Huai Tian's blog

This has been a really fast year. It's already 31 Dec. When I made the decision to transfer to YJ, I was worried if I would regret it in the future. Well, actually I regret a little. I'm insecure about the bio department here. The notes are much more detailed, unlike TJ's Bio notes. I don't know if I really have to memorise them all. Also, some of the details from the TJ and YJ notes don't agree, e.g the order of the bacteriophage entering the bacteria. But other than that, I'm glad I came to YJ. I know I can't have the best of both worlds. It's really frustrating, but I'll have to figure it out myself. One of the things I like about YJ is the pace of teaching. It's very slow. But this way I can absorb better. I'm familiar with the slow pace. It's like when I was in AIPS and SNGS (not arts subjects lessons though). The teacher would repeat til the others understood and that way I learn it better. To be frank, I like the feeling of b...

It's already the 4th week now. I had wanted to blog during the 1st week, but I kept procrastinating. This is a really bad habit, and it will be one of my New Year resolutions to stop procrastinating and have some self-discipline. I remember on the 1st day (20 Nov 2012), the other 8 students and I gathered at the Level 6 conference room. We filled in many forms. We were assigned 2 lab coats, 1 log book and 1 temporary pass. Then William, a scientist, explained a little about each project, then he assigned the projects. I realised that I had no courage. I didn't even dare to raise my hand up after I saw a boy get the project I was kind of interested in. It was partly because I was indecisive too. I didn't whether I fit the requirements of each project or if I could finish the project or if I was interested in it. The time given to us to decide which project we want was also short. Eventually, I chose the project about "Culturing human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) in...

My blog has been inactive for quite a long time. I wanted to update it after Camp NoMAD, but I was too lazy. So this is gonna be a really super long post. Haha. Let's see what I can remember. Oh, but before that, I should talk about Pre-University Seminar. Pre-U Sem was held from 28 May to 1 June 2012. The preparation prior to the Seminar was tedious. We had to go through 2 rounds of selection. I ended up in the video group with Piriya, Benjamin and Eleanor. I had fun spamming photos on Piriya's DSLR haha :) I had a great time at NTU, although we had to go for many many talks that I tried hard to not fall asleep at. There was DPM Teo Chee Hean's now-famous "What do you think? Whenever you ask me that question, I'll ask that right back at you". There was this honest student who said "I honestly don't know the answer." Haha :) I know DPM Teo was trying to not just provide answers, and trying to get students to think as well. He didn't rea...

Now, I've decided to stay in JC i.e retain or transfer, because of Zhen Yu gor gor's advice. I realised that whenever I listen to some advice, it's very likely that I'll lean towards that side. People's comments and opinions really affect my decisions a lot. I emailed YJC 4 days ago, AJC and NYJC 3 days ago, but they haven't replied yet. So today I called their general office and YJ and AJ told me to wait for their reply, while NY told me that they have never accepted transfer students. I asked," So do I wait for your reply?", but the guy told me the same thing again. I guess that just means NO. Mrs Lim has told me that AJ might be difficult to get in, and asked me to try SR. I'm just trying for AJ. Right now I'm down to 2 JCs and I really hope YJ will accept me. A few ppl have told me that confirm can, but I'm worried that even though my O Lvl COP is quite low, my promo results will cause them to reject me. Lesson learned: never thi...

On 7-1-2012, mummy and I went to meet the VP. We found out that I passed the Bio paper and failed the Chem paper. So the paths I could take were only poly or retain. Idk about transferring to other JCs/MI though. Mrs Lim told me there was a Bio course in SP and NP(she couldn't rmb what was the name of the course) that can actually lead to NUS Med. I totally couldn't believe it, but went home and found out that there were only 3 ppl in NP who made it to NUS Med. So I thought that I'd choose Accountancy in NP to play safe and I like math. But mummy asked her friend who works as an audit manager, but he and his wife recommended me to take commerce in JC instead, because there's little chance of getting into NTU Accountancy from poly and he observed that his company mainly accepts NTU Acc grads. I've never heard of commerce offered as a subject, so I went to Google it, then I found out that JC stopped offering commerce subjects since 2000!! Now, only polys and MI of...

2011 has been a really fast year, it zoomed right past me without me realising what I had done to my life. Why I failed: Never needed to study with a lot of effort to get good results. In pri school, just had to redo my worksheets and read through my TBs. Also, I didn't have internet at that time. Maybe that's why I was always in the top three in the level. In sec sch, I only studied a day before tests or exams. It was the same for O Level. My results were no longer fantastic like in pri school, but I could still pass easily for math and sciences. I kept failing my humanities though. Now in JC, I probably couldn't get used to the fact that I had to put in much effort to do my hw and study. I only studied one day before JCTs, three days before my promos and more than a week for my supp papers. Preparing for the concert was one reason--> left with half a month. I kept telling myself to go study, but I get hooked into watching dramas or shows on my com. Also, some people...