You guys may wondering what type of Pre-U that I am taking, I am taking A-level (Advanced level) right now. Somebody may be don't know what is A-level. A-level is a type of Pre-U study. After Pre-U study, you can directly enter the 1st year degree if your Pre-U result is not too poor. A-level is also the same. The recognition of Cambridge international A-level examination is quite high especially recognized by University in UK, USA, Australia, Canada and so on. Cambridge international A-level examination also recognized by a lot of top universities. A-level is also recognized in Malaysia.
You guys may wonder why I choose A-level as my Pre-U study, that's because only A-level is the only way and also has the high opportunity to get what I want. Just let me simply explain what is A-level. We got different type of A-levels, Cambridge A-level is the one that I study right now. Cambridge A-level is splited into two parts, which are Advanced Subsidiary level (AS level) and A-level (normally we call A2 level). Time interval which is needed to finish A-level is normally one and a half year.
I am taking A-level in science stream at the moment. The subjects that I take right now are Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Thinking Skills. You may wonder why I don't take Biology. First of all, I am very regret that I dropped Biology (if you want to know more detail about this, just ask me privately). You all may also wonder, what is thinking skills? Thinking skills it a subject that no need to study at home or no need to memorize anything. Thinking skills has divided into two parts which are Critical thinking and problem solving. Critical thinking just need to solve the problem critically, to become a critical thinker, you must think logically and critically.
"Problem solving" is just like mathematics. But they have very big differences, mathematics solve the problem by using the given formula while "problem solving" cannot solve the problem by using mathematics' formula, otherwise you will die in the examination. Your logic thinking must be very strong and you have to construct or derive a new formula yourself to solve the question. Besides, your English must be very strong in order to understand those "deep" words. Right now, thinking skills is the hardest subject I ever seen, because my English is very poor. Now I can go through Thinking skills in order to improve my English. For those who want to become a lawyer, your thinking skills must be very strong.
For Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry, I think you guys know them already. The only change of those subjects is becoming much more complicated than SPM or equivalent. For AS level, those subjects do not have much different, Chemistry is the exception. Chemistry has a very big gap between SPM and A-level. But don't worry, not that hard actually, you have to learn more detail things only. You may wonder how about A2 level? A2 level is much harder and harder than AS level, therefore must do a lot of works on A2 level. Final result is according to AS level's 50% and A2 level's 50% that add up together, and hence for AS, you must work very hard in order get a good result to counterbalance your A2 result, otherwise you will suffer on A2 level. By the way, Thinking skills is in AS level only, A2 does not have it because it is too hard, and do not have the lecturer to teach, so it becomes an optional subject. Since A2 does not need Thinking skill already, therefore my A2 just left 3 subjects (not including biology). So you can be more focusing on the rest of those subjects.
Let's talk about my college, Riam Institute of Technology (Riam Tech). Riam Tech is just beside Riam Road Secondary School (RRSS). The area is smaller than what I have expected but everything is inside there. All classrooms are air-conditioned even the canteen. Food at the canteen is not bad actually, but after a long time of consuming those food, you would feel a little bit "disgusting" too. Therefore, I always go outside the school for my meals because there are better food and a variety of choices to choose from.
So, that's the summary of my A-level. Now I am going to talk about my study life. It is better than my life in SPM I think. I become more hardworking and more mature since I have started my Pre-U life. I think the main reason is because I am getting older and older. Unlike the childhood and secondary school period, I always play computer games. During my Pre-U study, I learn about how to manage my time and schedule. It is important because nobody manage it for you and YOU yourself have to manage it properly.
I stay with my landlords which are two old people. Including me, there are 3 people staying in one house. Even though my room is not that big, it is enough for 2 people to sleep! My landlords are very kind to me. They always buy me or give me something to eat. I am so lucky to stay with them because the rent fee is cheaper than someone could expect and they treat me very nice.
Last thing, once you have chosen the road, then don't be regret. Think positive, otherwise you will find it very hard to survive. I think that's the end of it, actually nothing more to write about, I just write about what I know, and hopefully this can be an useful info or good reference for those who want to further study in A-level.
P/S : Sorry for my grammar mistake, and my vocabulary is very weak. I actually want to use Chinese to write my essay, but, I have to improve my English skill in order to get a good result in IELTS (International English Language Testing System).
Danny Wong.
2/12/2011
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