My name is Yang Kaiwen, and I'm currently in my second year at Yang Ming Junior High School in Kaohsiung. I completed the final level of KUMON math in the first semester of my second year, and I'm currently working on the second round of math materials. I’ve won first place in the 2018 Gauss Math Competition, full marks in the 2019 International Computational Thinking Challenge, and a gold medal in the 2022 Math Without Borders competition.

I started learning KUMON when I was 3 years old, and I absolutely love KUMON math. Every time I get new materials, I get very excited. In the beginning, whenever I encountered something I didn't understand, I would immediately ask the teacher. However, the teacher wouldn’t directly give me the answer. Instead, they would let me look at the examples and think about the principles and methods. Only when I fully understood the problem type could I truly say I had learned it. During my learning, I also faced bottlenecks and avoided doing the work at times. But with the support and encouragement of my family and teachers, I found the motivation to continue learning.

When working on materials beyond my grade level, I often got stuck because I hadn’t learned some basic concepts yet. At these times, I had to ask my teacher for guidance, and with just a little hint, everything would become clear, giving me a #great sense of achievement from solving the problems. As my ability grew, I began to self-study. In my free time, I would watch videos of foreign teachers teaching math, and I found some really cool problems. Since I had learned beyond my grade level, even if I didn’t initially understand the English, I could still grasp the content using my math skills, while also improving my English.

The biggest benefit of learning beyond my grade level is that #my schoolwork becomes easier to manage. I can dedicate more time to other subjects and respond more quickly in class compared to my peers. Having developed the habit of "thinking for myself," I can also self-study before the teacher teaches the lesson.

The greatest gain from learning KUMON has been cultivating #cultivating patience and the #determination to find the answer. The most effective way is to immediately review the materials and correct any mistakes as soon as they happen. When encountering obstacles, don't be afraid—doing more problems and practicing will definitely help you overcome them!