Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

I Can See the Finish Line

Just to clear things up. I am not writing this post on my phone as I am about to complete a fun run or something. Anyway, sorry for another short post guys but tomorrow I have my Science and Health and Physical Education exam and once those two are done I have no more exams! Hooray! The end is in sight. However, these two subjects are all theory (except for some of the chemistry stuff in Science) so there is a lot of studying going into these last two exams (as there was for my other exams). I know that once I finish it though I am going to go home and relax. Just relaxing for the first time in weeks would be nice. I will probably watch Fringe. At least there is no school on Friday so I have plenty of time to catch up on some sleep over this three day week-end which includes the 50th Anniversary Special of Doctor Who. At 6:50 am this Sunday you all know where and what I will be doing. That is right: watching The Day of the Doctor on ABC! So exciting!!!

I can finally see the end of exams, see you tomorrow!

Monday, 18 November 2013

Pre-Exam People

As you probably know, this week is my exam week at school. As such, long posts like these are not going to be as frequent due to the time I need for studying. So do not be surprised if you see another short post either on Tuesday or Wednesday (Thursday is my last day of exams). Today, however, was my first exam and it was for VCE Maths Methods Unit 2. Needless to say, I have been studying very hard for this subject (and my other ones as well) over the past few weeks and so am very pleased to finally have this exam over with. However, right before the exam during the last-minute studying time I noticed a few different types of people that appeared prominently all around me. These types occur every time there is an exam and so in this post I am going to walk you through these different types of people.


The first type of people you see are the focused study-ers. These are the people who you see just sitting quietly going through review questions or re-reading notes or sections of the text books. They are generally calm and not overly stressed about the exam. However, they are at the right level of stress to motivate study while not allowing it to overcome them. The next group of people are the late-night study-ers. You can generally tell who these people are by the way they are seated at a table. If they are lying across the table with their head in their arms then you know that they are sleeping. They generally have a higher-than-average level of stress as they were silly enough to stay up late the night before without thinking about getting enough sleep. The next group of people are the over-thinkers. These are the people who get hung up over one question that they did not understand. Their stress levels are very high and so they take everything out of proportion. They are generally the people who look worried, are rushing around or appear to be playing a game of twenty questions where the questions just never stop. Other people fall under the category of nervous wrecks. These are the people who have prepared for so long that when the day finally arrives the stress and pressure has built up. Sometimes though, this same type of person may not have studied for that long. Maybe they only studied for a little while and it is only right before the exam that they realise the mistake they made in doing this. This group of people display very similar symptoms to those of the "over-thinking" group. Finally, you have the socialisers. These are the students who do not seem to care about the exam and are only worried about catching up with their friends. Friends who are busy studying and not wanting to be distracted. These are the people who make you wonder if they even realise they are about to sit an exam. Their stress levels are very low and while this can be a good thing, it is always good to be mindful of others. Just because you are sure of yourself and what is going to be on the exam, others may not be.

There are quite the number of different groups out there, see you tomorrow!

Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Did you really just say that?

Do you know those times when you are talking to someone and they say something and you are taken off guard? Or when you scroll through your Social Networks and see something that someone posted and have to ask yourself "why?" If you have experienced that then the best you can do is know that you are not alone. Statistics (that I just made up) show that at any one moment there is a 97% chance that one or more people are thinking this. Sometimes I think it when I see studies like this. Some people are amazed at the findings. I am just amazed that someone was interested enough to do a study on whatever it was they were studying. Some just seemed overly complicated. It is times like this that we question the thinking processes of certain people. Sometimes it can ruin your view of the future.


Sometimes you just need to think before you speak. Do not just think about what you are going to say, think about whether or not that statement could hurt someone's feelings or make someone feel less about themselves. There are some incredibly thoughtless people out there who just say things and try to pass it off as a joke. Even if they are joking it does not make it hurt any less. Once it is said people begin to look at themselves and they realise if it is true or not. Believe me, the "it was only a joke" line never does you any favours. It just makes you look like more of a prick. On Facebook you see it all the time. People just posting meaningless statuses just so people ask them what they are on about. Talk about an attention whore. If you want people to notice you more, say something intelligent or interesting instead of something that makes you look like a self-important person. Seriously guys, I have said to think before you speak but you should also remember to think before you post. Think about how that post could make you or others look or feel. Once you feel confident enough that you know what you are saying can not offend anyone. Then you can post it. Of course, there are times when you need to voice your opinion and sometimes this can hurt people's feelings. The important thing you need to find is a balance and the fine line between opinion and just aiming to hurt someone.

Think before you act, see you tomorrow!

Sunday, 20 October 2013

Fun with Friends

I know this seems like a post about a children's story but it is not, it is very real. It stares you straight in the face when you dare not look. It is the voice in the edge of your mind. That vision out of the corner of your eye. Basically, it is the truth and nothing but the truth (plus a little bit of imagination). Sometimes people go through days and wish it to end every second. However, sometimes we have those days where time flies and we just want it to stop and slow down so we can enjoy it. Even the views of different people can change how they experience time and how this wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey world works (points for whoever knows where this is from). Friends can make time more enjoyable and without them time can go very slowly.


Today was one such occasion where I can say that friends made time go faster and was made better than if I was alone. Today I went to the Geelong Show to celebrate a friend's birthday. Because his Father knew the people who owned a lot of the rides we went on a lot of them and paid nothing. It was actually a lot of fun and if I had not being with my friends I would never have had such great friends to keep me company and to talk to about random stuff (random is always fun). If they had not been there the six hours we spent at the show would not have been half as enjoyable and I was not on the rides all the time (in fact, the majority we were just walking around). On the way home, however, we got stuck helping the Father's friend with a truck. This took a lot of time so instead of getting home at 6pm I got home at 8:10pm. I know you are probably thinking that two and a half hours would be boring but you would be wrong as we talked the whole time about a variety of random things. There was never any awkward silences. It was a lot of fun and I know that without them the time would have just dragged on and I would have had nothing to do. So you can see why I see friends as being important and why I know that they make time move at a better pace.

Friends are important so never take them for granted. See you tomorrow!

Monday, 14 October 2013

Daily Lukey: The Journey to 200 (Part 3)

So we have come to Part 3 (June) of this series of posts to celebrate 200 posts on this blog. We began the month of June with a post about the importance of writers; the people who make the show great. I then continued my weekend of writing with a post about fan-fiction that can sometimes add extra elements to a show you love to watch or has finished its run on television. I then came to a day where I had nothing to write about so I did the 25 random questions tag which you can check out, like the rest of these posts, by looking through the archive down below to the right. I then discussed regrets and what they can mean to us before I moved on to how privacy has been lost in our society. I then got sick of people talking about people as if they only had one trait, or category, and wrote a post about it. Then I wrote a post about YouTube before moving on to horrible drivers after going on a late-night learner driving outing (I may have lost myself towards the end of that sentence). I then discussed the different types of spoilt people (and Sandy made one of his first appearances here) before going through some anecdotes of what our parents have taught us.


I then wrote a post about blogs before starting a new series where I went through my YouTube subscriptions to get rid of the channels I had subscribed to over the years but never actually use anymore. This went for a total of six parts where each part was posted every second day. I discussed how much I enjoyed rainy days and my reasons for it. Can I just say how two hours ago it was pouring and now you go outside to a sunny and clear-blue skies. Damn you Melbourne Weather! Anyway, after the next installment of the YouTube series I wrote a post about an emergency fire alarm that went off at Werribee Plaza and the horribly unsafe (and uncaring) response from customers and business owners alike. After another day of YouTube I wrote a post about a horrible experience I had waiting to watch Despicable Me 2 (Don't judge me). I then, after another YouTube post, discussed the wonders of blogging and why I, and so many others, find it so appealing. Another YouTube post later I wrote about how my school claims to be 'green' yet uses enough paper to save a forest. After the final YouTube subscriptions post I wrote about another experience I had with a fire alarm at a theatre (I mean, first a cinema issue, then a fire alarm issue, then both. I was cursed). I then wrote a post about free periods and what people do during them which was followed by another short post due to that stupid Science Timeline assignment. I then rejoiced when I finally found relaxation after the Science poster was completed before publishing another post a day later about that feeling of accomplishment we get when we complete something that either took a lot of time or a lot of effort. I then complained (what's new) about irresponsible dog owners leaving dog poop in the middle of the path (and they still do it). On the second last day of the month I wrote about the Social Network Population before giving my review of King Kong Live on Stage which I had just seen (and am still reeling at by the way). That was June, be sure to check back tomorrow for July. August is coming on Thursday, and the final two months (September and the start of October) on Friday.

Thank you all so much for your support over the last few months, see you tomorrow!

Sunday, 6 October 2013

Gravity Review


My Rating: 9/10

Trailer:


Synopsis (Click here for Source):
Gravity, directed by Oscar nominee Alfonso Cuaron, stars Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving stone and Kowalsky completely alone.

My Review:
Wow, just wow. Gravity is a visually stunning and incredibly realistic masterpiece by director Alfonso Cuaron. It leaves you hooked from beginning to end with little rest in between. You will have your heart in your throat for the majority of the film and what happens in the movie will leave you breathless. Even the camera work adds another layer of depth to the film as you sometimes have a third person perspective and then you come twisting around to one of the characters' perspectives and are given a whole new level of immersion. I saw it in 2D and this had no impact on how I experienced the film. The acting is another thing, it would be really interesting to see how they actually filmed it. The back stories of the characters add yet another layer to a film and these are subtly dropped in every now and then to break up certain parts of the movie. The starting lines (shown in the trailer as well as the beginning of the movie) where it says "Life in Space is Impossible" is something you are constantly reminded of and thinking about throughout the course of the film.

Gravity really is a must-see thriller that will have you hooked from the silence at the beginning to the credits at the end. See you tomorrow!

Friday, 20 September 2013

The Holidays have Arrived

Hooray! Finally, after ten long weeks of school the holidays have arrived. As much as I enjoy school it is always nice to just get away from it all and relax instead of rushing around trying to organise everything and completing homework. It is a nice feeling although this Term has being a great one. I would like to start off with a bit of an update on the fundraising we held this week on behalf of the 'Wyndham Leaders of the Future' program. I am proud to announce that, thanks to the generosity of students we raised over $600 which will all be pooled together before next April to purchase medical supplies to send to the Menari Medical Centre in Papua New Guinea. Over $100 of this came from the lolly-jar raffle and it is great to see so many people rally behind such a great cause. Aside from this however, this term has been full of a lot of highlights (and yes, I am looking at the term calendar to remind myself).


The term started off with the Australian Maths Games Day which I participated in and had a lot of fun. It may have been a long tram ride from Flinders Street Station but it was worth it and going with a friend made the time seem to pass a lot quicker. Especially, when that friend had not realised how long the tram ride actually was. Then came LOTE week shortly after which supplied a lot of daily entertainment and international songs between bells. It was a nice and relaxing week and next year should be a whole lot better with even more students. Science Week followed not too long after and the daily recess trivia competitions with the horrible animations (that were funny because of how bad they were) really made my day (well, several of them actually). Finally, Book Week decided to show up and there were movie screenings in the iCentre (what we call our school library), a Macbeth incursion on the Wednesday (with actors from the Bell Shakespeare Company), a dress up day on the Friday and lots of competitions in between. Melbourne Writer's Festival then followed suit the following Monday which was a lot of fun to participate in and, since I was just an iCentre volunteer, I could just relax and enjoy the day rather than have to worry about doing any related work. The Arts and Technology week then came around with our performance-night on the Tuesday and the House Choral competition which was a blast. Seriously, this school is anything but boring. Finally, to cap it all of, there was this week full of fundraising for a good cause. Not a week goes by at this school without something happening, our Term calendar has barely a blank day anywhere with absolutely no empty week in sight.

It has been a busy term so a holiday is needed, see you tomorrow!

Thursday, 15 August 2013

Assignments and Due Dates

Whenever there is an assignment or something due on a certain date there are always people who struggle to stick to these dates. This even occurs when we get an exceptionally long period to compete the task. Even on the day there are still some people who struggle to stick to these constraints. You can always tell when an assignment or something is due the next day because the class Facebook group suddenly becomes very active as everyone leaves it to the last minute with no hope for completion. It is also annoying as even though teachers always threaten consequences for not adhering to deadlines they remain only threats. It just makes it so unfair for the students who put in the effort and handed it in on time. Tomorrow we have a science prac report due on an experiment we conducted and currently the Facebook group is being hit by a storm of people starting their reports too late and getting stuck. I came to write this just to get away from it all. These people will struggle through VCE and University when deadlines are much stricter and if you do not hand it in on time you fail.

Just get organised, see you tomorrow!

Sorry for another short post today!

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Relaxation at Last

Finally, after hours (and I mean hours, that's right, it's in bold) of working on our Science Timeline Assignment it is finally at a point where all that is left to do is some final gluing which will take, at most, 20 minutes of our time. I am not going to go into another description of what the assignment is as I did that in yesterday's post. Basically, it is a very long timeline on the evolution of plants and animals that takes a long time to do. It was supposed to be finished at the end of our double period today but our Science teacher, being very nice, let us hand it all in on Friday. However, we plan to finish it tomorrow and hand it in then just in case something happens. I am really happy with this assignment and just want to put it behind me and move on to enjoying my holidays. Also, exciting news at the end of this post (not as exciting as Kokoda but up there)!


First, an explanation of why the last few posts have been pretty short. The main reason, as you would already know if you read yesterday's short post, was the Science Assignment. Last night I stayed up to 11:30 to finish the titles for the timeline which meant that I was really tired and so not up to writing a long post. The day before the post was also a little shorter than normal but it was pretty long. Another reason for this is because I managed to download the Blogger app for my Galaxy Ace so it was hard to gauge how much I had already written due to the size. Also, images came up as their original size when you attach one and you can not choose where to put it so that was the main reason there was no picture yesterday. So basically that is why my last few posts have been short but rest assured that the following days will be back to normal. Sunday afternoon I am going to go see King Kong so that will be great and I will post a review that night, so look forward to that. It is meant to be really good and my grandmother (who is very critical) said it was the best show she had ever seen so I can not wait! However, I did promise exciting news before so here it is. Today I went to the Dentist to get my braces tightened and the dentist said that I could get my braces off now (hopefully this time it does, click here for the last time I was supposed to have my braces off). So we booked it in for next Monday morning which is great which means I will not have to have braces for the holidays. I will however have a plate/retainer to wear so that is the downside but it is great that after two years I can finally get my braces off. Hooray!

Good oral hygiene leads to healthy smiles and a happy Dentist, see you tomorrow!

Friday, 21 June 2013

A Green School?

The school I go to claims to be a 'green' school but we all know that this is only partially true. A 'green' school is one in which little paper is used (and wasted) and things are mostly done on computers to save this paper. I will admit that our school does save a lot of paper through what we do on our laptops but there are many cases I can think of that go against this 'green' school ideal. I mean just a quick trip through some of the parts of our school would make you question it. Of course, there are lots of recycling and, more specifically, paper recycling bins around the school but there is a whole lot more paper that could be saved by my school. My school is certainly not a perfectly 'green' one.


The first major amount of Paper that could be saved around the school is the bits of paper that have our school values on it of "Respect, Aspiration and Contribution". You may be thinking that a few bits of paper with those words on it is no big waste of paper but I do not think you understand the extent of it. On every board around the school there are these pieces of paper on it with one value on each in large letters. Sometimes there are even two sets on the one board or an extra bit of paper nearby that has them all on it. It would save so much paper if it was just these posters everywhere around the school, four sheets of paper would be replaced by just one in all the different locations around the school. Then there are some of the worksheets we get in class which could just have easily being done on the computer with much less effort from the teacher. Of course, some of this does happen but a majority of the time it does not. So, as you can see, our school does waste a fair bit of paper and that is not even the end of it.


We only just received a Science assignment which is the biggest waste of paper I have ever experienced. Working in groups of 3 (there are 200 students in Year 10 and all are doing the assignment) we are to make an approximately 7 metre long timeline of the evolution of plants and animals with a scale of one centimetre for every one million years. Of course, this would be alright except on top of that it has to be in A3 paper and be three rows. That is exactly what is on the task sheet. Yeah, 3 rows of A3 paper which works out to 51 sheets of paper. That is 51 sheets per group! That is the biggest waste of paper I have known so far. They are only going to display the best from each class but due to the size the possibility of even that is slim. So all these sheets of paper are going to go back to the people who made them which, in turn, will promptly end up in the bin. What a massive waste of paper! It is the worst Science assignment ever, it would make more sense to do it all electronically but no, the Science teachers had to choose the dumbest option they could find. So, as you can see, however 'green' my school claims to be, there are many areas of improvement.

Wasting paper is wasting our future, see you tomorrow!

Friday, 31 May 2013

End of Exams

The time of Exams is over, finally! It just feels so good to come home and know that you don't have any homework for the whole weekend. If this were twitter I would write #Paradise. My schoolwork right now is like the square root of a negative number; it's imaginary! This is really good because now I have a weekend where I can watch some Doctor Who and just relax after a frantic few weeks of studying. It just feels so exhilarating to be able to just relax for once in such a busy year.


So what's my plans for the weekend? Well I don't know past tomorrow morning when I have my Piano Lesson. I'll probably relax for once and watch some Doctor Who, possibly do some studying for Methods (just because I like Maths). Though Doctor Who is a certainty and right now I just bought Season 4 and my brother bought Season 5 so we are set for a while. Can I just say that the ending for Season 3 is so good. It's almost as good as the ending of Season 2 which I may have enjoyed more if my good friend Xavier hadn't ruined it for me. So Doctor Who is my new obsession (nothing new on the Catching Fire front except for a few posters) for the next few weeks so you may hear even more about it. So basically this weekend is time for a Doctor Who marathon and relaxation, I cannot wait!


The real question is how I manage to keep up this blog sometimes. The truth is that I do not even know how I do it. Sometimes I come home from school and start work straight away and continue this until I go to bed. I take breaks for shower and dinner but that is about it when I am really busy with study and school work. Sometimes I worry I will miss a day but it turns out I find time in the end. I do not even know how I come up with some of these topics although they are all related to something that has happened to me recently. These topics don't come out of nowhere. For example, my blog on Faith was scheduled for release on the day of my cousin's Confirmation (for which she chose me to be her sponsor [conceitedness level risen]). I say scheduled because I did not know when I would be able to get home so I wrote it the night before and scheduled it for release. It was actually the first post that I actually scheduled for release. I guess I just see this blog as another thing to do every day and I know it may not be as intricately researched as my friend Xavier's Current Affairs Blog but it is all my thoughts. I just want to say that if you do want to contact me for any reason about this blog or something else you can email me at legolukeytutorials@gmail.com which is the account I use for my YouTube contacts (not my account email) and stuff like that. Don't forget that you can always comment as well. So that is all for today and I look forward to a relaxing weekend!


May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Thursday, 30 May 2013

Exam Logic

As you all will know if you have been reading my posts recently, this week is exam week. I just have to say that during exams people have some really messed up logic. I am terming such logic "Exam Logic" as it only happens when there is an exam. During the past two days I have experienced people doing some really illogical things. It is like full-moon madness except with exams, I guess you could call it Exam-Madness or something. If I miss anything be sure to comment down below on any weird "Exam Logic" you may have experienced.


One of the worst examples of "Exam Logic" I can think of right now happens before you even sit the exam. This is the logic where people think they will be able to get by without studying. I do not know how people even manage to do this when I still get stressed out with exams even after I have studied all night for them. I had a friend who claims (I say "claims" because I don't believe he could do that) to not have done any studying for his exams today and when I arrived to school he was playing a game on his laptop. The weird part is that when it comes to tests and assignments these people will study but when it comes to exams which is really just a big test they do not even get stressed when they don't study. How can you not study for exams? I would be a mess if I didn't study for any exams. "Exam Logic" can be really illogical at times.


"Exam Logic" really comes into play during the actual exam. The first part is when people get out all their pens and pencils but forget to bring out the most important part they'll need like a rubber or ruler. Halfway through they realise and they have to move their chairs to reach what they need and so they do what I talked about yesterday with the chair. They'll start out quick and then realise the noise it makes. From here they'll go extra slow to drag out the noise instead of going fast to get rid of the noise (oh the logic). Then there are the people who turn up on the day of a Maths exam without a calculator. Who would not think of bringing a calculator to their Maths exam? Then they go running around everywhere trying to find a spare calculator. It is even worse when they just assume they'll be able to borrow the calculator off the person nearest them. Like I said in yesterday's post they'll act like they're doing you a big favour in letting you use it until they need it. Excuse me, it's a Maths exam, you are more likely than not going to need the calculator most of the time. I just do not know how these people actually think anymore. Sometimes I think people just automatically switch off when exams come around. I really hope "Exam Logic" isn't contagious. Yes, I know the person in the picture is playing Pokemon, if you don't like it then email me at legolukeytutorials@gmail.com I'll be happy to reply. So I know this isn't all the "Exam Logic" that is going around these days so if I've missed out anything you have thought of then comment it down below or email me (see above).

Image Source: 

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Wednesday, 29 May 2013

Annoying Things People do During Exams

Well exam week officially started this week for Years 9 and 10 at my school and so today we had an English Exam and a Rio Tinto Big Science Competition (not an exam). Today I am not going to talk about the exam itself but rather the annoying things people do during the exam. We have all experienced one exam or test that had someone doing something incredibly annoying and distracting. If you have experienced something annoying during one of your exams/tests don't be afraid to comment down below!


One of the most annoying things a person can do right at the start of the exam is to maneuver their chair into a position that is comfortable for them. I'm not saying that I get annoyed when people feel comfortable (oh the injustice) but it is the way they go about getting comfortable that is annoying. They start out fast but then they realise it makes a really loud noise. So what do they do? Maybe move it fast so that the noise doesn't last as long? No, that would be too simple. What they do is slowly move their chairs so the noise just goes on forever. Then they finally get comfortable and they start work and you think you can relax but no, they move it that little bit further so they are even more comfortable. Has anyone else had this experience? It is really annoying and why wouldn't you get the noise done quickly rather than drag it out so you distract everyone in the examination hall? Sometimes I lose faith in the future of humanity.


Then there are the people who think it is alright to communicate during exams. These are the people who think it is okay to play the game where you have to repeat a certain word (for the decency of this blog I won't say it) one after another getting louder each time. I mean, where is the fun in that? Oh, I said a bad word, hehehe. See how lame and immature that is? When you're trying to relax at the end of an exam it's even worse. Then there are the people who think it okay to borrow someone's ruler, or calculator during an exam. Sometimes they have the audacity to say "I'll give it to you if you need it" as if they are doing you a massive favour. That is so annoying when it happens and it has happened to me quite a few times. There are also the people who think there is nothing wrong with looking over to someone else's answers. This is incredibly annoying when, during the exam, they ask you how you did that or that it's wrong (even when you've checked it on CAS and it's correct). It's annoying because they can end up getting you into trouble for doing nothing. These people are really infuriating and really ruin your exam time because you might be thinking "well, this is alright" and then they annoy you and you just wish you could leave. Does any of this happen to you guys? Good luck with exams everybody!

Image Source:

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

P.S. It's also annoying when your stupid brother comes into the room and starts listening to stuff on his phone (without headphones) and just stands there when you're trying to study! #Frustrating

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Studying Tips

So it's that time of year again. Yes, it's time for exams! The time we all love to hate. The only really good thing about this is we only have to go to school for the exams which means really short school days. It's also good because the whole week before is just Revision Week where they can't teach us anything new. The downside of this is also that we can't have anything due that week and so all our assignments are due the week before (this week) meaning a very stressful time for students. At least once this week is over all that's left to do is study. In today's post I am going to discuss some study techniques that could help you do really well on your exams!



For Maths subjects I find starting my revision by reading through the chapters we have completed to be my first step in studying. From this reading I make summary notes on key concepts of the chapters. These may include formulas, graphs, rules and a few questions as examples. After this is completed I find it time to complete the chapter review just from the summary notes so you can see if you need to add something. Once this is done it is also useful to go back to the chapters and complete some more questions that you weren't on the layout that you completed the first time around. I have used this many times both in normal Maths and Maths Methods and it really has helped me a lot in remembering all that I need to. It is also useful to go online and do find some practice tests on Google. It is very helpful to complete these tests under exam conditions and without breaks as this will provide you with great practice. Remember, cramming the night before will do you no good as you will not retain what you just read. If this does work for you (and you get good marks), I am very jealous of you.


For subjects like Humanities and Science where there is a lot of information to remember I find the following study methods helpful. First, I create a summary sheet of all that I can remember about the topic (or topics) without looking at the text book or notebook and then I look through my textbook/notebook/workbook and write down any extra notes I may have forgotten in a different colour so that it stands out and I know what I need to work on remembering. After this I go online and search up online quizzes or tests about the topic that can help me revise. I also find the use of flashcards to be very helpful and I used it a lot (and to great effect) in the Semester 2 exams last year as there was a lot to remember with Health and Physical Education and Science. There is a great free app for android called StudyDroid  where you go online and make the flash cards (you can also create them on the phone) and you can sync the ones you create online with the ones on the phone so that you can study topics on the go. I also use this app in my Piano lessons for theory. I find it very helpful and there is bound to be a similar flash card app on the Apple App Store. Remember, trying a variety of study methods is best so you can find which one works best for you.

For LOTE subjects (such as French or Chinese) there are a number of tactics I use to revise. The first thing (and most favourite) I do is use Language Perfect to revise some old vocabulary that could come in handy as well as learn some new adjectives that might help in the written task. The next thing I do is read through my workbook and look at some of the activities we have completed and then do similar ones that I make up myself or search for online. This really helps with the application of different words and verbs because there is only so much you can do when you know what a word means. If there is a written component it is also very helpful to look over some of the previous topics you may have covered to gauge what sort of writing task it might be. If the teacher provides a Revision Sheet make sure you complete it as they are very useful. Then you can try your hand at several different writing activities to see how you do, the teacher will be happy to look through it with you to see where you could improve. Remember, just because you learnt something last year does not mean it will not be involved in the exam.


For English where there may be a text response essay there are ways you can study. First, the teacher will generally tell you what it is you will be responding to if it is a text, or the sort of topic (such as persuasive writing). If it is a text the first thing to do is to write a summary of each part of the text so you can gauge what you can remember about it. This way you know what parts of the book you may need to re-read if you cannot remember what it is about. From your summary look at some key themes and write down some good  quotes for each because there is more than likely going to be questions relating to some theme or something. From here it may also be useful to make up your own prompts based on previous ones you have worked on or other ones relating to major (or minor) themes in the text and then write a plan out for this. If you want, you could write out an essay and show it to your teacher for feedback but just a plan is enough so you can work out what sort of topics you might discuss. For something else, like a persuasive piece or text analysis, it is best to look at examples of these and use textbooks or notebooks for examples of how to write something like this. You might even do a Google search for some of these topics and practice things for you to work on. Just don't forget to practice, even if this just means writing out a plan. Some practice is better than none. Remember, just because you may not be allowed to bring in your text does not mean you do not use quotes.


May the odds be ever in your favour for Exams, see you tomorrow!

Wednesday, 15 May 2013

Homework

Finally! I just finished all my homework and assignments and I am feeling free to relax. I have had so much work with assignments and homework recently that I haven't even had a chance to enjoy some of my Birthday Presents yet (except for four episodes of Doctor Who). I've been lucky to even find the time to keep writing these posts. However, now it is over I can finally relax and catch up on all that I have missed out on. Hooray! It is is such a great feeling.


So the assignments we've had is a DNA Extraction Practical Report on the experiment we did last week and that was due today. It wasn't as bad because it was completed in pairs but it was still a lot of work to do, even between two people. The next thing was an English Oral Presentation which started today on whether people should be allowed to post whatever they want online. From here we got our own issue and contentions to talk about and we started presenting today though we were really slow (even though the speeches only go for 3 to 5 minutes) and we only got three done today so I probably will not even have mine until next week. I just have to say that it takes me 20 minutes to 40 minutes to write one of these blog posts with pictures but for my Oral Presentation which is just a speech it took me nearly 2 hours to write when it was shorter than two of these blog posts. The logic in that... At least that's done now and I just have to keep practicing every night which isn't so bad because I have what I'm going to say down pat so I only have key words on the palm cards.


Another assignment we have which is due on Friday and which I just completed was a Humanities Macroeconomics Assignment on an economist which we had to choose from a list. Each different Economist has their own questions related and though it seems simple it is far from it and it may seem easy to get the information but it isn't. It's very deceptive and takes hours to complete. It's an assignment you wouldn't be able to complete the night before (and get a good mark). I'm doing mine on Milton and Rose Friedman and I actually find it very interesting, although it can get boring and tedious.



The final assignment is one for History of Western Medicine which we started in class and it's a case study on a topic of our choice to do with Medicine from the 1800s to the 2000s. I'm doing a case study on Cholera while focusing more on the history of it and comparing it to modern day cases. It isn't such a hard task as we have benchmark tasks to complete along the way that help us complete the assignment. Our first benchmark task was an opening paragraph outlining our topic (I may have wrote a very large topic) then a statement (I may have wrote a paragraph) on why we chose it and some research questions to focus our research. The second task is an annotated Bibliography of four preliminary resources (we can use more in our research stage) and the third benchmark task is a research table using our research questions and we write notes from our research and the source we got it from. Finally, we write it up in a report and then print it out ready to be handed in (next Thursday).


So that is all the assignments we had plus all the extra homework we get on top of that. Luckily next week is Revision Week before exams so we don't have any tests and we don't get much homework because it's all revision. Then it's exams and we won't have a lot of homework for the next few weeks. Finally, I can relax!

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow!

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

Parent Teacher Interviews

So today was Parent Teacher Interviews at my school for students with surnames starting from A to M and next Wednesday (1st May) the other students (N-Z) have their interviews. That means we get two days off school (Hooray!) which is really good for us because this week we also have Thursday off for ANZAC day which means we only go to school Monday, Wednesday and Friday which means any homework we get that day can be done the next so we can relax. I still do the homework the night I get it though so I can relax the whole day and if something happens and I can't complete my homework (in case the TV turns itself on or  a DVD plays itself) I don't have to worry. Anyway, back to Parent Teacher Interviews.


So I get there early and so I go to my locker to get my books before going up to my first interview with my Science Teacher. When we get there we are still early which means we get to see the people before us go up and we notice how long she (the Science Teacher) talks for. I mean, she was talking for ages and always going overtime and we were lucky to get in just five minutes after our scheduled time but Mum was getting really worried even though I had left a five minute gap between each interview in case this happened. So when we got in to the interview Mum knew we only had five minutes until the next one so she was really asking questions that got to the point but it was all fine. My interviews are always good and the only problem the teacher had was that I had got a Very Good mark (somewhere above 75%) instead of an Excellent (somewhere above 80%) where the rest of my marks were. The science teacher being slow was actually a blessing because we got to the Maths teacher as she was finishing up with the previous student which was really good timing. The rest of the interviews went really well and were not as long as the Science teacher and they were all good [they never aren't ;) ]. My methods teacher was really quiet and it was funny because my Mum was doing a lot of the talking and when she asked "Is there anything Luke could improve on?" he just stared at his screen for a while and went "Uhmmm, no" and it was a little obvious that he wasn't a big fan of Parent Teacher Interviews. The other teachers were good and it was all good interviews (which I already said I think).


I really believe Parent Teacher Interviews are great because the parents/guardians get to hear straight from the teachers instead of a garbled version of what the student may tell them to make a bad mark seem better. I know some students who wait until the last minute to get their interviews so that they can't because of the teacher being booked out so they don't have to see them. So Parent Teacher Interviews, I really like them. Plus, I make all my interviews on the first day so I can see the teachers I (well, my Mum) wants to see at the times I want so I can leave enough space in between to prepare for teachers who talk too much (Science), talk too little (Maths Methods) or talk for the right amount of time (the rest). As long as its good reviews it can go for as long as they want.

May the odds be ever in your favour, goodbye

Sunday, 7 April 2013

Procrastination

I have been procrastinating a lot these holidays. We haven't got a lot of holiday homework but what we do have is big. Basically we have a Science Assignment and a Methods SAC which is basically to complete all of Chapter 5 (A Gallery of Graphs [incl. Hyperbolas and other stuff I can't remember the name of]) which will take a while. I only started today and I was even procrastinating while doing that. I admit, I have a problem.


So what was I doing instead of my work today? That's a good question with many answers. I started off the day thinking I was going to start work straight away but then I felt YouTube call to me and I got 'stuck' watching some videos. Then, when I finally got out my work I had to download something and where did I go first, Facebook of course. Now, what did I do on Facebook? Well, I played a lot of SongPop and people were online playing too so I didn't run out of matches for ages which meant I just kept playing.


I finally ran out of matches and I started my work which I did for almost an hour and a half before I stopped for Lunch. While having lunch I thought I should have a break and decided to watch just one episode of Community. However, that one episode turned into two.. and then three.. and then four. This was always because of the mindset "just one more and I'll get back to work".


Finally, I finished watching Community and went back to my work... where I proceeded to play SongPop for another 10 minutes. Finally I got into work and proceeded to work solidly until I had to get ready to go out to dinner with my family. Now I'm back and decided to continue working tomorrow. So now I am procrastinating watching Biggest Loser: The Next Generation.


Then we'll probably watch Elementary, followed by The Voice season 2 Premiere which we recorded.


Then we'll probably watch the TV week Logies which is on after The Voice which means that it is also being taped at the moment. So yeah, I can procrastinate when I don't want to. I'm actually procrastinating from procrastinating by writing this blog post at the moment. This is actually the earliest I have ever wrote a post on this blog (8:22pm) because I usually write it around 10pm but today I decided to do it earlier because I can and I'll know I'll probably forget it.



Anyway, on the Biggest Loser at the moment Rosemary (Blue) has just flipped out at the trainers (because tonight they are the ones choosing who will go home), especially Michelle, and just stormed out announcing she is going to leave but Kevin (the biggest contestant in the history of the Biggest Loser worldwide) is stuck in the middle because he doesn't want to leave but his mother is a little bit, for want of a better word, feral and is definitely not in the best mood and even if she does come back the trainers will have a hard time deciding who to vote for to send home. Interesting! Now the trainers have decided not to vote so the couple with the lowest weight loss percentage are going home. *SPOILER ALERT* It's Rosemary and Kevin's time to go home. But when they show what they look like a certain amount of time later Kevin is looking really good, so is Rosemary.


Ha-ha, I procrastinated then by writing that.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow

Tuesday, 26 March 2013

Science and Keeping Young

Sorry for the late post today!

So, Science Science Science! I spent most of tonight actually completing an assignment on the TAC's Wipe off 5 Campaign and how it is effective where we had to incorporate our own data regarding reaction times, breaking distances and stopping distances. This was not as long as it could have been as our class had already handed in the assignment but the teacher found out that every other class got a rubric for the task but we hadn't which meant she gave us back our raw score based on the rubric and we had an extra week to complete our task via the rubric. This was great but now I am so SICK of the TAC and their "WIPE OFF 5" CAMPAIGN! It is a good campaign and it is quite interesting but this assignment ruined it for me. Anyway, I enjoyed doing it and now it is 10pm and I am writing this post quickly before going to bed. The worst part with this is that we had to submit it using this online thing called eWorkspace and the Dropbox (but don't worry about what that is if you don't know) but of course it wasn't submitting the document so now I'll have to do it tomorrow morning before class. Anyway, glad that is over.


On the way home from my Methods Tutoring we drove past a park that was empty except for this one old man. Normally I would just be like "Ok, what else is going on?" but it was what this guy was doing that attracted my attention. This elderly man in the deserted park was atop of the slide after climbing up the steps and was about to go down the slide. I didn't get to see if he actually went down the slide because we passed it pretty quickly but that was still the highlight of my day! I mean, my Dad thought I was cracking it because I couldn't stop laughing... Anyway, I guess that must have made him feel young but imagine that, an elderly citizen enjoying a ride on the slide at the park.

Well that is it for today because I have to go to bed.

May the odds be ever in your favour, see you tomorrow.