Millennia Institute: What you should know (From an MI Alumni)

Dear readers,

Hiya! So, this account is mostly used for my writing funsies and quirks, but in light of the “O” Level results coming out soon for my fellow juniors, I decided to post about my experience in Millennia Institute, the only Centralised Institute in Singapore.

Credits to: Wikipedia (Sorry, I couldn’t find a photo of the building in my own photo rolls LOL)

Here’s a couple of questions I compiled answers to:

What’s up with Millennia Institute?

It’s basically Singapore’s only Centralised Institute for pre-university education, where students get to take their “A” Levels in 3 years, instead of the usual 2. In year 1, you’ll only take school examinations, which will determine your status for the next year. In year 2, you will take your the “A” Level examinations for your H1 Contrasting Subject, H1 Mother Tongue and H1 Project Work, as well as school examinations to determine your status for the next year, once again. In year 3, you’ll take your 3 H2 subjects, as well as H1 General Paper for the A’s, with preliminary examinations to prepare you prior to graduation. It’s broken down this way so that your can lay your foundations well for your first year.

MI is situated in Bukit Batok, in the West of Singapore, opposite Princess Elizabeth Primary School. There are two different bus-stops outside the two school gates (there only used to be one when I was in it, you lucky children) now, so transport is pretty convenient. There are now hawker centres and kopitiams outside the school (once again, you lucky children), as well as a petrol station that are all walking distance from the school. The closest shopping place is West Mall.

What does it take to get into MI?

The “O” Level scores that the school takes into consideration for their admission differs from Junior Colleges as well, where they look at the “O” Level L1R4, rather than L1R5. The cut-off point is 20; please click here for the actual Admission requirements.

What does MI offer?

There are 3 routes you can take with MI (click to take a good look), which are Arts, Business (“Commerce” now, starting from 2017) and Science. I took a hybrid course in my 3 years there (Arts-Business), to which I took H2s in English Literature, History and Management of Business, and H1s in Biology, General Paper, Project Work and Chinese Language. You must be surprised to see that I have no Mathematics here. Well, to tell you the truth, my year (class of 2015/ 2017-graduates) was the last year when the school allowed students to not take Maths. Just a fair warning, everyone has to take Maths now.

Is studying in MI really hard?

Well, this question is hard to answer. Regardless, you are going to be taking the “A” Levels, and it’s an intense step-up from “O” Levels. Is it really hard? Pardon me, but I have to say, hell yes. It doesn’t matter the school, because the syllabus for the “A” Levels is standard. If you aren’t prepared for studying harder… Perhaps you should rethink your choices before entering the next level of education. You shouldn’t expect yourself to learn easier and easier things; otherwise, why do you continue to learn?

Is there an advantage to studying in MI?

3 years for the “A” Levels. You are able to retain for an extra 2 years and still take the “A” Levels from there, if need be. Yes, there is an advantage when you think you need more time to digest the syllabus. And honestly, in my experience, there was a lot of hand-holding from the tutors; notes that are extremely useful being given out for free, using Drive to share notes and essays from seniors etc. Please take advantage of this as much as you can, but don’t take it for granted. You’d be shocked at how well MI tutors can teach (albeit the few that really can’t…), and all you need to do is listen, do notes and do your homework!

What’s MI culture like?

We are known as the “JC rejects”, since a bunch of them actually missed the JC cut-off point by 1 mark (including me, I got 21 for L1R5). So expect self-deprecating humour from some seniors. But honestly, I don’t think it’s that much of a deal. At the end of the day, if you make it to university, who cares where you came from? (I know, because I was there, and now I’m here.)

There is a general sense of laziness amongst the students (especially for year 1s when they don’t realise that they are in danger of retaining until it hits them in the face), so it’ll be a little hard to keep your head up above the water when some of your classmates might be swimming happily below you.

End of Year exams are the scariest, and you’ll see a lot of crying. Both from happiness and from disappointment. It’s up to you to decide which of them you’d like to be. To sum up the culture… The laziness only ever dissipates when you get to year 3. My class went from 30 people to 17 in 3 years, and we were the only Arts class that stayed as we were in our last year. So make sure you’re one of those last ones standing!

What should I expect from MI: Teachers, Facilities, Curriculum & Others?

MI tutors are pretty cool. Some care a lot, and those are the ones you’ll hate in your school years, but realise that they were trying to help at the end of the day, when they’re the ones who will be willing to have consultations with you at the expense of their lunch-time (and sleep). There are those whom you’ll think are cool, but they aren’t the most helpful…

Textbooks come in the form of “resource packages”, which you’ll have to buy from the school bookshop. They can be useful, they can be not, but regardless, those packages were prepared by the tutors themselves. Expect them to be heavy as heck, aside from GP ones (but perhaps that has changed).

There is a gym, but you need to book in pairs to use them, and work out under the supervision of one of our PE teachers. (Uh, I don’t gym, so maybe you can ask the seniors there if you’re really interested…)

Random fact: There’s a hill. So the level you come into the school on from the gate is floor B1. Take the staircase up, then it’s level 1. Good luck to the PU1s running for the 4th floor classrooms! 😉

Also, the uniforms are nurse uniform blue (LOL), and you can expect to be drilled about your collar pin, which you’re supposed to pin to your left collar. ($1.50 each in my days, not sure about now.)

From what I heard from juniors, there’s a whole new system with regards to percentage scores on whether or not you get to retain. But I am not very sure about the system, so please check the School Planner that you’ll get every year (without a change of design every year) for the rules, regulations and other important information that you need to prevent yourself from getting demerit points.

In my opinion, the curriculum is generally quite well-paced, at least for the classes I took, and with the tutors that I had. The tutors are well-equipped to go with the pace of their students, so if your class is fast, they’ll speed it up and vice versa.

We have a house system, to which you will be given your house according to your class. We have 4 houses: Garnet, Zircon, Sapphire and Onyx (yours truly was in this one). House pride was… Quite non-existent, to be honest. The only time they come out is during Sports Fiesta (Sports Day that happens every alternate year, yours truly took part in Volleyball for 2016 woohoo), MI Run (the thing that happens during those alternate years, I hate running), Lunchtime Concert and Transcendance (for performing arts, where yours truly took part in all of those too in 2016 hahah). Goodness, I had too much free time… (Not really, you make time, believe me.)

 

The school also gives you plenty opportunities to build up your testimonials, including class committee positions. Make sure to use that to your advantage! CCAs are also a good place to find leadership roles to buff up your testimonial, so don’t be shy, and try it out! Even if you wait til year 2, the seniors in the CCA would know that you’re interested, and perhaps root for you too. VIA Days are a thing, so you’ll earn some hours there too. The school gives you all they can to help with your testimonial, so please don’t skip events like these. It’s a waste, and you can hang and chill with your friends while at them!

Top Left: VIA Day 2016, Top Right: Transcendance 2016, Bottom Left: Sports Fiesta 2016, Bottom Right: (Some kind of cultural trip that ended up being more of a class outing) in 2016. Also, shout out to 15A4, I love you guys. 

About the retain rates in MI?

Well, the grade system for “A” Level is different. The passing grade is “E”, which is a 45%. Many of you will be tempted to say, “Oh, how hard would passing be if it’s at 45%?” And I know, because I thought that too. But when my first CA results came back, well… Worry kicked in that I would retain. I’ve not retained in my 3 years, but honestly, barely scraping by every year with Es is not something you’d desire, you know?

• A: 70% or Above
• B: 60% to 69%
• C: 55% to 59%
• D: 50% to 54%
• E: 45% to 49% (passing grade)
• S: 40% to 44%
• U: 39% and below

Retain rates are high, because the school no longer gives second chances. There is no more “Advancement”, where tutors can fight for you to move up the level. You either Promote, Retain or Counsel to Exit (CTE). It’s important to get your foundations right in year 1, because otherwise it’s unlikely you’ll be able to work your way up. So even though you won’t take “A” Levels in year 1, you should still study hard.

Chances of entering university from MI?

My year had a 40+% of people scoring well enough to get into university. And I’m one of them! 🙂 The bell-curve isn’t that bad, but just understand that you are being pitted against students from Raffles Institute and other higher-tier JCs that will be banded with you. You don’t have an edge, but it doesn’t mean you don’t have a fighting chance. (So TAKE IT!!!)

My class did pretty well, and over half of us managed to get into an LAU (Local Autonomous University). You’ll hear this term quite a few times, but I’ll list them out for you. National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU, my current school), Singapore Management University (SMU), Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the latest addition, Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS).

These are the schools you’ll be aiming for when you enter the “A” Levels, and everyone taking them with you would be looking at them too. So prepare yourself when you’re choosing this path!

My personal take on coming to MI?

I don’t regret going to study in MI. My “O” Levels were pretty decent, aside from my Maths, which I failed with an E8. I got A1 for English, and B3 for everything else. Literally, Maths was pulling me down. But I headed for MI anyway, because I knew that my aim was university. And MI gave me a second chance, which I gladly took.

I met the best tutors there (my gods of History and MOB I love you guys woohoo), and met friends that made me laugh until I cried, and cried with me when things got bad, and did weird stuff with me. The workload wasn’t crazy, the notes were good, and I had a pretty good time all in all. The stress was bad, but it didn’t come from the school, it came from the system. As long as you don’t kid yourself, stay focused, and study smart, you’ll get to where you wanna go.

This is for whatever path you choose to take.

Any advice for when I’m getting into MI?

It’s pretty easy to think that you might not be “as good as the rest” when you get into MI, or even get complacent when you enter with a score that’s actually a cut-off for a JC, and think you’re “better than the rest”. If you choose to enter, please understand that they are your equals now. You won’t find people who’d be willing to share notes (as long as they have them whoops), and discuss topics with you in other schools. Work with what you have, not against it.

I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t do very well for my “A” Levels, even though I hit the 40%. I got a 67.5 UAS (University Admission Score), and the full score is 90. I got an average of Cs. I still regret not working harder earlier, because I felt terrible about myself and was so scared of being unable to get into university. Nevertheless, I went and applied and appealed. Went for interviews and did essays and weird diagnostic tests; ended up being accepted first by SUSS, and later by NTU. It’s not about the school, it’s just your boat engine. You gotta work it right for you to get yourself and the boat where you wanna go.

Also, get VIA hours! You got 3 years to volunteer and do the bare minimum (Is it 20 or 40 hours?)! Don’t leave it all to your last year! You’ll rush yourself to death, goodness. I say this because I know of friends who did. And it wasn’t a pretty sight. I personally know of someone who did 191 hours of service in 3 years, so I’m quite sure you can do 20 – 40 hours.

My good friends from MI and I, celebrating our last day of school in 2017. 

One last thing!

MI has an open house for “O” Level certificate holders! The MI Experience Open House 2019. Happens on the day after the results release, from 10am to 4pm. The Principal’s Talk will happen at 11am & 2pm, for students who are coming with their parents. Come on down to check out the school! Perhaps you’ll like what you see. 🙂

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Alright! That’s all I have for you guys interested in coming to MI! Please leave comments down below if you’d like to know more, or if you got some questions that you’d like me to answer. I’ll try to do so to the best of my abilities. I’ll be updating a short story soon too, so stay tuned!

Love,

Chaslin