It’s so much volume of work to just memorize everything over and over again, I eventually never finished studying for the test... It would be the day before, and I was like, ‘Oh, no, I just have to go in and wing it now because I can’t remember anything.’
“In high school, especially... the general study system method is just to do a lot of practice papers.”
That was Chau’s norm: working through as many exam-style questions as possible. But she didn’t find it inspiring, and she wasn’t confident it was the only way.
“In year 10, the peak of my ‘studying techniques’ before that was basically just taking a lot of notes and then rewriting them over and over again until I remembered them.”
For maths, she pushed this to the extreme.
“Whereas for maths and stuff, I would do every single question in the textbook, even if I already knew how to do the questions.”
The approach was time-consuming and exhausting.
“I would procrastinate a lot, and because it’s so much volume of work to just memorize everything over and over again, I eventually never finished studying for the test.”
That often meant heading into assessments unprepared.
“It would be the day before, and I was like, ‘Oh, no, I just have to go in and wing it now because I can’t remember anything.’”
It wasn’t just about performance—her wellbeing suffered.
“Even with these techniques, I was just so stressed, like in year 10, I would go to sleep, and my brain was full of thoughts, and I just couldn’t sleep.”
Chau recalls the first time she used one of iCanStudy’s techniques.
“I remember the first time I tried some of the mind mapping techniques and then, I went to review the content about like a week later. I was like ‘Oh, my god, I can actually remember everything.’ And I actually understand it, and that was so cool.”
That understanding came without rote memorisation or repetitive drilling.
“I went into my exams not having done any (past papers), and I still did good. And I was like, ‘What is this? What is this magic?’ It was really unexpected.”
Her unexpected results turned into record-breaking achievements:
“I got runner-up dux (salutatorian) at my school. And then, I also was not expecting this, but I got a 99.95 ATAR (top 0.05% result countrywide), and it achieved a general exhibition, which was eighth in the state for my exam results.”
“Yeah, and then, all of that led to me getting into medicine, which was one of my big dreams in the end.”
The results weren’t instant, but the skills were lasting.
“It’s not an instant fix where you watch a video, and now, you’re like, ‘You’re amazing! You’re so good!’ You have to put in time and effort to work on these skills, and I know that everyone in iCanStudy has worked really hard to get where they are, and they’re really dedicated.”
She now approaches challenges in medical school with confidence.
“Now, I feel like I’m… more capable of actually achieving those goals, because I have the skills to tackle it, and I also know that I have the skills to reflect on a problem and overcome it.”
“And I know that I don’t need to know the solution right now, but I can make mistakes and learn from that, and ultimately get to where I want to go.”
Join the iCanStudy program today and experience the transformation for yourself.
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