What’s the best way to reveal your DSE results to your parents?
This week, we asked our readers to tell us the best ways to tell your parents how you did on the DSE. Here are our favourite answers!
Prepare them for the worst
I would send both of my parents a VERY serious text about how I’ve failed most of my DSE exams. Then, I would storm into the house with the actual results, which are nowhere near as good as that of the top-scorers, but still ... My parents might even burst into tears and give me a bear hug after finding out that I didn’t actually ruin my shot at getting into HKU.
Veronica Lin, 17, Hong Kong Island School
Distract with dinner
At dinner, especially in some fancy restaurant. Then they would eat and talk about food, and forget about my results.
Eunice Yip, 15, Pooi To Middle School
Trojan horse it
The best way to break your results to your parents would be to buy them a gift and slip the results sheet inside. Then hand them the gift and run off – and wait for the screams!
Emma Leung, 15, Singapore International School
Honesty is the best policy.
I would just tell them directly. I think being honest is the most important thing, so even if my results aren’t good, I would rather tell them the truth. But perhaps I am lucky because my parents always trust that I have my own plan.
May Chau, 17, Caritas Fanling Chan Chun Ha Secondary School
Compare and contrast
Explain how difficult the DSE was by pointing out everyone in class who got lower grades than you. That girl who was expected to get six 5**? She only got three. The girl who aced every class? She failed Chinese. Even the head prefect, perfect role model, got low grades. Then, when your parents start to panic about your failing grades, their faces creased with worry, you announce: “Oh hey! I passed!”
Serene Yik, 16, St Paul’s Convent School
Grin or bear it
If you did great, call your parents right away. Maybe even go out for dinner to celebrate! This is your moment to show them how your hard work has paid off. But if you didn’t do that well, you should still come clean the first chance you get. Getting it off your chest ASAP, lets you focus on what to do next, without stressing about when they’ll ask.
Chereen Ng, 16, Good Hope School
Phew! What a relief
First, come up with something horrible that you may have done, such as getting caught for smoking at school. Follow this up with even more dire situations. When your parents start feeling down in the dumps, wait a moment, then tell them that it was all a joke! It’s just that you got a 1 in your DSEs. No big deal, right?
Anne Kwok, 13, Diocesan Girls’ School
Old fashioned face time
Just, don’t do it over text. That’s all I have to say. Treat it like a breakup!
Martha Chow, 15, Sha Tin College
Mama drama
Me: hey mum?
Mum: yes sweetie?
Me: I failed my DSEs
Mum:
Me: *runs away*
Megan Ko, 14, Sha Tin College
Play it cool
By sneaking in your DSE results while talking about a different topic, you can distract your parents from your results. For example: “I want eggs for breakfast. And also I got full marks on my DSE.”
Clement O’Young, 15, Sha Tin College
For next week’s Top 10, tell us: what activity do you think should be made into an Olympic sport? Send your answers, along with your name, age and school, to [email protected], and our favourite answers will appear in next week’s Top 10 page!