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.