NUS AY 11/12 Semester 2 Grades Prediction

IT'S OVER.

I've just completed my final exam, one hell of a tough MCQ for my Marketing module, made worse by the fact that there was negative marking (minus 0.5 marks for each wrong answer)

Regardless, it's over and it's time to partayyyy!! :D

First up, I'll just do a quick prediction of my grades based on the CA + Final Exams... and I'll post the actual module reviews later on in the week. Enjoy your holidays everyone! :D

2 more days!

Ughhh the wait is unbearable, but 2 more days left before I'm free!

Sorry for the lack of posts these past few days, but I've been having exams. But I do have 2-3 posts queued up to be published after my exams, so stay tuned! :D  Have an exciting announcement to make (well it's exciting for myself probably but most likely not for you HA.). Some posts that are coming up:

• Module Review


• Grades Prediction


• Secret Announcement


• Philo Blogs


• Christianity Thesis


• Insomniac post about exam results


• Born at the wrong time

Wow so many things to blog about! Probably a month's worth.

Will have my final paper on Monday, Marketing 101. Not entirely prepared for it, but don't see how much more I can do.

Ok see ya guys in 2 days!

[Dream] Taxi Rides and Tricycle Cabs

Some of you may know that I have some really wacky dreams. They can be absolutely bizarre and sometimes quite funny. I used to keep a dreams blog, some of them are really quite funny you can have a read: http://alanzdreams.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I only blogged it if I could remember it - and most of the time I don't remember my dreams, just like most of us. However, sometimes it is so vivid that I wake up with a start and think 'I HAVE to blog about this'. This morning was one of those times.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="240" caption="No, I didn't dream about unicorns."][/caption]

Why does God bless you?

A few days ago I wrote a blog about why I believe we should do good. Here, have a quick read through before continuing.

Or if you're too lazy, the main idea is that I disagree that we receive blessings because we do good and suffer because we commit evil. (Overly summarized, should read the post!)

Then on Twitter, one of my friends posted a link to this article that really disgusted me.

[S] There's going to be more!

I can't wait for exams to be over! I have so many things that I want to do!

One of them includes blogging often (which I seem to already do) - I already have many topics that I have in mind that I want to write about - one general theme I plan to cover is Philosophy. I've learnt many interesting things in my philosophy module this semester that I want to share with everyone, and I'll be writing these posts in an easily understandable manner such that the noobest of philosophical minds can get it :)

Another series of blog entries I have planned are what I call my 'Christianity Thesis' in which I lay out my opinions and beliefs about Christianity. Many of them may be controversial, but I really want to make them known and perhaps get clarification on the uncertainties I have.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="280" caption="Yes, I know this isn't the most accurate usage of the meme"][/caption]

Are you a social student?

Different people have different studying preferences. Some like to study at home, some like to study in a public place. Some like to study with music, some like to study in silence. Some like to study overnight, some like to study in the morning.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="241" caption="Hopefully not like this"][/caption]

[Insomniac] The Annoying Students

An article that I wrote for Insomniac, it was published 1-2 days ago, and my editor went to email the whole faculty to publicize it -_- So embarrassing got my name too. Anyway:

Finals are looming, and this is when you see everyone's true colours. Alan Teo brings you through a light-hearted description of some categories of annoying students commonly sighted. Know anyone like these?

The Elites

The Elites have completed their readings two months ago, and their revision several weeks ago. Right now they could be busy with finalizing their prestigious internships during the summer vacation, securing a new business deal for their side entrepreneurial venture, or finishing up the Hunger Games trilogy.

It's stressful to hang around the Elites. They exude an aura of excellence without them even trying to do so. Whenever you celebrate your above-median score of perhaps 80/100 for a quiz, they sit there nonchalantly with their 95/100. While we are analysing the results of this test, they are already analysing the modules to take (and ace) next semester.

While many of us will anticipate the dreaded 8am SMS when results are released in over a month's time, they know in advance what kind of grades they're going to get (probably A+ or A, worst case scenario A-), and are already composing the email to NUS to ask when they should collect their Dean's List certificate for that semester.

Yes, we have no chance against these elite group of people, just like how we have no chance against the Ridiculously Photogenic Guy. While we are all struggling and panting, they are just beaming with their elite, radiant smile.



Check out the rest of the post over at Insomniac! :)

I'm a Guinea Pig!

Being in a university with a strong emphasis on research means that there are always ongoing studies that require participants. These studies often have fairly decent payouts, and since I was staying in hall this semester I decided to sign up for as many as I could. It turned out to be a pretty decent part-time job.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="288" caption="I'm a guinea pig yo!"][/caption]

[S] New Banner!

Yay! Have a personalized banner now which I got someone to do for me. There are a few variations so keep hitting F5 and you'll see them all :)

The brain thing smart anot ah? Haha! It represents Psychology, and also being above my name (one of the variations) it means I have the brains! hahahaha. Ok lame I know but pretty cool, no?

The final image I chose was actually this one:



And the rest of the images that you see are the drafts, but I discovered I could have a dynamic banner (rather than a single static image), so I decided to use some of the drafts as well!

I can't think of any other picture to use as the background image besides that cool zergling, but I understand it may look scary/threatening to some people. Anyone with any ideas for a suitable image please let me know!

Why do you do good?

Something that my mum said angered me greatly and got me thinking about a few things.
For context, I did something which she perceived to be wrong.
She then said to me 'If you keep being like that, you will lose your blessings (from God)'

Ok, join me in a collective 'wtf' together. 1... 2.. 3. No? You don't see why it's ridiculous? Let me elaborate.

An interesting cover letter

Big companies have to process hundreds of resumes and cover letters daily, so how do you make yours stand out?

I saw this off a forum that I frequent (sc2sea.com), apparently this guy was trying to apply to Razer for a job position, and he decided to write a unique cover letter. He got called up for an interview after sending in this cover letter :) Have a look!

(You probably won't get most of it if you're not a gamer, but you should be able to appreciate the gist of it)

Damn, I ONLY got an A-

This blog entry has to do with the issue of complaining - how do you know when and how to complain?



You're probably scratching your head thinking I have lost it. I'm asking how to ... COMPLAIN?? Isn't that supposed to be Singaporean's #1 pastime besides eating and watching soccer? Well, the problem comes when you consider empathetic thoughts - when you start to consider other people's feelings. Let's go through several scenarios and you'll see what I mean.

[S] How to Remember my Blog URL

You may think it's difficult to remember the number of Zs in my blog URL. Is it alanz? alanzz? alanzzzzzzz? Why the heck do I even put Zs?

Well, I don't have a quirky nickname like mrbrown or xiaxue or anything, (my gaming nick is probably too hard to remember) and I want to retain some individuality in the URL (and not like averageboi194.wordpress or something).

SO. It's very simple.  How many letters does my name have?. A-L-A-N.

Four!

That means 4 Zs.

There we have it. alanzzzz

[S] Early Development

After my exams, I will be trying to revamp my blog. Some things that I hope to do:

• Use a better layout (gonna ask the gf to help =X Wonder if she will haha)


• Update the sidebar ---->


• Add labels to as many (if possible, all) of my posts as possible. (e.g. humor, school, TV, etc)

I really love blogging, just that with Twitter and Facebook as more convenient alternatives (Twitter you can just microblog, and Facebook you just upload the photos and add captions, whereas in the past I would add photos and write stuff in a blog entry) it's hard to overcome the lazy nature in me to actually write a blog entry.

Anyway, I'm starting this new thing of 'mini blogs', which is something like a short thought I had that is too long to be expressed on Twitter. Yes, I know Twitlonger can probably accomplish the same thing, but I kinda want them to be archivable. These posts will be recognizable by the [S] in front of the title, meaning 'Short/small'.

Falling Below Second Upper Soon

I haven't been blogging for a while due to a number of reasons:

1. My blog inspirations normally arise spontaneously when I'm outside, and the idea usually can be expressed in a tweet. Hence I post it on Twitter instead of further developing it


2. I'm lazy to blog. Blogging takes time. Time is precious.


3. My blogger is tagged to my diabteo account, but my Gmail is tagged to my atqhteo Google account. Thus if I want to blog I have to sign out of my Gmail and sign in. (I've tried the multiple signins feature but it doesn't quite work somehow). Thus, additional trouble

I really do hope to blog more though, especially after exams! I definitely will be when I'm on exchange!

Speaking of exchange, I have rounded up the NUS people going to Boston University as well, all 6 of us. Three are PRCs, three are Singaporeans. Can't say I'm super pleased with that, but I'm trying to stay optimistic! Perhaps they are friendly, sociable, and easy to get along with. And most importantly, fun!
Unfortunately, atm only the girl from Arts seems to be fun and I can get along with. Sigh, we'll see how it goes.

Anyway, I have drifted far from the original purpose of this entry. I wanted to do some simple calculations for my predicted grades this sem. I think this sem will be my first sem using an S/U. I'm currently taking 2 modules that can be S/Ued, and I think I may S/U if I get a B or below.

I will do my module review after my last paper, as with every semester so far, but for now just some preliminary forecasting of my grades, without a full review.