Preparing for IELTS was very tiring – working hard every day. English teachers focus on basic language skills and have little time to read more than news websites such as the BBC and The New York Times.

University gave this student the opportunity to use English while doing group work with exchange students. He also used the language to communicate with an American family during a cruise to Thailand. He reads The New York Times.

Chatting with exchange students during Secondary 5 let this student practise his communication skills. He read The New York Times while preparing for the DSE. He feels his English competency is in decline in university.

Preparing for IELTS exposed this Malaysian Civil Engineering major to academic writing and argumentative essays. He has read many news magazines and the dictionary. He says he uses English more in Hong Kong but the standard is not as high as Malaysia.

A university exchange in New York allowed this Media and Communication major to meet one of her favourite authors, Jodi Picoult. She has read Wild by Cheryl Strayed. She likes TV dramas, movies, rap music and popular magazines.

Preparing for the GRE, this Chemistry major read books and online materials. She needs to write more papers and read more journals in order to improve her skills. She read The China Daily, The New York Times and one chapter of Harry Potter.

An exchange to the UK let this Economics major make friends and learn about the culture in different countries. She reads the online versions of the South China Morning Post or New York Times.

University language classes required this Economics major to work with international students in English and other languages. She had to read The New York Times for one of her courses.

Doing English Builder online in secondary school was irritating, whereas university language course was more practical for this Journalism major. She read Shakespeare’s works, The Lord of the Rings and Greek mythology Percy Jackson. Now she reads magazines and The New York Times online.

Preparing for IELTS involved practising reading, speaking and writing for this Library major. She read newspapers such as the China Daily and The New York Times for exam preparation.

Doing grammar exercises in Form 1 was boring but it helped build fundamentals of English for this Journalism major. He developed a reading habit after completing Oliver Twist. He also reads South Morning China Post and The New York Times.

Instead of learning grammar, this Arts major watched TED talks and read The New York Times and The Huffington Post in senior secondary school. She could not stop reading an English book even during an exam period.

To get a good result in the DSE, this Business major worked hard on memorising vocabulary. Reading The New York Times for the first time was difficult as he found the sentence structures very complex.