FAILING MY WAY TO SUCCESS

“Failure Will Never Overtake Me If My Determination To Succeed Is Strong Enough” – Og Mandino

Reading this article yesterday was so inspiring and caught my attention immediately. This ex-dropout boy is the first Institute of Technical Education graduate to make it to the highly competitive Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at National University of Singapore. It was no mean feat! There were some 2,000 applicants vying for about 280 places only this year. Students apply and only those shortlisted go through a series of interviews, assessments etc. before they may even be selected.

This brought me back to my own time when I was doing my Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE). I was also very playful and lacklustre. I was more interested in watching TV programmes and never studied consistently.

When my PSLE results were released, I recalled the embarrassment of not doing well while seeing almost all my peers did exceedingly well. I just wanted to quickly go home and hide myself. How disappointed and upset my parent were with my results. I discovered that I could indeed do well if I put my mind to it.

That was the turning point in my academic path. When I was posted to a secondary school not of my choice, I started to study very hard for all my subjects. I even asked my parents for help in engaging a Maths tutor. In fact, Maths was my weakest subject. I needed someone to explain to me the concepts of Maths and to guide me closely. 

I always fail in my maths, getting very low marks for it until I reached Secondary Two, when I started to improve my performance. I reminisced when my Maths teacher asked me to stand up and announced that I was the best performing student for Maths. From getting barely 20 marks for my maths exams last time, I scored one of the highest for that subject. My classmates applauded while I beamed with pride and joy.

In Year 3, I realised that I was more into Humanities like Literature rather than Physics/Chemistry. My Physics/Chemistry teacher always shook her head at me, knowing that I was one of those who never did well in her subjects, and failed badly. I hated Physics as it was dry and boring. I didn’t mind Chemistry, but I also found it challenging to understand. On the other hand, I simply loved Biology as it was exciting learning about human body.

During my final year, I remembered those long, enduring days when I would ensure that I studied diligently on all subjects every day, setting aside a couple of hours after finishing my schoolwork. I would always make it a point to check and clarify with my teachers and classmates whenever I had doubts. I told myself that this was my chance to redeem myself.

On that day of my O Levels results collection, I was very nervous and apprehensive. All kinds of thoughts were racing across my mind. I went up to my Physics/Chemistry teacher who happened to be giving out results for my class. I was shocked when she gave me her widest smile and grinned at me saying “Well-done!”

I freaked out when I saw my O Levels slip. I had mostly ‘A’s and did well to get into the Junior College of my choice!