My first light bulb

As a student, I don't think there's anything one would treasure more than having one of those light bulb moments when everything finally falls into place and the world makes perfect sense yet again.

Even though I must've had previous light bulbs (like when I first remember the sequence of numbers up to 10 or all 26 alphabets), the memory of this particular light bulb from "The Orange Problem" always comes back to me, even after more than a decade. Perhaps it's because it was the first time when I consciously heard my brain go, "Ting!"

The Orange Problem

I was in year 3. At the end of the year, I was to sit for an exam that would enable me to skip year 4 and go straight into year 5, should I ace it*.

Dad helped me prepare for the exam, going through practice exam papers and example problems. One popular repeated question in the mathematical section was one where they would ask something along the line of, "If 3 oranges cost $21, how much will 29 oranges cost?" (Oh my. I may have overpriced the oranges a tad bit.)

Ah, I know it's a simple question but I didn't think so then. Especially not when they would put it a lengthy word problem and I would have to extract all the information from it. Practice after practice I would get the answer wrong to that particular question and dad would go on to teach me, yet again, how to solve it. 

Until finally one afternoon (yes, I remember it was in the afternoon and I remember exactly where I was and who I was with), I was attempting another practice paper when I got to this dreaded lengthy word problem. I remember looking at it and thought, "Hey, what if for once I try EXACTLY what dad was saying instead of attempting my usual mumbo jumbo?" That resulted in me finally getting the answer right for the very first time. I was so excited with my new found knowledge that I squealed to my sister, who was beside me, "Look! I got it right!"

It was then I felt a row of light bulbs lit and though I didn't know it then, it will always be a point in my life that I will always remember.

*I did go on to ace the exam and went straight into year 5 the year after.