Top 10 Rituals for Successful Sessions from Asian Students

Exams are a time of great stress.Especially in East Asia, where there is a great desire to achieve incredibly high results.But whatever the cultural differences, all students have their own student traditions — rituals and superstitions — whether it's a lucky song, eating a special product, or even wearing "lucky" pants. Below are some of the rituals that give students the confidence to do well on their exams.

1. How easy it is to pass exams with "Kit-Kat".

Traditionally, on exam day or the day before, Japanese students eat a dish called "katsudon": a warm bowl of rice topped with an egg and deep-fried pork chops. The name of the dish bears a resemblance to the word "katsu", which means "victory," and is believed to bring good luck to students.

But the KitKat bar in Japan has also established itself as a lucky bar. The Japanese version of the name is pronounced "Kitto Katto", which is similar to the phrase "Kitto Katsu" meaning "absolute victory".Thus, the chocolate bar boded well for a successful session.

2. Asian students eat one apple a day.

Canteens on the University of Hong Kong campusoffer apples on their menus, as well as a variety of apple dishes ahead of the exam period.

"The pronunciation of the word" apple "in Chinese would sound like" ping guo ", which also means" safety. "Thus, it is believed that you will pass the exam safely and easily."- says Jung Wang from Nanjing.

3. Student tradition - to wash or not wash your hair?

In an endless cycle of cramming tickets all night long and textbooks, you may have forgotten to shower. But don't worry - people in South Korea believe that washing your hair can "wash" all knowledge out of your head.

"There was one boy in our class who did not wash his hair before exams. The rest of the time hewas very clean, but as soon as the time of the session came, I didn't even want to go next to him, "one student told about a classmate.

4. Nuts are the key to successful passing of the session!

About a month before the start of exams in Hong Kong, students in clubs, societies and living quarters gather for the "super surrender" ritual, or Jing Guo.

"Super Surrender" is a series of activities designed to help you pass the highest grade exams. The first part is dinner, which is usually held in a Chinese restaurant. Eating pork pieces with cashews is very important - one of the dishes for "super-surrender. "The Chinese word" cashew "sounds like" desire to pass ", and" pork cubes "are consonant with the phrase" striving for difference. "

Homophones, or homonyms, play a large role in ritualsand superstition among many Asian students.

5. A piece of luck.

After returning home, it is time for all students to cut the giroast pig, which is considered an important sacred ceremony in China.

Each competitor gets one attempt to cut the pig into two halves.

Those who succeed will pass all the exams the first time, and those who could not, according to legend, will retake some of them.

Cutting is followed by eating kiwi, as the Chinese name for this fruit is "easy to pass."

6. Prayer for success.

Many students in East Asia receive support from their parents, whether they want to or not.

"Some parents pray for their children to pass the exam session all the way through," says Ji-Young Jung, a South Korean teacher. "My mom did it, but my results were terrible."...

Parents who are particularly passionate about the process go too far: for example, they prayat Buddhist temples every day for 100 days before the exam.

7. Happy hours versus slippery soup.

In South Korea, the high level of "slipperiness" of seaweed soup eaten is believed to mean that you will lose all the knowledge from the tickets you memorized on sleepless nights.

"I try not to eat seaweed soup before important events such as exams or job interviews. But if I happen to eat it by accident, I don't worry too much."- says Yi-Yun.

Noh Jung Wang from China says, “My personal student tradition is noodles for breakfast on exam day, as noodles means“ everything goes smoothly ”in Chinese.happy hours. ”

8. Chicken broth as a student tradition.

A little sugar can energize you, but South Koreans also believethat this sweet snack might be valid when passing the exam.

Yeot, a traditional sticky dish, is eaten before important exams, especially before the university entrance exams.

Ji-Young explains, “Yeot is sticky and sweet, but the Korean words for“ sticky ”and“ passing the entrance exam ”sound the same.

You can also drink chicken broth, whichis believed to be able to energize the brain.

Students in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and China typically drink it during ticket reruns and in the morning before the exam itself.

"Nonewhat superstitions, "says Dylan Lee Sun Yong, a Singaporean student," I drink chicken broth the morning before the exam.It is drunk very quickly, immediately after heating.This should help your concentration, which is quite difficult for students from Singapore. "

9. Wearing red underwear.

Red is widespreadin China ashappy color.Many Asian students find it a good idea to wear some kind of red clothing or specifically red underwear during exams.

When a person is particularly successful, the Chinese say, "Are you wearing red underwear?"

Noh Jong Wan warns, "Some people do not wear red during exams because in China, low scores are traditionally written in red on the score sheet."

10. Prayer to the God of the Crooked Bell.

The God of the Crooked Bell is the embodiment of the fears of university students, following the “crooked bell” classification system used by leading universities in Asia such as National University of Singapore and Nyaniang Technological University.

Bell Grade Curve not only means your test scores, but also how you did it in relation to everyone else in your class.In a country of high performance, this maximizes competitiveness.

Gifts to God have been thought out at both universities, where students traditionally leave food and candles as an offering.

National University of Singapore went so far as to create a website, Facebook and Twitter account for the Crooked Bell God for students to pray to himin online mode.

"As students, we are subject to the almighty, incomprehensible power that the Crooked Bell God is, as he decides what our grades will be," explains Dylan Lee Sun Yoon.