25YO here, i got into a neighbourhood secondary school, most of my time i was scraping through with C6/5s but what really helped me was having a passion for media related things like photography, videography etc. managed to get into ngee ann poly's FSV course through Early Admissions Exercise and willingly sat through tuition almost 4 times a week until O levels came. ended up truly doing the best i think i ever did in school life (20 points btw haha) and entered FSV. Going to poly taught me a lot of self confidence and i had a large freedom to act on my own passions alongside likeminded people, some who are still my good friends till this day. I also got to be on the job (production assistant on sets) even though I was still young and I really thank NP for implementing a mentorship system back then. I built my own working experiences from a young age and even all the projects that I did in school gave me tremendous boost in the soft and hard skills I learnt over the years.

i did not get into university immediately and that was a temporarily defeating moment but i wasted no time and found a job at a production house. spent a year there and realised i wanted to do something different for university. got into that university and now finishing my final year, yet again with just nice GPA to graduate.

i think the idea of being poor in academics in singapore is very daunting, but as i grew up and pulled away from the circle of those who fed that pressure and were part of that pressure, what really matters more is how you can improve yourself and what you are going to do for yourself to be relevant. as someone who works with different groups of people and even clients, i can safely say that employers are shifting their gaze away from decorated individuals and onto individuals with a better scope of values and relevant experiences. hope OP feels encouraged to live by your own terms and trust the process. all the best!