Ting (left) and his mother react joyfully to his good SPM results.
KUCHING: It was a joyous moment for Philip Ting Kin Tien when he received his SPM 2014 results yesterday.
Ting, a special needs candidate from SMK Sungai Maong, is among the many top scorers from Sarawak.
He scored 4A+ in Bahasa Melayu, English, History and Chemistry, 3A in Mathematics, Additional Mathematics and Biology and 2A- in Moral Studies and Physics.
Ting, the younger of two siblings, has suffered low vision since birth.
His medical condition allowed him to see only up to three to four feet without straining his eyes.
On how he had done so well in the examinations, Ting said there was no secret recipe to his success.
“I only studied for about two hours every day. I have a short attention span and with my eyes easily strained, I could not study continuously for hours.
“I studied for half an hour or so, took a break and played computer games for half an hour before continuing with my revision.
“I tried to plan my time well every day,” he said, adding that he did not quite expect the results but was very happy to have obtained them.
He added that despite his condition, his teachers and friends had been very kind to him all the years in school.
“Everyone was kind and helpful, treating me like any other students.
“I was usually seated at the first row of the class and some teachers even gave me notes with bigger print. I am grateful for their support and encouragement,” he said.
He aspires to be an engineer and will be going for Foundation Studies in Science and Engineering at Curtin University of Technology in Miri.
Ting’s mother, Grace Huong, said she had always let him do things at his own pace.
“We wanted him to grow up as a normal child, which is why we did not put him into a special school.
“Our family had thought it through before making that decision. We did not want to put him in special school unless he really could not cope.
“But today he has proven that he could do more than cope, and I’m really proud of him,” she said.