Planning For Exam Revision

When I had graduated from school, I once did a personality test that found out that I am a totally disorganised person... and the senior who did the test for me told me, "Girl ah, you go out and work cannot be totally disorganized like that. You will need to learn to be organized."

And so I made it a point to be organized and learn how to plan and execute projects. When I was working, I always plan ahead and created marketing roadmaps, deadline timetables, daily task lists...

And then I got involved in personal development and became good in teaching others about the merits of goal setting.

So when Ace is of a certain age, I tried to impart some of these important skills to him. Since young, his teachers in Dubai have done goal setting somewhat with him. So he is not new to this concept...

Before his CA2, I did a round of goal setting with him and explained to him the mechanics behind goal setting and why it is so important to set SMART goals...

And I must say that setting those goals seem to help even though I did not feel that he worked harder:) hahahaha... But I think it reminds him of what he wants and he tries to remember to write faster and also concentrate better in class which are all important as well.

Before the final year exam, I decided that I will now teach him another aspect of goal setting. which is PLANNING.

My friend Jez Meinu taught me this..

And it is to start one's day at 9am and draw out a timetable that has 1.5hour slots. And then one can fill in the blanks and decide which slot you want to play/eat or study. The aim is on a non schooling day fit in 3 slots of study.

Here is a sample of what I did for Ace...




The benefits of this timetable is this:

1. The child learns to concentrate for 1.5 hours.. which is min time needed to complete an exam..
2. The child realizes that other than studying, they actually have alot of time for play and other things that they might want to do and more motivated to study.. One day 24 hours leh... 3 x 1.5 slots hor.. only 4.5 hours mah.. such a small portion of their time onli...
3. Helps them stay focused on the task at hand and they will be able to master self study and self planning eventually

And so I did this NICE NICE timetable for him to fill up.. and even went through another goal setting session and did up another GOALS list for him..

I even did up a calender that lists all the exam dates and exam topics so the can tick off after he studies...

One week after I did up all the tables, my son has yet to fill them in and still walking in around in the house or playing with toys everyday when he is free!

I nagged and nagged and reminded and reminded but he just didah apah...

I couldnt take it anymore and I started scolding him.. and I really gave him a good one cos when I asked when it is his exam and what date is it now.. he doesnt know the answer for both.. which means he does not even know how much time he has left to study and how much more he needs to prepare..

After that bout of scolding, he decided that he will finally go and fill up that timetable that I did. When he is done, I looked at it and nearly fainted... It is 11 days to exam and he has NOT started revising at all. Yet, he only plans to do one slot of revision every day.. Rest of the slot he filled up with the words "youtube" and "play"...

Told him he only has 11 days left for revision... But at least 32 topics to cover... Go do the math... How is it possible to cover so many topics in 11 days given he has to go to school and tuition as well?

So he says he replanning... And started replanning again...

Then he announces to me that he plans to revise 9 chapters of Chinese in 1.5hrs..... I told him it is not possible and he asked... "How u know it is not possible? "
Son, if u can do tat... You will be 神童！Dun need to revise!

I want to faint lor!!

But maybe I am asking too much of him lah:) hahahaha.. So now i plan for him wat to do in the slots of study.. Glad to say we at least finished most of the topics. I really hope he can do better this exam.

I have enticed him to do well because:

1. It is good preparation for an easier PSLE prep
2. It is taking one step closer to going to Anglican High School where he can be Alumni with me, Tashi and Oracle jiejie..
3. I heard that only students in 5.1 are asked to go for trip to Taiwan and it is something he wanted to do very much. So wk for it.. if get it.. woo hoo! If dun get it as least tried... if never try.. confirm no chance.. so is very loogi.... hahaha
4. Told him I will buy him a Nerf Modulus if he really achieves all the goals he set out for the various exam results.

Jia you, Ace!

On a side note.. We almost finished revising Chinese 4B text so I asked Ace to take out the 4A textbook to standby only to find Best Student In The World lost his book and dunno where it is! sigh...

PS: And so, on day 1 of his full day "intensive revision" during PSLE marking day. With 18 chapters worth of chinese words to revise and having only done ONE, our good friend spent his first half of the day walking around, playing in his room despite constant reminders from me to start revising... the result? I told him he must be a genius and told him in that case, he needs no help from me and there will be no need for me to nag at him... Reverse psychology works! He started to learn the chapters I told him to and when done, he even did the next chapter without me saying anything! Then he begged me to give him spelling and asked me to pls stop calling him "GENIUS".. wahahahahaha...

As a private joke, cos he took off his shirt the other day to show off his abs flabs instead of go study and so I teased him and told him I am going to give him a new nickname..  Since he dun wanna need to  study and like to show off his fats... he is going to be known as PTG.. Pui Terh Genius! (Fat Pig Genius)... and Ace immediately retorted ... "Yeah, PTG.... it stands for PROT(d)IGY! I am a prodigy!"

Sorry ah, son.... being smart alec dun mean high scores for exams leh... hahahahaha:)

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