The Truth from a Normal Academic Student 🥲💔˙◠˙

*everything was the past and will stay in the past, so no hard feelings… 💔💔 solely, just wanted to share my personal experience with everyone*

hi zesties!!!!! 🍋👋🏻

just wanted to share my experience of being a NORMAL ACAD student 👩‍🎓, going into Sec 5, and then getting into the course I wanted in poly. 😎

I went through so much—from witnessing BULLYING cases, dealing with DRAMAS (shit stirrers, snakes 🐍, violence, etc.), to being LOOKED DOWN upon or given up by teachers, juggling different commitments, and the constant lack of motivation. Even though it's probably a common route, the experience is definitely different for everyone. SAURRR… keep reading! 🤓📖

a little background on my academic history 📚; I was definitely not the smartest kid (HAISSS), but rather just a below or average student who managed to scrape through every year. 🥲🥲🥲

TRUTH TO BE TOLD… I only put in the effort to study when there’s examinations… or when it comes to my favorite subject, MATH!!!!! 📖😳❤️

♡ ̆̈ Challenges faced ♡ ̆̈

➻❥ Surrounding environment ➻❥

The environment around me was definitely not the best. 👎🏻👎🏻 Most of my classmates were just FOOLING around?!? in class even when the teachers were teaching, and you would DEFINITELY get influenced… WHICH I DID (& I REGRETTED 😭😭), i would laugh along at times, or just join in… 😔😔 and HONESTLY, it is one of the hardest part of it, especially since we’re still young and we all would just like to have fun, so naturally you would tag along and wouldn't have enough self-control. 😤😤😤 BUT YA NO EXCUSES THO…

Hence, lessons didn’t feel like lessons anymore since we weren’t even learning anything. We were such a noisy bunch of students… it was probably the WORST NIGHTMARE 😨😨 for those teachers unless they were really fierce. (thn only ppl would shutup!!!!!! 😅😅😅😅)

SO… some instances that people do during class would include, chit-chatting and laughing 🙊, spraying water on people 💦, throwing things around, using phones 📵, and making jokes, whether offensive or not 🤬🤬. AND some people would even make fun of TEACHERS… and there were once where the tcher cried… 😃😃 OR people would just be running around the class, sometimes catching insect or wtv… 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

Hence, it was definitely an environment that wasn’t ideal for studying or focusing. 😃😃👎🏻👎🏻 Naturally, all our grades would plummet together unless you went home to self-study or really tried your best to pay attention in class amidst all the noise. 🙃🙃🙃

AND HONESTLY, I have so much more to add to this point because there were just so many things going on 😭😭, be it during lessons or outside of lessons. ✋🏻✋🏻✋🏻 Instances included people calling names, fat shaming, stealing money or other things, throwing or hiding other people’s belongings, girls’ drama, boys’ drama, violence, police cases, and so much more… 🚫🚫🚫

➻❥ The lack of motivation ➻❥

But ya, naturally, it is nearly IMPOSSIBLE?!?? for you to do well or even pass in class if you aren’t able to pay attention, even if you aren’t the joker in class. 🤡🚫😤

AND It’s hard for the teacher to get their point across since lessons probably had to be constantly stopped ✋🏻✋🏻 to scold the noisy people, or they would give up and continue the lesson while the class remained noisy???? 😔😔💔💔

With the lack of foundation in different subjects, it was difficult to excel… 💔 Back then, even the simplest questions required intense thinking. 😫😫😫 Furthermore, i had cca commitments as well… 😭😭😭

➻❥ SO, WHY Sec 5? ➻❥

HMMM, good question. SO… when i received my n-level results, thts when reality hits. 🫠🫠 i could only either go to ITE or Sec 5… BUT YA… i always knew tht I wanted to get into poly… and that was one of my motivating factors. 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ BUTTT… i just had to

think really hard 🙃🙃🙃—do I really want to spend 2-4 years in ITE or rather make it quick and go to Sec 5 for a year? ⏰ It was risky ⚠️ because I barely had any foundation in different subjects, but I chose Sec 5 anyway because ONE YEAR was LONG ENOUGH!! 😭😭😭

➻❥ My sec 5 experience ➻❥

This is when I ACTUALLY and FINALLY, 😭😭😭😭😭😭 got my shit together… i studied my ass off almost everyday… 😔😔😔 heading to the library, cafes, or even under the HDB void deck with my friends to study. 😆😆

I practiced a lot, doing many practice papers, ten-year series, or whatever practices there were for different subjects. I paid attention in class as I should. ✋🏻🙂‍↕️ AND, thankfully, the class wasn’t as noisy, especially since there were probably fewer than 20 of us, and most of us just wanted to DO WELL for O’levels. 😃😃😃😃

We probably knew we shouldn’t be fooling around anymore 👎🏻👎🏻, and most of us barely had any drama 🤡🤡 and got along well, helping each other whenever we could.

After all, I really enjoyed my time in sec 5 and definitely did not regret it. 😘😘THE PHRASE HARD WORK PAYS OFF IS REAL 🥹🥹🤩🤩 because I MANAGED TO GET INTO THE COURSE I WANTED IN NYP, AND I'M SO SO SO HAPPY… ❤️❤️❤️

➻❥ Current state ➻❥

Fast forward to today 🕜, I just graduated from NYP 🎓🥳 and I did well and I'm EXTREMELY HAPPY with my gpa 🤩🤩, especially for someone that just barely scrapes through each year in secondary school. 😭😭😭

Overall, even though I went through a lot, I still enjoyed my secondary school life, and it will forever be a core memory. 🥹🥹❤️❤️ AND most of what I mentioned above were mostly not-so-good things 🫠, but there were honestly so many happy moments in secondary school that I would love to relive! 🤩🥳😘😍🥰!!!!!!

*once again no hard feelings to anyone when I wrote this… no hate, just love! ❤️

#storytime #Lemon8 #RealTalk #secondaryschool #secondary5