Recently we interviewed five students who achieved excellent results on the 2019 CAIE exams and won scholarships. They shared their learning experience, learning methods, and goals for the future.

Louis Gao

Recent Achievement: 4 As in AS Exams

Strongest Subject: Economics

Personal Profile: Louis has overcome many difficulties, and continues to surprise himself as he faces challenges. He is very confident, and at the same time modest to others. Let’s learn about his experience of making continuous progress and breakthroughs in his studies.

Why am I interested in economics? Because it is the foundation of human’s prosperity, and I want to study how to bring benefits to mankind through economics. In the future, I want to enter the financial market to explore the meaning and principles behind those jumping numbers, and to explore all the mysteries of economics. This past summer, I went to AIA Hong Kong to participate in a summer camp project internship, where I learnt and practised financial knowledge, but also improved my management skills, which made me more interested in economics and finance.

At Yew Wah, I have enough room and time to explore my hobbies and the world. In my daily life, I improve my understanding of economics through a lot of reading and practice. At the same time, my teachers often communicate with me and help me gain valuable experience and skills. I also participated in the School Enterprise organised by my Economics teacher, Ms Patel, which helped me better understand the application of economic theories in reality and the operation problems of enterprises in the real world.

My first piece of advice about studying habits is to have self-discipline and self-control. If you like to play with your phone, put it away while you are studying. If you are addicted to some games, you should set limitations about phone usage time, or delete the game softwarestraight away, because this is the first step to learning. One of my key learning methods is review. After learning new knowledge, very few things can be kept in our memory. Only through repeatedly reviewing later can the knowledge be consolidated. Therefore, on holidays or weekends, I use a notebook in which I write down the knowledge points, and then read them repeatedly to remember them.

Hank Li

Recent Achievement: 6 A/A*s in the IGCSE Exams

Strongest Subject: Computer Science

Personal Profile:

Hank's thinking is very rigorous and meticulous. His calculations are surprisingly accurate and logic is impeccable; his teachers rarely find errors in his work. In his daily life, he is very energetic and funny.

My father and my grandfather both majored in computer study, so I have been exposed to the discipline since childhood, and it is also one of my favourite subjects. When I was a child, I watched my grandfather take the computer apart and introduce the parts one by one to me, and I began to have the idea of exploring the secrets of computers. Nowadays, we live in an era of information explosion. We receive information all the time, but also unconsciously give up our privacy. I hope that in the future I can develop an algorithm to protect everyone's privacy, and I hope I can study Computer Science in university to realise this dream.

After I came to Yew Wah, under the instruction of Mr Trela, who is from Canada, I began to learn a computer language called Python, which is the most popular computer language nowadays. In addition to completing the basic academic requirements, I also write some small computer programmes in my free time. Although these programmes seem to be a little simple, through constant practice, I am becoming more skilled in using Python language.

From starting with the basics to getting an A in IGCSE Computer Science, I have many learning tips that I want to share. It can be summarised as the following three key points: Firstly, it is very useful to make a summary of notes after each class. Every time I finish reading a book, I have a thick book of notes. It is obviously unrealistic to use such a thick notebook to review before the exam. Therefore, learning to organise and summarise notes is a particularly important task. Every day after school, you might have a lot of notes that need to be sorted out. I recommend sorting them out immediately after each class. Secondly, it is also important to review the past examination papers. If I had started reviewing the examination papers earlier, I might have been able to get an A*. Finally, I don't think we should be afraid of making mistakes. The most important thing for computer studying is to experiment, to constantly modify the code you wrote, and to verify it until you find the correct code. Don't lose patience or feel frustrated because of failure. Maybe it's in the next moment when you will find the way out.

Simon Yang

Recent Achievement: 6 A/A*s in the IGCSE Exams

Strongest Subject: Mathematics

Personal Profile:

Simon has not only great goals, but also gives unremitting effort to achieve these goals. This shows that he can manage his time well and devote his energy to meaningful activities. This is very valuable at his age.

Mathematics has been my best subject from Primary school all the way through to Upper Secondary school. If you ask me the biggest difference between Mathematics and other disciplines, I think it is logic. I hope to become a successful businessman in the future, and I believe Mathematics can train my mind and help me get closer to my dream.

After I came to Yew Wah, apart from accumulating mathematical knowledge, more importantly, I have learnt the studying method of "taking part for the whole". First of all, Mathematics cannot be learnt by rote memorisation, so understanding ability has become the most important thing in learning Mathematics. At the same time, Mathematics is also a subject that can be made perfect by practice. As long as enough questions are stored in your brain, it can help you to be more proficient when you come across similar questions. In addition, I think studying mainly centres around two tasks: preview and review. When previewing a new chapter, I will take notes on the questions that I want to ask, and then ask those questions after reflection. Reviewing actually requires more effort. You need to make sure that you can understand all the knowledge points thoroughly and consolidate them repeatedly after reviewing.

However, what Yew Wah has changed me most is to help me learn how to communicate and get along with others. When I newly arrived here, I did not have many friends. Then, with the help of subject teachers and Residence Hall Teachers, I learnt to open my heart slowly. I think these skills benefit me more than just getting scores on exams.

The last thing I want to share is the help my father has given me. He talks to me occasionally, gives me encouragement, and indicates a clear direction yet gives me free space to develop the specific way to go. I personally like this kind of education, because there is a fundamental difference between being passive and active. My father has never scolded me since I was young, and it is easy for me to recognise my mistakes and figure out a solution. My father's greatest help to me is to plant in my mind a relationship with him that was both father-son and friend-friend, and an equal atmosphere to share anything.

Coco Ye

Recent Achievement: 8 A/A*s in the IGCSE Exams

Personal Profile: Coco is a gentle and elegant girl. She is very willing to help her classmates and often spends a lot of time helping other students.

When I go to college in the future, I will consider choosing Law as my major; I have chosen Biology now to cultivate a better memory and understanding.

I have to say that my Biology teacher Mr Flood has given me a lot of help. He has excellent resources and video-assisted learning in every class. His earnest and rigorous teaching style and meticulous academic professional attitude have helped me in studying Biology. I also have a lot of opportunities to do experiments with the teachers. The super-charged learning environment has brought me a lot of help.

Before I came to Yew Wah, I followed the teacher's arrangements every day, previewing, listening and reviewing. Teachers of all subjects would give detailed instructions. Every day's tasks would be listed in detail. As students, we would just follow them without much personal reflection and summary, and the results would not be ideal. After I came to Yew Wah, this kind of arrangements was reduced greatly. In addition to assigning homework, most teachers will place less pressure on students' learning progress, and focus more on stimulating students' initiative and self-discipline in learning. There are many ways to learn. You can get it from various sources, teachers, others, or the Internet. But the most challenging thing is how to learn from and use other people's methods well and succeed. It's very difficult. It's normal if you fail. My greatest discovery here is to find the most suitable learning methods for myself, and learn to adapt to different teaching environments, so as to improve my learning ability. Constant effort, coupled with clear goals, is the most practical learning method.

Nancy Zhang

Recent Achievement: Average score of more than 5 on the Checkpoint Exams

Personal Profile: Nancy is a good student who is excellent in both academics and character, and she is very popular in school. She actively participates in many activities and shows her unique ideas. In terms of learning, she is conscientious, down-to-earth and meticulous, and she has been making progress.

English is my best subject, and also my favourite subject. This is partly due to my very good Primary English teacher. She always rewarded and encouraged us, so these wonderful memories inspired me and kept me motivated to learn English.

My dream is to become a professional translator. I hope I can honour my motherland, and I have been working in this direction.

My main goal now is to pass TOEFL 100 and SSAT, and while preparing for the exams, I will learn new vocabularies and master new skills.

In Yew Wah, I found that the teaching methods of English teachers are different from those of other school teachers. We often have group activities and discussion sessions in class. In the eyes of others, the discussion session seems to be a time for students to relax, but when we are in class, we will take it very seriously. We will share each other's ideas and summarise them. When I came to Yew Wah, my biggest change was that I become more and more willing to learn. I think the students around me feel the same sense of pressure, because we have entered high school.

Speaking of taking notes, I don't think writing more is necessarily better. Instead, I have learnt to sort out the important and the non-important points. I usually mark catalogues, dates and titles on the first page of each notebook, so that when reviewing, I can quickly find the parts that I need to review, and go straight to the key points to save time. In the few minutes before I go to bed every night, I will review new words, so as to deepen my memory.

Conclusion:

In Yew Wah, we help children learn to explore and find out the most suitable way of learning through holistic education. We are committed to helping our students not only have outstanding achievements in learning, but also creating their own world in other fields.