Thursday, March 10, 2016

Top 10 Ways: How to Pass Exams?

- Warning: Do not try this at home, for the actors and participants below are either professionals or desperate last-minute people. Viewers are advised to use discretion, if they want to maintain sanity.






Exams are a time of great stress. Especially in East Asia, where the pressure is on to achieve sky-high results.Whatever the cultural differences, all students have their own rituals and superstitions, whether it is playing a lucky song, eating special food or even wearing a pair of lucky pants.






Here are some of the ways that exam-crazy students from across Asia ensure they pass with flying colours.

And there is a comment form at the end to let us know your favourite exam rituals and special ways of preparing.


  1. How KitKat got lucky.




Pic 01 KitKat in Japanese sounds like "surely winning" and has become a good omen for exams



Traditionally, Japanese students would eat Katsudon before or on the day of an exam, comprising a warm bowl of rice topped with egg and a deep-fried pork cutlet.

The dish name's likeness to the word "katsu", meaning "winning" is thought to bring students luck.
But KitKat in Japan has also been marketing itself as a bringer of good luck.

Pronounced as "kitto katto", the chocolate's name is similar to the phrase "kitto katsu", meaning "surely winning", making it a good candidate for a good luck charm.






2. An apple a day.

 





Pic 02:  Image caption Fruit of learning: Hong Kong students eat apples before exams


Canteens across Hong Kong University campuses serve apples, and a variety of apple dishes, in the run-up to the exam period.

"The pronunciation of apple in Chinese is "ping guo", which also means "safety". So it's considered that you will safely pass the exam," says Chong Wang, from Nanjing in China.





3. Avoid washing your hair.





Pic 03: Bad hair day: Rinsing away any chance of success

In your vicious cycle of all-night revision, microwave food and highlighter pens, you may have forgotten to have a shower.

But not to worry - in South Korea, it's thought that washing your hair could wash all the knowledge out.

"There was one boy in our class who didn't wash hair before exams. The rest of the time he was very clean, but once you came to know his exam ritual, you didn't want to go near him," said one student about a classmate. 

 
4. Eat Cashew nuts before the exams.
Pic 04: For Chinese students, the name for cashew nuts is like "wish to pass"


Around a month before exams start in Hong Kong, students in clubs, societies and residential halls, will gather for "superpass", or ging guo.

"Superpass" is a series of activities aimed at helping you pass your exams with a top score. The first part is the superpass dinner, which is usually held at a Chinese restaurant.

It's important that students eat pork cubes with cashews, one of the signature superpass dishes. The Chinese word for "cashews" sounds like the word for "wish to pass", and "pork cubes" sounds like "desire for a distinction".
Homophones, or homonyms, play a big part in ritual and superstition in many East Asian languages.

5. A slice of luck
Pic 05: Cutting a roast pig is a part of many ceremonies in Hong Kong, including "superpass"


Returning to the hall, it's time for everyone to have a turn at slicing through a giant roast pig, considered to be an important sacred offering in China.

Each participant is given one try at cutting the pig into two halves.

Those who succeed are thought to go on to pass all their exams the first time round, and those who fail, will have to re-sit some.

This is followed by eating kiwis, as the Chinese word for the fruit sounds like "easy to pass exams." 
 
6. Praying for success - I believe this is quite popular among KL/PJ Students

Pic 06: Parents in South Korea praying for their children as they take exams


Many students in East Asia have the attentive support of their parents, whether they want it or not.
"Some parents wait for their children outside the exam hall praying for them to pass," says South Korean teacher Ji-Youn Jung, "My mum did, but my test results turned out to be awful."
Ultra-keen parents will go as far as praying at Buddhist temples every day for the 100 days leading up to the exam.





7. Lucky watch versus a slippery soup.
Pic 07: Slippery customer: Seaweed soup could mean exam disaster


In South Korea, the slipperiness of the widely-eaten seaweed soup is thought to mean you will lose all the knowledge from the notes you've been revising like mad.

"I try not to have seaweed soup before important plans like exams or interviews. But if I happen to eat it without consciousness, I don't worry too much," Ji-Youn says.

But Chong Wang from China says: "My personal tradition is to have noodles for breakfast on exam day, as noodles mean "everything goes smooth" in Chinese. But I also take my lucky watch."





8. Chicken power.
Pic 08: Could chickens help boost your brain power?



A bit of sugar might give you an energy boost, but South Koreans also believe that this sugary snack could have exam-passing powers.

Yeot, a traditional sticky food, is eaten before important exams, especially university entrance exams.
Ji-Youn explains: "Yeot is a sticky sweet, and the Korean words for "sticky" and "pass entrance exam" sound the same."

Or else drink some chicken juice, which is thought to give your brain a boost.
Students in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and China tend to drink this while revising for exams, and on the morning of the exam itself.

"It's nothing superstitious," says Dylan Lee Soon Yoong, a Singaporean student at University College London.

"I drink chicken essence on the morning of the exam... you down it like a shot after heating it up. It's supposed to help your concentration and is marketed pretty heavily to students in Singapore."






9. Wear red underwear. 

Pic 09: Well read: All you need to remember for exam success, lucky red pants


Red is widely believed to be a lucky colour in China. So many believe that it's a good idea to wear some red clothing, or more specifically red underwear, during an exam.

When a person is particularly successful, there is a Chinese saying, "Are you wearing red underwear?"

But Chong Wang warns: "Some people may avoid wearing red during exams because in China, fail scores are written in red on score sheets."





Image copyright NUS
Image caption 
10. Singaporean students style: Pray for mercy from the "Bell Curve God"

Pic 10: Singaporean students can pray electronically to the "Bell Curve God"


The Bell Curve God is an embodiment of university students' fears of the bell curve grading system used in Asia's top universities, such as the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University.

Bell curve grading means not just measuring how well you did in an exam, but rather how you did in relation to everyone else in your class. In an already high-achieving country, that pushes competitiveness to the max.

Shrines to the Bell Curve God have been set up at both universities, where food and candles are left as offerings to the "God".

The National University of Singapore has gone as far as setting up a website, Facebook and Twitter account for the Bell Curve God, so that students can pray electronically.

"As students, we are subject to the omnipotent, inscrutable force that is the Bell Curve God. He is the arbitrary being that decides our grades," Dylan Lee Soon Yoong explains.




You can do lots of hard work and ritualistically observe all the above ten ways. Remember to buy the red underwear from UNIQLO, heard it is better fabric and pricing. Or, you can try the old and tested way, pore over Past Years Questions, attend classes, do your tests and graduate like the rest of us. It never fails.






Sunday, March 6, 2016

Hot Exam Topic: P3 (BA) - Supply Chain Management Restructuring

 


Note: Supply chain management, value chain, e-marketing are Examiner Steve Skidmore’s favourite examinable topics. You definitely want to focus on how to provide solutions for a specific case scenario. 

Special Note: Steve Skidmore is known for inserting "new knowledge" on Exam Answers, so you won't find the information below in your textbooks. 

 

What is Supply chain management?

Supply chain management involves the coordination of all supply activities of an organization from its suppliers and delivery of products to its customers.



Supply chain management includes not only supplier and buyer, but also the intermediaries such as the supplier’s suppliers and the customer’s customers.


To illustrate the Food Supply Chain, see the pictures below. 

 
Farm : Cow Herds as the Upstream Supply chain

Processing Meat Factory

Logistics to deliver to Restaurants, Outlet, Retail/Hyper marts.

Final Product a Platter

Ummm... Do I need to explain this?





What are the Six Challenges in Supply chain management? 


According to Dave Chaffey, there following are: 



1.    Pressure to reduce costs of manufacturing and distributing products in order to remain competitive

2.    Demand forecasting

3.    Failure to deliver products on time consistently or lack of items on shelf in retailer

4.    Failure to deliver or ship correct product

5.    High inventory costs

6.    Time for new product development



Question: How can Genting Hotel and Casino restructure its supply chain? Recommend any hardware infrastructure and software solutions applicable to your restructuring solutions. [15 marks] 





Suggested Answer:
Assume we apply Genting Hotel supply chain that requires restructuring supply chain.  


 
$9.99 to travel to Genting Casino Hotel?! What are we waiting for?
Link to Airline Supply Chain




Link to Land transport Supply Chain
Add value to Value System Stream - Restaurant for guests



1.     Cooperation relationship with linkage to upstream supply chain with airlines like Air Asia, Ryan Air to determine how many tourists are arriving. This will assist in planning the forecasting of demand based on seasonal needs.



2.     On linkage with upstream air line companies, install SAP’s Enterprise Resource Planning allowing tourist-marketing offices to have access real time on Genting Hotel’s booking records for the year. The information flow seamlessly between the suppliers and company itself.



3.     Collaboration relationship with exchange of expertise such as market research knowledge. Genting can do market research to determine which countries are most likely to visit Malaysia only casino. They use internet connection to linked with different government offices around the world to determine the countries most likely to have large tourists number.



4.     On exchanging market research, install Technological Interface Management (TIM) that allows suppliers, intermediaries and customers to focus on collection, collation, interpretation and dissemination of vast amount of information. B2B relationship that will allow Genting management to know surplus idle room capacity that will influence tactical pricing and promotion.



5.     Power based relationship to reduce the cost of services. Genting can invite tenders for its food supply, linen laundry and cleaning contracts. Potential bidders need to submit online to Genting group and then selection based on best specification and pricing are made.



6.     On attracting suppliers, install Website with extranet to approved suppliers that could submit e-tender. There is time savings and thus the supply chain could quickly select suitable suppliers that it selects online.



7.     Arms Length relationship where Genting Hotel can link with neutral platform hotel bookings website like Agoda.com. This way, there is a meeting between suppliers of hotel rooms and demand generating secured sales.



8.     On marketing on neutral platform for travel/hotel trading website that basically allow Genting to compete with other hotel suppliers. The website will attract a large pool of customers who in turn can choose the wide hotels selection.



9.     Collaborate with transport sector and airline company to offer a one package tourist package. This saves time and add value to customers with ease of choosing tour destinations.



10. Cooperative relationship in having real time linkage with tourism companies accessing number of hotels still available for booking during the year.



11. Strategic intelligence in analyzing the demand patterns of its linked up partners such as airline to determine the estimated number of tourist arrivals. Data analytics software is required to ascertain number of website visitors on Genting website.



12. Cooperative relationship with airline and transport sector to know real time and determine the estimated arrival time. Each bus couch should be equipped with a GPS system in order to determine the arrival time.



13. On Buses tracking system, install Global Positioning System (GPS) is more suitable than Trace Chip Tracking devices as the bus movements are relevant to the tourism industry.



14. Cooperative relationship linking food suppliers with its restaurants food requirement so that Just In Time inventory can be installed. Assuming that hotels would have restaurant services too.



15. On Restaurants, install Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) and Just In Time (JIT) systems enable suppliers to determine real time the re-order levels to replenish food, laundries and replacements for toiletries. This avoid risks of no stocks within Genting Hotel.



Conclusion

Genting supply chain should focus downstream marketing and devices by adopt Information technology infrastructure such as cloud computing, e-mobile and e-tablet browsing capabilities to widen its market appeal.












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