Save the date!

For those taking as a private candidate for year 2013, do visit the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board website (SEAB) to view the current syllabus.

Please download the Adobe Acrobat Reader  to view the pdf files.

Ordinary Level Syllabuses Examined in 2013 

This is what I would be retaking : 
English (1127)
Literature in English (2014)
Geography (2235)
Mathematics (4016)

Online Registration

Registration for 2013 Singapore-Cambridge GCE N(T)-, N(A)-, O- and A-Level Examinations (Private Candidates) will commence on 11 March and end on 26 March 2013. The registration details will be updated on the website by end February 2013.

This is it, the beginning of the journey of no return - lol. Don't forget to mark your calendar and all the best! 

Reading poetry.

I have been reading poetry for awhile, and I realized how much I enjoyed reading and trying to analyze and understand the words in between the line, which gets me every time because of the way the words are vividly written, and the intensity of the emotions described; it's simply .. magical.

Sometimes I think that I think way too much. Hurhur.

Loud Music

You see, I like the music loud, the speakers throbbing, jam-packing the room with sound whether Bach or rock and roll, the volume cranked up so each bass notes is like a hand smacking the gut. But my stepdaughter disagrees. She is four and likes the music decorous, pitched below her own voice-that tenuous projection of self. With music blasting, she feels she disappears,is lost within the blare, which in fact I like. But at four what she wants is self-location and uses her voice as a porpoise uses its sonar: to find herself in all this space. If she had a sort of box with a peephole and looked inside, what she'd like to see would be herself standing there in her red pants, jacket,yellow plastic lunch box: a proper subjectfor serious study. But me, if I raised the same box to my eye, I would wish to find the ocean on one of those days when wind and thick cloud make the water gray and restless as if some creature brooded underneath,a rocky coast with a road along the shore where someone like me was walking and has gone. Loud music does this, it wipes out the ego, leaving turbulent water and winding road, a landscape stripped of people and language-how clear the air becomes, how sharp the colors.

Stephen Dobyns

(website http://www.loc.gov/poetry/180/)

Stuck in line? Study.

Colourful note/flash cards are effective study strategies for memorizing. I like reviewing my note cards mostly at home because carrying them in a pile on-the-go is difficult, as the card stacks are thick to begin with and I hate balancing my cards with my current drink/food (im always thirsty/hungry!) in my hand. 

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Until this.

http://www.studyblue.com/mobile-flashcards-app/

I am not a huge user of mobile flashcards but a dear friend recommend me this app and I find creating digital flashcards on my phone is perfect for memorizing/reviewing my Mathematics formulas and Geography notes too, while queuing at the grocery store or waiting for the bus. Plus, it's free!

Just thought you would like to know. So, stuck in line? Let's study!

Never give up.

Self reminder for days when my head is a mess and I feel like giving up. Don't get discouraged. Just take things slow and keep going. Fill your head with happy music and happy thoughts. Setbacks are just temporary. Never give up!

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“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Where to start from here?

Being a part time student, where I don't have to wake up early (oh the joy oh yes!) to drag my sleepy self to school, I feel lazy and unmotivated to start studying now because there's no rules and I can always study tomorrow, or tomorrow - I mean why the rush? *shrugs* Everything is catered to my needs and for the first time, I can plan my life the way I want, without any reservations. Heck, I can even do my part-time job, meet up with my friends after for a movie or dinner, and also study for an hour or two afterwards, at home. Right?

But this carefree thinking, sometimes if not, always lead to procrastination. Often you are tired from work or after meeting up your friends. You just want to crawl literally into your cozy bed and sleep. Textbooks can wait. I can study later. This seemingly small cycles always lead to bad habits and eventually disaster.
I have made the decision to retake my exams, so I have to be responsible for myself now. Independent studying is hard, but I can do this. I can still play and have fun, and also study.
Balance is key.

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So where to begin from here? I kinda start my year with crying, regretting and having post exams blues for not doing well. And I moved on. This is hard but I accept that I deserved the grades because I didn't study hard last year. Positive encouragements from family and friends motivate my decision to retake and try again. Being certain that I really want to do well this time, inspired me to study my heart and brains out, well you get my drift. Heh.
I spent the first two weeks gathering my textbooks, notes and organizing myself to prep for the year. This is hard, I kept saying, but I can do this. I can do this!

• Plan out my priorities. (work, social life, study)
• Set up a study timetable, and stick to it.
• Clean up my desk. Messy desk puts my studying mood off.
• Be positive! Stay motivated. 

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So here I am, a very tough and difficult month after, getting excited to begin my journey of studying. Good luck to you too! Stay positive!