2009 scholarssec

2

Hopefully Praised

My life in Hwa Chong Junior College1 was one ofthe darkest periods of my life. It was in HwaChong that I got my first zero — for one math-ematics test. The feeling of failure was awful.I became depressed and suicidal.

It was not just because of one zero. My wholelife, up to the time I was in Hwa Chong, had beena difficult struggle. I came from a very poorfamily. We were so poor that I had to survive onporridge with soya sauce or salted vegetables.

11

E P

R

AI

S

1 Hwa Chong Junior College was established in 1974 by the boardof Chinese High School, which was in turn founded in 1919 by phil-anthropist Tan Kah Kee. In 2005, the school and college mergedto form Hwa Chong Institution. Hwa Chong has, as of 2007, pro-duced 47 President's Scholars — the highest number of studentsfrom any Junior College to win Singapore's top scholarship award.

b566v1_Chapter-02.qxd 3/5/2008 9:34 AM 1

My parents could not even afford to buy me apair of slippers.

Can you imagine how painful it is to walk underthe hot sun without a pair of slippers? WhenI was seven years old, I sold my favourite pet —a champion spider — for $2 to buy my first pairof slippers. Being poor and despised by people inmy neighbourhood, the spider was my only friend,my only best friend, my most valuable and faith-ful comrade who had won countless battles forme. In my moment of greed, I sold my royaltitle away. I felt a sudden sense of loneliness.

For survival, I chose to sacrifice my championspider. And I used the money to eat my first icecream.

I was also badly abused by my father when Iwas a child. Sometimes, he would tie up his chil-dren and hang us on a ceiling hook before hecaned us.

Once, my father used joss sticks to burn myface. When I had to get an injection in school,the memory of that incident came back. Theneedle poking into my arm was like the josssticks poking my face. Till today, I have a phobiaof injections.

12 SCHOLARS’ SECRETS

b566v1_Chapter-02.qxd 3/5/2008 9:34 AM Page 12

I felt so horrible when I was growing up suchthat I had a strong inferiority complex. Sowhen I was in Hwa Chong, my study crisis esca-lated into a life crisis.

I used to go to the beach — to Changi beach —to throw stones into the sea... to throw mytroubles into the sea. My cousin taught me thislong ago, when he took me to the beach for apicnic with his brothers and friends. He told methat each stone represented one trouble, andthe waves would wash my troubles away. As onewave subsided, the next wave came. They nevergave up. They seemed to be telling me never togive up too.

I would stay at the beach until late at night,and catch the last bus home. Many times, I didnot feel like going home. I wanted to just walkinto the sea and disappear into the darkness.

This was an important turning point for me.I began to change because of my mother's lovefor me. I studied hard, I tried to be a goodboy, I gave up my bad habits and what I callthe 3 V’s — vulgarism, vandalism and violence.Do you want to know how I kicked my addictionto gambling? When I was in Hwa Chong, the

Hopefully Praised 13


students were very serious. They engaged in the3 L’s — lecture, lunch and library. I could notfind anyone to gamble with me. In the end, the3 L’s triumphed over the 3 V’s and I became agood boy.

But when I was faced with a life crisis, Irealised that my mother’s love was not suffi-cient to pull me through. After a while, I beganto see the positive side of my father’s harshtreatment. The more he wanted to break mywill, the more determined I was to prove himwrong. Though he did not deliberately train me,he ended up toughening me up. I needed bothfactors — my mother’s love and my father’stough training — to survive a life crisis.

I must also add that I have always felt pro-tected by some higher force. Throughout mylife, whenever I was in a crisis, I always felt aninvisible hand guiding me and saving me. So whenI did badly in mathematics, out of the blue akind schoolmate offered to give me free tuition.She helped me pass my first year re-exam and,eventually, I made it to the university.

The lowest period of my life was in Hwa Chong.The major turning point of my life was also in



Hwa Chong. It was in Hwa Chong that I brokeout from my inferior cage that had imprisonedme since my childhood. In this regard, HwaChong gave me fond memories too.

Once, when I was in Hwa Chong, I broke theschool rules. I stayed overnight to study becausemy house was just too noisy. I had eight otherpeople at home in a two-room flat and I was theonly one who needed to study. My brothers hadall dropped out of school. My sisters never wentto school in the first place. My brothers and sis-ters would watch TV in the living room, while myfather would listen to his radio in the kitchen.

In any case, I was not the only one who stayedback in college. There were about 20 of us intotal. The principal became suspicious and heconducted a series of surprise checks to catchus, but he never caught us because we were sounited. We displayed our Hwa Chong spirit. Inthe end, my friends and I decided not to stayback anymore.

So I had to find a new strategy for studyingto make it to the university. The strategy andtechniques that I used are described in detailin the later chapters of this book.



In return for all that Hwa Chong has given tome, I am donating some of my books, plus a bitof money, to set up the Hwa Chong literary fundand the Alumni Display Section in Jing XianLibrary.

UUnniivveerrssiittyy aanndd PPoossttggrraadduuaatteeSSttuuddiieess

While my friends were lucky to go to universitywith the financial support of their parents, Iwas not so lucky. As my parents could not affordmy university education, I signed a six-yearcontract with the Republic of Singapore Navyafter my Pre-University. During the first twoand a half years in the Navy, I saved up suffi-cient money for my university education.

Surprisingly, I found university studies rela-tively easy. Each year, my grades improved. ButI could never make that quantum leap to becomea top student and fulfil my mother’s lifelongyearning.

After my graduation, I had to serve my remain-ing contract in the Navy. While I was pursuinga diploma in Personnel Management sponsored



by the Navy, George Washington Universityoffered, for the first time, its prestigiousMaster of Arts in Human Resource Developmentas an external degree in Singapore. I decidedto give myself the challenge — and stress — ofconcurrently undertaking two postgraduateprograms whilst holding a full-time job.

Through my study of strategy — based onSun Zi’s The Art of War and Naval BattleProcedure — I developed a life skills model forovercoming challenges and achieving success.I call the model PRAISE, as it embodies six suc-cess principles — Prizedream, Rules, Analysis,Invincibility, Strategy and Excellence.

This became my chance not only to fulfilmy mother’s wish, but also to test my lifeskills model. I topped both classes, and myPRAISE model passed with flying colours. Themodel also helped me to achieve success in mycorporate career, entrepreneurial pursuits andother life’s challenges, such as climbing MountSinai, the mountain where, according to thebible, Moses received the Ten Commandmentsfrom God.




PPRRAAIISSEE

PRAISE, a life skills model for all-round excel-lence and success in studies and in life, providesa SUCCESS 6 Formula:

• Set the P rizedream. This will initiate theprocess of change and lead you to discover alifetime CHANGE formula.

• Use internal Rules. When you are guidedby your own internal rules, you learn to think

LifetimeCREATIVITY

formula

Rules

R

Arrogance

AL

Laziness

S

Strategy

LifetimeLEARNING

formula

Lifetime CHANGE

formulaPrizedreamPSelf-pity

S

DDistractions

IInvincibility

Lifetime FULFILMENT

formula

Lifetime

XCELLENCE

E

formula

Excellence

E

Exaggerated

fear

E

D

Daydreams

A

Analysis

LifetimePASSION

formula

FSEL

PPRRAAIISSEE MMooddeell


out of the box. This gives you a lifetimeCREATIVITY formula.

• Conduct Analysis. Examine the factors thatare for or against you and identify the highercause that drives you. This is your lifetimePASSION formula.

• C ultivate Invincibility. Acquire the virtuesthat lead to invincibility. These give you alifetime FULFILMENT formula.

• Execute the Strategy. Learn from your fail-ures. Turn setbacks into opportunities andweaknesses into strengths. This ongoingprocess equips you with a lifetime LEARNING

formula.• Sustain Excellence. Achieve it not once or

twice, but over and over again in a cycle ofsuccess unlimited. Acquire a lifetime EXCELLENCE

formula. And…

Success shall be yours, without limits.

After I topped my master’s degree course, Iwent on to apply PRAISE in my corporate career,entrepreneurship and other life’s challenges.I have been using the PRAISE model for over20 years now and it has never failed me.



Even though this book focuses on success instudies, the wider focus has to be on success inlife. PRAISE imparts life skills that will helpyou achieve this wider success.

PPRRAAIISSEE BBooookkss

A summary of the PRAISE model is presentedin my other book, Success Secrets. For an in-depth study of PRAISE, I recommend anotherof my books, Rough Life Rich Life. This is areference book that discusses each of the con-cepts in detail, with illustrations from my per-sonal life and the lives of other great achievers.

Another series of books looks at how thegreatest men and women in history — I callthem PRAISE Champions — all lived by princi-ples similar to those of the PRAISE model.They come from diverse cultural backgroundsand achieved extraordinary success in all areasof human endeavour — conquests and politics,science and inventions, the arts, humanitarianwork and so on.

The first book in the series, BenjaminFranklin — A Bright Spark!, has drawn highpraise from academics, scholars and fans of



Franklin, many of whom feel that the PRAISEmodel gives interesting and important newinsights into the reasons for his greatness. RoyGoodman, Curator for Printed Materials at theAmerican Philosophical Society (which Franklinfounded in 1743) and President of The Friendsof Franklin, Inc, wrote in his Foreword:

“As America and the rest of the world celebrate the 300th birth

anniversary of Franklin, there will be many books, conferences, exhi-

bitions… However, there may not be a tribute as valuable as

Benjamin Franklin — A Bright Spark!”

Ralph Archbold, member of a US FederalCommission appointed by President George W.Bush and Congress to oversee the celebrationsof Benjamin Franklin’s 300th birthday, wrote:

“I have never found a book as important as this… Every person

should read it and, for the sake of their future, every parent should

make sure their children read it.”

SSoouullpprriinnttss

We may never become as great as some ofthese PRAISE Champions. Yet all of us can leave



our imprints by making a difference in the livesof the people we encounter. When we touchpeople’s lives in a deep and profound way, weleave imprints on their soul.

These may be called “soulprints”. My mother,despite being an uneducated, illiterate woman,left me many soulprints through her love, sacri-fices and wisdom. In the same way, all of us canleave soulprints in the lives of the people wetouch.

You may read more of my life story inSoulprints I — BreakThrough. This covered mydifficult childhood, growing up in extremepoverty and being badly abused by my father,to the time I left school. This was the period Ibroke free from my cycle of despair.

This book, Scholars’ Secrets, is therefore nota book in isolation. It forms part of a larger col-lection of books that will help you unlock yourpotential and overcome the difficulties andchallenges of life in order to achieve excellenceand success.

Congratulations for having this book in yourhand. Your process of transformation has begun.In school, as well as in life, may you pass withflying colours!



4

Study Secrets

Exceptional circumstances during my postgrad-uate studies made me adopt study techniquesthat were drastically different from whatI had done before, since I was working andstudying at the same time. I started off with aprofessional Diploma in Personnel Management.Before I completed the course, I took up aMaster of Arts in Human Resource Development.Thus, I was pursuing two postgraduate coursesconcurrently whilst holding a full-time job.

Being in the navy presented me with furtherconstraints. As the navy is an operational mili-tary unit, I could not completely plan my workand study schedule. I could be recalled at anytime for a military exercise. I could not know

33


for sure that any application for study leavewould be approved. Life was full of uncertainty.

So, from early on, I knew that I would nothave a lot of time for studies. I had to carefullymanage whatever little time that was availableand study effectively. I also knew that I couldnot afford to study at the last minute.

If I were to be called up for a military exer-cise just before my examinations — and thisdid happen before the final examination of mymaster’s degree programme — any plan for lastminute revision would have to be abandoned.I had to study consistently throughout theyear.

As it turned out, some of the things I didwere exactly what some authors of books onexamination success had recommended. I hadread some of these books in my younger days, insecondary school, pre-university and university.At that time, I found a lot of their recommen-dations to be “common sense” and so I did notpay much attention. I picked up a few usefultips here and there, but I would not say thatany book had a great impact on me. I did not getan integrated plan of action from any of thosebooks.



In my research for this book, I again boughtsome books with titles along the lines of How tostudy? or How to pass examinations? Again, Ifound many of their recommendations to becommon sense. But this time around, after hav-ing gone through the experience, I could appre-ciate the value of common sense advice. I haddone exactly the same thing.

So, do not dismiss common sense advice, suchas studying consistently throughout the year.It may be common sense, but it is not commonpractice. How many people actually apply it?

I also realised from my research that mostbooks on study and examination techniques arewritten by teachers, examiners, psychologistsand other “experts”. I did not come across anybook written by top students and scholars.

Thus, during a discussion with Mr Seow HwyeTiong, Dean of Affective Studies at Hwa ChongInstitution, my alma mater, we came up with theidea of interviewing past students from HwaChong who had won scholarships to study atlocal and foreign universities.

A questionnaire was sent out to scholars, ask-ing them about their study techniques as well asfactors that either helped or obstructed their

Study Secrets 35


studies. Some of the scholars forwarded thequestionnaire to their friends who were alsoscholars, but not from Hwa Chong.

As the scholars had requested to remainanonymous, the names and personal details havebeen modified to protect their identities.However, their comments about how they copedwith studies and ended up getting good resultsare genuine.

Feedback from the scholars reinforced thevalue of many things that I did myself duringmy postgraduate studies. A lot of what they didwas also common sense.

More significantly, they reinforced thePRAISE model discussed earlier. These stu-dents won scholarships because they had set aclear goal, that is, a Prizedream. Some specifi-cally wanted a scholarship. Others wanted tostudy abroad and they saw that winning a schol-arship was the only way to be able to affordoverseas study.

Many of the students had favourable support-ive factors. Some acknowledged that they musthave been gifted with above average intelligenceas otherwise they would not have done well. But



the majority felt that their friends were just assmart, or smarter.

Most found their parents, friends and teach-ers to be highly supportive. A few, however,came from difficult home environments wherethey faced financial and relationship problems.Somehow, they managed to cope.

Regardless of their circumstances, the stu-dents all studied hard. A few initially did notstudy as hard as they felt they should have, andtheir grades were not fantastic. When theysubsequently studied harder, their gradesimproved significantly.

So there are no secret shortcuts. If you wantto do well in your studies, you need to put in thehard work.

Some of you may find the “study secrets”presented in this book to be too basic, espe-cially if you have already read books on “how tostudy”. If so, please excuse me. I am writing fora large audience, including both young andmature students, and I cannot assume thateveryone knows the basics.

However, even basic study techniques, whenthey are diligently applied by students who are

Study Secrets 37


motivated to do well, can lead to excellentresults. Do not underestimate the usefulness ofsimple advice.

I have divided the following chapters intothree broad topics: study techniques, revisiontechniques and examination techniques. I can-not guarantee that you will pass “with flyingcolours” by applying these techniques, but yourchances will certainly improve.

If you also apply the PRAISE model presentedearlier, your chances of success will be thatmuch greater. Study secrets will not produceresults if the student is not motivated. ThePRAISE model will help you discover and definethat motivation. It will help you unlock yourpotential; it will get you out of mediocrity andconformity, to achieve excellence and success.



2009 scholarssec

Documents