Exam rituals can sometimes seem a bit bonkers, bizarre and seriously random but students in Asia find them really comforting at a time of huge stress.

In East Asia, just like here, school kids are under loads of pressure to achieve top marks in their exams. Whatever the cultural differences, lots of students have their own exam rituals and superstitions, whether it’s playing a lucky song, eating particular foods or even wearing lucky red pants. Here are some of the exam rituals students from across Asia do to bring themselves luck. You never know, they might work for you too! Why not give them a try – but remember to do some proper revision too!

Kit Kats in exam rituals

Traditionally, Japanese students eat Katsudon before or on the day of an exam, which is a bowl of warm rice topped with egg and a deep-fried pork cutlet. The word katsudon’s similarity to the word “katsu”, meaning “winning” is thought to bring students luck. But KitKat in Japan has also been marketing itself as a bringer of good luck in pre-exam rituals. KitKat in Japanese sounds like “surely winning” and has become a good omen for exams. Pronounced as “kitto katto”, the chocolate’s name is similar to the phrase “kitto katsu”, meaning “surely winning”, making it a good candidate for a good luck charm in Japanese students’ exam rituals.

Apples in exam rituals

Canteens across Hong Kong University campuses serve apples and a variety of apple dishes in the run-up to the exam period. The pronunciation of apple in Chinese is “ping guo”, which also means “safety”. So in this exam ritual it’s considered that if you eat an apple you will safely pass the exam.

No hair-washing exam rituals

In the vicious circle of all-night revision, microwave food and highlighter pens, you may have forgotten to have a shower. But not to worry - in South Korea, it’s thought that washing your hair could wash all the knowledge out. “There was one boy in our class who didn’t wash his hair before exams. The rest of the time he was very clean, but once you understood that this was one of his exam rituals, you didn’t want to go near him!” said one student South Korean student about a classmate.

Eating nuts in exam rituals

Around a month before exams start in Hong Kong, students in clubs, societies and residential halls, will gather for “superpass”, or ging guo. “Superpass” is a series of activities aimed at helping them pass their exams with a top score. The first of these exam rituals is the superpass dinner, which is usually held at a Chinese restaurant. It’s all in the name. For Chinese students, the name for cashew nuts is like “wish to pass”. It’s important that students eat pork cubes with cashews, one of the signature superpass dishes. The Chinese word for “cashews” sounds like the word for “wish to pass”, and “pork cubes” sounds like “desire for a distinction”. Homophones, or homonyms, play a big part in ritual and superstition in many East Asian languages.

Cutting a pig in half exam rituals

Slicing through a giant roast pig is considered to be an important sacred offering in China. Cutting a roast pig is a part of many ceremonies in Hong Kong, including “superpass”. Each participant is given one try at cutting the pig into two halves. Those who succeed are thought to go on to pass all their exams the first time round, and those who fail, will have to re-sit some. This is followed by eating kiwi fruit exam rituals, as the Chinese word for the fruit sounds like “easy to pass exams.”

Prayer in exam rituals

Many students in East Asia have a lot of support from their parents, whether they want it or not. “Some parents wait for their children outside the exam hall praying for them to pass,” says South Korean teacher Ji-Youn Jung, “My mum did, but my test results turned out to be awful.” Ultra-keen parents who believe that exam rituals help their kids will go as far as praying at Buddhist temples every day for the 100 days leading up to the exam.

Not eating seaweed soup exam rituals

In South Korea, the slipperiness of the widely-eaten seaweed soup is thought to mean you will lose all the knowledge from the notes you’ve been revising like mad, which could mean exam disaster. “One of my exam rituals is to try not to have seaweed soup before important things like exams or interviews. But if I happen to eat it without consciousness, I don’t worry too much,” Ji-Youn says. But Chong Wang from China says: “My personal tradition is to have noodles for breakfast on exam day, as noodles mean “everything goes smooth” in Chinese. But I also take my lucky watch.”

Eating chicken soup exam rituals

A bit of sugar might give you an energy boost, but South Koreans also believe that this sugary snack could have exam-passing powers. Yeot, a traditional sticky food, is eaten before important exams, especially university entrance exams. Ji-Youn explains: “Yeot is a sticky sweet, and the Korean words for “sticky” and “pass entrance exam” sound the same.” Or else drink some chicken juice as one of your exam rituals which is thought to give your brain a boost. Students in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and China tend to drink this while revising for exams, and on the morning of the exam itself. “It’s nothing superstitious,” says Dylan Lee Soon Yoong, a Singaporean student at University College London. “I drink chicken essence on the morning of the exam… you down it like a shot after heating it up. It’s supposed to help your concentration and is marketed pretty heavily to students in Singapore.”

Red underwear in exam rituals

Red is widely believed to be a lucky colour in China so many Chinese people believe that it’s a good idea to wear some red clothing, or more specifically red underwear during an exam. When a person is particularly successful, there is a Chinese saying, “Are you wearing red underwear?” But Chong Wang warns: “Some people may avoid wearing red during exams because in China, fail scores are written in red on score sheets.”

Pray for mercy from the “Bell Curve God”

The Bell Curve God is an embodiment of university students’ fears of the bell curve grading system used in Asia’s top universities. Singaporean students can pray electronically in pre-exam rituals to the “Bell Curve God”. The bell curve system of grading means not just measuring how well you did in an exam, but rather how well you did in relation to everyone else in your class. In an already high-achieving country, that pushes competitiveness to the max. Shrines to the Bell Curve God have been set up at both universities, where food and candles are left as offerings to the “God”. The National University of Singapore has gone as far as setting up a website, Facebook and Twitter account for the Bell Curve God, so that students can pray electronically. “As students, we are subject to the omnipotent, inscrutable force that is the Bell Curve God. He is the arbitrary being that decides our grades,” Dylan Lee Soon Yoong explains.

Some examples of exam rituals from school pupils around the world

• In the month before exams, I do wash my hair properly but I do not dare to get a haircut! Wongani, Malawi
• In our hometown a ritual before exams that everybody follows is eating a small amount of curd with sugar (Jaggery) just before leaving for exam. The belief is curd is like a mind coolant that keeps the candidate calm. Also there is a belief for wearing dress with colour according to the day. For example - light coloured dress if going for an exam on Friday. Kumar, India
• I had a pen and a pen pouch, which I thought were lucky for me. So, I always would carry them for an exam. Sahar, Dubai. UAE
• Here in Zambia some people believe that during examination times one should not shake hands with other students as that might transfer all your knowledge to the other person. Because of this belief some students won’t shake your hand for fear that you will steal their knowledge and pass at their expense. Limba, Zambia
• Rituals in India: 1. Eat curd and sugar 2. Study in the morning 3. Visit temples and offer coconut to the lord 4. Forehead Tika - a tradition where a diluted sandalwood paste is applied in the centre of the forehead vertically. 5. Not eating meat – many Indians go vegan before exams. Ashay, India
• There was an exam taboo in Bangladesh. In the exam day students were not allowed to eat egg. Parents thought if their children eat round or zero-like shaped egg their children may get zero marks or marks below pass marks. But this exam taboo is ceased to exist. Arif, Bangladesh
• I always study in bed because if I have a nap it will help me to consolidate what I have learned. Shona, Brisbane, Australia
• I have come to perform certain exam rituals such as remaining mute right after leaving home and keep every word to myself because I think talking too much and going for an examination renders you little strength on mental performance hence you tend to forget some piece you had in mind, and it has helped me on various moments. Mac-King, Accra, Ghana
• I remember the exam ritual of wearing the same shirt and socks for each exam - unwashed. It must have worked because in my final exam (Maths) I got my highest mark. Keep my name out of this…!
• As one of my exam rituals I would always read a trashy novel in the week preceding final exams, taking it in between periods of study and paper writing. It was like switching channels in my brain, for an hour or so. Then back to study. Patricia, Santa Cruz
• The local museum where I grew up had an Egyptian sarcophagus. I created my own exam ritual of secretly rubbing its nose for luck before exams. Here, at Harvard University, we have a bronze statue of the founder, John Harvard. Students rub his foot for luck resulting in it always gleaming like it has been polished. Humans are nuts. Brian, Boston

From an original article by Jody-Lan Castle, BBC News