H2 Math Paper 2 Questions?

Every year, after the first paper, my students would never fail to ask me for advice on the topics to focus on for the second paper. No exception this year. The only exception is some of my students, on different occasions, told (and encourage) me to publish them on my blog.

Anyway, here are the 4 topics that I think will appear in paper 2. But please students, do not just study these 4 topics. By now, no matter what questions appear, you must be confident enough to handle them.

What if I am wrong? I am not a good guesser, as I always tell my students. :(

So what if I am correct? Hmm... Then yeah! :)

Vector geometry

- All your planes, lines, points.

- Distance, foot of perpendicular, intersection, mirror image etc.

Differential equations

- Well, nothing much to say.

- Most likely some population growth or some shadow on the floor that changes length.

Sequence and series

- Mathematical induction with method of difference.

- Maybe there will summation sign somewhere.

Complex numbers

- The lovely Argand diagram.

- Of course the range of argument and the longest/shortest distance is our favourite.

All the best for paper 2! Remember to enjoy the paper like I always do! :)

Failure Is The Mother Of Success

"Failure Is The Mother Of Success"

We have all heard this many times but how many of us feel really demoralised after a failure? How many of us actually believe this statement immediately after we failed? At least not me. It's not that I am pessimistic, it's just that immediately after a failure, I can't possibly expect myself to succeed on my next try without doing anything right? If I can succeed, I won't fail now right?

We face failures every now and then. It's not how heavy we fall, it's how we climb up and move on. It's not how many times we fail, it's how we take it and proceed from there.

If you have been reading my blog, you would have realised that I fail quite frequently. Some of my major failures in studies include doing badly across all my subjects in secondary 2. I was warned of being retained in secondary 2 for failing 3 subjects, including English, in my common tests and obtaining borderline passes for the rest. Even in university, I also failed many times, especially in programming. For the two programming courses (C and C++) I took, I did not manage to finish the practical examinations and many of the sit-in programming assignments, not because I did not have enough time, but because I just could not understand the whole thing.

Every time I fail, I feel dejected. Every time I fail, I feel like quitting school. In secondary 2, I had the thought of leaving school because I kept doing badly and I did not have the mood to continue studying. Luckily for me, my late grandmother and parents encouraged me. Instead of scolding me for doing badly, they told me to "take it slowly, retain if needed, don't rush". I managed to scrap through and in secondary 3, I consulted my cousins. My results picked up and I gained some confidence. I worked harder and my results went up north further. This cycle continued and studies have never been a problem since (except for English of course).

As much as you may fail now, do not give up. It is easy to give up, never easy to persevere. But I promise you, when you succeed after failing, the level of satisfaction is second to none. Continue to work hard towards your goal and build on your little successes, your little successes will add up to a great achievement that you deservedly own!

Take some time to read this article on Mr Joshua Soh. He took 6 years to pass his O Levels. He did not give up when he failed and he became the managing director of CISCO.
http://www.todayonline.com/failures-just-success-delayed

The Official Website For Samuel Li Tuition

Finally, my tuition website has enough information to be officially announced to the world!

http://www.samuelmath.com

I have been a web developer for many years, building many websites and web applications for others. Now, I finally have the time to build one for myself! Fear not, I will still share useful stuff in this blog. The website is meant purely as an information site for my tuition services.

Before I end this post, please say hello to this nerdy logo that my best friend Jia Li has designed, using my face as her inspiration! :| Not only is she a good designer, she is also a good Economics tutor, do look for her if you need one!

Gifts For My Students

A peek into the process

It is the time of the year again!

This year, I will be making bookmarks for my students.
I am still in the midst of finding quotes for the hand-made bookmarks.

Students, wait for yours! The quote on your bookmark is specially chosen for you and it carries a message I want to bring across to you.

Hope you like your bookmark!

Happy Teachers' Day

Happy Teachers' Day to all the teachers and ex-teachers out there!


- Teachers form a great part in my growing up years, including university
- Without teachers, I won't have the necessary knowledge to be where I am now, whether successful or not, I am happy with where I am now.
- Without the scoldings and criticisms from my teachers, I doubt I would have learned as well as I did.
- I may criticise some teachers along the way, but deep inside my heart, I know that all my teachers really care (I am lucky to get good teachers all the time) and want us to learn well and do well in life.

HAPPY TEACHERS' DAY!

Planning For Examination

"Prelim is in one month's time. A Levels will be starting on 1st November. What should I study today? If I study Math, what about Chemistry? But then Physics is my weakest subject. How?"

Does the above sound familiar? Have you ever asked yourself such questions before? Students have been asking me how should they study. I am going to share my way of planning for exam here.

1.5-2 months before exam

Things to prepare

- A piece of writing paper

- Long ruler and basic stationery

- School timetable

- Exam timetable

1) Draw 3 columns and label the headings: Date | Exam for the day | Study for the day

2) Fill up the dates and days under the 1st column, all the way till the last day of the exam.

3) Fill up the exam subjects under the 2nd column, beside the respective date.

4) One day before each exam, write down that subject(s) under the 3rd column. On the last day of exam, write the word "PLAY!" under the 3rd column.

5) **Fill up all your subjects under the 3rd column. Spread them out across the 2 months.

6) Paste this exam timetable on the wall or stick it on the refrigerator.

7) ^^Follow the exam timetable closely. When you feel that you need a change, use a different colour pen to cancel the subject for the day and replace it with another one. Be sure to add the subject you've just canceled to another day.

** I follow a way of filling up the "study for the day" column.

1) If that day is a school day, I will write the subjects for the class on that day. Firstly, the teacher will most likely give some assignments. Secondly, the teacher might go through a new topic which I will need to go through again after school.

2) If that day is not a school day, I will write more subjects. This is to stress myself to study more on a weekend, for example.

3) I tend to put subjects which require memorising (History, Geography) on a weekend.

4) I will never put 2 subjects which require memorising on the same day.

5) I tend to give more time to subject which I am weaker in. For example, in secondary school, the most number of occurrences in my timetable is Social Studies and the least number is E Math.

6) I tend to group my weakest and strongest subject together on the same day. This is because I spend less time on my stronger subject and so I will have more time for the other one.

7) Do not leave more than 5 days break for each subject. If I study Math on Monday, the latest I should study it again is on Saturday.

^^ I always use a black pen to write my plan, and a red pen to make amendment. Using different coloured pens help you better track your changes.

GCE A Levels H2 Mathematics Book 2nd Edition

I would like to thank everyone who has been supporting me with regards to my JC Mathematics book, since I started selling it in March last year.

For the past one year since I launched my book, buyers range from parents, students to tutors. I've been lucky enough to receive feedback from them, from grammatical and spelling mistakes to how I can improve the book, both content-wise and physically.

Yes, I hear you and here are some changes I have made:

Double Sided
The book is now not as bulky as before (about half the thickness) and you can save some energy in carrying it around.

New Binding Method
The previous two types of binding did not allow for the book to stay at the page you were at without having something to press against it. I have found a new binding method. Now you can flip to any page you want easily. Every page can now be your cover page too, making reading easy!

Every page is your cover page

Content
Other than improving the English, I have improved on the layout. I have also rephrased some parts to help you understand the book better.

Hope to receive more feedback! :)

Talk In AJC: Effective Learning

I am very honoured to be invited to give a talk to potential students of Anderson Junior College on 7th January 2015. In addition to sharing my AJC life, I touched on adapting to JC life, in particular the learning journey which is very different from Secondary School.

I got this pair of AJ Bears as a token of appreciation. :)

The general feedback I got was that I am 'good and smart'. Hence, I am going to give a summary here and hope that it is useful to you too.

Give And Give
Part of learning is teaching. Teach your friends! They will ask questions which make you think more and in the process, know more.
Don't be selfish, share your notes! Sharing notes may be the first step towards a fruitful discussion with your friends. Sharing notes allows someone to vet your notes, in case you jotted down the wrong stuff.
In the process of giving, you are actually gaining. Remember the sentence which my Physics tutor told me, "The more you give, the more you get". So just give!

Ask And Ask
No question is stupid, ask any question. Although our best friend, Google, is always available, there are many questions which Google cannot explain well (at least to the level which students are comfortable with). Asking also kickstarts a conversation, and of course, you will learn more in the process of Q&A.

EQ Instead of IQ
We can never go far alone, whether in school or at work. Hence, make friends, not enemies. Take note of our own attitude, take note of how we treat people. Be aware of your surrounding, and take time to help those in needs. Form study group, it doesn't matter if you are the strongest in the group. The power of a team is more than the sum of the individual.

3 main slides with a few words were what I needed to bring my point across. In short, have fun together, learn together, help one another out and in the process, you would have attained not only good grades, but also good friends.