Exam Results Day: Down Memory Lane

You know, with all the STPM and SPM results buzz going around, I feel like sharing all my experience when I obtained results for most of the major exams in my life. Allow me to start from young…. Here we go:

6 1/2 years old: Pre-school Final Year Results Day

I have no idea how it felt like receiving my pre-school final year exam results because it was so long ago. But I remember I flunked my Mandarin classes because my family didn’t and still doesn’t speak Mandarin. I also remember I got spanked for no reason – Lao Shi said it is wrong to put your head below a girl’s skirt. But where got???

*Please don’t get the wrong idea here. I have since repented.* =)

9 years old: PTS Results Day

I bet most of you have friends who sat for SPM, and they are like one year younger than you. And you ask them, “How is that so?” and they reply, “PTS ma.”

PTS stands for Penilaian Tahap Satu, which is a government assessment test to identify and accelerate the learning of bright young students. During that time, I was really playful (till once I fell and my earlobe bled because it was sliced by the table edge), and have low self-confidence.

I remember my class teacher reading a list of names of students who passed the PTS, and thus were given the chance  to skip Year Four. I was paying close attention to every name, but not mine.

Then, suddenly I heard, ” sonnn…. lee… ” Next, I turned to my friend, “Hey dude, did I hear wrongly or did Pn Faizah just mentioned my name?”

After that, I asked, “Cikgu, betul kah saya lulus PTS?”

“Ya Winson Lee, kamu berjaya!”

That was PTS results. By the way, I forfeited the chance to skip Year Four because I thought I was stupid and wouldn’t survive the brunt of Year Five. *Now Black Cheongsam, you know more about me huh* =)

12 years old: UPSR Results Day

UPSR is basically Primary School Assessment Test where everyone in the whole country does the same papers.  If my memory is not deceiving me, I took Malay, English, Maths, Kajian Tempatan (Local Studies), and Science. So the story was:

“Krinnggggg….. “

I answered the phone, “Hello.” “Mum, yeah what’s up?”

“Son, my friend works in the exam department. Do you want me to ask her to check your results before everyone gets theirs?”

“Yeah.” So I gave her my candidate number.

“Son, you got straight As!”

Upon hearing that, I was jumping over the phone. I almost did the Bollywood roll, rolling on the floor as if you’re in love and singing Kuch Kuch Hotta Hei. Wow, so unbelievable!

On the results day where UPSR results was announced for real, I was jumping over the phone calling my mum that I got 5As! I was tearing. My friends and I were screaming It was so unbelievable!

Spot the difference between the previous two paragraphs- the first unbelievable moment was real while the second was fake because my friends cannot know that I already knew one week in advance!

Answer:

Upon hearing that, I was jumping over the phone. I almost did the Bollywood roll, rolling on the floor as if you’re in love and singing Kuch Kuch Hotta Hei. Wow, so unbelievable! (Real.)

On the results day where UPSR results was announced for real, I was jumping over the phone calling my mum that I got 5As! I was tearing. My friends and I were screaming It was so unbelievable! (Fake. Monkey act.)

15 years old: PMR Results Day

I believe I worked reasonably hard for PMR. In my trial exams, I’ve got full As. So, on results day, it was expected. People would be surprised if Winson Lee doesn’t get straight As. The expectation was to that extent.

17 years old: SPM Results Day

Now, SPM was a major headache in my school career. It was complete studying at the last minute before exams. It was going through the thick reference books cover to cover.

I even took my trial exams as the real one because I wanted to gauge myself. The trials turned out well. I’ve got straight A1s in my forecast and I managed to use that to apply to millions of scholarship.

On SPM results day, I was alone. I was late because I came at 2pm. I remember wearing a red singlet with my armpit carpet, or armpit hair, exposed.

“Hi Cikgu, bagaimana results saya?”

“Ah Winson, dah expect la 10 A ni… “

Alright, it was expected. So, it wasn’t as exciting as receiving my PTS verdict.

19 years old: SAT Subject Test Results Day

I mentioned this in a post with almost the same title as above. To recap, Jonathan Mah called me up in my sleep and told me, “Winson, guess how much I got for my Maths 2?” It was a question that he asked so he can answer “800 for Maths 2!”

Mind you, 800 is full score in the SAT Mathematics 2 Test. And Jonathan had the guts to tell me “I didn’t finish the last few questions!”

I checked online for my results. It was full of suspense. The internet was so slow. I almost came to a point where I wanted to curse my monitor “wei, why so slow wan? Stupid monitor, useless la, quickly la”.

Then, it came. It was not bad. =) 2180 for Chemistry, Physics, and Maths 2. I am overjoyed, until Jonathan told me he got 2300++.

19 years and 2 months old: SAT Reasoning Test Results Day

Up till this point, I am already numbed. I checked online through College Board. Well, not bad. Above 2000. That would suffice me to apply to Singapore, I thought to myself.

19 years and 3 months old: International Baccalaureate Results Day

This one was really memorable. An hour before we could access our results online, we were all chatting through Windows Live Messenger. Everyone was so exciting and nervous. What happens if Faizal doesn’t get the 35 IB points he needs to satisfy Petronas? How would Chan Hu do since he seems to be quite relaxed throughout the whole IB? How would the hardworking ants like Ju Anne, Khairul, and Siang Hang do?

We had a countdown on our conversation window. 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 30 second, 10 second, 3, 2, 1, It’s NOW! Go check guys!

Then, everyone keyed in their pin number and access code.

Jonathan, Riza and I keyed in ours. We were all blocked!!!!

No access. Wrong pin code. Wrong access code. Please try again. We all three can’t access our results!

Then Jonathan proposed we called up our IB Coordinator. It’s 2am for your info. He didn’t answer. Then, Jonathan called up Mr Masukor. Jon said Mr M will call us to inform us our results soon.

“Krinnggggg… ” I answered the phone at 2.30am.

“Winson, this is Mr Masukor, I would have to say that I am slightly disappointed with you, but overall you did okay. I am glad that you have achieved what you have done in your 2 years in IB….

“Mr Masukor, WHAT’S MY RESULTS! Don’t beat around the bush! I can’t take it. I would have heart attack okay!”

“Okay okay Winson. You dropped a few points in Maths and English where you got 6 in both. You got 2 bonus points.”

“So meaning, the rest are 7s?” I did some calculation. Wow, 42 points!

Then, I started spinning on my desktop chair. The results day was on the 6th Jan.

And suddenly, I remember about dad…………..

He must be proud to see me getting this results. The next thing was, I dedicated my 42 points to my dad who went off on Christmas 2008.

—————————————

Many people feel sad when they get bad results in their exams. Some of my Form 6 friends who got their STPM results felt totally devastated. But my piece of advice to them, don’t look back and just prepare yourself for the next phase in your roller coaster life.

It’s a great feeling to be able to say that after so many different experiences in getting exam results. Thank you, God for watching me out all this while. =)

Parting and Departing

Yesterday, I was slightly depressed as I saw my International Baccalaureate colleagues for the final time. It will be a very very long time before I shall meet them again. They are bound for Australia and New Zealand, and I wish them all the best in their future endeavours and undertakings. Thank you for our friendship and the good and bad times we had together!

I gave my speech on the Graduation Night and I was really glad that I was able to say what I wanted to say to the teachers and parents, representing the IB students.

After our graduation ceremony on the 25th, we went off to The Curve for some small personal party. We went to a club, but I was so repelled by the excessively loud music and thus we headed to a entertainment centre which was more peaceful.

We ended playing foosball for hours!!! Each game cost RM2; I think we spent like RM40++ playing foosball. So, basic mathematics suggests that we had played probably close to 20 games.

And the funny part was, it was FOUR versus FOUR.

This is how a foosball table looks like.

8 players played at the same time; each player controlled one stick. I guess it was quality time spent together as IB students for the last time.

26th November 2008 was spent eating lunch with Khairul and Siang Hang. Mates, it will be a long time before this would happen again.

That feeling of parting was painful, but I guess it’s part of the journey. It was painful because we are emotionally attached to one another.

Jonathan said:

“I am glad IB is over, but I am sad our friends are going to be far away as well. I wonder when will we ever come together again like we once did, in IB.”

I would like to immortalize what Khairul said in our mamak session:

Winson

Eh, Khairul, say something profound la so that we will remember it for life.

Khairul

…… Winson… you know…. THE NIGHT IS COLD..

Winson

Wow…. so profound!!!!!! (it’s 3am in the morning… everyone was blur. Jonathan was still sipping his sup kambing.)

Winson, you emo ke?

Parting is painful, but departing into our dreams and desires deserves to be a joyious occassion. Good bye, IB Jan 07….. Good bye…

What is IB?

A few weeks ago, someone wished me luck in my exams but do not really know what the IB is all about. Hence, this post seeks to inform and possibly to clear some misconceptions about the IB.

IB Stands for International Baccalaureate

The IB is not ‘International Business’; it is an acronym for International Baccalaureate offered by IB World Schools around the world. I often get the puzzled look from friends and family who think I am doing business studies. Continuing our discussion, IB World Schools are generally schools around the globe that are deemed to have achieve the guidelines by IBO, and hence are deemed competent enough to offer the IB.

IBO (International Baccalaureate Organization) is the governing body of the IB, setting the standards for all IB World Schools in the US, UK, Asia, and everywhere around the globe. It is like the United Nations that sets the resolution for all the schools around the world. (Pun intended: IBO is far more efficient than the actual United Nations. All resolutions and guidelines by IBO are strictly followed.)

The standards set by the IBO are very high and not many schools are able to maintain these high standards. In fact, some schools can be ‘kicked out’, or licences being revoked, if they are not doing a good job. (Again, the IBO is far more powerful than the actual United Nations… another political joke.. )

I am currently in a private school in Damansara in the first batch of International Baccaulaureate students a.k.a the ‘guinea pig’ batch. And yes, this batch of ‘guinea pigs’ are the ones put under tremendous pressure to ensure the experiment is successful. For me, it has to be successful because it determines so many aspects of my future education career.

IB students are required to take six subjects, which are three Standard Level subjects and three Higher Level subjects. What is the difference between Standard Level and Higher Level? Generally, they differ in terms of contact hour. For Higher Level, you spend more time doing your subject while for Standard Level, you spend less time. For example, 250 contact hours are required for Higher Level subjects while 150 contact hours are required for Standard Level subjects. In other words, the amount of workload differ greatly.

If I could use a simpler but not-so-correct analogy, the Higher Level subjects are basically the “3 subjects that you do in A-Levels”, while you have other add-on subjects. Again, this is another reason why the IBO claims that IB is so much harder than the A-Levels.

But, it does not take a maths pro to figure that IB students have no lives of their own because of these massive amount of workload. From my perspective, A-Levels students have easier times because all they need to do is to study and sit for their exams. In IB, it’s not really just exams.

Subject-wise, I am doing Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics at Higher Level; English, Mandarin ab initio, and Business Management at Standard Level. Some of you might be thinking, “Hey, it seems that IB students must take both the science and arts subjects.” Yes, it is true indeed. This is another justification why IBO says the IB is deemed the better pre-university qualification because it offers a more holistic approach to learning and education.

Wait, you are doing Mandarin????

Yes, peng you (Chinese for ‘friend’), I am doing Mandarin ab initio. Some of you may know me as a ‘banana’ (or outside yellow, inside white) from my earlier school days but things have changed! Now, I am considerably less ‘banana’… about 20% lesser… still 80% banana.

I can safely say that my subject combination is among the hardest in my school. Which dude would take two sciences, one mathematics, one native speaker language (English Literature in essence), one absolutely foreign language with 1000 characters to memorize (Mandarin… I was a banana, remember?) and one business subject? Only three crazy dudes (Riza, Jonathan, and I). The Physics and Chemistry drill our brains. Mathematics messes up more of our neurons. Mandarin twists our tongues. English A1 puts in the literature stuff, which is quite the anti-thesis of science students like us. Business is the only fun subject because it is peanuts, and also probably due to fact that I am a bit Chinaman (a colloquil term for stingy businessmen.. but generally Chinese businessmen). My old school friends often called me (pronounce with me…. ) CHEE-NAH MAN. So, I guess they are right.

Back to the IB, IB students are required to complete a 4000-words extended essay, 150 Creativity Action Service hours, and Theory of Knowledge component, ON TOP OF/IN ADDITION to the six subjects taken.

The Extended Essay is basically a mini-thesis on any subject that you are interested in. I did mine on “What is the effect of surface area on the tractive force?” if I got my title right. It is essentially a Physics thesis on the mumbo-jumbo triboelectric effect theory, Newton’s Third Law and all the stuff.

The 150 CAS (Creativity, Action, Service) is a pre-requisite to getting my diploma. The CAS is about doing things you have never done before and primarily the fun stuff to compensate the dull mood of academic lectures. If I do not complete my 150 hours of CAS, I will not get my diploma.

Wait, what diploma? IB is a diploma meh?

Yes, the official designation is International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, which makes the IB I am doing right now a diploma programme. Unfortunately, it is only perceived to be slightly better than the other pre-university qualifications i.e A-Levels, STPM.

So, from last tally, I completed about 200 hours of CAS, which I believe would amount to more since I got a really strict IB CAS Coordinator. She is really stingy with the hours, but understandably, this is due to some of us inflating the hours. Apart from this, my IB CAS Coordinator is one of the most exciting personalities I ever met. Do bear in mind that each completed activity requires a set of forms that includes a supervisor’s form, a personal journal, a self-evaluation form, and more forms. The documentation alone had killed, kills, and will kill, many of my coursemates.

Meanwhile, the Theory of Knowledge (or in short, TOK) is in essence a basic philosophy course about knowledge, with respect to my experience with the component. To illustrate, students are bombarded with questions like why the apple is red, can robots think for themselves, is it possible to have objective knowledge and what is true. IB students are required to write a 1500-words essay and to present an oral discussion about a specific topic of choice related to knowledge.

Before I forget, the six subjects I have taken ALL comes with INTERNAL ASSESSMENTS. Mathematics requires 4 separate mathematics portfolios; physics and chemistry require 60 hours of lab hours each; English requires two World Literature essays, one oral commentary component, and one oral presentation component (which makes it 4 internal assessments); Mandarin requires a few oral assessments where the candidates are cassette-taped while they converse about topics of interest IN MANDARIN; Business requires a real case study about a REAL company focusing on any IB Business Module of choice.

So, let us do some arithmetic:

Physics               15 assessments (I’ve done 15 lab reports, good ones )

Chemistry           15 assessments (I’ve done 15 lab reports, good ones )

Mathematics       4 assessments

Business              1 assessment

English                4 assessments

Mandarin             4 oral assessments

TOTAL                 43 internal assessments

Please be aware that each internal assessment requires blood, sweat, caffeine, begging for extensions, tears, and eye strain.

FURTHERMORE, IB students are required to complete a Group 4 Project where students from different disciplines come together in groups of 5 to 6 people to produce an environmental report. My group did a report about “Aerosols and Its Effect on Environment” with students from Biology, Chemistry, and Physics. The idea is, we are required to analyze the problem from the perspective of a biologist, a physicist, and a chemist. The others examine other issues from the perspective of economists and businessmen.

At the end of the two years, while completing all internal assessments, TOK, 150 CAS hours, Group 4 Project, Extended Essay, IB students are to sit for an external examination for all their six subjects. I have a total of 15 papers to sit for. My exams are exactly three days from now. I am writing this down to recap and to record all my IB experience for the benefit of readers who do not know how rigorous the IB is.

Some would sum the IB as this equation:

Physics + Chemistry + Mathematics + English A1+ Mandarin ab initio + Business + Extended Essays + CAS hours+ TOK + Internal Assessments + Group 4 Project

= 2 years of lifelessness

I sometimes call the IB indescribable bane due to the massive, intense, crazy, insane, and (I am out of adjectives) workload.

The exams are graded based on a 45-point scale. Six subjects each are graded from 0 to 7, which means the maximum academic score possible is 42 points. The balance 3 points are called the bonus points because it is dependent on the quality of your Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge components. The CAS is not taken into account, but it is required to obtain your diploma.

IB is really an achievement by itself. I won a RM50000 scholarship to do the IB in this private school. I have known some many comrades who fought with me till the end. My journey will end on November 13, 2008.

At the end of all these, all I want is a good sleep and loads of rest.

Hope you have learned something about the IB, good bye. If I get some of my facts wrong, please enlighten me and I will happily correct them.

*The author has a disdain for narrow-minded Neandeartals who label IB students as ‘International Bastards’ because they completely have no idea what they are talking about. The author himself is a survivor of IB and was freed from the imprisonment of IBO on the 13th November 2008.

Quote from Brian Keenan’s An Evil Cradling:

“Freedom comes slowly.”

No Place for Mediocrity: Affirmative action for Malays/Bumiputeras

This is a reply to Khairul Syahir’s post “No place for mediocrity” on www.khairul-syahir.com .

Yes, indeed the bumiputeras are given so much. It is something that the non-bumiputeras could had wish for. The affirmative action is something that the non-bumiputeras can understand when the Malays are still needing some help to catch up with the other races in Malaysia.

But, when the affirmative action is taken for granted by the bumiputeras themselves, that is something that the non-bumiputeras cannot accept.

I strongly commend Khairul for his selfless post in reminding all Petronas scholars (both Malays and non-Malays) that they are a lucky bunch.

To all Petronas scholars, this is a perspective from the rest who do not have what you have:

Be thankful that you have a secure scholarship to pursue your desired dream and desired university.

Be thankful that your parents do not need to mortgage their only house to fund your studies to go overseas.

Be thankful that you only need to score a minimum of 35 points in IB to secure funding and placing in your university. The rest like me who do not have a scholarship are caught in a do-or-die scenario. We aim for high scores in IB not for showing off to others nor for self-glorification, but only as a bargaining chip for us to approach sponsors, to beg them to fund our studies in universities. Our dilemma is, you must get a good enough IB score to admit into a university that is famous enough to get yourself sponsored.

Be thankful that you have such a caring friend like Khairul who is selfless enough to write his post to remind you. As a personal friend of Khairul, I am truly glad to have a friend like him. I cannot say for sure that I have enough selflessness to teach weaker students Mathematics at the expense of my time, but Khairul has.

To all readers,

Scholarship is a gift from God. It is given to you so that you would use it with the wisdom that He has imparted in you, so that you would be able to bring out the fullest potential in you to bless others. A gift from God is meant to be multiplied, to be grown, and to be used for the benefit of others. Yes, Khairul has said it well that a scholar has the task of carrying the trust given to them, because they are a select few, the chosen ones, chosen from the rest who do not have such gift.

Scholarship is an example of affirmative action for bumiputeras. Indeed, there are non-bumiputeras who have gotten scholarships from various bodies, but come on man, we all know that the real intended target groups are the bumiputeras.

Again, it is acceptable to me that the scholarships are given to the bumiputeras for the progress of their race, for the race to catch up with others.

But, it is totally unacceptable to me if such scholarships are taken for granted by the scholars themselves. Taking it for granted means denying others who are more deserving than you the opportunity to do things better than YOU.

I wish all my IB friends good luck in the finals. God is looking, and I pray in the name of Jesus that we all will score perfectly well in our exams. May the Lord bless us all with His wisdom, humility, and grace.

*Yeah, I kinda broke my own ISA for writing this post, but I find this extremely important. I just have to get it off my chest. And I kinda like written this in Khairul’s comment space, but man, the comment vanished!!! Writing on my own turf is the last option.

Winson is arrested under draconian ISA till Nov 13

Dear readers and friends,

Winson Lee has been arrested under ISA until November 13. He is arrested under Internal Study Act 2008, for wanting to topple the IB government.

At time of press, he still has 43 days to his final IB exams. 43 seems like a lot, but please do not be fooled because there are SIX subjects to be revised, studied, understood, memorised! He has self-imposed November 13 as a deadline for his government-toppling act.

He is putting himself on self-imposed ISA, and thus has to refrain from blogging or have any life until November 13. November 14 will be the day of reckoning because it is post-IB!!!! The “Pakatan Rakyat Selepas IB” government will be in power!!!

*To put this into record, yes, he is aiming for a very high score in IB, God-willing, high enough to allow him to enter those unis he is applying for. Oxford is one.

He is super excited to start studying. It has never dawned on him before that studying is so exciting. He means it seriously, no joke! Studying for SPM was dull, but studying for IB is mega mega exciting. 43 days left, 6 subjects, RM50000++ k at stake, Oxford MIT Princeton Stanford at stake, his entire student career is banking on this exam.

Even if Datuk Seri Anwar takes over as PM of Malaysia, Winson cannot be bothered because IB exam is more important. He will talk about Malaysian politics after November 13, when the government of IB is toppled by Opposition Leader Winson Lee. That time, all IB parlimentarians will be defecting to “Pakatan Rakyat Selepas IB”, he will call for a vote of no confidence against the IB Prime Minister Mr Jonathan Shaw.

He will then form his “Pakatan Rakyat Selepas IB” government with his computer minister Nathaniel, who will get him a new computer, and his trade ministers Jonathan and Riza, who will assist him in starting up a online T-shirt business. He hopes his ministers will not swap portfolio with him, nor resign due to unfulfilled reforms. Winson believes in working with his component parties ALEEMAH to bring a better future.

No more corruption.

One excited Winson supporter was quoted, “Winson will be arrested under the ISA until Nov 13, where on November 14 he will form the new government of Pakatan Rakyat Selepas IB. Reformasi!!!”

A Light Speed Update

Hi there,

It has been an exciting two weeks for me. It was a full pack schedule of work, play, and fun. So these are the latest updates about what’s going on (I will elaborate on these brief updates in future posts, one by one. Come back for more juicy stories.):

1) Got back from POD camp, Point of Difference, during the Independence Day break (Friday to Monday). Will share the camp notes in future post.

2) Mum is due for ovarian cancer surgery on Tuesday 9th September 2008. It’s borderline cancer, and she is going through “ovarian tectomy” (if there’s such a term), meaning to remove both ovaries. Yes, she has enough kids, my brother and I, and she will be effectively menopause.

3) Finishing application documents to Oxford University. Yes, this is the university that publishes dictionary. I am going in for Engineering Science. But, if you need more info about Oxford or anything, just drop me a comment, and we will go through email for more details.

4) Joshua just told me that I am to attend a church leader development programme. Am I fit to be a youth leader? Only God has the answer.

5) IB is taking its toll on me. I slept for 2 hours for one of the nights, followed by 12 hours of sleep on the next night. My brain is suffering from headache due to the sudden change in sleep pattern. Any sleepologist can enlighten why is this happening to me?

6) Dad has just went through some product training for a water purifier. He says this is the thing that is going to allow him to go financially independent. I am still waiting, but all the best dad, you have my support. It’s Covay from Korea, some super mega high tech water purifier system, better than Diamond water. For sales, drop comment and I ll contact through email. They are looking for sales agents too. RM500 incentive per unit sold.

7) Cell group meeting just discussed about “Why did God allow evil?” Super heated discussion. Maybe we could start a forum here: WHY DOES GOD ALLOW EVIL?

Bible verse of the post:

Isaiah 55:8 My thoughts are nothing like your thought, says the Lord. And my ways are far beyond anythng you could imagine.