About two weeks before SPM, there was a little rigmarole in my class on the types of "additional health benefit" supplements we would be taking on the exam mornings. The idea was that, we needed stamina and energy to continuously vomit out vast amounts of information in a limited time span- and unless we SPMers suddenly discovered new found powers to break the space-time continuum and bend time to our advantage, stamina was not coming the cheap way.
There were talks of Power Bars, Liquid Carbohydrates, Nutrilite Double X, Ginseng Extract, Birds Nest Soup, my mummy's secret recipe cordycep soup, and even drinking glucose (not advisable). But the most popular of them all, was Brands Chicken Essence.
Yes, you've heard about it. Heck, 99% of you out there have tasted it at least once in your life. However, I was never a stickler for these types of fuss- I never did Brands Chicken Essence for UPSR or PMR. It was eggs in the morning, and period. I imagine I was quite proud for the fact that "I do not need any commercialized antics to keep me awake during exam."
Then, I became a little worried. About everyone in my class had agreed on Brands. Brands suddenly became their number one idol. Hold on, let me rephrase that. It was like a religion and they hailed that tiny bottle of black fluids as the water of life.
I did a little internet research, then, on what exactly Brands was about. Friends kept on commenting about how AWAKE and ALIVE and ENERGETIC they felt after drinking the potion. It wasn't that I did not believe them, I did. But after watching too much of House and his psychological dependence of Vicodin I was, lets say, a bit of a skeptic.
Total number of students sitting for public exam:
SPM: 439,255
PMR: 400,000 (not exact)
UPSR: 400,000 (not exact)
Being generous, I imagine 25% of this number took Brands. So its 309813 students. A case of Brands costs RM30. So Brands makes an estimate of RM9,214,412 (thats nine million) a year, on exam students only. And were not even talking about those who drink it on a regular basis for... health reasons.
Then I combed the internet for health benefits. I got absolutely nothing other that the fact that its made of chicken. So what does chicken have to do with my metabolism and stamina? Maybe Proton should come up with the concept of the Brands Chicken Essence Car. No, now i'm just talking nonsense.
So peer pressure kicked in, even without evidence to support much. I decided to add a little bit to that statistic of students donating to Brands annual profit. But I didn't know how I was going to ask my mum... like I said, I never did potions.
I trotted off to my mum and asked her "Erh.. mum.. for SPM can I drink Brands in the morning or not?"
My mum stared at me, and said "Where are your eyes? I bought two cases three weeks ago already and its been sitting on the dining room table ever since. You think I dont care about you, issit?"
Swt.
So does anyone here take Brands for examinations?
12 comments:
When I took it, and came back from SPM about 4 in the evening, and tried to sleep.
Cannot sleep.
Maybe its psychology or something.
Me! Only because my mom forced me.
Before sitting for the exam drink once. Drink one more bottle at night. I don't think it really helps leh. Though I have been taking it since I was in primary 1.
What about tongkat ali?
Right, Andrew ... tongkat ali ...
Yesh. Took it for every public examination in my life. Though I've no scientific evidence whatsoever supporting it. =)
It helps if you haven't slept for the past 24 hours and need to stay awake for another 12.
Be it psychological or physiological, you'll need all the help you can get anyway.
I took it the week before PMR until two days before PMR finished. Sleeping at 3 most of the time was pretty okay.
=]
Then again, I sleep at 3 without it ANYWAY. So...Sam's opinion is disqualified.
I can proudly proclaim that i did not drink even one bottle of Brand chicken essence in my public exam year...not even in STPM...
Reason: Expensive. Plus all you need is study a little more and sleep properly. And this is how i get through my public exam years...
I think I'm one of the 1% of people who has never taste Brands. Or perhaps I did when I was really young. Maybe that's why I've never gotten straight As. Haha. Nah, don't think so.
i drank it. like my dad bought 2 boxes. but i didn't finish it. and i didn't like it. and even if i drank it...i still slept anyway. so screw it. this health crap won't help you get straight a's. but double x is pretty good tho. i take that as a daily supplement. good for skin :)
I drink it once in two days the week leading up to exams together with other vitamins(which always started two weeks before d-day at least). Of course, I took it at a different time than the rest.
I didn't drink brands during the exams period. I think i did when i was much younger but i don't drink it during exam period these days. But i think all of this things r just bogus. We just believe in it bcos were Asians. Kepercayaan karut. Once when it was 1 in the morning and i wanted to stay up to finish up my mooting script, i drank the tongkat ali coffee and i wnet to sleep about an hour later. heheh, on other occasions, i have also tried drinking livita and then brands, doesn't work at all. Its all keprcayaan karut. We're so Asian. Anyway, i think taking brands is like bringing an extra scientific calculator or extra pens to the exam hall. You don't necessarily need it, it just gives you peace of mind. So there's you answer, it all in the head. No magic potion can instantaneously make you smarter, more alert,etc.
-LL-
The most amazing thing is that, sometimes it works for me, and sometimes it does not.
I took Brands this morning and slept one hour later. I am so depressed liao. Should have gone through more chapters of bible. Haha.
One of my friend's overdo it though. Three times a day- in the morning, lunchtime, and supper. Blood will turn into chicken essence too maybe.
I started taking it this year during SCHOOL exams.
Until I got fever for taking too much of Chicken Brands.
I did not take it throughout STPM until the last day because I was so excited that it was my last paper that I can't sleep that night. :p
*this is my first comment on this blog. It's very interesting. Good job, guys!*
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