Dear students, teachers, visitors and fans,
Thanks for your continued support for Ken’s Study Journey!
As 2025 has started, I would like to share my history, achievements, reflections and plans for 2025.
My Achievements
First, I would like to share my achievements so far in recent years.
High School
- IGCSE: 6A* 1A
- AS Level: 4a
- A Level: 4A* (EPQ A*; 27/28)
- Offers from many Dream Universities
University
- USThing App Position (one of heads of app development)
- ITSC Student Helper Position
- Computer Science (COMP) + AI Extended Major
History of Ken’s Study Journey
From a personal blog to a research project, Ken’s Study Journey will soon be 6 years old since 2019.
- 2019: Personal Blog
- 2020: Study Tips Sharing Website
- 2021: Study Planning System (Ken’s Study Planner)
- 2022: Research Project
Thanks for my Personal Blog initiative in 2019 back to my middle school and my continuous development moving towards my Life Goal:
“Invent/Develop more modern technologies and make people’s life more convenient in the future.”
Negative Impacts in 2022
Starting my university Year 2 journey, I would like to take this opportunity to reveal a fact in 2022 concealed in the last few years (from 2022 to 2024).
As shown in my university TVs, I partially agree with a quote:
“You only need one success.”
In 2022, however, Ken’s Study Journey website received and rejected (and hence not displayed publicly) several comments by negative students in my high school.
Such students negatively commented on other’s weaknesses, regardless of their achievements.
For example, despite not being in Physics major:
“Do you know *** is the rate change of acceleration? I can teach you!!!”
For this reason, Ken’s Study Journey decided to disable the Comment Function since January 2023.
Disabling Comment Function in 2023
More seriously, Ken’s Study Journey website and services underwent (D)DoS ((Distributed) Denial of Service) Attacks followed by some negative comments.
Negative Comments can totally be rejected and ignored, but (D)DoS Attacks can’t as it prevents the use of services.
This (Negative Comments + Attack) happened twice in 2022, including:
- January 2022 (before finals)
- September 2022 (after semester started)
Based on the logs from the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), each attack was around 20 mins at midnight, 1.3 Gbps using UDP Flood.
Technical Principles behind (D)DoS Attack
Some other study-related websites, including Past Papers and Study Tips Sharing, were also affected by the (D)DoS attack.
For this reason, our high school’s IP address was restricted, by ISP, for accessing websites outside Mainland, especially those using third-party CDNs (Akamai, CloudFlare, Fastly, Amazon CloudFront, etc), possibly to protect them against attacks.
This means a proxy was necessary even for websites like UCAS (the UK university application system), Quizlet, Notion, etc. using CloudFlare.
ISP Limitation for our High School Network
Several weeks later, our high school changed the IP address (183.**.**.55) suffix (from .55 to .56, and finally .54). Despite this change, the new IP addresses were still restricted.
For more information, including examples of negative comments, you may refer to the notice published in Sep. 2022.
Ken’s Study Journey Reminder:
- (D)DoS Attack is a serious offence and is liable to prosecution.
- Cheating (including preventing others from studying/working) is not useful for future technology development.
Only with your hard work can you improve modern technologies.
(D)DoS Attack Illegal Warning
Losing Communication Skills with “Personal Lockdown”
On the following Sunday night after the (D)DoS attack on September 2022, a student approached and spoke to me in my high school Hall (dormitory):
“Hi! I heard that your website was attacked by DDoS”
For this reason, I refused to make friends with over 99% of other students (filtered out), also known as “Personal Lockdown”.
Despite giving up communication and social skills, in particular, negative impacts from others, I fully focused on academics with outstanding achievements.
Fortunately, due to my “Personal Lockdown”, my academics wasn’t negatively impacted by the negative students.
My Unique Personality
After removing “Personal Lockdown” upon high school graduation (mid-2023), I noticed my unique personality different from over 99% of other students.
- Games and Entertainment (including ice-breaking games) are the WASTE of my Time!
- I like being rigorous and explaining everything into detail like researchers.
- I can focus on one thing (like a project) for a long time.
- Researching my own topics can bring me achievement and happiness.
- Regardless of whether acceptable or not (usually by teachers, judges, etc.), I always want to apply my idea in real life.
- Regardless of my location (including trains, planes or other transportation) and public holidays, I always think about and focus on my work.
For the ease of understanding, I would like to share some examples of explaining everything into detail.
In my Guangzhou City Tour article, I emphasised the Short Trains and Express Trains in Guangzhou Metro (in particular, Express Trains for Line 18).
Guangzhou Metro Line 18 Express Train Stations
I even wrote an article titled “HKUST FAQs” comprehensively explaining our university in detail and emphasising a Common Mistake:
Rushing onto the MTR Tseung Kwan O Line (將軍澳綫) train without checking directions when travelling back to HKUST campus, whether to:
- Po Lam (寶琳) (correct)
- LOHAS Park (康城) (wrong)
Common Mistake: Rushing into Train Without Checking Directions
Additionally, I used a diagram explaining the directions from Hang Hau MTR Station to the Bus Stop to our HKUST Campus.
Direct Buses to HKUST from Hang Hau Station
There are a number of showcase opportunities along with some competitions welcoming ideas. However, all ideas can be selected by judges, public voting, etc.
“Thanks for applying to … … . After a careful consideration (e.g., by our judging panel), we regret to inform you that:
- your application is not successful
- your project/idea is not shortlisted in Top 5/10/etc.
- your project is not selected for display/showcase
- (etc.)
due to the large number of applications, making the selection process very competitive.”
Utilising my Ken’s Study Journey personal project, I always have the opportunity and platform to express my ideas and apply it in my real life, regardless of the rankings, quality and other applications.
That means, it’s fully managed, regulated and led on my own and no one else can oversee, regulate, manage or disallow it.
Addicted to Personal Project
Due to my “2022 Personal Lockdown” without any friends, I always worked on and developed my personal project in my free time.
My addiction to personal project indicates my hardship for teamwork, collaboration and group projects.
Whether in my personal or group projects, I always tend to uphold all my opinions and ideas, making my situation worse whenever hearing the following from other students or team members:
- “Don’t think too much.”
- “We need your understanding please.”
- “It’s mutual respect. To get respect, you must give it first.”
- “So, why are you keep asking understanding from others but do not even want to understand others?”
I always need understanding by others and am seeking for Medical Advice and Counselling from my university, including Special Education Needs (SEN) support, and confirmed to have Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to Medical Proof.
Like my unique personality, Ken’s Study Journey also has a completely different personality from over 95% of other Internet services.
From my experience or according to news, some Internet services may:
- Force users to log in and/or download app(s) to unlock full content
- Force users to enter email addresses to download resources (i.e., Subscribe to Download) (common on many other personal websites)
- Limit the number of views per day per account or IP address (even for followers)
- Not allow users to leave any contacts, links or account names of other services in posts and/or private messages
- Ban specific robots or search engines in “/robots.txt” file
- Restrict or ban user accounts (permanently) without stating any reason (possibly by mistake; and sometimes delete all previous user content)
- (etc.)
On 20 Dec. 2024, inspired by a news report that a social media service banned over 1,000,000 (1 million) accounts on 19 Dec. at 10:00 pm with large number of complaints (being banned by mistake), I further enhanced my interest developing my personal project.
Policies and Personality on different services may change at any time. Something legal in one day may be “outlawed” on this service after a specific time.
For this reason, I refrained myself from using third-party Internet services, in particular, social media.
Regardless of whether posting my content on third party platforms (e.g., YouTube and Instagram), I always keep a backup on the Ken’s Study Journey Website since March 2023, including:
Like tech companies, I imagine some offices (headquarters or branches) for Ken’s Study Journey in different cities:
- Guangzhou Office (CN-CAN) (my home city) (headquarters)
- Hong Kong Office (CN-HKG) (my university city) (outside HKUST campus)
Unleashing my Creativity
Without my creativity, Ken’s Study Journey & Planner projects would not have been possible.
According to my article “My Biggest Personal Project”, I developed a range of skills from one project, including:
- Content Sharing & Storytelling
- Programming & Software Development
- Daily Server Maintenance
- Incident (Server Down) Handling
- Technical Research
- UI/UX, Poster & Logo Design
Apart from the skills developed, I implemented a number of inventions on the Ken’s Study Journey & Planner projects:
- Friendly Error Messages (Feb. 2024)
- Article Reading Questions (Mar. 2024)
- Hiding Details behind “Learn More” buttons (Jan. 2025)
In February 2024, I invented Friendly Error Messages especially for students.
Instead of just a red error message, I added some extra words. For example:
“Don’t miss questions in your exams. Check carefully before submitting.”
Ken's Study Planner Form Empty Error Message
Ken's Study Planner Wrong Input Format Error Message
In March 2024, I invented Article Reading Questions giving an opportunity for students to briefly test their reading skills with my articles.
Article Reading Questions (Sample)
Another new invention, which will be implemented since January 2025, would be hiding details behind “Learn More” buttons enhancing the article readability for different audiences.
While technical people or those who would like to learn more want to expand details, most general readers only rely on the brief information.
Hiding Details behind "Learn More" Button
Apart from the feature inventions, I also invented and/or used a number of study tips, in this article, helping me overtake others for A* grades, including:
- Discover & Share Knowledge in Real Life
- Daily Goals Checklist
- Days Left Board
- Study Habits Posters
- Knowledge Boards
- Ideal Study Environment Assumptions
- “4BST” Study Tips
- (etc.)
However, the first invention (1), in 2019, will no longer be applicable to university professional courses in Year 3 or above making it a valuable history. Nevertheless, it is still recommended for middle and high school students.
Developing Technology Behind
Ken’s Study Journey serves as not only a content-sharing platform and service but, more importantly, my research project.
Apart from my creativity, the technology development also plays a vital role.
Like some other small websites, you could sometimes see the Maintenance Page.
Back to 18 August 2021 from 8 am (08:00) to 2 pm (14:00) (GMT+8, CST), Ken’s Study Journey website went offline for 6 hours for a major upgrade.
“503 Service Unavailable - This website is under maintenance. Please check back later.”
Since 2022, however, you would never see this page. This indicates the potential of Ken’s Study Journey for upgrading the systems without interrupting the services (i.e., smooth upgrades).
Around April 2024, Ken’s Study Planner experienced degraded performance requiring 5 to 12 seconds to load data. This was the first major incident in 2024.
Ken's Study Planner Loading Screen
I spent 1 to 2 months to come up with the solutions with hash algorithms - one of the key technologies for a large amount of data.
I would like to reiterate some of my slogans/words:
- Technology isn’t Easy, Development is Busy
- Patience is important in problem-solving. Only with patience can you develop your problem-solving skills.
Embracing Teamwork with Plandline Project
Back to my middle and high school journey, no one else, except me, was interested in web and server development. This is why everything was developed by me alone.
To overcome this problem, the Ken’s Study Journey (Hong Kong Office; CN-HKG) proposed “Collaboration for Beginners” Scheme in mid-2023 welcoming everyone regardless of their past experiences without any technical background checks, admission tests, interviews, etc.
However, the name Ken’s Study Journey is too personal for a group project, impeding its development for teamwork and leading to failure of this Scheme.
Until mid-2024, I came up with a new name, Plandline (学路划), as a sub-brand of Ken’s Study Journey, in order not to interrupt the operations of Ken’s Study Journey and Planner services.
While Ken’s Study Journey and Planner will still be my personal project, Plandline will become my first self-led group project.
This is my first step trying to turn a personal project into a group project.
After my careful consideration, Ken’s Study Journey gives a high autonomy and trusts the potential for this Plandline project allowing the Hong Kong Office (CN-HKG) to manage it alone and restarting my “Collaboration for Beginners” Scheme.
The Guangzhou Office (CN-CAN) only:
- oversees the development for the project
- provides necessary technical support and resources
Different from the Ken’s Study Journey project, the Plandline project will be administrated under the laws of Hong Kong (SAR), China for the better use of the university resources and students.
Ken's Study Journey & Plandline Joint Logo
Inherited and copied from Ken’s Study Planner as a starting point, we can even make Plandline beyond just a study planning system with more features.
Unfortunately, this is under trial and hence currently only eligible for Hong Kong university students.
However, you are welcome to contact (email) me (no need to attach CVs) if interested. This may change our future development plans.
* Note:
Ken’s Study Journey Terms of Service (ToS) and Privacy Policy are NOT applicable to this project.
The Plandline logo is still under our group discussion and is NOT final (i.e., may change later).
Slow Thinking Problem
Apart from ASD, it was my major problem to think very slowly.
For this reason, I am not suitable for some interviews and competitions requiring quick learning or thinking. However, this may be common for researchers.
From overtaking others, getting A* grades (IGCSE and A Level) and taking IELTS exams in high school to driving exams before/at university, I kept myself very busy throughout the holidays.
Hopefully, I will resolve this issue before February 2025.
Conclusion & Final Notes
It was the modern UI/UX design, technology applications, study tips and my feature inventions on the Ken’s Study Journey project, acting as a “starter kit” towards my future goals, that witnessed my strong potential.
Utilising the Ken’s Study Journey and Plandline projects, I will continue my development for the future technologies.
Thanks again for your continued support for Ken’s Study Journey and wish you a pleasant study journey in 2025.
Ken Deng (Ken’s Study Journey)
16 January 2025
Guangzhou, China (CN-CAN)
FAQs (Learn More)
Why didn’t you use CloudFlare (an anti-DDoS and CDN service) after the (D)DoS attack?
As stated in the letter above, our high school’s IP address was restricted from accessing websites outside Mainland, especially those using third-party CDNs, including CloudFlare.
That means, on our high school campus:
- CDNs: Request Timed Out
- Other Servers: Mostly Normal
Moreover, if the websites were not accessible in my high school, they may have the misunderstanding that they were not accessible in Mainland as well.
Why didn’t you use CloudFlare (an anti-DDoS and CDN service) after the (D)DoS attack?
From my predictions, if our high school’s IP address was banned by:
- Web Application Firewall (WAF) (displaying 403 Forbidden)
- System Firewall (dropping requests, resulting in Too Long to Respond)
the students may have negative reactions and may send further (D)DoS attacks.
Additionally, our school WiFi blocks game and entertainment websites (against our school rules) and, as stated in the letter above, was restricted from accessing some websites by the ISP.
The negative students may use proxies to circumvent (bypass) such restrictions which changes the user’s IP address.
Apart from the negative students, there may be positive audiences who may send positive comments.
Why did you conceal the negative fact in 2022 until now?
This is to prevent further negative comments or impacts from other people protecting myself against further attacks.
Will you re-enable comment function on your website?
It’s still under my consideration.
I have generated many alternative ideas which were all not feasible.
1. Verify email address before sending comments.
From my prediction, such students may enter false email addresses and get the verification code abusing email servers.
2. Add a CAPTCHA in the comment form.
Such students were humans, not robots.
Ken’s Study Journey already added security measures like CAPTCHA in the Submit buttons.
Why do you use a brand name “Ken’s Study Journey” that is too personal?
While Ken’s Study Journey used to be a personal study blog since 2019, it has been developing rapidly with a study planning tool and several technologies behind in later years.
Until mid-2024, I realised that this name is too personal making it hard for collaboration.
Email Template for Plandline “Collaboration for Beginners” Scheme Request (for Ineligible Applicants)
For reference only. Your email does not need to satisfy with this template.
To: Email Shown on Contact Page
Subject: Plandline “Collaboration for Beginners” Scheme Request
Content:
Dear Ken’s Study Journey,
I am a (student/teacher/etc.) from (your city, country/region). I am interested in the Plandline Project and would like to join its “Collaboration for Beginners” Scheme.
(Optional) I have been using your Ken’s Study Planner for a long time and I would like to explore the working principles, technologies and development behind through this project.
I understand that this scheme is currently under trial stage and I sincerely request for the opening of the scheme to me in the near future.
Regards,
(Your Name)
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