Sunday, October 23, 2005
Rant of An Overly Paranoid Person
Firstly some afterthoughts about my previous post-- in the aftermath of the bio promos, the teachers did decide to help some of the F-ers pass(NOT A VULGARITY, means people who got the F grade). Anyway, through some miracle of God (or moderation) I managed to scrap an E. Wow... i passed, I'm in shock.
Moving on, it has come to my attention that other people other than our class people have started reading my previous rant.
While this may all seem fine and dandy at first, after some deep thought (about 10 seconds of it), I decided that this overexposure would only be harmful. Why? Because it won't take long for the resourceful bio teachers to find that post at the rate this is going. Much as I'd like them to be aware of their faults, I'm sure they would be less than delighted about my style of writing and the way I addressed some points. Moreover, after they discover my not-so-secret-anymore identity, I'm sure some actions would be undertaken which would not improve my standard of living in HwaChong Institution.
I realise that a possible solution would be to delete the post, but that would be such a shame, because at least with my post, my class blog would have memory of FOUR recent posters. Variety you see, its more coveted than you think. Furthermore, moving my post is not an option because that would mean *shudder* , CREATING MY OWN BLOG! The horror. Anyway, so you see, I have no choice but to leave my post.
Thus in order to save my skin, I decided that only method is feasible and plausible, henceforth I extend this plea to all readers of my previous post. If ever you are approached by any member of the BIO FACULTY (see below), PLEASE DENY ANY EXISTENCE OF MY POSTS OR MYSELF FOR THAT MATTER.
Thanks
-Me
Appendix 1.0
HOW TO RECOGNISE A BIO TEACHER
1. Generally female (1 male but I trust you know who he is)
2. Intimidating (Sometimes)
3. Knows Bio
4. Comes up to you and asks about this blog
5. Comes up to you and asks about me
6. The person you go to if you want to rat on this blog/post/me
Firstly some afterthoughts about my previous post-- in the aftermath of the bio promos, the teachers did decide to help some of the F-ers pass(NOT A VULGARITY, means people who got the F grade). Anyway, through some miracle of God (or moderation) I managed to scrap an E. Wow... i passed, I'm in shock.
Moving on, it has come to my attention that other people other than our class people have started reading my previous rant.
While this may all seem fine and dandy at first, after some deep thought (about 10 seconds of it), I decided that this overexposure would only be harmful. Why? Because it won't take long for the resourceful bio teachers to find that post at the rate this is going. Much as I'd like them to be aware of their faults, I'm sure they would be less than delighted about my style of writing and the way I addressed some points. Moreover, after they discover my not-so-secret-anymore identity, I'm sure some actions would be undertaken which would not improve my standard of living in HwaChong Institution.
I realise that a possible solution would be to delete the post, but that would be such a shame, because at least with my post, my class blog would have memory of FOUR recent posters. Variety you see, its more coveted than you think. Furthermore, moving my post is not an option because that would mean *shudder* , CREATING MY OWN BLOG! The horror. Anyway, so you see, I have no choice but to leave my post.
Thus in order to save my skin, I decided that only method is feasible and plausible, henceforth I extend this plea to all readers of my previous post. If ever you are approached by any member of the BIO FACULTY (see below), PLEASE DENY ANY EXISTENCE OF MY POSTS OR MYSELF FOR THAT MATTER.
Thanks
-Me
Appendix 1.0
HOW TO RECOGNISE A BIO TEACHER
1. Generally female (1 male but I trust you know who he is)
2. Intimidating (Sometimes)
3. Knows Bio
4. Comes up to you and asks about this blog
5. Comes up to you and asks about me
6. The person you go to if you want to rat on this blog/post/me
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Rant of A Bio 'O' Student
(disclaimer: if you're a bio teacher stop reading. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The author will not bear responsibility for any mental or physical injury caused by reading this entry. Any resemblance to real life characters is intentional but the author couldn't care less. Exaggeration is likely and may be considered almost truth. Post length is ridiculously long and may result in sleep deprivation or loss in work time, the author is not to be held responsible)
(disclaimer: if you're a bio teacher stop reading. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. The author will not bear responsibility for any mental or physical injury caused by reading this entry. Any resemblance to real life characters is intentional but the author couldn't care less. Exaggeration is likely and may be considered almost truth. Post length is ridiculously long and may result in sleep deprivation or loss in work time, the author is not to be held responsible)
That time of the year is upon us again, whether you dread it or long for it, end of year exams can be said to be the most important event on a student's calender. However, the outcome often leaves much to be desired. Much as I'd like to say that I've studied hard and done my best, but that would be lying.
Then again, the issue of my laziness is another affair, what is much more important is the attitude of Bio teachers in our school. Don't get me wrong, I personally feel the Bio department is the most competent among all the subject departments and the teachers have truly put in a lot of effort in teaching and preparing the lessons. Their teaching methods while strict (and sometimes downright cruel) cannot be faulted. However, their handling of the exam leaves much to be desired.
Firstly, the conducting of the exam itself. One fine Thursday morning, 398 bio students (give or take 5) hauled ass to school to take the bio exam. All seemed fine and dandy until the students actually got into the hall. After that, it seems as if instead of the 17 year olds (16 for you late monthers) were all of a sudden 5 year old kindergarten children again. Somehow, the teachers felt compelled to give us a step-by-step guide to pre-exam preparation, as though without their instruction we would be lost souls in the exam hall.
"DON'T touch your booklets until we say so"
"DON'T write your name until we say so"
"DON'T turn over until we say so"
"DON'T talk"
"NOW write your name on the first booklet"
"DID I tell you to write on the foolscap?"
Commands and orders pelted down upon us like raindrops in a thunderstorm. Although exam integrity and rules must be respected, such ruthless enforcement is unneccessary. As the teachers constantly remind us, we are 'supposed' to be thinking, mature young adults, aren't we allowed some degree of autonomy? It's not as though we haven't taken exams before. NEWSFLASH: WE KNOW WHAT TO DO! A simple statement such as "Remain silent and fill in your particulars while waiting for the exam to start" would be sufficient. Reprimanding students for even the most mundane and tiniest of details, like writing one's name on foolscap is pointless and only serves to shake up the student before the exam and disrupt his/her concentration. Same goes for students that are late. Don't you think they have suffered enough? Imagine the agony of being waking up late, dreading the time you see on the alarm clock, sweating it out while the bus inches along Bukit Timah Road (which is not exactly famed for smooth traffic in the morning). The student is already a bunch of nerves once he/she reaches the hall, a stern look would suffice as a reprimand. No need to lash out and disturb them even more. After all, don't the teachers want us to be in peak condition to take the test so that we can perform WELL AND GET GOOD MARKS?
This brings me to the difficulty of the exam paper. On this fine Wednesday afternoon, we got back our bio paper. However, even before I could fathom how badly I flunked, the bio teachers were already on the defensive. Apparently, certain students were given the opportunity to voice their opinions on the exams in a school admin survey and some were of the opinion that it was too hard. The head of department maintained her position that the bio test was do-able and geared towards the A-level standard. Fine, that's your opinion and you're entitled to one. However, she goes on to say that people who have beef with the exams should confront her and say it to her face. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, people in survey have a right to give their opinions anonymously. They don't have to go to you and tell you "Guess what? I rated your exam a 10 on the scale of 1-10 where 10 is OMGWTHHOWDOYOUDOTHISPAPER". Moreover, the action proposed by the Bio HoD was ludricous as anyone foolhardy enough to do such a thing (means tell it to her face that bio is too !@#%&*! hard), must have lost all desire to live. Furthermore, what's the point of confronting you? Is the school admin lying? Are the survey results faked? Would the students telling you direct that the paper is hard any different from the school admin telling you the students think the paper is hard? Is as though the teachers don't want the admin knowing the paper is hard. I'm not suggesting anything, but hey, WHY THE BIG FUSS?!
Anyway, about the degree of difficulty, let's do some statistical analysis. We have roughly 400 students taking bio. If my memory and eyesight didn't fail me, 211 students failed the bio promos judging by A level standards. 211/400 translates to 52.75% of the cohort. So chances are, in the auditorium, if you passed, the person sitting next to you failed. Hmm, so what does this mean for bio?
I dunno, maybe..... the test is too hard for the AVERAGE student?
But wait, I hear cries that there are students who did well. Oh wow, the council vp got B? Ok, so that's a sizable achievement, with all her responsiblities, she must have done a good job of splitting her time between studying and activities to perform so well. Congrats, but THAT DON'T PROVE A THING. Let's see, assuming that B and C is 'doing well', we have 9/400 = 2.25% of the cohort who did well. 2.25% is a bloody minority for crying out loud! Since when do people form opinions based on results from minorities? 1% of Singaporeans do not have access to sanitation, does it mean the rest of the nation is wallowing in their own faeces? So how can they arrive at the conclusion that the test is do-able? It only shows that Stephanie and co. is in a class of their own. GET A HINT: WHEN HALF THE COHORT FAILS YOUR PAPER, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
It is not safe to attribute the reason for failure to the ineptitude or laziness of students. Don't you find it just a bit strange if HALF THE COHORT chooses to not study bio? Sure during the analysis every question seems do-able and within the syllables, but I feel the teachers have overlooked something while setting the paper --- the thinking process. Sure the questions seem not too hard if you spare a thought, but FOR A 2 HOUR PAPER EVERY MINUTE IS PRECIOUS! I don't want to waste 3-5 minutes just to work out the probability in a 1 mark mcq question. Sure i can skip that, but if i skip every thought-provoking question in the paper, I could've finished in 10 seconds. Then again, the teachers argue that the questions are mostly of A-Level standard with only a few challenging ones to sieve out the better students. Congrats, the better students are those who passed. Why? BECAUSE EVERY QN IS CHALLENGING BECAUSE OF THE BLOODY TIME NEEDED TO PROCESS IT. Everyone take out your bio mcq booklet, turn to page 21, question 12. (for those lazy to, it's the bloody bee question). What's so amazing is that the diagram and introduction to the question takes up half the page and the question takes up one line. While i'm no stranger to long and tough mcq questions, but you have to wonder, when a bio booklet takes up 25 pages for 20 mcq questions, is there a problem?
Not every student can be a Stephanie, or a Yi Yang. The average student would be stumped upon seeing new and foreign information. Even though it may be related to the topic of learning, but then again, one still needs time to contemplate and decide the accurate answer. Same goes for structured, is it not enough that we have to write 4 keywords (which often end up as 4-5 lines of text) for 2 marks? You have to make us think long and hard just to decide what the hell the question is talking about? In a test, you can have either challenging questions but give more time, or have straightforward ones but give less time. YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH. A-level papers have smatterings of easy to do and point blank regurgitation questions all around the paper for a reason --- they want students to pass. Not because they lack imagination or whatnot. While the teachers may feel the need to flaunt their creativity and expertise in the field, the promo exam paper is not your canvas for expression. Sure it all seems straightforward while setting, but in exam conditions, with the clock winding down and the question text just getting longer and longer, even the simplest of questions can be a killer.
After much brainstorming, i have came up with a simple procedure to setting exam questions.
1. Set the paper
2. Take out stopwatch
3. Find other Bio teacher
4. Start timing
5. DO THE PAPER
6. Stop at 2 hour mark
7. Note point of completion
8. Repeat experiment 3 times to reduce experimental error, bearing in mind that the target ought to be changed everytime.
9. Mark the scripts
10. Reject all papers with a score lesser than 90%
Then again, the issue of my laziness is another affair, what is much more important is the attitude of Bio teachers in our school. Don't get me wrong, I personally feel the Bio department is the most competent among all the subject departments and the teachers have truly put in a lot of effort in teaching and preparing the lessons. Their teaching methods while strict (and sometimes downright cruel) cannot be faulted. However, their handling of the exam leaves much to be desired.
Firstly, the conducting of the exam itself. One fine Thursday morning, 398 bio students (give or take 5) hauled ass to school to take the bio exam. All seemed fine and dandy until the students actually got into the hall. After that, it seems as if instead of the 17 year olds (16 for you late monthers) were all of a sudden 5 year old kindergarten children again. Somehow, the teachers felt compelled to give us a step-by-step guide to pre-exam preparation, as though without their instruction we would be lost souls in the exam hall.
"DON'T touch your booklets until we say so"
"DON'T write your name until we say so"
"DON'T turn over until we say so"
"DON'T talk"
"NOW write your name on the first booklet"
"DID I tell you to write on the foolscap?"
Commands and orders pelted down upon us like raindrops in a thunderstorm. Although exam integrity and rules must be respected, such ruthless enforcement is unneccessary. As the teachers constantly remind us, we are 'supposed' to be thinking, mature young adults, aren't we allowed some degree of autonomy? It's not as though we haven't taken exams before. NEWSFLASH: WE KNOW WHAT TO DO! A simple statement such as "Remain silent and fill in your particulars while waiting for the exam to start" would be sufficient. Reprimanding students for even the most mundane and tiniest of details, like writing one's name on foolscap is pointless and only serves to shake up the student before the exam and disrupt his/her concentration. Same goes for students that are late. Don't you think they have suffered enough? Imagine the agony of being waking up late, dreading the time you see on the alarm clock, sweating it out while the bus inches along Bukit Timah Road (which is not exactly famed for smooth traffic in the morning). The student is already a bunch of nerves once he/she reaches the hall, a stern look would suffice as a reprimand. No need to lash out and disturb them even more. After all, don't the teachers want us to be in peak condition to take the test so that we can perform WELL AND GET GOOD MARKS?
This brings me to the difficulty of the exam paper. On this fine Wednesday afternoon, we got back our bio paper. However, even before I could fathom how badly I flunked, the bio teachers were already on the defensive. Apparently, certain students were given the opportunity to voice their opinions on the exams in a school admin survey and some were of the opinion that it was too hard. The head of department maintained her position that the bio test was do-able and geared towards the A-level standard. Fine, that's your opinion and you're entitled to one. However, she goes on to say that people who have beef with the exams should confront her and say it to her face. Pardon me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked, people in survey have a right to give their opinions anonymously. They don't have to go to you and tell you "Guess what? I rated your exam a 10 on the scale of 1-10 where 10 is OMGWTHHOWDOYOUDOTHISPAPER". Moreover, the action proposed by the Bio HoD was ludricous as anyone foolhardy enough to do such a thing (means tell it to her face that bio is too !@#%&*! hard), must have lost all desire to live. Furthermore, what's the point of confronting you? Is the school admin lying? Are the survey results faked? Would the students telling you direct that the paper is hard any different from the school admin telling you the students think the paper is hard? Is as though the teachers don't want the admin knowing the paper is hard. I'm not suggesting anything, but hey, WHY THE BIG FUSS?!
Anyway, about the degree of difficulty, let's do some statistical analysis. We have roughly 400 students taking bio. If my memory and eyesight didn't fail me, 211 students failed the bio promos judging by A level standards. 211/400 translates to 52.75% of the cohort. So chances are, in the auditorium, if you passed, the person sitting next to you failed. Hmm, so what does this mean for bio?
I dunno, maybe..... the test is too hard for the AVERAGE student?
But wait, I hear cries that there are students who did well. Oh wow, the council vp got B? Ok, so that's a sizable achievement, with all her responsiblities, she must have done a good job of splitting her time between studying and activities to perform so well. Congrats, but THAT DON'T PROVE A THING. Let's see, assuming that B and C is 'doing well', we have 9/400 = 2.25% of the cohort who did well. 2.25% is a bloody minority for crying out loud! Since when do people form opinions based on results from minorities? 1% of Singaporeans do not have access to sanitation, does it mean the rest of the nation is wallowing in their own faeces? So how can they arrive at the conclusion that the test is do-able? It only shows that Stephanie and co. is in a class of their own. GET A HINT: WHEN HALF THE COHORT FAILS YOUR PAPER, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
It is not safe to attribute the reason for failure to the ineptitude or laziness of students. Don't you find it just a bit strange if HALF THE COHORT chooses to not study bio? Sure during the analysis every question seems do-able and within the syllables, but I feel the teachers have overlooked something while setting the paper --- the thinking process. Sure the questions seem not too hard if you spare a thought, but FOR A 2 HOUR PAPER EVERY MINUTE IS PRECIOUS! I don't want to waste 3-5 minutes just to work out the probability in a 1 mark mcq question. Sure i can skip that, but if i skip every thought-provoking question in the paper, I could've finished in 10 seconds. Then again, the teachers argue that the questions are mostly of A-Level standard with only a few challenging ones to sieve out the better students. Congrats, the better students are those who passed. Why? BECAUSE EVERY QN IS CHALLENGING BECAUSE OF THE BLOODY TIME NEEDED TO PROCESS IT. Everyone take out your bio mcq booklet, turn to page 21, question 12. (for those lazy to, it's the bloody bee question). What's so amazing is that the diagram and introduction to the question takes up half the page and the question takes up one line. While i'm no stranger to long and tough mcq questions, but you have to wonder, when a bio booklet takes up 25 pages for 20 mcq questions, is there a problem?
Not every student can be a Stephanie, or a Yi Yang. The average student would be stumped upon seeing new and foreign information. Even though it may be related to the topic of learning, but then again, one still needs time to contemplate and decide the accurate answer. Same goes for structured, is it not enough that we have to write 4 keywords (which often end up as 4-5 lines of text) for 2 marks? You have to make us think long and hard just to decide what the hell the question is talking about? In a test, you can have either challenging questions but give more time, or have straightforward ones but give less time. YOU CAN'T HAVE BOTH. A-level papers have smatterings of easy to do and point blank regurgitation questions all around the paper for a reason --- they want students to pass. Not because they lack imagination or whatnot. While the teachers may feel the need to flaunt their creativity and expertise in the field, the promo exam paper is not your canvas for expression. Sure it all seems straightforward while setting, but in exam conditions, with the clock winding down and the question text just getting longer and longer, even the simplest of questions can be a killer.
After much brainstorming, i have came up with a simple procedure to setting exam questions.
1. Set the paper
2. Take out stopwatch
3. Find other Bio teacher
4. Start timing
5. DO THE PAPER
6. Stop at 2 hour mark
7. Note point of completion
8. Repeat experiment 3 times to reduce experimental error, bearing in mind that the target ought to be changed everytime.
9. Mark the scripts
10. Reject all papers with a score lesser than 90%
As observed, all it takes is a simple experiment to test the "do-ability" of the paper, and what's more, the bio teachers get to relive their days as a student once more! Wow, two birds with one stone, they ought to give it a try sometime.
After the Great Slaughter (marking) and the Mass Mourning (release of papers) the entire cohort of bio students in the auditorium held their collective breaths as the Bio HoD mentioned the magical word "MODERATION". However, as sighs of relief resonated around the auditorium, the HoD proceeds to drop the bombshell. Apparently, they might not be helping the F graders jump grade to an O, in fact from the way she put it, moderation seemed to be more for helping the B's and C's reach A's and B's so that they can have their precious S paper class next year.
Pardon me but WTF?! Are the bio teachers implying that the people who didn’t do well deserved it and hence should be left as they are, while those that are already topping the table be given the extra boost to further highlight their greatness? That’s like having tax cuts for the rich and not for the poor because the latter don’t deserve it. Perhaps some thinking should actually be done as to where their priorities should be…. Having more elite students or having more people passing the exam.
Biology could possibly be the most interesting of the 3 sciences offered in Hwachong. Yet mere mention of Biology is enough to elicit groans from most of the students taking it. Is this the way education is meant to be? The bio notes itself are enough to break the back of any student, literally. (My bio file is already capable of crushing even the hardiest of beetles into pulp) Is bio meant to be remembered as the ultimate mugger subject? Sure the teachers can claim understanding is more important than memorization but that’s a highly ambiguous statement which only serves to cover up the fact-intensive nature of the syllables. Understanding respiration is a relatively moderate task, but when you have to know the 10 steps in glycolysis and how some blahblahblah-phosphate becomes another blahblah-3-phosphate, then it becomes an epic feat indeed in the eyes of many.
Well I’ve reached the end of my rant and I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I suffered writing it.
-Me
Sunday, October 16, 2005
helo everyone..juz finished pw WR editing n first OP draft..haiz..now at tkk house..attempting to blog for our stagnant blog..gum is oso blogging rite now..haha..abit lameoh..tml is mon..means we will b getting back our GP paper..boo..hopefully everyone can at least pass their GP..but for some of the better ppl..hope they can get their As n Bs..
nxt wk will b judgement dae..all our results will b known by wed..tues is the most mad one..wif 3 papers to b known..hope everyone can score wif flying colours den..
JH :P
-Gummie!-
Saturday, October 08, 2005
yeah! promos is finally over, so everybody can slack for now and take a deep breath!!! Hahaz, friday class outing is fun except for the stoning session. Typical of our class.Eric