Being born and raised into an English speaking family, I found myself wondering why I ended up in this position, having to take this English module as part of my first semester in NUS. Franky speaking, when I found out about the results of my Qualifying English Test (QET) I wasn't pleased about it to say the least. So I dragged myself to class, expecting the worst. Turns out, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. And to be honest, I think i'll probably benefit from it more than I actually thought I would.
Well, here's my story. Growing up, I excelled in English. I loved to write narrative stories because I always felt proud when I could read the finished piece and call it my own. I loved injecting my own spin on a good topic and coming up with a story that was fresh and creative. I received distinctions for both my PSLE and 'O' Level results in English language. I guess the fact that I could craft my own story as part of the examination helped me do well in that aspect.
However, when I went on to junior college, I was introduced to something more critical and less creative: General Paper. I dreaded every single class from then on. It was all argumentative, factual and boring, and I hated it. The worst part was that I wasn't a strong writer when it came to these papers. I failed to come up with strong points for my essays. As a result, I failed to convince the examiner that my arguments were valid or relevant. So I scraped through exams with just average grades. I thought that if I memorised enough good points and good essay structure that it would get me through my 'A' Levels. Turns out it didn't.
Nothing is worse than getting back your results and seeing the huge D right on top of that slip of paper. I convinced myself that I just wrote out of point for my paper and that was it. That was until I took my QET, and realised that maybe it was a consistent mistake I was making, and I just didn't know how to go about improving my skills in terms of writing argumentative essays.
So, all in all, I hope this class can help me to see the errors i've been making. This would allow me to work on them so that next time I can become a better writer and ace all my future exams. Also, I hope that next time I will not just resort to blindly photocopying model answers but to actually start thinking as an individual again.
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