JYSim for jobless-yokel Sim

2nd week into lessons, come Wednesday. Straight after lunch, I was in my room struggling with Microsoft Office 2007 and my Analytical Chemistry data. Office 07 is certainly Apple-like with a lot of cool features, intelligent (or should I say, over-intelligent) autopilots and convenient click-once applications. However, being an Office 2003 user for over 3 years, I still need time to adjust to that Apple carbon copy. Moreover,  it trys to be over-intelligent at times and you have to try using other files to tame it. Major drawback of the new product.
Time ticked by as usual, Office 07 is still behaving like a stubborn kid refusing to change. 1.20 came and gone, and by 1.24 I forcefully tear myself from my chair, grabbed my lab coat (those white robes you see in Yakult ads) and ran (my bike was parked in the campus, I was at the dorm) like all hell broke loose.
1.27, I was between the canteen (called ‘restaurant’ by locals) and the campus building. My PE lecturer says walking burns more calories than running, so to slim down I walked, and that was a HUGE mistake. By 1.29 I was in the campus building running towards the elevator. I scrambled unceremoniously into one I found half-filled, ignoring rude stares from the queing crowds behind.
1.30…bell rings. I was swearing non-stop by then. Reason for failing Sim Jun Yi: cos he was late for his lessons. How late was he: 1 minute 3 seconds.
1.31, while running into the lab, I jostled and wore my lab robe. Lab conditions were chaotic as rows after rows of people queued up to get their microscopes (guarenteed fail if you drop it, or broke any of its mechanism). I dumped my bag on the floor and joined in the queue, only to be asked by prof. to return to my seat. By then I was wondering whether she noticed I was late. She didn’t make any comments, but she did stare at me (as she did with other people).
After her usual long introduction and endless listing of possibilities you might find in your specimen, we were liberated finally…to start experimenting. Using a light microscope, we observed some purple plant’s cell, potato cells and an ‘unknown’ sample. Everybody sketched their findings and completely forget about handing up a report the following week.
Saturday, I draggedly pursuaded myself to start the report, only to find that I don’t know the format. I scout my direct senior and asked for his copy, which was only 2 pages.
After some laborious (ok, maybe not that laborious) thinking and weighing what data to include in my reoprt, my 7-page report was finally completed. Thinking my senior’s was only 2, I was kinda glad and think it’s enough to get relatively good grades.
The following days see more and more of my classmates temporarily abandoning online games and dedicate their whole evening to the report (that’s only on Tuesday, 16 hours before due). Some reported up to 15 pages (but seniors told me quality is more important than quantity) and some had really cheating-like pictures (which I later learnt was copied from their senior’s copy).
Anyway, Wednesday came eventually and we passed up our reports in the morning. Seated beside the guy responsible for collecting, I had the privilege to scan through everyone’s copy. All except 3 (3 Malaysian students in my class) are in Chinese, so I didn’t pay a lot of attention into dechipering the words, but roughly I deduced their standards were about the same as mine (except the one with 15 pages).
One homework done.
Today our reports were returned and the score ranges from 84 to 77. I am so fortunate to become among one of the bottom line. Of course, the score 84 to 77 excludes ‘damage punishment’. Some are so fortunate to get flimsy microscope slides they broke theirs when wrestling with the plant during sampling (minus 10 marks), some broke their slide covers (3 marks lost).
Before this I repeatedly told myself this is my first assignment and I would somehow not perform as good as others. But thinking back, I finished mine on Sunday and they (80-84 people) finished theirs like 3 hours before due. I felt a little fed up eventually, and the only consolation I can get is those lower than me cos they so innocently broke their slides. I asked prof. what’s wrong with my report and she says it’s the insufficient content. She was right in a way because for ‘discussion’ mine was rather short (some wrote a whole page for one single question). My group’s (3 girls and 1 guy, that’s me) marks didn’t break 80 even, so we were like more inspired to do better the next time.
Anyway, what I learnt from this report is that a different education system means a change in your method of learning. Though I might be…ok back home, the method of doing these here is different and thus I have to try adapting theirs (which is writing crap in and try to find the faintest relation to your experiment findings) or revolutionalise their system (which is impossible). My classmates told me 77 is ok, considering those whose marks got deducted are even lower, but I don’t feel comfortable because I poured in a lot of effort and my work is done gradually (one good value according to our parents) and not some hustled jumble. But still, what to do?
Before dismissing our group made a vow to improve to at least 80 for our next report. Let’s hope it will.

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