How I got excellent BECE results while managing Lotto Business after school

I got excellent BECE results while managing my dad’s Lotto Kiosk after school…You need to learn all the tricks and tips I used while studying in the Lotto kiosk and you should be able to shatter the BECE or WASSCE with ease.
The day my exam results were released, the mere sight of the results sent shock waves down the spine of everyone who saw it or was told in my family. My neighbours, teachers, and even friends were not ready to accept the fact that I did so much hard work before and during the examination. The only person who could attest to the fruits of my labour was my dad.
After reading my story titled “I got excellent BECE results while managing my dad’s Lotto Kiosk after school” I ask for just one favour from you. Please, put my strategies into practice whether you are writing BECE or WASSCE, or any other examination.
“I got excellent BECE result: Everyone thought I had APOR, but check what I did and copy me” you would realize that, you are not far from making excellent and shocking grades at the BECE or WASSCE.
How did it all start? I was not a brilliant student and no one in my class, nor my teachers, were expecting me to do well in our upcoming BECE.
While in Junior High School 2 (JHS2), I was not doing well, and to be honest, I did not understand anything that was taught. I only went to school every day and added to the number of learners present at school. When the end of the academic year result for the third term in JHS2 was handed over to me, I broke down in tears.
I cried all the way through a nearly 7-kilometer journey home because I had seen the inscription Promoted but on Probation.
My interpretation was that I have been repeated. When I got home, no one could console me, and I was scared of going to JHS3 the next term because I was told if I do not pull my weight in JHS3 term one, I would be sent packing to JHS2. That alone put fear in me, hence I chose to instead repeat as a JHS2 student for one year, and that was the beginning of the miracle.
Trust me, in JHS2 in a public school, I could not even write the first sentence of this entire article. Spelling, sentence construction, and reading were my biggest flaws even in JHS2. A family friend got a hint of my challenges and the fact that I was going to repeat JHS2 and invited me over for free home tuition. He decided to tackle what he perceived those days as the root cause of my woes, and taught me how to read and write. You will not believe what I am about to reveal, on the first day of the reading lesson, he prayed and then taught me phonetics for nearly 2 hours and I remember I stopped attending the class after day one’s lessons. What happened, I got home and picked the Ewe Bible only to start reading.
I started mastering the spellings of “big words” under every topic
I decided that, if I was going to pass my BECE examination, I needed to develop my vocabulary for each topic and subject. I got a small notebook we called “SINGING NOTEBOOK” and instead of copying all the school songs in it at the JHS, I started writing down the vocabulary I found in each topic. Not only that, but I dedicated time and effort to these and studied these words, and sometimes looked out for their meanings. It helped me answer a lot of questions that were related to them or which needed these words to be used in answers. If you cannot spell the major words in a given topic, your ability to spell and write good answers in your examination will be negatively affected. If you do not have a word bank, better start now. Also, add a definition term bank to it by defining key concepts in the same book or another one.
I had my books with me each day I had to manage the lotto kiosk
My dad had a side job ( a lotto writer) aside from his professional work as a public health nurse officer. I was made to sit in his lotto kiosk on Mondays and Wednesdays after school and on Saturdays to attend to customers who wanted to stake their numbers for Monday Sports Lotto, VAG Lotto, and Saturday National Lotto respectively. This took most of my time, hence I decided to always enter the Kiosk with my books by me. When there are no customers to serve, I buried my head in my books and studied. I did this for the entire form 2 and form 3 as a JHS student. This dedication to study came from the fact that I did not want to fail the JHS 2 examination and repeat it again. Soon, I made the lotto kiosk my study room because it was right in front of our house and, although small, very conducive for learning as I needed to open one window to get enough light in there during the day or use a lantern at night. This business of writing lotto for my dad and using the kiosks as my learning area went on till I got to SHS3. I wrote and passed the BECE and WASSCE in the same lotto kiosk. You can do it. Some of you have better learning spaces at home, schools, and churches where you can go to study. You need to be committed to making the good grades you want and to take bold steps towards it.
Writing lotto changed my handwriting for the better
Before I started managing my dad’s lotto kiosk, I had terrible handwriting. After a few months of writing the lotto, my handwriting started improving. I put in more effort to even write better and like my dad. I had his lesson notes while he was in school, and I took interest in the nice-looking handwriting. Soon, funnily, he got more customers who came to stake lotto in his kiosk all because they felt they would be winning the day’s Lotto is I wrote the numbers with my nice handwriting. You may not have the chance of writing Lotto, but if your handwriting is difficult to read, no matter your age and class or whether you are in JHS or SHS. I encourage you to put your pride away and get My fourth or Fifth copybook and work on your handwriting because it can count in your examination.
I burned the midnight candle
Studying at dawn soon became part of my usual routine. I developed my own timetable and followed it throughout my studies. I spent an hour more in school reading or studying before going home. Learning at dawn is fun because your ability to retain or remember the facts increases. When you learn and understand the concepts, they will surely play out in your mind when you go back to sleep.
My love for reading and writing changed
I remember my English teacher Mr. Nsiaw who would pinch you very hard and pull your ears if you failed to read a section of the passage given to you. During the first English Comprehension lesson as a repeated JHS2 student, he gave me the chance to read. When I managed to read the passage, he was not too sure of himself, so he opened to another passage that was different from the day’s lesson and instructed me to read. I read that as well. He asked the entire class to clap for me, and since then, I never looked back. Reading is the best way to unwrap knowledge in your textbooks, and those who love reading love books and gain more knowledge. I made reading a part of me. Trust me, if you want to pass the BECE or WASSCE, you have to dedicate time and effort to reading your notes, textbooks, and other related materials. This helped me to learn new things, build my confidence, and to pass my BECE the next year with grades that wowed everyone.
I improved my English by writing to pen pals home and abroad
Once I started enjoying reading, I fell in love with writing essays and letters for that matter. I got used to writing to pen pals. For the young ones who do not know what a pen pal is. Pen pals (or pen pals, pen-pals, penfriends, or pen friends) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of letters. So I got the addresses of pen pals in Ghana and across the world, and I started exchanging letters with them. I received gifts and pictures from them and did the same sometimes with the help of my dad. This letter-writing had a great effect on my BECE results because it helped me to develop my conversational skills in writing, letter writing features came to me naturally, and I improved my English Language performance and in the other subjects like Life Skills, Social Studies, Cultural Studies and other reading subjects at the JHS back then. My grades at the end of each term improved and this was reflected in my BECE results as well. Yes, I got excellent BECE and WASSCE results.

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I recorded my notes with a tape recorder
Yes, this was an amazing strategy. I had a Walkman, which was popular back then in the 1990s. It was a cassette player which could be used to record voices and play music. I used this recorder to record my notes in JHS and when I went to SHS, which was called SSS before the year 2000. I played back my recordings for each note I had, and this made it easy to learn as well. What this meant was that, if I am going to town, or I have been sent, or I am on my way somewhere, I could take the cassette player along and listen while on my way. Soon, I started reciting the tape recordings as they played. Can you imagine what happened in the examination hall? Well, each time there was a question related to any of the tape recordings, I felt like it was being replayed to me. I could hear it in my ears. I used this method to support my learning right through to the university. Today, you have mobile phones which can do this so easily yet, you waste time listening to music that adds no value to you. Start recording your textbooks and notes and play them back while at home, relaxing, or even washing. You will know the impact in a few weeks. In fact, it rewarded me with excellent BECE and WASSCE results.
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In all these, I got excellent BECE results while managing my dad’s Lotto Kiosk after school.
All of these helped to move me from a below-average student to the top five at the SHS and University. My story may not be an exact copy of what you may be going through as a student, but there are many lessons you can pick from this and better yourself, confidence, dedication to your study, and desire to succeed. Sit up and make yourself proud.
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Source: Anonymous |Ghanaeducation.org