I am Howard Chan. I studied the IB at an international school in Tokyo, earned a predicted 45, and I am heading to Cambridge to read Human, Social and Political Sciences at Peterhouse. Along the way I applied across the UK, the US, and Hong Kong, and earned offers including HKU and HKUST.
Before this site I tutored, and then helped run a tutoring operation in Tokyo. I have sat on both sides of the desk: the student trying to reach a 45, and the person trying to get a room full of students there. Most admissions advice online is vague, hyped, or written by someone who has not done it recently. This site is my attempt at the opposite.
How these guides are written
Every guide is first-person and specific. I name the real exams, the real timelines, and the choices that actually move a grade or an application. I do not invent statistics, I do not pad word counts, and I do not promise shortcuts that do not exist. If a guide cannot say something concrete and true, it does not get published.
The goal is simple: give an international student the guide I wish I had, for free.