It is normal to feel stressed when we are taking a course, especially when a major assessment (such as final exam) is near. The phrase “no pain, no gain” best describes that gain (i.e., learning) will necessarily involve pain (i.e., stress). Indeed, if a university student were to take a course at the primary one level, we would expect him/her to perform well in the course with ease. Not much pain, but not much gain either. It does not take a genius to understand, for whatever course, if we do not work hard, we are not going to get much from the course. How much we learn from the course really depends on how much effort we put in.
When feeling stress, some students will want to escape by applying for a late drop. Do we allow for late drop? Yes, we do, but we do so only in extremely special circumstances.
When we consider late-drop applications, we often ask why we should allow students late-dropping one specific course. It is difficult to claim that a student suffers from mental health problem such that he/she is unfit to complete one course but fit to complete the others. We do not approve late drop request just to help students maintain a good academic standing. To be fair to all students, if we ever allow one student to late-drop the worst performing course, we should allow everyone to do the same. And, of course, the university does not have such policy to allow students to late drop the worst performing course. If students suffer from serious mental health problem, they should take a leave of absence for the whole semester (possibly retrospectively), essentially late-dropping all the courses. Late-dropping one course? No!
Students seem to feel that teachers are the only ones who make the decision of approving late drop application. No, it is not the case. Late drop application requires several administrative steps and takes time. If you insist on applying for late drop, please apply through your home faculty. Your home faculty will then pass your application to our faculty. Our faculty colleagues will pass it to relevant teachers to consider. After that, it will require some relevant program director(s) to consider. Each of these many parties will review and make their decisions. Teachers is only part of the equation. Note, it takes really only one party to reject the application. And, again, most applications are rejected.
Students should be responsible for their enrollment decisions at the beginning of the semester and the effort they put in throughout the semester. Once the add-drop period is passed, we should just bite the bullet and do the best we can!
No, you don't have to face the learning challenge alone. Our teaching team offer tremendous amount of help to students throughout the semester. Students should use our help whenever they have any difficulty in learning the materials. Good learning attitude and good effort is the best recipe to good grades. No need to worry!
| 2023-01-16 | We shall overcome! We shall overcome the GPA killer's challenge! |
| 2022-12-30 | Rules! We follow rigid rules! |
| 2022-12-30 | I am honest. Why don't you trust me? |
| 2022-12-17 | How many times do I have to repeat before you listen and follow my instructions? |
| 2022-12-06 | Teaching Innovation Award |
| 2022-11-07 | Our expectation: 10 hours per week for 12 weeks! |
| 2022-09-28 | Is it possible to late drop? |
| 2022-06-21 | Why not implement zoom invigilation on top of personalized exam papers? |
| 2022-03-21 | DO NOT PANIC. YOU CAN DO IT. WE CAN HELP YOU, ABSOLUTELY FREE!!! |
| 2022-01-27 | Can you help supervise my project? |
| 2022-01-19 | Please help me to enroll in Introductory Microeconomics NOW! |
| 2022-01-15 | Thank you, for putting in your best effort, thus letting me achieve what I wanted to achieve. |
| 2022-01-06 | It is never easy to face failure, but it can be an important learning experience. |
| 2021-12-30 | University life is not just about getting good grades, but also exploring your limit and understanding yourself. |
| 2021-10-04 | Reasons for disapproving late drop requests |
| 2021-08-04 | It takes two to tango! |
| 2021-08-02 | ECON1210 a killer course? KF Wong a killer? |
| 2021-07-20 | Shock and sad to see student's poor performance in 2021 Spring |
| 2021-07-14 | Cooling-off period |
| 2021-03-17 | Online data are cheap and easy to find, but they have limitations! |
| 2021-02-08 | Mini-projects to build up research ability (1) |
| 2021-01-11 | Be our advisor, please! |
| 2020-12-21 | Why do we need this transparency? For fairness! For learning! |
| 2020-11-23 | You want to build some muscle but do not want to use your time exercising? I can help by exercising for you! |
| 2020-11-18 | Feedback to feedback |
| 2020-11-15 | General comments on participant's performance in a competition |
| 2020-11-04 | Yes, 1200+ personalized versions of the test paper! |
| 2020-02-18 | Let students focus on learning, teachers on teaching, and thus together achieve the intended learning outcomes. |
| 2020-02-10 | Online learning requires Discipline, DISCIpline, DISCIPLINE! |
| 2019-01-15 | Supposedly not difficult to get a B grade. |
| 2018-12-11 | This quality is more important than grades. |
| 2018-11-15 | Late dropping |
| 2018-11-15 | Unreliability of average SETL scores due to the high non-response rate |
| 2018-11-13 | Let go! |
| 2018-10-24 | No, please do not use my lecture time for your society's announcement. |
| 2018-09-26 | Scheduling an appointment |
| 2018-08-27 | None of my business |
| 2018-08-21 | Course evaluation bounds and response rate |
| 2018-08-09 | Be a responsible job applicant |
| 2018-02-10 | No calories browsing.... |
| 2018-01-24 | Would "uncertain" help your postgraduate study application? I would say, CERTAINLY NOT! |
| 2017-09-14 | When helping your friend is NOT HELPING YOUR FRIEND! |
| 2017-09-13 | My life as a student -- AGAIN |
| 2017-09-05 | You like easy grade, easy honor, easy graduation? |
| 2017-07-18 | My Facebook friends, please protect me just as I protect you. |
| 2017-07-12 | An internship |
| 2016-03-01 | You know me. But, do I know you? |
| 2015-12-17 | Why learning fails to happen despite the great design of the course and the great teacher? |
| 2015-10-20 | Can I trust you, my friend? |
| 2015-10-17 | If we have the second chance to "retake", failing or getting a low grade would not be so stressful. |
| 2015-09-18 | My first-hand experience on why learning is not taking place in lectures! |
| 2015-08-20 | Are you sure Econometrics is useless? |
| 2015-05-04 | Eating 100 bowls of rice in a day |
| 2015-01-31 | You say you love me. How can I tell whether you truly love me? |
| 2014-10-24 | I would be happy to write recommendations letter for your PhD or Master application if .... |
| 2014-10-23 | Master of Finance at MIT |
| 2014-10-06 | Are you sure what you saw was black? |
| 2014-03-05 | GOLDEN opportunity -- only to the hard-working students. |
| 2014-03-01 | What to do when your teacher's teaching style does not fit your learning style? |
| 2013-11-28 | A negative experience? Not completely. It can be made into a positive one! |
| 2013-11-27 | Many thanks for your appreciation of my teaching (II) |
| 2013-07-23 | My next stop is Barcelona! |
| 2013-06-01 | Her decision to pursue Master of Finance after her undergradaute study at HKU |
| 2012-11-10 | What should I do at HKU (activities versus study and many other things)? |
| 2011-09-12 | Coach, can you teach me to swim? |
| 2010-02-18 | How government policy with good intention can create frustration and political instability? |
| 2009-12-01 | Cherish our beloved ones who are still around us -- when we still can! |
| 2009-11-27 | Trust your teachers, but don't trust them blindly! |
| 2009-11-26 | You can give me a low score but please write some comments to help me improve my teaching. |
| 2009-08-26 | The similarity in health care service provision and fire fighting service provision |
| 2009-03-23 | Be brave. Visit your teachers. Ask them questions. Your teachers are a lot nicer than you think. |
| 2009-03-14 | How can you verify this is really you -- Dr. Ka-fu Wong of HKU? |
| 2009-03-09 | I dream to work in the business sector. Should I pursue a master degree before I join the private sector? |
| 2009-02-19 | Any economist can predict this... Can you? |
| 2008-12-21 | My students performed poorly in the final exam.
Help me help them.... please. |
| 2008-12-20 | Learning should not end with the final exam! |
| 2008-11-19 | Exchange in Europe can be very rewarding! |
| 2008-11-18 | UC Berkeley is my top choice for exchange! |
| 2008-11-02 | Why did we not have fresh mushrooms twenty years ago? |
| 2008-02-23 | Dialogue is preferred to monologue. |
| 2008-02-13 | If I were a single unemployed old man who lives on Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) |
| 2007-12-17 | Is forecasting a pure guessing game? |
| 2007-12-16 | I want zero emission of CO2! |
| 2007-11-30 | How would I choose universities for exchange? |
| 2007-11-28 | Excuse me. Can you write a recommendation letter for me? |
| 2007-11-12 | No pain, no gain! |
| 2007-09-14 | Teaching is to be enjoyed, and so is studying. Grades should only be secondary. |