I have no recollections of those times I spent studying in primary
school. Hopscotch, volleyball, playing soccer using a tennis ball were all that I
could remember. Surprisingly, I managed to get into secondary school but things
remained the same. Lessons remained mundane and the only times I looked forward to were recess breaks and co-curricular activities. Fortunately, math and science
came naturally to me and again, I somehow managed to advance to junior college.
Surviving the 10 years of education without working hard made me believed that
things will be the same for the next 2 years of education. However, I was very
wrong. I did so badly during my freshman year that I had to withdraw from
school. That was the turning point of my life. I tasted failure and that fall
woke me up from my foolishness. Picking up from where I had fallen, my
perception changed. With as much dignity as I could muster, I applied to one of
the local polytechnic. I chose chemical engineering as I believed that math and
science were still my forte. Studying hard was once seemed obvious but never an
important factor to me in the past. Using the drive and momentum gained from
that fall, I was able to graduate with a diploma and also securing a place in
NUS. These extra years were definitely well spent.
Fast forwarding 2 years spent in army, I was sitting down in NUS
examination hall doing the Qualifying English Test (QET) that is required for
all polytechnics' students. I was unprepared, in fact, I was never prepared.
Looking back at my English language journey, I did not learn much at all. My
grammar was shaky since primary school which I did not bother correcting,
English papers in secondary school were basically paraphrasing the passages to
answer questions in the comprehension section and finally in polytechnic,
numbers and periodic table were the only things I touched.
All this while, I relied too heavily on my strengths and neglected
my weaknesses. This QET made me realised how vulnerable I was. I am actually
glad that I was given a chance to pick up what I have left behind after so many
years.
Initial 396
After 368
