“How I succeed in Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination”
1. Find your goal
It is important to find your goal to simulate yourself to work hard. As we know, the
workload for AL exam is very large and it is harsh to study continuously. I found my
own goal. Therefore I can handle stress because I know what I am doing and why I
am doing. For me, honestly, it is a must to get a high income in future. The first step I
should do is to work hard and then enter to university. The university degree may
ensure me to receive a reasonable income in future and having a comparative
advantage with others. As the result, I found my goal in the very first step. I really
wanted to achieve it, so I started to prepare the AL exam in F.6
2. Time management
Good time management is a must to be successful in AL exam. Many students spend
12 hours in library to study during December to March before the AL exam. I cannot
agree with this practice because it is not effective at all. We have our physical and
mental limitation and our marginal product in studying will decrease after a few hours.
I start to take revision everyday in F.6 and clear all problems as soon as possible. In
F.6, I usually spent 2 hours on academic each day and then I allowed me to play.
Afterward, I increase the working hours in F.7 to 3-4 hours everyday. The most
important point is that concentration in 6 hours is better than spending whole day in
library without efficiency. Therefore, I study 6 hours each day in March-study leave,
and then I will not study anymore.
3. Search the criteria for your desired major entrance
Different programmes in different universities have their own entrance preference.
For me, I target Finance major in CityU. I found that they only count the 2 AL, AS
and languages are not the most important part. Therefore, I spend most of my time in
AL and I finally give up my AS in order to focus more in my AL. Finally I get A in
Geog and B in Econ and I absent for my AS Chinese History. For others programmes,
they have their own entrance criteria, so it is important to plan how to study better to
fulfill them.
4. Exam oriented
Many students spend time on reading books words to words. It is not useful because
what you study may not be asked in AL exam and you waste your time. For me, it is
important to find out what are going to be asked in AL exam. Tips and trend can be
found in past paper and exam report and study should be exam oriented.
5. Take a rest
It is stressful in F.6 and F.7 because you need to study hard for the AL exam which
may affect your life greatly. I spend a lot of time to relax myself beside study, such as
playing online games and football. Besides I sleep a lot to prepare for the next day.
We need to find method to handle stress. It is not reasonable to study continuously
and then predict you will have a good AL result finally.