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WHEN Ao Chengkai arrived in Singapore after moving here with his mother from Shanghai last year, he could not speak English in full sentences.
But with sheer hard work, the secondary four student from Yio Chu Kang Secondary School now speaks English fluently and got a Grade 1 in this year's N-level exams.
Chengkai, 18, was named the top Normal (Academic) student this year with an aggregate score 6 points for English and five best subjects.
In an interview with a local radio station, Chengkai said that he was turned away by 10 schools for his poor command of the English language before Yio Chu Kang Secondary accepted him.
He also told the station that he helped to boost his English proficiency by reading fiction novels to learn new words.
Students in the Normal (Academic) course who obtain an aggregate not exceeding 10 points in their best three subjects and a Grade 5 or better in English Language will be promoted to the Sec 5 Normal (Academic) in 2009.
This year, 73.2 per cent of the 11,721 students who sat for the exam are eligible for promotion to Sec 5 Normal (Academic).
Outram Sec has top N(T) boy
OUTRAM Secondary student Choar Choong Mun, who is an avid gamer, wants to study computers and networking at the Institute of Technical Education to find out how to make his computer run faster.
The 16-year-old will be able to do so next year as he emerged on Thursday as the top Normal (Technical) stream student who took one or two Normal (Academic) subjects.
Based on the N-level examination results released on Thursday, there were 99 students in the stream who took one or two N (A) subjects - which are more difficult than N(T) subjects.
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