Ok, the papers are gone. Finally, no more studying for me until next year! Thank you Jesus! Unfortunately, I still feel a bit empty, having to adapt with suddenly having no more school and no more examinations and tests, and most importantly, not being able to be with my good old chums...
O Level Physics Paper 1, 10/11/08, 8.00am
Studied until 12am the previous night, so I wasn't in my best condition to sit for the examination that day. Still made it through, though not without a few careless mistakes. Finished this paper within half an hour, with another half an hour left to burn.
O Level Chemistry Paper 1, 12/11/08, 8.00am
Studied my guts out with everything I had, and threw in everything I had. Finished this paper within 45 minutes, because of chemical equations that had to be intepreted properly. By the time this paper was over, I was already halfway dead when the Physics-Chemistry Double Science students were out to celebrate already...
Nevermind that, just one more day to freedom and I'm outta this O level cage. Must bear, must bear, must bear...
O Level Biology Paper 1, 13/11/08, 8.00am
Threw in every last bit of my strength into this day. Threw in everything I've got, my guts, my brains, my intestines(I made up the intestines part myself), and guess what happened...
...I finished it in 25 minutes. Overdrive mode - Must put in my best, must put in all I've got, must let this be over in the fastest possible time....
...and dozed off for the next 15 minutes until the examiner woke me up. What to do? I checked the answers again for careless mistakes. It was a drag - the next 20 minutes was decades to me, right smack at that particular seat at the examination hall. Air-conditioned hell.
"Time's up!"
My heart rose.
"...and the boys will move the tables to the second level, and the girls will stack up the chairs and put them at the side of the hall..."
My heart sank. Thanks, teachers, for fully utilising the manpower at the expense of our absence from the school for the rest of our lives now...(open sarcasm)
Watched Quantum of Solace with Kevin and the others, then proceeded to hang around in VivoCity for a while before going back to Tampines Sports Hall for badminton. By night-time I was back in action, practicing for the December 13 Christmas Dinner performance item.
Finally, Aaron Goh is back in action!
Showing posts with label O Level Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label O Level Crisis. Show all posts
Friday, November 14, 2008
Sunday, November 9, 2008
O Level Crisis - Week 3: Waste of time
Hi, back to what's going on in the GCE O Levels for me, continued from previous posts...
O Level Combined Humanities(Social Studies), 3/11/08, 2.oopm
This paper wasn't as hard as I thought - I was well prepared already when I sat for the paper. It isn't often that you get to sit for a paper so confident in a major examination that determines your future, you know. I chose question (4) as I thought it was much easier as compared to the other questions, namely (2) and (3).
After the paper, I asked around and to my surprise, most of my classmates chose question (3), on Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka. First reaction was "What?" Such a difficult topic to write on, yet so many people chose that? From what I think it looks like, I think everyone else's outta their minds to do something that is going to cost them marks when they could avoid that question altogether and do another.
No offence, but I think I'm saying this because I got stuck halfway while trying to attempt question (3) and cancelled off the whole question because I wrote crap, ending up doing question (4) instead, which was far much easier.
O Level Chinese Papers I and II, 5/11/08, 8.00am and 10.45am
Something happened halfway during Paper I, which is too embarrassing and humiliating to mention. Skip that.
The papers were not as difficult as I thought - I managed to do it with ease, and managed to survive the whole ordeal with a chronic stomachache throughout the examination. Tough luck, eh? Anyways, I did manage to finally finish Paper I, making up for the unfinished Paper I in the Mid-Year Chinese GCE O Level. Paper II was easier too - all the comprehension passages span only about three-quarters of a page!
The remaining days - guess what did I do? Yes, play! But of course there's some discipline involved - with great amounts of play-time also means great amounts of study-time as well. I studied throughout the nights till at least 3am the next day. Today's no different too.
O Level Combined Humanities(Social Studies), 3/11/08, 2.oopm
This paper wasn't as hard as I thought - I was well prepared already when I sat for the paper. It isn't often that you get to sit for a paper so confident in a major examination that determines your future, you know. I chose question (4) as I thought it was much easier as compared to the other questions, namely (2) and (3).
After the paper, I asked around and to my surprise, most of my classmates chose question (3), on Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka. First reaction was "What?" Such a difficult topic to write on, yet so many people chose that? From what I think it looks like, I think everyone else's outta their minds to do something that is going to cost them marks when they could avoid that question altogether and do another.
No offence, but I think I'm saying this because I got stuck halfway while trying to attempt question (3) and cancelled off the whole question because I wrote crap, ending up doing question (4) instead, which was far much easier.
O Level Chinese Papers I and II, 5/11/08, 8.00am and 10.45am
Something happened halfway during Paper I, which is too embarrassing and humiliating to mention. Skip that.
The papers were not as difficult as I thought - I managed to do it with ease, and managed to survive the whole ordeal with a chronic stomachache throughout the examination. Tough luck, eh? Anyways, I did manage to finally finish Paper I, making up for the unfinished Paper I in the Mid-Year Chinese GCE O Level. Paper II was easier too - all the comprehension passages span only about three-quarters of a page!
The remaining days - guess what did I do? Yes, play! But of course there's some discipline involved - with great amounts of play-time also means great amounts of study-time as well. I studied throughout the nights till at least 3am the next day. Today's no different too.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
O Level Crisis - Week 2: Justification of Study
Well yep. The second week is past - 4 more weeks to go! I say 4 weeks, because there's another two more weeks to the end of the O Levels, and immediately after the GCE "O" Levels, we Secondary Fours are called to practice for 2 more weeks as the cream of the crop in Anglican High Guitar Ensemble... Who said that we were very good at guitar anyway, now that all that full-time studying has turned our skills a bit rusty?
Somehow, I don't think it makes sense for us Secondary Fours to go back there to practice full-time in school anymore - surely a longer holiday break is well-deserved for us after all the hell at Muggers' Paradise*? Unfortunately it seems to be a big NO - we are enlisted to perform exactly one month later, at Victoria JC Auditorium, 7pm on 28th November! The O level break isn't justified - we won't get any fun out of it, neither would we have time to search for holiday jobs, FTW(for the win)!
If I can help it, I'd skip any guitar practices, since I already have my credit for the stuff I've done for Guitar Ensemble. But if I do that, all becomes very political. If I remember right, I remember Mrs NC Koh saying that we Secondary Fours promised her to perform for this public performance. Yeah, tell me more about promises - I don't remember ME making any such promise from the start, though I don't know about the others.
Enough for all that ranting - time for some serious business with GCE "O" Levels?
O Level Combined Humanities(History Elective), 28/10/08, 2.00pm
This one's a tough nut to crack, but it was yet another morale booster for the rest of the examinations that came later on. Ah finally, though the League of Nation's appeasement policy wasn't justified because it accelerated World War II when it was supposed to prevent war in the first place, my midnight oil certainly was justified. Hell, something that I studied for until 4am the next day past midnight surely must have been justified - the stuff just became second nature at the exam hall, so I just wrote and wrote: 3 pages for Source-Based Questions, and 1 1/2 pages for each of the 2 Structured Essay Questions.
O Level Physics Paper II, 29/10/08, 2.00pm
The moment I finished the paper, I thought - drats. How on earth did such unexpected questions come out on the paper? The size of an atom - the fundamentals - I forgot Chapter 1, of all things! A couple of mistakes could've been avoided easily, had I been more on my toes for Physics paper. So, for those future O Level candidate wannabes, better watch out - I've been there down and dirty on that paper and now, there goes my A1 for this paper...
...unless I work really hard this time round for Paper 1?
O Level Elementary Mathematics Paper II, 30/10/08, 8.00am
Morning paper. That's one thing you've gotta be thankful for whenever you sit for any paper - one thinks most clearly in the morning than in the other times of the day! In my opinion, this paper can be better utilised when sent to primary schools to raise their standard by a little, in my opinion, as compared to putting it in front of our desks in the O Level exam hall. Or better yet - use the question booklet as rough paper to fold paper aeroplanes.
O Level Biology Paper II, 31/10/08, 2.30pm
Just thank the Lord they gave me this paper! Having aims to become a doctor, this paper is fundamental to my ambitions - so this is the most dangerous one of all the papers, in a sense that if this paper goes wrong, my ambitions and future can be jeopardised at any moment during the exam period...
Just thank the Lord that these stuff didn't come out for this paper:
- Mitosis and meiosis
- Excretion(includes kidney and functions, as well as dialysis machine function)
- Enzymes
- Genetic diagrams
- The heart and cardiac cycle
- Genetic engineering
- Down syndrome(trisomy 21)
- Nervous system and reflex actions
- Impact on Ecosystems(eutrophication and bioaccumulation)
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good - His love endures forever!
However I, too, must still be on my toes - who knows, they might just test us on this very topics that Paper II failed to test us on. Another great morale booster - I'm one step closer to helping God spread His gospel through getting nearer and nearer to studying medicine!
Granted that I shouldn't start getting complacent, I have to hit the books again, so stay tuned for next week's post - O Level Crisis - Week 3!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
O Level Crisis - Week 1: Morale Boosters
Just a little sum-up of what's been going on this week, from a personal point of view.
O Level Chemistry Paper II - 20/10/08, 2.30pm
It was tough studying, but the paper simply was a let-down. It didn't justify my effort that I've put in for Chemistry, my favourite subject, because it turned out that most of the questions were either too clichéd or simply questions that appeared in either the Preliminary Examinations or other practice papers, repeated in this paper. A pushover - I enjoyed this paper, though I expected more Qualitative Analysis questions in this paper.
O Level English Papers I and II - 21/10/08, 2.30pm and 5.00pm
English is my greatest liability here, and I can finally say I put in everything I had for this paper. This comprehension paper should get me at least a B3 or B4, I think, instead of the lousy C5 I got for the Preliminary Examinations. The summary question was quite a challenge, but I am sure I got at least 10 points from the passage right...
O Level Additional Mathematics Paper I - 22/10/08, 2.30pm
A complete pushover, though I underestimated the paper after all - a quick check AFTER the examination made me spot careless mistakes here and there, which dashed my hopes for 80/80 marks for the paper. But still, I'm going to be content with just a little over 70 marks for this paper.
O Level Elementary Mathematics Paper I, Additional Mathematics Paper II - 24/10/08, 8.00am and 2.30pm
Another fun time at the examination hall - except that many people ranted about careless mistakes made in E-Maths Paper I, which means that I must have made some of the blunders discussed. Went to disturb Alex and George while they're using Alex's laptop to play Counter-Strike, Diablo II and later DotA. Wow, they sure have a knack for playing games at that point in time, man.
Back in the examination hall. Skipped 3 questions before inspiration hit me in the head in that very instant I prayed for His help. It was getting easier and easier as I progressed into the paper. All thanks, praise and glory be to my Jesus Christ - He turned the A-Maths paper from a chore to entertainment!
Will continue updating the experiences of being in the examination hall on the next post, titled: O-Level Crisis - Week 2.
O Level Chemistry Paper II - 20/10/08, 2.30pm
It was tough studying, but the paper simply was a let-down. It didn't justify my effort that I've put in for Chemistry, my favourite subject, because it turned out that most of the questions were either too clichéd or simply questions that appeared in either the Preliminary Examinations or other practice papers, repeated in this paper. A pushover - I enjoyed this paper, though I expected more Qualitative Analysis questions in this paper.
O Level English Papers I and II - 21/10/08, 2.30pm and 5.00pm
English is my greatest liability here, and I can finally say I put in everything I had for this paper. This comprehension paper should get me at least a B3 or B4, I think, instead of the lousy C5 I got for the Preliminary Examinations. The summary question was quite a challenge, but I am sure I got at least 10 points from the passage right...
O Level Additional Mathematics Paper I - 22/10/08, 2.30pm
A complete pushover, though I underestimated the paper after all - a quick check AFTER the examination made me spot careless mistakes here and there, which dashed my hopes for 80/80 marks for the paper. But still, I'm going to be content with just a little over 70 marks for this paper.
O Level Elementary Mathematics Paper I, Additional Mathematics Paper II - 24/10/08, 8.00am and 2.30pm
Another fun time at the examination hall - except that many people ranted about careless mistakes made in E-Maths Paper I, which means that I must have made some of the blunders discussed. Went to disturb Alex and George while they're using Alex's laptop to play Counter-Strike, Diablo II and later DotA. Wow, they sure have a knack for playing games at that point in time, man.
Back in the examination hall. Skipped 3 questions before inspiration hit me in the head in that very instant I prayed for His help. It was getting easier and easier as I progressed into the paper. All thanks, praise and glory be to my Jesus Christ - He turned the A-Maths paper from a chore to entertainment!
Will continue updating the experiences of being in the examination hall on the next post, titled: O-Level Crisis - Week 2.
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