Repost. 2 More Months To Exam!!! What To Do?!?!?!

Dedicated to all students taking the O Levels exam, I sincerely hope that you may get some insight from this article.

YES! The big O is coming. For many of the students, they are filled with the same emotions that hundreds, thousands, ten thousands of students have faced over the past 20-30 over years. Fear, Excitement, Uncertainty, Worry, Enthusiasm, depending on which side of the fence you are standing on.

But, whichever side you are on, I would like to just nag at you a little on the Importance and Benefits of this exam, plus the amount of effort which you need to invest for the mass returns. And I can only hope that you would finally dig out that 0ld, hidden "drive" and "motivation" to do the final dash of the race.

The O level result slip, small as it is (with prints that are even smaller), is a major determinant of your life between 17-25 years old. It determines which tertiary institute you go to (JC, Poly, ITE or private colleges) and this choice would then determine what sort of environment you enter into and what sort of friends you make and mix around with during your tertiary studies. And it would in turn, affect the sort of study life you decide to have, the sort of results you aim for and get. And that would affect the choices you have after your tertiary studies, such as which Universities you can go to or what sort of work you enter into, and possibly, affecting the sort of life you can enjoy up until the age of 25-30 (for some, it actually affected their whole life!)

While what I just said is broad and wide (but definitely not exaggerated), I suppose you do see the extent of how this simple slip of paper, can affect you. Scary ah, what a little piece of paper can do to you life...

BUT frightening, and sometime daunting, as it may be, don't be paralyzed by it. Because, you truly have enough time to catch up...so NEVER GIVE UP! So, what I would like to ask for you to do first, is simply see it from the other perspective.

Instead on focusing on the fear, and the uncertainty, why not focus on the possibilities, and what you can do instead? You still have 5 more months to prepare and revise for this exam. While some may ask, is 5 months enough? Well, my answer would of course be a Yes. Not because I want to give you false hope, but rather, it has been done before, and if you think in depth about it, you can even calculate mathematically how it can be done. (BTW, a research was done in one of our local schools, and the teachers found out that, a months effort can help increase the subject grades by 1 point. Which means, if you are getting a b4 now, in 4 months time, you can get at least an A2 or even A1!)

So, start by FOCUSING on the OUTCOME, and TAKE ACTIONS Now! (after you finish this article, of course) SERIOUS and MASSIVE ACTIONS. And below, are some guides to help you with your work, before we go back to your schools again.

1) Look at yourself in the mirror and BE HONEST. Look deep into your own eyes, and ask, "How do you really feel about the upcoming exam?" "Have you done your part so far to prepare for it?" "Can you truly be honest that you are doing your best?" "Can you do better?" "Can you face up to yourself?" "Are you willing to accept lousy results for the upcoming exam?" "Do you want better for yourself?" Ask all the direct, no-holds-barred questions, and start digging out all the emotions that you have about your exams, good and bad, buried or surfaced.

Stop avoiding it. BE HONEST with yourself. Even if means you may start to feel ashamed, embarrassed, shocked, disappointed or even hate at yourself, admit those feelings first. Face up to them. ACCEPT that they are real. Now it not the time to avoid, or use softeners to make yourself feel good. Get Disturbed.

Can you imagine if you were to avoid these emotions and feelings, and choose to do nothing about it (There are many students who are as such, putting up a "strong" and "secure" front to others, even though deep down, they are fearful, very fearful of their own future)? The consequences would usually be more such negative emotions and feelings, PLUS "interests" coming in the form of "failures". It just keeps building up! And sometimes, it even compounds.

So, DON'T, I beg of you. You deserve better. So, start by FACING UP TO THE FACTS! And the good, GREAT, thing is, once you acknowledged your feelings, you also start to realise that, "HEY, I can do something about it! I can decide my life as I have choices!" Which is true. You can really do something for each of the negative feelings. Only when you face up to these fears of yours, and not avoid them, will you be able to overcome them and have fun at the same time. (Gee, I feel old saying this though. Make me feel like one of those ancient chinese shifu. :P Ken and his weird philosophies.)

2) Don't just get disturbed. Forgive yourself, and move on to doing what needs to be done. So, after step 1, you should really take some time to list down, the problems you face with each of the subjects you are taking.

For example, Chemistry - Is it the concepts which you cannot comprehend? Atomic structure? Calculations? Mole? Ratio? Bonding?

Physics - Is it the memorising part?Knowing what's the important points?

Bio - Is it the functions? Cause and effects?

History - People, events which you are unclear and uncertain of? Factors? English - Essays? Compre? Summary? ETC.

For each of the subject, chapters, and sections, write out the problems you face. So, rule of thumb which I will suggest to you, start with your stronger subjects first. And once you get the momentum, it will drive you even more.

And importantly, you would know where you are standing in your preparation for your work.. That leads to point 3.

3) After getting out the problems you face with each topic, and clearly identifying the problems, attempt to understand how to solve the problems first.

ATTEMPT.

Make the first effort to do it on your own first. Even if you make mistakes, it is ok. BUT DO ATTEMPT. Otherwise, if you skip this part, and go to step four, you would still be lost. So, please, MAKE ATTEMPTS to solve the problems first.

4) For all those problems which you still can't clear, identify people and resources which can help you explain them. So who can you approach? Well, the answer in most of your head would be your friends, top students of your classes, and teachers. You are all correct. So, with your questions, ASK.

Now, some students may face some challenges when wanting to ask, if they didn't first perform step 3. Firstly, they are afraid or paiseh that they will bother their friends/teachers, and they don't want to look "stupid" in front of their friends/teachers. Now, you will only feel this way, if you didn't do your homework in the first place. Step 3 would at least allow you some groundwork, and background into the problem, and so, you will be asking relevant questions. And these questions would most probably be questions that are faced by other students. So, they are "smart", "related" and relevant questions. The people you ask may even appreciate you for asking such questions as it allows them to see from another perspective.

In addition, Step 3 is important as, when you have attempted the problems, can't solve it, and then ASK, you will be rewarded with the answers, you will have what I would call, the "AH HAH" effect. Because, you have worked on the problem previously, your brain is challenged by it. And when you finally get the answer, it is like a tight knot that was suddenly untied, and you tend to appreciate the answer and register in your mind easier. There are emotions involved here. But if you skip step 3, chances are, you won't appreciate the answers even if it is directly in front of your face.

5) After step 4, then, you proceed to practise. Now, if you want to know how to practise, please, send me an msn email, to hura_kurama@hotmail.com. I will then, tell you how to practise correctly for each paper (excluding Language papers as they are prepared a little differently). In your email, please state your school, class, full name, and also, Ernest's, Peter's and my famous quote (this is just like the password).

I am sorry for being so secretive, but as recently, I found that there are "spies" from other companies, and they have been "stealing" ideas from us. So, I have to safeguard this. (Anyway, kinda appalled at the type of integrity that people may have. Stealing other people's ideas, intellectual property, and claim it to be theirs.) But, I am sure the infinite intelligence will take care of these people. :)

Back, so, please send me the email, if you are keen. I will just share one simple secret with you on how to score for your exam. Remember, EXAM IS JUST A GAME. And it is one of the easiest game ever!

To wrap this up. Let me just do a simple maths calculation for all to see.

What this 5 months could mean.

It I were to use 10 years as the impact that this O levels would have.

Then, it would amount to 120 months (10yrsX12mths).

So, using 5 months to O levels as the Investment you have to make, then, the returns of investment would be 120 Div 5. 24 times returns.

BUT NOTE, this 24 times returns may even compound to a few times more! And usually it does compound. BUT, this return, could be a good investment, or a lousy liability.

If you choose to do well, it is a great Return of Investment, if you don't, then, it can become your greatest liability. It is your choice. So please....PLEASE...choose wisely.

The choice is clear. Small investment for years of gain! Go for it!

Foundation and Fundamentals

Speaking of Foundation, I would like to take this time to also talk about the final year examination which ALL of my students are taking.

I am worried for all of you. BUT, I am sure that you all will get good results if you just follow what we told you when we trained you (or for that matters, remembered what we taught you! :P)

But nonetheless, I would like to just STRESS on one major point. WORK ON YOUR FOUNDATIONS for all the subjects. This will be the deciding factor on whether you can do well or not. There is no use to work on your TYS or PYPs without knowing how to do it right the first place. And while practise makes perfect, PRACTISE WRONGLY MAKES PERFECT WRONG (My personal phrase to all my students). So, get it clear what you are doing first, know the fundamentals and foundations well, and you would not have much problems for your Exam.

Same offer goes out to you! EMAIL ME, should you have any problems. Only about 80 days more to GO!

BE GREAT!
Ken Koh Seng Kiang

Ken Koh Seng Kiang is the Co-Trainer and Consultant of the highly successful Super Teens Holiday Camp and Smart Kid Training workshop. He has positively impacted the lives and personally coached over 10,000 students from Singapore, Malaysia, China and Indonesia. Ken is one of the rare few in Singapore to be personally trained and coached by Dr Ernest Wong. For more information, please visit www.learningmastery.com.

How You Love Your Other Half Is How You Love Yourself

Recently, a strange idea got me really excited and I sort of came up to this phrase "How you love your other half is how you love yourself". It is just my thoughts and I would like to ask for some comments and feedback. So, please feel free to voice your opinions here. Thanks first!

Okay, here I go.

Many of us have experienced this before, or have "committed" such an act before in our lives. When we are interested in a certain person of the opposite sex, we start to treat the person really well, taking care of the person's needs, being really sensitive to the other person's moods, almost all the time. It usually happens during the dating period.

BUT then, things start to change once you become attached. You think that you are treating your other half the "same" way, but your other half starts and keeps complaining about you, gets upset at you for small little things that you didn't do, and you two end up fighting or having cold war. Sounds familiar?

Well, for most of the people I know, it seems to be the case. And recently, I thought about it and in my own opinion, the reason is because, you have started to treat the other half as part of you, and therefore, you treat the other person the way you usually do to yourself.

Yes, it may sound alittle crazy, but let me do my best to explain to you what I mean.

Before you are attached, you are two separate entities, and you do your best to please the other person (at least for most people). You would even do things which you never thought that you would do. You would even do things which you would never even do for yourself! It is quite normal. You are "in love" and the chemical reactions in your brain sort of make you do all those crazy things.

BUT when you get attached together, things change. Things sort of stagnate alittle, and you are not as "romantic" as you were during dating. Reason, I feel, is because, you feel that your other half is a part of you, or is YOU (whether consciously or unconsciously). And because of this, you don't do those "special" things for your other half anymore, BECAUSE, you don't do those "special" things to yourself in the first place.

To make things easier to understand, maybe this would help.

A person who always hurt himself would end up hurting his other half.
A person who is stingy with herself would usually be stingy when it comes to her other half.
A person who has no drive for a better life would not have high expectations of the other half.
A person who cannot love him/herself, can never love his/her other half.

And the same goes for people who usually have a relationship that works out wonderfully.

A person who splurges on himself would usually be able to splurge on the other half.
A person who is able to spend time with himself is usually able to spend time with the other half.
A person who is able to be open to herself about feelings and emotions is usually able to be as open to the other half.
A person who is able to love him/herself, can truly love his/her other half.

(Please pardon me if this sounds confusing. I am just voicing this out here, haphazardly. So please help me by providing comments. I want to clear this in my head too. :S It is a strong feeling that I am onto something really big here, and I want to get it right.)

This is usually the case, or rather, this IS THE CASE for everyone. Before we are in a relationship, we treat the other person as different, and that the other person has a different expectations. So, during "courtship" and dating, we change and adjust to match to that expectations.

BUT, when we become attached, Two Becomes One...or rather, Two Becomes YOU. And that is when, if you don't see this fact, the problem arises. You start to treat the other person the same way you treat yourself. You start to thing that, that person's expectation is actually your expectation of yourself. You start to treat that person the same way you treat yourself, thinking that person will not mind (and boy, are you wrong about that!).

That is when the challenges of relationship come about. And unless you are able to resolve this part, the problems will just keep mounting.

So what's the solution for this? My suggestion is, rather than working on the relationship, the focus of work should be on ourselves instead. The "war" is not with the External world (your other half), but rather is in the Internal world.

Do you truly care about yourself? Do you truly take good care of your own wellbeing? Do you feel good about yourself? Are you honest with yourself? Are you open to your emotions, whether negative or positive? Do you accept yourself, your strengths and weaknesses? Do you love yourself?

When was the last time you even had a conversation with yourself ABOUT yourself?

Your answers to the above question will determine the sort of relationship you will have.

If you truly care about yourself, your health and takes care of your own wellbeing, you would be able to take care of your other half's health and wellbeing.
If you feel good about yourself, you would be able to feel good about your other half.
If you are honest with yourself, you would be able to be honest to your other half.
If you are open to your own emotions, you would be able to be open to your other half about emotions.
If you are able to accept yourself, strengths and weaknesses, you would be able to accept your other half, strengths and weaknesses.
If you are able to love yourself, you would be able to love your other half.
If you are able to have a close, heart to heart conversation with yourself about yourself, you would be able to have a close, heart to heart converstaion with your other half.

I came to realise that whether a relationship works out or not, it is a choice of whether you want to work on yourself first, and never on what you can work on the other person. It is a choice whether you are willing to take responsibilities and take charge of yourself, and not on the other person. It is YOU first, before the other. You are the cause.

So, if you are always in a relationship where you get hurt, or where there are huge problems, it is because of YOU and only you. You created those problems.

BUT, if you are having a fulfilling relationship with your other half now, good for you! It is also because you have CREATED the results.

It is all you.

So my last question to you is this, when is the last time you have had a honest conversation, about your own life, about your own future, about your own happiness, about your feelings, with YOURSELF?

Regards,
Ken

(Pardon me too, if there are any spelling errors or grammar. So I can amend.)

More Pics!!! But more of ME!!! hehehe

More pics! of me. haha.

Two poses, and one picture which I edited. Enjoy.

Zhi Lian. hahaha. Self Admiration.

Edited Picture of Lembang

PICTURES FROM INDON!!!

First of all! Thanks for all the well wishes. I have recovered from my Diarrhoea and am now back to eating "nonsense" again. haha.

Currently, am staying at Sheraton hotel for Smart Kids Surabaya and the hotel is simply marvelous, only losing to Ritz by a little. :) Enjoying myself here with a bunch of small adorable kids. :) They are SOOOO CUTE. Won't show you the pictures first.

Rather, here are the pictures from the first camp. :) Enjoy.