I remembered hitting rock-bottom for my academically during my Secondary 2 year.  At that time, I was very obsessed with my academic results so I was really devastated when I found out that I had failed Geography and Chinese. To add salt to the wound, my other subjects were at borderline passing grades.  

     I found it really vexatious that no matter how hard I worked, I would not be able to achieve my goals. I remembered confiding to my parents for help. 

   They told me " When you hit rock-bottom, there is only one way to go- up. You have to work your way up again. When there is no pain, there will be no gain. " Their words did not really help in comforting me. At that time, I had no choice but to be strong and I told myself that everything would be alright. I was rather ridiculous at that time as I saw my academic results as a matter of 'Life and death'. 

     I wanted to enter the class that has my ideal subject combination which included the Pure sciences. 

I had to live up to my parents' and my own expectations. 

     As weeks passed by, I gradually got over my failures and I started working very hard. But it was like 🤬 to me. 🤬. I could not catch up with my teachers' teaching at bullet train speed. However, whenever I faced any diffculty, I would approach my teachers for help. 

    I could not forget the days when I struggled very hard trying to understand Chemistry- forming chemical equations. When the examinations were around the corner, I worked even harder and quitted playing my favourite mobile game. I was very determined to get into the science stream. 

     The day our exam results came out, I found out that my science results were not good enough to enter the pure science stream. My parents had to write an appeal letter to the principal. I was fortunate enough to have success in my appeal to the science stream. A part of me doubted that I would be able to do well in science as I was only lucky enough to have my appeal letter approved.  Another part of me argued that the reason I was able to enter the science stream with my appeal was that I worked hard. The phrase '' No pain, no gain.'" meant so much to me now. I could not forget the struggles I had gone through. This incident would be etched in my mind, forever. 

    

   It is the first exam of my secondary 3 life apart from tests and quizzes . From the start of the year I did not understand the concept of chemistry well.  I did not do anything about it and it was reflected in my results during the test. But I was complacent and  told myself that I am able to pass . When the papers were returned I was aghast I failed my chemistry it was a F9. 

   After that incident I told myself that I had to work hard to pass umy chemistry. The few months that I had before the end of year examination I pulled up my socks and I did  lots of past year exam papers, assessment book for chemistry. I also asked friends to helped teach me the different concept for chemistry and they helped to rectify the mistakes I made. I spend hours after hours just memorizing the order of where the position the elements are supposed to be in. There were times that I feel that I want to give up and just drop the subject but there was that part of me that wanted to pass and show the teachers what i was capable of. By the time I got to the end of year exam I knew the concept of chemistry quite well. This was it the end of year exam.

 

  When the papers were returned I was overjoyed I finally pass my chemistry From a F9 to a C6. It’s a huge improvement. This made me realize what no pain no gain really meant. 

Ever since my second year in primary school, I absolutely despised Chinese as a subject. I would not touch that subject with a ten-foot pole. Every single Chinese lesson, I would either drift away or I would discuss with my friend next to me about the latest video games coming out that year. When I got solid D's for my Chinese every year, I would not even care about it as my other subjects were good enough.

However, my lackluster behaviour towards the subject caught my mother’s attention. She went straight for me and swiped my cellphone out of my hands. At first, my blood boiled when she took away my birthday present she gave me five years ago, my cellphone. I sprung up and started yelling at her, "What are you doing? I did not do anything wrong, Mom! You always told me to do everything!" My mother started to scream.  I knew I took it way too far, "How dare you bring that out of your large mouth? You are not doing anything good for yourself! The PSLE is coming, Dean!" At that very moment, I was not able to reach for my cellphone for the rest of my December holidays after my Primary 5 year, and I could not go anywhere.

Every day seemed stale as I was not able to talk to my friends whether it was through online or offline communications. I thought to myself, "What could I do?" I knew the following year was my Primary School Leaving Examination year and I had to do well to move on. Then I finally thought, "Okay. I may not like this in any sort of way possible, but the time is very crucial and short, it is not too late to start now." Every day, I would try to recap as much as I could on what I was taught the previous year, especially Chinese. I kept on keeping the positive attitude throughout the process turning from a couch potato to a rather hardworking individual. During my final year in primary school, I realised that in my first mini-test, my results began to show signs of improvement. I kept up my efforts throughout. While I could not use my favourite gadgets, against all odds, I was able to push forward on my efforts.

This amount of effort paid off that during my PSLE, I put what I had in mind to complete the test. Three weeks later, the results came and I stood rooted to the ground as I would soon receive my results. However, when I got it, my jaws dropped because of the grade I got for Chinese. Next to it was the letter 'B' .To me, from getting rather poor results to getting a good grade on the subject I had been abysmal in for years was the most satisfying moment I ever had. I knew that due to me sacrificing the distractions I depended on and my sheer hard work, I managed to do what it took to achieve something that I would never thought was a possibility.

Sometimes, we may have something that we do not want to give up. However, we also know that it could affect what we would do in a long term. I took the 'pain' to deal with my life without my cellphone, then I got to the school I aimed to go to. Besides, what is more satisfying than pulling off the unthinkable?