After scoring 143 at PSLE, she now graduates from university with honours

Scoring 143 for the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and facing the prospect of joining the Normal (Technical) stream in secondary school would have made some students worry for their future.

But for Miss Tan Yan Ni, it was the start of an eventful journey that eventually landed her at the right destination.

Last year, she graduated with Honours (Merit) from Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Nanyang Business School (NBS), receiving her bachelor's degree in business.

Yesterday, she attended NTU's in-person convocation ceremony for the class of 2020 - held from March 1 to next Tuesday (March 16) - which was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The cohort features 9,418 graduates, and despite a challenging economy, about nine in 10 graduates from NTU's class of 2020 were employed within six months of their final examinations.

Job

Miss Tan, 27, works as a wealth planning manager at DBS Bank, a job she secured through the Applied Wealth Management track at NBS, a collaboration between the school and bank.

With open-minded and supportive parents who believed in character development over grades, she had a very "lively and happy" childhood.

Acknowledging that she is "not the smartest person", she said she had to work harder than many others.

Miss Tan told The New Paper yesterday: "If I wasn't in the Normal (Technical) stream, I wouldn't have been forced to put in the effort or be so determined to set a goal for myself to enter a local university."

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After scoring 5 As for her N levels, she pursued her Nitec and Higher Nitec in business studies at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College West.

She went on to study for a diploma in business administration at Singapore Polytechnic, eventually graduating with merit in 2017 and moving on to NTU.

When asked about her career goals, Miss Tan said she may consider being an ITE lecturer after acquiring industry experience to give back to her alma mater.

She said: "I hope to remind those students in ITE not to feel discouraged.

"ITE is just a part of a journey that pushes you to the final destination."