Alex Tan topped last year’s PSLE with four A stars, a distinction in Higher Chinese and a stellar score of 282. An active er hu player in his school’s Chinese orchestra, he managed this academic feat despite intensive rehearsals for the Singapore Youth Festival 2010 Central Judging competition, and less than two hours of study every day. He tells Young Parents how he did it with just seven study habits.
1. TAKE NOTE
Summarise and consolidate what you have learnt by creating notes. Use multicoloured pens or highlighters to bring out the important points you have to know. Colour coding doesn’t just help to organise information, it makes dull content interesting, too. Making notes is Alex’s favourite study strategy. “I think the best part of studying is creating my own notes. It’s quite fun. I write my notes two months before PSLE and then use them for revision,” Alex remarks.
2. A IS NOT FOR ASSESSMENTS
Although his parents encouraged him to use assessment books sometimes, the top student isn’t a fan of them. “Assessments don’t cover a lot of things that are taught in school. They are good for learning the basic things but we should do more than that for revision,” he says. According to him, exams in schools are often tougher than the work in assessment books. That’s why pupils should focus on the practice papers teachers hand out and the past year papers from other schools.
3. IF YOU HATE IT, POST IT
Science is Alex’s Achilles heel. He says: “Science is my weakest subject. When I look at the textbook, I feel sian (bored).” But this didn’t hinder him from getting an A star for the subject. He marks important pages in his Science texts and files with post-it notes. The reason: Singling out the pages that really matter makes a thick text or file less overwhelming. It doesn’t feel like there is an endless amount of material to cover, so revision time feels shorter, too.
Read the February 2011 issue of Young Parents for the full story, and more expert advice and local tips to make you a better mum or dad.
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