Grades
Ok, grades. I have this really long story all about all the grades I ever got since I was a little girl. I guess you can call it a testimony, since it is all about God’s goodness. It begins like this.
Well, the first important exam. PSLE. I came from this ulu primary school, I was one of the better pupils in the best class, but I never was top of the school in all my years there. Not until PSLE. And then I got fantastic results. Which was necessary in a strange way since if I had simply gotten ‘quite good’ results, my dad might not have decided to send me to Dunman High. And I accepted Christ in Dunman High.
And then ‘O’ levels. My result was the cut-off point for VJC. I was quite surprised. And it was good for me. Good for my ego. Because I was quite proud of myself in the academic area. And probably still is. I didn’t want to go to VJ. I wanted to go to Hwa Chong. I was very sure getting into VJ is no problem for me. And it was really good for me to find myself in a position where I could hardly make it to VJ. But God provided everything really well. Somehow in all the ways that really mattered, He made sure everything was sufficient in a very unique way. One thing, I did get to stay in VJ. And the detail results:
I got enough results for my languages, English and Higher Mother Tongue, such that I don’t have to either attend extra GP lessons or take Chinese in JC. And I got a B3 for my Physics. Now in all the years I’d been studying Physics, I never expected a B3. Especially not for ‘O’ levels. In fact, I never expected anything less than A1 for any important Physics grade. But at least that grade gave me mental preparation for what was to follow concerning my Physics grades. Because what happened was that I never passed any Physics common test all the time I was in VJ.
And then my ‘A’ level results. Somehow I wasn’t worried about my ‘A’ level results. I did care, but anyhow I just couldn’t make myself really worry at all. So it was that when I got the results, I wasn’t that sad. I was disappointed, I didn’t even get one A, not even for Maths, and I always had the idea that everybody gets A’s for Maths, and if you don’t you must be quite bad at it. But I looked at my results, and somewhere on the way I gave it this name: sufficient. They were enough. and it’s true. Cause from JC, I simply wanted to go to NUS Arts. And my results do guarantee me a place there. They are enough to get me there. God has provided enough and more. They are ‘sufficient results’. It was only later that I found out how apt the naming was.
The first thing was that although I always wanted to go to Arts, I wanted to go there of my own accord. I didn’t want to have to go there because I didn’t make it anywhere else. People always have this idea that people go into Arts because they couldn’t make it somewhere else. Well I wanted to choose to go to Arts. And later I found out my results did allow me the choice. I found out that my results qualified me for most faculties, except for those really chim ones, like Law or Medicine. I could even have made it to Biz Ad, if I wanted (Which was probably where I could have gone if there wasn’t an Arts fac.), even though the ‘usual’ cut-off for Biz Ad for my year was about ABB. I calculated points and figured out I had the same points as someone who had that result and had usual average GP results of about B4. Guess I just want to feel I didn’t have to go to Arts, that I had choices, and I chose to be there.
And then my GP grade. Because of it I never had to worry the least bit about QET, or any other considerations that I would end up somewhere I don’t like, or not be able to get something I do want, simply because of that grade. From the beginning I never really worried whether I could get the subjects I wanted, especially after hearing my seniors say a lot counts on your GP grade. Well, if so, then so much the better for me. (sounds rather mean, though) Somehow I did know I was going to get the 3 subjects I wanted. Partly because of my GP grade, but partly also simply because … I just know. And I did.
Now that I’ve written it all out it doesn’t really look much exciting. What I really wanted to write in this piece was how I believe God planned, and provided, always, more than enough, sufficient, and more. But somehow it is one thing to think, another to write things out. But what I did want to put across was simply that at every step, the Lord provided what was needed in the next steps, even though some of the time things weren’t obvious at first. And what He provides is always, in His own delightful way, sufficient.
Well, the first important exam. PSLE. I came from this ulu primary school, I was one of the better pupils in the best class, but I never was top of the school in all my years there. Not until PSLE. And then I got fantastic results. Which was necessary in a strange way since if I had simply gotten ‘quite good’ results, my dad might not have decided to send me to Dunman High. And I accepted Christ in Dunman High.
And then ‘O’ levels. My result was the cut-off point for VJC. I was quite surprised. And it was good for me. Good for my ego. Because I was quite proud of myself in the academic area. And probably still is. I didn’t want to go to VJ. I wanted to go to Hwa Chong. I was very sure getting into VJ is no problem for me. And it was really good for me to find myself in a position where I could hardly make it to VJ. But God provided everything really well. Somehow in all the ways that really mattered, He made sure everything was sufficient in a very unique way. One thing, I did get to stay in VJ. And the detail results:
I got enough results for my languages, English and Higher Mother Tongue, such that I don’t have to either attend extra GP lessons or take Chinese in JC. And I got a B3 for my Physics. Now in all the years I’d been studying Physics, I never expected a B3. Especially not for ‘O’ levels. In fact, I never expected anything less than A1 for any important Physics grade. But at least that grade gave me mental preparation for what was to follow concerning my Physics grades. Because what happened was that I never passed any Physics common test all the time I was in VJ.
And then my ‘A’ level results. Somehow I wasn’t worried about my ‘A’ level results. I did care, but anyhow I just couldn’t make myself really worry at all. So it was that when I got the results, I wasn’t that sad. I was disappointed, I didn’t even get one A, not even for Maths, and I always had the idea that everybody gets A’s for Maths, and if you don’t you must be quite bad at it. But I looked at my results, and somewhere on the way I gave it this name: sufficient. They were enough. and it’s true. Cause from JC, I simply wanted to go to NUS Arts. And my results do guarantee me a place there. They are enough to get me there. God has provided enough and more. They are ‘sufficient results’. It was only later that I found out how apt the naming was.
The first thing was that although I always wanted to go to Arts, I wanted to go there of my own accord. I didn’t want to have to go there because I didn’t make it anywhere else. People always have this idea that people go into Arts because they couldn’t make it somewhere else. Well I wanted to choose to go to Arts. And later I found out my results did allow me the choice. I found out that my results qualified me for most faculties, except for those really chim ones, like Law or Medicine. I could even have made it to Biz Ad, if I wanted (Which was probably where I could have gone if there wasn’t an Arts fac.), even though the ‘usual’ cut-off for Biz Ad for my year was about ABB. I calculated points and figured out I had the same points as someone who had that result and had usual average GP results of about B4. Guess I just want to feel I didn’t have to go to Arts, that I had choices, and I chose to be there.
And then my GP grade. Because of it I never had to worry the least bit about QET, or any other considerations that I would end up somewhere I don’t like, or not be able to get something I do want, simply because of that grade. From the beginning I never really worried whether I could get the subjects I wanted, especially after hearing my seniors say a lot counts on your GP grade. Well, if so, then so much the better for me. (sounds rather mean, though) Somehow I did know I was going to get the 3 subjects I wanted. Partly because of my GP grade, but partly also simply because … I just know. And I did.
Now that I’ve written it all out it doesn’t really look much exciting. What I really wanted to write in this piece was how I believe God planned, and provided, always, more than enough, sufficient, and more. But somehow it is one thing to think, another to write things out. But what I did want to put across was simply that at every step, the Lord provided what was needed in the next steps, even though some of the time things weren’t obvious at first. And what He provides is always, in His own delightful way, sufficient.
posted by judith at
3:45 pm
