SAT Scores are out!

SAT SCORES!
Finally, the scores for SAT are out!

For those who do not know what SAT is, it is an exam to enter certain universities, especially those in the US. The total score range from 200 to 2400. There are 3 sections, namely Critical Reading, Math and Writing. Each of these has a maximum score of 800.
These are my scores:

SAT SCORES!
A little hard to see but yah...

Critical Reading: 580
Math: 750
Writing: 520

I obtained a total of 1850, which fell short of my 1900+ target. But the good news is that DigiPen, the university I want to apply for, only looks at the Maths section!!!

I know of 2 other friends who scored 630 and 650 for the maths section, so praise God for the good results!

Talk At DigiPen
On friday, I went for a talk at DigiPen, Singapore.

DigiPen's Singapore Campus
at the Pixel building. It's kinda small :(

DigiPen is the world's FIRST and MOST renowned school for an education in creating video games. It has a campus at Redmond, Washington and has recently opened a branch campus in Singapore. The programmes are identical in content and substance to their US counterparts. This is so much so that a student can travel back and forth the 2 locations and he would not be able to tell the difference, except the Singapore Campus is much smaller :X

Claude Comair, the Founder and President of DigiPen, was present to give the talk! I was thinking "So cool!" like Wanyi :P I really didn't expect the man himself to come over to Singapore.

Claude Comair
Founder and President of DigiPen

Mr. Comair spoke with a weird combination of American and French accent, but his talk was inspiring and humorous. He spoke on various points:

1) DigiPen is NOT for everybody.
He began the talk with a very serious and discouraging note, which got people wondering whether he really wants applicants for DigiPen. He says that the Games Industry is a serious business that needs knowledgeable and serious people, not wishy-washy people or people that are just okay. It needs the best people there is; any ordinary programmer with a Degree in Computer Science can create an Excel or Word application, but it takes a deep understanding of math and physics to be a game programmer.

He further elaborated that the material in DigiPen is very heavy, and unless you have a great passion for games, you will almost certainly drop out.

"You gotta be nuts, I mean just look at me! I'm crazy!", commented Mr. Comair, which brought laughter to the whole room.

In DigiPen, the students will be graded like working professionals. If you game is not good, it is not good. The teachers won't give you a better grade just because you are a student. The only difference is that you will only be failed as a student, but you will be fired in the working world.

He also said that if you are not sure if making video games is what you really want to do, don't come to DigiPen. After all, there are like 1500 applicants to the U.S. campus a year and only 200 are accepted.

2) DigiPen is looking for students with PASSION
Well, these are some of the things he said,
"DigiPen is not a school it is a monastary; you will become monks!"

"You will not have a life! Our students come to school at 9am and go back at 12mn, and they will be begging the teachers to let them stay longer because it is closing time!"

"When you have become an apprentice, you would approach me and say 'Master, teach us the secrets of the universe'"

When I heard this, I was rather discouraged. I want a life man! I want to be able to attend SOT and serve God!!!

3) DigiPen exists to produce good people.
Mr. Comair stated that game makers visit the hundreds of millions of kids all over the world everyday. He explained, saying that when you play a game, you are not playing against the computer - the computer is just a heap of metal. You are actually playing against the software manufactured by the game programmers. The monster that you are fighting was created by the game artists. You are actually battling against the A.I. generated by game designers.

"When you are fighting an enemy wearing armour, you're not fighting against him but me - bald and fat!", joked Mr. Comair.

Thus, we as game creators are influencing the lives of these hundreds of millions of kids. Like Mr Comair said, we could destroy them. Therefore it is the mission of DigiPen to produce people that will make a positive impact in society.



After the talk, I was quite stressed as the commitment would be very high. I'm not exactly sure if this course is where God wants me to be. It won't be easy to get it in the first place. Just praying that God will lead me in the right direction.