Exams, exams, exams… u love it or hate it?

Most students are afraid of examinations, including myself. What makes things worst is to have a certification examination hours before my flight, when the only main worry on my mind is:

I have not finish packing my tour stuff!

The course starts early in the morning at 9am and … ouch, the exam was held at the end of the same day. The tricky questions were not helping me to score much. And I felt that I might do badly for the paper. I just cannot imagine that I could fail a paper which consists of 20 multiple-choice (MCQ) questions. The passing grade is 65%.

Seriously speaking, if one failed a paper, does it mean that he/she is not competent or well-versed in that subject matter?

In my past, the most common kind of examination format is a combination of MCQ, Multiple-response, Structured questions and Essays. Is this the perfect combination?

Let’s do some analysis.

Usage of MCQ or Multiple-response questions alone

I personally do not like to set such format for examination papers. For “soft” modules like Management, or Business Communications, the paper crafter could utilize the power of English to create numerous confusing answers to a simple question. Most students will be tricked by this kind of questions even though he/she understands the concept well; perhaps not in terms of formal terminologies.

Another setback of using this method alone is, students can “guess” their answers if they are unsure. For a question with 4 choices of answers, the probability of a student getting it right is 25%. Once again, understanding could not be accurately tested.

However, this type of questions allows markers to grade faster within a short time. Students could get instant results upon completion of the paper. That’s the advantage of this kind of exam format.

Usage of Structured / Essay questions

Well, yes, I somewhat agree that these kind of questions might be more useful to determine student’s level of understanding. Students are given the opportunity to write down their answers as well as their reasoning. They could also demonstrate their analytical skills in their answers.

The only drawback of this method is; the grading process could be horrendous. Teachers will see hundreds of different variations of answers and it’s really hard to derive the perfect set of grading criteria.  Teachers have a higher tendency to give “pitiful” marks especially if the student gets totally out of point but spent effort to write a full page of essay. *perspire*

It will take weeks for students to receive feedback on how well they had done for their paper.

Ah… so now that explains why most examination papers have the above combinations.

Do you agree with me?

I will talk about more examinations format when I am back. Watch this space soon!

Botak Jones

Had a heavy lunch at Botak Jones@Woodlands just now. The first thing that comes to my mind is, ‘is this a new restaurant?’ It does sound like a nice brand name on it’s own.

Upon reaching the destination, i was surprised that Botak Jones is actually a mini stall situated in a regular kopitiam. Nothing special.

The food quantity is huge. I ordered a usual Fish and Chips but i think the serving size is almost enough for 2 ladies. [Did i mentioned that i am supposed to go on a diet not long ago? Oh gosh. What the heck. Enjoy first then suffer.]

Travel and work cannot be mixed

Did you ever had this experience?

You are happily planning for a tour/wedding when suddenly things started happening all around you in the workplace. Things had been quiet earlier on.

This is what is happening to me this week.

Issues/tasks have been piling up on me this week [out of the blue, when i thought issues had been settled nicely earlier on]. Of all days, why on the week which i am scheduled to go on a family tour?. I have courses, i have management work to handle and the worst thing of all, i have a freaking exam this Friday! (I am flying off this weekend!!!) aww….i cant concentrate on the exam.

i really wish i can go to this tour without my “work”. It’s rather tragic to keep thinking about work while on a great holiday. This holiday is very special to me. If all things goes on smoothly, it will be my first family tour together. My parents hadn’t travel since they had me (*Blushed*); and i think it’s time i fulfill my duty as daughter to bring them on a tour.

I think they deserve the break.

Cheap hair cut

After keeping a year of short hair, i think it’s time for me to keep long again.
Because of that, it’s good to have a simple hair trim before i leave it alone to grow. My mum recommended me a unisex salon near the vicinity where a female hair cut cost only SGD$12. It’s simply not worth to trim hair at top-notch salon for a freaking > $20. Out of curiosity, i decided to have a look.

Bad luck, the salon was full of noisy students. I was greatly disappointed. I was about to head for home when i saw this salon called Snip Avenue. I took the pamphlet and my eyes almost pop out of the sockets.

A freaking hair cut (regardless of length) at SGD$3.80!! Usual price is SGD$4.80. They even wrote ‘Please be assured that all hair stylist from this salon are certified professionals’. Oh man, they better be man, it’s so worthwhile!! Look at the other services, a highlight cost only SGD$45 for long hair. Good deal right? Anyway, i got my hair trimmed there.

Unfortunately, this wonderful promotion last only till end Feb 2008. If you are staying in Spore and don’t mind trying out a new hair stylist, head down to Serangoon Central now!

Baking session

Everyone says baking bread is harder than baking cookies, but my friends and I have proven our mothers wrong by making a nice first attempt in our regular baking session.

Look at our achievements!

Things to bring for a tour

It’s time to whip out our usual travel list. Everytime we need to travel, we will reference this list, just in case we need to buy anything extra. It doesn’t matter which country we go, the same list can be used all the time with a little mix and match here and there. The only points to take note is:

• The tour duration
• The local weather ranges
• The destination
• Your gender

IMPORTANT

• Passport
• Money + pouch
• Credit Card
• Some SGD spare dollars [in case you need to take cab when you are back in Singapore]
• Any other travel documents as advised by your travel agency

Clothing

• Disposable underwear
• Bra
• Swim Wear [Optional]
• Jeans
• Bermudas/shorts
• Pyjamas [Optional]
• Shirts
• Jacket
• Long John
• Socks

Shoes

• Extra pair of slippers [Optional]
• Track Shoes [IMPORTANT] Refrain from wearing heels on a tour

For short-sightedness

• Extra pair of spectacles/contact lens+solution

Grooming

• Comb
• Hair Accessories
• Masks
• Cosmetics
• Face and Hand Moisturizers
• Lip Balm

Electrionics

• Multi-plug travel adapter [Please check with tour agency or guide for local plug socket. Not all adapters have all the necessary plugin]
• Digital Camera [I recommend buying cameras which uses AA batteries. In case you need to be outdoor for a long time and cannot find a place to recharge your batteries!]
• Handphone + charger [In case you need to call home anywhere]
• Backup batteries
• Torch Light [In case hotel blackout. Don’t laugh, it happens!!]

Toiletries

• Towels [In case you did not like to use towels provided by hotels]
• Toilet rolls [Ok, better bring if you are going to those mountainous areas e.g in China]
• Tissue Papers
• Toothbrush
• Toothpaste
• Dental Floss [Better floss there, if you don’t want to be scolded by the dentist after that]
• Shampoo
• Body wash
• Shaver

Medicine

• Cold/Flu tablets
• Fever [Panadol] + Some for high fever
• Stomachache (Especially wind)
• Charcoal pills
• Gastric
• Antibiotics
• Lozenges

Hope you find the list useful and have a safe trip!

*Disclaimer: Above is my own personal travel list. I am not liable for any damages caused should you chose to use the list as it is.

Feel free to contact me if you find anything amiss.

Sheepy Ads

Saw these ad when we were out shopping just now. Can you guess why are the sheep looking for job now?

I need a break

After the module meeting with the director today, i realized one thing: I am really tired… both mentally and emotionally.

I was so disappointed with my meeting just now, i wasn’t prepared to share my ideas and i was kinda distracted.

During the last semester, i was swamped with so many tasks to juggle and i “postponed” taking medical leave and even annual leave. And this coming semester, i am once again slapped with the same old responsibilities, perhaps worst. Some colleagues managed to do away with responsibilities beyond teaching once again. Sigh… why???

Is it because i’ve done so badly last semester that the boss decides to let me ‘practise’ more OR i’ve done so well that they kept entrusting me with the responsibilities? [I don’t think i’ve done very well actually. There were so much room for further improvements and i did not give my best yet.]

I am going for a long break in a week’s time. Oh boy, i really deserve that break. I want my old self back - the cheerful, witty girl. I really hope next semester will be better..

Ladies’ worst enemy - The Weighing Scale

There’s something wrong with my weighing scale! Or is it??

Damn…. the meter has shifted somewhat to the right when i stepped on the weighing scale this morning. I couldn’t believe my eyes at first. I suddenly remembered the stuffs i’ve eaten over the 15 days of the Chinese New Year:

• Pineapple Tarts
• Ba Gua
• Egg rolls
• Prawn rolls
• Soft drinks
• 3 Lo Hei sessions
• 4 full steamboat dinners
• Roti Prata
• 4 cups of bubble tea

I feel like crying now….

I did exercise twice weekly, did 2 to 3 miles of walking via the exercise cd.  I thought i was doing everything right… until i read about this article from ZenHabits.

I seemed to eat back all the unhealthy food after each exercise session when i should be taking care of my diet.

One simply could not lose weight if they maintain their same old diet despite doing regular exercises. How wrong and naughty i was.

In the next few weeks to come, these are my plans:

1. Eat less new year goodies
2. Exercise regularly
3. NO MORE bubble tea
4. Eat more soupy dinners and meals
5. And … no more suppers

Will update on my status here and hopefully, this time round, the meter on my weighing scale will go back to the original place.

Maple Story and Me

Has anyone of you tried playing Maple Story? It’s a 2D free RPG game but players have the options to buy special weapons and stuffs to enhance their game.

I created my first maple character, a warrior, two years ago and I really put in my best efforts to level up. The monsters are kind of cute to kill. One frustrating thing about playing this game is; you really have to read lots of guides to help you optimize your character strength. By the time the guides were discovered by me, my character statistics were all added wrongly. I gave up my warrior at level 38.

Okay, just to share, I find the following guide useful. (Most players probably will know this site) You can find lots of interesting ways of optimizing each maple character. It also contains guides and maps which lead to secret hidden streets in the maple land.

Sleepywood

Months later, I created a second character, a magician. This character is more fun to play. I can hit monsters from a distance away as compared to the warrior, who requires close contact to kill a monster. However, I got irritated by younger players (I seriously hope they are young) who kept on shouting ‘kill steal’ on the map I shared. (‘Kill steal’ – stealing goodies dropped by monsters hit by other players) I finally gave up on my character at level 36.

I was quite happy that I had the opportunity to play maple. This little knowledge actually helped to bridge the communication gap between me and my students in class. I always made efforts to set aside time in class to discuss issues which the students can relate to me other than the subject matter.