Quiz Competition

25 January 2003, is a date that the quiz competition members will never forget. The team comprises of 4 members inclusive of a reserve. The preparations for the preliminary round were pure torture, as we had to go through long hours of drillings of facts into our heads.

Months before the preliminary round, the 4 members were chosen. We had to sacrifice our December holidays and spent most of the time training. To our relief, some of the training was held out of school for a change of environment as we had quickly grew bored training in school.

In the beginning, we were unwilling to turn up for the training as we felt deprived of the holiday that we deserved after a year of schooling. Soon enough, we realized the importance of this competition to our unit. Since the 4 of us were chosen out of all the potential rest, we were left with the only choice to run the race. No matter how hard we tried to do our own revisions, our laziness overpowered us.

Without realizing it, we were left with only a few days before the competition and the days shortened until only a few hours. With the few hours left, we had our final revision. Before we went off, we were showered with loads of encouragement from the teacher officers, instructors and not forgetting our squadmates. It was very heart-warming to have received such strong supports from them. They were with us all the way till the very end.

Knowing that they had placed high hopes on us, we went to face the challenge before us with much confidence. Not sparing us from the pressure on our way to the venue of the competition, our instructor, Sir Kelvyn, tested us on the probable questions that could be asked.

Upon reaching the venue, we could see that the place was swarmed with our competitors anxiously waiting to sit for the paper. Some were even burrowing their heads in their notes. In spite of that we remained calm so as not to scare ourselves.

When we were called upon to move to our respective venue, our officers bid us with their encouraging words. We were seated in a room occupied by 8 other units. At first the tables were placed in a way that the 3 of us had to seat in a straight line. Finding it difficult to discuss, we request to the Cadet Inspector in the class whether or not we can actually crowd around one table. On doing so, the rest of the unit in the same room did so. It further raised our spirits as we felt a stronger bond between us thus increasing our level of confidence. When the test paper was given out, miraculously, we did not even felt panicky about it. We were actually having loads of fun answering all the questions. We prove to be the loudest among the other units as the answering of each question was accompanied by laughter from the 3 of us. Honestly, we could actually see the puzzled look on the CI’s faces as they observed us doing the paper and having fun whilst doing it.

Although we were faced with some tough questions, we tried our best to answer them. After the submission of the paper, we were left with the anxious wait for the result.

Then it came. Disappointment that nobody can explain overcame us. The thought of having to score 1 more mark just to get into the finals can never be erased from our minds. If only we had placed a little more effort in our revision, we could have gotten in.

Despite of our failure, the others saw it as an achievement. It is most touching when we knew that everybody was still supporting us. The encouragement and comfort they showed us will never be forgotten.

Last but not least, we really own a BIG THANK YOU to those who had trained us and pulled us through the difficult times.