7 more days to HMT O levels!!!

Now there is only exactly 1 week left to study Chinese and I am going to focus more towards paper 2! Whoo~

Feel a little bit afraid of not being able to score A2 for Chinese as my recent prelims and the mock paper from RGS EOY 2012 were hovering just a little bit above the minimum 70% needed for A2.

Maybe I will do a simple SWOT analysis here.

Strengths :D :

• Relatively strong Chinese foundation (after reading so many books~)
• Memorised quite a significant amount of quotes and good phrases to be used in 报章报道.
• Marks are consistent. (Always score just a little bit above 70%)
• Some of the weak portions are showing signs of improving. (Eg. 公函->All time high of 16.5, 长文缩短-> All time high of 17)

Weakness T_T:

• Lazy. (Up till now, I am still lazy.... Why Why Why after all these years of education?)
• Mind may be fixated on a few paper 1 topics and cannot change quickly during exams if I happen to meet a strange topic
• 报章报道 and 公函 some points may not answer the question, and thus no marks given. (Lost a fair bit while doing prelims when I scored only 41 for 报章报道 even though I studied very hard for it)

Opportunities:

• Left 6 more days, still can improve on my examination skills (1 day is left out due to family outing)
• Large pool of resources to draw from
• Have so many friends around to aid one another in the course of preparation for O's

Techniques:

• Focus more on Paper 2 自由发挥题，长文缩短，综合填空 then on Paper 1 公函，报章报道
• If 报章报道 really cannot make it, turn to 记叙文 and use my awesome Chinese skills to strive for A2
• ~Never do 理论文~ ( I didn't even attempt a single 议论文 in any formative or graded test this year)
• Most importantly for 报章报道, do not try to forcefully slot in the phrases or paragraphs that I have memorised. The markers rather a point that answers the question than fancy writing. (This is the reason why one of my friends scored 48 while writing only 4.5 pages '__')
• For paper 2, MUST finish every question. Always search the comprehension to answer free-response questions.
• For 综合填空, always look at 上下文, before choosing the correct 词语. Take note of all the 固定搭配 and the relatively of the words. Some are used as a stronger tone than others.

So, my plan is simple. Study until 7th November and I can take a break before entering JC. Can't wait to see the new classmates and friends that I will make there. Stupid Chung Chi doesn't want to tell me who are in my orientation group. 

Also, it is confirm that I will be taking Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Economics for JC next year as my Biology results T_T. On hindsight, I should have focused more on Bio....

Last piece of gossip.............. I rather not say it here. Hope the student and teacher will turn over a new leaf as time washes away the unsightly memories.


Update: yeah for my whole class for O levels higher chinese 80% distinction, top the level for most outstanding class! Anyway, jiayou everybody for JC A levels. 

~Anime~

I feel kind of ashamed of myself for starting to watch anime while preparing for O levels....

Anyway, I started watching anime just because I like a particular song very much. It is the ending song of Kannazuki No Miko titled "Agony" by Kotoko.

Upon hearing it for the first time, I instantly liked the song and went to check on the comments. From there, I went on to google "Kannazuki No Miko". I must state here, I am not into YURI anime. '__' I did not even know that it was a yuri anime when I was watching the first few episodes as it was revolving 2 girls and 1 boy. I thought it would be a typical 12-episode anime about triangular relationship or perhaps friendship jealousy.

That anime totally changed my perspective of animes. I once thought animes would be like Pokemon, Digimon, Doraemon, or even Onepiece, Naruto, Bleach. Either it is a childish cartoon or a full of violence anime.

I didn't know animes could portray the relationships between girls so well. The agony between the love and hatred for somebody while trying to protect her from further harm absorbed my eyes to the screen. I could say I was astonished by the work of the Japanese and somehow I did not want to the anime to stop.

Therefore, to prevent myself from falling into temporary depression as a result of the end of Kannazuki No Miko, I had to stop the anime at episode 6. I heard of a saying, "Sometimes, it is better to end it halfway when it is the most beautiful than finishing it".

Later on, I searched around the internet for yuri anime and I found "Strawberry Panic". It was a wonderful anime showing the perspectives of the girl being loved and the girl loving her. In fact, the anime was a triangular love where I really got to see the frustration and sadness of the girl not getting the other girl that she loved due to the latter one loving another one. It brought back memories of a debate that I had seen in China on whether you should go for the person that you love or the person that loves you. Of course, like in reality, there are bound to be people that are hurt in the course of pursuing their love. I was sad that even in the virtual world, there is no perfect ending. [Spoiler!]

This anime in my opinion should be NC16 and you need to have a mature mindset to watch it. Of course, there are no sexual scenes and the most is only kissing. Below are the 2 opening songs of Strawberry Panic.

Similar to the former anime, I stopped Strawberry Panic at episode 13 as I really could not force myself to finish an anime. The ending according to wikipedia is very sad and I did not want to watch it.

That marks the end of this blog entry. Even though the thoughts and phrasing are not good as it was done in a rush, I will try to perfect it after O levels.

In the meantime, good luck to all those taking O levels this year!!!

-Ahmeng-

Higher Chinese Prelims is over!

Words can't express my joy now as I looked back at the hardwork done for this Prelims. To be honest, I actually studied more for prelims than myct and I was glad to know that what I had learnt had been used by me in paper 1 of the test.

I studied various compositions, trying frantically to memorise them even on the last day before prelims as I was scarring myself out with the importance of prelims. Fortunately, I managed to memorise enough crucial sentences and quotes which aided me in today's paper. The whole paper was a smooth and it was my first time feeling not so much stress in doing paper 1 in 4 years in RI.

Secondly, paper 2 was relatively more difficult as I didn't practise enough writing skills and some of the questions seemed foreign to me even though the answers were easy to get. I guess I have to start focusing more on paper 2 to improve my comprehension answering techniques while learning how to manage time usage during paper 2. I learnt from my mistakes in MYCT and was able to answered 1 of the first few questions correctly. Other than that rare occasion when answers overlapped with each other (ie. answers to the questions on the first page were leaked at the last passage) during this paper, I must say that the paper was fairly challenging especially on explaining the phrase given by the author and whether you agree to it or not.

All in all, I will strive to work harder to achieve at least an A2 for O levels so as to prove to myself I am able to make it.

Next, I will be talking about choosing subject combination for JC.
Sometimes, I feel that it is a chore to choose subjects to study in JC. Why can't we learn everything from literature to philosophy to biology? The subjects that I am going to take in JC will ultimately affect my career path and it is a dilemma to choose between subjects that I like or subjects that I excel in. Right now, I am stuck between choosing Biology or Physics for the typical H2 subjects combination (Math, Economics, Chemistry, Physics/Biology).

What I think=>
Biology:
Pros* Allows me to take up a medical profession with a higher advantage. I get to have a shot to become a doctor.
Cons* Even though I take biology, I may not get in to the university course that I want since there is simply too much competition between JCs for the limited spots in local universities. According to Mr Chua, my biology teacher, even in VJC, there are around 300 students taking biology for A levels but NUS only accepts less than 400 students to the medical profession faculty. Even though, a huge bulk of them come from RJC, the interviewers ask for evidence of leadership roles in JC and community service as almost interviewees go in with straight As. What make the few selected stand out are their outstanding performance in leadership, aesthetics and servicing the community.

Physics:
Pros* Physics teaches people to have a strong logical processing and in finance, these kind of people are sought after to handle large amount of liquidity/assets for the maximum returns. If I am to become a banker next time, physics will help in my thinking process and prevent loopholes in the financial system.
Cons* Physics isn't really my cup of tea even though I do well in it. I am afraid of competition from foreign physics student such as those scholars from China, Malaysia, Japan. Not that I am xenophobic but I am, deep in my heart, a little bit tending towards relaxing myself and I may not stand the pressure while working beside them. (However to cure this, I am going to study with my friends from China and strive to work at the same pace or faster pace than them.)

I will continue this the next time as it is getting late now. Bye!

Gap Sem IS OVER!

The long anticipated and enjoyable gap semester had ended last week and I was feeling a little sad about it. In fact, I will be compiling a list of reflections on all of my courses throughout Gap Semester so as to leave fond memories behind to look back in the future.

Right now, I am in the midst of revising Chinese for the upcoming Higher Chinese prelims on Thursday. It may be a bit of rush to study now as I was overseas during Gap Sem but I am trying now to catch up by memorising sentences that Cai lao shi highlighted throughout the course of Gap Sem. 

Anyway, after prelims, I will carry on to finish my draft of reflections to be uploaded to this blog. Right now, I should say, all the best to everybody going for O levels this year (2012)!

~Ah Meng~