Do you understand me ?
Firstly , this is just my RANT and NO OFFENCE is intended to anyone / any subject .
This post is mainly about A Math , why I don't understand A Math and why all my posts today are related to school .
If you take Additional Mathematics ( A Math ) like me , you have probably wondered the same thing : why do we even study all these ? In fact , I think teachers realise it as well since we have a topic called " Math in Practical Situations "
When would we ACTUALLY use A MATH ?
I don't even know why we need to learn these complicated stuff .
Differentiation , Trigonometry , Logarithm .
For people that don't take A Math / have not have the chance to , these are some images of how they look like .
Mind : BLOWN .
Why I don't understand A Math :
- When would we even use it ?
- Who came up with the formula ?
- What do we even want to find ?
- Why do we even learn it ?
Why are my posts related to school today ? I was upset by my Math Teacher for the past week , and I finally couldn't take it today .
This is the start of a very long-winded story and rant .
So , I was thinking about dropping A Math because of the stress of trying to cope with curriculum + subjects + school etc . Then , I failed my A Math re-re-exam . What is a re-re-exam ? It's a re-exam of a re-exam . Basically , it was Secondary 3's End of Year paper that I failed . Then , there was a re-exam of the exact SAME questions and SAME answers . Basically , you just had to memorise . My holidays were packed with homework , CCA ( was having holiday practices ) , activities ( CCA camp , extra lessons ) and my flea . So , I didn't memorise much cause I don't really see the point of memorising for the sake of memorising .
Tada , I failed my re-exam ; 40/100 . It's quite a good mark already ( 18/100 for End of Year ) , but not good enough . So , there was a re-exam . This is where the problem started . On my teacher's list of who needed to take the re-exam , my name wasn't there . However , when the rest of my friends that went to see the principal ( yes , we had to ) , they came back and told me that the principal read out my name . Why wasn't my name on my teacher's list ? Then , I was told that I have to take the re-exam again .
This time , it was during March , and Secondary 4 life is hectic . I spent everyday staying up late to complete my homework ( I don't really study for tests >< ) , and school ended late often because my curriculum ends at 3.15pm or 6.30pm everyday except for Friday , 12.30pm . So , there isn't much time for anything else ( I even lost a few friends as a result of this ) . The re-re-exam came , and yeah , I didn't really study much . There wasn't time for me to . I failed once again ( 49 / 100 , that's almost a pass ! ) .
This time , I'm just frustrated . It started to increase my stress levels and affected my studies . Hence , I approached my teacher on 29th March ( Friday ) saying that I may want to drop A Math . My teacher told me " Sure , but do consider and let me know soon as you have already registered for the A Math O Levels . " On Monday ( April 1st ) , I told her that I wanted to drop . She then said that she would pass me the form the next day . Tuesday came , she told me she forgot . Wednesday came , she said she couldn't take the form from the teacher-in-charge as she had to relief another class and would pass me on Thursday . Halfway through Wednesday , I went home sick . Thursday and Friday , I was sick so I didn't went to school .
This Monday ( 8th April ) , I approached her to ask for the form . Instead of passing me the form , she told me that the deadline to drop A Math has already been over and I can no longer drop . She then said that I would still have to do tests and examinations in school , but I can choose not to turn up for O Levels .
Why am I upset ?
- On Friday , 29th March , she told me that I wouldn't need to do homework given because I was going to drop anyways .
- For Thursday and Friday , I missed out on lessons = I didn't know anything about the topic = I can't do my homework .
- I told her beforehand that I wanted to drop A Math , and then , she suddenly says that I can no longer drop because the deadline was over .
- It isn't really my fault that it was over , cause I already approached her on 29th March .
- Today , she wanted to go through the homework that she gave , I didn't do any question ( I mean , I didn't even know anything about how to do it , I only have my notes ) in the homework . She scolded me saying that " I've been wanting to see you for a long time for consultation , but you never turn up for any of it . " She didn't even tell me she wanted to see me , how was I to know ?
- If I understood the previous subtopics ( this was on Differentiation ) , I would've done my homework . BUT , I didn't understand . In fact , at least 70% of my class doesn't understand what she teaches ; how would we do our homework ?
- She scolded mostly because I didn't have any pieces of paper to show that I've tried . But , I did . I mean , would you staple a piece of paper that you tried doing your homework , then cross out / cancelled / scribble untidy handwriting and said you've tried your homework ? No , you would just get frustrated and crush it .
- I have NOTHING against this teacher ; but I can't learn the way she teaches . Sometimes , I wonder if she graduated from the same class as my cousin sister-in-law . I WAS in tuition with my cousin sister-in-law ( basically , she married my cousin .__. ) during the Holidays . However , it was hectic ( 6 ~ 12 hours a day of A Math non-stop ) and I couldn't cope the homework given ( it was the ENTIRE exercise in the textbook , a few exercises at a time ) . Hence , I stopped getting tuition .
When I started to learn differentiation , I THOUGHT I WAS IN AN ADVANTAGE . However , after the first 3 subtopics ( differentiation has 11 subtopics ) , I was in a shock to see TRIGONOMETRY and LOGARITHM . Why ? My tutor didn't teach me that . So , I was lost from subtopic 4 to 10 ( starting 11 soon ) . I didn't understand a single thing .
Everything sums up to , WHY IS IT MY FAULT that :
- I can't drop A Math ? My teacher didn't pass me the form on time ..
- I can't do my homework ? I didn't understand what was taught + I wasn't in school ..
- I don't understand what the teacher is teaching ? 70% of my class didn't understand ..
Many people suggested that I approach the General Office and ask whether I could still drop . However , they wouldn't listen to a student ; they needed parents to go down as well to make it sound important . But , my parents are busy + they aren't exactly happy with the way things are in my school . So , my hands are tied .