I aced the PSLE: It mattered, but not in the way I'd expected

280. My aggregate or T-score was nothing more than a small, grainy figure on a computer-generated printout that was not even a certificate.

- Terence Ho

The writer was his school's top PSLE pupil with an aggregate or T-score of 280. However, he said he learnt more from falling short at later milestones - his O-level and university exams - than he did from acing the PSLE. Learning to cope with disappointment prepared him well for bigger setbacks later in life.

(ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG)

Yet that slip of paper in my hands felt like a gold medal, for after a year of hard slog, I had emerged as my school's top PSLE pupil. The 12-year-old me had been conditioned to believe that grades were an all-important marker of personal success, and that coming out ahead in school would automatically translate into advantage in career and life. It would be years before I became aware that one's PSLE score - or, for that matter, any academic grade beyond a point - has little bearing on income or career success. In fact, my more academically inclined classmates gravitated towards academia or public-sector roles that paid less than professional or corporate jobs, such that our grades then and incomes now are likely inversely correlated. Even within the sectors that each of us chose, school grades have had little bearing on career progression. Academic performance certainly opened doors to further studies and good jobs, but thereafter other factors and traits mattered much more.

WHAT REALLY MATTERED

What I did gain from my schooling years was focus and discipline. For the most part, I trained like an athlete. Even when the exams ended and school holidays began, I was already planning for the next academic year.

I never believed in effortless achievement. Fully aware that there were others who were naturally brighter, I made up for it by working twice as hard.