Feeling the PSLE Pressure

In the picture, the girl is sitting at her study table surrounded by many assessment books and worksheets. She is holding her head in her hands and looking down at the papers instead of writing, and there is a clock on the wall showing that it is already late at night. What I also noticed is that her water bottle and her food have not been touched, which suggests she has been sitting there for a long time without a break.

I felt very worried before my Primary 5 end-of-year Maths paper, because I had not done well in the mid-year and I was afraid of disappointing my parents. The night before, I kept trying to redo old papers and ended up sleeping very late, which only made me more tired. My mother noticed and told me to stop and go to bed, and she said that she would rather I be rested than perfect. Just hearing that took a lot of pressure off, and I did better than I expected the next day.

I would tell her to break the work into smaller parts instead of looking at everything at once, because a huge pile of books is frightening but one topic at a time is manageable. I would also remind her to rest and to eat properly, since it is very hard to remember anything when you are exhausted. Most importantly, I would tell her that the PSLE is important but it is not the only thing that decides her future, and that many people do well later even after a difficult exam.