P6 Writing: City Underground & SOTA Primary 6 Creative Writing Competition 2020

Congratulations to one of our most hardworking P6 students, Sophia, for being shortlisted as one of the Top 50 finalist in the SOTA P6 Creative Writing Competition 2020!!!! We are very proud that your piece was selected as one of the top 50 out of 1500 creative writing essays sent in.

Her mother has graciously allowed me to post the story she submitted on the blog (Thank you Ms Wang!)

I truly enjoyed reading Sophia’s creative story and her take on the major examination that all P6s in Singapore need to sit for.

Would you study harder if your life depended on your final score?

Congratulations Sophia once again and our fingers are crossed for the results of the Top winners of the competition at the end of April.

We hope that your love of writing will continue to blossom, alongside your achievements!

The City Underground – Creative Writing Competition 2020

            Today is 25 April 3801, 349 years after the impact of Asteroid DG9 forced our ancestors to seek refuge in this underground city, Eutopia. Even with cutting-edge technology, minerals used to power lights were running low, so lights symbolized people’s status and wealth. Although artificial Sun and Moon luminated the city, the world was still grey and colourless. Clothes were made of mole skins, but wealthy people wore fabric clothes. The ‘C+’ district was filled with rectangular houses and shopping malls, while the ‘C-’ district had a big cave which was divided into more compartments. Children whose family could afford it studied for six years before taking an examination, called the Departmental Selection Assessment, more commonly known as the Surface Observation Selection. Today, all primary six students would be taking this assessment.

The bottom fifty percent would be sent to various observation centres on the surface of the Earth to collect minerals. Many would not make it back alive. They might have been lost or robbed of their clothing by fellow collectors and frozen to death. Zelenia often heard stories from her grandmother about the Earth’s surface. It was ashen-grey, like Eutopia, and shrouded by a poisonous haze which was fatal to human beings. Zelenia’s wish was to bring her family to the ‘C+’ district, and to help other Cavemen send their children to school. Pushed by this wish and the fear of grandma’s stories, Zelenia was determined not to be branded as “the useless batch”. With each step, she was coming closer to her fate.

            “Today is the day,” Zelenia whispered to herself. Her hair was greasy, her rags and backpack worn, and her blue eyes stood out on her thin face. It was obvious she was a descendant of the Cavemen from the ‘C-’ district. She was one of the few lucky ones whose parents were able to pay their school fees. Unlike Citymen, only a few Cavemen went to school. Robots were allowed to assist their owners in the selection assessment, therefore most Citymen would not go to the Surface Observation Centre. Zelenia was mocked by the Citymen for her appearance, but that only made her work harder to survive the assessment.

                        Sitting on the wooden stool, she went over what she had revised. The smooth glass examination paper placed in front of her seemed like a mirror, reflecting the fortitude of a 12-year-old girl. The invigilator announced, “You may begin.” Zelenia gripped her pen tightly and started to write, as if she was an author writing a new chapter of her life, a chapter where hope for her family’s future lies.

Written by,

Wang Yixuan