Monday, February 20, 2006.

Hello earthlings.

I was in rather high hopes this morning when I heard something to do with Korea. Oh well, as you can tell from my near-monotonous tone that my hopes have like, been crushed.

WHY OH WHY? Why must the overseas attachment programme be for people in the science stream? Is the arts stream in Singapore THAT insignificant?! Maybe it's because lesser people take interest in the arts, but still... I'm disappointed.

I WANT TO GO KOREA OKAY!!! :(

Anyway, the stupid criteria states that:
1) You have to get an A1 for E Maths
2) An A1 for A Maths
3) A1s for TWO PURE SCIENCE SUBJECTS
(This is the reason for my not signing-up ; I don't fit the bill!)
4) Distinction for English
5) Distinction for One Humanities subject
6) Distinction for One other subject.

My dear, I take combined science. Physics + Chemistry.

And this entire attachment is science-based. But that's not the point. The point is, THEY ARE GOING TO KOREA!!!

Well, the teacher told us to take the form anyway. So I took, and now, the ten pieces of paper are being filed under "Rough Paper" in my file. So useful.

By the way have I ever said that I love my tuition teacher?

I used to ABHOR/DETEST/LOATHE Mathematics. Every piece of Maths homework was like a challenge to me. I mean A Maths. Certain E Maths topics were a chore to me, but A Maths made my secondary three days horrible.

I think in my two years taking A Maths, the number of times I've passed are like 5 or less. It was so common for me to fail A Maths I got immuned to it.

There were times when I cried over not being able to solve the questions. Those were the days when I felt like shit when I looked at all the other confident faces of my classmates. There was once in secondary 3 or 4 I couldn't remember when. Mr Lee came to invigilate our A Maths class test.

The first question was about singular matrix. My entire mind BLANKED OUT when I saw the word 'singular'. I panicked like a nervous wreck and it didn't help when my partner was furiously writing her answers. I actually broke out in cold sweat and turned away, not wanting to look at her.

I spent the half hour staring at the paper and not getting anything back in return. When Mr Lee announced the end of the test, my foolscap had nothing but question numbers and one line of answers. Yeah I know, I'm pro.

When the results came back, guess how much I got.

My partner scored the highest in class ; 18/25.

And I'm VERY sure that I scored the lowest in class. I mean, who can beat the perfect single digit of 1/25?

Yes, ONE PATHETIC MARK WAS MY PATHETIC SCORE. HOW PATHETIC.

Therefore, I had a very natural phobia of Additional Mathematics. It was, however, through my mother's determination to get me a tutor that I started NOT to fail.

I was under her wings just before mid-years. I didn't fail my mid-years ; miraculously (:

And she re-taught me, gave me tips, and there were some lessons when all we talked about were our personal lives and about the korean and taiwan entertainment scene. My tuition on friday starts at 7 and ends at 8.30 PM. But there were times when we talked till 9.45 PM and my dad would get real pissed off.

We communicate very well, and thus, I actually ENJOY tuition. She gives me tons of homework but I realise that practice really makes perfect. A Maths questions are all in the same certain style. Once you grasp it, you won't lose hold of it unless you are rusty at that particular skill.

I told her I screwed my Prelims up. I really did, passing by 1 mark. She was rather disappointed about it and of course I was too. My relative velocity question could have been salvaged if I had been more careful to check my diagram with my workings! ARGH. She actually told me this, "When I ask you about the concepts, you can answer my questions. But then why during exams your grades like that?"

I was quite sad over it, seriously.

ARGH talking about this makes me miss tuition. Many people probably hate tuition, but I enjoy mine! Maybe it's because she's a sucker for Korean dramas like me (: But we really CAN talk. We talked for 3 hours non-stop and we never touched Maths. HAHA. So much for paying tuition fees.

Frankly I think Crescent's Maths standards are sky-high.

If you're like on the verge on dropping A Maths, DON'T. It's easier to score with Maths than with Humanities so there's no harm giving it your best shot for A Maths. Who knows, you could achieve a grade far above your expectations.

I once thought that getting an A1 for A Maths was some unreachable goal. It isn't!

OH YES. If you need a maths tutor, my tuition teacher is a very good and reliable one (: Ask me okay! :D

Bye earthlings!

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