“I actually didn’t want to join any more programmes.” said Emma* with a sheepish smile on her face.

Emma* recalled her reluctance to join the Dyslexia Association of Singapore (DAS)’s iStudySmart (iSS) programme in 2022 when she was in Secondary 4. At the time, while attending school, she was also studying on the DAS’s Main Literacy Programme for literacy support. Prior to that, Emma also attended DAS’s Speech and Drama Arts (SDA) programme. Her mother happened to chance upon iStudySmart and signed her up for it despite Emma’s unwillingness.

She recalled how it was like in the past before she joined the iStudySmart programme.

“In secondary school, my learning experience was stressful and also fun at the same time. [It was] stressful when I have homework and assignments, [but] I’ll always procrastinate. I needed to better manage my time [as] it was very hard for me to submit on time and focus on my work, [which] made my secondary school experience pretty stressful.”

After Emma enrolled in iStudySmart, she learnt techniques on how to manage her time, sustain her concentration, and reduce her distractions to handle all the tasks she needed to complete and prepare for her National Examinations.

“I learnt about the Pomodoro technique, like focus for 25 minutes and [take a] break for 5 minutes. It helped me better manage my work. I also learnt about how to use the Trello [app] board to list down the assignments I have in terms of [the level of ]importance and urgency. When I joined iStudySmart in secondary 4, I learnt many ways of how to better manage my time. When I [went] to sec 5, I was able to better appreciate the time I have to study and focus on my work.”

Through the support received on iSS, Emma was able to overcome some of her challenges and cope better in secondary school. She worked very hard to overcome her low self-confidence and cast away her shy self. She even incorporated what she learnt from SDA and iStudySmart on presentation skills into her Final Presentation and won a prize in the Final Presentation Secondary School category. In addition, she did well in her Secondary 4 National Examinations and progressed to Secondary 5. She attributed her achievements to iStudySmart.

“I think that [my peers] should join iStudySmart because I met very amazing teachers and I felt more comfortable sharing my thoughts and my learning. I also enjoyed giving the presentation and [benefited from] the other presentations that the other students gave. Hopefully, like me, you can step out of your comfort zone and try new things.”

*The name has been changed to protect the identity of the student