish the last bit of Sec 3 词语 today and we need to finish the Sec 4 work and as much as the Sec 2 ones. We don’t even have the Sec 1 手册 anymore and also running out of time. 

While we didn’t finish the entire 10 year series, I am glad to announce that she had completed 10 papers and this would equal to completing the entire series if it is another subject. *clap, clap, clap*

Yes, this is how a 10 year series should look like for someone taking O levels. I think her other 10 year series are still very “clean”.

As we countdown, we are also changing our strategy unconsciously. We have moved away from completing papers (probably just drilled 1 or 2 more during the weekend) but target to finish as much of her 生词 as possible and most importantly to practice understanding composition topics. Many times, she couldn’t do an easy topic one bcos she didn’t recognise some key words. We cannot take another 离题. We will probably spent time doing some 作文大纲 for her tutor to mark remotely. 

With that, I think we have all worked hard. I cannot ask for more whatever her results would be. If still cannot, then continue to work hard for end of the year lor. Another we nailed the papers on 27 May, it is time to prepare for her Chinese oral in July. At least we still have some time. Fighting!

Mummy Lim

Stepping Down and Stepping Up

Nana didn’t make it into the main team this year. We knew this would happen when she pai-ka-ed.. However, this doesn’t mean that she is exempted from the training. Even when she was paika, she had to be present to… pick balls? 

Anyway, now that she is in Sec 4, she is stepping down. 1st, it was her Student Council. I didn’t even attend the step-down investiture. I think there was one and I was invited. Hoho. 

2 weeks ago, she was counting down to her last 3 training sessions. NSG has ended for the B division. Her last training was on Wednesday. She and her batch mates went for dinner after that. 

Mookata wor. The kids must be quite rich. Nana said that she saved up for this.

With this, all CCAs have ended for her.It basically means time to step up for her O levels revision. She is now in the midst of WA2. She said that she had studied for it. With the change of tuition centre for A Maths, dropping Physics and focusing on Chemistry, I hope we can see some better results. Her Chinese prelim is on next Thursday, “we” have worked hard. She has done quite some practices on both paper 1 and 2 and I have pushed her hard. Her Chinese 10-year series is the most used compared to the rest. Fighting! 

Disgressing, she cleverly popped up at my brother’s place for dinner one of the nights before tuition and flex about how good the nasi lemak that Popo cooked was. 

Yday, we were at Speingleaf prata and the kids tried lambing soup for the 1st time in their life. 

I haven’t had this in many, many years myself. I used to “steal” this when my Dad bought it. #oldpeoplefood

Nana now have Monday and Wednesday afternoons free. I think NH’s night study classes are starting soon, where students voluntarily stayed back after school to study together but in the canteen. I don’t know how comfortable that is but should be fun to study with friends. June holidays would be intensive tuition and more tuition. Nana is mentally preparing herself and I am expecting tantrums. Zzzz. 

I don’t remember studying so hard for O levels but of course time is so different now. Jia you! 

Mummy Lim

Parent-Teacher Meeting for Nana

Several weeks ago, I received a notice on Parent Gateway for Parent-Teacher Meeting (PTM) for Nana. Now that I recalled, I think this is the 2nd time that I was invited to NH. The 1st was some mass briefing. There wasn’t even any one to one with the teacher then. SST does a better job in engaging the parents. 

The PTM was followed by some Principal speech, which I couldn’t attend bcos of work. Given that Nana is taking her Os this year, I was keen to meet the teacher to see how I can help Nana. 

It was a busy school day, and adding on PTMs. The school canteen was buzzing with activities. 

Nana came to pick me; we were supposed to attend the PTM together. 

We met her form teacher, who is also her Physics teacher and her Geography teacher. The form teacher wasted no time in telling us how bad Nana did for WA1. She is a 29-pointers for L1R5 and only a few topics were tested in WA1. The rest of the session was basically the teachers constantly pressing Nana’s panic buttons. Even I got very gen cheong leaving the session. Zzzzz. Fortunately, it wasn’t just during the PTM that we realised how fast O level is hitting us. We have also started strategising. 

Nana has decided that she would now concentrate on Chemistry and stopped her Physics tuition. She isn’t strong in her Maths and attempting to ace her Physics on top of the 2 Maths is stretching. Her form teacher even asked if she had thought of dropping a subject. That is to say, she would have free periods to concentrate/ study other subjects. My eyes sparkled! We can drop SS/ History! Only to be told that SS is the only subject that cannot be dropped. Zzzzz… while she decided that she will not focus on Physics (for now), whether she can really drop the subject will be dependent on how well she does for her Chinese. If Chinese is screwed, then Physics will have to be the fall back. 

We found out that the PTM was only for parents whose kids didn’t do well in WA1. When we headed back to the canteen, Nana saw her friends; they started comforting her that 29 points isn’t that bad bcos some of them did worse. Zzzzz… what kind of friends ah. Lol. 

Chinese tuition and self revision are going strong. We are working hard on the Chinese 10-year series. Nana is practicing her P1 for her tutor to mark. I hope she doesn’t hate Chinese even more after O-levels bcos there is still AO level Chinese if she made it to the JC. Hoho. 

Fighting! 6 more weeks to O levels Chinese! 

Mummy Lin