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Marcelo Zhang, Young 19-Year-Old From Marista Glória School, In São Paulo, Left China Without Mastering Portuguese And Turned Daily Discipline Into Performance: 1st In Medicine At UFMT, 1st In Computer Science At UFPR, Acceptance At USP And 967.7 In Mathematics On Enem, With Athlete Routine And Training.
Marcelo Zhang is a young 19-year-old who built a rare sequence of approvals by turning study into a daily routine, with repetition, technique, and a time management that resembles athletic preparation. The result appeared in different and demanding places, from Enem to federal universities, without relying on “shortcuts.”
At the same time, the story begins before the grades: he returned to Brazil as a child, without speaking Portuguese, needed to rebuild his linguistic foundation, and only then began to treat college entrance exams as a long-term project. The central point was not a magic formula; it was consistency with method.
The Return Without Portuguese And The Priority That Came Before Any Exam
When this young man returned to Brazil at nine years old, he didn’t speak any Portuguese. Born in Brazil but raised since infancy in Zhejiang, China, he was educated there and had to face a double transition: country, school, language, routine, and cultural references.
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Friends have been building a small “town” for 30 years to grow old together, with compact houses, a common area, nature surrounding it, and a collective life project designed for friendship, coexistence, and simplicity.
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This small town in Germany created its own currency 24 years ago, today it circulates millions per year, is accepted in over 300 stores, and the German government allowed all of this to happen under one condition.
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Curitiba is shrinking and is expected to lose 97,000 residents by 2050, while inland cities in Paraná such as Sarandi, Araucária, and Toledo are experiencing accelerated growth that is changing the entire state’s map.
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Tourists were poisoned on Everest in a million-dollar fraud scheme involving helicopters that diverted over $19 million and shocked international authorities.
He even studied at a bilingual school, but the environment did not accelerate his learning as he had hoped, because there were more Chinese students than Brazilians.
It was when he went to Marista Glória School, in downtown São Paulo, that the focus became clear: before dreaming of college entrance exams, it was necessary to master the language of everyday school life. Learning Portuguese became the first real goal, maintained as a priority until ninth grade.
Athlete Routine: Daily Discipline, Defined Hours, And Protected Sleep
The discipline of this young man had a simple and strict rule to break: study every day, without exception. During the week, the workload was around four hours per day beyond school hours.
On weekends, it increased to approximately six hours. The outline is straightforward, but what stands out is the regularity, repeated year after year.
Even with this pace, he didn’t trade performance for exhaustion. He slept about seven hours a night and preserved daily space for rest and leisure.
Manga, anime, and video games were part of the plan, not as “discipline failures.” The logic was to keep the brain functional for a long time, rather than winning one week and losing a month.
How The Method Was Born: Smart Adaptation, Not Perfect Imitation
This young man didn’t start by copying a ready-made routine. He observed a friend who studied every afternoon during the week and rested on Saturdays and Sundays. The idea seems classic: concentrated effort and a free weekend.
But he adjusted it to fit his own profile. Instead of zeroing out rest on weekdays, he started to include breaks during the week and, in return, maintained study on weekends. The balance was not “studying less”; it was better distributing energy to avoid relying on peaks of motivation.
Study Techniques: Active Review, Tested Memory, And Error As Raw Material
At home, the starting point was to review everything that had been covered in school that day. However, the review was not passive.
The young man made a summary without consulting material, only from memory, as if he were assessing himself in real-time. Then, he returned to the notes and the book to check for gaps and correct distortions.
The most valuable part of the method, however, came in the sequence: exercises. Most of the time was dedicated to solving problems because, for him, that’s where the content “sticks.” And mistakes were not discarded.
Each incorrect question became a trigger for improvement: he would review the topic, do more exercises on the same subject, save the question, and redo it two to three weeks later, when the brain had already “cooled” and the answer needed to be reconstructed.
Frequent Simulations And Fuvest Redone For 15 Years As High-Performance Training
The training of this young man included simulations at least twice a week. The intention was not just to measure scores, but to learn how to deal with pressure, time, mental fatigue, and rapid reading, as one transforms a test into a familiar environment.
In the case of Fuvest, the approach was even more obsessively positive: he re-took all the exams from the last 15 years. This creates a rare repertoire of patterns, recurrences, and typical traps.
It’s not about memorizing answers; it’s about mapping the “style” of the board, training decision-making and reducing surprises on the day when every minute counts.
Strategy On Enem: Time As A Resource, Essay In Blocks, And Starting With What Guarantees Points
The test time is where many lose performance even while studying hard, and this young man treated exactly this stage as part of the method.
In Enem, for example, the first day has 5 and a half hours for 90 questions and one essay, a scenario where distraction is costly and managing the clock can be just as valuable as knowing the content.
His strategy followed a clear sequence. First, he read the essay theme. Then, he flipped through the test and solved the easier questions to “secure” himself on what he already mastered.
Next, he returned to the beginning and worked through the questions in order. The essay was done in blocks: every 20 questions, he wrote a paragraph.
The goal was to not let the essay turn into a monster at the end, and, when he realized it, he had completed both the text and the answers without running out of time.
Results That Catch Attention And What They Really Mean
The sequence of approvals for this young man was broad and specific at the same time: first place in Medicine at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), first place in Computer Science at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), acceptance also in Computer Science at UFSCar and at USP, which was the chosen institution. In Enem, he achieved 967.7 points in Mathematics, very close to the maximum of 1000.
The most important point is to interpret these numbers carefully. The understanding presented by those who followed the case is that the study method is personal: what works for one may not work for another.
The practical lesson is not to copy every detail; it’s to understand the principle, respect context, profile, limits, and objectives, and build a system that you can repeat even on bad days.
What Was Behind The Grades: Robotics, Astronomy, And Intellectual Autonomy
This young man did not stand out only in traditional tests. He participated in an award-winning group in the Advanced Engineering category at the Marista Robotics Festival, constructing a sensitive conveyor capable of separating metallic and non-metallic waste, a type of project that requires logical reasoning, prototyping, and hypothesis testing.
He also represented Marista Brazil in the international training phase of the Brazilian Astronomy and Astronautics Olympics (OBA). These experiences help explain why his study was not just mechanical repetition: there was curiosity and applied practice.
When learning gains real use, the brain memorizes with a different quality, and this directly connects to performance in mathematics and reasoning on tests.
The story of this young man combines three layers that are usually separated: difficult linguistic adaptation, daily discipline with leisure and preserved sleep, and test strategy treated as a technique, not as improvisation.
What seems like a “approval machine” on the outside, on the inside is a repeated routine, well-used mistakes, and a simple idea taken seriously: college entrance exams as training.
Now I want to engage you in the conversation in a direct way: what part do you struggle with the most today, maintaining consistency during the week, correcting mistakes without getting discouraged, or managing time on the day of the exam?
And, if you’ve gone through a similar turning point, what small habit was the most decisive in truly changing your performance?
Por isso que a alta mortalidade de suicídios nos países asiáticos,,quando chega a hora de conquistar um emprego/Concurso todos estão tão desgastados que a concorrência é tão absurda de inteligência absorvida de anos de estudo que o desespero,e cai a ficha de ter jogado todos os anos de estudo para trabalhar ganhando pouco .
Quando transforma esses potências em outros países, aí sim são recompensados,tipo o Brasil que 99% da população não quer estudar e sim ficar de boa.
Fácil ele nao morou no Brasil e fugiu do ensino medíocre que temos. Por que o espanto?
Cara nem queria comparar o ensino da China com a grande maioria dos países do mundo, não só o Brasil. Até as faculdades da China hoje estão superando as melhores faculdades do mundo nos EUA e Europa
Ele provavelmente foi influenciado pela família a seguir uma rotina de estudos parecida com a de um adolescente chinês. Lá os jovens vivem para o estudo, estudam até mais que 12h por dia. Uma rotina assim difere bastante do adolescente brasileiro…