Went to watch VSchoir's practice yesterday, after having only 2 hours of sleep. Played soccer with them in the morning for their Physical Training. After my blunder to concede an early goal, we still managed to fight back to win the game at 5-1... amazing. I felt a bit out of place actually. I somehow lost the team spirit yesterday unlike a couple of years ago when I was still in VSchoir. Maybe I am too old already, haha.

When I stepped into the choir room, the members were all sitting down waiting for practice to start and I heard (or thought that I heard) them whispering my name and hushing each other. Maybe they are still scared of me, or maybe I am wrong, but that thought almost made me laugh. I remembered how I used to take the choir last time... many juniors were scared of me because of the way I exert authority (kinda familiar right?). And seeing them attend sectionals - the sian face while the SLs try to configure certain parts of the songs, it just relived old memories.

After their practice, the lao-laos plus a few other juniors went for lunch, and after that, the really lao-laos (Justin, Pock Thong and me) went to the library for a while first before going Robin's house. I borrowed a few Contract Bridge books with Justin's card (thank you) and went to Robin's house to read, instead of studying my Chemistry which I intended to do. I thought the library won't have anything on Contract Bridge but I was lucky to find a section with a few Bridge books, so I 'koped' all the books there haha. Yeah but I fell asleep on the couch after reading a few pages because I was so tired.

Oh yeah thanks to Hong Aik, I think my mind is full of Bridge. Oh I haven't explained why I slept for only 2 hours - because I was playing Bridge online and Hong Aik is watching me play, trying to scare me by telling me about how unfavourable (to me) the opponents' cards lie. So for that 2 hours of sleep I actually dreamt of playing bridge (how awful is that, playing bridge in your sleep!) and during soccer I was thinking of bridge terms like "Oh dear, the way he runs make him lose a tempo" or "He should hold up his play" or "His opponents are squeezing him" or "Throw-in play" or "He is being endplayed at the corner"!! Sigh, thanks Hong Aik... thanks.

Hmm tomorrow is the release of 'O' level results. All the best to all the juniors! Yeah make the right choice, choose VJC. And hope that your results warrant you a place in our school so that I can bully you. And to the younger juniors (sec 4s and below), you should go witness the release of results. You will see a dozen different emotions and especially to the new sec 4s, it will probably motivate you to study! Haha.

I think I should start reorganising the links on my blog already, some are outdated, and I was just too lazy to link some people. And if you have not noticed yet, there's a Feedjit Live thing on my blog (below the archives) which tracks who comes to my blog and via what link. There's one person who came to my blog after searching Google for "diminishing marginal returns of ipods". Wow, to think that my Economics essay managed to make such a great impact. Haha.

Wah tomorrow is the start of school already. This also means that I won't be able to slack like now until towards the end of the year. I will probably be engaged in academics, choir, bridge (I will try to allocate time for CJC competition), bullying juni- ergh... nothing!

You know, every time someone mentions 'semibreve', I will laugh.

I remember during one of the lower secondary music lessons in school, Mr Ikhwan was teaching us about musical notes. He told someone (I vaguely remember who, but I shall not post his name) to spell 'semibreve'. So that guy went...

S-E-M-I-B-R-I-E-F

[Mr Ikhwan]: Erm... I don't want you to tell me what you are wearing now.

Hahaha. That's a classic.

School holidays are around. But to many people, it's just a week to study at home rather than to study in school. Sigh.

Anyway, went back to both my primary and secondary schools on Friday. Teachers' Day celebration. Was rather boring but it was nice catching up with my teachers. And I am nearly the only JC student who went back to visit Temasek Primary teachers. Talked to Mrs Chong, Mr Gan, Mr Neo and Mrs Sharma. Too bad Ms Neo was not there.

This picture is so abstract right? It's not me in the picture by the way - I am not so imba like TanImba. I think the VS people did this in the VS lift to aggravate Mr Chia. Oh that reminds me, I did not manage to see him. I know many people went into his office to wish him Happy Teachers' Day... just for the fun of it.

Sigh VS boys... sexually deprived...

Remember what Mr Maran always says, "It's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game." I always find this sentence very meaningful even though he said it dozens of times until I got totally bored of it. In life, there are always successes and failures. When you are successful, you celebrate it. However, when you fail, don't just stay-put at where you are. Ponder for a while and reflect on why you failed, but move on with life. Don't let such a failure bother you for very long. In fact, the process is more important than the outcome. Like I quote Woon Yang's blog (which he quoted someone else), "If you have put in your best effort, then you have succeeded. Winning a trophy or title is only a bonus."

However, this is not always the case. Like this cover of a movie I found in the choir room, it contradicts Mr Maran totally.

Priceless.

Do you realise that once you need to habitually do something, you will do it subconsciously even if the situation changes? Mdm Tazneen once told the class this (and I heard from Ling Chung that she tells this to every class): An owner of a dog would ring a bell every time there was lunch for the dog. The dog would then run out to the garden to enjoy his meal. This happened every time such that one day, when the owner just rang the bell without preparing any food, the dog would just automatically run to the garden. The owner did this for 3 consecutive days before the dog understood and stopped going to the garden.

Btw she went on to say how many times different animals needed to understand. She was using it as an analogy to illustrate that since we are humans, we will only need to listen to her once before we can get her homework done.

Now here's something to prove her wrong.

Remember the familiar black-and-yellow humps that you see on roads? And yeah I said "humps". Look at this picture.

This is a picture I took at the carpark just in front of my block. Notice that this is not a hump but flat ground with black and yellow stripes painted over it. But whenever I walk past this area, I will automatically lift my leg so that I can "step on higher ground", when in fact the ground is flat.

Hmmm, maybe I have become a dog anyway.

This is an extension to the blu-tac post I posted last year. I finally found a picture of the blu-tac figure! Courtesy of Hong Aik. Hahaha.




Anyway, I didn't go online on Monday at all. I had choir practice after school, and I was feeling nauseous at that time so I didn't really sing. I reached home at around 8pm, and without showering nor eating dinner, I fell asleep on the sofa. Woke up at 6.15am the next morning before preparing to go to school. What an interesting night!

There are a few people I want to thank.

First of all, Mr Pang, my form teacher, who taught me the 2 maths subjects plus CME. I didn't just learn to "sing the anthem" aloud, I also learnt valuable life lessons from him. He's a person who would share a lot of things with us, other than just on academics.

Mr Ee, assistant form teacher and also english teacher, who will go through every step thoroughly on how to write letters. I will definitely not forget his "hands by your side, let's wish each other. 1, 2, 3, good morning class!"

Mrs Setho, physics teacher, who always tells us to do things "happily". Not only that, she also wants us to remind Jun Ren not to call her too often because that would disrupt lessons.

Mr Wong WL and Ms Yeo, both chemistry teachers with some chemistry between them, for encouraging us to do well for chemistry so that they can treat us to pizza hut. So far still no treat huh. Yes now I know must always write down "key words"! And notice that I thank them together ;) Wish both of you the best for your future haha.

Mrs Nabilah, who somehow made me not hate biology, probably because she rushed through the topic on sexual reproduction in PLANTS so that she could start on sexual reproduction in MEN. But no, the main reason is because I am weird as compared to the rest of the class. Many people in my class prefer Mr Gabriel's lessons because he teaches more interesting stuffs outside syllabus. But I prefer to learn only those which are inside syllabus. So Mdm Nabilah, you have a supporter.

Mrs Lee HP, who introduced the 12-mark social studies essay question which caused so much headache. And her laptop wallpaper is "hp computer". It so fits her name. Yeah but promoted to master teacher already, so that brings me to thank...

... Mrs Bala, who never fails to make lessons interesting. Even though social studies is a suject most people hate, she forces us to love it. And quite sad to say, it didn't really work. And the one who recommended us to study tourism for geography elective when 90% wanted to study environment. In the end environment was very difficult lah! Haha sorry for not heeding your advice of studying tourism and got myself an A2 for combined humanities, Mrs Bala!

Ms Lim, lower sec maths teacher, who loves to find faults in those who got full marks and try to deduct marks, but on the other hand, find where she can help those with 40+ marks pass the paper. No but seriously, one of those rare lower sec teachers who can actually teach, frankly speaking.

Gabriel Chee, my 4A classmate, for encouraging me to just study for Biology. Who knows maybe I can get A1 for it right? And so I did.

Tan Wei Liang, from 4A also, who kept trying to refresh my memory on stuffs, all because I didn't listen in class. Refresh as in ask me questions in PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY, and MATHS which he could not do. He is supposed to be very imba in those subjects anyway, and he is still imba.

All 4A classmates, wow I have never felt a stronger class spirit than 4A. And I need to thank all of you for achieving a mean L1R5 of 7.6! OMG that's even better than previous year's 4A (theirs was 7.8). At least now got something to show off. And chemistry MSG 1.4, A-maths 1.2, E-maths 1.0.

All VSchoir members, present and past, thank you for creating an enjoyable environment for me. I treat every choir practice as a break from all the academic work. Yup so to all present VSchoir members, continue to work hard!

Family members, for not stressing me up at all. They just gave me much freedom and I believe that is one of the most crucial factors in deciding how well I did for 'O' levels.

So because of all of you people (and others as well whom I have not mentioned), I have obtained a wonderful score of 7 for 'O' levels.

First day officially as a student in VJC.

I think I may need some time to shift my mind from VS to VJC. For example, today after a few of us 4A people got our VJ PE shirt and shorts, we wanted to change outside the boys' toilet since the toilet was full and there were no girls around. In VS I think this is definitely possible, but in VJ, I think that isn't a really good idea.

Also, written in the school journal that was given today, I noticed a rule that was stated so explicitly that I don't think I can find it anywhere else in Singapore.

Student Behaviour:
Rough-housing games eg. Tau-poking, jacking and dunking into ponds are not allowed; for that matter, any form of games or antics that compromises safety is banned.

I am positive they got this from VS.

Anyway my OGLs from Theodore are very enthu. I think they sabo-ed a lot of us freshmen already. Pock Thong got sabo-ed twice to go lead a cheer in front of everyone. Hope I don't kena...

Happy new year!

The secondary three class allocation for VS just came out. Although I am not a sec three, and I am no longer in VS, I still went to download the excel file to take a look. When I opened the file, I noticed 6 things.

3B is a pure PE class. That means the whole of 3B takes PE. Also, nobody from other classes take PE. Coincidentally, everyone in 3B takes History Elective (HSS) as well. This probably means that taking Geography Elective (GSS) and PE together is not allowed.

3A and 3D are pure triple science + GSS and triple science + HSS classes respectively. Looks like 3A is going to be the best class yet again. The thing which shocked me the most was that there are only 22 people in this class according to the list. This means that there will be many scholars joining them next year, much much more than our class.

All the classes are allocated based on the combined humanities subject the students take. 3AEGIJ all take GSS and 3BCDFH all take HSS. This is unlike our batch where some GSS and HSS students are grouped into the same classes.

Nobody takes Pure History, Pure Literature and Literature Elective. Oh man no wonder the excel file seemed so empty. I wonder why... must be the literature teachers scare the crap out of the sec 2s last year. Probably something like: Quintal strikes back!

Those taking Pure Geography are in 3C. Well for our batch 3C happens to be one of the lous- Sorry, nothing.

Lastly, those not taking Biology are randomly scattered into all the classes (except 3ABCD). This means that it is now harder to find the lousiest class. Although it may seem like a good thing such that the weaker students are scattered all over the place, those average students suffer. This is rather unfair if you look at it this way, but considering that in order to rank secondary schools, you need to calculate the mean L1R5, and it is usually the weaker students that pull the whole cohort's L1R5 up (worse), it is therefore a good solution to group the students this way.

Ah well, all the best to the secondary threes.

Went for 4A class gathering yesterday and today. Reached the resort at around 5.30pm because I did some cleaning of my house before that. There were some 10+ people there already, but unfortunately, that number did not increase. Only 17 people went for the gathering. I suppose that is because it was hardly a month since we last met, so we did not really miss each other.

Settled down a bit before helping myself with the barbeque food. Haha I ate first before I went to help with the cooking. I think those who ate the chicken wings Teck Boon cooked may suffer from a heart attack thanks to the amount of margarine he added onto the wings, on purpose. We later went to play with the fire starters and the tomato sauce. Tomato sauce is a good way of extinguishing the fire =X.

Played a bit of PS2 (hah! the JACKASS game!) before many people had to leave. So it was down to less than 10 of us so we played a bit of card games and whatnot. Gabriel came later and we played Murderer and POLAR BEAR! Haha the Polar Bear games really wasted a lot of time because the next thing we know, it was past 2am already.

Watched Scary Movie 4 and stopped halfway because it was boring. Watched another movie instead but I shall not name what it was. It is a very sick movie but Shi Wei claimed that it was 'nothing'. Went to sleep after the movie.

Got woken up twice by this girl who was shouting outside our room at some octave higher than my voice and five times louder than me. Apparently she stayed just above us and was just outside our room trying to give instructions to somebody above us to lower some badminton equipment.

Alvin, it's your turn to organise a picnic for 4A.

Wanted to post last night, but was too tired because of my lack of sleep due to Friday's PAE briefing. Fell asleep at 9+ and woke up at 8 this morning, which is so early for me. The PAE briefing yesterday was a waste of time. They held us up for more than 1 hour just to pass us a booklet, a form, and to let us confirm our testimonials.

Because of some extreme luck, I was able to score 6 points for my Prelims L1R5 (without 2 bonus points from CCA), otherwise I would actually have scored 8. The cut-off point for VJC last year was 5, so I guess I will be able to make it to VJC for the first 2 months, because I will also get another 2 bonus points from affiliation (making my L1R5 2).

For the purpose of this post, let's simplify things such that there is only 1 course type (Science course); there are only 3 JCs: RJC (with cut-off point of 3), VJC (with cut-off point of 5) and TJC (with cut-off point of 6); and everybody gets 2 bonus points from CCA. I will be considering both PAE (using Prelim results to get into JCs) and JAE (using 'O' level results to get into JCs).

The bonus points are computed as follows:
1) First Languages: 2 bonus points if both English and Higher Mother Tongue score A1 to C6 (inclusive).
2) CCA: 2 bonus points if CCA scores A1 or A2, 1 bonus point if CCA scores B3 to C6 (inclusive).
3) Affiliation/Loyalty: 2 bonus points for the 1st choice only, if

a) affiliated JC is chosen as 1st choice; or

b) (during JAE only) the same school as the school they were admitted in during PAE, is chosen as the first choice; or

c) both.

[max 4 points from (1), (2) and (3)]

A bit confusing, but if I were to choose VJC as first choice I will get 2 bonus points each from (2) and (3a). If I were to, instead, choose RJC as first choice and VJC as second, then I will only get 2 bonus points from (2), and will not get any bonus from (3) at all because I did not choose VJC as first choice, nor is RJC an affiliated school to VS.

For all who are wondering, I don't take Higher Chinese. I wasn't even offered that subject in the first place. This is totally unfair. I scored B3 for my 'O' level Chinese, and it is not as if there aren't people who take Higher Chinese but score a miserable B3 for their 'O' level Chinese. If I were offered Higher Chinese, I may already have gotten my 2 additional bonus points already, given that I pass my Higher Chinese during my Prelims. I may have at least tried getting my additional 2 bonus points, but I was never given the chance to. And the worst of all is that the number of bonus points is 2, not 1. Every bonus point in the L1R5 is very critical in determining whether anyone can get into a JC of their choice.

There are other factors which are unfair, such as not giving credit for those who did extremely well in a particular subject or CCA, but I shall not elaborate into them.

Anyway, there are some people (in VS) who are very smart. They want to go, and can get into VJC, but in order to play safe, they decide to go TJC for the first 2 months. They claim that if they get into VJC for the first 2 months, they are 'wasting' bonus points! This is what they imagine it as: Person A (who did not take Higher Mother Tongue) scored very well for his Prelims and got into TJC. When his 'O' level result was announced, he realised he scored 10. Now, he may be able to make it to TJC through the JAE. This is because he can get 2 bonus points each from (2) and (3b), bringing his L1R5 down to 6. This may (just nice) grant him entrance to TJC. He cannot make it to VJC though, even if he uses all his bonus points from (2) and (3c), because the cut-off point for VJC is 5. He is still short of 1 point. However, if he had gotten into VJC for the first 2 months, he cannot get into VJC again as he is short of 1 point still. Now here's the mathematics: he cannot get into TJC as well, because he can only enjoy a maximum of 2 bonus points (from (2)), which makes his L1R5 8 - short of 2 points!

Right. Here's where their mathematics ends. We imagine there is this Person B who is even smarter than Person A. He has the same mentality as Person A, and got into TJC for the first 2 months. Now, when he got back his result for 'O' level, he realised he scored an amazing 6 points! Wow! Now he can go anywhere. This is the drawback: if he choose to go VJC, his teachers change, his class changes, the environment changes. He is so used to the environment in TJC that he does not want to leave. His teachers are recommending him to stay in TJC. His seniors and friends from TJC are all bugging him to stay. So where does he go to now? VJC is a better institution (by rank). By staying in TJC, he is depriving himself the opportunity to study in a better school. But he has already made many friends in TJC. Now he is at a cross-road... smart!

There is another group of people in VS who is stuck between RJC and VJC. They claim that they stand a higher chance getting into RJC if they choose RJC as their first choice for the PAE. Then if they do well for 'O' levels, they can again choose RJC as their first choice again and stand a better chance getting in there (4 bonus points probably). Now, let's imagine an unlucky Person X who got into RJC for the first 2 months. When he received his 'O' level result, he realised he scored 7 (and failed his Higher Chinese) for his L1R5. Unable to use his Higher Mother Tongue results for all his choices, he chooses RJC as first choice and VJC as second choice. He will get 4 bonus points for his first choice ((2) and (3b)) and only 2 bonus points for his second choice (the CCA bonus points (2)). So he will be competing against the COP of the respective JCs. But have you ever heard of partial 3 and partial 5? The cut-off point for RJC is 3, but it doesn't mean ALL 3-pointers will get into that JC - only some will. So what if Person X is so unlucky that he is one of those who does not get chosen into RJC (partial 3), as well as VJC (partial 5)? Poor guy.

Now what if the same Person X now decides to choose VJC as his first choice during the JAE? Well, remember Person B I was talking about? This Person X is even worse than him. He is now forced to transfer into a lower-ranking institution because of his score. Well, it's not easy to score 6, you know?

Now we have a Person S who knows what he is doing. He chooses VJC as his first choice for PAE and because he is doing to do so well for his 'O' levels, he can easily choose VJC again during the JAE. Plus he gets to enjoy 2 additional bonus points from the whole of (3). This will leave him with no headaches at all as to which JC to go to. One short and simple choice - VJC. I urge all readers to follow this person S who does not have to worry so much as compared to Persons B and X.

Oh and did I tell you that my name also starts with 'S'?

'O' level is over. I did not feel today was different except that today was more tiring, mainly because my mother just went to Hong Kong yesterday, leaving me as the only person at home. So I have to do all the household chores. And the thing is I just noticed one of the water pipes is partially blocked. Water was flowing at a much reduced pace. Guess what I saw: black colour stuffs which stank like hell. Tried to remove them but gave up halfway because there were just too much. Nah I will just wait for my mother to return. Lazy.

'O' level has finished. I was wondering why so many people were unusually delighted when Mr Wong announced that we were allowed to leave. Some even tore up their entry proof (Mr Wong expected it and told us not to tear up our entry proof and litter in the hall)! Perhaps it was because they put in so much effort into studying for the exams that they were seriously pressurized by it. When 'O' level ends, their pressure is suddenly released, like if you poke a hole into the chamber manufacturing ammonia (it's of 250 times the normal atmospheric pressure), or when your are having gastric pain because you did not eat and you suddenly let a long long fart. Ahhh. For me, I did not really feel anything special mainly because I did not spend much efforts into studying. It also seems like what I will be doing for the rest of the holidays will be the same as what I have been doing these few days - staying online until wee hours, and waking up so late that my first meal of the day is even later than other people's second meal. Maybe I can finally embark on what I want to do after 'O' level, which includes going out more often rather than being cooped up at home.

'O' level has ended. Imagine someone who has no purpose in life just because 'O' level has ended. Before and during 'O' levels, we all say that he has no life because he keeps on studying. But it is after 'O' level when he has no life, because he has nothing to study already. It just seems like he has no purpose in life. Hahahaha. This is said by Neng Wei about Shamir by the way. I find it very funny when he said Shamir has "no purpose in life". It is like someone walking around in the streets alone, doing nothing. And Neng Wei told us that Shamir would usually chase after the bus but today, he did not chase, probably because he has too much free time. Neng Wei even suggested that I introduce Shamir o2jam!

'O' level is gone. Because of this, other people are feeling extremely high and I am taking advantage of that. For instance, I went to Neng Wei's house to play and slack around! Haha. Stayed there for more than 6 hours. Played a lot of o2jam, a bit of FIFA and watched Neng Wei getting thrashed by Sean in DotA. Exam ended in the morning but I only reached home at night. Indeed a long and tiring day.

'O' level has past. Anyone noted the irony here? Throughout this post I kept mentioning that I am not bothered by the fact that 'O' level is over. But in every first sentence of each paragraph I mentioned that it is over. So indeed I am quite happy that 'O' level is over, but actually not so happy as to "tear away my entry proof into pieces" or "sms-ing/blogging to announce to the whole world that 'O' level is over". I will just declare a break.

'O' levels is over... not! I still have 2 MCQ papers left, Physics and Chemistry on the 12th [there is a rumour that there is one more on the 13th but I cannot remember what that is ;)]. Okay just kidding. 3 MCQ papers left, including a Biology one on 13th. It is quite awkward as the MCQ papers are taken after the main papers. I have no idea how much I should study for them since I always score quite high for them (read: the Physics and Chemistry MCQs). In fact, there are many people out there who are more confident than me and have already declared that 'O' levels is over.

The only subject that I am most worried about is my Combined Humanities (Geography Elective). Let's talk about Geography Elective first. I scored a whooping 9½/10 for the Map Reading section for prelims. But for 'O' levels I think I only score a maximum of 7. There were 3 parts to the question. The first one asked for the distance between 2 points. Because the distance was 20+ cm, and my ruler could only measure up to 15cm, I could not draw a straight line across to measure the distance. Neither did I think as imba-ly as Wei Liang to use the edge of the paper to mark out the distance on the map. So I had to resort to using something that is useful in desperate situations: the Pythagoras Theorem! I found the horizontal and vertical length because they gave us the grid reference anyway, and silly me put a 21.42 cm as the distance on the map, after which I multiply by the scale to get my actual distance. Did you spot anything wrong with it? No? Let me give you a hint: can your ruler measure twenty-one point FOUR TWO centimetres? Or is yours a vernier caliper? The second part was a difficult one because it asked for something which I did not study for. So I just wrote some 4 one-sentence paragraphs as my answer. I could not really complete the third part because I could not find many features on the map which "serve communication well".

The second question was on Agriculture, which I hope to score well (this question is probably my only chance of scoring well; read below).

There were choices for the third question. Because I totally banged onto Environment and did not even read through Development and Tourism in the textbook, I had to attempt the most difficult question among the three choices. There was this 8-mark part question asking to explain the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources. And that was the first part of the Environment chapter, and well, I took it as the introduction part so I totally ignored it. Instead, I studied the more interesting (*raises eyebrows*) parts like Deforestation, Pollution, Desertification, Global Warming, Depleted Fish Stocks and Ozone Depletion. If it were a 2-mark question I think I would have scored quite well for the question.

Lesson learnt: ALWAYS study a backup chapter!

Social Studies (SS) was worse. Now, for the syllabus I studied for SS, there are 6 themes. 1 theme will come out for Source-based Questions (SBQ) (which do not require studying of the textbook) and 3 other different themes will come out for Structured-essay Questions (SEQ) (which requires hardcore mugging of the stupid textbooks). So we are only concerned about the SEQ section and not about the SBQ. The safest way is to study 4 themes so that no matter which 3 themes come out for SEQ, there will always be at least 1 theme that will be tested from what you have studied. Of course, if you study 3 themes, there is a very small (in fact, 5%) chance that THE OTHER THREE themes would come out for SEQ. Some people may disagree and say that it is better to study all 6, so that you can choose the easiest question out of the three. But I will tell you angrily to reserve your brain space for other more meaningful stuffs. Now let us just assume that Merger/Seperation of Singapore from Malaysia (one of the themes) will not come out. That was what I assumed, and Merger/Separation really did not come out! In fact, all the SEQ was from the secondary 4 textbook only! So if you study 2 themes, out of the 5 themes left, for the SEQ, there is a 90% chance that one of the themes you have studied would come out. Well, I thought 90% was quite high so I decided to take the risk, and...

Lesson learnt: If you were to decide whether to take a risk such that there is a 90% success, NEVER TAKE IT!!!!

(Actually, if you were to count Merger/Separation in, the chances of having one question coming out from the 2 themes you have studied would be 80%. In that case, DO NOT TAKE A 80% CHANCE RISK!)

Ah well ah well, when I realised the horror, I calmed myself down. I told myself it's only an 'O' level examination. No big deal. So I spent more time thinking through the SBQ instead. As for the SEQ, I still spent much time recalling the points so I did not really complete them.


Here are my predictions for my 'O' level examinations (I sound as if 'O' levels has ended already):

English - A2
E-maths - A1
A-maths - A1
Physics - A1
Chemistry - A1
Biology - A2
Combined Humanities - B3 (I hope!!)

and together with Chinese (B3 for mid years), I think my L1R5 will be around 9. That is around the same as my L1R5 for prelims except that when you look at my prelims score, you need to tilt your head 180 degrees to see my 'O' level score.


Now about the dancer in the last post, it is simply a 2D image of a dancer swivelling horizontally. The shadow of the legs (towards the bottom of the picture) seems to imply that the dancer is rotating counter-clockwise, because when her right leg is towards the background, there is a shadow on the ground, and when her right leg reaches the foreground, the shadow disappears from view. If the dancer is rotating clockwise, the shadow seen when her right leg is in the foreground must be seen when her right leg appears in the background too, but clearly it isn't.

However, to me it just seems like the motion fits more of clockwise than counter-clockwise. When she appears to be rotating counter-clockwise, it seems like she is going to fall any time (but unfortunately she doesn't).

If you can only view it rotating in one direction, what you can do is to tilt your head near 180 degrees (please don't fall off the chair). If you still see it rotating in the same direction, close your eyes for around 5 seconds and look at it again with your head still tilted. Do you see it now?

Oh by the way, the tilting of head is not a prank. That's what I did anyway, and now I can see it rotate both ways (though not simultaneously!). Let's assume you see it rotate clockwise. When you turn your head 180 degrees and look at it upside-down, it should rotate clockwise too (in your upside-down point of view). However, the upside-down point of view is different from the right-way-up point of view, i.e. if you see it rotate clockwise upside down, you should see it rotate counter-clockwise right-way-up. If I want to even play a prank on you, I will go for something more extreme, like... hey, stand up and turn your body counter-clockwise for 10 rounds, then you should see the dancer turn counter-clockwise too! Ha ha!

After collection of English paper 2...

Okay boys, please listen up. I have found a piece of foolscap paper and it is not attached to any scripts. It doesn't have any name on it as well. Please listen up as I read what is written on it. If it belongs to you please raise up your hand. This piece of paper has question 14 on it and it starts with, "Astrologers believe that the movement of the Moon..."

Before Mr Wong could finish, the whole hall was filled with laughter.

FYI, question 14 was the summary question and it has some 10 starting words given.

Oh and the thing is, Mr Wong still could not get why we were laughing. Well, he is a Chemistry teacher anyway.

3A/4A. They are the most wonderful classes I have ever been in. I remember the first day in 3A. Everyone was so quiet waiting for the teacher to arrive. And when Mr Pang stepped in and talked to us, you can even hear the wind blow. All right, it's good to be in a class whereby there isn't much noise, but not until it was soooo quiet. I remembered making a lot of noise with the ex-2B gang near the back of the class.

After activities like the secondary three orientation camp, PE lessons and Victoria 130, our class became more bonded. Our class became more active. The most memorable thing about our class is the 131m-long banner, which was completed successfully during Victorian Challenge earlier this year.

Our class is indeed not like any other typical class. Our class can juggle our studies with our CCA and yet excelling in both. Being in 3A/4A is really a challenge, because you need to strive to keep up with the top. Even getting last in class is considered quite good in other classes. Look at this picture...

Source AIn 4A, it's not whether you get your A1 or not. It's whether you get 90% or not. This is what our class achieved for A-Maths and E-Maths respectively.

Because 4A is so competitive, you cannot afford to write crap answers like this:

Source B

In fact, to do well, you must know that time is an important factor. In exams, you cannot write long essays. You need to write quality ones... short enough to score the maximum marks possible.

Source C

One more point to take note. Being in 3A/4A, you must do everything with style and professionalism. You cannot let teachers or anyone criticise you, especially in examinations. In fact, whatever small mistakes you make may be exaggerated and laughed at by others.

Source DWhat a classic! "This was one point :("




Section A (Answer all questions)
1) Theme question: Does studying in 4A ensure good academic results?

a) Study Source A.
What does this source say? Explain your answer. [5]

b) Study Sources B and C.
How different are these two sources? Explain your answer. [6]

c) Study Source C.
Does this source prove that you can get high marks by writing less? Explain your answer. [7]

d) Study Source D.
How useful is this source in telling you that studying in 4A ensures good academic results? Explain your answer. [7]



Section B (Answer only one question)

2) Academics
a) How far is the education from teachers a factor in ensuring good academic results in 4A? Explain your answer. [12]

b) "4A studies more than they play". Do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. [13]

3) Class bonding
a) How far does the Victoria 130 challenge forge a stronger bond between the students of 4A? Explain your answer. [12]

b) Here are 3 ways 4A bond with each other:

i) Buying of class jerseys

ii) Playing soccer during post-prelim break

iii) Going to LAN shops after school

Which of the above is the most crucial in bonding the class together? Explain your answer. [13]

Yesterday was officially the last day I was going to study in Victoria School. After studying for 4 years in VS, I must say I have grown from a young boy to a young man. The atmosphere I have experienced here in VS is something nobody in any other schools can experience. As the saying goes, "VS is something more, not something else".

Many people were feeling quite emo yesterday. I personally wasn't feeling so emo because I know that we will always meet again. Very soon we will be taking our 'O' levels together. We will meet again next year to collect our results slip. Also, during events like Chinese New Year Eve, we will definitely return to the place where we call home.

Anyway, something happened last week which I promised to post only after graduation.


(Gabriel, Jun Yuan, Wei Liang and I were playing cards (Gabriel's cards) in class after school. Miss Yeo suddenly walked into our class)

[Ms Yeo]: Why are you all playing cards?
[Us]: We want to reduce stress.
[Ms Yeo] (took the cards Jun Yuan was holding): I am going to tell Mr Pang about you all playing cards...
(Gabriel snatched the cards back from everyone including Ms Yeo, then placed them nicely into his case)
[Ms Yeo]: I am going to tell him to change all your conducts from "Excellent" to "Very Good".
[Gabriel] (hands over the whole deck of cards): Ma'am, take them.
[Ms Yeo]: Nah, it's OK. Don't play again next time.
[Gabriel] (quickly keeps his cards): I know you won't take!


The next day, Mr Pang saw Wei Liang and I walking across the 7th floor bridge...

[Mr Pang]: Walao, how can you all do such a thing?
[Me]: What thing?
[Mr Pang]: You all should know.
[Me]: Oh that one. Because we need to reduce stress!

The next day, we played cards in class yet again after school and after playing, we went to the canteen and saw Miss Yeo...)

[Gabriel]: Hi Ma'am.
[Ms Yeo]: You all never play cards already ah?
[Gabriel]: Erm, we never play already.


Haha. Oh and I got an "Excellent" for conduct this year.

Frankly speaking, I was quite surprised when I got back my English and Geography results. Note that I said Geography, not Geography + Social Studies. I scored a 33.5/50 for Geography, which is 8.5 marks higher than what I expected myself to get. I scored 9.5/10 for Map Reading!! I am a Scout. Haha.

And I didn't expect myself to get a B3 for English. I expected something like B4 or C5. I was lucky to score 17/25 for summary, otherwise I don't think I will score the B3.

Feeling a bit slack lately. Don't feel like studying or doing papers. I think if I carry on like this, I cannot stay in the same JC as I will be getting in next year.

Today I went to buy batteries for my calculator at a nearby electronics shop. This was the dialogue between the shop owner and I:

[Me]: Hello, do you sell button batteries?
[SO]: Which type? Is it for calculators?
[Me]: Yes.
[SO]: How many do you need?
[Me]: 4.
[SO] (as he bends over to get them): Now I tell you, my maths is very good. One battery for $1, 4 batteries for $5. Haha.
[Me]: Haha. Maybe you can help me fit in the batteries into the calculator and we can calculate the cost using that.
[SO]: Haha.

I am extremely happy with my Biology results, even though I am not going to use it for my prelims L1R5 (hopefully). As compared to my mid years, I improved by 30%. And my essay... I scored 4/30 for mid years, and I scored 21/30 for this prelims! Haha. That's an improvement of over 400%! And for my mid years, I scored 0 for my 2nd essay question, and this time, I scored full marks for my 2nd essay question. Maybe it is because the questions are easier. Haha.

Okay the release of my Biology results is just for me to be happy over this weekend. I think I will cry when I get back my English and Geography/Social Studies results. Or maybe I should plan which JC I can go next year.

I couldn't sleep well last night, due to 3 reasons:
1) I woke up at 1pm yesterday, so I couldn't sleep;
2) I hadn't done by testimonial; and the last and the most important reason,
3) I was worried about my prelim results.

I tried to sleep at 1am but I tossed and turned in bed until I could not take it anymore. I woke up at 2am and typed my testimonial on my computer until around 3am. I was feeling quite guilty having to lie exaggerate about my qualities. In the end, Mr Pang did not collect today but he said by end of next week.

Slept for only 3 hours. Went to school today hoping to receive good results from my teachers. We were greeted by Geography as the first lesson. Mrs Bala came into class and I was quite disappointed by what she said. She said we could only get back our results on the official release of the results, which is 1st October, and she has not even marked finish our papers. Argh!! Made me wait for nothing.

Speaking about lessons, the new timetable is very interesting. First, we have no assembly periods. Next, I am dismissed at 1.05pm on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and 10.45am on Fridays, with the latest days being Wednesdays, at 1.40pm. Oh and after recess on Wednesdays we are going to have 4 periods of Maths. Today Mr Pang could not take it any more and dismissed us about 5 minutes earlier (he said it was a waste of time).

Looks like I will be dismissed earlier than many secondary 1s anyway.

I don't feel like going to school tomorrow, since we are not receiving any results...

Every time I go to school or pass by the school, I will always see the 131m-banner which our class painted during Victorian Challenge 2007. I can still remember our class doing it on that day itself. Because the banner was in 3 pieces, we splitted the locations of painting the banner into 3 areas. After painting, we sewed the 3 pieces of banner together (in black thread) using the sewing machine, then we folded the top of the banner and inserted a thick, super long nylon rope through it before sewing the top, so that the banner now contains a rope on top. After that, we brought the whole banner down and hung it up using fasteners every 1 metre. This is to ensure that the fasteners only hold the weight of the nylon rope (which in turn supports the banner), rather than the fasteners themselves holding the weight of the banner at 1m intervals so as to prevent the banner from tearing at those places.

Ok so that's wonderful. It wasn't thought by just one person alone. A perfect piece of idea of how to paint and hang up a banner, right? So here's the thing. Apparently the workers from our school were told to hang up some other banner at exactly the same place as where our banner was being hung. So what did they do? They remove all the fasteners, cut away the nylon rope and cut the banner into a few sections. All these just to hang up some other at-most-5-metre-long banner which was obviously printed rather than painted (note the difference).

And they got even smarter than they tried to hang our banner up again. Firstly, they sewed white threads on our black banner. What the heck! Did they run out of black threads or what?! Or are they worse than colour-blind?

Secondly, they got the order of the banner wrong, that is, that sewed it in the wrong order. Come on, OM Goh even sent Shi Wei down to help give instructions. Like what Shi Wei said on his blog, "Despite my best efforts to direct OM Goh on where the pieces fit together, they still managed to screw it up." Now it has the back in the front!

Thirdly, they didn't know how to sew it properly, or rather, the damage done while cutting the banner was too great. Now you see the letter 'd' near the school entrance out of shape, and you see white dotted lines manifested along it. And also, some parts of the white thread in which they used to sew don't seem to be quite effective in connecting the cut banner together, as I could see some parts detached halfway.

Lastly, guess what they used to hang up the banner? No wrong, guess again. Strings! They used normal strings to hang up the banner. The banner is so heavy and they used strings at every 1m to hang up the banner. Oh man. I mean, the banner is going to lean its weight on the strings and the banner is going to tear. Also, you can see the banner sagging at every midpoint between 2 of those strings. Come on, with the nylon rope, you should see how straight the banner was. Furthermore, they didn't even compansate us with the nylon rope which they happily cut.

Now it's in such an unsightly state, I'll rather that they don't actually hang it up at all...