How did Eric J Win a Vision Academy Scholarship? | Dulwich International High School Programme Suzhou

Q：How do you think you were able to win a full scholarship at Vision Academy?

——Nothing more than a little bit of luck I think.

Q：How did you prepare before the competition?

——I just laid a good foundation in everyday learning.

Q：How do you feel about winning the scholarship?

——I’ve participated several times, and maybe I’m lucky this time. But, I’m still very surprised about it.

Now we are about to get right to the point.

He likes to take notes and solve math problems.

He played badminton for years and also enjoys reading for a whole afternoon sometimes.

He is efficient in both brainy and brawny activities.

*Below is Eric’s recounts:

I studied advanced mathematics, physics, economics and biology and plan to study a major related to mathematics and mathematical finance.

I would usually collect all the questions I did wrong and save them in a folder, and I would look at them before taking exams. In maths, I would do some competition questions to train my way of thinking. Once I had a mind that was used to competition questions, other maths questions would be a piece of cake to me.

As for the competition, I have started to participate from last year and won the gold award in UKMT (The United Kingdom Mathematics Trust). It’s a pity that the AMC (American Mathematics Competitions) was cancelled due to COVID-19.

Even though some competition and tests were cancelled, Eric still kept learning and making progress, below are some useful methods he shared with us：

One：The ”Lazy man” note-taking method for maths

You will need to understand the knowledge points or the principles of formulas. After understanding, you can save half of your time. Once you understand a principle, you will be able to answer all the questions that relate to it, so there is no need to practice a large number of questions. I will write down some commonly used formulas in my notes and look at them before the exam. You practice one or two questions related to a formula, once you can solve them, you move on. But if you have difficulty solving them, you can spend more time working on them.

Note-taking is still very important. It’s very time consuming to read a thick book before exams. It’s better to read a thinner version of the book. For example, you can write one page of notes to summarize one chapter of a book. Highlight the important parts with different colours, it’s not only eye-catching but also saves time.

For both maths and physics, you can take notes of important points, and you don’t have to write down every detail, just a “lazy” version that you can understand yourself is enough.

Two: Memorize, recite and exercise for Economics

Economics is not like maths, you need to memorize a lot of things. Especially when you see some similar or easy to confuse definitions, we need to remember them distinctively.

For a science student like me, memorization is not my strong point, I find it painful. In fact, memorization is just the first step. You will have to do lots of exercises to reinforce the knowledge to remember it, otherwise, you will forget it.

Therefore, to learn economics well, you must take notes, memorize and exercise. Since essays are worth a lot of points, you’ll also need to practice by writing many essays, which is very time-consuming. To make the process more efficient, you’d better try to memorize the important points in class and review them later. When you practice writing essays, you don’t have to finish writing every essay, you can make an outline of your major points of view instead.

Three: Connect knowledge point into a network for Biology

Learning biology is like learning economics: You need to memorize. I think you need to memorize the definitions of some nouns, once you remember them distinctively, you will be able to use them based on your understanding. Some points have a causal progression relationship, you need to connect each noun into a network, then you can establish your own knowledge system. Simply put, it is like the web of a spider. A Knowledge net is like a circle of friends.

Four: Competition is Compulsory

Nowadays, the number of students who choose to study abroad has increased exponentially, there are more excellent students every year. The competition and scientific research have gradually changed from a plus to a must. If you don’t choose them, you are sure to lose. After all, you cannot stand out simply through exam results alone.

Questions in competitions are more difficult than normal exam questions and you need to think about them from different perspectives. When in competitions, you don’t have to waste time on questions you cannot solve, but move to the next question to save time. After the competition, you can ask the teachers for the solution. After all, time is golden in a competition!

I Loved Maths Even when I was not Good At It

It’s strange that when I was in junior high school, my maths was not good, but I was still interested in it. I think it is probably because that when I was little, I watched a documentary, which showed that maths is magical, a series of symbols would turn out to be a number, it is unbelievable! During the junior high school year, I read some maths-related books, my maths teacher recommended the book Maths and Life, which is a very interesting read. Even though I was not a top math student, the book stimulated a strong interest in me. As I learned more about advanced maths, I suddenly found maths fascinating.

Learning at His Own Pace During COVID-19 Break

This year is very special, but I was not affected by it much.

We had our big exams in May and June originally, once they were cancelled, we had to face internal exams at school. This took a lot of pressure off me.

When I was learning online at home, I think it is important to keep your own pace of learning. At school, we all need to follow the teachers’ pace, once, at home, we can study at our own pace. If you think you have already acquired the knowledge in one part of the textbook, you can move on to the next part. You can also spend enough time on the parts that you have difficulty with.

Of course, there are two sides to a coin. Learning online at home is no exception. Self-discipline is crucial! I usually get up two hours earlier when going to school than staying at home, and the learning time is 5-6 hours, which is shorter than in school. However, I kept a good state of mind, even when I felt stressed out. I would go out to do some exercise to cope with it.

Love for Badminton and Reading

I started playing badminton when I was 6, but I am nowhere near professional! I was in the school badminton team last year but quit later because they required two days of attendance a week. However, I would still play when I had time. Besides badminton, I also love reading. You might want to go out or play with your phone but reading for a whole afternoon is a good way to hone your patience, resilience and concentration.

A Student Who Enjoys Himself

I don’t think I’m a straight-A student or hard-working student, I am a student who tries to enjoy himself wherever he is. If I achieve a good result, I’ll be happy; if the result is not very good, I’ll just try harder next time. Because I know deeply that I will not waste time playing, all I need is to spend more time next time.

Of course, I should adjust my situation especially with university application around the corner. I need to focus more on the study, cut the time I spend on unnecessary activities. Also, I should read more academic books to help with my application.

Dulwich is a Good Choice

I applied for two schools when choosing a high school. The reason I chose Dulwich is that it is a British style school, which provides an environment and education close to overseas schools.

Q: How to choose activities in an international school?

A：It depends on the country you want to study in. For example, if you want to study in the UK，where universities are not very keen about activities, you can choose two activities to attend. But if you want to study in the US, you need to choose some meaningful activities if possible. I truly suggest that you get to know what you want and choose what fits you. However, learning is still the most important thing, don’t put the cart before the horse!

I learned about Vision Academy thanks to a senior student, whose parents knew my parents. They introduced Vision Academy to me, then I joined this big family. Choosing to join Vision Academy was not a bad decision! My math teacher, Ms Melody is very responsible and sends some interesting difficult questions to us to practice with. These problems are inaccessible to us and are truly hard to solve, but it is interesting to learn. The teacher is very professional. She will prepare an outline for each class.

You can learn a lot of systematic knowledge when explaining the topics in the class. The blackboard will be distinguished by pens of different colours. It seems to be quite clear, and it is also really convenient when reviewing. Sure enough, professionalism is reflected in every detail.

The top students have their own efficient learning methods, and early planning has also become a must-have for every outstanding student on the application track for studying abroad. But if you want to go to a prestigious school in the UK or the United States, if you cannot meet their basic requirements, you can't even cross the threshold of the school.