Thus ends the perfect straight A streak that Ern Sheong has been enjoying in the UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations.

First the good part:

H2 Mathematics A
H2 Physics A
H2 Chemistry A
H1 Economics A

Now, the not so good part:

H1 General Paper B (this is an English language subject)
H3 MOE Mathematics Merit
H3 NTU Contemporary Physics Pass
(The best results possible for H3 is Distinction, followed by Merit and Pass. For the uninformed, H3 replaced Singapore’s Special Papers this year and it covers an extended range of university level topics. H3 is an optional paper.)

Also, another set-back from a past result:

Project Work B

When they announced the list of 20 top scorers in National Junior College, I found that I was not so surprised that I did not make it into the list.

In fact, throughout the journey to National Junior College, Singapore from Malaysia, my heart did not beat faster than usual. Everything was… calm.

When I saw the results, I went,”Oh… like that ar… OK la.”

Just like that. To say that I was not disappointed is a little bit of an understatement. But somehow it was… OK.

Ern Sheong, just another run-of-the-mill student in a super-competitive NJC. He never did top anything in the intensely competitive National Junior College for two years, so why expect so stellar results anyway.

But praise God for all his blessings. I saw some girls crying and sobbing around the school, most probably because of not too good results. And I was ashamed of myself for not being thankful enough for His wonderful blessings. Thank You, Lord.

Also, I want to take this opportunity to thank the teachers who have cared for me so selflessly in NJC. First is Ms Ong An Dian, my General Paper teacher, who is a very caring, patient and encouraging teacher. She has been so kind to write me a teacher recommendation and send it to the seven US universities as requested. She gave me a lot of GP guidance, and although I did not score an A for her this time, her lessons have somewhat improved my argumentative writing and command of written English. She seemed to me like a good friend and a friendly face in school always. I would like to thank her for being there for her students and for me when I needed someone nice to talk to. She is one teacher whom I can call friend.

Second is Ms Khoo Bee Chan, my form teacher who also helped me write a teacher recommendation for US Universities, and she also kindly sent the recommendations to the respective universities as requested. She has been very helpful in helping me out with a lot of admin stuff needed to make the US application work, and I would also like to thank her for all her guidance in Physics. I am frequently amazed that she can repeat things to students so many many many times without getting impatient or frustrated at all. Amazing. So unlike the impatient me.

Third is Ms Darshini, my Chemistry teacher, whom I want to thank for having faith in me despite scoring an E (my first fail in an exam in my life omg!) in a term exam on my first year in JC. Somehow with her guidance I managed to pull myself back together and dramatically improve my Chemistry results (I went from E to A in the next exam). Thank you so much. Not to mention also Ms Ling who taught me Mathematics, for being one very compelling Mathematics teacher, in the sense that she made me always want to score higher and higher in Maths (but perhaps it was also competition and kiasuness as well).

Also kudos to Mr Lee who taught me Economics. This was one subject where I always scored a C in JC. But with his very catchy mind-map method, I was able to enjoy Economics and not dread it. I also want to thank him for marking my continuous string of optional assignments (I bombarded him with a lot a lot). Yes, and also a big thank you to Mr Gilbert Lee (another Mr Lee) for making me see that Economics is “kacang” and so easy to score.

A BIG THANK YOU also goes to Ms Sharon Phua for awarding me with a College Values SPECIAL Award which she specially concocted for me because she noticed that I nominated quite a number of people for the usual termly College Values Award. She wrote a laminated Letter (or rather she compiled a Letter which included testimonials from some teachers and students), specially prepared a laminated beautiful certificate and subsequently presented them to me in front of the J2 cohort days before the A level examinations. I am so grateful for such an Award.

Yes, and also so many many other teachers who have touched my life here in one way or another. Mr Nick Chan my research teacher-mentor who encouraged me to spring back from a lack of research results to end up obtaining the Gold Medal in the Singapore Science and Engineering Fair 2007. Mr Teo for working with me on the Student Council Investure and the Leadership Symposium logistics, and for being one very very nice person to work with. Ms Chua for being such a caring Council teacher to all the Councillors. And oh… I can go on and on…

And yes also to my Singaporean friends and ASEAN Scholar buddies who have constantly encouraged me all the time and have given me a tremendous time of fun during these two hectic years in Singapore. Thank you for helping me enjoy my JC life, really. The two years were really about the people, i.e. you, my friends and my teachers (not to mention my City Harvest Singapore friends and cell group leaders Hui Zhen and Eva!)

God bless all you readers. It is time to look forward now. If you have yet to take Singapore’s A-Level Examinations and are going to, DO YOUR VERY BEST. Nothing else matters. JUST DO YOUR BEST.

I know I did do my very best. Maybe that’s why I am already over the little disappointment today. Cheers.