Jorge Armando Moreno Llamas, a Kumon student from Mexico

Jorge Armando Moreno Llamas, aged 20 Subjects: Maths Current Level: O 170

Hello, my name is Jorge Armando Moreno Llamas and it is an honour to share with all of you my experience of Kumon.

The reason why I started studying Kumon, when I was in sixth grade of elementary school, was because my father applied to open a Kumon centre and as a part of the training I was used as a part of his "Instructor experiment" to apply the Kumon Method, so I started doing Kumon worksheets.

I started on level A and currently I'm solving level O. My motivation to reach level O came from looking at the results I got as I advanced through the levels. When I started in sixth grade I was not a good student nor had the best grades but when I started junior high after doing Kumon for a year, things started to be different: I was not one of the best students in maths, I was the best! And as for the other subjects it was obvious that I had new abilities. I realised that I needed to study less at home due to my new ability to retain information so only paying attention in class was enough for me to learn the lessons I developed this ability so well that at the time I enrolled at high school, I had no need to study because I learnt everything in class so by just reading the lesson again was enough to fully understand and learn my lessons.

My potential and ability in maths I developed keeps developing, and this has led me to great experiences in my life such as the Mexican Math Olympics. I had the opportunity to participate three consecutive years in the Mexican Math Olympics. Those three times, I got the first place in my state and nationwide I got an honour mention and the third place overall. I participated in a National Maths Contest organized by ITESO* (*This is a well known university in Mexico ) getting first place. I have not only participated in maths contests, but on two occasions I participated simultaneously at the Mexican Computer Systems Olympics, getting first place in my state and third place nationwide.

Things have not been easy though. As with many Kumon students I have had difficulties with certain topics that might seem easy but were pretty tough at that time. Also as every student does, I stopped working for one or two weeks due to my frustration at not being able to solve certain sets. After those breaks I started working again with renewed courage and effort and I then moved ahead.

So besides the learning abilities I got from Kumon, Kumon has also helped me to control my temper and to get great self confidence.

Currently I am studying the third semester of a math degree at CIMAT* (*Centro de Investigaciones Matemáticas – Math Research Center) in Guanajuato state and due to my abilities and confidence I have developed in Kumon, I am pretty sure that I will succeed in the future because I am able to reach every goal I set for myself.

My hobbies include karate, keyboards and collecting souvenirs from places I visit.