By Betty Ding (25A01B), Isaac Chan (25A01B), Jane Ng (25S03D)

APT? No, YPT.

YPT, or Yeolpumta, is a study timer app from South Korea that encourages users to clock their study times and compete with friends to see who mugs the hardest.

As if that didn’t happen enough already.

Yeolpumta, which stands for yeoljeong pumeun taimeo, or ‘enthusiastic timer’, wants you to be enthusiastic about studying. So it gamifies study time—you can join ‘study groups’ with your friends, where you’ll be able to see your friends’ study habits live, whether their avatar stays a dull gray and shows 00:00:00 all the time, or is constantly coloured orange, indicating that they are actively studying. If that wasn’t demoralising enough, the app helpfully adds sweat particles or a head on fire to the avatar depending on your friend’s total study time that day.

YPT, despite originating from Korea, has found its place in Singaporean study culture, and Raffles Institution is no exception to its far reach. Study groups are formed amongst many an aspiring friend group, initiating good-spirited competition between friends and creating mutual motivation and accountability. Even houses have taken on the challenge, with Morrison-Richardson creating a YPT group. The champion clocked in at a staggering 321 hours and 12 minutes over a one-month period(!), translating to over 10 hours daily, every single day.

But that’s exactly what YPT encourages—incredibly, possibly unhealthily, long times. Plus, the existence of a champion implies fierce competition, something certainly verifiable in the YPT space.

The YPT Games

While you may not have qualified for last year’s 2024 Olympics, fear not as you still have the chance to clinch gold in YPT. The rules are simple—the more hours logged, the closer you get to the top of the leaderboard. 

It is worth noting that the rules of the YPT Games differ for each user. For some, it’s less about clinching medals but more about friendly competition between peers. For others, the fear of being in the dreaded last place propels them to keep on working. 

YPT is more than just a productivity tool—it’s a platform for competition, which arises from the dual nature of the app. While it serves as a self-accountability mechanism, it also creates an environment for comparison, further amplified by the app’s design. 

Some thrive on the competition, finding it motivating to outpace others or to meet pre-agreed goals with friends. For those who shun the stress of comparison, it can remain a purely personal tool, offering insights into one’s own habits and progress without external pressures. Logging study hours becomes a way to validate effort and feel accomplished—especially being able to see those hours stack up into a visual representation of one’s discipline and progress. It’s like a tangible reward.

While it is undeniable that YPT can provide motivation and validation, it risks becoming a source of unhealthy rivalry. When the desire to win takes priority, users may stretch the rules, such as clocking minutes during non-studying hours. It erodes the tool’s credibility and can dishearten those who stick to honest tracking, which is such a YPity.

YPT can either be a ladder of growth or a rickety see-saw of stress—it’s all up to how users approach it and the kind of environment they create around it.

So, to YPT or not to YPT?

For many of us, it’s hard to answer this question—our YPT phases are associated with largely mixed experiences and memories. On the negative side, some may find this phenomenon relatable: YPTunnel vision (coined as of this article). Symptoms of this affliction: consistently opening YPT to stalk the JC leaderboard, scrolling through the studicon store as a form of entertainment and obsessively tracking your study stats. It takes mugging to a whole other level, and perhaps not in the best way. Oftentimes, this newfound obsession also manifests side effects like lower energy, mood swings and an inability to enjoy your usual pastimes, or anything, really. Of course, this becomes a disaster not only for your health, but likely your grades too. Not a YPretty look.

That being said, it may seem like the YPT rabbit hole leads to nothing but trouble, but the reality is that it is still possible to use the platform to serve you and your academic needs in a healthy way. We can’t deny the power of a little gamification and competition, but as the saying goes, it also comes with a dose of responsibility. In the end, whether YPT works for you comes down to how you optimise it. Though YPT promotes pushing your studying to the limits, it’s crucial to know that productivity isn’t always about getting the most hours in. It’s also about taking breaks when you need it and adjusting your schedule to suit your needs. It’s good to have people to motivate you to “lock in”, but not to the extent where you skip meals and lose sleep over it.

Besides, effective studying is not synonymous with extensive studying. At the end of the day, when you chart a bunch of people’s clocked hours against their results, you may find that there isn’t necessarily a correlation between the two. After a certain threshold, excessive and continuous studying becomes more counterproductive than otherwise.

If reminding yourself of this isn’t enough to overcome your ingrained Kiasu senses, it could be beneficial to protect your peace and simply leave toxic or pressurising study groups. If there’s one person whose >12h study days bother you, you can always just block them temporarily. They won’t know, and you’ll be blissfully ignorant of whatever they’re up to. Out of sight, out of mind.

Everybody Asks Why-PT, But Nobody Asks How-PT

I’d be lying if I said grades don’t matter—they certainly do, at least to most of us. That’s precisely why striking a balance is so important. A slight tip in the wrong direction, and you risk spiralling into burnout or distress, which can take away from your health and in turn, performance as well.

You already know the remedy to this ailment: take more breaks, go for walks outside, block out time to spend with family—trite advice for us students who have gone through a decade of exam seasons. And so, when the next YPT craze turns round the corner, you just have to push past your YPTunnel vision and find the studying method that truly works for you. Remember: YPT clout is temporary, grades are forever (or at least a little more permanent).