Overall grades of last year's 'A' level results slightly
below 2004
SINGAPORE : The 'A' level results were released on Wednesday and
grades were slightly down from last year.
91.1 percent of school candidates received a minimum of 2 'A' and 2
'AO' level passes including General Paper.
This is down 1.2 percent from last year.
Nearly 1,400 more students took the exams in 2005 than in
2004.
It has been a tough two years for former Anglo-Chinese Junior
College student Nicolette Chionh.
Her mother died suddenly of a stroke just before her exams in JC 1
and her father was seriously ill with kidney failure during her 'A'
levels.
Still, she scored an unexpected five distinctions.
Nicolette says: "It was very tiring because I had to juggle school
work, than come home I had to do housework, I would make sure I had
dinner with my dad everyday, and I would spend time with him after,
just to watch or talk to him. Basically it was my priority."
For Nicolette's 54-year-old father, she is an inspiration.
Chionh Chai Cheng, Nicolette's father, says: "I'm very glad for
her, in the sense that she has basically done all on her own
strength, although she has gone through a trying period the last
two years."
Nicolette says: "I want to be a doctor, or I'm considering becoming
a nurse because my mom was a staff nurse, so I want to be just like
her."
As for Chai Jishan, she is a rare breed - a female Singapore Armed
Forces scholar with seven distinctions who has high-flying dreams
of being a pilot.
Jishan says: "I didn't have much time to think about results really
because training is quite tough and I just did a 24-kilometre route
march yesterday, so most of the time it is a lot of mental and
physical endurance that we are being stressed on, as well as team
work."
ACJC has much to be proud about this year's results. They have
broken the record they set last year for the highest number of
students receiving three or four distinctions for 'A' level
subjects.
And for the first time in the college's history, two of its
students are among the top in the country with nine distinctions
each.
Raffles Junior College also has reasons to celebrate with the best
results in 25 years.
A whopping 76.4 percent of its 2005 cohort scored three or more 'A'
level distinctions.
Top scorer Grace Tan with nine distinctions has a special secret to
her success
Grace says: "I think it is very important to enjoy what you are
doing, to enjoy studying, which is quite hard, but you have to
enjoy what you are doing."
One of the top students from Victoria JC was Rushni Vijay
Wadhwani
With eight distinctions, including an A1 in Malay, Rushni intends
to go to Oxford to read Chemistry.
"Definitely it is consistent work throughout the years, whenever
you do your tutorials, I just made sure I understood what I was
doing," she says.
She hopes to get a teaching scholarship and eventually join the
Public
Service. - CNA/de
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