Surviving your first year of A levels - a small guide-like thingy

2007-03-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

This will be the only other post on this blog. I'm writing this because i sort of promised myself a while back that i would. I hope it helps some of you people reading this. Oh, and if you read further, please note that i was emo-ish during my last post.

Also please note that this is written primarily for Singapore JC students, but some of it might still apply to other sorts of "A" levels (MI, Edexcel etc.)

*here goes*

Okay, so you've made it to the "A" levels. Welcome to Hell. It might not be that bad for some of you, but you can expect to find out a few things. This guide-like thingy is here to help you find these things out before its too late to save yourself from them.

1) Choosing your subjects: You should have a decent idea of what you're going to do in the future. Some courses like medicine, engineering etc require you to have subjects at A levels in order to do them in uni. If you're not sure of what you want to do, picking sciences might give you a wider choice in university. However, if you detest science, don't torture yourself. Whatever you pick, make sure you know what you're getting into.

2)College life: My experience with this might have been slightly different from yours, but there are some things you might want to keep in mind. The most important of these is that in college, you are probably connected to everyone by not more than 1 or 2 people in between. What this means is that you should try to hide your dislike of that ugly fat nerd, because he might be your friend's friend and you might find yourself having lunch with him 2 days a week. Heck, you might wind up having 2 friends that hate each other. To make things more fun, the increasing stress levels as you go through college will put more and more pressure on your relationships in college.
Then there are the politics. You'll see it everywhere - your class, your co-curricular activities...The smartest advice I ever heard on this was "Either you dive all the way in or stay out completely. Doing anything else WILL get you burned". I chose to stay out completely, but sadly, whatever you do will have its downside. Just keep in mind that you're in college because you want to study and get to a university of your choice, and not because you want to become the head of the "XYZ College Action Party" or something like that.
The good news is that (in singapore colleges, at least), the dregs of society that you may have encountered if you were in a government school like me tend to get filtered out. (NOTE: I AM NOT DISCRIMINATING AGAINST NON-JC STUDENTS!) I'm just saying that when you need an L1R5 of 20 or below to get into college, you tend to meet less gangsterish types. I'm not saying you should be elitist, or that people who can't make it/choose not to come to JC are inferior, i'm just pointing out that this is something that tends to make life more pleasant. Don't take this the wrong way and sue me for libel or something.

3)Studying: Ah yes, studying. That's what you came to college for, no? Well, you people might not believe this, but if you don't, it WILL come back to kick you in the ass. Get this in your head - Gone are the days of secondary school where you can study for something last minute and still get an A, or at least pass. Please, please, for your own good, take note: CONSISTENCY IS THE MOST CRITICAL, PARAMOUNT, SIGNIFICANT, IMPERATIVE, PIVOTAL, VITAL, CRUCIAL, ESSENTIAL, IMPORTANT THING YOU NEED WHEN YOU STUDY FOR THE "A"s. I learnt this the hard way last year. The reason why most people find "A" levels too pressurising is because they slack off. Even a week of not paying attention can be enough to screw up your entire year. If you always keep up to date on all your work, life will be easy - just don't wait to rectify anything you don't understand.
The only other issue, i guess, would be how much to study? The amount of homework most teachers give isn't nearly enough for you to score an A if you do only the homework. You're best off making sure that you know all the concepts you learn and understanding how they relate to one another. It differs from subject to subject, so i really can't say much.

4) The Arts: This bit is for all you people new to arts (science/non-pure-arts students doing arts subjects at "A" level). What you do to score an "A" in other subjects (maths, science) will not work so easily for arts. In maths or science, especially at "O" level, you can memorise everything, understand a bit of it and get your A. This does NOT work for arts. Memorise your notes, regurgitate everything onto the paper and its a good bet you'll fail. Having been a pure arts student for 3 years now, I'm pretty sure that to score in arts, you need to be able to 1) memorise AND understand whatever you're supposed to know, 2) Be able to apply what you've learnt to the question at hand, and 3)Be able to present all of this in a nicely packaged essay that is well written and well explained. Oh wait, there's 4) You need to write this essay during the given time (which, believe me, is no mean feat).
So, Science students, please don't be discouraged/think "oh no i can't cope with A levels" just because you failed or didn't ace your first few pieces of work. Arts is not something you score instant As in, its something that you need time to master. You need to learn HOW to answer a question in such a way that will get you good marks, not just WHAT you need to know to answer the question. Oh, and if you've ever laughed at arts students for taking "easy" subjects during your days as a secondary science student, and you're experiencing what I described above, then I congratulate you; you have been enlightened.

5) Freedom: In case i didn't mention it enough earlier, you have much, much more freedom in college than you did in secondary school. Now, lets all think back to Spiderman - "With great power comes great responsibility." Cliched? Yes. True? Sadly, yes. Its the same thing with freedom - you have a lot more freedom, but many more responsibilities to juggle. Its actually harder now, because if you don't manage your time well, you will realise that college life is playing a cruel joke on you and you'll be hard pressed to stop it.

6) The Sciences: I won't write on this, because I've never taken them. All i've heard is horror stories from science students about how horrifically horribly hard their subjects are. The only thing I'm pretty sure of is that forcing yourself to do science when you're not interested/motivated to is a bad idea.

Well, that's about all I have to say on surviving your first year. I learnt most of this the hard way - through experience, and through watching friends suffer the same thing. For your own sakes, at least think about what I've said above. If you learn nothing else from that jumble of words above, be consistent and manage your time well. You've most likely heard this from other people - I'm here to tell you that its true. I didn't listen last year, and I had cow dung for results.
All the best to you people, and thanks for reading this. (not that you had much choice if you visited this blog - this is the only substantial post here.)

I'll post next if i ever create a new blog. Until then-

2007-02-26T00:25:00.001-08:00

Slightly more detailed message...

I am currently in between blogs. Partly because my previous blog showed up as the first result when you type "qabir" into google search, which is way too find-able for me. Mostly, though, its because of a deeper reason.
"The Ascension" was my chronicle of a personal struggle, in which I failed on some counts and succeeded on others. I tried to emerge without regrets, yet I failed in that regard. Still, though, there are many memories I picked up along the way which I wouldn't have sacrificed for the world.
But...that's exactly what it is now. Memories. That phase of my life, even though it will always stay with me, is now over. It is now a series of treasured memories. Treasured, yes, both the good and the bad, because I have enjoyed the good and learnt from the bad. There are words there that I would not have anyone recall now, save myself only. The best place for those memories is in my heart, and that's the only place they're going to stay in.
I will very likely start blogging again when I next return to Singapore. If you want the address, please ask me for it. My msn and email have not changed (i_was_recently@hotmail.com and qabir.s@gmail.com respectively), and I still maintain my Singapore handphone number. I also have a Malaysian phone number now (smsing is +60-16-918-9303. Don't call this number.)
Until that chronicle of the next chapter of my life begins, I'll keep my story close to my heart. Until then...

the ascension

Surviving your first year of A levels - a small guide-like thingy