JP English Student Successes: How Colette Scored within the top 10% band for writing in the Selective Exam

Colette attended our Selective Trial Test Reading and Writing program and scored within the top 10% band for writing for the Selective Exam. She has received an offer for Girraween High School. Here are her tips for developing a good mindset:

I’ve never actually had exceptional grades. I was never the one that people say, ‘Oh, look at her! She’s top in all her grades!’. But how did I go from rock-bottom grades to top 10% in writing in selective? How did I get an offer in Girraween High? There’s no magic potion for excellence. Only the right mindset and rules can help you, and I’d like to share some of what JP English has taught me.

Rule number one : Never give up

How can I explain how many times I felt like I should drop out of doing the Selective Exam? It’s impossible to explain. I wasn’t one of those great geniuses that seem to know everything. No, quite the contrary, I was the opposite. I came to Australia when I was 7, meaning I had to learn a whole new language beyond the broken sentences that you learn in kindergarten. Then as I progressed through the years, I improved little by little. Now, even with this, I wasn’t good at a lot of things. English was my relatively good subject, but let me be frank : my writing and comprehension weren’t amazing. I remember silently curling up in a ball one night, staring blankly at the wall, questioning myself why I was doing this. No, I know it’s cliche and sounds like it’s from a made-up story, but it’s true. And it’s okay to do this. As my JP English teacher made me believe, life is like a rocky hill. There would always be holes in the ground, slippery rocks, trees blocking your way, etc. But it isn’t how many times you fall over on the way, not how many times you’ve cried over something. No, it’s about how you pick yourself up in the end and persevere.

Rule number two : Concentrate only on your improvements, not others

Now, despite what it sounds like, you don’t just ignore your surroundings and concentrate on yourself. What I mean is, don’t say to yourself, ‘Look at him/her! She got a 98 in her test. Why can’t I be like her?’. No. That only pushes yourself down and you lose your feeling of self-worth. Keep in mind, you are you. It is your mind, your body, your ability. You have to be you, not someone else. We are different in our own way, and we are smart in our own aspects, you just have to find it. I recall vividly when I first decided to do Selective, looking at the other kids in my tutoring centers, seeing each and every one of them scoring extremely high marks for math and thinking skills, meanwhile I couldn’t even top a 20 in math. Once again, yes, I curled up in a ball one night, staring blankly at a wall, questioning myself. I remember comparing myself with others, telling myself, ‘I need to be him/her.’. But I had learnt in JP English you have to be yourself, be great at what you’re good at, try your best on your worst ones, and celebrate when you improve, not only when you are better than someone else.

Rule number three : Learn from mistakes, and move on

No-one will wait for you if you stop at a mistake. No-one will say, ‘Oh, I’ll wait until you’ve finished staring miserably at your score’ or something. Because you’re in a race, a race to see who will come out victorious. You just need to pick yourself up and continue, looking ahead at the finish line, not the tiny, hairline crack on your track. Now, I’m not saying people are heartless, actually the great majority of humanity are amazing people, but you can’t just stop, because everyone else will continue. And don’t fret when you’ve made a mistake, because everyone will get distracted in the race some time or another. Everyone will stop and tie their shoelace or take a swig out of their water bottle. The only thing that defines who is faster and who is slower is how fast they can get back going. This is the same in any environment you’re in, and I personally learnt this in JP English.

I’ve always cherished my time during the process of preparing for the Selective exams, I’ve learnt many life lessons from it. But I have to thank JP English for so many things, from teaching me reading and writing exceptionally well to teaching me those rules to live by. I am ever so grateful for JP English for being an amazing teacher for English and I wouldn’t trade my experiences there for anything in the world.