2014/15 NY Resolution

The jellyfish is back! Posting 2015 New Year's resolution at this date (End-Jan), because simply putting a resolution on End-Dec / Early-Jan is way too mainstream! XD

Ok, once look and you know that isn't the real reason. It's just that there are too many things to do (URECA) and school starting on mid-Jan isn't helping much to the workload. At last, I finally have some time to reflect on the past year! =D 

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2014 has been a rather normal-year. Doesn't seem to be particularly interesting! Taking a look at the 2014 goals...

1. Maintaining GPA to be at least 4.2. (Achieved! Currently 4.65)

2. Clear RT and FT (O.O)

3. Get Patrick to score well (Didnt happen, but hey he passed)

4. Find a gf (Failed)

5. Get a decent job and not slack during the 12 week holiday (Er...!!!)

Ok, that's just saying that the academics are there, but the non-academics are not there. Gotta balance up my life a bit! Ah, what did I like about last year?

1. I learnt some basic Korean! ^^ It's definitely way below NTU's Korean Level 1 standard, but hey being able to read some hangul characters seems pretty decent too!

2. House toilet renovation is completed! Now it looks very nice! My mother said it looks like a hotel toilet, didn't agree, but its definitely beautiful!

3. Maintained GPA at a decent level! Got 3 A+ (It's hard for me)!!! =D

4. Fun outings with War and WL! It is always nice to hear them talk about their interesting and unique life in FASS.

5. Learnt somewhat more programming (C++, Java, MATLAB)

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Things which I didn't do

- I think there isn't any cycling outing. =(

- Club (Lolol why did i even mention this)

- Learn the Owl City songs (aiya his songs are nice to listen to)

Seems like there isn't much regrets! :)

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Goals for the year 2015!

1. Maintain GPA to be at least 4.25! (That's 3.71 per sem! Hope can get it ^^)

2. Maybe can learn a bit more Korean (say basic sentences!)

3. Learn Java to a greater detail. That's saying further than what CE9001 content in Y2S2 :)

4. Do the URECA project properly!

5. Exercise more (I think I say that every year, but didn't attempt properly)

6. Make sure Patrick scores rather decently for N-levels.

This year I don't think I have to say "Dont slack in June", cos I will be busy with the URECA paper! Sounds impossible to work and do the project at the same time right? =P

I will do the paper, finish the findings, and learn more JAVA during the 12-week break. :)

7. Go some nice places with SH. (The 2D/3D photo thing looks cool, or maybe can go zoo. I think the sunbears will miss me XD )

8. Get a gf! Aiya, another yearly goal. Only if that links to pt 7. oops =P

9. Learn some of the Owl City songs. If can la.

10. Maybe I will work during the Dec holidays, if I didn't work in July. :)

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Anyway, today me and SH sort of chat with Ronald a bit, and asked him about his Y4S1 life, since we are quite sian after the Real Analysis Tutorial.

Ok, I think he's a great tutor. 

I don't know about you, to me a good tutor doesn't need to be someone who has a lot of knowledge, but rather it is someone who can communicate what he knows to you. Maybe inspire, maybe motivate, but you will learn something interesting and useful at the end of the day. 

That's for me during Calculus 3 tutorials. Learnt almost nothing for lectures, but gained something useful during the tutorials. At least people understands what he is saying, write some notes, study. That beats a situation where people go in being blur, and go out with 0 (or even negative!) gain. This time he is teaching me Real Analysis I for tutorials, and I like it. :)

Not because of the grade. The grade I obtained isn't fantastic, it's just a B+ (Although it's good enough for me). At least I enjoyed his tutorials. :) Similarly for this mod, I am not the type who is interested in Pure math, so this is a damn sian mod for me, so the tutorials should be the only fun stuff for the course.

He shared that he got more negative feedbacks in Calculus 3 compared to Calculus 2, with majority saying he did not finish the tutorials as he is too slow. I think that's an unfair statement against him. For the people who are interested to learn from him, they will know that his emphasis is more on understanding the fundamental concepts, rather than a straight dip into the questions. 

Imagine, you understand no shit about Stokes' Theorem, and the tutor just goes through 10 such questions, with a poor you copying the answers like a photocopy machine. -_-

I rather his way, understand the theorems, then see if you know how to apply, and solve the list of problems. That will be in a way more motivational (hey I can do more questions w/o help), and it obviously helps in the concept factor! That will of course take some time, but isn't that worth it? Teach somebody a question, he can do it a few times. Teach somebody a concept, he knows how to apply in many situations. 

There are some tutorials which he didn't go through the questions I wanted, but that's too bad. Suppose he went through mine, then surely somebody's one would be sacrificed. Let's say he really chiong all the questions, how do you want him to go through 10 questions in 50 minutes, including problem intro + concept used + workings + conclusion and remarks for every question? It's difficult! 

So yeah anyway, what I want to say is that people has different ways of learning and teaching, so just because you don't like this teaching method, doesn't mean you should impose such an unfair statement against someone who is making a great effort to properly teach the students. How many people you know bother to give extra lessons during recess week / revision period? How many people are willing to answer your questions and re-explain concepts step-by-step again and again? Think again. It's hard to find someone better than him.

So to Ronald, don't give up (even though you wont la), and go according to your teaching principles. Even though a minority will always complain, the majority of your regular students will be behind you! Probably with teh-bing too! =D

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That's his last semester as a TA, here's hoping someone can continue on his legacy. :) Another great tutor is Jun Jie, who has graduated (I like his discrete lessons). Oh, and Mr.Rafael, probably he is teaching the pure courses~

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That's the end of the post! :)

Here's wishing everyone a great 11 months ahead!