Ace Or Goal?

"Is it ok for me to just pass A Math so that I can spend more time on Physics?"

This is the type of questions which many students, especially the O Levels students, like to ask me. My reply will always be the same:
- What is your goal? Polytechnic or JC?
- What do you want to study in the future? Engineering? Marketing? ???
- What do you wish to be in the future?

After some discussion, they have an idea of what they see themselves to be in a few years' time. And a decision is made!

Who doesn't want a perfect score? Who doesn't want to get straight A's? However, we have to realise that not everyone is interested in everything he/she is studying. Ultimately, students have to ask themselves what do they really want. What is the minimum requirement to enter the course they want in Polytechnic? What is the aggregate score to enter their preferred JC? Take that as the goal, work towards it. From my experience with the students over the years, most of them reach their target, with many "overkilling", scoring much better than needed.

My personal experience
My O Levels aggregate of 9 points just met the cut-off point for AJC. Entering NUS Electrical Engineering was the goal I set for myself. Since that was a relatively easy goal at that time, there was no pressure on me, I didn't feel really stress. I spent everyday doing the things I liked (Math, F.Math, Physics, Chemistry, Sleep, Eat). In the end, I scored a bit better than some people.

No pressure, realistic goal, listen to my heart and I did well.

If I started out wanting to be the top student, wanting to score full marks, I believe that I would be stressed out and would not do as well. This was the same when I was in NUS.

It's always good to have a few more A's. However, are you sacrificing your ultimate goal for that extra A in one subject which doesn't really matter? Is your own unrealistic goal hurting your confidence? Is pursuing that extra A pulling your overall score down?


On a side note, I was asked by two students (at different times) why did I encourage them to "just pass" the subject they don't like and not afraid that my reputation as a tutor might be tarnished as that subject is one of the subjects which I teach. My one-line answer will always be the same, "Why should I put my reputation above your personal well-being and life goal?"
Luckily, most parents trust me and support me. Even more luckily, these are the students who went on to pursue their dreams, with confidence!

Exam Preparation: "Feelingless"

"I love to go to school. It is fun. But I don't like the exam at the end of the year."

Students always tell me this, and I felt the same too. Most of us love going to school. We meet our buddies. We have fun playing pranks on one another. We gossip. We do cool things in school! Now, who doesn't like school?

Why do we like school but don't like to pay the price of going to school: the examination? No one likes to pay anyway... Right?

To me, it's all in the mind. School is fun because we make it fun. School is interesting because we make it so. When the word "Examination" comes into the picture, things become serious. Score badly and you will be retained. Fail badly and you will be expelled. Think about it, we are afraid of exam because we (or the society) make it sound so scary. Tweak our mindset a little and everything becomes easier!

Easy to fail?
If we have been conscientiously doing our work, just doing the minimum, is it easy to fail? I doubt so. We would have gotten at least 50%, the passing mark. We would have no problem progressing up the levels right?

Set realistic targets
When we are scoring F9, set a target of D7 or C6. If we are scoring C6, set a target of B4. Work towards the target slowly. For O Levels or A Levels students, we have 2 full years. Don't aim for A1 right from the start. More often than not, the stress we put on ourselves will undo whatever preparation we have done. The most important thing is to compare with yourself, not to compare with your peers.

Ability to change things overnight?

"Die! Tomorrow exam already, I still don't know this, this and this."

If we have been consistent in doing our work, will we ever have so many "this" that we don't know? Are we able to grasp all "this" in just one night? We know the answer! Let's calm ourselves down. Everyone has been in this situation. I have been in this situation all the time! Glad to know that you are not alone right?

The differentiating factor between a top student and other A's students is the ability to stay calm.

What to do?

The cliche: do your work conscientiously. Yes! Do a bit every week and you will find it easier when you are doing your revision at the end of the semester.
Even if you think that you have done consistent work, do not set unrealistically high target. I always set realistic target for myself. When I scored F9 for General Paper, I set E8 as my target, no matter how much effort I thought I put in. Why not C6 immediately? Because I knew that E8 was already a mountain for me to climb. There was no need to stress myself up with unnecessary burdens.
One night before the exam, stop reading. The more you read, the more things you find you don't know. I always tell myself this:

"Aiya, I don't know means it won't come out lar."

True enough, out of 5 times, I was right for 4 times.

Conclusion

Having said so much, the most crucial point is to walk into the exam hall "feelingless". Do not feel anything. Do not carry any burden with you. Do not think of A1 or F9. Think of nothing at all. No worries about forgetting the knowledge. It will come to you when the question is staring at you.

Walk in, do the paper, disregard what is happening around you. Can't do a question? Skip. Can't do again? Skip. Can't do the whole paper? Drink water and go to the restroom. Stay calm and it will come to you.

Exam Preparation: Time Factor

In this post, I will talk about the time factor in the exam preparation series.

Daily homework
Usually, we sit down comfortably and solve the questions in front of us. Many times, we are able to solve most, if not all, the questions. YES! We can do it. YES! We will score well! But have we ever look at the time we take to solve those questions? Have we ever look at our piece of work and wonder whether another person is able to decipher what we have written, or is it totally illegible?

Examination hall
We know that there is a fix duration for every paper. We know that we have a choice to leave the hall early, but we have no choice to leave late. Let's ask ourselves: Are we able to finish the paper within the permitted time? If yes, good. If no, think about how much time was spent doing our daily homework.

Experience
Recalling my Secondary School days, initially during Additional Mathematics tests or exams, I always completed the paper just in time. My last written word/number was a few seconds before the announcement "Pens down, time's up". There was once when I could not even finish the paper.
Most of my students, past and present, face the same issue. They know how to solve the questions, but they simply take too long to solve them. One simple question can take them more than 5 minutes. Reasons? Write slowly. Write down every single step. Using the correction tape/fluid.

What did I do?
Once I know that I got the concept, I time myself when solving problems. When I was going to sit for a 2-hour paper (in the case of A Math), I made sure that I was able to finish a paper within 1 hour during practice. Sounds crazy? No. Let's admit that during practice, we feel relax while doing the questions. We ought to do fast, since we don't feel any stress. The same paper in exam took me not less than 1.5 hour. This is due to the "additional weights" on my shoulders. My heart beat faster, my hands shook more and I wrote slower.

Learn to write fast but not compromising the readability of your work. A calligraphic piece of work won't earn you extra marks. As long as the marker can understand your handwriting, it is good enough. Over the years, I have received many praises for my handwriting. However, when they saw the work I hand in during exam, they were stunned.

It's time to time yourself!

Exam Preparation: Train In A Harsh Condition

Nearing the end of the year, staring at the "BIG EXAM", let me share my ways of preparing for examination. Points may be repeated from my previous posts, but nevertheless, they are important enough for us to be reminded again.

Conducive learning
Most students learn in a conducive environment. By conducive, I mean quiet, bright, cooling, zero disturbance, and whatever you can think of. Nothing wrong with this, since it is normal that we learn better in such environment. However, nothing is perfect, including the examination hall.

Real life
In the hall, you will hear the invigilators' footsteps, hundreds of students flipping papers, other students playing basketball below the hall, or even babies from the opposite block crying!
In the hall, you will see people walking around and students scribbling on the paper.
In the hall, you may experience some unpleasant smell, from the shoes if it's a rainy day or even from the garbage truck.
Won't all these add disturbance to you and affect you? Won't it affect more especially when you are only used to a conducive environment?

Experience
Personally, I have seen students perform well in a classroom environment (for class test), in a tuition environment (no much disturbance). However, once they step into the big hall, they fail. Reasons? Too noisy. Too stressful to be seated in the middle of hundreds of students.
Worse still, you may experience a mental block when you see all the other students writing fast and furiously! Looks like everyone else know how to do all the questions right? Feels like you are dead right? I have experienced this myself!

What did I do?
The method which I used is to study in a harsh environment. At this moment, as a student, you should be more or less done with your syllabus. The question now is not whether you have the knowledge. Rather, it is whether you can perform under conditions which are unknown to you, under conditions which you are not used to.

I always leave my room door open, with my family watching TV and talking outside. My windows are always opened, taking in noise from the road and the train track. This is to ensure that I receive the "maximum noise", which I think is reasonable compared to the noise I would receive in the hall.

My table is positioned such that I am either facing the windows or the door. This makes me face moving things, be it my family walking past, the train moving past, or even the swaying tree leaves.

Luckily for me (or not?), I never have air-con in my room. I used to study in a warm environment - the air coming from the fan was warm too. With the exam paper at 1pm, I was never affected by the stuffy hall, which during my time, was only equipped with fans. Some exam halls are still not air-conditioned today, so this may help you too.


The above methods work for me and for my students who faced the problem of fear-in-the-hall. No harm trying it out, especially if knowledge is not your main concern now (for JC2 and Sec 4 students, it shouldn't be at this stage anyway).

GCE A Levels H2 Mathematics Book

For those who wonder why I went off the radar for so long without a blog post, this is the reason. I have been writing the GCE A Levels H2 Mathematics Book and finally I have finished writing Part 1, just in time for my 28th Birthday!

Topics
The topics include everything other than statistics, namely:
Functions
Graphs
Equations
Inequalities
Sequences
Series
Vectors
Complex Numbers
Calculus

Introduction
An excerpt from the introduction:
"""
Mathematics is an art. To master it, we have to master the fundamentals and concepts. Hence, unlike other books, there are few, if any, examples in this book. I try as much as I can not to use examples to bring across a point as it would limit our vision as to how each concept can be used.

This book is written for students taking the A Levels. I strongly believe that if you truly understand this book, you understand A Levels Mathematics and will definitely score well.

One advice which I always give to my students: “Open your heart and clear your mind when you are solving Mathematics questions. Just relax and enjoy them!”

""" 

More Information

• There is a total of 116 pages of content, excluding the cover page and other miscellaneous pages.
• The book is in A4 size.
• The content in the book is what you need to understand H2 Mathematics. Understand the book and you will be able to apply the concepts on any given problem.
• I just wrote the book and there is no publisher, so I will be printing and binding the book on my own.
• I am not sure how much I should sell the book, but I am looking at a minimum of $25, which means that I don't earn much after deducting the cost of printing and delivery.
• Some people may say that I charge too much and there are cheaper alternatives. However, I strongly believe that with my experience and expertise, this book is the one that you, as an A Levels student, really need to score well.
• Some people may say that I charge too little, given the effort I put in and more importantly, the quality of the content. However, I do not want to charge too high as I believe that everyone, regardless of rich or poor, should have access to all resources.
• The beautifully-designed book cover is done by my good friend, Ng Kooi Cia. Other than that, everything inside is done by me, so please pardon me if the aesthetic is a bit off. But I assure you that it's the quality of the content which matters, and you got it.

Please contact me at liminghui86@gmail.com if you are interested or have any question.
Like my Facebook page for updates on A Levels Math.
 -> https://www.facebook.com/alevelsmath

Thank you!

Li Minghui Samuel

http://www.linkedin.com/in/liminghui86