Hi, I'm a student who has just graduated from secondary school. I've always loved English. I feel that English is a living subject, it's not something that one can score well at through rote memorisation.

English exams consist of:
Writing: situational letter, free writing
Compre
Summary

I have to admit that compre and summary is quite tough. The only way is to start early by doing TYS and finding a GOOD teacher for consultations. There are a few different but standard types of compre questions. It'd be good to note how the question starts (5W1H) and whether or not there is a degree needed. It's good to brush up on vocabulary for the 5 marks at the end of the compre paper, as well as the 1mark 'Find another word in the passage that has the same meaning as X'. Also, the 2marks 'Answer using your own words' question will occasionally require students to replace words. With hard work, it's possible to score for compre! Same concept for summary. Read the question carefully, and when you highlight points, keep in mind whether the point answers the question directly. And rephrase occasionally! Most schools have different methods of their own for summary, so do take this advice with a pinch of salt.

As for situational writing, it's recommended (by my teachers) to score well for it as there is a higher chance of scoring well for situational writing rather than for free writing (paper 2).

In paper 2, there are usually 4/5 topics (I forgot, sorry). You can write discursive, expositional, descriptive, narrative etc on the topic of your choice. It depends on what you're good at. Some of my friends who preferred writing discursive and expositional essays would read Newsweek, Times etc. I think that to excel in discursive essays one should be able to support strong points with evidence, which is where the extra reading comes in handy.

Oh and read. Read story books, novels, etc. When reading, you'll eventually absorb a few good phrases and words. It's good to master grammar as well so you won't be penalised for grammar errors in compre/summary/essays.

Interest helps as well.

I scored an A1 for English in the recent o levels, but I don't claim to be very good at English. These are just my personal experiences while studying English in secondary school.

ris1919:

I went to look at the school yesterday...didn't get to look at the classrooms,library etc...is the facalities good? Anyone's child studying there? Did ur child's character and studies improve aftr going to CCHM? Coz I'm considering to put my child in there...

Hi! I can answer that question but it seems like I'm about a couple of months late as school has already started...

Well, I'll answer it in case someone else checks this thread at the end of this year ^^

I'm a student who has just graduated from CCHMS. I entered CCHMS with 246 points and a horrible command of Chinese. I used to get C5s and C6s for Chinese in lower sec, but to the end of sec 4 I got B3s and A2s. I eventually scored B3 for my O level Chinese. Compared to the rest of the cohort, I didn't do well as more than half the cohort scored distinctions in Chinese. We also have one of the highest distinction rates for Chinese in the nation, and we are the East Zone Centre of Excellence for Chinese.

The facilities are very good: The new indoor sports hall, technical block and admin block just finished construction in early 2011. Right now, the new school hall and canteen are being built. (Temp. canteen in Indoor sports hall). Technical block has newly refurbished home ec. and dnt rooms as well as chinese calligraphy room and art gallery. Science labs are also newly renovated with snazzy black and pink decor. Along with the hall, we also have a 3 storey grand auditorium which can seat the entire school (about 1600 strong, 1700 incl. faculty). The library is quite big. It has a small 'classroom', and new books come in all the time. We also have a heritage gallery.
The newly renovated 'Old Block' is fantastic. Facilities are definitely good.

CCHMS provides many enrichment courses for students.
From sec 1 to sec 4, students will go to the Tea Room (yes, we have one!) to learn the art of chinese tea ceremony at least once a year.
Lower sec students have 2 compulsory subjects, Chinese Calligraphy and Malay Language Programme. Not sure if it's still like that now. Both lessons were rather 'slack' but the Calligraphy teacher has been with the school for many years and he's good. In my year we also had a traditional chinese medicine talk with demos.

The teachers are fantastic! Of course, there are good and bad teachers in every school. My teachers (save a couple) always made extra effort to hold remedials/consultations. One of my teachers has even stayed back in school until 8pm just to hold consultations with us. SSP (self study programme) is also conducted for Sec 3 and 4 students.

One of the little idiosyncrasies of the school is that for a certain PE teacher, his lessons are conducted in Chinese ^^ and for some of the CCAs with Chinese educated coaches, they are conducted half in chinese, half in english.

School pledge is in chinese as well.

As with teachers, there are good and bad students in every school. But Chung cheng students are mostly very decent and studious..as long as you don't fall into the wrong crowd the studying environment is very very conducive (especially studying in the concourse next to the lake).

School's niche CCAs are wushu and basketball, I think. The other sports, aesthetics and uniformed group ccas also do well (think SYF, national competitions etc)

Chung Cheng does emphasise a lot on Chinese culture (CNY is a HUGE event in the school, as is the mid-autumn festival), and we're affiliated to NYJC.

I miss my school now.

tkbd:

Icic. Yep what you said's very true. Math is all about practicing and practicing. No easy way out.

All the best for your JC education!

Haha I learnt the hard way.

Thank you, and to you too, in whichever stage of education/life you're in now!

^ Unfortunately, it's fixed.

And I do like Bio, but not enough to take H2 Bio ^^

Plus, I just checked the requirements for the university courses that I'm interested in and the courses that actually do make use of H2 Bio don't interest me at all, and practically no courses make use of H1 Bio at all. So, according to your advice earlier, this has really tipped the scale in favour of H1 Arts.

I don't like Math, but the thing about Math is that it's possible to excel in Math through sheer hard work. I may have screwed up in O levels but I'll definitely work harder this time.

Sorry...looks like I went off on a tangent lol.

tkbd:

Your combination for H2 subjects seem perfectly fine and logical. However word of advise: You have to work doubly hard for H2 Maths because you didn't do exceptionally well for your double Maths in O Level. You need to train up your A Math foundation so start early.


As for your H1 subject, choose a subject which you're interested in. Because studying for something which you don't like would really be a torture in the JC system. Since you're in doubt, talk to one of the Visual Arts teacher in your JC and seek their advice.

tkbd, thank you for your response
I will, because I know Math was never (and will probably never be) my strong point. (In fact, I got F9 in my Prelim 2 for Amath...)

Okay, I think I'll speak to a teacher tomorrow.
thank you!!

365psych:

Take a subject if you will enjoy it, but it is also important to place it in context of what you hope to do in Uni.

I'm interested in courses like Mass Comm, Journalism, Creative Writing, Literature and Anthropology.

Is it risky, though, to take H1 art especially if I don't have an 'O' level Art background?

I think I'll enjoy it, but I'm really not sure >< Bio is the logical choice, but still...

thank you

Evalim:

Hi! I would like to ask for anyone knows NYJC COP this year? If nett 11 any chances to appeal? Please advise me.

Thank you!

My friend enquired at the school yesterday. Apparently the COP for both Arts and Science streams is 9.

I can't be certain though.

I say go for it! Especially if NYJC's your 1st choice in your JAE choices and if you have a strong academic record (for academic appeals) or can appeal using your CCA. Check out the column on the left of the website: http://www.nanyangjc.org/

NYJC was my first choice but I didn't get in (9 points after bonus points reduction).

I'm thinking of taking:


H2 Lit, Econs, Math
H1 Bio/Art

I'm not sure if I should put H1 Bio or H1 Art in my first choice. I am interested in the visual arts, but I have not had any formal visual arts education other than art lessons in school and art classes when I was young. I've taken a look at the H1 Art syllabus (http://www.seab.gov.sg/aLevel/2013Syllabus/8879_2013.pdf) and I think I could handle it. On the other hand, because it's a new subject to me, I don't think it's very wise to take 2 completely new subjects at A levels (the other being Econs).

On the other hand, I have taken and enjoyed Biology (pure) in Secondary school, but I am not really keen to relive the whole memorising + graphs shebang. I'm not very good at my sciences.

So, in a nutshell, I'd like someone to advise me on whether I should take H1 Bio or Art.

If it helps, here are my results:

English\tA1
Chinese\tB3
E. Maths\tA2
A. Maths\tB3
Chemistry\tC6
Biology\tB3
Combined Humanities\tB4
Literature (English)\tA1
L1R5\t13

Thank you to everyone in advance.