What An Improvement!

Isaiah just had his second set of tests.  As you might remember, I was away in the States two weeks before his first set of exams. When we'd talked on the phone and I'd asked him about his studies, his typical answer was that he was putting in the time in reading his textbooks and preparing for his exams.  His pat answer was, "My score will reflect my effort, Mom!" (And Mom was said in a very strong way, meaning, 'stop nagging me'.) So, I told him, 'I hope so' and left it at that.

Well, the scores came back and reflected his lack of effort.

This time for the second set of exams, I was home. And Isaiah followed our household rule in that he studied about 60 minutes each night, five nights a week.

The result --

                                    1st Tests                                     2nd Tests
Chinese                             67                                                95
English                              97                                                96
Math                                  84                                                94
History                               75                                                85
Geography                         62                                                80
Citizenship                         60                                                77
Biology                             100                                              100
Chemistry                          49                                                95
Overall Average:          78.3                                             90.3
Class Ranking:                  6                                                   3

In fact, he was very close to being ranked 1st in his class for this set of tests.

I know Isaiah. He is very capable and smart.  If he would just put in a little effort, he can do so well in all his subjects.

Now, I will be gone again two weeks before his final exams.  I asked Alan to PLEASE keep to our household rule about studying. That means he has to study five days a week and he cannot have his cell phone next to him when he is studying.  Because if he did have his cell phone (which was what happened on the first set of tests), he wouldn't be studying. He would be texting his friends for those 60 minutes. Oh, he will have his books opened, but what he is really doing is texting people.  The kids who live at school also have to abide by this rule. All cell phones are given to the dorm parents during the time of studying and again after 11p.m. Students are not allowed to have their phone at night.

I hope that Isaiah has learned from this because the improvement from the 1st to the 2nd tests is just too dramatic!

Seek Him First!