Admin Matters

Just an important admin matter. Please remember to bring the following on monday:

1) GIRO Form for examination fees regardless of whether your parents opt in or opt out

2) Edusave Form that was given out sometime last week or the week before.

3) PTM Form.

华文预考格式

高级华文

试卷一

应用文 （20分，3 题任选1题，包括私函，公函，演讲稿）

作文（70分，3题人选1题，包括做法／看法报章报道，议论文，情景作文）

试卷二

综合填空（10题20分，考第3，5，8课的词语）

理解测验 （10题20分）

阅读理解（50分）

长文缩短（20分）

快捷华文

试卷一

应用文（20分，2题任选1题，包括公函和私函）

作文（50分，3题任选1题，包括报章报道，议论文，记叙文）

试卷二

综合填空（10题10分）

理解测验（10题20分）

阅读理解（10题40分）

试卷三（考的日期不详）

阅读篇章（10分）

话题讨论（30分）

试卷四（考的日期不详）

听力（10题，20分）

大家，无论你报读高级华文或快捷华文，你们一定要下载sharepoint上的powerpoint。高级华文学生要特别注意新 的理解问答题目例如 “作者用了什么写法？”与“这个写法有什么作用？”

祝大家好运，成绩斐然！

Home Based Learning & Prelims

Ok so this is the very last Home Based Learning we will have, at least in Secondary School. This is a time to recap concepts and do some much-needed revision for your subjects. 

0815-0905 SOCIAL STUDIES

0905-0955 ELECTIVE HUMANITIES

0955- 1045 PURE HUMANITIES

1045- 1135 MATHEMATICS

1135 - 1200 BREAK/LUNCH (Quite short so if you're cooking on your own, watch the time. Alternatively order delivery)

1200-1250 ADDITIONAL MATHEMATICS

1250-1340 CHEMISTRY

1340-1430 BIOLOGY

1430 - 1500 BREAK

1500 - 1550 ENGLISH

Please log into sharepoint by 8am latest. My advice is to go on as early as possible, say 7.15am or 7.30am before the traffic jam takes place. The Edulearn website is www.asknlearn.com . Default password is "password", default username is your NRIC. If you have changed your password, you may notice that sharepoint will not be able to link you to Edulearn. 

You need not strictly adhere to the timetable if you finish assignments ahead of schedule. If you can't finish on time, you can take a bit longer. That's fine. Just get everything done by the afternoon. 

64529524 is the hotline for Sharepoint enquires. For Edulearn, call 67779661. You should the numbers of Mr Tan and Mr Yong. For obvious reasons, I won't post any of the teachers' numbers here. 

So yea, enjoy the HBL.

PRELIMS

So prelims are coming soon. Main thing to ensure you do well is to get ENOUGH REST (7 hours  minimum sleep, advisably 8), STAY HEALTHY and RELAX. Do treasure all the TYS and assessment books you have, as they will be of great help to you. Just don't PIA all at once. This is only Prelim 1. If you pia too early, you will lose steam before Prelim 2. 

TENTATIVELY, there will be Chemistry remedial on Saturday. 

Bio SPA

SPA is on Monday. Report punctually at the bio SPA lab by 10.45am latest. Topics tested are Nutrition and Nutrition in Humans.

ADVICE (My two cents worth):

1. Bring all your stationary, a calculator and a curved ruler. Bring these for all SPAs regardless of which science it is.

2. Read through the entire set of instructions and questions before you start any experiments. Don't be too brash and start off immediately. You have an hour for the entire thing. It wouldn't harm to spend 2 to 3 minutes reading the instructions.

3. For graphs, make them as large as possible. Label the axis. Draw a curve only if the shape is very obvious. If it's more like a straight line, draw a best fit line. 

4. Memorise all food tests (and learn from the biuret test mistake that most of you made. Add very little biuret solution and observe for changes before you add even more. You may see a faint violet) as well the enzymes in the alimentary canal.

5. Safety first. If you conduct benedict's test, YOU MUST wear goggles. Failure to do so may result in a deduction in marks for skill 1.1. 

6. Do not wash or dismantle apparatus until told to do so. The examiner may want to check your apparatus for grading purposes. 

7. You may have seen "Hydrogen Carbonate" indicator. All I can say is that Hydrogen Carbonate is better know as the bicarbonate ion, HCO3- . Taken from http://www.probertencyclopaedia.com/G_BICARBONATE_INDICATOR.HTM.  Take the info with a pinch of salt, but I doubt it's too far from the truth. A bicarbonate indicator is a PH indicator sensitive enough to show a colour change as the concentration of the gas carbon dioxide increases. The indicator is used in photosynthesis and respiration experiments to find out whether carbon dioxide is being liberated. The initial red colour changes to yellow as the pH becomes more acidic. Carbon dioxide, even in the concentrations found in exhaled air, will dissolve in the indicator to form a weak solution of carbonic acid, which will lower the pH and therefore give the characteristic colour change. 

If you've any other tips to share, please feel free to add on. =P Good luck for SPA.

The need to avoid complacency

Dear gentlemen,

As the prelims, I just wanna say that I know that many of you are going through lots of stress etc with homework piling up, etc.

2009 will not an easy year for some of you with the stress etc but you will all make it.

Remember not to get complacent!!! Don't assume that just because you managed an A1 for Physics in Sec 3 means that you will definitely do well this year. A lot of hard work is needed.

Cheers to a good prelim 1

Mr Edmund Yong

Homework and Tests

Just 7 days to prelim 1! Better get working! 

There's a static electricity test tomorrow at 12pm. Prefects please return on time. (Though its much easier given our class will be TEMPORARILY closer to the canteen by leaps and bounds)

E Maths "test" tomorrow. Topics are number patterns, angle properties of circles and some others which I forgot. =S

Chem test on MONDAY. Topics tested are Rate of reaction and Energy Changes. 

English Homework due on MONDAY. There are 5 essay topics, do 1 Expository 1 Narrative. You will be given the question paper tomorrow if you have not received it yet. Write it in your composition book! By the way, Mitchell, Ze Jun and Qin En, your composition books are with me. 

So far no news on any remedials other than Chinese this Saturday. Note that mathematics may be held on certain saturdays soon. Will keep you posted.

IMPORTANT: DO THE CAREER SURVEY ON SHAREPOINT. 1 MOST INTERESTED AND 4 LEAST INTERESTED. NA IS NO INTEREST.

AIRCON MANIA

Come to think of it, there might be less conflicts in the class if only we had GOOD aircon.

Announcements

HOMEWORK:

Add Math Revision Exercises 10, 11 and 12 Due THURSDAY

Physics 50 MCQ Worksheet on Chapter 17 and 18 Due MONDAY

English Comprehension on Celts Due MONDAY

Chemistry Environment Worksheet MONDAY

Social Studies Essays TUESDAY

AIRCON

Since nobody has found a good resolution to the problem, I suggest that we go on a spirit of compromise. We will never find a solution that fully satisifies both sides of the argument, so we're going to do this instead:

Use the aircon only after recess OR on 2 days a week 

DONT use aircon when it's raining/ the weather is cool 

I prefer the first idea. Using aircon only after recess. Who needs aircon at 9am in the morning? The air's still quite cool at that time.