Life of a Form 6 Boy.

                Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I posted anything haha. Anyways, I’m writing this post to share about my experiences in form 6, the reasons I chose I chose it and what I’ve come to learn in my time here. I know it’s a little late but better late than never! Okay let’s jump right into it.

The beginning: Choosing form 6.

There’s a common stereotype thinking that form 6 is one of the worst options to choose when it comes to higher level education. It seems that every and any options is better than being that ‘lame kid who stayed back in form 6’. I won’t lie, I was also caught up in that thinking and I definitely wouldn’t even dream about going to form 6. In fact, it was the bottom of my list of places to study. Back then, with my results of 8A+ 2A for SPM, I just barely missed out for bursary from government. However, I was still pretty optimistic about my options though. I thought that I could at least get a scholarship discount with my results and pursue my studies in A level at some fancy-pancy place.

But it was in this hectic and uncertain period that I came to accept Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. I was brought up a Christian all my life but I never understood God or the depths of His love for me until then. It all changed on the 20^th of March 2014. A group of missionaries from USA came to share the gospel with us and my life was and has been changed since. God became so real to me and it was because of Him that I managed to sustain through some of the toughest periods of my life in form 6. But more on that later.

So back to the point, I started applying for scholarship around Malaysia and asking around for universities that I go for. I got rejected by a lot actually haha but I managed to get a few interviews such as for Petronas and JPA scholarship. After the interview process, I was actually extremely confident of my chances to get at least one of these scholarships. I honestly thought I did really well for my interviews. While waiting for the results of the interviews, my parents convince me to start attending form 6 classes just to get myself mentally prepared for university and as a backup plan in case all else fails. And so I went for the two weeks of orientation in the school. This was a real turning point for me. It was at this time that I started prayer meeting in the school and even share the gospel with a couple of new people I’ve met there. I was also starting to really have a good fellowship with my people in church youth (yes, I know I’m kinda old for youth already L haha) and learn a lot more about form 6. As the time pass by, I got rejected by JPA scholarship and I only had Petronas scholarship left to bank on to ‘get out of form 6’. But somehow, I knew God wanted to stay here in Kuching. He started to work so much through me and I was learning so much in that short period of time in form 6. The results of my Petronas scholarship was coming out on the Friday afternoon of my second week in school. Before that, I prayed to God that if I did not get this scholarship, then surely it was His will for me to go form 6. When the results finally came out and I didn’t get the scholarship, I honestly wasn’t sad. I was actually excited and motivated to see what I could learn in my time here. And boy oh boy, looking back at it, it has been an amazing journey.

Living the form 6 life.

                Form 6 was challenging for me. If you knew me, you would know that I am the lazy, last-minute study and irresponsible boy who wanted to play all day. I had little self-discipline and almost no interest in studying. In fact, as I’m typing this post, my transformation is actually pretty crazy haha. Here’s a run through of my schedule:

 In the first two months of every semester, I was studying an average of 1-2 hours of studying a day (excluding breaks. I mean like pure solid studying) and there were many days I actually didn’t even study. I was pretty much a pig throughout form 6 and I would nap a minimum of 1 hour every day at home. I kid you not! That’s why I usually only start studying after 5pm and if I came home late (cuz of extra classes/activities), I’ll only start after dinner. I adopted a system which I called ‘one for one’. This means that if I studied for 30 minutes, I would get 30 minutes break and if I study 1 hour, I’ll get one hour break and so forth. I also kept a general ‘no-study’ policy after 9:30 pm because that was the time I prayed and read my bible.  Besides that, I don’t study on Sundays because that was my ‘rest day’ and the time I spend most of my days in church.

As the months progress, I increased my study intensity. My ideal scenario is to have 7 hours of study a day when I have no school (2hours in the morning, 3hours in the afternoon and 2hours at night) and at least 2-3 hours of studying on a school day. Well… let’s just say I failed to hit that target around 70% of the time haha. But this helped me a lot to give me a standard or target that I ideally want to achieve instead of just ‘going with the flow’. I tend to play music, typically worship music because it really helps gives me peace as I study.

I’m a really social guy. I love to talk and make jokes. I firmly believe that study and no play is not worth it at all. I had some pretty awesome people in form 6 that were really funny and easy going. We would laugh with each other all the time and do some of the most random things in class. Thinking about it now, that actually helped me so much to have fun in school and to be happy as we study. I also had really smart friends that was crucial to my studies. They helped me so much! Outside of school, I typically hang with my youths where we’ll go supper (which unfortunately led to me gaining weight. A lot of weight L) or friends when they came back from their studies. I would normally go out 1-3 times a week depending on how free I am.

The most important element for me as I went through form 6 was God. I know it sounds all superficial and impossible but that’s just what it is! He guided me and grant me strength throughout my time in form 6. I remember in my first exams in semester 1, I was still getting used to studying and I actually haven’t studied the maths chapter finished (there was 4 chapters. I only managed to study about 2!). By then, it was already almost 9:30 pm. I could have stayed up whole night to study finish the maths but I remember I told God that if I choose to study over seeking Him and taking the time to pray, then my ‘A’ in my exams would be meaningless. Before every exams, about 10 minutes or so, I would go to my exam seat earlier and just pray/sing worship song. I loved to sing ‘You are my strength’ or ‘Christ alone’ because it reminds me to trust God and trust that He will provide for me. And man, God really always provides for me in every exams.

 Yes, I did study and tried my best, but God was my provider and strength throughout my process. I would never get the results I did without God. I remember one night before my exams in semester 3, I would get so stress that I wouldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep at night. That night, I felt God called me to just come to His presence and worship Him, and so I did. In the midst of my most stress moments of my life, the peace of the Lord was with me and as I declared praises to Him, I turned my attention from my exams to the perfect God. In the next few days, I came across this song called ‘All the way my savior leads me’. What a beautiful song that reminded me that God started my journey in form 6 and He will surely help me finish well, regardless of results. J

Post Form 6.

                Even as I got my results, God continues to surprise me. I pretty much expected at least 3A’s for my STPM results but I pretty much conceded my Pengajian Am (PA) results. I had a grade of B, B+ and 2A’s from the 3 semesters and project. There was an extremely slim chance for me to get A for that subject. As I was driving to school to get and check my final results, I kinda accepted that I would only get 3A, 1A- at best. As I was parking, I went online just to check my results. Of all the surprises I had in form 6, this was the most shocking for me. Even though my I thought my PA didn’t get an A, I actually did! And so I got 4A’s with a cgpa of 4.0! It was really funny because as I entered school, I went to the teacher’s room to get my results but my teacher told me to go to the school hall to meet another teacher, Mr. Teng. When I met him, he told me to prepare myself for an interview. So I was like ‘what interview?’. Then he told me that there were reporters waiting for me in the school hall. Man, I felt like a celebrity there. Cameras were flashing everywhere and they bombarded me with so much questions that I could hardly answer because I was still so shocked about the whole thing. It was crazy, absolutely crazy.

Final Thoughts.

                Form 6 has played a big role in the way I mature as a person and the things I’ve learned. If you’re unsure what you want to do after form 5, I would actually highly recommend it. It isn’t super glamorous or anything but it really is a one-in-a-lifetime adventure!

Before I end, I would like to acknowledge special people in my life that has helped me throughout my journey in form 6. My parents has always been super supportive of me albeit, the typical Asian way haha. They always did my chores for me in my exam period (thanks parents <3) and bought me lots of food (which sadly continued to contribute to my weight gain). The people in school were super fun and joyful to be around with and the teachers there really helped me in my studies.  My youth family including all the advisors had also played a big role in my life and I just love to spend time with them on Sundays. My really helpful tutor, Pn. Ling who not only taught me extra classes but continued to encourage me to trust in God. Not to mention my mentor, Young Eun who has been so important in my life. Every one of them are so precious to me!

That wraps up my journey in form 6. I’m moving on now to pursue my double degree in Civil Engineering and Economics at Nanyang Technological School under ASEAN Scholarship. God has been so good to me! I pray that as you read this post, you too can learn to lean on His grace and mercy. He loves you all unconditionally and He will provide for you if you seek and ask from Him. J

I’ll end with Psalms 23:

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.