I didn't attend the Adam Khoo one but the 'original' one by his mentor, a Malaysian guy whose name I cannot remember but he seems to have completely disappeared from the spotlight in Singapore.

It was way back in 2002 when I was like in Primary 6, and Adam Khoo wasn't that big yet - but Adam came almost every day to 'help out'. 5 days residential camp that cost my parents $1,500 (it was a big amount that time).

Well, what I got out of that 5 days was getting yelled with "fuck" and other vulgarities countless times at 12 years old (remember, the Internet wasn't that popular yet in 2002 so kids were quite innocent - and they called this mental conditioning ala US Marines style), got like 4 hours of sleep every night as the guy thinks that sleep is a waste of productive time, 11-18 years olds were made to walk a high beam, of about 1 to 1.5 storeys high, without a harness in order "to boost their confidence" (I think even in the Army, it's considered a major safety breach).

Oh, and they had these quizzes every morning to test what you learnt the previous day. And those who got the lowest were made to do a "walk of shame" around the entire room with humiliating music being played and everyone encouraged to laugh and jeer at the person walking (I was that guy).

The whole camp was a focus on grades, grades, grades which wasn't really their fault if you think about it cos that was the results parents wanted at that time. Unlike the "find your passion, do what you love" mantra we tell our kids these days.

I had lost all confidence in my studies, flunked O-levels and all. And it was really only through my own life experiences in my adult years that I managed to get back my academic confidence and finish university.