Dedicated to Danny, Xin Lei and whoever thinks that I'm smarter than you, but in fact you are as smart as I am

Since you guyz always say what a so called smart ppl I am, let me share some of my experience with u guyz. This post was somehow sparked when I saw Xin Lei saying she wasted her whole day studying only 1 and a half chapter of econs. It kinda make me think of myself.


During my standard 1 days, i was not always your innocent happy go lucky kid. Being in a big family that always have relatives come around, they are bound to start comparing the younger kids of the family, and I was not spared too. Those days I was still in kindergarten, my dad spoke to me about how education was important. As I didnt understand much, all i know is to get good results. Naturally to me though, at that time there was nothing hard about it. My mum had plenty of time coaching me, so I had to work on all the homeworks under her supervision. Results weren't too nasty, but still, people that come and go dont say "hey, he got 94 for maths", they say "oh, why didn't he get 100?", yes, that was the sad story.

So I moved on to primary school, things got tougher, more homeworks and so on. Well, what to do? First, it was back to the 'do your own stuff' routine where everybody did homework on thier own. Then, it struck me, hey these people are here, we keep on checking on each other's homework, so why not just get one to do the work then everybody else copy? So that was the start of the copy-era, but we did it gently, in case teachers get suspicious. All the writing works are worded differently, but with the same meaning, objective questions are always the ones to be left out, cause if u take that it means u have to paraphrase other people's work while people copy ur answers. To me, I didn't care. Objective questions are easier, and thats where I learnt paraphrasing, maybe thats why the ringkasans were easier for me.

So anyway, back to the story, I wasn't always the way I was, I still remember getting almost last in class. The pressure was up, so I decided to start cheating in exams. Yeah I cheat, so what? All that meant was less nagging from parents, and more praise. Somehow rather, after a while of cheating and plenty of tuitions, u kinda get a technique on how to remember parts of stuff very quickly and keep it inside, but very tiny parts, the important ones. So that way, u only need to use the important parts and work out the details. Cheating became a norm for me, it was just that over the years, instead of being the leecher, I also started to contribute. The fun part was, how to cheat without getting spotted. I have to admit, chinese schools are really good in one way is that they give you lots of homework having the intention to let u practice more, but in the end what I gained was the ability to be able to shorten my work by using compact sentences and the ability to think fast enough. To be honest, these skills are trained (Yes, danny, I know you can do it too) It just takes time. But frankly speaking, I never ever dared to cheat during major exams, the small ones just to make sure I pass, but it was really too much to risk in big exams.

So, then comes the question of how I get good results during big exams. Well, I wanna ask a few questions first. Have any of you tried locking yourself in a room, study for non stop 5 long hours, go for exam, and then nearly failing it? I tried. Then what? At one point I nearly gave up, which reminds me of xinlei(or maybe she reminds me of me at that point). Well, what happened was I started trying other methods, group studying, different tuitions and so on. Thats why I have a higher absorption level, people. I expose myself to different ways, different methods. Try other things, it may not help, I dont know, but there's hope that it will. Luckily, I had my best buddy with me. Somehow, the way we work kind of connects with each other. I'm not saying that we work the same way, its just that somehow our personalities compensate each other. I used different types of study techniques with him, results were fabulous, and a plus point is he gives me motivation to continue. Ever feel lonely when ur studying alone, xinlei? Danny? Qki? I dont know, maybe, maybe not, one things for sure, Qki's style is the solo style. Its nothing bad, its just different people have different method. Its just the same as different people have different taste :) Oh, and really, when I mean study together, its not everybody sit at the same table reading thier own notes, I mean that people should communicate. U ever wondered why u remember things easier when u see a picture of it? Its because ur brain uses the picture as a connection, without a picture, it doesnt connect (yes, I'm currently thinking of SueJenn).And the person that studies with u becomes the connector.


Okay, end of story. Had fun? I dont know, just please dont be sensitive. Thank xin lei for giving me the random idea for writing this post. Just want to stress that please don't worry that you waste ur time getting little in return, as long the the little things are of quality worth. Live life to the fullest, and how can we live life with that annoying revision part of life in our way? We cant erase that part, but try to live through it as soon as possible.

Note : After you see this, please stop saying that I'm smart compared to you. Because ur as smart as I am, its just that maybe u are putting effort at the wrong direction :)