The final hurdle towards Graduation came on 7.23am this morning. I had a restless sleep last night, waking up at 4am with my entire leg being bitten by mosquitos. A rather bad start to the day. Sleep was intermittent and the message tone woke me up at 7.23am. I refused to see it, choosing to sleep instead. 5 minutes later the reminder tone rang. I couldn’t go back to sleep.

So I prayed for good results and hope that everything went well. Then I looked at the sms. It was all a blur since it is so confusing. This is how it looks on my screen

xx114R; Semester 2
2010/2011; EE3501 B+;
EE4001 A-; E4213 A-;
EE4302 B; CAP: 4.53;
Status: 1st Class Hons;

I only read the last line first since the rest are so confusing to read. Then my day brightened and I felt a sense of calm enough to figure out what the other grades were. EE3501 is a B+, which is something I expected since I didn’t know how to do some questions, although a certain friend did mention that I should get an A in the beginning of this semester. EE4001 is my FYP, thankfully an A-, else it would have vetoed off my class of honours. EE4213 is Image Processing, my favourite module of the sem. I got an A- for it, which is the same as the introduction to image processing module I took last sem. EE4302 is Advanced Control Systems, which I got a B for after being unable to answer most of the questions in the exam.

Overall this is my worst semester since I have a SAP of 4.25, but I realize it was the heaviest semester in terms of the number of MCs counted. Nonetheless I still managed to retain my First Class Honours after so long, having worked so hard for it, even having to endure the entire year of FYP.

Here are my SAP results after each semester, just in case any aspiring future NUS student wants to see how a senior does. Perhaps he or she can gain some inspiration. You don’t have to always get > 4.5.
1 – 4.526 (19 MC)
2 – 4.405 (21 MC)
3 – 4.8 (Dean’s List) (20MC + 1S/U)
4 – 4.9 (Dean’s List) (20MC)
5 – 4.452 (21MC + 1S/U)
6 – 4.286 (IA) (7MC+ 12MC for IA)
7 – 4.5 (12MC*)
8 – 4.25 (24MC*)
Total: 164MCs
*FYP MCs allocated at the end of Sem 8.

Some juniors feel upset at the end of each semester and ask why their results are not up to standard. Actually if they wanted to, they could always reach out to their seniors and do a little review, or ask for tips. Or they could just google.

Sometimes it’s about luck. Which semester you take a specific module; which module you choose to take; whether you are good at such modules or not; whether you have friends who will do the module with you. Every factor depends on a certain degree of luck. Some modules have different lecturers and different exam formats for odd and even semesters. The lecturers are different too. What module you take is important as you might be really good at history modules, so taking a history based Singapore Studies mod might give you more advantage. Friends are also important for reminding you about critical deadlines as well as discussion about assignments and academic work. They accompany you to lab so you won’t feel so lost too.

But no matter what you have to have a certain percentage of hard work or talent. If you have more talent, you can put in less hard work and vice versa. But ultimately the question is whether you want the grades badly, and whether you want to spend the required effort on it. If you feel that the grades isn’t important then you won’t be able to go through the entire plan. You will give up halfway thinking “it’s alright”. The effort might be huge for people who cannot catch ideas and concepts easily. It might require some sacrifice on personal time. If one does not want to sacrifice on the time, then one cannot achieve his desired objectives. It’s just a matter of what you want more – results in university or personal time. There is no right or wrong answer.

Having walked this far in these 4 years, at least I have had some results that I can be proud of. At this moment in time, I can only wait for the 11th of July where I can attend my commencement ceremony and have my name written down under the title of “First Class Honours”.