Happy Halloween!
Anyway, today also happens to be the last day of Term 4. Which means memories, briefing on the Symbolic Move to the so-called New Campus and REPORT BOOKS! Well, this Semester I dropped from 4th in class to 6th in class, and levelwise I dropped from 12th to 13th (don't ask me how that is possible...). The 1st in the level (for Special Stream) is, of course, Cheng Rong, with 87%.
After that, there was a debrief for the Sec 1 Post Exam Activities. I went home after the debrief to chill.
There was an unofficial ELDDS meeting today (unofficial meeting meaning that it's not called by Ms Ong). Unfortunately, only half the ELDDS turned up. And the students weren't that orderly after all; they were eager for the meeting to end.
After the meeting I met up with a few EXCO Councillors for the planning of next Saturday's Councillor Camp. It wasn't that well done either; we were wasting time talking crap. I went home at around 6 pm.
Although it is Promotion Day, meaning we weren't supposed to be in school, the Mother Tongue Department called us back for Chinese revision. Sigh...Wouldn't it be good if everything ended?
For today's Chinese revision, we had a guest speaker to teach us the techniques of writing compositions, specifically the factual types of compositions. Under this category there are newspaper topic reviews, argumentative essays, compositions which require the candidate to explain something, and compositions which give a view of what other people think about a particular topic and have to reply to it. The speaker was very comical, and I kind of enjoyed the lesson.
We also got our certificates for the Australian Maths Competition and the Singapore Mathematical Olympiad (for those who took part). I got a Certificate of Distinction for the AMC and Honorable Mention for SMO. I think Fang You got a Certificate of High Distinction for AMC, because he didn't receive his certificate from Mrs. Wong.
I can't believe that on this date, 300 days after 2003 began and 65 days till the end of the year, when the school exams are over and holidays are just around the corner, I would be worrying about my Chinese. The Mother Tongue Department has made us do a lot of things in a very short period of time. How am I going to get through if I can't catch up with anything?
Boring. I hate doing the Chinese compo thingy.
When I was walking to school this morning from the bus stop, I spotted Shao Ming who told me that there was an EXCO meeting that morning and that we were supposed to bring all our Council document. After I worried for 5 minutes (as I did not bring any Council stuff), he told me he was joking. What a brilliant start to the day.
For the whole morning the Sec 3 HCL pupils attended the first of a series of Chinese remedial lessons in order to prepare us for the O Level Chinese Exam coming on November 7. Today's lesson was on Paper 1 of the examination, mainly the composition. I realized that after reading so many model answers for the compositions, I was getting some sort of hang on writing these type of compositions.
After having lunch in school, I went for the real EXCO meeting at 1.30 pm. However, when Mrs. Lim entered the Student Lounge, EXCO meeting became Operation Clean-up of the Student Lounge. This went on for about 1 hour, after which we finally sat down to begin our meeting. We ended our meeting at around 4.30 pm.
My skin is peeling very badly now because of the sunburn I received on Monday. I'm looking like I have gotten some skin disease. I hope it's not skin cancer...
For the first half of the day, our class went via school bus to an open field next to Jurong East MRT Station for the launch of a project by the Southwest Community Development Council (SWCDC) called Youth Excellence Award in the Heartlands (YEAH!). Our work was in a tent with many booths, where the Charity Fiesta will be taking place. We were supposed to be helping out at the booths, selling the items. Kegan, Fang You and I ended up at the main stage tent, where we helped out with administrative matters at the registration counter.
Today's programme included an attempt to break the world record for the world's longest human bridge. Over 4000 students from many schools in the district formed the human bridge that spelt "YEAH" when seen from the sky. Nicholas, a student from Boon Lay Secondary (if I didn't remember wrongly), was to run through the human bridge holding a key to the YEAH! e-portal, which was to be handed to him by the Guest-of-Honour, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Acting Minister for Education. A rehearsal happened before Mr. Tharman arrived and the real record breaking followed.
After the three of us were done with our business at the main stage tent (each getting a T-shirt for the work), we returned to the Charity Fiesta where our classmates were busy promoting their booths and getting people to buy the items. I was especially intrigued by a Braille typer, who was typing Braille on bookmarks for buyers. We returned to school at around noon.
We received the rest of our test results in the afternoon. My marks are as follows:
English: 71.6/100 (A2)
Chinese: 55.8/100 (C5)
Maths: 90.5/100 (A1)
A. Maths: 92/100 (A1)
Physics: 54.5/100 (C6) (I heard 7 marks will be added across the board.)
Chemistry: 76/100 (A1)
Biology: 75/100 (A1)
Combined Humanities: 76/100 (A1) (Social Studies: 37/100; Elective Geography: 39/100)
That makes my L1R5 for this exam along 7. I'm feeling relieved that at least I had gotten A1s for most of my subjects. Perhaps the most improved subject had got to be Combined Humanities. Half a year ago I was getting C5 or C6 for it. Thanks to Mrs Chan and Ms Ang, I could get these marks.
The next thing to worry about would be the O Level Chinese Examination on November 7. The Mother Tongue Department has drawn up revision schedules for us. Bet the Sec 3s last year had gone through the same.
Received some of our EOY papers back. Physics was dismal, Chemistry was okay, Maths and A. Maths were as usual, Chinese was pathetic, and English was almost frustrating. Later Ms Ang told me that the English teachers were going to add 2 marks to everyone's papers in Secondary 3. So meaning to day, I'm getting a distinction for English!
Then in the afternoon, there was a meeting for the Secondary 1 Councillors to plan for the Secondary 1's post-exam activities. It was pretty much guided by Kegan, who told them what to do. We ended at around 4 pm.
My face and neck are starting to feel pain from being sunburnt yesterday. My arms and legs aren't that bad. I wonder if my skin will ever heal in a few days. Guess I'll have to go back to school tomorrow with a red face. A very red face.
3/1 Class Outing Sr 2
3/1 had an outing to Sentosa today, organised by Auntie Shiling (who's not an auntie of course). We met at HarbourFront MRT station at 9.30 am. James was the first to arrive, followed by Xianglong and me. The next 5 or 6 to arrive were all males. By 9.33 am, all of us (going today) were present except Veronica, so most of the boys (some went for breakfast), Peiyu and Kuan Yee decided to head to Sentosa first.
We left the station by the correct exit, but we didn't know at first which way to go. Initially going left on Quan Ming's instinct, we soon discovered our mistake, while I double checked the locality map at the MRT station. In no time we were walking along the Causeway to Sentosa with land breezes coming our way.
After paying for our admission tickets into Sentosa, we headed for the Monorail station at the Visitor Arrival Centre. We realized the guys who had breakfast were already there waiting, so we joined them in waiting for the Monorail. Our destination was the Underwater World station, where we would be able to head over to Siloso Beach.
After looking at the sharks and turtles at the Underwater World (they were swimming in a lake outside the attraction, so we didn't have to pay) we walked a short distance to Siloso Beach. It wasn't occupied with people yet, so we easily found a shelter to place all our belongings. Most of the boys immediately drew out a court and played soccer with Xianglong's ball, while a few others and the 2 girls went cycling. I took photos of the soccer match with Quan Ming's camera. The other girls arrived at the end of their soccer match.
At around 11 am, Quan Ming and I decided to walk from Siloso Beach to the neighbouring Palawan Beach, a few kilometres away, and to the bridge leading to the so-called Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. We left our shoes at the shelter and Quan Ming brought his camera along to take photos. We soon discovered the downside of walking barefooted; there was a stretch of tarred road that was not sheltered. Our feet were burning (I felt it more than Quan Ming, who seemed to have been able to walk more calmly). Along the way, we spotted a 7-Eleven and rushed in to get a Big Gulp. After we came out, we spotted ex-2/8 students on the Monorail and Wee Cheng and Zhi Yuan behind them, for whatever reason we did not know (they said they were leaving early).
We finally reached the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. We hung out at the watchtowers on the island before heading back to Siloso Beach. The time then was already noon and the ground was scorching hot to any barefooted person. We then realized that by walking on the sand along the tarred road it would have been cooler. Trust us to be 3/1 students.
When we returned, some boys and girls were playing Truth or Dare in the water. Not too far away, just at the shore. Quan Ming, not wanting to get wet, declined, but I went ahead and just threw myself into the water. I was only asked one question, and that wasn't a difficult answer to make. We washed up and most of them decided to go for lunch at Burger King. The time was around 2.00 pm. Kegan and me stayed back at the shelter. We hung out there for about 2 hours (watching an Indian show in the making) before our lunch arrived. I had bread prepared beforehand so I only asked for fries.
After the gang came back we had a game of Captain's Ball. It was extremely fun playing in the sand. During our break in the game, it started to drizzle, then rain very heavily. We moved our belongings to a bigger shelter, but then the rain ended as quickly as it began. We then headed out to a soccer "field" a few hundred metres away from our hut to play soccer. I found I made a better goalkeeper than someone in the playing field (but then again, the goalpost wasn't that big, so it wasn't that difficult to defend). We stopped again at around 4 pm, when I started to feel a little stomachache. I couldn't engage in other activities for some ten to twenty minutes.
Most of us went to watch the sunset. Then we cleaned up (changed into new clothes for some) and headed back to HarbourFront Centre on the mainland, where Ms Ang was meeting us at foodcourt. I had Ice Longan which was extremely sweet (should have asked for less syrup), then bought a bottle of drinking water. We headed home at around 9 pm, some by bus and some by MRT.
It was another fun day, with most of us (including me) getting sunburnt. When I reached home, however, the dinner that awaited me was rice, fish (both of them quite okay) and pumpkin (yucks!). I dumped half of the pumpkin. Pumpkin ain't gonna destroy my happiness.
But then again, I was in the sun for so long I've turned down the aircon in my room to 20 degree Celsius.
I originally planned to go to Clementi Swimming Complex for a swim this afternoon. The moment I reached the place, a sign (actually 2) wrote that the complex would be closed until further notice. Hmm...who knows what happened? Maybe a freak accident happened in the complex. Or Thirsty Hippo came along and sucked up all the water in the pools...
EOY Day 5
Today's papers: Geography Elective & A. Maths
Today's papers weren't too difficult. I just hope I can get good marks for them. Why? Because Mr. Pandian told me this morning that I didn't do well for the Physics paper (think he finished marking our class' papers yesterday).
On a happier note, it's the end of the exams for me! Not just for me, for most of the Sec 3s. I'm not sure about the Lower Secondary. We still have O Level Chinese in November, but that's another story. What follows is 4 days of slacking!
EOY Day 4
Today's papers: E Maths Paper 2 and Physics
E Maths was okay. The killer was Physics. What's Mrs Chang (the setter of the Physics paper) trying to do, take over Mr. Pandian's position as Physics killer?!
Sigh...Where am I gonna find the strength to face the papers tomorrow?
EOY Day 3.
Today's papers: Chinese & Chemistry
Chinese was hell. Nobody will get distinction. (In order to continue studying Higher Chinese next year, we must get at least a distinction for our O Level Chinese. Then again, I forgot if she meant this one or the O Level one.) Chemistry was okay, though I didn't study again.
EOY Day 2
Today's papers: Social Studies & Biology
For the Social Studies paper, I was writing like hell. I didn't elaborate on the last question; I just mentioned the point and went on to weigh the importance of the points. Biology was not too bad (though I didn't study). Half of the questions I knew, and most of the other half I had a rough idea. Wouldn't bank on getting a distinction for this.
EOY Day 1
Today's subjects: English & Mathematics Part 1
Well...They're pretty okay...I have to worry about tomorrow though.
I am still coughing, though on a smaller degree. I still feel a little sick. Please, let me get well by tonight.
I feel sick today...I don't have a fever, but I feel heaty...And I was coughing throughout the day...Will I get well before Monday?
This morning's Chinese Paper 1 wasn't too good. In my opinion.
And we had a surprise Chinese test this afternoon. Dang! Didn't study (nobody did). At least the mark wouldn't be counted into the CA.
Today, we had the English Language Paper 1 for the End of Year Examination (EOY). There were two sections. Section 1 - Free Writing - had a word limit of 350 to 500 words, and we were advised to spend 1 hour on it. I spent 1 hour and a few more minutes on Section 1 - and wrote 5 pages (700-something words). It was only until after the exam that I realized how much I had written. For Section 2 - Functional Writing - the word limit was 250 to 350 words. I wrote 231 words, below the required word count by 19 words.
Guess I'll be penalised heavily. I hope the Chinese Paper 1 tomorrow goes well.
Today the only lessons we had were Chemistry, English/Geography Elective and PE. Our Maths teacher, Mrs Wong, and our Physics teacher, Mr. Pandian, was absent. So for the day, we had three periods of Chemistry with Ms Wassan, and four periods of English/Geography Elective with Ms Ang (she usually doesn't follow the time table; as long as it's her lesson, she could teach either English or Geography Elective). PE lesson wasn't too good either; as it was raining, we had to share the Hall with 4/4. We played Captain's Ball in half the Hall.
Come to think of it, the monsoon season is approaching. No wonder it's raining almost every other day.
Played basketball during PE lesson today against the girls. Suddenly I like basketball. Used to be badminton...;)
Then we had Geography extra class after school today with the 3/11 Geography Elective students. Ms Ang is a really good teacher. She tells us the structure of the answers for certain questions, unlike previous teachers.
A very rainy school day. Not too interesting either. Perhaps because the exams are approaching.
Yeah, well, homework day.
I arrived at school at 6.20 am in the morning to prepare for the National Fire Prevention Council Skit Competition Final.
We reached the venue at around 8.10 am, all dressed up and made up. We waited for one more member of the team who was coming on her own, then went into the building first after she said she was stuck in a traffic jam.
There were 8 schools in the final. We were going to be the 6th school to perform. I've seen the other schools' performances and I think they're brilliant, especially CHIJ don't-know-what-branch school and St. Margaret's. Eventually, the first prize went to St. Margaret's (because their team put up a wonderful performance - if the judges had judged critically, they wouldn't have gotten first prize, because they exceeded the 10-people limit).
Us? We got 4th runner-up. Not too bad - at least we're in the top 5. And some of us appeared on the news too.
Chemistry test today was okay. Chinese test today was okay, too. The day was not.
Right at the start of the day, Mr. Pandian told us that a certain student in the class (ain't telling who) might have had a nervous breakdown. (!!!) Apparently, his/her (again, not revealing identity; not that that person is unisex) arm and tongue went numb all of a sudden, and he/she started to talk rubbish. He/She was sent to the sick bay in the middle of our Physics lesson, and he/she couldn't even remember his/her home phone number. Perhaps it's the exam blues.
Then during recess, a few more people cried too. Again, not telling who.
So the day was upside down. I didn't even know who I am anymore.
I absolutely didn't study for today's Biology test. I will fail.
After school today, I went to find Ms Wassan, only to find that she was going to take photos of me for next year's Student Handbook. At least I'm not the only one - Ms Wassan called Quan Ming too.
The fire safety skit team then rehearsed our skit and added in another song at the end.
It's Children's Day. Unfortunately, being teenagers, we still have to go to school. Sob! Well, we still got our Children's Day gift though.
Also, news came that our fire safety skit team has gotten into the finals! The finals will be this Saturday in the morning. I got the news in the morning, just before PE lesson. I was skipping when I went for PE.
