Excellence

 

Kelvin Yang

 

Please click here for the audio summary

 

As a special segment of this exhibition, we have interviewed one of our graduates, Kelvin Yang, to share his path to excellence in studying DSE Economics.

 

Why Economics?

Kelvin has been interested in Economics ever since his first glance at his course’s textbooks, which leading him to choose Economics as one of his electives.  The reason for him to choose Economics rather than liberal arts subjects is that Economics requires inference and logical thinking.

 

Kelvin mentioned that his friends and his mother had a big influence to his decision. After consultation and encouragement by his mother, who said that Economics is useful, he chose economics over other liberal arts subjects.

 

How Kelvin studies economics

Kelvin Yang is a visually impaired student.  Therefore, his way of studying Economics is different from us.  While he would also study past papers and jot down the keywords needed for each question type, he wasn’t able to see the highlighted words like most of us do.  Therefore, Kelvin tried sticking memos next to the main points in the Braille books.  He still claimed that there is no great difference between his ways of studying and the normal students’ way of studying though.

 

Cheating

What about cheating?  Kelvin says that he thinks that it is not practical to cheat as it wastes lots of time.  Though visually impaired students may be able to cheat in tests by using their computer to search the net for answers as they need computers (with the screen switched off) to complete tests, they can never cheat in exams as a Braille typewriter is provided in the exams.  “The opportunity cost of using the computer to cheat is too high!” Kelvin said.

 

It’s so heavy!

Heavy textbooks are more serious to visually impaired students as the Braille textbooks are much thicker and heavier than our books.  So, how did Kelvin deal with it?

 

Kelvin would ask his teachers if any books are needed beforehand so as to reduce any “extra burden”.  However, he needed to bring piles of Braille past papers and his textbooks everywhere when he was preparing for DSE.  He even used 30 boxes to transport all his Braille books when he moved his home once.

 

The extra weight may seem bad for Kelvin, but it may also be an “advantage” to him! Kelvin once forgot to bring his Maths textbook to lesson, but he used other textbooks to pretend that he had brought it.  However, he could not do so during Economics lessons as there are graphs on Economics textbooks, in which other textbooks do not have!

 

Difficulties in studying and experiences as a visually impaired student

People might wonder whether he can concentrate in class as he is wearing earphones.  He replied that they are optional for him, and usually he will listen to the teacher first before jotting notes down in the computer, so that he won’t be distracted.  The other reason not to use them is that using earphones with a computer might cause misunderstandings with teachers as they may think he is doing something else.

 

Someone said that it is unfair as visually impaired students have 75% extra time in examination.  However, he thinks that it is not the case as it requires time for him to touch the Braille or graphs to get a general idea on the question, which is time consuming and it takes additional time if he forgot the keywords in the question.

There are usually several arguments with teachers as they might not have a clear idea on how much additional time should be given to him.

 

How do visually impaired students do tests and exams?

For tests, he will do them in the Library. Usually he can’t do the test in normal classroom as his test overrunning might affect the following lessons of other classmates.

 

For DSE, he would do them in Ebenezer School, and he will be provided with a special room with either a computer or a typewriter. A special team of the HKEAA will assist him in finishing the paper.

 

He can’t do the examination with the rest of the candidates as he had the additional time arrangement. Also, the sound made by the typewriter can annoy other students.

 

It certainly has been a great time learning from a fellow Pauline and a fighter of life. We wish Kelvin all the best on his future!

 

Helpful Tips from Kelvin on how to study Economics

Time management: Kelvin noted that studying economics requires good time management skills. Taking himself as an example, he said that he spent more time to train himself to draw various economic graphs, such as the basic demand and supply graphs.

 

In addition, since he has to draw the whole graph again if he gets any part of the graph wrong, as well as needing an assistant to help him mark the labels on the graph while being uncertain on how long would that take, he spares a lot of time drawing graphs during exams.

 

Practice: To improve your results in Economics you need to do more past papers, said Kelvin. He said that past papers can make economic concepts easier to understand and it helps him to remind himself of the keywords needed for each question type. Even if students have a clear concept of each topic, it is not guaranteed that they get marks, but by constantly doing past papers, anyone could eventually see the pattern of the papers.

 

Be hardworking: Kelvin noted that if you are willing to spend time in Economics, this subject would be easier to improve the results than other subjects.

Why? Kelvin replied that subjects such as literature are subjective and it would be hard to determine whether to give marks or not. Economics, however, is more objective.

 

Be realistic: As Economics is known for being a tangible subject, one can readily study economics with more ease by reading more news to know more about the world, applying the knowledge learnt and understanding the economic issues(e.g. inflation rate, GDP and purchasing power) can help in studying Economics. Inversely, learning Economics can help you further understand the news/social issues. The most important things in applying knowledge into daily lives is the step of thinking, which is the most valuable.

 

Writer: Chiu Tsun Hei, Austin (5E)