Not only did its junior college graduands outperform their peers, they also put up the best showing in the school's 28-year history.

Last year, there were 143 students with seven distinctions. This year, astoundingly, the figure was 250 - one in five students.

In the General Paper, long viewed as a difficult-to-ace subject because it requires a discursive essay, 57 per cent of its students scored distinctions. Last year, 47 per cent did.

In Project Work, for which students have to submit a project file which includes an oral presentation, 85 per cent went home with a distinction, double that of the previous year.

The sterling results for the two subjects were instrumental in pushing up the school's overall scores, said principal Lim Lai Cheng.

'We knew we were going to be quite comfortable with how they would do based on their preliminary exams but this surpassed our expectations,' she said.

The cherry on top was its three 'perfect' scorers, who each took the maximum 13 credits allowed and received distinctions in their eight or nine subjects.

All were relieved that they aced General Paper. Wang Yong Jin, 19, an only child who speaks Mandarin at home, said he spent most of his time reading essays and vocabulary lists compiled by the school. His parents own a school bus company.

Likewise, Milashini Nambiar, 19, felt that her essays 'couldn't cut it' when she started her General Paper classes two years ago. She started to read more widely, including newspapers, periodicals and news magazines.

Read the full story in today's edition of The Straits Times.

Read also:
Discus champ aces exams
I'm not stupid, really
Doing well despite eyesight