Royal Caribbean Promotion – Free Stuff to be won

Royal Hunt QR Codes

The first two tiers of rewards are Polar and Ya Kun $2 vouchers. The final tier is a chance to win the top prize (worth $15,000); a seven-night Mediterranean Cruise for two on board Royal Caribbean’s state-of-the-art Symphony of the Seas. The prize also includes return economy airfare to Barcelona, Spain.

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/travel/find-the-golden-anchors-and-win

The Royal Hunt starts on March 2 and ends on March 20.  Here is how you play:

1.  Download the Royal Hunt app from the App Store or Google Playstore;

2.  Activate the app and check the e-map. The e-map will show the locations of 20 MRT stations — Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bugis, Buona Vista, Chinatown, Choa Chu Kang, City Hall, Dhoby Ghaut, Harbourfront, Jurong East, MacPherson, Punggol, Tampines, Tanjong Pagar, Raffles Place, Serangoon, Stadium, Tiong Bahru, Toa Payoh and Woodlands;

3. Select any of the MRT stations indicated on the e-map and look for the Royal Hunt posters within each MRT station;

4. Scan the golden anchor QR code embedded within each Royal Hunt poster to drop the anchor onto each tile on the scorecard. After scanning each QR code, go to the next location to collect the subsequent Golden Anchors;

5. After collecting five Golden Anchors, you will be assigned a specific location to collect the sixth and final Golden Anchor;

6. After collecting the sixth Golden Anchor, you complete the scorecard and end the game. You will then be in the running to win the top prize.

Six Golden Anchors must be collected to complete the scorecard.

Hence, basically you need to complete and scan 6 QR codes out of the possible QR codes: Ang Mo Kio, Bedok, Bugis, Buona Vista, Chinatown, Choa Chu Kang, City Hall, Dhoby Ghaut, Harbourfront, Jurong East, MacPherson, Punggol, Tampines, Tanjong Pagar, Raffles Place, Serangoon, Stadium, Tiong Bahru, Toa Payoh and Woodlands QR codes. If you only want the first two tiers of rewards, 1 or 3 QR codes respectively instead of 6 QR codes will be sufficient.

Royal Caribbean Promotions

From time to time, Royal Caribbean is known to offer some of the following promotions:

  • $10 2nd Guest
  • $10 offer on kids fare, balcony upgrades and second accompanying guest
  • 50% off 2nd guest
  • 3rd & 4th Guests Cruise FREE
  • $11 Suite upgrade
  • 30% off all guests and Kids Sail Free offer

These promotions are usually for limited time only and interested customers are advised to watch out for such promotions by monitoring the official Royal Caribbean website.

 

Malcolm Gladwell Masterclass Review

Masterclass: Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing

Malcolm Gladwell is one of my favorite authors. He is very famous in the US, since his books have hit the bestsellers list in America multiple times.

I have written the following reviews on books/articles by Malcolm Gladwell:

Hence, one can see that it is a great honour to have Malcolm Gladwell to teach Masterclass. Sign up here: Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing.

Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing

No homework, full-day school curriculum to help level playing field (Proposal, not implemented yet)

Full-day school is quite a drastic measure to combat tuition. Also, unless full-day means 7am to 7pm, it is unlikely to be different from the status quo.

Any parent with children in secondary school or JC is aware that school is already pretty much “full-day” as of today, from 7am to 5pm at the minimum on most days (including CCA). Hence, there is not much room to get more “full-day” than now. JC students are known to stay much later for CCA, probably some are already having schedules from 7am to 7pm, which more than qualifies as “full-day”.

Also, even if full-day school (say 7am to 7pm) is implemented, there seems nothing to stop students from having tuition during the weekends, or on weekdays 8pm-10pm.

Probably most students would not be too pleased at having a full-day school. If I were still a student, I would definitely be more stressed out by the full-day school. I would much rather have some homework but end school early. I would imagine teachers won’t be too happy too, full-day school for students means full-day school for teachers, since obviously some if not all teachers must stay back to supervise the students.

Most unhappy would be tutors, for obvious reasons. Probably if this is implemented, most tutors will have to change jobs. 😛

The underlying idea to level the playing field is good and makes sense though. Possibly make the full-day optional so that those who want to stay back and have the full-day can do so, those who want to leave can also do so.

Source: TodayOnline

SINGAPORE — To level the playing field for children from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds, and break out of the country’s tuition culture, Nominated Member of Parliament Chia Yong Yong has suggested that all schools adopt a full-day curriculum.

That way, the children will complete their homework during school hours, and be able to spend more time on “push-frontier practicals” aimed at training them to become more comfortable in tackling problems and to grow an appetite for risk-taking. These qualities are essential traits for the current technological revolution, also known as Industry 4.0, she said.

In her Budget debate speech in Parliament on Wednesday (Feb 28), Ms Chia said the current academic model “runs the risk of not harnessing the potential of all our young people” who do not have access to enrichment and tuition classes. As a result, those from more advantaged socio-economic backgrounds who have access to these classes will outperform their peers.

Stressing that “every school is a good school, but not every home is equal”, the lawyer said the current system has been “abused” such that inequality continues to be perpetuated and deepened.

NUS to offer veterinary medicine

Good news to those who want to be a vet! (Previously the usual option is to study in Australia). The veterinary medicine programme looks very rigorous, taking a total of 5.5 – 6.5 years, more than the duration of NUS medicine (5 years). At the end of the day, travel to Australia is still required though as it is a concurrent degree with University of Melbourne.

Source: Today

In a first for Singapore, the NUS will offer undergraduates a chance to study veterinary medicine through its new concurrent degree programme with the University of Melbourne. At present, only Ngee Ann and Temasek Polytechnics offer diploma courses respectively in veterinary bioscience and veterinary technology. The programme, which will take between 5.5 to 6.5 years to complete, will take in 10 students for a start, with the number to increase if demand is high.

They will spend 1.5 years at NUS to grow their foundation, followed by one-year abroad at the University of Melbourne to read modules in Year 1 of the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM). After that, the students will spend another three years in Melbourne to complete their studies. While they will pay prevailing NUS and University of Melbourne tuition fees during their time in Singapore and Australia, Singaporean students can expect to pay about 15 per cent less in tuition fees for the DVM portion of the programme as compared to the four-year course in Melbourne as an international student. They will graduate with an NUS bachelor’s degree in life sciences and a graduate-entry, professional veterinary science qualification from the University of Melbourne.

Singapore Math Free Resources for Homeschool

Singapore Math is a popular resource for homeschooling children in the United States and many countries. Due to its challenging questions and unique methodology, Singapore Math prepares children for real math at higher levels.

We have curated some of the best Singapore Math Free Resources on the net:

  1. https://thegoodgoatmomma.com/2014/10/17/free-singapore-math-curriculum-resources/
    Has a good list of free resources including Curriculum and Tutorials.
  2. https://singaporemathsource.com/resources/singapore-math-web-sites/
    Some free online content to supplement Singapore Math.
  3. https://www.freeeducationalresources.com/singaporemath/Singapore_Math.htm
    This is an excellent treasure trove of free Singapore Math Worksheets (PDF).
  4. https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/singapore-math.html
    Many questions with worked solutions with Singapore Math Model method.
  5. http://www.sgtestpaper.com/sgmath/
    Includes questions modeled from real Singapore schools’ questions.

Do also read our most popular Singapore Math page to find out what is Singapore Math and what are its benefits.

SOSD Flag Day (Help Stray Dogs)

If you are free do go support SOSD in their Flag day!

Sign up here: https://sosd.org.sg/?post_type=dd_events&p=11275

FLAG DAY 2018! FLAG COLLECTORS NEEDED!

DATE: 04 MARCH 2018 SUNDAY
VENUE: YOUTH PARK
TIME: 9am to 6pm

In a few months, we will be moving to our new shelter, and we wanted to begin this new chapter, with a very special Flag Day for 2018 – for the first time, we will be organising a combined Flag Day for SOSD , Animal Lovers League – ALL Authorized Page, and Oasis Second Chance Animal Shelter – OSCAS

If you wish do you your part on 4 Mar 2018, do sign up as a Flag Collector, or join us at the event!
https://sosdflagday2018.eventbrite.com

We will be bringing 40 to 50 dogs.You will find HDB-Approved dogs, young puppies, and adult dogs!

Singapour : Les Maths Singapour- Une Methode Miracle

tomcircle's avatarMath Online Tom Circle

La remise du rapport Villani au Ministre de l’Education nationale Mr. Blanquer préconisant 21 mesures pour l’enseignement des mathématiques en France, a mis à l’honneur, par ricochet et par voix de presse, la méthode de Singapour pour l’apprentissage des maths.

https://lepetitjournal.com/singapour/les-maths-singapour-une-methode-miracle-224015

https://lepetitjournal.com/singapour/actualites/education-pourquoi-les-eleves-singapouriens-sont-ils-si-forts-en-maths-46043

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Higher paying job than Doctor / Lawyer

We encourage top students to look beyond the traditional Singaporean jobs of Doctor / Lawyer as there are new emerging jobs that can equal or even surpass the pay of Doctor/Lawyer.

At the end of the day, do also consider your passion and aptitude, which may be more important than the salary. No point being stuck in a high paying job that you absolutely hate.

Do share this post with your children/relatives/classmates who may be choosing their courses after receiving their ‘A’ level results.

Source: Todayonline

SINGAPORE — A high-paying job as a doctor or lawyer has traditionally been the career path that many Singaporeans aspire to. But there is now a new kid on the block, with double degree graduates in business and computer science joining the ranks of top earners here.

According to the latest graduate employment survey released by three local universities on Monday (Feb 26), fresh graduates from Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) business and computing science double degree programme commanded a median starting salary of S$5,000 last year, up from S$4,600 in 2016.

The median salary for the batch of 20 graduates matched that of their peers who graduated from the law and medicine faculties. They were also in demand with employers, as they recorded a 100 per cent overall employment rate.

Meanwhile, fresh computing science graduates were also among the highest paid last year. Those who graduated from this course in NTU got a median starting pay of S$3,850 last year, up from S$3,500 in 2016. Their counterparts from the National University of Singapore (NUS) received S$4,285 – S$285 more than in 2016.

However, rankings differed for 75th percentile salaries — the base salary of the top 25 per cent of the batch — as SMU-schooled lawyers emerged as top earners at S$5,840, compared to NUS doctors’ starting pays of S$5,305, and S$5,362 for NTU’s business and computer science graduates.

Growth of starting salaries in law and medicine was tepid, however, as law graduates from NUS and SMU only received about S$100 and S$150 more respectively last year, while NUS doctors banked in about the same amount as their seniors.

238 Singaporean A-level H2 Chemistry exam scripts stolen in the UK

Unbelievable. I think this should be the first time such an incident happen. Hope the affected students will get a fair grade despite this unfortunate incident.

Source: Yahoo

A parcel containing 238 scripts for the 2017 GCE A-Level H2 Chemistry Paper 3 was stolen from a courier in the United Kingdom, the Singapore Examinations & Assessment Board (SEAB) said Friday (23 February).

Students from four junior colleges – Anderson JC (58 scripts), Anglo-Chinese JC (60 scripts), Hwa Chong Institution (60 scripts) and Nanyang JC (60 scripts) – were affected, SEAB said in a statement. They comprised 3 per cent of the 8,843 school candidates who sat for the paper.

The theft occurred on 16 November 2017 while the parcel was in transit from Cambridge Assessment to the examiner. The case is under UK police investigations and the scripts have not been recovered.

What to do if fail A level Singapore

What to do if did not do well for A Levels

For those who did not do well for A Levels, do not be overly disheartened. Though it may seem like the end of the world, it is not, and there are other options available to you.

Firstly, check out this post by Digital Senior, where they discuss 7 alternative routes for those who did not do well for A Levels. The 7 alternative routes are: Polytechnic, SUSS (Full time/part time), Overseas universities, SIM-UOL, NTU/NUS part time degrees, SIT, and lastly retaking A levels.

Secondly, check out this post by Mothership, featuring 10 inspirational stories of Singaporeans who did not do well for A levels but persevered on to achieve success in their respective fields.

Thirdly, check out this Reddit post, where advice is given about failing A levels.

Also, do dispel the myth that failing GP will lead to zero chance of entering university. It is still possible to enter local university with failed GP, though certain courses like Law are ruled out.

If I failed my General Paper (GP) at the Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level exam, can I apply for admission?

Yes, you can apply for admission. However, if you failed GP, you will not qualify for certain courses such as Law which will require a GP grade of at least ‘B3’ (for old syllabus), ‘B’ (for new syllabus) or a good pass in Knowledge & Inquiry (KI) (for new syllabus).

Applicants who do not possess the necessary English Language qualification will be required to take the Qualifying English Test (QET), if offered admission. Those who fail to fulfill the QET requirement will not be allowed to graduate – click here for details.

Source: Askadmissions NUS

Finally, just to share a quote about success and failure in general, not just A Levels:

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. – Winston Churchill

The results of the 2017 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination will be released on Friday, 23 February 2018.

Good luck to all collecting their A Level results today!

Check out our post on BMAT Book Recommendations for NTU Medicine, and also Alternate Admission Route to NUS Computing.

1. The results of the 2017 Singapore-Cambridge General Certificate of Education Advanced Level (GCE A-Level) examination will be released on Friday, 23 February 2018. School candidates may collect their results from their respective schools from 2.30pm that day.

2. Private candidates will be notified of their results by post. The result slips will be mailed on 23 February 2018 to the postal address provided by the candidates during the registration period. Private candidates who have SingPass1accounts can also use their SingPass to obtain their results online via the internet Examination Results Release System (iERRS) on the Singapore Examinations and Assessment Board’s website (www.seab.gov.sg) from 2.30pm on 23 February 2018.

中一高华成语练习(一)Secondary 1 Higher Chinese Idioms Exercise I

Free Higher Chinese Worksheets

chinesetuition88's avatarChinese Tuition Singapore

爱屋及乌    按部就班    百年树人    百折不挠     班门弄斧

杯弓蛇影    杯水车薪    悲天悯人    闭门造车     兵不厌诈

不耻下问    不二法门    不劳而获    不胜枚举     不务正业

不翼而飞    沧海桑田    长年累月    长袖善舞     痴人说梦

1,他乐于助人的事迹(        ),老师让我们向他学习。

2,十年树木,(         )。

3,三人行必有我师,有问题要谦虚好学,(       ),才能更加进步。

4,这点帮助对这个不幸的家庭来说,只不过是(        )。

5,倘若你没有经过努力,就想(       ),是不会取得真正的成功的。

6,真心喜欢一个人,往往会(        ),喜欢他的一切。

7,不管在生活中遇到什么困难,我们要有(         )的精神。

8,爷爷(         )在山上种树,终于让荒山披上了绿装。

9,你在著名华文作家的面前卖弄华文,岂不是(       )。

10,看清楚!那只是根绳子,不是蛇!别(       ),自己吓自己。

11,不愿意付出努力就想获得成功,这不就是(        )吗?

12,面对家乡(         )的变化,他激动地一时说不出话来。

13,小伟的哥哥整天游手好闲, (        )。

14,多读多写是学习写作的(       )。

15,他做事一向(        ),有条不紊。

16,做事如果不从实际出发, (       ), 就会造成不良的后果。

17,他为人(        ), 怪不得能够在政商两界无往不利。

18,打仗主是要战胜敌人, (        ), 敌人越骂我们狡猾, 越说明我们做得对极了。

19,他不时地长吁短叹, 话里话外总是透出一种(       ), 以天下为己任的味道。

20,下车她才发现, 身上的钱包竟然(        )了。

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Heroic math teacher saved her students from Florida shooting

Heroic math teacher saved her students from Florida shooting by covering classroom door’s window, ordering kids to the floor and refusing to let anyone in… even the SWAT team. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5399143/Heroic-teacher-saved-students-Florida-shooting.html#ixzz57i0Hcvi9

Heroic math teacher saved her students from Florida shooting by covering classroom door’s window, ordering kids to the floor and refusing to let anyone in… even the SWAT team

  • Mrs Viswanathan realised something was wrong after two fire alarms sounded
  • Instead of letting pupils out her math class, she told them to duck in the corner 
  • Mrs V refused to let SWAT teams in, so they had to enter through the window
  • A mother of a pupil in the class said Mrs V’s actions helped to save student’s lives

Linear System of Differential Equations, Solutions, Phase Portrait Sketching

Solutions of Homogeneous Linear System of DE
\displaystyle \mathbf{y}'=\mathbf{A}\mathbf{y}
\displaystyle \mathbf{y}(t)=\mathbf{v}e^{rt}
where r and \mathbf{v} are eigenvalue and eigenvector for \mathbf{A} respectively.

Superposition Principle
If \mathbf{x_1}(t) and \mathbf{x_2}(t) are two solutions to a homogeneous SDE \mathbf{y'}=\mathbf{Ay}, then \displaystyle \mathbf{y}=c_1\mathbf{x_1}(t)+c_2\mathbf{x_2}(t) is also a solution for any scalars c_1, c_2.

Euler’s formula
\displaystyle e^{i\theta}=\cos\theta+i\sin\theta

General Solutions (Complex Eigenvalues)

1) Let r_1=a+bi be an eigenvalue corresponding to eigenvector \mathbf{v_1}. (The eigenvectors are complex conjugates: \mathbf{v_1,v_2}=\mathbf{p}\pm \mathbf{q} i.)
2) Construct
\displaystyle \mathbf{x}_\text{Re}(t)=e^{at}(\mathbf{p}\cos bt-\mathbf{q}\sin bt)
\displaystyle \mathbf{x}_\text{Im}(t)=e^{at}(\mathbf{p}\sin bt+\mathbf{q}\cos bt)
3) The general solution is \displaystyle \mathbf{y}=c_1\mathbf{x}_\text{Re}(t)+c_2\mathbf{x}_\text{Im}(t).

How to Sketch Phase Portrait

Probably the best video on how to sketch Phase Portrait:

The Self-Driven Child (i.e. How to make your child motivated to study)

I think this book is a excellent read for Singaporean parents. Have your child ever seem to be too laid back and resist improvement, although he or she has great potential?

Often children in Singapore have to be “forced” to go to tuition to improve their grades, “forced” to study, “forced” to practice piano etc. Wouldn’t it be great if the child has self-motivation to willingly go for tuition / self-study? This change of mindset is explored in this book: “The Self-Driven Child”.

“Forcing” children to study works in the short term, producing temporary improved academic results, but in the long term it leads to psychological problems and even mental breakdowns in severe cases. Not to mention there is no joy of learning experienced by the child. The alternative solution is described in “The Self-Driven Child”.

“It is not an overstatement to say that this is one of the most radical and important books on raising healthy, resilient, purpose-driven kids.” – Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege

“An invaluable resource for the thinking parent.” – Lisa Damour, author


The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives

Check out other recommended Motivational Books here.

Characteristic Polynomial, Eigenvalues, Eigenvectors

Characteristic Polynomial, \det(\lambda I-A)
\begin{aligned}  \lambda\ \text{is an eigenvalue of }A&\iff\det(\lambda I-A)=0\\  &\iff \lambda\ \text{is a root of the characteristic polynomial}.  \end{aligned}

Eigenspace
The solution space of (\lambda I-A)\mathbf{x}=0 is called the eigenspace of A associated with the eigenvalue \lambda. The eigenspace is denoted by E_\lambda.

Sum/Product of Eigenvalues
– The sum of all eigenvalues of A (including repeated eigenvalues) is the same as Tr(A) (trace of A, i.e. the sum of diagonal elements of A)
– The product of all eigenvalues of A (including repeated eigenvalues) is the same as \det(A).

Finding Least Squares Solution Review and Others

Rotation Matrix

The rotation matrix
\displaystyle  R=\begin{pmatrix}  \cos\theta & -\sin\theta\\  \sin\theta & \cos\theta  \end{pmatrix}
rotates points in the xy-plane counterclockwise through an angle \theta about the origin.

For example rotating the vector (1,0) 45 degrees counterclockwise gives us:
\displaystyle  \begin{pmatrix}  \cos 45^\circ & -\sin 45^\circ\\  \sin 45^\circ & \cos 45^\circ  \end{pmatrix}  \begin{pmatrix}  1\\  0  \end{pmatrix}  =  \begin{pmatrix}  \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}\\  \frac{\sqrt{2}}{2}  \end{pmatrix}.

Finding Least Squares Solution

Given Ax=b (inconsistent system), solve
\displaystyle A^TAx=A^Tb instead to get a least squares solution of the original equation.

Projection

If we know a least squares solution \mathbf{u} of A\mathbf{x}=\mathbf{b}, we can find the projection \mathbf{p} of \mathbf{b} onto the column space of A by \displaystyle \mathbf{p}=A\mathbf{u}.

Dimension Theorem for Matrices (Also known as Rank-Nullity Theorem)

If A is a matrix with n columns, then \displaystyle rank(A)+nullity(A)=n.

(rank(A)=number of pivot columns,

nullity(A)=number of non-pivot columns.)

Linear Independence and the Wronskian
A set of vector functions \vec{f_1}(x), \dots, \vec{f_n}(x) from \mathbb{R} to \mathbb{R}^n is linearly independent in the interval (\alpha,\beta) if \displaystyle W[\vec{f_1}(x),\dots,\vec{f_n}(x)]\neq 0 for at least one value of x in the interval (\alpha,\beta).

Oven-roasted Scampi with Butter & Garlic

If you are an avid cook or food lover, do check out this cooking blog. 100% free recipes with high definition photographs, featuring Chinese, Western and other cuisines like Thai, Malaysian, Indian etc.

All recipes are suitable for beginner, amateur chefs. Not much equipment required other than the usual kitchen appliances like stove, oven.

Free Newsletter Subscription: https://chewbaccascook.wordpress.com/subscribe/

Some exotic recipes:

  1. Ge Da Soup
  2. King Crab
  3. Green Curry Chicken
  4. Pork Chop with Roasted Apple
  5. Homemade Prawn Ribs Noodle Soup

chinesetuition88's avatarCooking For Fun

When my husband and I were in Bangkok, we had a very giant Prawn in a restaurant. And several days ago, we found such a giant Prawn in supermarket. So we bought two.

Preheat oven to 200 degree C.

1. Clean Prawns and cut them into halves. I didn’t cut them through just left a big cut on their belly.

2. Sprinkle salt and black pepper over Prawns.

3. In a small bowl, add in 10 g butter. Then use a garlic press to press 4 cloves garlic. Add in 1/2 tsp black pepper. Mix well.

4. Press butter garlic mixture into the cut on belly. Brush shell with a little honey.

5. Into the oven and roast for 15-20 mins.

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Latest Secondary School Cut off Point (COP)

Something interesting in the latest Secondary School (based on PSLE results) Cut off Points (COP) is that MGS Cut-off points has risen sky high to 261, on par with RI and above HCI and RGS.

Nanyang Girls’ High School IP SAP (girls) – 264
Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) IB (girls) – 261
Raffles Institution IP (boys) – 261
Hwa Chong Institution IP SAP (boys) – 260
Raffles Girls’ School (Secondary) IP (girls) – 260
CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School IP SAP (girls) – 258
Dunman High School IP SAP (co-ed) – 258
National Junior College IP (co-ed) – 258
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) IB (boys) – 256
Cedar Girls’ Secondary School IP (girls) – 254
Victoria School IP (boys) – 254
Catholic High School IP SAP (boys) – 253
River Valley High School IP SAP (co-ed) – 253
Singapore Chinese Girls’ School IP (girls) – 253
St. Joseph’s Institution IB (boys) – 253
Temasek Junior College IP (co-ed) – 253
CHIJ St. Nicholas Girls’ School O-levels SAP (girls) – 253
Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) O-levels (girls) – 253
Singapore Chinese Girls’ School O-levels (girls) – 252
Catholic High School O-levels SAP (boys) – 251
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent) O-levels (boys) – 250
Cedar Girls’ Secondary School – O-levels (girls) – 250
Victoria School – O-levels (boys) – 248
Anderson Secondary School (co-ed) – 247
Bukit Panjang Govt. High School (co-ed) – 247
CHIJ Secondary (Toa Payoh) (girls) – 247
Paya Lebar Methodist Girls’ School (Secondary) (girls) – 247
St. Joseph’s Institution O-levels (boys) – 246
Nan Hua High School SAP (co-ed) – 245
St. Andrew’s Secondary School (boys) – 245
St. Margaret’s Secondary School (girls) – 244
Crescent Girls’ School (girls) – 243
Fairfield Methodist School (Secondary) (co-ed) – 243
Nan Chiau High School SAP (co-ed) – 243
Swiss Cottage Secondary School (co-ed) – 241
Anglican High School SAP (co-ed) – 240
Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) (boys) – 239
Chung Cheng High School (Main) SAP (co-ed) – 239
Commonwealth Secondary School (co-ed) – 239
Ngee Ann Secondary School (co-ed) – 238
Chung Cheng High School (Yishun) (co-ed) – 237
Yishun Town Secondary School (co-ed) – 237
Tanjong Katong Girls’ School (girls) – 236
Xinmin Secondary School (co-ed) – 236
CHIJ St. Theresa’s Convent (girls) – 235
Maris Stella High School SAP (boys) – 235
Fuhua Secondary School (co-ed) – 234
Zhonghua Secondary School (co-ed) – 234
Clementi Town Secondary School (co-ed) – 233
Presbyterian High School (co-ed) – 233
Tanjong Katong Secondary School (co-ed) – 233
Kranji Secondary School (co-ed) – 232
Kuo Chuan Presbyterian Secondary School (co-ed) – 232
Riverside Secondary School (co-ed) – 232
St. Patrick’s School (boys) – 232
CHIJ St. Joseph’s Convent (girls) – 231
Dunman Secondary School (co-ed) – 231
Holy Innocents’ High School (co-ed) – 229
St. Hilda’s Secondary School (co-ed) – 229
Ang Mo Kio Secondary School (co-ed) – 227
Bowen Secondary School (co-ed) – 225
Evergreen Secondary School (co-ed) – 225
Gan Eng Seng School (co-ed) – 225
Jurong Secondary School (co-ed) – 225
Edgefield Secondary School (co-ed) – 224
St. Gabriel’s Secondary School (boys) – 224
Geylang Methodist School (Secondary) (co-ed) – 223
Bukit Batok Secondary School (co-ed) – 222
CHIJ Katong Convent (girls) – 222
Hua Yi Secondary School (co-ed) – 222
Hai Sing Catholic School (co-ed) – 221
Pasir Ris Secondary School (co-ed) – 221
West Spring Secondary School (co-ed) – 221
Mayflower Secondary School (co-ed) – 220
St. Anthony’s Canossian Secondary School (girls) – 219
Ahmad Ibrahim Secondary School (co-ed) – 218
Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School (co-ed) – 216
Pei Hwa Secondary School (co-ed) – 216
Queensway Secondary School (co-ed) – 216
Woodlands Ring Secondary School (co-ed) – 215
Beatty Secondary School (co-ed) – 214
Bedok View Secondary School (co-ed) – 214
Chua Chu Kang Secondary School (co-ed) – 214
Peirce Secondary School (co-ed) – 214
Deyi Secondary School (co-ed) – 210
Yuan Ching Secondary School (co-ed) – 210
Zhenghua Secondary School (co-ed) – 210
Compassvale Secondary School (co-ed) – 209
Hillgrove Secondary School (co-ed) – 208
North Vista Secondary School (co-ed) – 207
Bedok South Secondary School (co-ed) – 206
Orchid Park Secondary School (co-ed) – 204
Woodgrove Secondary School (co-ed) – 204
Bukit View Secondary School (co-ed) – 203
Coral Secondary School (co-ed) – 203
Greendale Secondary School (co-ed) – 203
New Town Secondary School (co-ed) – 202
Yishun Secondary School (co-ed) – 201
Chong Boon Secondary School (co-ed) – 200
Jurongville Secondary School (co-ed) – 200
Kent Ridge Secondary School (co-ed) – 200
Westwood Secondary School (co-ed) – 200
Christ Church Secondary School (co-ed) – 199
Guangyang Secondary School (co-ed) – 197
Admiralty Secondary School (co-ed) – 196
Manjusri Secondary School (co-ed) – 196
Tampines Secondary School (co-ed) – 196
Greenridge Secondary School (co-ed) – 195
Greenview Secondary School (co-ed) – 195
Canberra Secondary School (co-ed) – 194
Punggol Secondary School (co-ed) – 194
Bishan Park Secondary School (co-ed) – 193
Jurong West Secondary School (co-ed) – 192
Juying Secondary School (co-ed) – 192
Seng Kang Secondary School (co-ed) – 191
Damai Secondary School (co-ed) – 190
Junyuan Secondary School (co-ed) – 190
Ping Yi Secondary School (co-ed) – 190
Bedok Green Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Montfort Secondary School (boys) – 189
Naval Base Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Northland Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Queenstown Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Regent Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Yuhua Secondary School (co-ed) – 189
Assumption English School (co-ed) – 188
Bartley Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Bendemeer Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Boon Lay Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Broadrick Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Bukit Merah Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Changkat Changi Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Dunearn Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
East Spring Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
East View Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Fajar Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Fuchun Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Hong Kah Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Hougang Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Loyang Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Marsiling Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Northbrooks Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Outram Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Peicai Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Sembawang Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Serangoon Garden Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Serangoon Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Shuqun Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Springfield Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Tanglin Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Whitley Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Woodlands Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Yio Chu Kang Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Yusof Ishak Secondary School (co-ed) – 188
Yuying Secondary School (co-ed) – 188

Source: http://sgtalk.org/mybb/Thread-Secondary-School-Ranking-based-on-PSLE-Cutoff-Point

(Dated 2017)

Do double check from the official MOE PSLE Cutoff point list: https://www.moe.gov.sg/docs/default-source/document/education/admissions/secondary-one-posting/2017-files/sec-1-posting—english.pdf

Also, do read this article on how to choose secondary schools based on the latest PSLE Cut off Points (COP) and other factors: More to secondary schools than cut-off point: Minister Heng.

5 Ways To Make Math More Fun And Meaningful For Kids

5 Ways To Make Math More Fun And Meaningful For Kids

Fun and meaningful – these are two words that children rarely use to describe math. There are several reasons why many kids dislike math, but according to kids and learning experts, the top reasons always include:

  • They always have to memorize mathematical formulas and concepts
  • They often have to make numerous complex and lengthy calculations (such as finding the surface area of cuboid or cylinder)
  • They always feel pressure to get perfect quiz or test scores
  • They have a hard time finding practical applications for the advanced mathematical formulas and concepts they’re learning

Because of these reasons (and more), parents always struggle to get kids to like math and excel in this subject.

How to Help Kids Change Their Attitude towards Math

According to a study published on the website of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education, kids who outgrow their dislike and fear of of this subject will find it easier to do better on this subject.

If you are a parent or teacher, you can help children change their attitude towards math by making it more fun and meaningful for them. You can do this through the following ways:

1.    Enable your kids to realize the importance of math

When children understand that math is not all about theories and principles, they will start viewing the study of math as a valuable learning opportunity and thus become more interested in it. As such, you need to constantly show them how useful math is in real life.

For instance:

  • Teach your kids about basic finance whenever you go shopping
  • Train younger kids to sort coins and bills and how to use them when buying individual or small amounts of items
  • Allow your older children to help find the best prices for the items on your shopping list. Ask them to tally simple sums while grocery shopping.

Other activities that will help kids understand the relevance of math in real life include using measurements and basic operations when cooking and baking, telling time, checking temperatures, etc.

Although these activities seem simple, they are still effective ways of teaching kids the importance of knowing the right concepts and applications of certain mathematical operations.

2.    Take math outdoors

If you’re an educator, when you take math learning outside the classroom, you provide kids excellent ways of realizing that math can be found and used everywhere. This will also allow you to transfer lessons outside the classroom, and vice versa.

Below are examples of fun activities that will enable you to take math outdoors:

  • Treasure or scavenger hunt
  • Multiplication hopscotch
  • Leaf logic
  • Counting maze (for preschoolers)

3.    Enroll your kids in an after-school tutoring program

Sometimes, children need outside help to discover that math is interesting and meaningful. If you and your kids decide to get help from a tutor, find a tutoring center that specializes in teaching kids math.

The right math tutoring center will follow a unitary method that will help their students make sense of all the theories and concepts they are learning. They will assess the needs of the students and design a personalized learning program that will address their specific requirements.

Most tutoring centers today do not simply provide additional explanations and activities for kids to learn a particular concept. Tutors tailor their teaching techniques to ensure the students learn by heart and apply their knowledge.

As such, they also employ fun and creative methods to teach their students. They also check progress along the way to make sure kids truly understand, apply, and retain the concepts they learned.

4.    Incorporate math in games

Bring out your board games, a pack of cards, a puzzle, or even or old blocks and turn the game into a family competition. Activities and games that incorporate or focus on math are great in reinforcing the right mathematical skills and concepts.

Regardless of the activity, you can reward even small accomplishments and help your kids know that they just completed a fun math-related task. Children will love the recognition and prize, especially if they can compete with their siblings. They will also realize that knowing mathematical operations can be fun and applying them can be rewarding.

5.    Be supportive

Lastly, although you may want to empathize with your kids, saying things like “I was also never good at math” won’t do anything good for them. It is best to encourage your children to embrace challenges and see the fun in learning even if they are having a hard time with some mathematical concepts.

Be as involved as you can be in your children’s schoolwork and show enthusiasm. When you help your kids learn to associate math with fun, pleasure, parental love and attention, they will be excited about the subject throughout their learning years.

As a parent or educator, your support and willingness to think outside the box will go a long way in helping your kids think differently about math and eventually excel in the subject.

AUTHOR BIO

Maloy Burman is the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Premier Genie FZ LLC. He is responsible for driving Premier Genie into a leadership position in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Education space in Asia, Middle East and Africa and building a solid brand value. Premier Genie is currently running 5 centers in Dubai and 5 centers in India with a goal to multiply that over the next 5 years.

Positive attitude toward math predicts math achievement in kids

Science has proven that attitude is really important. Positive attitude toward math has great impact on math achievement in children.

One way to instill positive attitude toward math is via interesting math books. Another way is via parental example, it is important for parents themselves to have a positive attitude to math as it can influence their child.

Source: Science Daily

For the first time, scientists have identified the brain pathway that links a positive attitude toward math to achievement in the subject. In a study of elementary school students, researchers found that having a positive attitude about math was connected to better function of the hippocampus, an important memory center in the brain, during performance of arithmetic problems.

In a study of elementary school students, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that having a positive attitude about math was connected to better function of the hippocampus, an important memory center in the brain, during performance of arithmetic problems.

The findings will be published online Jan. 24 in Psychological Science.

Educators have long observed higher math scores in children who show more interest in math and perceive themselves as being better at it. But it has not been clear if this attitude simply reflects other capacities, such as higher intelligence.

The new study found that, even once IQ and other confounding factors were accounted for, a positive attitude toward math still predicted which students had stronger math performance.

‘Attitude is really important’

“Attitude is really important,” said Lang Chen, PhD, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral scholar in psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “Based on our data, the unique contribution of positive attitude to math achievement is as large as the contribution from IQ.”

The scientists had not expected the contribution of attitude to be so large, Chen said. The mechanism underlying its link to cognitive performance was also unexpected.

“It was really surprising to see that the link works through a very classical learning and memory system in the brain,” said the study’s senior author, Vinod Menon, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. Researchers had previously hypothesized that the brain’s reward centers might drive the link between attitude and achievement — perhaps children with better attitudes were better at math because they found it more rewarding or motivating. “Instead, we saw that if you have a strong interest and self-perceived ability in math, it results in enhanced memory and more efficient engagement of the brain’s problem-solving capacities,” Menon said.

The researchers administered standard questionnaires to 240 children ages 7 to 10, assessing demographics, IQ, reading ability and working-memory capacity. The children’s level of math achievement was measured with tests of their knowledge of arithmetic facts and ability to solve math word problems. Parents or guardians answered surveys about the children’s behavioral and emotional characteristics, as well as their anxiety about math and general anxiety. Children also answered a survey that assessed their attitude toward math, including questions about interest in math and self-perceived math ability, as well as their attitude toward academics in general.

Forty-seven children from the group also participated in MRI brain scans while performing arithmetic problems. Tests were conducted outside the MRI scanner to discern which problem-solving strategies they used. An independent group of 28 children also was given MRI scans and other assessments in an attempt to replicate the findings from the cohort previously given brain scans.

Lenovo Miix 320 Review

The Lenovo Miix 320 is quite a good budget computer actually, much better than what the reviews on Amazon state.

Some special features is that it is able to detach into a tablet, has touchscreen, and is compatible with a screen pen called the Lenovo Active Pen. Overall, it is the best laptop in its price range. Be sure to buy the 4 GB RAM version, as the 2 GB version will be too slow.

Size wise, its screen is basically the same size as an iPad. Hence, the Lenovo Miix 320 is suitable for people who want an “iPad with a keyboard”. If the screen font is too small, just setting the system font to 125% will solve the problem.

Conclusion: A very decent budget laptop that is suitable for basic usage such as surfing the web, email and word processing. Value for money (probably the best in its price range).


Lenovo Miix 320, 10.1-Inch Windows Laptop, 2 in 1 Laptop, (Intel Atom X5-Z8350, 1.44 GHz, 4 GB DDR3L, 64 GB eMMC, Windows 10 Home), Platinum, 80XF00DRUS

Alternatives for people with higher budget

The most classic 2 in 1 Laptop is probably the Microsoft Surface. Hence, if you have a higher budget than the Lenovo Miix, probably you may want to consider the Surface instead.


Microsoft Surface Book (128 GB, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core i5)

Dot Product and Span Summary

Dot Product
\mathbf{u}\cdot\mathbf{v}=\|u\|\|v\|\cos\theta
\cos\theta=\frac{\mathbf{u}\cdot\mathbf{v}}{\|u\|\|v\|}

Span
\text{span}\{\mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k}\}=\{c_1\mathbf{u_1}+c_2\mathbf{u_2}+\dots+c_k\mathbf{u_k}\mid c_1,c_2,\dots,c_k\in\mathbb{R}\}=\text{set of all linear combinations of } \{\mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k}\}.

Subspaces
V\subseteq\mathbb{R}^n is a subspace of \mathbb{R}^n if
1) V=\text{span}\{\mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k}\} for some vectors \mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k}.
2) V satisfies the closure properties:

(i) for all \mathbf{u},\mathbf{v}\in V, we must have \mathbf{u}+\mathbf{v}\in V.

(ii) for all \mathbf{u}\in V and c\in\mathbb{R}, we must have c\mathbf{u}\in V.

3) V is the solution set of a homogeneous system.

(Sufficient to check either one of Condition 1, 2, 3.)

Remark:
For V to be a subspace, zero vector \mathbf{0} must be in V. (Since for \mathbf{u}\in V, 0\in\mathbb{R}, we have 0\mathbf{u}\in V.)

Linear Independence and Dependence
\mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k} are linearly independent if the system \displaystyle c_1\mathbf{u_1}+c_2\mathbf{u_2}+\dots+c_k\mathbf{u_k}=0 has only the trivial solution, i.e. c_1=c_2=\dots=c_k=0.

If the system has non-trivial solutions, i.e. at least one c_i not zero, then \mathbf{u_1},\mathbf{u_2},\dots,\mathbf{u_k} are linearly dependent.

Lichess 2000 rating

Finally reached Lichess rating of 2000! (Rapid rating)

That had been my goal for some time but I only managed to achieve it after 1000 games or so. (See my Lichess profile.) I have no coach so I mostly learn from YouTube videos such as from GingerGM and the Saint Louis Chess Club. Those have helped a lot.

Note: Lichess rating is inflated, so 2000 Lichess is nowhere near 2000 FIDE unfortunately.

Check out my previous post on how to convert Lichess ratings.

Tip: Also World Champion Garry Kasparov’s Masterclass is incredibly helpful for beginning to intermediate players to improve their game. In fact, my ideal opening is Kasparov’s Queen’s Gambit variation with Bd3 and Ne2, aiming for a f3 and e4 expanding in the center. This opening is incredibly powerful and commonly played by Kasparov and his teacher Botvinnik.

Gaussian Elimination Summary

Row echelon form (REF)
For each non-zero row, the leading entry is to the right of the leading entry of the row above.

E.g. \begin{pmatrix}  0 & \mathbf{1} & 7 & 2\\  0 & 0 & \mathbf{9} & 3\\  0 & 0 & 0 & 0  \end{pmatrix}

Note that the leading entry 9 of the second row is to the right of the leading entry 1 of the first row.

Reduced row echelon form (RREF)
A row echelon form is said to be reduced, if in each of its pivot columns, the leading entry is 1 and all other entries are 0.

E.g. \begin{pmatrix}  1 & 0 & 0 & 2\\  0 & 1 & 0 & 3\\  0 & 0 & 1 & 4  \end{pmatrix}

Elementary Row Operations
1) cR_i — multiply the ith row by the constant c
2) R_i \leftrightarrow R_j — swap the ith and the jth row
3) R_i+cR_j — add c times of the jth row to the ith row.

Gaussian Elimination Summary
Gaussian Elimination is essentially using the elementary row operations (in any order) to make the matrix to row echelon form.

Gauss-Jordan Elimination
After reaching row echelon form, continue to use elementary row operations to make the matrix to reduced row echelon form.

Butterfly Pea Health Benefits (Research Papers)

Butterfly Pea Tea is a blue colored tea from the Butterfly Pea flower. It is apparently not very well known outside Thailand (and some other countries). Even in Singapore, which is a South East Asian country, few people know it.

(I bought the dried flowers from Qoo10. Quite good quality from this seller, sourced from Thailand, and nice air-tight packaging.)

Here are some health benefits of Butterfly Pea Tea (from this website).

We only choose sources from published journal articles as they are more reliable.

  1. Protection of Clitoria ternatea flower petal extract against free radical-induced hemolysis and oxidative damage in canine erythrocytes.
  2. Inhibitory effect of Clitoria ternatea flower petal extract on fructose-induced protein glycation and oxidation-dependent damages to albumin in vitro.
  3. Anti Inflammatory, Analgesic Properties

Basically, from what I understand, the benefits of Butterfly Pea (Clitoria ternatea) is that it is an anti-oxidant, potentially useful to prevent diabetes, and also anti-inflammatory and may have some mild painkilling properties (analgesic).

Quite interesting, I may decide to plant it in the future! Another interesting property is that if you add acid (e.g. lemon juice or lime juice), the color changes from blue to purple!

Purchase link from Qoo10: https://www.qoo10.sg/su/419732319/Q100000595

“Yu Gong” of India: Mountain Man Motivational Story

Most Chinese would have heard of the story Yu Gong Yi Shan, which is a fable of how a man moved a mountain bit by bit using his perseverance.

Today I learn that there is a true story of Dashrath Manjhi from India who literally cut through a mountain with just a simple tool over 20 years! Incredibly motivational story.

Dashrath Manjhi (c. 1934[1] – 17 August 2007[2]), also known as Mountain Man,[3] was a poor labourer in Gehlaur village, near Gaya in Bihar, India, who carved a path 110 m long (360 ft), 9.1 m (30 ft) wide and 7.6 m (25 ft) deep through a hillock using only a hammer and chisel.[1][4][5] After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of Gaya town from 55 km to 15 km.[6]

Dashrath Manjhi ran away from his home at a young age and worked at Dhanbad‘s coal mines. He returned to his village and married Falguni Devi. While crossing Gehlour hills to bring him lunch, she slipped continuously and seriously injured herself, which eventually led to her death. Manjhi was deeply disturbed and that very night decided to carve a path through the Gehlour hills so that his village could have easier access to medical attention.[1] He carved a path 110 m long, 7.7 m deep in places and 9.1 m wide to form a road through the rocks in Gehlour hill.[a] He said, “When I started hammering the hill, people called me a lunatic but that steeled my resolve.”

The Fields Medal fallacy: Why this math prize should return to its roots

Source: Science Daily

The Fields Medal, whose origins date back to the 1930s, will be issued again this year in August to up to four of the world’s most accomplished mathematicians under the age of 40. In a commentary for Nature, Michael Barany, a Society of Fellows post-doctoral fellow in history at Dartmouth, proposes that the Fields Medal return to its roots as a tool intended to shape the future of mathematics, rather than recognizing those who have already found the spotlight.

Issued every four years at the International Congress of Mathematicians, the Fields Medal has been likened to a Nobel Prize in mathematics. To date, 55 of the 56 recipients of this prize have been male and come from a narrow selection of institutional, disciplinary and geographic backgrounds compared with the discipline as a whole

“The current approach to the Fields Medal reinforces biases both within the field of mathematics and in broader public attitudes on what makes for a brilliant mathematician and typically overlooks how mathematics can be used to advance public good. Medalists today must achieve notable milestones in their research and careers at a young age — something that is a lot easier for those with the most social and institutional privilege,” explained Barany, who presented this research Friday at the Joint Mathematics Meetings of the American Mathematical Society and Mathematical Association of America.

Through research in Harvard University’s archives, Barany draws on forgotten records behind the deliberations from two early Fields Medal committees, which show, in a way not possible with existing published materials, how the medal’s purpose was interpreted following its origins in interwar international conflict.

In 1932, Canadian mathematician John Charles Fields called for the creation of an “International Medal for Outstanding Discoveries in Mathematics” that should be “in recognition of work already done” and “an encouragement for further achievement.” According to Barany, early committees avoided rewarding the best-regarded mathematicians and focused instead on identifying those who could benefit from the boost of an international prize to make a difference in the discipline.

However, in 1966, the medal’s meaning radically changed. The committee established a strict age limit of 40-years old, which opened the prize up to those who become famous early on in their careers. In addition, the prestige of the Fields Medal was elevated following a controversy relating to one of the medalists, whose colleagues defended him by comparing the Fields Medal to the much higher-profile Nobel prizes.

As Barany explains, shifting recognition to more established mathematicians embraced the kinds of judgement and rivalry that Fields aimed to avoid in its founding, and was counter to the Fields Medal’s heritage. He says that future Fields Medal committees can learn from their predecessors’ insistence on using the award to make a difference for the future, and address ongoing challenges facing mathematics and its place in the world.

Does Reboiled Water Cause Cancer?

Just to share with all. Hard to imagine that a simple act like reboiling water is actually causing harm to health.

The logic makes sense though: reboiling water evaporates some of the water which is lost as water vapor. The remaining salts (including arsenic / nitrates) become more concentrated, and hence more harmful.

Do share this with your loved ones!

Source: ThoughtCo

There is a concern that reboiled water may lead a person to develop cancer. This concern is not unfounded. While the boiled water is fine, increasing the concentration of toxic substances may put you at risk for certain illnesses, including cancer. For example, excessive intake of nitrates has been linked to methemoglobinemia and certain types of cancer. Arsenic exposure may produce symptoms of arsenic toxicity, plus it has been associated with some forms of cancer. Even “healthy” minerals may become concentrated to dangerous levels. For example, excessive intake of calcium salt, commonly found in drinking water and mineral water, can lead to kidney stones, hardening of the arteries, arthritis, and gallstones.

Star Wars “Math” Song

The following is a very original and interesting “song” using a pencil to mark out the rhythm of the famous “Cantina Theme” in Star Wars. Very creative indeed!

Technically, the equation is mathematically valid too, provided A is viewed as a function of x (and f, v). Or is the v a square root? Who knows?

Viewers need to have heard the original Cantina Theme to appreciate the pencil scribbling:

Also read my other related Star Wars math posts below:

Latest JC Cut-off points COP

JC Cut off Points for 2018:

Something amazing has happened in this latest JC COP. Nanyang Junior College (NYJC) has officially “surpassed” National Junior College (NJC) in terms of COP. (Traditionally NJC was one of the top three JCs, together with RI and HCI.) Coupled with a fantastic location (Lorong Chuan) and a caring principal Mr Kwek who has instilled a culture of care towards students, NYJC has deservingly propelled itself to the top tiers of the JC Cut of Points List.

Junior Colleges 2018 COP Arts Science / IB
Raffles Institution, RI  5 5
Hwa Chong Institution, HCI  5 5
Victoria Junior College, VJC  8 6
Anglo-Chinese School (Independent), ACSi NA 6
National Junior College, NJC  9 8
Nanyang Junior College, NYJC  8 7
Anglo-Chinese Junior College, ACJC  10 9
St. Joseph’s Institution, SJI NA 8
Eunoia Junior College, EJC  11 10
Temasek Junior College, TJC  11 10
St. Andrew’s Junior College, SAJC  12 11
Anderson Junior College, AJC  12  12
Catholic Junior College, CJC  14 15
Meridian Junior College, MJC  13  14
Pioneer Junior College, PJC  17  14
Yishun Junior College, YJC  20  20

JC Cut off Points for 2017:

Something interesting this year is that Nanyang JC (NYJC) has reached the same level (Cut off Points) as National JC (NJC). This is unimaginable say 10 years ago. Congratulations to NYJC for the great improvement! The great location of NYJC (near Lorong Chuan MRT) must have made a great factor too, it is so convenient for many students.

Also check out my post on Which JC is good?. Cut off points is not the sole indicator of how “good” a JC is. Do consider other factors and choose your JC wisely.

JC Arts Science
RI 4 4
HCI 4 4
VJC 7 5
ACS(I) 5
NJC 7 6
NYJC 7 6
ACJC 8 7
SJI 7
EJC 9 9
TJC 9 9
SAJC 10 9
AJC 11 9
CJC 10 11
MJC 11 11
SRJC 13 12
PJC 13 12
TPJC 13 14
JJC 15 15
YJC 17 16
IJC 19 20

JC Cut off Points for 2016:

Arts Science
RI 4 3
HCI 4 4
ACS(I) 5
VJC 6 5
NJC 6 5
SJI 6
NYJC 7 6
ACJC 7 7
AJC 9 8
TJC 9 9
SAJC 9 9
CJC 10 10
MJC 10 10
SRJC 11 11
PJC 13 12
TJC 13 13
JJC 15 15
YJC 17 16
IJC 20 20

It seems majority of the schools are under 10 points for the cut off, though there are JCs that cater to up to 20 pointers.

Citibank SMRT Credit Card Review ($120 Cashback Signup Bonus)

Sign up via this link to get $120 Cashback (Official Citibank site)

The Citibank SMRT card is one of the best credit cards in Singapore for your savings. It is very suitable for heartlander Singaporeans who spend mostly on groceries, transport and bills.

  • 5% savings* on groceries (7.3% for FairPrice Xtra Kallang Wave)
  • 5% savings* on fast food, movies and coffee
  • 3% savings* on online shopping
  • Redeem for cash rebate, vouchers or SMRT rides
  • No convenience fee charge for EZ-Reload Auto Top-up transactions

To compare with another credit card (POSB Everyday), here are the benefits of Citibank SMRT over POSB Everyday. Note that you can have both cards to reap the maximum benefits too!

Citibank SMRT vs POSB Everyday Card

  • Citibank SMRT has 5% savings for Fairprice, Giant AND Sheng Siong. POSB everyday 5% rebate is only for Sheng Siong.
  • Citibank SMRT card has EZ-Reload Auto Top-up 2% savings. No other credit card in Singapore has this feature. (Please correct me if I am wrong)
  • 1% savings on insurance bills for ACE Insurance and Prudential. (POSB Everyday has recently excluded rebates for insurance, i.e. 0% rebate for insurance and in fact most payments other than Starhub and SP)
  • Citibank SMRT card has 5% savings at Selected Town Councils – Service and Conservancy Charges. (As mentioned, POSB Everyday has excluded most bill payments from earning rebates).
  • Citibank SMRT has 1% saving* on telecommunications bills (M1, Singtel, Starhub). POSB Everyday only works for Starhub.
  • Citibank SMRT has 2% savings on both Guardian’s and Watsons. To be fair, POSB Everyday has 3% savings on Watsons (only). So we should use Citibank SMRT for Guardian and POSB Everyday for Watsons.
  • Many other savings benefits (e.g. movies, Starbucks) for Citibank SMRT

(Information valid as of Jan 2018. Do check out the official sites: Citibank SMRT and POSB Everyday for updated official information.)

$120 Cashback for Signing up Citibank SMRT Card

Once again, to get $120 cashback for signing up for Citibank SMRT, sign up via this link here.

 

More schools to merge in 2019, JCs included

Seems like the declining population is quite serious indeed. Not too long ago there was another merger: 8 JCs to merge (i.e. 4 JCs to close down). “Merge” is just a nice way to say that the affected schools are closing down.

I think at this rate, quite a few jobs may be affected, like paediatrician (children’s doctor), childcare, and even tuition. I think a previous Today article mentioned the impact of declining population on the tuition industry.

The following Primary/Secondary schools will be merged in 2019:

Bendemeer Primary – from merger of Balestier Hill Primary and Bendemeer Primary

Casuarina Primary – from merger of Loyang Primary and Casuarina Primary

Cedar Primary – from merger of MacPherson Primary and Cedar Primary

White Sands Primary – from merger of Coral Primary and White Sands Primary

Damai Primary – from merger of East Coast Primary and Damai Primary

Jing Shan Primary – from merger of Da Qiao Primary and Jing Shan Primary

Junyuan Primary – from merger of East View Primary and Junyuan Primary

The merged secondary schools will be:

East Spring Secondary – from merger of East View Secondary and East Spring Secondary

Jurongville Secondary – from merger of Hong Kah Secondary and Jurongville Secondary

Yuhua Secondary – from merger of Shuqun Secondary and Yuhua Secondary

The merged schools will be located at the schools whose name has been chosen for the combined entities. For example, students from Loyang Primary will thus have to go to the existing Casuarina Primary School from 2019.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/names-of-primary-and-secondary-schools-merging-in-2019-announced-9818744

Star Wars: The Last Jedi Review

I find the plot quite disappointing. While the CGI graphics are good, and the acting is decent, the storyline is what I find lacking. Ever since George Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney, I find that the essence of Star Wars has changed.

Not just The Last Jedi, the previous Force Awakens plot was formulaic. There seems to be a fixed pattern to it:

  1. Some pilots must try to sneak in to disable/destroy the large enemy ship, be it the Death Star or the “Dreadnaught”.
  2. Go to a new planet with some fancy new animals/lifeforms
  3. The battle between the Sith and the Jedi. (This was lacking in the Last Jedi though. There were close to zero lightsaber battles.)

There are some loopholes that don’t fit the style of the previous Star Wars movies. Rey defeating Kylo Ren without any prior training, and Luke Skywalker doing some kind of “Astral Projection”. As a fan who have watched all prior Star Wars movies, the style and plot of the new movies (post-Disney) are strikingly different in a bad way. In fact, it is so bad that I don’t think I will watch any Star Wars movies in movie theatres anymore.

Highly Motivational Math Video (in Chinese)

This is actually one of the best motivational videos on Math I have seen. Unfortunately there is no English translation. It covers how useful Math is, and also some history of Math in ancient China. (It is rarely known, but China discovered negative numbers and calculated pi to high accuracy much earlier than in Western civilization.)

However, (according to the video), Math in ancient China went downhill in the Ming dynasty after it was scrapped from the imperial examination. Seems like removing Math from the examination syllabus is always a bad idea!

Finally, the video ends off with a note not to discourage budding mathematicians. Many budding mathematicians, will face strange looks from well-intentioned friends and society. Will learning math be useful or can it make money? Such thoughts can discourage people from learning mathematics (like the speaker himself).

By the way, at the start of the video, the speaker tells a humorous story of how he used Math to propose to his crush in England. This is related to my earlier post on Valentine’s Day Math on how to draw a heart using math.

Uni Grads: Choosing the hawker life over the tried and tested route

Very nice to see their passion in cooking, and daring to choose the road less travelled. Do support them at their stall, Prawn Village, which currently at 20 Ghim Moh Road, #01-62, 199583.

SINGAPORE: They had not yet graduated from university, but like many of their peers, Joanne Heng and Chan Kheng Yee were already out and about looking for a full-time job. A posting on online portal Gumtree caught their attention, and they responded to the call for “interns” the very next day.

Like any job application, the two friends had to go through a job interview filled with questions about their sincerity, motivation and commitment to the position.

But this job required very different skill sets from your typical office job: Anson Loo, the person who made the post on Gumtree, was looking for young interns to help him run his hawker stall.

“I realised that there are young people who want to become hawkers, but face a lot of financial constraints,” said Anson, who sells prawn mee at Ghim Moh food centre. “So I thought, why not target young people with no experience, so I can give them the training from scratch?”

YOUNG AND INEXPERIENCED, BUT PASSIONATE

Of the seven who applied, Anson said Joanne and Kheng Yee fit his requirements the best. They were young, passionate and completely new to the hawker trade. And indeed, the two, who met while they were studying in the polytechnic, recalled bonding over a shared interest in F&B even as students.

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/the-hawker-interns-selling-prawn-mee-choosing-the-hawker-life-9420332

8 of 10 Self-Made Millionaires Were Not ‘A’ Students. Instead, They Share 1 Trait

I think this is the latest best selling motivational book (out in Jan 2018). It is quite true, many successful people aren’t necessarily ‘A’ students. They do have some common traits that everyone can learn from.

The book is quite applicable to students. Most often, for students who aren’t performing well in school, the main reason is motivation. They are either not motivated, or their motivation is misplaced (e.g. motivated in computer games). Most parents will actually notice that their child is quite intelligent, but underperforming in school. The problem is psychological (motivation) rather than anything else.


The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win

Source: Jeff Haden Linkedin

Listen to most teachers — and most parents — and it’s easy to assume that getting good grades in school is a requirement for professional success.

Nope.

Tom Corley, an accountant and financial planner, surveyed a number of high net-worth individuals. Many of them are self-made millionaires. (Not that you have to be a millionaire to be successful, of course.) He found most of the people surveyed did not earn high GPAs in school.

In fact, only 21% of the self-made millionaires were “A” students. 41% reported they were “B” students, and 29% were “C” students.

That’s right: More of the self-made millionaires were C students than were A students.

And if you’re wondering if family background played a part, 59% of the self-made millionaires came from middle-class households and 41% came from poor households — proving where you start does not dictate where you finish.

As Corley writes:

“…success in life does not come easy. It is fraught with pitfalls, obstacles, failure, and mistakes. Success requires persistence, mental toughness and emotional toughness in overcoming these pitfalls. Its pursuit pushes you to the edge emotionally and physically. You must grow a thick skin and become accustomed to struggle if you hope to succeed.

“Individuals who struggle academically may be more accustomed to dealing with struggle and making it a daily habit to overcome pitfalls.”

In short, they become mentally tough, which creates a foundation for long-term success.

Express vs Normal Academic for borderline PSLE score

For students scoring in the borderline of around 190- 200 PSLE score, there is a dilemma of going to Express stream in a neighborhood school, or Normal Academic N(A) in a more established school. Note that even good schools like Anderson, ACS (Barker) do have N(A) streams.

Here are some advices from people who have experience:

Source: Hardwarezone

First opinion says that N(A) in a good school is better:

“NA in good school

i myself is living example

in the end my parent chose express at neighborhood school

in the end that school is a s**** school. i cannot keep up with studies.

by secondary 2 i drop to NA

then stuck with the lousy neighborhood school and my whole life got ruin until now

if i can go back time i sure chose NA at good school”

This post (from Hardwarezone) made a good argument of why express stream is better:

“I think you have been grossly misinformed about the life of a NA student. You say your son is addicted to computer games but it seems like he is doing relatively ok to be able to qualify for the express stream.

Yes he will be learning at a slower pace but over the next 4 years your son will have to be resilient to constant peer pressure and have a good amount of perseverance as many if not most students from NA are known to be more boisterous and mischievous causing them to deviate from their studies. Not to mention the stigma associated with being in NA. During my time in one of your “preferred NA schools”, I’ve seen many good students fall out of their studies because of the influence of their peers. The “just because I’m in NA I cmi” mentality will sadly creep up to many.

In my batch, iirc out of 3 classes of NA students, only 1 class of about 30 people was able/ motivated enough to take their O Levels. If your son decides not to take his O’s in the future and goes to ITE instead, whatever good name the school has will not have any effect on his resume.

Moreover, it is not like “school reputation” has any standing in the hiring process. Unless you’re from a top school like RI/Hwa Chong, no one would give two hoots. Recruiters mostly look at your highest education obtained or post secondary education to see if there is any relation to the job scope you are applying for.

In my opinion, you are better off applying to an express neighbourhood school and see if he is able to cope rather to a “prestigious” school in the NA stream. He can always drop out of the express stream if he’s not suitable for it.”

This parent from Kiasuparents gives very compelling reasons in favor of Express:

“Every year, there are parents asking the same question: Exp or NA?

Every year, I would encourage parents to choose Express for their children, for the simple reason that O level syllabus is very rigorous. Children are expected to work hard right from the start, unlike NA.

Even though the school you get will not be a ‘good school’ (if you choose Express), the classmates your child mixes with are likely to be of similar academic profile, with some that only have ‘Exp’ as their option. Similarly, if your child chooses NA, the children he or she mixes with will also have some that only have ‘NA’ as their option.

There are children who transfer from NA to Exp, but how many are there? From what I heard, very few manage to do that. You may want to check with the schools you are interested in choosing NA for for the probability that your child could transfer to Exp though.

I just want to let you know that if it happens to my own child, I would choose Exp. If the child is willing to work hard, he will make it anywhere. And if he can make it anywhere, then why wouldn’t I choose a better stream for him so that he can get used to the rigorous syllabus earlier?”

This parent from Kiasuparents recommended Anderson and Presbyterian High as two good schools with Normal Academic:

“I would choose one where the school discipline is good, and the teachers are supportive of students etc, with good academic and non – academic programs to expose / stretch the child. If going for NA, you can consider Anderson Sec, Presbyterian High.. these are generally pretty good schools.”

Amos Yee Math Talent

Amos Yee (“famous” for posting controversial videos) actually has good talent and aptitude in Mathematics. His mother is a Math secondary teacher with decades of experience. Many people know him for his infamous videos and his “American English” pronunciation, but few know that he was actually one of the top students in his secondary school in terms of Maths. His English results were good too, and so was his Pure Chemistry. Perhaps even more impressive (and rare), is Amos Yee has a Grade 8 guitar certification (ABRSM merit) (Source: Amos Yee “Happy Teachers’ Day” YouTube video). In March 2011, Yee also won awards for Best Short Film and Best Actor at The New Paper’s First Film Fest (FFF) for his film Jan. He was also an actor in Jack Neo’s movie We Not Naughty.

Unfortunately, Yee seemed to have not used his talents well to benefit society, but instead got himself into a lot of trouble. Who knows, if he turns over a new leaf it could be still possible to have a bright future.

Quote from Amos Yee Facebook:

“OK my fellow friends, sorry it’s been so late, I shall announce my O level results.

Apparently I did better than I expected, for all the wrong subjects, so if you truly want to see the innate comedy of my results, you should check out the results which I’d predicted before in my previous post before reading this, and then I think you’ll laugh as much as I did.

E Maths (Dogs truly can get A1 for E Maths)

English: A1 (Well this was surprising, I’d finally gained the coveted A1 for English that I had always hoped for in my Secondary School, and mastered the art of English Comprehension.

A Maths: A2 (So apparently if you leave out 4 entire questions that are 7 marks each, you can still get an A2. So I guess I did really ****ing well for the questions that I did. My mother, being a highly coveted A maths and E maths teacher for 3 decades, threw herself out of the building when she heard her darling son did not attain an A1 for A maths. If you look out of the window, you can still hear the faint cries of ‘****! MY SON IS SUCH A DISAPPOINTMENT’. Well, you threatened to disown me when I became an Atheist, and in the end you didn’t, so I think you’ll do just fine.)

L1R5:11

Raw Aggregate Score: 7(-2 for CCA, -2 for MSP)

Best school I can go to: Nanyang JC”

Source: Amos Yee Facebook, January 14, 2015

Amos also claimed that he “had only studied extensively for the first E maths and A maths papers during the O levels period”. He didn’t really study during the month before the O levels, rather he was “abandoning studying just for that last month, and instead using that month to Complete 4 seasons of Daria, play Spirit Tracks and smash brothers on the DS, create a tuition namecard I now rarely use, and listening to all the best albums of the Beatles”. His Prelim results were also great:

Quote:

“For reference and comparison, this was my mark for prelim 2, the final exam I took in school that isn’t O levels, I think by Prelim 2, the tedium of studying and the uselessness of it was already bearing down on me, and I studied for all the papers, 2 days before and tried to do the best I can with the retained knowledge I had for CA1 (Which I also got an L1R5 of 12 but a slightly higher % of 72 % compared to CA2’s 70%, due largely in part to 93% and 88% for E maths and A maths respectively)
E Maths: A1 (82%)
A maths: A1 (82%)
English: A2 (72%)
Chemistry: A2 (71%)
Chinese: B3 (68%/)
Literature: B3 (65%)
Combined Humans: B3 (65%)
Malay: B4 (64%)
L1R5: 12

Source: Amos Yee Facebook, January 11, 2015

His prediction of his O Level results are also quite accurate:

Quote:

“So here it is, my predicted O level results that are coming out tomorrow:

E maths: A1 (Dogs can get A1 for E maths)

English: A2 (Honestly, I might get an A1 in lieu of the bellcurve,but I never got A1 for English in any full paper before, neither would I feel proud if I did, why would I feel proud about mastering the art of the language of robots.)

Chemistry A2(SPA will help me probably, and though I didn’t study, retention from previous exams was surprisingly good when I did the paper)

A Maths: B3 (Though this was my best subject ever in previous exams(I got 100 plus bonus mark for an A maths paper for God’s sakes), apparently the few weeks I didn’t study was significant enough to make me forget my concepts, to the point that I had skipped an entire 2-3 questions with about 7 marks each, and I think with my inclination to be careless and forget units, it’s going to be a deprovement that will send shock waves)”

Source: Amos Yee Facebook, January 11, 2015

Finally, Amos Yee was also a top student in Secondary 3, 4 (Zhonghua Secondary School) and nominated for a Humanities scholarship. He was consistently getting As for E maths, A maths, Chemistry and English. (Source: Amos Yee WordPress blog, January 25, 2015).

PSLE 181 to NUS Medicine (Miracle Story)

Quite an amazing story. The road from PSLE 181 to NUS Medicine is a long and arduous journey. Read how Mr Tan Jun Xiang, 22, managed to overcome the odds to enter the prestigious NUS Medicine faculty.

NUS Medicine is very hard to get in (even perfect scorers can get rejected). His overjoyed father “booked two tables at a restaurant and invited (his) relatives to celebrate.”

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/he-broke-the-mould-by-going-from-normal-stream-to-nus-medical-school

SINGAPORE – Mr Tan Jun Xiang, 22, is not your typical medical student who aced all his school examinations.

In fact, he scored only 181 points in the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) and had to go into the longer five-year Normal stream in secondary school.

The polytechnic graduate, who made it to the prestigious medicine faculty at the National University of Singapore (NUS), is among the rare few who do not fit the mold.

When he was younger, he never thought he would go to university – much less the highly competitive Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at NUS, where only about one in seven applicants get in.

So what sparked his stunning academic turnaround?

A few things: seeing how disappointed his parents were with his results, getting into the secondary school of his choice after an appeal and discovering that he could indeed do well if he put his mind to it.

Read more at Straits Times

Math Books for Christmas

Wishing all readers a joyous Christmas ahead! Here are some ideas for a mathematical Christmas gift for your loved ones who are math lovers:

1)

This Christmas-themed Math book is the perfect gift for your child. According to Amazon, it is rated 4.5/5, and one reviewer even remarked that his 7 year old daughter loved reading it:

“I don’t write reviews normally but I was sitting in bed reading it when my 7 year old daughter snuggled up next to me to read it too – she would not let me turn the pages till she finished which was cute even though I had to wait.” (Amazon)


The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus: The Mathematics of Christmas

2)

This book is rated very highly on Amazon; it is one of the best sellers in the Math category. It is ideal for homeschoolers, and for Singaporean primary school students who want to learn in advance, during the school holidays. (American Middle School syllabus should be accessible to upper primary Singaporean students) It is written in a very interesting manner as well.


Everything You Need to Ace Math in One Big Fat Notebook: The Complete Middle School Study Guide (Big Fat Notebooks)

3)

This book is extremely popular in the United States. It is a #1 New York Times bestseller, as well as based on true history. “The phenomenal true story of the black female mathematicians at NASA whose calculations helped fuel some of America’s greatest achievements in space. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monae, Kirsten Dunst, and Kevin Costner.”


Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race

What are some useful, but little-known, features of the tools used in professional mathematics?

Terence Tao's avatarWhat's new

A few days ago, I was talking with Ed Dunne, who is currently the Executive Editor of Mathematical Reviews (and in particular with its online incarnation at MathSciNet).  At the time, I was mentioning how laborious it was for me to create a BibTeX file for dozens of references by using MathSciNet to locate each reference separately, and to export each one to BibTeX format.  He then informed me that underneath to every MathSciNet reference there was a little link to add the reference to a Clipboard, and then one could export the entire Clipboard at once to whatever format one wished.  In retrospect, this was a functionality of the site that had always been visible, but I had never bothered to explore it, and now I can populate a BibTeX file much more quickly.

This made me realise that perhaps there are many other useful features of…

View original post 695 more words

APMOPS SMOPS Solution

We show how to solve “Clock” olympiad questions, which appear often in APMOPS/ SMOPS Olympiad questions.

Question: (SMOPS 2001, Q9)

Between 12 o’clock and 1 o’clock, at what time will the hour hand and minute hand make an angle of 110 degrees?

Full Solution:

We first analyse the hour hand:

It takes 60 min for the hour hand to move 360/12=30 degrees.

30 deg — 60 min

1 deg — 60/30=2 min

x deg — 2x min

(We measure the degree from the 12 o’clock vertical position.)

Next we analyse the minute hand:

It takes 5 min for the minute hand to move 30 degrees.

30 deg — 5 min

1 deg — 5/30=1/6 min

(x+110) deg — (x+110)/6 min

Now, we want the hour hand to be at x deg, and the minute hand to be at (x+110) deg simultaneously:

2x=(x+110)/6

12x=x+110

11x=110

x=10

Since x deg — 2x min, hence the answer is

2x=20 min after 12 o’clock

Ans: 12.20

Tessellations of Pentagons

Tessellation is a cool topic in primary level to PSLE math. Most students will enjoy it even if they hate other types of Math. It is a natural human instinct to be amazed at how different shapes can fit together perfectly to tile the plane.

Apparently, tessellation is going to be removed from the entire PSLE syllabus soon (see http://schoolplus.com.sg/primary-math-syllabus-2017/). That is certainly quite sad for many reasons.

Triangles and quadrilaterals (even irregularly shaped ones) can be easily tessellated. However for pentagons, it is less clear and some pentagons (including the regular pentagon) cannot be tessellated!

For more information read the article here at: https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-math-problem-with-pentagons-20171211/