Thursday, August 30, 2007
*.* 62 days to A Levels *.*
Am I sadistic? No, actually I'm worried.
I'm slacking away and there's not enough time to study for Prelims or A's.
So why am I slacking? Cos I feel very tired when I study.
That's bad...
And I'm rambling...
Today's GP paper was bad bad bad. Didn't complete paper 2 and for paper 1, well, I think my essay's fit for...me to read! haha.... Oh well.... I heard the teacher who's marking for my class is one of the strictest. So, let's see how I fare eventually=) ...this smiley face is a facade...
Anyway, next paper is Econs. Was trying to finally understand International Trade today. Went to Bukit Batok Library to read up on it. However, the incessant chatter and laughter of a group of Primary school boys proved too much of a challenge for my level of tolerance because studying Econs is very hard, and with much noise, well, it's a hundred times worse. So I went and bought batteries for my Graphic Calculator (48 AAA batteries for $2.05!), an umbrella (black, of course =) The rest had flowery prints on them...) and teachers' day gifts for... teachers! Okay...
So what's an Econs paper like? This year's the first year with a new exam format!(as expected... somehow my batch is always the guinea pig for things pertaining to education) There is no longer MCQ as Paper 1, nor do they split Data Response Questions and Case Study. Instead, Paper 1 provides us with a feast of various sources of data pertaining to one or a few countries and about anything under the sun. Okay, anything related to economics. Then, there are some short answer questions which require us to analyse and apply the data given (plus, of course, anything we've learnt throughout the 2 yrs in school), as well as essay questions that must be answered in context but require an even greater use of our Econs knowledge. The paper is 2hrs and 15 mins, and worth goodness-knows how many marks, since we've never sat for a full paper till this point. Paper 2, similarly, lasts for 2 hrs and 15 mins, and we have to choose 3 essay questions to answer out of 6. Actually, since most of these questions come in 2 parts, we effectively write 6 essays. Ouch! Painful... Especially since for the prelims, they decided to put both papers on the same day. Cheers to potential blisters! T_T
Me blogged @ | 5:45 PM
Saturday, August 25, 2007
*.* 5 days... *.*
Yesterday was the official last day of lessons for me. From now onwards, it's Prelims, followed by revision lectures and private consultations, then... A Levels.
I'm scared...
And sad.
I'm probably one of the weirdos who can memorise my entire timetable, including the venues for each lesson, but now that there aren't any, I guess my mind will have to let this memory go... And as the Chinese saying goes, 天下无不散之宴席 (tian1 xia4 wu2 bu4 san4 zhi1 yan4 xi2). I guess all this became more real as I realised my class will soon disband as we go our separate ways after graduation. We had a mini class picnic after our last lesson. Besides the fact that poor communication led to so many people bringing bread and cheese, I was really glad for the opportunity for us to come together and bond as a class, especially since we're so used to staying in our cliques...and... maybe our civics tutor never promoted anything about class spirit. It's not entirely her fault, because she's known us only for 8 months, but she never opened up to us, and many of us never made the effort to get to know her better too, so as a result, the distance is pretty great. On a happier note, playing games yesterday was pretty fun. We played 2 games, the first being some running-in-pairs game, which was quite funny because some pairs that consisted of a guy and girl were sabotaged such that they had to do interesting/ mushy forfeits. Good thing I wasn't one of these pairs=) The 2nd was musical chairs. haha...This time, I decided to be smarter and volunteered to be the one in charge of the music, such that I wasn't subjected to any forfeits. Anyway, somehow, the girls were a lot better at the game than the guys...haha... must be the screaming that scared the guys off the seats:)
Right now, I'm studying for GP! Honestly, I usually don't because it's hard to do so, and no one really knows how studying is supposed to help when it's just...language. So I'm reading some of the articles my school has given us...some model essays as well as searching the web for good quotes. Newspapers also have to come into the picture, to build up general knowledge for GP and Econs. Sometimes I wished I liked GP more, so maybe I wouldn't get bored while studying for it... But personally, when it comes to writing essays, I usually can't write what I want to say since GP isn't about giving your personal opinion based on your experiences or beliefs. It's about choosing a standpoint that allows you to argue with well-known examples and information. Since it's formal writing, it's highly impersonal and should not be emotive, which makes writing even more difficult. I have no problems with things like Project Work, especially the "Insights and Reflections" part, since that's about what I want to say and what I truly mean. GP teachers are fascinating and brilliant. They're able to come up with strong arguments for both the general standpoints (agree or disagree) and can bring these ideas across fluently and effortlessly...But they don't actually believe or subscribe to one of the viewpoints. Sometimes when I write my essay, I choose the side that is easier to argue for. I write the essay for the sake of handing in work, or for an exam, not because I really have something to say about the issue. That's why I don't really like GP. I wish there were more general topics, or there was a segment in either of the GP papers in which we can really say what we want to, rather than having the burden of appearing knowledgeable and well-read by quoting "significant" examples an sayings or having to write what is "acceptable". Okay, that's a significant amount of rambling... As a side note, everything said here is my individual opinion. Just in case...
As for the other subjects I'm studying, at least I enjoy those more=) After all, they are my core subjects. If I rank them according to level of interest, it would be 1. Biology (fascinating subject! but the most difficult, in my opinion, to do well in) 2. Mathematics (I still don't know how much of the content I will apply to my life in the future, but I like performing the calculations) 3. Chemistry (would have been no. 2 if not for the existence of physical Chem..haha... I'm really bad at that still. I like organic and inorganic Chem!) 4. Economics (I don't dislike it, but somehow a lot of the concepts fly out after each exam, and I can't really grasp macroeconomics well yet, so I can't say I like it a lot either.) My aim: try and understand everything well enough by Prelims to at least pass, then for A Levels, that's when my results must peak, I guess.
After all, as the most famous saying from teachers since the start of IP goes (used when they think we're not doing well enough or... they feel like it) ....
"This will be the 1st national exam for most of you after PSLE.
Don't forget that you only have a PSLE cert!"
My opinion: In order to preserve the sanity of students in the future, cut down the number of IP students. As the number of IP students increase, this "scare" will become closer to actually being realised... Not every IP student will get a place in university.
Me blogged @ | 1:56 PM
Thursday, August 23, 2007
And before you know it....
7 more days to GP!
All the best, everyone!
Me blogged @ | 9:38 PM
Thursday, August 09, 2007
*.* Prelims *.*
21 days... it's getting exciting...lol
Me blogged @ | 11:50 AM
*.* Prelims.. Comin' right up! *.*
Oh how exciting could life get! Yeah right... haha
Below are the dates for my prelim papers. Pray for me if you can. And er... I've been procrastinating on the studying part. Will probably start mugging my heart out from Thursday onwards... after I finish my unofficial project:)
30 Aug (Thu) ......General Paper (P1) .............. 0815-0945
..........................General Paper (P2) .............. 1015-1145
10 Sept (Mon) .....Economics (P2) ................... 0815-1030
...........................Economics (P1) ...................1300-1515
11 Sept (Tue) ......Chemistry (P3) ................... 0815-1030
12 Sept (Wed) .....Mathematics (P1) ................ 0815-1115
13 Sept (Thu) ......Biology (P1) ....................... 0815-0930
...........................Biology (P2) ....................... 0945-1145
14 Sept (Fri) ........Mathematics (P2) ................ 0815-1115
17 Sept (Mon) .....Chemistry (P2) ................... 0815-0945
19 Sept (Wed) .....Biology (P3) ....................... 0815-0945
20 Sept (Thu) ......Chemistry (P1) ................... 0815-0915
Anyway, intensive revision has kicked in for all my subjects in school already. I guess the brilliant teachers think we're brilliant too...so they managed to cover the whole syllabus, and more, within 1 semester or slightly more. Too bad not everyone is smart enough to absorb so quickly. I'm very thankful for something called "consultation"...you can meet your teacher after school or during breaks for 1 to 1 or small group lessons. Think I'll be meeting almost all of my teachers, in hope of doing decently for prelims, and then doing extremely well for A's. Stress. haha... Time's running out. Now I know why they say that in JC, you can't study last minute and expect to do well in A's.
Countdown to 1st day of Prelims:
24Countdown to 1st day of A Levels:
86
Me blogged @ | 9:04 PM