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Wednesday, November 08, 2006 : A Tribute to Examinations

Mike is off to study for his SPM. Here's wishing him best of luck! In the meantime, I, his nutty cousin, will be filling in his shoes.

Well, I remember when I was studying for my SPM back when I was in Form Five. I hardly studied (not too surprising) and somehow always found a way to pass and at most times even score my examinations. But when it came to SPM, I started to worry. And when STPM came, I started to worry even more.

Somehow, I'd think that the fear of examinations would subside after I had taken my STPM, especially after remarks from people mentioning that "STPM is probably the toughest exam in the world". Unfortunately, it seems that well into my university days, exams still never fail to bother me. Of course, I am not exactly a strap-books-on-my-back-and-I'll-start-to-study kind of person, but the fear would somehow still cause stress in me, well before exams begin.

But of course, I would wish that the stress would be able to make me start studying. As Mike is off revising, studying and burning his midnight oil (or using up more electricity in these modern days) for his SPM just like many other Form Five students out there, there are also a bunch of us in university studying/burning our brains off for our finals.

Although the basis of exams remain the same (they are usually dreaded; I've never met anyone thus far who says "I LOVE EXAMS!" the way one says "I love ice-cream!"), the reasons exams instil fear in us change with the times. In Form Five and even Form Six, we're usually afraid of exams because in one way or another, the SPM and STPM defines how schooling life has been for all of us, and even helps define our future.

However, when you step into college or university, sooner or later the question of "So what did you score for SPM/STPM?" starts to disappear. And then exams start to become another stepping stone for us to handle with care in order for us to leave college/university with that diploma/degree.

No matter why exams are important to us and no matter where exams would lead us to, the bottomline remains the same - that we'd all want to pass our exams with flying colours (over-used cliche, but I'll use it nevertheless).

So here's a tribute to examinations - the torturing, brain-burning, eye-soring experience!

NOTE: Mike wants me to fill in his shoes while he's away chewing off the backs of pencils and clicking on pens, but as I've finals on at the moment I'd probably not be able to update as much as he used to.

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