You have spent months preparing for this day. Stay calm, follow our tips and breeze through your exam!
OUTSIDE THE EXAMINATION HALL
Get to the exam room a little earlier so that you will be more relaxed.
Keep away from your fellow classmates. No last minute discussions! That will only send you into the PANIC ZONE!
BEFORE STARTING YOUR PAPER
Write your name and class on every sheet of paper.
Check that there are no missing pages in your copy of the exam paper.
Allocate your time properly. Stick to your schedule so that you'll have time to answer all the questions. Spend more time on questions that are worth more marks. Watch your time like a hawk!
Clarify with the examiner if in doubt of anything.
THE EXAM!
Read and follow instructions and questions very carefully, e.g. if instructions want you to mark "x" for the correct answer, do not "/".
Answer the easier questions first. They give you the boost in confidence needed to tackle the rest of the questions. Come back to the difficult questions later.
NEVER leave questions unanswered. If you are out of time, give your answers in "point" form. Examiners award marks for facts and not long sentences.
For MCQs, make a guess if you don't know the answer. Get to the point when answering short-answer or essay questions. There is no time for flowery language. Remember KISS - Keep It Short and Simple!
DO NOT panic if your mind decides not to function! Relax and you'll recall what you'd studied.
Leave the last 15 minutes to check through. Look out for omitted questions/facts and errors in spelling, tenses, units, etc...
As requested, here's the lyrics to the song I sang on Children's Day.
ISRAEL KAMAKAWIWO‘OLE'S MEDLEY VERSION
Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high, And the dreams that you dreamed of, Once in a lullaby. Oh, somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, And the dreams that you dreamed of, Dreams really do come true.
Someday, I'll wish upon a star, Wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where trouble melts like lemon drops, High above the chiminey top, That's where you'll find me.
Oh, somewhere, over the rainbow, bluebirds fly, And the dreams that you dare to. Oh why, oh why can't I? Well, I see trees of green and red roses too, I'll watch them bloom for me and you. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world!
Well, I see skies of blue and I see clouds of white, And the brightness of day. I like the dark and I think to myself: What a wonderful world!
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky, Are also on the faces of people passing by. I see friends shaking hands, saying, “How do you do?” They're really saying, “I ... I love you!” I hear babies cry, and I watch them grow, They'll learn much more than we'll know. And I think to myself: What a wonderful world!
Someday, I'll wish upon a star, Wake up where the clouds are far behind me. Where trouble melts like lemon drops, High above the chiminey top, That's where you'll find me.
Oh, somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high. And the dreams that you dare to, Oh why, oh why can't I?
In Hindi dhoby is the term for laundry, and ghaut (in Anglo-Indian) which means "place or steps along a river". The Indian dhobies especially washerwomen, would wash the clothes of nearby residents along the banks of the fresh water stream of the Sungei Brass Bassa (now Stamford Canal) that ran by Orchard Road and Stamford Road. The laundry would then be dried on the immediate open waste-land, a five-acre lawn that was subsequently occupied by the Ladies Lawn Tennis Club in 1884 till 1924. The land was later called Dhoby Green. These dhobies were loosely referred to as Bengalis or Madrasis, pointing to their origins. The Chinese dhoby did not appear until the 1880s, when the Kling women did the washing.
The area where the laundry work was carried out later converted into an open space and a landscaped park, the Bras Basah Park. Until the early 1970s, from the Orchard Road and Penang Road junction to Handy Road there was a stretch of quaint, low-rise shophouses. Among them Keller Piano sold pianos, other music instruments, music scores and records while Swan Tea House Cakes and Confectionery was also popular. The Cathay Building which opened on 3 October 1939 was Singapore's first skyscraper and the first public space to be air-conditioned.
On the other side of Cathay Building were terraced shops that included aquarium fish and supplies shops, hidden behind which is Kirk Terrace where a row of old pre-war shophouse still exists. Much of the area has been cleared for road widening and some of these spaces have become pleasant little parks and walkways. Sometime in the 1970s the lawn was converted into a public park with carpark space.
In 1988, the Urban Redevelopment Authority expanded and revamped the park, stretching the green space from Dhoby Ghaut to the grounds of the old St. Joseph's Institution (today's Singapore Art Museum), and it is now part of the "Museum Precinct".
By 2005, the area that used to be the Bras Basah Park would be part of the new Singapore Management University, one of Singapore's latest university developments which would stretch along Bras Basah and Stamford Road.
