Scrap the CCTs.

Life is NOT a bed of roses for RI students. We students have to contend with homework, projects, tests. However, CCTs deal the largest amount of stress to us.

You may say, CCTs are very important to test your understanding of the topics so far. Firstly, people who say that usually neglect the fact that we ALREADY have normal tests (not CCTs), projects and homework. By saying the CCTs test our understanding, what about the normal tests? Normal tests serve the same purpose, so why not scrap the CCTs. Projects are to give us a better understanding of a particular topic. If we do our projects well, haven’t we already accomplished the aim of CCTs? Homework allows us to learn about a topic ourselves. Like project work, if we do it well, is there even a need for CCTs? In other words, with tests, projects and homework, CCTs are a total waste of time.

Secondly, CCTs are an extra burden onto students with other commitments. If a student has third language and goes for all his CCA practices, it is possible that he has little to no time on weekdays to do his homework, let alone CCTs. Singapore Youth Festival (SYF) will be held in April. RI, as always, is aiming for the highest honour, the coveted Gold with Honours award. However, to get that, students sacrifice much of their precious time out of normal CCA timings to rehearse hard for the competition. Arriving at home late at night, with unfinished homework and a CCT the next day usually leads to students staying up at night.

Thirdly, CCTs are useless. They are not entirely useless, but results of a CCT can inaccurately reflect a student’s capability in a certain subject. To do a CCT is like playing a soccer game. You could be Manchester United and lose to Derby County, as it depends on a player’s condition on that day. In a CCT, if a student is having a slight headache (which is not enough to warrant a Medical Certificate yet), it can severely affect his performance in the test as his concentration will lower. Also, a person’s luck is a large factor. For example, if someone studies a lot for a certain subtopic in History, for example, and that subtopic comes out in the CCT, he will probably get a higher grade than the person who has studied all the subtopics, but in less detail.

In conclusion, we should scrap the CCTs.

Riches are for spending. - Practice on Logos

In this argument, “riches” is defined as money.

Life is short. If we do not spend our riches before we die, what use will we have for them? We cannot take our riches into the coffin with us when we die. Where then, will the money go? Of course, it will go to your relatives or charity, which will have absolutely no benefit to us at all.

What do you make riches for, to store in the bank and let it rot? It is obvious that is not the purpose. Our riches are meant to be spent, not for other uses. Therefore, I believe riches are for spending.

What is an exposition?

To quote from Wikipedia, exposition is one of four rhetorical modes of discourse, along with argumentation, description, and narration. The purpose of exposition is to inform, the readers about the plot, character, setting, and theme of the essay/story.
Why then, should we care about exposition? Exposition is found in the whole world.

Non-fiction expositions can be found in cookbooks, and all other step-by-step guides. Remember those pesky essays you had to write for history? Those are non-fiction expositions.

Fiction expositions can also be found in movies. In serial television drama, exposition in individual episodes often appears as a brief montage of scenes from earlier episodes, prefaced with the phrase "Previously on [name of series]."