A Levels Physics Made Easy

My cousin, Li Yida, is writing a blog on A Levels Physics.

http://physics-alevels.blogspot.sg/

There are already posts on the fundamental topics such as energy and power. I find that his explanation of Physics is easy to follow, with layman's terms and simple drawings.

Enjoy! :)

Incubate The Thoughts

When I was in secondary 4 and was just starting to learn differentiation, I got totally lost and hence got stressed up. This got worse after I received my common test result, mainly in calculus, which I failed.

From 90+ to a fail, naturally I got very tensed up. This resulted in me visiting the toilet often whenever I was doing practices on calculus. Something magical then started to happen. Whenever I got stuck at a question, I would go to the toilet. After I came back, I instantly knew how to solve it. I was amazed by my own 'magic' and I remember that my friends who were studying with me too. They even joked that the toilet gave me inspiration. Or was it?

Years later, I came across articles talking about incubating thoughts. It sounds interesting and thinking back, I believe that I have been "using this method" to study. As I was writing this post, I found an interesting article on incubating thoughts. It kind of explains how I usually study.

In secondary four, I would take a nap every afternoon and watch TV in the evening after school everyday. In between, I would study for about 1 to 2 hours. Recalling back, none of my friends actually believed me. They thought I studied all day long and had little leisure time. In any case, I found that I understood what the teachers taught easier with my sleep and TV.

Believing that I have found my unique method, I followed the ritual closely:

Learning a new concept
After learning something new in class, I will not think about it. Ask me what the teacher has just said right after the lecture, my answer will always be the same: "I don't know". It's not that I am selfish and want to keep the knowledge to myself, it's just that I really don't know. Try asking me a few days later, I am sure that I will tell you what you want to know, of course only if I manage to catch the concept.

Handling a difficult problem

I will only spend at most 5 minutes thinking about a question, even in an examination. When the time is up and I still don't know how to start, or I know I will be stuck somewhere, I will forget the question and move on to the next. Forget is the key word here. First, if I don't forget, I can't concentrate on the next question. Second, if I can't think of a solution while fully concentrating, I definitely can't think of a solution when I am supposedly trying to solve another question. Hence my take is to leave the problem aside and the answer will come to me.

To end this post, I will like to say that if I don't recognise you, someone I know, when I walk past you, it is not because I have forgotten you, it is not because I am avoiding you. It is simply because I am thinking and/or some ideas have just surfaced to my mind. Take no offence, for I have even failed to recognise my dad before when he walked past me. :/

Happy Teachers' Day!

The time of the year has come again. It's Teachers' Day!
Here, I wish all educators in Singapore and around the world a very Happy Teachers' Day!

This is an occasion to celebrate,
not because it's a school holiday,
not because the world (or Singapore) sets this day as the occasion,
but simply because this is the day where we pay tributes to the people who help to shape our lives.
Without them, we will not be who we are today.
So let's stand together and salute them!

Methods of Memorising

As much as I (and I am sure many of us) hate memorising, it is inevitable in school that we need to reserve part of our brain for memory work. At a young age, we need to memorise how to spell words. As we grow older, we need to memorise F=ma, p=mv etc etc... Now let's ask ourselves, are these so-called memorising really memorising? Many times, certain things just come to us and I doubt that we will ever forget them cleanly. In this post, I am going to share how I commit knowledge to memory (in addition to using mind maps or time lines), because I hate memorising!

Form words and short sentences of meanings to you.
When it comes to really memorising, there are many methods taught. One of which is to use short forms or abbreviations. In marketing, we learn the 4P. We then recall it stands for product, price, place, promotion. Isn't this easier than to purely memorise each of them? In electrical engineering, we tend to forget the relative phase lead/lag of capacitor or inductor. But we have "CIVIL" to help us! Form your own sentences, use them!

Practice more, use more.

One way of memorising is to practice. You may not remember how to integrate log(x). Try doing it 3 times. I'm sure it just comes to you the next time you are asked. You may not know how to use the product rule to do differentiation. Use the technique on 5 different questions. You will just use it naturally when you reach the sixth question.

Write
This is a trick taught to me by my cousin Linda. I remember I was in secondary 3 when I needed to memorise facts about the Cold War. I had a hard time doing that because I was simply lazy to memorise and my memory was (is now too) very bad. She came to me with this trick. Here, she meant writing using pen and paper. Do not type, do not read and form the image in your mind. Write! I found that it works. As I write, I think. As I write, I see my own paragraphs. When I need the information, I just have to close my eyes and the image of what I have written appears. Sounds magical? Try it.

Memorise only when needed, as a last resort

I only memorise stuff when I don't understand them, because that's the only way I can get past examination without getting zero. Hence, I always seek to understand the topic, seek to understand the equations, understand how each concept is being used. And here I repeat again, understanding the basics is very important. When we understand, there is no need to memorise. If you forget the formula for acceleration, think of what is acceleration. If you understand acceleration as the rate of change of velocity, the formula will come to you naturally. When we understand what is nation building, there is no need to memorise how Singapore grows from practically nothing to what we are today; and hard facts like economy, social, politics. These will naturally come to us.

There are many well known methods to do memory work. However, it is up to us on whether we just want to memorise, which most of the time we will definitely forget right after the examination, or we want to understand the topic proper. The latter does not only allow us to understand what we are studying, it also allows us to store the knowledge in our brain for a longer period of time. My personal opinion is to try our best to know the topic, because knowledge is king.