School News

Highest Achiever of HSC Exam Spills the Tea

Published by SchoolAdvisor | Jan 29, 2021

Alexander Kam never thought he would be the receiver of the highest achiever award in the Australian International School Malaysia (AISM)’s Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC). That is not all, this All-Rounder Award winner beat the school’s previous HSC high score of 99 and received Top Achiever Award for three subjects and Distinguished Achiever Award for all six subjects.

He sits down with School Advisor and shares the secret to his success: 

SA: Firstly, a big congratulations on your achievement. How does it feel?

Alexander: Thank you. Well, it was incredibly surreal to achieve all this, I always thought 99.95 was an impossible score for me. There are only a handful of students who would get it out of a 10,000. But above everything else, I am very relieved. I'm relieved that all the years and hours I've put into studying haven't gone to waste.

 

SA: To what do you attribute your success?

Alexander: First and foremost, I think that I would not have achieved this without the thousands of man hours. I devoted my life to HSC. All I remember last year was waking up to do practice exams, going to school to do more practice exams and coming back from school and doing even more.

In terms of resources, my teachers were really the greatest assets I could have. I cannot thank them enough for their help. I was meeting my teachers once a week for advice and they were invaluable in helping me throughout the HSCs.

Apart from that, my family’s support helped me as well. I was incredibly privileged to have maids and drivers to cook my meals and send me to school, and I cannot imagine studying to the same extent that I did without them. So, I am forever indebted to them.

I also think there is one key to success in the HSCs. To get a top rank, you need to think like a student from a top-ranked school. A former AISM teacher I stayed in contact with provided guidance and instructed me on how to study like a student from a top school, and I was able to immerse myself in that mindset.

SA: Can you share your educational journey?

Alexander: I’ve been a student in AISM for 13 years. Even though I was the top student in junior and middle school, I would say my real personal growth was when the academic clubs became available in AISM.

Specifically, I spent around five years participating in what is known as the World Scholars Cup and the Model United Nations. It was there that I was exposed to topics beyond the high school syllabus and gained more of an understanding of postmodern world events.

It was also where I learned how to be a scholar, study outside of school, debate and write compelling essays. Some of my fondest memories are from intense debates and my time chairing the Model UN Security Council in Singapore.

I think those experiences made me a better student and person, and I am forever grateful for the teachers who made it all possible.

SA: What are some of the challenges and hurdles you faced during this journey and how did you overcome them?

Alexander: I would say that the main hurdle was that most of my subjects were part of a new curriculum introduced. The HSC Maths, Physics and English subjects for example, which had not changed for a decade, suddenly changed. This was worrying, as using practice exams and past papers as my main methods of studying were not viable anymore.

I had to overcome this by finding other routes to study. Most notably, I would just talk to my teachers and discuss entire lessons with them.

The Movement Control Order (MCO) and online classes were definitely a hurdle for everyone last year, but I soon came to realise that this was an opportunity. I now had so much free time that I could study ahead and finish up the course work a term ahead of my class. By the time we were back at school in June, I was already doing revision and practice exams, while others were just learning.

During the MCO, AISM made it easy for us to email teachers and set up virtual meetings. We could easily talk to our teachers about any troubles we had. But I guess the main problem is that students just need to take the initiative to do that. If you don't have the initiative, you can't really take advantage of that.

  

SA: What kept you motivated in your studies?

Alexander: To stay motivated, I took the internal assignment as opportunities to explore things that really interested me. I really liked software development, so for my major software project, I studied game development and used programming languages and game engines outside of our syllabus to create a complete video game.

But in terms of exam preparation, I was really motivated because of my family. My family has quite a long history with the school, I have a brother and sister who graduated from AISM, and AISM has something called the Hall of Excellence, a place where the school recognises students’ achievements. My siblings were up there for Taekwondo related events, and it really bothered me that I could never be on that wall with them. So, I thought, ‘you know, what, what could I do to be part of the legacy?’ That is when I noticed that HSC was recognised and so I strove to beat the existing high score.

 

SA: What are some of the extra-curricular activities you are involved in and how important do you think these activities are for succeeding?

Alexander: I have completed the Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh International Awards. Besides that, I did competitive swimming for two years and I played the bass guitar in a band for around two years as well. Because of these activities, I think I really became more empathetic and a more well-rounded person.

Personally, I don't think that just being good at studies is really all there is to life. In my case, the experiences I gained with the community was what really impacted me the most. For example, in my Bronze Award for Duke of Edinburgh, I went to a soup kitchen and for my Silver Award I taught a game development course at a refugee centre. And in that sense, I think extracurriculars were important as they taught me more than school ever could.

SA: How did you manage to ensure that you would get high marks in all the subjects?

Alexander: There is no easy answer. You must pick subjects that you are really interested in and be motivated to actually study those subjects. If I were forced into subjects that really did not interest me, I would not have put in the same amount of effort into studying and I would not have gotten the score I did. But since I could choose a wide range of subjects that I liked, that elevated my experience and motivated me to keep going.

SA: What are your future plans?

Alexander: At first, I was planning to go to university to study computer science. But since everything is online right now, and social events are not the same, I decided to hold them off until everything is back to normal. University is more than just studying. It is also a place to socialise and meet people. I don't really want to spend another year studying from home. I'm currently working as a software developer for my family's company, and I have an internship planned with a game development studio in Malaysia.As for choosing a university, I never thought about anything outside of Australia. I really want to go to the University of Melbourne, so I will probably go there once everything clears up.

SA: Do you have any tips you can share with students who will be taking their examinations this year?

Alexander: I think what applies to everyone is studying ahead. Nowadays, we have so many online textbooks and online resources, there is really no excuse to stay uninformed and behind in your class. If you can get ahead of your class, you get extra time in the future to just revise and prepare for your exams. Take vacations as optional.Another tip I would give is to talk to your teachers about your subjects. They literally hold an entire wealth of information in their heads. Tap into that wealth and understand the topic a bit better.

SA: Why AISM?

Alexander: My family was originally from Australia but had moved to Malaysia. My parents really liked the country’s education system and they really wanted us to have an Australian education. They believe that it was the best split between the United Kingdom and the American system. They did not want something that limited me, neither did they want something that had too many options where I couldn’t really find something that I truly enjoyed. The Australian system in AISM was really a good hybrid of those two systems. It allowed me to have a wide range of options, but with the opportunity to explore those options in depth, without having the inconvenience of learning a subject I was not interested in.

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AISM is proud to congratulate all the students who were Distinguished Achievers (achieved the highest possible band in one or more subjects) in 12 different subjects. Given the challenges they faced during the lockdown, these individuals have done exceptionally well and their success is all the more sweeter. Congratulations to each and every student for their remarkable achievement in the 2020 HSC!

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To find out more about our pre-university course, visit AISM Website or contact our Admissions Team at 03-8949 5000 or email admissions@aism.edu.my.