SPM Results - A few stories to share

I overheard a statement from yesterday's news, which said something like this “those who flopped from universities actually have good SPM results”. Well, I did see some of my friends flopped even though they were once considered “cream of the cream” by our sponsor. Reasons?? Culture shock? “Too much play makes Jim a dull boy?” Language (don’t get me started on PPSMI)?? Turns out that they dislike the course they’ve chosen??

They will give you loads of reasons if you really ask from the subject matter. But, what I want to discuss here is choosing the right course that suits you. Once upon a time, I thought I want to be a doctor. And, when I was in form four and form five, I always have better biology marks than physics or chemistry. But later on, I changed my decision. It happened during a school semester break in 1995 when we was sent to a motivational course that combined 3 SBPs – Faris, SESMA and SMACH. One of the sessions that they had in that course is …. To have us in a hospital and follow the doctor making his/her rounds. Dee, Olie and I are quite relieved when we found out that we’re going to follow the doctor in an ENT ward (Ear, Nose and Throat). We thought that they would have only simple cases in that ward. Ye laa… Ear nose and throat .. setakat sakit telinga, sakit hidung, sakit tekak .. apa la sangat kan? But, it turns out that there were also accident patients there. The first patient that the doctor visited was injured in the face because of a road accident. I can still vividly recall the swollen face, with mouth open, sunken eyes, bruises and stains of blood here and there. He looked awful and painful. Dee had already turned her face from looking at him. Even though I was thinking about doing the same, I was stubborn at the same time. I wanted to see what the doctor would do about him. The doctor wore his glove and has pressed his fingers against the patient’s tongue. The tongue was also swollen. And he asked “Sakit tak?” . Urghh … I was retaliating for the man. Of course he is in pain! (Tapi, dalam hati je la .. haha). The man can only signal his ‘yes’ or ‘no’ through gestures because he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t close his mouth. The doctor said that his mouth and throat were infected. I took the courage to ask the doctor why he pressed the patient’s tongue. He justified that, it is a must for the doctor to know which spot is actually in pain. I couldn’t look at the patient any longer. The three of us decided not to become a doctor there and then. And now Dee is a legal exec for DiGi and Olie is an engineer. And me, even though I did score my biology paper, no, I don't have the guts to pursue my studies in medical field because I know I can’t stand looking at swelling skin, bruises, wounds, and etc. I thanked God for opening my eyes before I made the wrong decision (wondering what will happen if I did? stopped halfway? hmm ..). And my bestfriend whose SPM results was not a single unit aggregates (too many health issues back then), managed to become a doctor because she is passionate about medical field since she was in secondary school. And, she worked really hard to make it happen. That is what I call determination and I salute her for that. Because of her passion for this career, I strongly believe that she will be a good doctor. Friends , including me..hehe, turned to her whenever we have health-related problems.

There’s also a story of a friend who wants to be a doctor but was made to study engineering by his parents because of the scholarship. Yes, when it comes to financial matter, anything can happen. I understand the parents’ concern because the scholarship really means a lot, a guaranteed all-paid-for engineering course plus an almost ‘guaranteed job’ as well. But, even though scoring a lot of As in SPM, he couldn’t excel because he is not interested. He didn’t flop though, but he is not excellent.

Another friend pursued her studies in engineering for two years before she decided to quit and enroll to another university in animation course. And, yes, she excel in this new course because she loves it. She managed to get part-time job even before graduating because her animation works are superb. And she graduated with a starting salary twice as much as an engineer’s starting salary. Kudos to my housemate JJ.

And here’s a link to my uni-mate who has become a millionaire http://blog.saifulnang.net/?p=651. So, students.. go figure what are your interests and what are you passionate about. When you do something that you’re interested in, you won’t get bored doing it and insyaAllah, you will certainly excel at it.