NT Champ

Dec 19, 2007
Boy who wants to be a pilot scores high the Express way
He nets a record in Normal (Technical) stream using books meant for higher level
By Jane Ng


A HARD WORKER: Selwyn Sim, 16, studied from 10pm to 3am every night for eight months.

SELWYN Sim is in the Normal (Technical) stream but he worked on assessment books for those from the Express stream because he is a self-starter who aims high.
Yesterday, the efforts of the 16-year-old Pasir Ris Secondary student paid off.

His aggregate score of three points in the N-level exams was the best ever in the 10-year history of the N(T) stream, which is considered the weakest stream in the secondary school system.

He scored Grade 1 for all his subjects except Chinese, for which he scored a Grade 4.

No N(T) student has ever scored a Grade 1 for both English and Mathematics.

The aggregate is based on the grades for English, Mathematics and a best subject.

If Selwyn had achieved these results three years ago, he would have been the first N(T) student to have made it straight to Secondary 5 and the O levels.

But the system has since been changed and now N(T) students who do well enough can do a lateral transfer - first to Secondary 4 Normal (Academic) to sit for the N levels, before moving on to sit for the O levels in Secondary 5.

To do so, they have to achieve a mean grade of two or better for all N(T) subjects in the same sitting.

Selwyn's outstanding results were not due to luck.

The consistent worker studied from 10pm to 3am every night for eight months before the N-level exams, waking up at 5.30am to go to school.

He would look for books in the public library relating to science topics he did not understand.

To improve on Chinese, his weakest subject, he would learn from Primary 6 textbooks 'because there's hanyu pinyin' with the passages.

His form teacher, Mr Andrew Lim, and principal, Miss Cheng Hwee Yeang, were impressed.

Said Mr Lim: 'While other N(T) students would wait to be told what to do, he would seek out answers for himself.

'Two weeks before the exams, he wanted to organise a speed-reading class for his classmates, saying that might help them do better in the exams.'

Miss Cheng said she noticed Selwyn when he was in Secondary 3, when she gave his class a pep talk. He spoke to her afterwards, asking her advice on working towards sitting for the O levels.

Beyond his schoolwork, he was a student councillor and active in co-curricular activities, holding leadership positions as vice-chairman in taekwondo and the Red Cross Society.

Saturdays and Sundays were spent volunteering at his church, cleaning the hall before and after services.

Selwyn, who hopes to be a pilot, wants to pursue the aerospace course at the Institute of Technical Education.

He has yet to decide whether to take up the lateral transfer option which will let him take the O levels in two years' time.

Selwyn is the youngest child of a security supervisor and a secretary. His older brother, 22, is an IT support officer, and his older sister, 19, is an undergraduate.

Selwyn's beaming father, Mr Sim Chor Chye, 51, said: 'Many people think that N(T) students are weak in studies but when given a chance, they can do as well as, if not better than, those from other streams.

'Selwyn has led the way.'