Mission accomplished

I did it, i did it.
Ya ta!
I made it into the leaderboard, finally.
Its about time.

Next up, scaling the ranks.
Aim for the peak, the pinnacle of student life.
Be the elites among the elites, the best among the best.
70 for prelims, >80 for As, i shall, i will......work hard.

School hours were extended lately, closing only at 10pm.
That is good, i can do more things now.
Have been working from 7.30 to 9.30 daily for the past few days.
Surprisingly, it felt rewarding.
The satisfaction derived from completing more papers, learning more, getting more correct answers drives me.
The feeling is back, the passion to work to strive, the unwavering motivation to want to do better.
YES!

Lets talk about life after class.
Curriculum hours were greatly shortened this term, such that formal lessons would end at noon or even before that if there were no "star" lessons.
Hence, there is more time to do more practice on my own and maybe even time myself as i attempt the papers.
However, here is the thing.
Students are advised to stay in school to "study" and they can only leave before 2pm if they have a jc2 pass, and now one also needs to bring one's bag along to prove that one is indeed going home to study and not going to the coffeeshop for lunch.
As a result, u see huge numbers of people hogging all the study benches, library and even "the study"(its an air-conditioned area for people to study) daily.
But does this "crowd" truly reflect effort(made to study)?
I doubt so, instead its the contrary.
All these nonsense are just a facade, these people stay around simply because they cannot leave. Are they really interested in mugging?
Nope, clearly they were more interested in socialising or sleeping because no matter where i sit i would hear people from the surrounding tables talking and talking and talking, or they would simply fall asleep after attempting few questions.
How naive was the management to think that these people who doesn't even give a damn about their results will study in school if they were locked in.
Can't you see that by doing this u are only denying the "hopefuls" a chance of having sufficient space and silence to engage in productive work?
Bloody hell, sit hunting is getting so difficult lately, so is finding peace.

Only after 2, at around 3 the real show begins.
The merry makers make their way home, and surviving students were scattered sparsely around the few study areas in school.
The noise level toned down exponentially as people were consulting or mugging away ferociously.
The canteen is a bright and windy place, a very conducive place i would say to sit down and complete prelim papers.
Because by 3pm, most of the stores would have been closed and the crowd would have dispersed.
The tables were wiped clean and there is ample of space to lay down all my notes and booklets, terrorising the entire table and bench.
Then fun commence.

Day after day, i see the same people staying back.
And those who were "chased home" by the security guard during closing hours are also the same few.
Whats more interesting(or simply predictable) would be that, a good handful of these people that persevere are those that do well.
Nonetheless, there are also those who prove the opposite whom i shall not talk about that.
It is beneficial to see exactly the same people working into the night everyday as it propels me to do the same in a bid not to lose out to them.

Everyday for the past week, i have a good 5 to 6 hours of conducive study time but thats going to change.
How unfortunate.
Some erm, lame or "wdv fits" monitoring programme is about to commence next week.
I shall not elaborate further, but rather leave a question to consider.
Will this really "help" them if they don't even have the primary urgency within them to study?
In the end, such schemes are only going to compromise the mugging environment for those who really want the grades.
Holding another 100 odd people till 5pm, what the?

Something to lament about.
Everyday, i tell myself that i would go for a run to train for my napfa test....
But, everyday i am too lazy to switch from writing to running.
My shoebag have been lying silent in my locker since tuesday.
Everyday i reach home at around 10.30pm and i sleep at 12am.
Next day, i have to wake up by 6.15am and the toil starts.
Exhausting, yes it is but it pays off.
I worked hard for term 2, i saw a huge jump in my grades for mye, then at prelims it was raised by another 2 points.
Thus, at the end of the day, i am rewarded.
Having for the first time reap the seeds of hard work propels me to go on as i know the direction i am heading is the right one and i will reap more as i push on.
I see people all around me lacking that determination, no matter how much reminders or advice they are given they continue to stay within their comfort zone and succumb to temptations.
I dont have to care, they won't affect my results after all, but it pains me to see people within my circle of friends simply rotting away.

I had a dream, a vision.
In it i saw the group of us jumping for joy during the release of our a level results next year.
All of us had done well, and each of our names were in the list of people with 80points and above.
We rejoiced as we had endured and gave our best till the end, thus we made it.
Sadly, this dream of mine may turn out otherwise.
It would really dampen the spirits if the majority of us did well but 1 or 2 didn't make the mark.
We would not be able to celebrate wholeheartedly then.
Stop giving thyself excuses, stop avoiding the pain, face it, outdo it and snatch the loot it entails.

Having said so much, here is the shameful part.
As a human, yes i acknowledge that hey i wasn't really religiously mugging throughout the 8 hours daily.
Somedays, effectively i only did about 3hours, and some about 5.
The time "defect" was spent talking and taking a "munch" break, yeah, disturbing others when we talked and laughed loudly.
Just like i do not like others to chatter while i study, they want the silence while they study too, yet i did it.
Joked, laughed and gossiped as we pleased.
Reviewing my action does have its gains, i feel more guilty now n i would try to be more focused and considerate in the next 3 weeks. =)

Is time for the final lap.
As cliche as it might be, its true.
For once, i am in sync with the phrase.
The desire for the A grade grows strong as it is now increasingly achievable.
Yes i can!

K, done with that.
Now lets rejoice, lets get back to the main topic.
That is to boast about attaining my goal of reaching the list of students who had done well aka by me the leaderboard, well its simply the list of people who attained above a certain ranking point after each major exam.
Yeah, it reflects the top students.
For the past 3 years, i only had a share in watching, clapping and exclaiming or commenting about the people who made it up there.
This year, today, on the 18th of September, i made my debut.
Hahaha.
Now, its time for people to blab about me in awe.
Although its only a list, but in srjc i felt that it has became more that a list.
Its a target board.
Everyone knows the kind of fame, satisfaction and affirmation one is able to derive by simply getting one's name up there.
Honestly, i don't think that there is anyone who doesn't want to be on the list if given a chance.
Its finally my turn.

Yay!
Although its like a consolation cos i got only 70 points and i am like the second last name on the last slide, i still made it.
Its an affirmation that, yes hard work and unwavering drive is the key to victory.
Its a matter of who is more hungry for it.
Although, i achieved my goal i can't stop there cos this is only the prelims.
I shall strive to at least maintain or improve my standing in the school for A levels, which is to say get into or scale the ranks of the list which starts at 80points for A levels.
It begin as a random calculation on my part as we were having our chit-chat session the night before at the canteen, before then i had never expect to hit 70pts.
I thought i did worst than my mid-yrs.
Apparently, there were some moderation and stuff which helped me.
I was dosing off towards the end of the 2 hour gp class on thursday morning when she(the tutor obviously) asked me about my gp grade and commented that he and i topped the class.
That got my attention and i sprang up, i was like awake the next instant.
Then, i begin to regain confidence to review my grades again, before that i had shy away from it as it was not that well.
Morale was low, but its roaring now.
Upon seeing "70" appearing on the calculator screen, i was taken aback.
Hey, things were better than it is, why was i so pessimistic?
I kept my fingers crossed until i witnessed with my own eyes my name appearing for the first time on the screen.
Elated, overjoyed obviously as i heaved a sign of relief.
Yay.

Thats the end for this episode people, stay tuned.
Remember, no matter what endeavors u had embarked on keep the flame alive, strive and u shall achieve.
That was highly unlikely of sth cw would say, hmm.
Sports day for me tmr!
Scott signs off.