to remind students of a certain virtue
If you’re reading this the moment it was published, it’s now two minutes to midnight. Two minutes to the 22nd of September.
If you’ve been a regular reader to this blog, you’d have noticed something new on the top-right corner.
If you’re one of this year’s O-Level A-Maths students, it’s two minutes from being a month away from your first maths paper. Slightly longer if you only take E-Maths, but that’s beside the point.
If you’ve already gotten your prelim results, they might’ve given you a false sense of security or the shock of your life.
If you’re a LMBFH Syndrome sufferer, the latest word is that remaining spaces on His packed O-Level Foot has just gone blackmarket.
Regardless of who you are, do take two minutes to reflect on what you should do for the next month:
- Now that your prelims are over, shouldn’t you be spending more time on your O-Level Ten-Year Series (especially the past 5 years’ papers)? Should you still be revisiting those morale-sapping prelim papers from the top schools
(afterall they’re set by egoistical teachers from egoistical schools), when you can’t even do the relatively easier TYS? When practising your papers, shouldn’t you be imagining yourself doing the actual exam in the exam hall? Shouldn’t you start timing yourself instead of taking half an hour to solve one miserable question, and then immediately call your friend to ‘celebrate’ your little success?
Should you peek at the answer when you haven’t even finished your question? Or worse, should you peek at the answer before even attempting the question?
Should you continue to deceive yourself?
- When you encounter a routine-looking question you think is too easy for your high level of intelligence, should you just mumble “I know this one!” to yourself and then skip it entirely? Would you do this in the actual exam? Are you so sure you’ve understood it completely and there’s no hidden ‘trap’?
Should you get your papers marked, by yourself/friend/teacher/tutor?
Do you really think with the influx of foreign cyborgs, 75% will get you an A1? Market talk is at least 85% for A-Maths and 90% for E-Maths! Do you know which topics are depriving you of your marks?
Do you know where you stand?
What time do you think your exams will be held?
Should you still chiong those late night parties? Should you join yet another neverending Maple Story quest? Should you spend your nights away surfing blogs (except this one of course)? Should you be still watching football matches in the wee hours? Are you taking your exams in Liverpool or Manchester?
Shouldn’t you try to sleep early, just for this month, in order to adjust to this year’s packed timetable when the time comes?
Lastly, shouldn’t you put aside all things that might affect your focus and unduly takes time away from your studies?
Afterall, don’t you think there will still be lots of time to settle your little love triangle, your your football rivalries, and to kaypoh other people’s blogs after your exams?
Ok your two minutes are up. The final leg of your epic journey towards Mathematical Nirvana (or … umm … otherwise) begins today. Treasure it well for it could very well be the most important month of your life.
Incidentally, Miss Loi’s two minutes are also up. Time to wash away her express facial mask and hoping that it will really solve her current pimples crisis this time.
20 Comments
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Time is so short yet my son is still making lotsa careless mistakes in his Maths practice papers. You got any 绝招 to impart?
Remarked that he did a sh*t paper (大便纸)and he gave it to me to wipe my ass.
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erm-.- i cant help but find the last sentence to be a spring of mirth LOL wipe ur *** LOL....
btw 85% for a maths and 90% for e maths to get an A1? i tot it would be 75% none the less? ive had this attitute which as long as i get 75-80 it's fine dun have to work insanely hard for a1's?
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For a moment, i thought this post was about linkin park's album
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arh shi*t better go study now exams is like ....so round the corner!
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LOL...Ms Loi...you and your "85% for a maths and 90% for e maths to get an A1 !!! " chant again.... =P
And yes to here, due to MOE's freaking marking scheme with their ridiculous "bell curve" for results, 75% is unfortunately not the mark you should aim for if you want your A1s...
Cheers... =)
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Iron Maiden fan? \m/
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huh? do eleborate "bell curve" and i was deeply under the impression that 75% for all subs equals to an A1? art thou not so agree'st?
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ECL, if there's such a thing called '绝招' it would've been part of the school syllabus and all students would've been equipped with it 🙂
Usually I tell my students (after they've reviewed their papers) to mark down all their careless mistakes (however insignificant they seem) and go through them again before the actual exam (see point number 3 in this post).
By doing this, they will get more familiar with their own weaknesses and all the different types of careless mistakes that they always tend to make, and be subconsciously reminded of these during the exams.
But ... can Jaymes' maths paper still be 'used'???!
Do also allocate some time during the exam to check-through all answers. By doing this, the total time for question-answering is now reduced. A good side effect from this is that a sense of urgency wold be instilled in the student, which will make him/her avoid dilly-dallying on certain questions.
Lastly, Jaymes is taking his O-Levels next year right? So don't worry too much for now as he's officially excused from this Countdown Clock!
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kiroii,
When you study your A-Level maths next time, you'll come across this thing called the Normal Distribution, which, to put it simply, is a bell-shaped curve to describe the distribution of a generic statistical population.
If you apply this curve to our student population, it means that the majority will fall within the fat 'average' zone in the middle, and both tapering ends will represent the 'smart' and 'no-so-smart' minorities. Hence the bell-shaped curve.
In local context, this is what we call moderation. Imagine everyone's so smart and take tuition these days and scores 75%, does this mean that all of you will get your A1s? If so, this will present a headache for the JC/Poly admission exercise, since in a homogeneous Singapore everyone wants to go to the same 'prestigious' course.
So the 75% should always taken to be the upper 75% of this distribution, not your raw grade.
It's all a bit controversial. And Miss Loi cannot be 100% sure of this (maybe someone with firm knowledge of this can comment?) But Miss Loi has seen some very good Maths students end up with an A2, despite being super-confident in their performance. This happened frequently with E-Maths, where the questions are usually simpler and the population of candidates is high.
In any case, it's always better to aim higher to be on the safe side. At the very least it provides a 'buffer zone' to accommodate all those careless mistakes, lack of workings etc!
P.S. Thanks for your explanation Jac 🙂
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123, Miss Loi is glad that this Countdown Timer has had an effort on you.
Stay focussed and good luck for your studying. May the Linkin Park songs keep you awake in times of need!
But do check back here often to try out the questions. 🙂
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Kenny, umm ... ok Miss Loi shall admit that she chanced upon this title while browsing through HMV one fine evening.
Cool title nonetheless eh?
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Of course. How can Iron Maiden be uncool?
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hah? but its rather impossible to get impeccable scores? (100%)
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How lucky I am not to be ur student! But then my formal math remind me of my own mother!! I am sure I will do well if I have a se*xy math teacher! Have a nice day!
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yeah.. im rather sure a sex-y maths teacher would put us in good stead LOL
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Ya ya ya thanks for reminding Miss Loi she's a naggy old hen. So you're only obedient to naggy but sexy teachers huh? Tsk.
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Miss loi, i am getting more and more anxious as the day pass, as the day of O level looms over! My bright future and noble aspirations to become a teacher like you, miss loi, solely depends on this 'O' Level Examination! my heart thumps rapidly at the thought of it! I bemoans my stupidity every single day! Sooner or later, my bicuspid and tricuspid valve in the left and right atrium will soon explode! I CAN NO LONGER TOLERATE THIS. HELP ME MISS LOI! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! :'(
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I agree with hor-ny! Sexy math teachers give so much more motivation to students in more ways then one.
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Oh my prodigy! Miss Loi's getting more and more anxious by the day as well, wondering if you're ever gonna slit your wrist. The key to your bright future and all your accompanying aspirations begins when you stop leaving such mama drama comments. And thereafter solely depends on whether you still possess enough bicuspid/tricuspid/quadcuspid valves in your top/bottom/left/right wisma atria to enable you to perform the simple mechanical act of lifting up your phone to dial Miss Loi's number! Sooner or later Miss Loi's schedule is gonna be super-full, and on hindsight you will bemoan your stupidity (of not calling her) for all eternity!
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Welcome to Jφss Sticks Mr Ecstasy.
From the comments gathered here, seems like there's quite a demand for sexy teachers in the profession! Maybe someone can feedback to MOE on this 🙂
But Miss Loi thinks that, quite on the contrary, sexy teachers may inadvertantly bring about falling grades if the said 'motivation' is not relevant (to the subject) to begin with!