Tuesday, 9 August 2022

Cass told me recently that she found an effective way of studying for exams.

One night I saw her playing Roblox on my desktop computer and she was chanting non-stop. I thought she was talking to her bestie on Discord but she was purging out what she was memorizing. She was memorizing Biology for a small test the next day.  There was a notebook next to her and she kept referring to it while playing Roblox.

Cass told me that ever since she went back to school full-time, she has found an effective way of memorizing for tests without falling asleep and that is to play a game on the computer.

Like seriously? Who does that?!  Am I that outdated? 

But lately, Cass has been doing alright in all her small tests.  Her mid-year exam class position is top 10. 

I know my older brother must turn the radio on whenever he studied during his high school years. He subsequently went to the National University of Singapore (NUS).  And I can only write my assignments with the radio turned on too. 

So Cass' method of studying may be working! I hope so!

Just now she was again playing Roblox on my PC and memorizing Geography facts. Later she passed me her notebook and asked me to test her. 

Me - hello, your mom doesn't know a word of Chinese. How can I test you?

Cass - can la, just compare the words.

Me - ok.. 

10 minutes later, she passed a piece of paper to me with a bunch of Chinese words that she'd written on it and asked me to check what she had written with her notes in the notebook.  

She got them all correct!

Ah, now I remember that I used to test Cass in her Ting Xie (Chinese spelling) using this method when she was in pre-school and primary school! 😁

One of the pros of studying in a Chinese Independent High School is the frequent small tests the school imposes on the students.  I think it's a great way of wiring a teen's brain to get them ready for university.  But I don't like some of the ridiculous rules the school imposes and the emphasis it places on academic excellence. Some students may not be able to handle the stress.  

I brought Cass, Alycia and MIL for Korean lunch at Kimchitiam last Monday when she had a 1.5-hour break in between online classes. It was so rushed and she had to attend the earlier part of her next class using my phone in the car.