In my final year of high school, the average grade in my international Chinese-track class hovered between 16 and 18/20. Everyone graduated with top honors and landed prestigious programs (Dauphine, elite engineering and business schools). No higher IQ, no innate gift: just 5 principles any student can apply. This guide breaks down that “Chinese method,” tested on 140+ students through a math tutoring program, so you can radically transform your results as early as next term.
Principle 1: A Sense of Responsibility — Your Mission Beyond the Grades
In many immigrant Chinese families, parents sacrifice themselves 7 days a week (restaurants, factories) to give their children a future. That reality forges a moral debt: studying is no longer a chore but a mission. When my parents worked 12-hour days, procrastinating over homework was unthinkable — their sacrifices demanded that my actions live up to them.
Apply it yourself: Find a reason bigger than yourself. Not “get a 15 in math,” but “honor my parents’ investment,” “prove I’m worth more than people expect,” or “build the life I dream of.” That responsibility becomes your emotional fuel when motivation runs low. In the moment you want to abandon a review session, it isn’t desire that keeps you going — it’s the urgency of not betraying that commitment.
Concrete result: One student, initially at 11/20, visualized every exercise as a step toward the engineering school he’d promised his parents. In 3 months: +5 points on his average (16/20 on the mock exam). Responsibility turns one-off effort into consistency.
Principle 2: Discipline — Leveling Up Like a Video Game
Discipline is not innate: it’s a muscle you develop through repetition. Like an athlete who trains daily without asking “do I feel like it or not?”, the best students automate their actions. An hour of study hall? Reflex: homework. Commute? Reflex: review notes. Test in 3 days? Reflex: textbook exercises.
XP (experience) system: Every study session = +1 level of mental endurance. Today you’re level 1 (15 minutes of focus max)? Start with the bare minimum: 1 exercise, 1 flashcard. Tomorrow: 2 exercises. In 2 weeks: 1 hour without distraction. What matters isn’t your current performance, but the sense of progress.
Automation: After 3 weeks of routine (homework at 6 p.m. sharp, review before dinner), your brain stops negotiating. Working becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth. At Dauphine, I juggled classes + YouTube + entrepreneurship thanks to this discipline, ingrained since high school.
Fatal Mistake: Waiting for Motivation
Motivation is volatile. Discipline works even at 0% desire. An athlete like David Goggins doesn’t ask himself “am I up for training today?” — he just does it, period. Adopt that mindset: your actions today become your habits tomorrow.
Principle 3: Deep Work — 2 Focused Hours Beat 4 Distracted Ones
Deep work = a state of extreme concentration where 100% of your attention is on ONE single task. Two students revise for 4 hours: the first keeps their phone next to them (scrolling every 10 minutes) → retains 20% of the material. The second: phone off, empty desk, clear goal (“finish 5 derivative exercises”) → retains the equivalent of several days’ worth.
Quantity ≠ quality: Working 4 hours doesn’t mean learning for 4 hours. The top performers in my class did in 2 hours what others did in 6, thanks to deep work. Their secret? Optimal conditions, not superhuman effort.
Deep Work Checklist:
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Phone: In another room or your bag (not just “airplane mode”)
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Desk: Only notebook + pen + textbook (no decorations, snacks, etc.)
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Goal: 1 precise task (“re-explain chapter 3 on a blank sheet,” not “review math”)
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Breaks: Hydration, stretching — NEVER TikTok/Instagram (it drains your brain)
FastScribe result: A content creator uses FastScribe to turn a 2-hour interview into a concise mindmap. Instead of re-listening to 2 hours of audio, they extract the key points in 10 minutes → 12x faster to prepare a YouTube script. Same logic for studying: optimize your study time, not its length.
Principle 4: The 3 Methods of Top Students
Method 1: Active > Passive
Rereading your notes = passivity (your brain recognizes the info but doesn’t retain it). On the test, you have to recall it ON YOUR OWN. Test: look at a diagram of the functions of a financial system (collecting savings, managing risk, etc.). Got it? Good. Now reproduce it without looking. Impossible? That’s proof that understanding ≠ retaining.
Effective active recall:
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Redraw the diagram from memory (at least 3 times)
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Explain the material on a blank sheet (Feynman technique)
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Do exercises (not just read the answer key)
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Self-quiz (“What are the 4 functions?”)
Method 2: The Pareto Principle (20/80)
20% of effort = 80% of results. Identify the actions with maximum ROI:
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Math: Exercises + past papers (not rereading theorems)
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Essays: Outlines + key questions (not highlighting)
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History: Dates + causes/consequences (not passively reading the textbook)
Cut the fluff. One student stopped recopying their notes (2 hours/week wasted) to do 10 extra exercises → +3 points in 1 month.
Method 3: Spaced Repetition
Your brain forgets if you don’t reactivate the information. Instead of cramming the night before:
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Day 1: Review the material
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Day 2: Redo 1 exercise
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Day 4: Self-quiz
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Day 7: Redo the same exercise
Each reactivation consolidates long-term memory. Top performers don’t revise the night before — they start from the very first lesson of the chapter. You can’t review 16 literary analyses one week before an oral exam: too many prerequisites. It’s like running 40 km the day before a marathon.
FastScribe for Spaced Repetition
Import your class recordings into FastScribe. The AI generates automatic flashcards with questions and answers. Schedule spaced sessions (Day 1, Day 3, Day 7) to reactivate the material effortlessly. A medical student cut their study-sheet creation time from 5 hours to 20 minutes a week. Learn more about the best AI for creating flashcards.
Principle 5: Long-Term Vision — Why You Get Up Every Morning
Why all this discipline, deep work, and method? Because at the end of the road: a prestigious degree + a better life. In Chinese culture, getting into Dauphine/Polytechnique/HEC = a guarantee of financial stability for future generations. Even without immigrant parents, adopt this mindset.
Define a clear vision:
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“Become an aerospace engineer” (not just “get a 15 in physics”)
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“Fund my studies without a student loan”
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“Prove I’m worth more than my middle-school report card”
When you know why you’re working, every review session gains meaning. Obstacles stay hard, but become obviously worth overcoming. I had a 12 average in 10th grade, convinced that “school just wasn’t for me.” Then I visualized it: Dauphine + launching my own company. That vision turned my study sessions into logical steps, not chores.
The human fuel = meaning. No matter the difficulties: as long as you know why you’re moving forward, you keep going. Real success isn’t the 18/20 or the prestigious school — it’s pursuing that quest for freedom: choosing a life you’re proud of.
The Limit of the “Chinese Secret”: Family Pressure and Burnout
An important nuance: This method works, but it can generate toxic pressure. Some students in my class cracked in the intensive prep years (burnout, anxiety). Responsibility toward your parents must not turn into crushing guilt.
Necessary balance:
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Set limits (1 day off per week)
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Distinguish “working hard” from “destroying yourself”
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If the long-term vision exhausts you, recalibrate it (“succeed for ME,” not just “for others”)
Deep work and the methods are universal. Family pressure? Optional. Find YOUR engine, not the one imposed on you.
Conclusion
The “Chinese secret” is nothing secret at all: responsibility + discipline + deep work + method + long-term vision. You don’t need to be smarter, or Chinese. Just apply these 5 principles consistently. Going from 12 to 18/20 isn’t a feat — it’s a logical consequence. If 140+ students did it, so can you. FastScribe can accelerate your spaced repetition: turn your class recordings into flashcards and mindmaps in two clicks. Freemium 10h/month, GDPR-compliant with EU hosting. Start now: every action today becomes your habit tomorrow.
Frequently asked questions
Do you need a higher IQ to reach 18/20?
No. In the international Chinese-track class described here, students averaged 16 to 18/20 without any superior IQ or innate gift — just 5 applicable principles. Going from 12 to 18/20 is presented as a logical consequence of consistent method, not talent.
Why is discipline more reliable than motivation?
Motivation is volatile and fades, while discipline works even at 0% desire. Discipline is a muscle built through repetition: after about 3 weeks of routine, your brain stops negotiating and working becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth.
What makes deep work more effective than long study sessions?
Deep work is a state of extreme focus on a single task. A distracted student scrolling their phone every 10 minutes retains around 20% of the material, while a focused one retains far more. Top performers did in 2 hours what others did in 6 — thanks to optimal conditions, not superhuman effort.
How does spaced repetition help you remember more?
Your brain forgets information you don’t reactivate. Instead of cramming, you space reviews across Day 1, Day 2, Day 4, and Day 7, and each reactivation consolidates long-term memory. Top students start from the very first lesson of a chapter rather than the night before.
Can this method cause burnout?
Yes. Some students cracked during intensive prep years with burnout and anxiety when family pressure turned into crushing guilt. The fix is balance: set limits like one day off per week, distinguish working hard from destroying yourself, and recalibrate your vision to succeed for yourself.
