Renewed and refreshed *

2003-09-25 9:12 p.m.

Special Papers definition: Extra papers which only brilliant students attempt to secure scholarships and better chances of entering Ivy League Universities.

My Definition: A time to relax and unwind as you try to scribble something sensible within three hours. A brain motivator instead of a brain drainer (as normal prelim papers are)

Then again, there’s a considerable amount of bias in the second definition as the S papers questions and schedules in other school’s (especially RJC) are different. Perhaps this idea of S papers apply only to NJC, more so for history S, where five vibrant and enthusiastic souls set aside around two hours a week discussing the larger meaning of their subject with their oh so helpful teacher and more often turn the sessions into ones of laughter. Of course, for the benefit of those outsiders, I’m talking about Shuwen, Wee Jian, Amandae, Joseph and me, who always digress from Ranke, Collingwood, Hegel, Marx and those other dead historians to the latest “current affairs” (as Amandae would call it), idle gossip which lightens one’s mind on a Thursday afternoon. My initial perception of history S was a subject filled with intense reading and constant practice, but after the class dwindled down to this group of five and after Ms Ng’s comment,” You really can’t learn everything needed in one year”, I’ve learnt to treat this paper as just additional enrichment and not as more burden.

Let’s recount our attempt at producing some form high order analysis (which S papers are about). I came in at around 1:50 and found only Amandae and the Geog S people in the hall. ”So, did you study?” she asked. “Oh, just glance through the readings” was my reply. Then again, that depended on her definition of “study”, as I remember I did read through my notes and memorize certain quotes. The A04 people told me that they wouldn’t even bother with reading anything. Must have been Ms Ng’s,”You’ll all get Unclassified for this time round.”.

I must digress over here for a while. The day before, we finished six hours of brain draining exams in the form of History 2 and Lit Paper 3, and just as I was about to leave, Wee Jian stopped me and asked whether I was in agreement in switching the History S paper to the morning instead of the afternoon. At first I protested, citing the lack of time to study, but the magic three said that they wouldn't lift a finger over this paper. Ok, why not, I said. Amandae left us (Joe WJ, and me) to fix the change in time. Miss Ng was out of reach so we went in search of the HOD, Mr. Mark Lo. Here's where the fun began. WJ suddenly remembered that he had Mr. Lo's number and Joe told him to go give him a call. Why not sms instead, Mr. Ang replied. Go ahead , Joe said. Uh, how should I begin? asked the president of the debating society. "Why not dear mark... and then he'll reply yes wee.. remember your Bolshevik question?" Joe said with a smile. I burst out laughing. (FYI, WJ was concerned over the answer he wrote for the History 1 Bolshevik question and talked to Mr. Lo after the paper). In the end, we called him and all three of us had to affirm that we were in agreement in changing the timing of the paper. Still unsatisfied, I had to tell Mr. Lo that Amandae was in agreement to and the other two added that Shuwen would not be around. To get triple confirmation, I called Luke for Shuwen's number but somehow the other two found it first. The final plea was made in front of the HOD himself who replied, "Cannot lah, there's no teacher to invigilate you". "But sir, can't you trust us for 3 hours?" asked Mr. Ang. The reply was no and the way Mr. Lo said it was very hilarious. He was marking our History 3 scripts there and covered the papers as he talked. Then Mr. Whitby materialised before us and that was the end of the discussion. We marched out, Wee Jian taking the lead and Mr. Whitby behind us. Just as we exited the room, Joe did a one second wave in the direction of some desk and Mr. Whitby's voice bellowed, "Oh don't try to be extra friendly with Mrs. Poon Joe, that won't give you extra marks for your econs." Laughter again erupted from me.

Anyway, from the conversation I learnt that number 1 and number 3(Wee Jian and Joe—that’s what we call them in debate) were still at the Oasis playing cards, their favourite past time. Everyone was taking it easy, as for most it was the last leg of the prelims.

1400hrs: Fifteen questions to choose from, and only have to attempt one from Section A (General history section) and one from either Sections B, C or D. Ended up attempting question 11 from Section C first, discussing the assertion that Southeast Asian nationalism was “Conservative and elitist rather than radical and democratic”. Twisted the whole hypothesis the other way around and used an unusual definition for the word “democratic”. Let’s see what Ms Ng thinks about that. At 1525, I attacked the first Q in Section A, “‘It is not the task of historians to make judgements about the events and the people they describe’. How far do you agree?” Definitely a Rankean view on the responsibility of historians, so I when against it and supported Carr and Collingwood’s theories instead. Couldn’t find sufficient arguments for the other side so I threw in Hegel’s metanarrative as a last ditch. Actually could be relevant. Finished everything by 1630 or so, the time the Chemistry S students were leaving. Shot a split glance to the left to see Grace smiling as if to say,”What? They can’t abandon us now!” Wee Jian and Joe also glanced around. Double and triple checked everything, edited certain areas and dropped my pen by 1640. Something was wrong, I thought. I guess after 11 essays of 45 minutes each and 6 essays of 1 hour each, I’ve learnt to write fast. Re-looked at everything and took a peek at Section B that is Modern European History questions, which only Wee Jian, Amandae and Shuwen could do. The question on rulers causing war in Europe was highly tempting, but I know I would have just rambled on Hitler and Mussolini. Time progressed at a snail pace, and Mr. Lo’s call, “Stop writing” was much appreciated. The fun came afterwards, where the five of us huddled around for a five minute discussion. Amandae did question 10 on the impact on colonialism, which on hindsight was much easier than question 11. Joe did the one on who won the Cold War, one where I couldn’t formulate any argument. Now I know what to say! It turned out that Mr. Ang and Amandae not only attempted the same question for General history, but we used the same thesis statement, only differing in arguments. Amandae seemed so excited over the paper that she wanted S paper discussions every week. Joe was busy explaining how he did number two on the controlling of the past, present and future when the Geography S people came over. We swapped papers and here’s what we had to say :

Geography students on History S:

Lucas: Who on the Cold War? That’s so fun man! Now I wish I did History S instead of Geog S!

Grace: What? You have 15 questions to choose from? [after hearing from me that we only had to do two questions] Only two? We’ve had to do three you know. Lucky you.

Grace again(or was it Marianne):who won the Cold War? Cool! I could have done that!

History students on Geog S:

Amandae: That question on erosions and cities sounds interesting.

Me (on the same question): Hey! I could have done that.

We continued this heated discussion, with Serene Foo explaining how close their questions were to the A levels and Joe talking about his Cold War thesis to all. This group broke up around 1728 with the arrival of the school cleaners. Later, Lucas and I were in the toilet where I learnt that the question on cities and erosion was not that straight forward as I thought. As I headed home, I felt refreshed and re-energized. Although three hours were sacrifice. I finally learnt that S papers could not murder you but reform you and your perception of life. Look at just how much those who missed this chance lost, I thought. For those of you out there taking S papers, treat them as fun and not as papers where you must get your distinction grade or else. Especially for Science S papers, as Feng Yi pointed out, once you have mastered your basic formulas, it's a breeze after that. I felt much better and ready to tackle Literature 8 and econs the next day.

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