2019 Secondary 4 Week 21 Update

We are at the last week of school now, though both BB & GG have to go back to in the June holidays for extra lessons.

Both schools are also doing intensive lessons for those who take the mother tongue languages of Chinese, Malay and Tamil. They will have their first attempt at the O level exams in the first week of June. Since both BB & GG’s mother tongue language of Hindi is not in this scheme, they, along with other classmates sit in the library and self study during this period.

We are also gearing up towards the Early Admission Exercise for Polytechnics. Both have specific courses they are interested in and will apply for them when the portal opens in end June. If they get selected in the course of their choice, it means even if their O level results do not meet the cut off points of that course, they still get in as long as they meet the polytechnic entry criteria and course base criteria.

That’s all from us for this week! We have the parent teacher session at the end of the week and I wonder what both sets of teachers will have to say for the children.

2019 Secondary 4 Week 20 Update

Both BB & GG got the results of their mid-year exams this week and the results have not been as expected. Their schools made the papers more difficult and marking was also stricter, the result being all of us disappointed with their results.

Long story short, their holidays will spent prepping for their prelims which will take place sometime in August.

I’ve had many conversations with both of them, especially BB and I am still unsure if what I said to BB has made an iota of difference to his thinking. I have also been doing a lot of thinking and I now believe that the right attitude is the key to doing well in examinations. If you study with the right attitude, then even a short study session will be more productive than a couple of hours of indifferent work.

I will probably need to do some more research on this and if it’s something that is worth sharing, I will do a separate blog post on the topic.

2019 Secondary Four Week 19 Update

Exams are over and both children are enjoying a weekend of no school, no tuitions and no studying. I’ve given them this weekend off and told them that come Monday they are back to the grindstone.

They both, separately caught the Avengers movie with their friends and loved it! GG said she cried at parts and especially at the end.

When school starts tomorrow, they will start getting the results of their exams and I do hope they have done better than their common tests earlier in the year.

GG also conspired with her brother to buy me a Mother’s Day present. They are still asleep now, so I’ll know what it is when I see it.

Have a wonderful Sunday! To all the mums reading this blog, here’s wishing you a very happy Mother’s Day. You all are the superheroes of your family, and you rock every day!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 18 Update

Exams are on-going and so there’s really not much to report on BB & GG.

Both are pretty focussed on school these days though in the case of BB, I do need to keep an eye on him. He has a tendency to use his phone while studying using ‘taking a break’ as an excuse. While I don’t have issues on using your phone while studying, you can’t take a break every 15-20 minutes right?

Exams end at the end of this week and the children have made plans to watch the final Avengers movie with their friends then. They have been holding back on even reading much about the movie so that their enjoyment of the film does not get diluted.

Once the exams end and papers are marked and given back, then it’s back to the grindstone for both as teachers race to complete syllabus (the subjects where it has not yet been completed). I also want them to start focusing on their O level exams from now on.

Thats pretty much our school week! Have a wonderful and restful Sunday!

2019 Secondary 4 Week 17 Update

This is the start of exams week for both BB & GG. GG’s written exams already started, but BB’s written exams only start from tomorrow. He had his practicals earlier last week.

My nagging mum mode has started and I have warned both of them that if they don’t do well in this exams, then their June holidays will be spent at home doing exam papers and will not be able to enjoy their holidays at all. Hopefully this should spur them to do better in this exam.

After this exam is the prelims which will happen sometime in August and then the final O level exams in October! I will be so relieved once that is over, but then there’s the waiting for the results that will be nerve wreaking!

That is all from our side this week! Happy Sunday folks!