Prelims results are back. GP C, Maths A, Chemistry A, Physics A, Economics D. And Maths H3 51/68 for now. I'm really glad for the help i got from my friends, in terms of the support they gave me, the motivation to study and the prayers to keep me under the good hands of god. Your father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him. Matthew 7:11. During the exam period, i constantly prayed for god's help and he has indeed given the strength and endurance to sit through all the papers, especially maths h3, which was the last paper, at a time when everyone should be playing. GP was always a problem for me so i was delighted to get a C. I got an amazing 34/50 for my environmental essay, about champions of environmental efforts being hypocrites. All the knowledge i gained from my involvement in earthwatch and waterways watch society came in good use lol. Then there were maths, physics and chemistry. An A is an A, so no disputes. For economics, even though i would wish for a better grade, i gladly accept this D because this is fate and this is what god has given me, to motivate me to work even harder if i wish for something better. Today i got back maths h3 and got 30/40 for the compulsory differential equations topic and 21/28 for combinatories. For one of the combinatories question (10b), someone jokingly wrote down his answer, put a "confirm wrong" sign and hand it in. Haha. Anyways, throughout this week, i've been thinking how god has blessed me, creating me with a good mind, one that is good with numbers, my friends say. It's really a pleasure to be awarded with great results but it should serve to motivate one to work even harder and not get complacent. For those who did not perform up to their expectations, do not get discouraged. Because there will always be a way as long as there is god. As long as you work hard, god will acknowledge that. Even though things may look bleak now, you will never know what will happen in years to come. As Nick said, "One day, i'll be richer than all of you all." There is always a chance that you will suddenly find your way and be enlightened. As long as there is a will, there is a way. You will soon be rewarded if you continue to stick hard to your task of fulfilling your goals/targets and fulfilling yourself. Any Man born in this world is brilliant. It's whether they choose to make full way of it and work towards success and god's words and will.

But with great power comes great jealousy/overconfidence. All these are sins which will be harmful to us in some ways. According to god's words, we should repent on such sins and try our best not to commit them ever again. Often, people who perform well go about comparing themselves with others, hoping to be the top of the pile. As Justin said, "The flaccid top seed" and this guy is really a flaccid top seed. He sneakingly went about asking for Justin's results via his friends, hoping to beat everyone in the school! But what for? As long as I keep to your task, fulfill yourself, stick to what I aim for, which is god's will, I can never be faulted. We should never be jealous of others just because they perform better than us. Your rivals are not your enemies. Even if they are your enemies, love your enemies. I was once guilty of such jealousy but somehow when i came to JC, i managed to overcome it.

Today, i spent time to teach my friend in school, before and after my maths h3 lesson, till around 7pm. Life is not just about receiving gifts/knowledge/food/money/care from people. It's also about giving and god taught me this. If there is no one to give, do you think anyone will be able to receive? So i feel that since giving in terms of knowledge is a task which is within me, i shall give in joy to friends who seek me. I sacrificed my soccer playing time this afternoon to teach my friend chemisty: group2, group7, transition metals, organic nitrogen compounds and go through the errors for the prelims. Anyway, i taking a break till the end of the week. Have a break man. Or else the robot will break down. So i spent the whole afternoon resting, doing nothing except teaching my friend. Yup, it's actually quite fun to give. I will feel a sense of fulfilment and the glory of god because god is all about giving to mankind. Even if i have to sacrifice my time, give it up happily in the task of giving. It's the same as spending time to worship god. We have to give up our precious time in this intense studying period.

Perform well, be happy, remember to thank god and continue to work hard.
Do not be a flaccid top seed and become overly concerned about how others perform.

Do not be a hypocrite. Care for others because you have the heart to care.

Prelims is finally over

Alright! My prelims finally ended yesterday. Maths H3 was the very last exam of this Prelims so i was the last dude to be able to say, "Prelims is over!" The maths H3 paper was quite ok. I didn't really spend much time revising for it, just reading through the notes and looking at the examples to familiarise myself with the methods to solve the questions. There were 4 topics to study. 1 compulsory - 4 questions (40 marks), other 3 topics - 2 questions each, choose 4 questions to do (56 marks), 4 marks for presentation of answers. I took a gamble, studied 2 out of the 3 non-compulsory topics, meaning that i will not have any choice of which questions to do for the 2nd part of the paper. Nevertheless, i thought that it will be possible to scrap a distinction for the paper, but a merit has a higher probability, according to bijection principle. Haha just joking.

After the maths H3 paper, i was liberated, freed from studying, but only temporarily. I immediately took a bus home, so that i can watch the 7pm channel 8 show, last episode haha. I was so exhausted on the way back home, maybe because of the mind-straining maths H3 exam. Around 8pm, after the show, i went to my classmate Ashley's house. Several other classmates were already there by the time i reached. Around 15 of us went. We had a Jumbo restaurant supper. Ashley's parents brought the leftover crabs back from their restaurant. They were delicious. Then some of us played mahjong, others played cards, others played Xbox. For some of my classmates, it was their first day learning how to play mahjong. They thought that it was actually very fun and got addicted. Mahjong had an element of stress, as it required them to use their mind constantly. I was the only one who played 6 straight hours of mahjong, from 11pm to 5am. The others got tired eventually and slept. Then at 5am, i stopped playing mahjong as everyone else went to sleep and i tried something new, Halo 3 on Xbox. The 5 dudes who were still awake, me, Justin, Beneb, Wee Leong and Nick. To be honest, i suck at the game Halo 3. Constantly getting killed by them from behind without even knowing. In the end, the race to 25 kills game saw the result: Ben 25, Justin 8, Nick 7, Me 0. I was never a fan of such killing game, so i wasn't really surprising. Then we went to sleep at 530am till 1030am. It was a fun time at Ashley's house, a good post-prelim celebration for me, only finishing prelims the previous day.

Throughout this entire Prelims, i was blessed by God. Usually, I will study according to my study plan. If I fails to stick to it, I will feel stressed up and will not be able to do things effectively. This time, I was at times behind my study plan, mainly because I had to spend time to worship God. Nevertheless, it was time worth spending. Despite being behind my study plan, I will pray to God for help, ask him for confidence and the power to concentrate throughout. It really helped because at the end of the day, I will be able to finish studying.

This prelims was a brand new experience for me, coming to know God in a period which requires lots of mental strength. These friends constantly reminded me that even as we faced obstacles and problems, treat these tests like pure joy. Church service 13/09/2008, James 1:2-6 Exams are just a test of perseverance from God. Request for God's wisdom and he will bring you through them with confidence. He is like a guy standing in front of you during your exam and showing you the answer sheet. He gives you the assurance of your ability, so that we can make full use of the knowledge we have learned to answer the questions in the exams.
Next, I am thankful to all my caregroup friends too, for their constant support in this Prelims, sending sms to give me the assurance that god will always be by my side throughout this mentally-exhausting period. Thanks to Li Yin, Chia Ling and Rochelle for taking time off to pray for me before my Maths H3 exam, at a time when they should be enjoying their time somewhere else. "Thanks for coming!"