A Letter to My First Love on her First 'High-Key' Examinations

Dear J:

Welcome to the start of the Primary School Leaving Examinations NEXT WEEK! I think you will be nervous, but I also know you’ve got this. You are at the first of what is possibly your life's most challenging moments - doing your first major national exams. As a parent, I sometimes forget those moments that I was there like you, a 12 year-old struggling between trying to work hard, and giving in to R&R mode. I may not have supported you emotionally enough, or empathised with you sufficiently, but I pray I have done it the best way I could to encourage and motivate you.

To be honest, I’m not enjoying this season at all. Growing up is already tough, with all the crazy hormones raging (for you, literally), but growing up with the added pressure cooker of being in a competitive academic system does not make things any better. Exam preps take away all the fun and brilliance of learning, and condense them into complex and terribly dull rote questions to answer and ace. I have been there and I didn’t like it at all.

The final scores may describe how you did on that particular day, but it does not even come close to defining you or your future. PSLE is not going to tell us anything about how talented you are with art and crafting, or how you have a flair for trying anything out and actually being good at them on the first try. It also doesn’t tell anyone how you are able to get yourself home via public transport when you are activated to do so, or how you are able to cook yourself (and at times your siblings!) a meal independently when you have to. One national examination is not going to tell us how great you are at many other things.

Nevertheless, because we are in the school system, we strive to do our best in the circumstances we are in. And I think, to date, you have done wonderfully to make us, and make God proud. You are now at the point where the only person to be disappointed is yourself. Give it your best shot! That way, you will not look back with regret. And you will get all the marks you deserve at the end of the journey.

No matter what happens, Daddy and Mummy loves you, and God loves you so much more. 加油！