Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Exams and parents nowadays
again, my lack of updates mainly cos i'm unwilling to come here though i've quite a lot to say, so this'd be a long one to cover all my grievances...
first the bio prelim paper... sure, i didn't try hard at all, but i expected myself to have done enough for a pass and perhaps a b but the test proved really horrible... wonder which freaks can get an a1 out of that paper. but tough is one thing, it's another thing altogether to set papers like this. looks like the bio teachers are dead set on 'killing us' and want to differentiate the thinking and hardworking ones. while i would have liked this kind of paper compared to 'standard' ones anytime, this is juz not the time. prelims r for preparation for the o levels, so imo tan seow lan and mr yeo got it all wrong this time... o levels are to differentiate the better from the worst, the more hardworking from the lazy ones, not the super-duper thinking dudes from the less-super-duper people. this isn't social studies where you have to link here and link there and pick out your own links... this is biology... at least o levels will not be like this, so i think i'm gonna study hard for the 'o's but take whatever bio lessons we have in sch with a pinch of salt.
next up the physics pratical, and it's even worse than the titration for chem. i'm absolutely certain i'd fail the second part of the experiment, so well, juz hope as many people fail with me as possible so that they'd moderate it (;P)
so here i am, devoting 4 hours everyday to studying, under my new philosophy of studying... good results isn't a matter of how little you slack but how productive you spend your time studying. i'm still playing a lot of games, etc, but i think i've put in my hard work so hope the prelims will turn out fine. i'm kinda slacking, 4 sure, but as always, i want to walk into the hall trusting myself that i can do it. i've studied really hard for geog (today will mark 2 times through) so i hope my combined humanities will do really well... maths i must do well after the amount of hard work and effort i'd put in (not juz an a1, i want to ace it!)... the only prob now is the sciences... don't really know how to study... read through the textbook, do those other school papers, do some tys... how? there's definitely not enuf time to embark on tys no. 3 and 4 now, so i can only pick a few qns... hmm... and chinese too... given how bad the sciences were, bio and the praticals, i might very well need it.
but enuf of exams. now on to my next complain. somehow, i always seem to sit close to some mother with her primary school kid at the library, and i have to say i m really disappointed with these mothers.
ok, so the first one, going through eng compre cloze with her daughter. there she was, checking through, and whenever there's a mistake, it's "how can you use here? how? your english is so atrocious, use this word here..." in the you're expected to know this tone. juz complaining, complaining and complaining about how lousy her daughter's english is without explaining what's wrong. you mean you though her how to use all the words in the dictionary? you mean the child is supposed to know what's right everytime? i really hate this kind of teaching method, which really inhibits learning. and the girl is still there, so hardworking, asking her mother how to use certain words while the woman juz kept complaining bout her poor english. not that her english is very good, what with the missing 'th' and 'ed' sounds.
so next, was another mother with her son this time. at least this mother isn't so bad imo... she is pretty good at explaining things to her son and do share some light moments with him, but when her son was a little slow in understanding things, she used that oh-so-hideous tone again an threatened him with physical punishment, etc.
for both cases, i think the mothers are really inhibiting learning and not providing a learning environment and attitude for the child. they're still young, and bound to make mistakes, so patience is key for their learning. if you go on with this attitude towars them, they'd juz come to dread learning and when they can stop this journey, they'd gladly do. that's not lifelong learning and they would have lost their thirst for new knowledge. for that, i'm thankful to my parents for largely allowing me to learn on my own. sure, they do nag at times for me to study, but they appreciate that i like to learn at my own pace...
and while other people are complaining bout a lack of life due to the prelims, i actually think my life is enriched because of it. for some reason, i'm finding more meaning in life nowadays, esp the period leading to the exams. sure, it's a chore having to study, study, and revise, everyday jus going to sch, then ssp then the library for me, but the new knowledge is always gd to have and i actually kinda like studying now...
i think i actually had more to say when i came here, but can't think of it now, and library's opening soon and i'd have to be there. so so long 4 today...
first the bio prelim paper... sure, i didn't try hard at all, but i expected myself to have done enough for a pass and perhaps a b but the test proved really horrible... wonder which freaks can get an a1 out of that paper. but tough is one thing, it's another thing altogether to set papers like this. looks like the bio teachers are dead set on 'killing us' and want to differentiate the thinking and hardworking ones. while i would have liked this kind of paper compared to 'standard' ones anytime, this is juz not the time. prelims r for preparation for the o levels, so imo tan seow lan and mr yeo got it all wrong this time... o levels are to differentiate the better from the worst, the more hardworking from the lazy ones, not the super-duper thinking dudes from the less-super-duper people. this isn't social studies where you have to link here and link there and pick out your own links... this is biology... at least o levels will not be like this, so i think i'm gonna study hard for the 'o's but take whatever bio lessons we have in sch with a pinch of salt.
next up the physics pratical, and it's even worse than the titration for chem. i'm absolutely certain i'd fail the second part of the experiment, so well, juz hope as many people fail with me as possible so that they'd moderate it (;P)
so here i am, devoting 4 hours everyday to studying, under my new philosophy of studying... good results isn't a matter of how little you slack but how productive you spend your time studying. i'm still playing a lot of games, etc, but i think i've put in my hard work so hope the prelims will turn out fine. i'm kinda slacking, 4 sure, but as always, i want to walk into the hall trusting myself that i can do it. i've studied really hard for geog (today will mark 2 times through) so i hope my combined humanities will do really well... maths i must do well after the amount of hard work and effort i'd put in (not juz an a1, i want to ace it!)... the only prob now is the sciences... don't really know how to study... read through the textbook, do those other school papers, do some tys... how? there's definitely not enuf time to embark on tys no. 3 and 4 now, so i can only pick a few qns... hmm... and chinese too... given how bad the sciences were, bio and the praticals, i might very well need it.
but enuf of exams. now on to my next complain. somehow, i always seem to sit close to some mother with her primary school kid at the library, and i have to say i m really disappointed with these mothers.
ok, so the first one, going through eng compre cloze with her daughter. there she was, checking through, and whenever there's a mistake, it's "how can you use
so next, was another mother with her son this time. at least this mother isn't so bad imo... she is pretty good at explaining things to her son and do share some light moments with him, but when her son was a little slow in understanding things, she used that oh-so-hideous tone again an threatened him with physical punishment, etc.
for both cases, i think the mothers are really inhibiting learning and not providing a learning environment and attitude for the child. they're still young, and bound to make mistakes, so patience is key for their learning. if you go on with this attitude towars them, they'd juz come to dread learning and when they can stop this journey, they'd gladly do. that's not lifelong learning and they would have lost their thirst for new knowledge. for that, i'm thankful to my parents for largely allowing me to learn on my own. sure, they do nag at times for me to study, but they appreciate that i like to learn at my own pace...
and while other people are complaining bout a lack of life due to the prelims, i actually think my life is enriched because of it. for some reason, i'm finding more meaning in life nowadays, esp the period leading to the exams. sure, it's a chore having to study, study, and revise, everyday jus going to sch, then ssp then the library for me, but the new knowledge is always gd to have and i actually kinda like studying now...
i think i actually had more to say when i came here, but can't think of it now, and library's opening soon and i'd have to be there. so so long 4 today...
