A preliminary analysis of my End Of Year exams 08

Let's sidetrack a bit first. Today when I came to school, and I thought of the word "analysis". Then I noted that there is the "lysis" (breaking up) in the "analysis", and I wondered what the "ana" part stood for. Actually "analysis" refers to "a breaking up", as per Wikipedia. So the "ana" refers to "a"? I'm a bit confused.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. What follows is a preliminary analysis of my performance in this End Of Year exams 08 (EOY08), by subject:

Exam #1: English Language (23/9/08)
Ok, so I had originally decided to do the narrative. But, upon seeing the narrative question (I almost typed "sawing") , I thought I had better do something else. Hence, I went to the discursive question. Just hope that my arguements are good enough for the examiner. Also, for the situational writing, we had to select between 4 choices, when I was expecting 2. Of course, this meant more time for thinking. Not to forget, I could handle the comprehension in Paper 2. It wasn't too difficult, so that was quite a relief.

Exam #2: Social Studies (24/9/08)
Pure mugging, this one. Given a choice between a topic with only 2 types of questions and a topic with 7 types of questions, which one whould you want to study? Of course, the former, since you can get away with memorising 2 model essays, while for the latter, there are 7. Hence, I did Q2 in 40 mins, thanks to my memorising. The inference question was okay, but I busted my C&C and left barely any time to complete the reliability question. So that was a lesson learnt.

Exam #3: Higher Chinese (3/10/08)
The letter was okay, but I'm not so sure about the compo. Just hope it doesn't fail. And Paper 2 was relatively easy, true to Ms Qin's words!

Exam #4: Elementary Mathematics (6/10/08)
This is like riding a bike up a rather hilly terrain, before descending down gentle slopes. But it;s okay.

Exam #5: Chemistry (7/10/08)
This left me with time to sleep, but Mr Osgodby woke me up, so I decided to run through the Fahrenheit 451 quotes I'd memorised instead.

Exam #6: Literature (Elective) (7/10/08)
I was expecting a thematic question, but that was about censorship by the dystopian government in Fahrenheit 451. I had prepared for other themes, setting and style, so I could not do the Beatty and Montag question and did the Faber question instead. And I wanted to do poem, but it's tough to me, so I did the prose. I hope I can get good grades, since I have 3 personal feelings (a personal best) !

Exam #7: Geography (8/10/08)
Having prepared for plate tectonics (my bet was the questions would weigh heavily on volcanoes) , weather and climate and natural vegetation only (rivers and coasts had quite a lot to memorise) , I did Q1 and Q2. I'm feeling confident about this paper.

Exam #8: Additional Mathematics (9/10/08)
Stumped at the first question! Fooled by a +/- sign! I have to find a way to reduce the occurence of such errors that have to be corrected by checking the answers throughly.

Exam #9: Biology (9/10/08)
I would say that this paper is definitely for someone who did not study in depth. Also, I had hinged on an enzyme question to come out. it did not disappoint, but it brought along a fresh twist to it. I look forward to such questions that allow me to learn new things from exam papers.

Exam #10:Physics (10/10/08)
A killer, I admit. I thought the paper (specifically Section B) could be improved. So little space to do any calulations! Also, there are questions where a question is at the end of a page, with lines at the next page. Darn, I wrote under the question itself, and so I had to happily copy the answers onto the lines. (The "happily" was a sarcastic remark, if you do not get it.)

Ok, a detailed look through of the papers and my results will be done after I receive the marked scripts. For a summary, I am giving Tuan, Duc and the other ASEAN scholars the liberty of getting the best in {Subject} prizes. My hands are in the air (paraphrased from a song I am hearing as I type this out) , so to speak. Hopes of me attending the Speech Day next year are rather limited.

Oh well, let's not think so much, and adios while I take a break from the stress of exams.