I’m re-reading my blog of 2009. Two thoughts came to mind, the first being: I wonder what happened to the writer I used to be?
I used to come out with some whacky, spontaneous post or a long thought-provoked ramble every couple of days or so. I was pretty consistent. It was easy to come up with something to say.
What on earth has college done to reduce my writing skills to that of a third-grader?
Re-reading the blog of 2009 has made me realize one other thing: I am really, really proud to be a part of the graduating class of CHS 2009.
The first two years of high school were emotionally tense and full of drama. Every few days we’d hear about someone bitching and backstabbing someone else. The kids regarded as “cool” were always involved in some disciplinary issues every other day. It got so tense that at one point, I really looked forward to the holidays. Being emo was the norm, and everyone was going around saying, “Life sucks.”
Form 3 was the let’s-have-fun, damn-the-consequences year. I’m not exactly sure how this happened, but for me it was because that was my very first year (in my entire life!) in a B class. I had never experienced that kind of wildness and lackadaisity towards studies that the 3B3 environment provided. I rather took to it, and it was a sort of miracle that I pulled out of that year with straight As for the PMR, a distinction for Grade 7 Piano and my first boyfriend in my hat.
Form 4 was the year everyone started to get serious. How could they not, with the whole science-or-arts streaming thing going on? Seeing our seniors face the SPM also lent to the pressure; oh shit that’s gonna be us NEXT YEAR thoughts started cropping up. On top of that, we were also being given bigger, more significant responsibilities, and at the end of the year, many of us were awarded posts in clubs and societies which we had to receive with both hands and meet head-on.
In other words, many of us grew up, even if only a little. On the whole, we realized that some grudges, judgements and relationships were so petty that they were never worth holding on to. So we let them go and looked for better things that we thought worth our time.
And then came Form 5.
If I had a look at everyone’s 2009 resolutions, I’d bet they’d all look more or less the same:
- Study hard for SPM!
- Make up with everybody before I leave high school.
- Have fun!
The gist of it was DO NOT REGRET THIS YEAR.
Compared to the first year of high school, there was hardly any drama… At least, none that I was aware of, and none that was not resolved within a reasonable time frame. For many of us (myself included) this was the first time we experienced the joy of learning and of working with people you’ve been around for 5 years. Many of us took the pains to make up with every person we’d ever fallen out with, and maintain good relations with everyone else. The atmosphere on graduation day would have been really rosy, bar certain incidents I will not mention for the sake of consistency in this post.
If you notice, the happier years of high school were Form 3 and Form 5, which were the years of the PMR and SPM. What is it about exams that brings students closer? Maybe it’s the long hours of cramming, and the numerous study groups, many of them pulled together at the last minute, many of them ineffective but fun. Maybe it’s the feeling that we’re all facing a common enemy, and that even though exams reflect individualistic performances, if we worked together we’d pull through somehow. Hence all the note-sharing and exams tips being yelled from classroom to classroom. Maybe it’s addiction to the feeling of triumph that we get when we tackle a particularly difficult subject and win. (You have no idea how high I felt when I scored my first ever A1 for Chemistry in the trials!)
Or maybe we were just a bunch of particularly kiasu, typically Chinese students.
Whatever the reason, my point is that exams are not big bad events. Exams are not to be feared. Because really, unless you’re dyslexic or have serious learning disabilities, the only reason anyone does not do well in exams is because they didn’t work hard for it. I would go as far as saying that because of the way they can bring a group of people together and stimulate mentally, exams are to be welcomed and looked forward to. I know I secretly did.
Now you know how much of a nerd I am. –___-
Exams make up much of your high school life, and like it or not your attitude towards exams is going to make or break your high school experience. If you meet and treat exams right, you’ll not only enjoy high school but you’ll come out of it never fearing exams ever again.
I know we did. CHS 2009. Most of the people around me anyway. I remember coming to school in the days before exams for history study groups and drawing stickmen stories on the board to illustrate the story of the Birth of Islam. I remember sitting together with the people I fondly call the Chemistry Giants (David and Prashanth) and the Physics Genius (Hock Eu) and feeling rather insignificant while going through everything with them but having fun anyway. (Whether or not they remember this I don’t know and I doubt it, but thanks guys! I had fun, just so you know!) Sadly I was never a genius in anything except English.
I need to wrap up right now, and I think I shall regret this in the morning. I just don’t have the gift of bringing a story out spontaneously and well at the same time! But my point is that my last year of high rocked because I was given the grace of appreciating every minute of it while it was happening. That and I was surrounded by an awesome batch of students. (: It helps to appreciate it right now, because it helps when you get to college. It’s so different from the cushiony environment that high school was, but I don’t miss high school. I have no regrets because I had fun all the way through Form 5.
Safe to say, I think my earlier worry at the beginning of this post has been unfounded, or at least partly. *grins*
