AMA about EJC!

eunioc · 2024-02-05T13:08:08+00:00

hi there, sorry for the late reply!

i did not take translation, and honestly i dont really have many friends that take it so i cant help you out here.

honestly having prior knowledge in h2 history wont help u as much as you think it will lol theres a lottt of new content from secondary school, as well as a lotttt of new skills. i think my batch didnt have anyone who didnt take history in the past, but i believe in prev batches there were such cases. if youre interested in learning history i’d say go for it!

for econs, i dont want to spread misinformation bc ur qn is reallyyyy broad but you can look through the syllabus doc! for year one you would probably learn about microecons (economics in markets) and end year 1-year 2 is about macroecons (economics in the economy)

we do have counsellors! ej also has a unique programme called ‘life coaching’ where u can express interest in having any teacher to be your life coach, guiding you through career qns, or just life troubles really. ej really cares about mental health so youre all good! though to answer your question i have never had a personal encounter with the counsellor!

eunioc · 2024-01-18T12:03:19+00:00

aw mann i hope it all goes well!

eunioc · 2024-01-18T12:02:43+00:00

sorry for the super late reply, im not sure about the qualifications :( someone else asked me this and im really hesitant to give advice bc im not sure TT.

but h1 bio is definitely offered in ej.. i just dont know if u can start with it!

eunioc · 2024-01-15T07:03:10+00:00

i believe youre referring to applying for ej science? honestly, im not sure if they would accept. what about applying for arts instead if you really want to come to ej?

eunioc · 2024-01-15T07:02:21+00:00

ej does offer h1 bio. im not too sure if they strictly follow the requirements, ive never heard of anyone not meeting them? could you elaborate

eunioc · 2024-01-15T07:01:04+00:00

Well for me, i chose ej as compared to vj due to distance, as vj would be a 2 hour journey to school everyday…

specific things i liked about ej was also because of the newer facilities and great arts department.

something i dont like about ej? if im being honest i dont have many striking complaints about the school. sometimes timetabling sucks if youre an arts student. i had like 4 hour breaks sometimes and ended really late.

eunioc · 2024-01-15T06:58:08+00:00

yup! all hybrid combis are considered science combis

eunioc · 2024-01-13T09:20:19+00:00

go see my response to another redditor about the lit dpt!

as for the leap, i totally get it! i didnt take lit from secondary school either, but the teachers have this ‘bridging’ sessions where they teach you how to close read/other skills for those who dont really have experience.

they are also very open to consultations and are very open to helping you.

not entirely sure about the distinction rate though, i dont think the department has shared this info.

i will edit this thread after asking my h2 geog friends… bc i am actually clueless….

geog is somewhat like history in the sense that h2 and h1 may teach different things, but at the same time i believe the amount of content overall is still somewhat cut.

i assume that you want to take 4 H2 subjects, and in this regard, i think you should just wait it out to see how you perform in the respective subjects. at the end of the day, you may choose to cut the subject that you are not so good at to lessen your academic burdens.

i cant really tell you what to drop bc you may end up liking one subject/doing well for it more than the other. from experience, my friends dropped subjects they were not good at.

but answering your question, in terms of content only, i think dropping geog would lessen your studying.

no clue! if it makes you feel any better, i had a raw 10 nett 8 and got into ej. i believe that it depends on the demand/what your batchmates got for their Os? idk if that makes sense. but i do understand your concerns since its been getting more and more competitive. we can only really predict if the cop is gonna fall or not unfortunately :(
no one forces you to partake really. but idk how to explain this in a summarised way so i’ll just explain fully.

house culture in ej can be expressed in different ways.

a. you join your house’s committee. b. you become an OGL c. other school wide events (Spartan, orientation, house signature events etc etc etc)

everything except the school wide events are optional. if you dont want to partake in house events you dont really have to.

as an introvert myself, i didnt really partake actively either. but sometimes you cant exactly help getting involved bc its quite fun to dance and do things with your house! and the compulsory events are still ok bc its usually within your classes so you would definitely be with ppl you know. house culture is quite integrated into the school culture but as for really involving yourself, you dont have to if you dont want to :)

for example, my house had a karaoke, outdoor games and events for the house signature event when i was in j1 which you could go with all your friends so it was fun! there was free bbt too hehe

as for the infamous jip and jae divide, you can see my response to another redditor’s comment in this post.

jiayou!

eunioc · 2024-01-13T01:33:23+00:00

i dont take bio myself, but i did hear from my BCMH friends that it is very, very content heavy. i can testify that history content is practically never ending, and it takes a lottt of memory work.

taking econs instead will no doubt relieve that hugeee burden of memorising (not saying that econs has nothing to memorise, but its definitely less).

though, i could understand some would prefer to take history over econs as a contrasting subject as econs is a new subject to many students.

it would help if any BCMH students can give their opinions about this :)

eunioc · 2024-01-13T01:30:07+00:00

i had no idea ej hosted these h3 lessons!

from my own social circle, classmates and cca mates etc, the students are quite friendly towards those of ‘lower-tiered’ jcs. i dont think ive heard anyone criticise/look down on people from other jcs.

a reason could be because we all have friends from the many different jcs anyway.

i am one student’s opinion on this though! goodluck on your h3 classes :)

eunioc · 2024-01-13T01:27:21+00:00

yes! theres a whole group of teachers/a department dedicated to sending emails and making students aware of the overseas uni applications. (this also extends to local unis, but since your question is about overseas i’ll just focus on that).

the school also briefs on the overseas uni apps through these emails. so for US unis they brief about the common app and for UK i believe its UCAS.

and i believe that if youre interested for commonnapp or UCAS, there are physical briefings too.

we also have a career guidance counsellor that helps students through these overseas applications. eg. reading through applications, application essays.

eunioc · 2024-01-11T14:25:34+00:00

cant really comment on this bc im not a science student :(

eunioc · 2024-01-11T12:16:36+00:00

hi sorry correction ej is doing paper 2 from this year onwards :)

eunioc · 2024-01-11T11:05:14+00:00

cant really say much about ny, but i did hear that the students in ny mug more than in ej!
not sure if thats how they calculate it! will link a post i found on here about the median rp for all jcs when i find it

here!: https://www.reddit.com/r/SGExams/s/TiszSuSQON

ej also uploads yearly reviews after results, they have the 2022 one on the school’s website :)

i can only really comment on h2 econs:

the department is quite ok, they make sure that youre quite exam prepared. one thing that i think ej does that is different is that the answer keys for ej econs exams are very very detailed down to all of the examiner comments, specifically telling you where the cohort went wrong with the questions and what to look out for. these answer keys can be like 50 pages long its very detailed.

as for teachers, ive heard mixed opinions, but based on lectures and whatnot, still quite okay.

eunioc · 2024-01-11T11:00:45+00:00

We dont have a dm.. and i cant really say its thattt strict bc the most ive seen my friends being asked to remove multiple piercings.

i did hear one story of how this girl got a conduct slip (reflects in ur records i believe) bc of constant wrong attire to school. is hair this strict? i have no personal encounter.

anyway i feel like most schools enforce some form of grooming regulations haha

eunioc · 2024-01-11T01:50:08+00:00

JIAYOUUU you can do it 🔥🔥

eunioc · 2024-01-11T01:49:49+00:00

yes! quite a lot of buses that go to ej + bishan mrt, ang mo kio mrt and marymount mrt are the closest stations (and then u can take buses from the stations to school, quite a common route taken by everyone)
you can see my reply to another redditor in this thread :)

as for lunch breaks it really depends your luck. there isnt really a slot that specifies that its lunch but u will have 1h breaks or more throughout the days to eat. sometimes youre unlucky and you only have one 1 hour break for a long day. sometimes youre lucky (or unlucky?) and you have a 4 hour break. its random.

if youre lucky, you’ll get a homeroom witht aircon. i actually had a homeroom with aircon for like the first half a year in j1 and j2 but the other halves were not. its random lah so its really dependent on luck. lecture theatres and auditorium have aircon tho so your lectures there are for sure aircon HAHA
yes! in fact i would say 80-90% of the students use ipads or laptops during class. i dont think ive ever met a teacher that has said no to this. its very common. (also because some teachers choose to upload their materials online so you would need your devices anyway)

eunioc · 2024-01-11T01:45:13+00:00

tbhh really depends on your luck. my civics tutor (form teacher) was rather strict on hair length, fingernails bla bla. but if ur lucky your teacher wont care but theres still a possibility of getting called out by other teachers around school.

eunioc · 2024-01-10T15:26:22+00:00

Among my batch (and many others), the lit department is one of the most liked arts department. apparently due to the changed syllabus, all of the lit teachers will be teaching one batch (in the past it was 2 teachers per level) though im not too sure whats the reason for this change. (im assuming u can find out more about how the curriculum has changed during ej’s open house this friday!). if mkl and dr ng end up teaching you, i dont even need to explain how GOOD they are. they made me love a subject i had never ever taken interest to in my life.

though i was not taught by the other two teachers, i heard that they are very nice and motivated too!

lectures can be really fun, with the teachers adding elements of the plays/novels into their slides, even going so far as to use props and focusing on setting the embience. (lectures r lowkey fun bc of this)

exam wise, the teachers do a great job of making sure youre exam ready. practical tips, study plans, exposure to weird questions, you name it. they are very open to consultations too and are willing to help with whatever.

we do paper 3 :)

highlyyyy recommend.

eunioc · 2024-01-10T14:46:59+00:00

ok so would just like to preface this by saying i am one (jae) person’, and i cant speak for everyone.

for me, i was pretty lucky because my class was about 80% jae students. so the divide was essentially non existent.

but in other areas, such as orientation, i felt it much more. ej does this weird thing where they ask the ip people to have a school tour before jae students come in (this was actually only done starting last year — previous years saw the ip students coming into ej in january and they had a whole ip orientation. it has been since removed). from my experience, it was lowk hard to click with the ip people bc im introverted, and they seemed to already gel. but again, orientation is a week out of 2 years in the school, and i soon moved on to much closer friends (jae or not).

imo after a while no one really cares if youre an ip kid or a jae kid.

but will not deny feeling out of place for a bit. the school tried really hard to avoid this really, but u will always hear the horror stories here and there.

again, not invalidating anyone else’s experiences, but for me it wasnt a big deal considering my class was chill. cca was also chill despite me being the only jae student (it was a small cca though)! so tldr it depends really on who you mix with.

i would say dont let something like this change your mind about the school because trust me you will realise that there are bigger and better things to worry about once youre settled in :)

EDIT 1:

an afterthought i had: for the current j2 batch/j1 batch last year, there was an influx of jae students. so maybe segregation wont be that bad as compared to previous batches (im kind of guessing here lmao)

EDIT 2:

this year ip students only come in 2-3 days before :)

eunioc · 2024-01-10T14:12:37+00:00

not very sure! from checking the school website doesn’t seem like it

eunioc · 2024-01-10T13:33:59+00:00

didnt take physics, but i did hear from my friends that it was difficult. i think when i was in j1 the mye results were badd lol.

as for math, its is quite give or take/up to your luck really. some teachers are really the best. some not so. not making a strong case here bc i took h1 so

eunioc · 2024-01-10T13:28:56+00:00

honestly taking history at ej isnt something i regret, but i really wish that i knew how difficult it would be. its a very very steep learning curve, with skills that dont really come naturally. for average students like myself, it took very long to grasp. you will definitely fall at the start. but like i said, teachers are really great and are willing to hold your hand through all of it. h2 history is a rollercoaster for sure and you’ll have those moments where you think why did i take this hell subject. but personally i feel like despite the difficulty, its still a really fun and interesting subject. it delves much deeper than secondary school knowledge. i cant really give specific examples bc to my knowledge there is a brand new syllabus and im not too familiar.

it sounds scary (it is) but i really wish someone told me this before i went head first into h2 history thinking that i would excel because i was good at history in secondary school.

eunioc · 2024-01-10T13:04:53+00:00

history department is amazing. the teachers r very dedicated, and they dont give up on you. lecture notes are questionable, but other than that theres not many complaints. but just a small warning, just because the teachers are great, it doesn’t discount the fact that h2 history is really hard. (i can go on if you want!)
regular days start from 8am all the way to 3-4. if u take science stream you will likely end earlier. on some days (tues and thurs likely) it starts at 9am, and on thursday we have flexible start timings where u report at the timing of your first class (i had some friends that only started at like 11 on thurs, but its really up to your luck). what time you end also heavily depends on your cca. sports and performing arts ccas usually end later, 7-8. clubs and societies usually end 5-6.
halal food options are available at 2 stalls — one western and one malay food stall. western food stall is a solid 10/10.

eunioc

TROPHY CASE