Sunday, November 25, 2007
After 2 weeks of non-stop studying and revision, I'm finally done with my end of semester exams. It's really not like me to be away from my blog for so damn long but I couldn't help it. There's just too many things to do and so little time. University life is so hectic and busy that it's no wonder people say that when it's time to study, we really do. When the holidays come calling, we should really live it up and have a good time playing or enjoying ourselves. If we don't, before we know it, it's the start of another semester again.
It's really the exam period in ntu when everywhere you go, you see people mugging and the library is crowded with students mugging till the closing hours. They don't even go home after that, they look for alternatives to continue studying. They don't even mind being food for the endless mosquitoes flocking to nie from nearby pasir laba camp. There were times even when I know who are those people on the train that's on their way to ntu. They're armed with thick stacks of notes and books. You would have thought after a tough exam paper, people will take a break on their way home. No they don't. They will just take out another stack of notes and continue reading for the next paper. Halls start putting up banners motivating their boarders to study hard and the main electronic board from the Yunnan Garden entrance "Wishes NTU Students Good Luck For Exams".
I told myself before the start of uni that I'll try to blog everyday if possible because I've always believed it's good to pen down your thoughts than keep them inside of you. No good to bottle your feelings up. However, even when I can afford the time to do so, I find myself asking this question "The amount of time you spend blogging on your laptop could be better off trying to finish up with your readings". I mean even if it's just 1 chapter , it's better than nothing. The endless readings to complete has been the main problem that's been boggling me so far. However, as I mention before, I take pride in the fact that when it comes to completing assignments and meeting deadlines, I never had a problem and in fact, I tend to finish them way to early and leaving my classmates to say "I always spoil the market".
My cousin who is 2 years old than me and in ntu engineering has been sharing with me his experiences in army before I enlisted and the dos and don't and how to survive my first 2 weeks in bmt and the 2 years as well. When I was done with army earlier this year, he did mention the going is always be tougher after 2 years of inactivity and he was so right. Reading and first attempts at understanding or memorizing the notes doesn't appear to be successfully unless you go through it over and over again. It just goes to show how useless the army has made us and this is the result. Although I know it's not about copying and pasting and endless memorizing in uni, there's a degree of it that needs to be done that way especially like the geography modules I'm taking. What happened to the days especially in lower sec when memorizing was a walk in the park?
My cousin also did mention that you've gotta study smart and forget about going through the thick stacks of notes for every module. The thing is, you're never gonna finish reading through it. Take for example my thick stack of growth and development notes (bio) notes, the thickness is roughly the same as my 2 years of econs notes back in jc. At least I had 2 years back then to read through and study, I've only got like 6 months and let's not forget we've got ccas and assignments to complete. Time is never gonna be enough when your daily classes end at close to 7pm. By the time I'm back home after bathing and dinner, it's close to 9pm and there's not much left in my reserves to do anything else.
If you thought jc life was teaching you about the importance of being independent, welcome to uni life. Some professors can be very helpful and will go all out to help you but there are some who really just heck care. I won't say they're just teaching for the sake of teaching and being unconcerned, we're not longer in primary school and can't expect to be spoonfed. The only thing I don't like is the fact that one or two like to upload their notes pretty late and sometimes 20 to 30 mins before the lecture. You can't expect us to sit down in front of the computer and clicking on the refresh button right? The portal where the school uploads notes and latest campus news that regard our studies or non-academic matters requires us to check it daily or even few times a day. It's really all about self-discipline.
It wasn't easy surviving this 2 weeks of exams really. I faced a shortage of time trying to complete my revision and I had 5 papers to take for pe secondary track as compared to those who are only teaching primary school non-pe. It's like if they're teaching only maths, it's just 2 papers of maths and that's it. I've got 2 papers of human and physical geography and 3 papers of pe ( principal of games, growth and motor development and intro to pe). Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining because I love what I'm doing. There is just this sense of achievement and satisfaction when you go through this tough period knowing you're not alone but surrounded by a bunch of great guys who are into this as well. They are pe students but they also specialized in other subjects, be it history, english, physics, maths or bio. Each has it own difficulties as well.
I was a nervous wreck sometimes and the stress could be a bit unbearable sometimes. After 2 years of not studying or taking exams, you wonder how you will do in such an important exam. There was a lack of motivation as well. Days leading up and in between papers, I can still watch soccer matches like Arsenal vs Reading and Scotland vs Italy etc. It's not that I stayed up just to watch but I studied late into the night and sleep when the sun rises. I study and function better at night. The past few weeks I've slept less than 5 hours a day but I told myself this sacrifice is gonna be worth it if it sees me through the exam period. There's plentiful amount of time for me to sleep after that. All of us have been through the tougher days in army when sleep was never enough. The late night duties and the dreadful exercise earthworm. If I can survive that, I don't see why I can't survive this.
Of course the main motivation comes from having to do well. If we don't, we face warning letter and even deduction of pay from moe. That's not a pressure for me, I will still try my best even if there were no such conditions. It's all about challenging yourself and yourself to achieve even greater heights. Like what Boon Kian mentioned before, there's seems to be a lack of competition so obvious back in sec and jc days. In uni, I believe your friends are here to help you, not to bring you down. Especially in my faculty, the bond between the class can only get stronger.
It's really all about enjoying myself now. Before I know it, this nov and dec is really just gonna zoom past before I even know it. Before that, let me wish my nus and smu friends good luck for their upcoming exams. It's their time now to take it. However, I've always believe in this sentence that kept me going during the uni exam period.
The end is very near, work hard and freedom can be achieved and deserved.
