It was Wednesday, 14 January 2026.
Across the island, students were returning to their secondary schools to collect their ’N’ and ‘O’ level examination results.
So was my son. Him who’s all16 going on 17.
I had missed out on being present when he collected his PSLE results back in 2021, when he was 12 going on 13. No thanks to my work exigencies then. (Only his mom was there with him)
This time, I wasn’t letting anything stand in my way!
Recalling how no one in my family came to support me when I returned to school to collect my O’s 39 years ago, I wasn’t about to let history repeat itself. Even if my son (like many teenage boys today) would prefer his parents not to be there, I knew that years from now when he looks back, he will appreciate that his dad was present to support this milestone moment of his life.
And we will have a photo to show for it too!
Thankfully, my son saw the determined expression I had on my face when I told him I was accompanying him. He knew that look, and knew better than to protest my presence at his school’s assembly hall that day.
High Stakes Exam = High Stress Levels
After the PSLE, the GCE ’N’ and ‘O’ Level exams are the next major high-stakes national exams here. While those who take them are older and more accustomed to regular assessments than those taking PSLE, the stress is no less high.
In fact, studies by Cigna back in 2023 show that Gen Z-ers, aged between 18 and 24, made up the highest proportion of those across all age groups who felt stressed (90 per cent).
In other words, teens like my son are going to feel more stress, not less, as they move into the tertiary education years.
Maybe that explains why the first speaker of the day in the assembly hall, a teacher and head of department, extolled the audience in attendance to remain calm. And she did it at least five times throughout her 10-minute speech!
And, to add more emphasis in case the audience of parents, returning and current final-year students missed her point, she said at least three times that whatever the results were, it is “not the end”!
Interspersed throughout her speech was also a constant reminder to the audience that these results should not define how the students see themselves, and they should remember there’s more to life than just their academic grades.
Walking into that school assembly hall, sitting among other parents like myself, I wasn’t quite prepared to hear what appeared to be an overly cautious diatribe on the importance of remaining cool, calm and collected. More often than not, asking people to stay calm almost always has the exact opposite effect! Even worse, if the listeners are young people waiting with bated breath for their exam results.
I can only imagine what the students seated restlessly on the assembly floor must be thinking: Is she saying keep calm repeatedly because I failed? Did I do poorly? Were my results worse than my peers and below the expectations of my teachers and the school?
As an educator myself for over 22 years now, I understand the need to manage expectations even as I offer hope and some words of encouragement and optimism to my students each time I announce something that impacts them. Especially if the news isn’t particularly rosy.
But on that day, I was there as a parent among other parents, and I couldn’t help but wonder: was that teacher (and subsequently the principal, who pretty much “sang the same tune” as the teacher) directing the message to stay calm at the returning students, the current students who will be taking their ’N’ and ‘O’ levels end of this year, or at us the parents?
I wasn’t sure. But there was no time to ponder further because the principal went on to announce the results of the cohort.
Raising Cortisol Levels. Thankfully Relief Ruled In The End!
The principal began with the overall pass/fail results for the whole cohort, first for those who took the ’N’ levels, then those who took the ‘O’ levels in 2025.
For each of these, she broke the results down further by subject performance. She also highlighted who were the top performers, and the number of distinctions they garnered. These stellar students even had their photos and bio flashed up on the large hall screen, like some sort of LinkedIn profile!
At that point, it seemed that whatever was said before — about grades not being the be all and end all — seemed to fly right out of the doors of the assembly hall!
As applauses broke out all over the assembly hall with each star performer’s picture put up, I wondered what was going through my son’s mind. And the minds of his classmates. While clearly those who were close with the profiled performers cheered loudly and happily for their friends, the anticipation for their turn to collect their own results likely raised up cortisol levels too!
Not likely an intended outcome, as far as the principal and teachers were concerned. But an inevitable one nonetheless, considering the speeches made earlier.
Finally, when the last applause died down, the principal concluded the session and announced that students may proceed in an orderly fashion to their form teachers to collect their result slips.
Parents, like me, began to stand up and make our way to the respective posts where we watched as our flesh and blood collected what would be the ticket to their next life stage.
Seeing that my son wasn’t called yet by his form teacher to pick up his results slip, I decided to slip away from my post and walk around the hall instead. I wanted to observe up close the reactions of other students and parents as they pour over their results. I wanted to know if the school was right to advise calm repeatedly earlier.
As it turns out, all I saw across the hall were mostly looks and smiles of relief and joy. There were the usual “woo-hoos” and high-fives sprouting sporadically as more and more results were collected. Even those who appeared teary-eyed were so more out of a sense of relief than anything else. The wait was over and that was the appropriate, attending response. None of the fear of students losing their calm appeared warranted.
I was glad. Both for the students and parents I saw around me, and for the school, that there was no unhappy fallout to manage.
Being Present Was All That Mattered
As I completed my self-appointed “tour-de-force” and returned to my original post to wait for my son, I couldn’t help but think that sometimes it’s okay if schools don’t over-prepare — repeatedly “warning’ students to remain calm — or err on the conservative side too much. Instead, focus on celebrating the milestones the students (and their dedicated and diligent teachers) overcame, and let that be the overarching sentiment conveyed when conducting such reveal events.
If nothing else, the invited observers (parents and current final year students) would remember this moment and hopefully look ahead to the future more optimistically.
Putting my thoughts aside, I turned my attention back to my son. Finally, it was his turn to receive his results.
And finally, it was my turn to be the parent who gets to witness it firsthand.
For me, regardless of his results, that moment (forever captured in a father-son picture) was all that mattered.
It was why I came.
And I hope it was why all the parents I saw, in the hall that Wednesday, came.
If you enjoyed reading my thoughts and wish to support what I do, please consider donating, using the button below.
Thank you so much!
