No social sites, no life?

Poeple who are addicted to social sites, read this...
Life without facebook and twitter etc. etc. might be fatal... hehe...

http://rage.com.my/writeups/story.asp?file=/2009/10/29/experiment/20091028174749&sec=experiment

How to brainstorm for SATwriting

“OK, now you can start your essay.” Madam Ong.

Straight away I will be squeezing my brain hard so that I can get some “juice’, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, I can’t get any “juice”. Then I share my problem with my roommate, so called “chicken”. Then, he gave me some tips on how to start brainstorming examples. After he shared his approach with me, I started to google for tips on brainstorming examples. And here are some:

1. Read the newspaper and keep a list of all the major stories. Stories that can imply something are most useful as you can use the story to illustrate some moral values or facts. The current health care debate, for example, might get you pondering the reasons opposing sides have such a hard time compromising. But, Madam Ong’s advice is that avoid using latest politics issues as one of the examples. So, pick some stories or issues that are relevant.

2. List out all the novels and story books that you have read. Then, make some notes of the novel’s or stories’ themes and moral values in the list. For example, you have read Harry Potter, and then you can include Harry Potter in your list and also note the themes in the novel, like friendship, determination and many more. With that particular list, you can refer what you have read and which one you can use in your essay.

3. Jot down all of your significant life experiences. Don’t censor yourself and only write the “serious” events. Remember, SAT writing is creative writing and not a very “academic” or serious writing.

Try to make this activity as stress free as possible: don’t start your lists the night before the test and stay up until 4 AM brainstorming. Rather, begin writing a couple weeks early and add to the list whenever something pops into your head. Review your ideas the night before the test, and don’t be surprised when three or four great examples come to you as soon as you see your essay prompt. We bet it will feel great to be the one scribbling furiously while everyone else is still staring at the blank page.

SAT Reading Passages: Answering Tone and Attitude Questions

1. Figure out if the author is positive, negative, or neutral toward the subject. As you read the passage, look for descriptive words that give away the author’s attitude (you might even want to underline these words as you read). In a literary analysis passage, if the play being discussed is referred to as “witty and ground-breaking,” you know the author feels positively about the subject. If it’s described as “dull and derivative,” then the author’s attitude is negative. If the passage is devoid of words casting judgment, but simply sticks to the facts of when the play was produced and how it was perceived by the public, then the author’s tone is neutral.

2. Eliminate answers that disagree with your assessment. Each of the answer choices will convey some kind of feeling; for example, let’s say your choices are a) amazed, b) admiring, c) skeptical, d) bemused, e) angry. If you have decided the author has a positive attitude toward the play, you can eliminate c, d, and e.

3. Be skeptical about answer choices with strong emotional connotations. There are usually a couple of answer choices that differ only slightly; finding the correct answer among them can be hard. To find the right answer, you'll need to determine the intensity of the emotion being conveyed in the passage. In the example above, “amazed” is the more emotional word than “admiring.” If, like many reading passages, the passage is filled with academic language and technical terms, you would hardly consider it a piece of emotional writing. In this case, you would eliminate the answers that express stronger feeling and go with “admiring.”


source:http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/2009/10/20/sat-reading-passages-answering-tone-and-attitude-questions

Retrospection OR Introspection????

i am sure that many of us do realize that SAT is just 20++ days ahead. Yet, many of us haven't cultivate the "mood" to prepare for the exam. (JY, don't just cultivate farm!)hehe..

Why do i said so? For these past few days, what were we doing? ( Section 1 boys) playing DOTA! And of course, not only playing for 1 round. is ROUNDSSsss!!!

We all succumb to the temptation. Staying up till 2-3 am for that..OMP!

We do realized that this "disaster" is just around the corner. Why are we still so relaxed,blithe and have the time to play? Why are we so indolent about SAT? We did try out the test before. I would say that my marks isn't satisfying. Do you guys feel satisfied and contented with your own marks?

Guys!!! Time to be serious!! REAL serious!

spend lesser time on playing,

spend more time on studying,

do more SAT till the marks is gratifying,

so that next year we shall all be flying,

to the States!

people! time is not on our side! WORK HARD!

ps: i will really abandon dota for this final few weeks! i pledge off myself that i would do so!

Commonly Confused Words

DO NOT CONFUSE

• adoptive with adopted: children are adopted, but parents are adoptive.

• adverse, 'unfavourable, bad', with averse, which means 'strongly disliking or opposed to', as in I am not averse to helping out.

• affect and effect: affect means 'make a difference to', whereas effect means 'a result' or 'bring about (a result)'.

• ambiguous with ambivalent: ambiguous primarily means 'having more than one meaning, open to different interpretations', while ambivalent means 'having mixed feelings'.

• amoral with immoral: amoral means 'not concerned with morality', while immoral means 'not conforming to accepted standards of morality'.

• appraise with apprise: appraise means 'assess', while apprise means 'inform'.

• augur, 'be a sign of (a likely outcome)', with auger (a tool used for boring).

• censure with censor: censure means 'express strong disapproval of', whereas censor means 'suppress unacceptable parts of (a book, film, etc.)'.

• climactic, 'forming a climax', with climatic, which means 'relating to climate'.

• complacent, 'smug and self-satisfied', with complaisant, which means 'willing to please'.

• complement, 'a thing that enhances something by contributing extra features', with compliment, which means 'an expression of praise' or 'politely congratulate'.

• continuous and continual: continuous primarily means 'without interruption', and can refer to space as well as time, as in the cliffs form a continuous line along the coast; continual, on the other hand, typically means 'happening frequently, with intervals between', as in the bus service has been disrupted by continual breakdowns.

• council, an administrative or advisory body, with counsel, advice or guidance.

• councillor with counsellor: a councillor is a member of a council, whereas a counsellor is someone who gives guidance on personal or psychological problems.

• credible with creditable: credible means 'believable, convincing', whereas creditable means 'deserving acknowledgement and praise'.

• definite ('certain, sure') with definitive, which means 'decisive and with authority'.

• desert (a waterless area) with dessert (the sweet course)!

• discreet, 'careful not to attract attention or give offence', with discrete, which means 'separate, distinct'.

• draft and draught. In British English draft means 'a preliminary version' or 'an order to pay a sum', whereas a draught is a current of air or an act of drinking; in North American English the spelling draft is used for all senses. The verb is usually spelled draft.

• egoism and egotism: it is egotism, not egoism, that means 'excessive conceit or self-absorption'; egoism is a less common and more technical word, for an ethical theory that treats self-interest as the foundation of morality.

• envelop with envelope: envelop without an e at the end means 'wrap up, cover, or surround completely', whereas an envelope with an e is a paper container used to enclose a letter or document.

• exceptionable ('open to objection; causing disapproval or offence') with exceptional ('not typical' or 'unusually good').

• fawn with faun: a fawn is a young deer, and a light brown colour; a faun is a Roman deity that is part man, part goat.

• flaunt with flout; flaunt means 'display ostentatiously', while flout means 'openly disregard (a rule)'.

• flounder with founder: flounder generally means 'have trouble doing or understanding something, be confused', while founder means 'fail or come to nothing'.

• forego and forgo: forego means 'precede', but is also a less common spelling for forgo, 'go without'.

• grisly with grizzly, as in grizzly bear: grisly means 'causing horror or revulsion', whereas grizzly is from the same root as grizzled and refers to the bear's white-tipped fur.

• hoard with horde: a hoard is a store of something valuable; horde is a disparaging term for a large group of people.

TO BE CONTINUED...

TOEM

“The idiotic joys of idioms” an article by Jag Bhalla. This is an attention-grabbing reading. For Malay idioms, they are either meant to impart some moral values, or conversely, when translated literally into English are rendered hilarious, near ridiculous, even weird or funny.

These are a few match-making exercises on idiomatic expressions. Let us begin with Hindi:

> To sound out your throat: to boast
> There is some black in the dhal: there is more than meets the eye
> Chicken cooked at home is equivalent to dhal: a prophet is seldom accepted in his own country
> Bore holes in the plate that feeds you: bite the hand that feeds you
> Milk will remain milk; water will remain water: justice will be served
> When the birds have taken away the harvest: useless to cry over spilled milk
> To cook one’s own meal/porridge: to each his own
> A monkey/donkey has neither taste for, nor knows the benefits of, ginger/ to play the sitar in front of a buffalo: casting pearls before swine
> To become enmeshed in a tangle of “ifs” and “buts”: to stall

Next, a few in Malayalam:
> When trees are available in the forest, and the elephant belongs to the village headman, you can pull all (the trees, I presume) you want: make hay while the sun shines/strike while the iron is hot
> Like a dog visiting the marketplace: like a fish out of water; be a square peg in a round hole; an unwanted presence
> A donkey does not know the smell of camphor – similar to the Hindi saying: casting pearls before swine
> To hold open an umbrella at midnight (doesn’t say if it’s raining!): doing something utterly useless.

A couple of French idioms, again, because their literal translation makes them appear meaningless or sound crazy, but fun! And yes, never mind if they become ungrammatical in the process:
> To have a spider in one’s head: to have a screw loose/to have bats in one’s belfry
> To see 36 candles: to see stars
> By horn and cry: a hue and cry
> To make white cabbage: to draw a blank
> To drown in a glass of water: to make a mountain out of a molehill
> With body lost: headlong
> A glass of wine a day keeps the doctor away: An apple a day keeps the doctor away, for the rest of us.

Then of course we have a host of expressions in our national language, sounding equally humorous when literally translated, and similarly finding their idiomatic sense preserved in some “distant English relations”.
> Diam diam ubi berisi, which literally translates to “silently, silently the tapioca fills out”: still waters run deep
> Berbadan dua, literally “double-bodied”: to be in the family way/pregnant
> Telan mati emak, diluah mati bapak. Literally, “if you swallow, your mother may die; spit out, and your father may die”: catch-22; to be in a spot
> Pencuci mulut literally, “mouthwash”: dessert
> Tak pandai menari, dikatakan lantai jungkang-jungkit, which refers to someone who can’t dance but blames the floor for being uneven: a bad workman blames his tools
> Hangat-hangat tahi ayam, which means “hot, hot chicken sh**”: new broom sweeps clean.

It is interesting and significant that unity and value are addressed when the intended sense contained in a particular saying finds expression across cultures.

Extracted from http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2009/9/9/lifefocus/4667614&sec=lifefocus

Sleep More!!

Why?? This post is for those living in A2-04-02 Amanah Apartment.

Of course, in a less busy world we would all grab extra shut-eye. But it could have more effect on your health than you think.

1) It could boost your memory.
Sleeping is a process of making new pendrive of at least 2G in the brain. A Harvard experiment showed that subjects taught complex finger movements like a piano scale recalled them much better after 12 hours' sleep than 12 hours' wakefulness. Another study showed that working into the night slowed thinking skills, both at the time and during the next day. For those who wants to go Harvard, sleep now!! So that you can become one of them... And for JY, sleep more so that you remember someone's face all the time (JY - don't kill me... thanks).


2) It boosts the immune system.
People with insomnia and suffering from depression had fewer disease-fighting cells in their blood. Moreover, melatonin, produced when you sleep, is a cancer-fighting antioxidant.


3) It can slow down ageing.
People who sleep 6-7 hours a night lived longer than those sleeping less than 4.5 hours. So, Kok Bin, dont be so hardworking la... Life is precious, SAT is just a test (LOL...).

Sleeping~

Meaningless Post...

Argh... What the p... Such a cute dog...

(JY - i juz simply use "What the p", hope that you don't mind >.<)

Critical Reading & Sentence Completion

Today we went to ITMS lab for Mr. Yu Jin’s reading class, which was from 14.00 till 16.00. Siva, Chee Wee and I started to walk to IMTS lab earlier than usual because we heard some gossips from our fellow friends from section 2 that we will have some kind of mock tests on critical reading. After arriving there, I chose a seat that was under the humongous air-con so that I won’t feel super duper cold air blown out from it. Just as Mr. Yu Jin stepped into our class, someone shouted out – Mr. Yu Jin, you looked handsome! I couldn’t help to laugh in my heart because for me, I guess that was a kind of sarcasm (NO OFFENCE >.< ).

Anyway, we were told to do McGraw Hill's computer tests. After 279 seconds, there came the atmosphere of silence and horror. Everyone glued their eyes on their computer screens. At first I felt panic, but somehow I just asked myself why am I panicking? Then I reminded myself that it was just a stupid self-assessment exercise. I moved my eyes as fast as possible while reading the passages without understanding them (applying what Mr. Yu Jin had taught us -- skim & scan). I still remembered one of the longest passages was something about Herming… or whatsoever thing like that. That was the one that made me lost my confidence in answering all the questions. This is the first thing I realized: NEVER LET THOSE LONG PASSAGES make you lose your confidence!! OR lose your mind…

Besides that, you must also train yourself to be pro (good) in ignoring all the things around you. This was what I experienced this afternoon. When I was reading one of the passages, a pair of couple in green was sitting in front of me, kept on doing something intimating (NO OFFENCE >.< ), and Teng C.L. felt frustrated too, I guess, because I don’t know whether he is pro in ignoring people or not… Anyway, thanks to Mr. Yu Jin because he helped us to stop them from being intimating the others.

Ok, now talking about my result of the assessments. Shao Shen got 550/800; I got 520/800. I’m quite satisfied with my result as it was my first time to do SAT Critical Reading and Sentence Completion. From the whole assessment, Shao Shen and I think that we should do the sentence completion part faster so that we have more time in reading those frigging passages.

In conclusion, it was a tiring afternoon sitting in front of the computer screen for two hours.


** Equation of the week -- coherence = core + hence (X)
coherence = consistency + sensible (kind of X)
coherence = unity + sentence cohesion (V)

Disgusting Creature

It was Saturday, two days before Merdeka Day (Independence Day). All my roommates went back to their hometown (Kepong guy with Cindy, Bak Kut Teh Town with his loads of laundry, and Historic City with his intention going back to play Dota).

I woke up early that day, opened my window, then I could feel the nature of silence. There was no one screaming in the early morning (because usually the Bak Kut Teh guy will scream in the early morning and I think it is something to do with his testosterone). So, I went to the kitchen and took my mug and prepared a mug of cornflakes + milk.

After enjoying my breakfast, I walked around in the apartment and noticed that our apartment was damn dirty. There were so many aherm aherm on the floor, and I was thinking that those must be belongs to Bak Kut Teh guy. Therefore, I decided to clean the house since the one who always dirty the apartment was not in the apartment. Or else, usually after we clean the apartment, it only needs 2 seconds for him to dirty the floor.

Then, I went to the sink beside the toilet and I squatted down. I opened my search engine (my eyes) to search for something that can be used to clean the floor. Yes! I found something that can be use to clean the floor with, that is something called “EXTRA 500ml! Free 33%. Dettol. KILLS 99.9% of GERMS. 4 IN 1. Multi Action Cleaner”. I was murmuring to myself: “**What the P??… There is no such thing as KILLS 99.9% of GERMS lar~”. Anyway, there was nothing more in our apartment and I decided to use it. When I took the bottle of floor detergent, there was a cockroach. I was so scared when I saw the cockroach; the cockroach was so scared when it saw me. Both of us scare lo. I stood there like a tree trunk, doing nothing, just staring at the cockroach. After 5.69 seconds, I woke up from the shock. I quickly ran to the shoes’ cabinet to take the world greatest invention – RIDSECT and ran back to where the cockroach was like Usain Bolt so that it won’t escape. I spayed at the cockroach non-stop for 4.74 seconds.

After that, I checked on it. It was struggling there, haha… and 13.52 seconds later, it either fainted or died. I quickly put on my gloves and threw it into the toilet bowl and flushed it away… But I felt guilty too, NOT because of I killed that little creature, is because of causing depletion of ozone layer… What a sad world…

** What the p = abbreviation of What the potato = someone in our class like potato…

~ 1st Attempt~

Last week, our sensei had asked us to compile a journal to write about reviews of the questions. Well, both of us started at the eleventh hour, causes us to burn the midnight oil. Consequently, we woke up late, and was rushing for the bus.(if we are late for the BUS, a 30 minutes walking journey to IKAL awaits us!)

Then we had our classes like normal days(we think is normal) till 10 minutes before our Reading ToeFL and Sat class. We realized that we forget to bring the journal that we worked out whole night long! Then, I had to go back to Amanah to get that journal as it was left in my room. Walking back to Amanah under the hot sun is really.. OMG! Opps..! OMP!!

Fortunately, Colin borrowed me his bike and i cycled back to Amanah. The journey back was enervating! i could not afford to have a leisure biking, as the time is going to struck 2pm!

After getting my journal, i went back to IKAL and that is when another misfortune event occurs! my class had went to ITMS and i will had to walk there..alone>.<

My leg is so sore because of the biking. Yet, i had to walk to ITMS with all the strength i left. i was feeling really tired and lethargic.

Soon i am inside ITMS, we goes on with doing SAT Critical Reading section in the computer. Well, it was another bad experience of course. we did it together at the same computer and our score is terrible, horrible and...

we did our own analysis and this is what we found out that :

1) - vocab questions with 2 blanks is easier because u might know the answer for either one of the blank.

2) - Make an "educated" guess if u don't know the answer

3) - Time is really insufficient, hence try to do more 'timed' practices

4) - Bring jacket.

5) - Rest more before u had the test

6) - Well, think positively!

7) - when u did something wrong, laugh at yourself ( according to our sensei, it's good to laugh at yourself @.@)

And of course, listen raptly to Mr Yu Jin!

Let's Get It Started ~ >.<

it was a beautiful day.

it was Monday.

it was again Mr Yu Jin's day.

it was supposedly a lame day,

BUT!!

our sensei (Mr Yu Jin) had turned it to a damnedest day.

he gave us an assignment, an extraordinary one of course.

and that is what we are doing now, BLOGGING!!!

ps: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTdGJuDZp4I

( Let's get it started, by black eyed peas )