Nicolette Khan of Yat Sen Secondary kept the family legacy alive after obtaining the Highest Aggregate for Year 13 at her school prize-giving on Friday.

The 18-year old also won the First prize award in her form and the highest aggregate in Mathematics, English, Biology, Chemistry and Physics.

She feels that what she has achieved is not only through will power but natural curiosity to learn things.

“I am a person who is keen on learning new things and gaining new experiences.

“I felt really overwhelmed and satisfied as my aunt was one of the pioneer students and one of the first recipients for the highest aggregate for Year 13 and following that my older sister was also a recipient of that award,” she said.

“There was a lot of pressure on me to live up to the family legacy and now it is really satisfying to know that all my hard work has paid off.”

Nicolette plans to pursue a career in medicine from next year and along the way she will decide which field in medicine she will enter as currently oncology and gynecology fascinate her the most.

She acknowledged her parents for their love and support in helping her and reminding her of the goals she needs to achieve.

“Competition was tough for me as a lot of my colleagues were smart and I feel that the competition was neck to neck as the difference was only two to three marks in exams.

It is very hard to grasp the concept unless you do multiple problems,” she said.

She strongly felt that the past two years of her secondary school life were the most crucial moments as she knew that it could either make or break her career path.

“I needed the marks to get into the school of medicine and I always felt that last minute studies were not going to help so I started preparing well in advance and I feel that the late night studies and the early morning studies were really helpful,” said Nicolette.