Black Belt Grading

HISTORIC, ONCE IN A LIFETIME EVENT. i must blog about it.

this summarizes 2yrs of training and syllabus. 2 yrs of sweat and blood [a little] bruises, tears, and gritting of teeth. 2 yrs of fun, joy, peace, laughter, and sorrow.

everything in syllabus is crystal clear to me now. my NJD knowledge is at its prime! feels awesome.

to think that i joined because of NYAA. haha im definitely glad i did.

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19hrs to grading: had a running urge, so ran ~3km. also, according to tradition, i self practised the entire syllabuses [exception of defence cos i think people would freakout seeing me whack some invisible person]

-fastforward-

100min to grading:  realised i didn’t bring THE form 3/4 way on the bus. panicked a little.

90min to grading: realised i didn’t bring face towel. hopped off the bus and got it at NTUC.

75 min to grading: reached.

60min to grading: warm up/briefing

40min to grading: realised i left my knife upstairs. [i was swearing about STM by then]

30min to grading: self practise. poor mai she was my defence partner today.

15min to grading: sir called me up and said the form’s very important.

10min to grading: fretting about. then sir offered a solution :D life saver.

5min to grading: cooldown

-GRADING-

format:

sparring x2

plank breaking x3

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do some maths, 6 kicks per belt, multiplied by 2 times per kick, multiplied by 2 sides (R&L) multiplied by 6 belt levels = 6*6*2*2 = 144 kicks. which includes 48 notoriously tiring jumping kicks. [thats like equivalent to 50yuanditiaos at least??]

and you haven’t factored in punches/defence/pattern.

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JM the commander totally sped through everything. hardly giving me time to recover from the jumping kicks.

1. started perspiring: 2th white kick
2. started panting:6th white kick
3. messed up, argh, whats happening to me: white pattern
4. blisters on my ball of both foot!: orange kicks
5. semi gasping for air: green kicks
6. started feeling blisters get past the irritating threshold: green belt chunyatsu –.-
7. crap the blisters ripped: blue kicks [all sliding kicks]
8. started feeling perspiration drop off my nose: 1st blue defence
9. worrying not enough energy to continue: blue defence
10. really started panting heavily: purple punches
11. started lagging in terms of reaction time and speed: 1st purple jumping kick
12. started taking some conscious control to keep my hands held up in ready position: purple kicks
13. im damn tired, starts mental psycho-ing, ie, enduring: purple kicks
14. damn im really damn tired: purple pattern
15. i need some supernatural energy source: 1st red punches
16. foot consciously hurts cos of blisters: 1st red kicks
17. noticed my gi is severely ruffled and almost tucked out: 2nd red kicks
18. this is worse than running 5km: 4th red kicks
19. painful to breath: 2nd red defence
20. first moment of real dread: just before i ended red pattern –.- unintentionally made some noise with my long pole.

-end of syllabus- hurray! could sit for awhile before sparring.

1. notice im panting like some mad dog: after entire syllabus is over.
2. noticed i havent stopped panting like a mad dog: when A helped me don the protector
3. noticed im emitting alot of heat:once i put on the protector
4. starts planning sparring strategy to suit my 1st opponent
5. starts worrying cos im still panting like a mad dog: after sitting for what feels like 5min

-sparring-2 sets. 2rounds each.

1. has a dislike for head protector cos it squeezes my face: the moment i wear it
2. FOOT HURTS. damn the blister
3. im not gonna attack 1st cos im tired: both sparring sets
4. use the lefties stance [though im a right hander]: immediately when the round starts. slide kicks FTW.
5. 1st exclaimed sorry: when i UNINTENTIOANLLY whacked GM’s totally-off-limits-region.
6. i dont care im just gonna take whatever hit and spam punches at you: after GM attempted a random kick.
7. shit the blister: sparring 2nd round
8. still heaving/panting/gasping for air: before 2nd sparring set
9. feels more excited: john starts off by slowly circling [the ways pros do it]
10. purposefully walks around and stands on the smoother surface cos blister hurts like shit: 1st round 2nd set.
11. kinda pushed [i.e. not punch nor kick nor force lol] john out of the sparring area: oops.
12. felt akido push: just before round1 terminated
13. kicked out-of-bound region again –.- : im sorry. =X thank goodness it missed though.

-plank breaking-

cracked one with jumping front kick. [brought it home as souvenir]

didnt even dent the other 2 with the jumping side and jumping yoyatsu. absolutely disappointing. D:

was talking to mr black box, and here’s a part of the convo i find hilarious:

no mr, its not so retarded. its more of:

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the price i paid: warning gross content rating 7/10

here’s an appetiser: hole in the finger

…

…

…

tadaa:

 

both foot had ripped blisters –.-

but though i am limping, its worth it XD

In preparation of the big day

decided to RUN 5km. ie. not jog.

but when i started off, pangs of  stomach ache kicked in. yes, somehow it came in periodic pangs.  likely cos i ate dinner less than an hour b4 running...

[planning ahead, tmr im eating at 3pm]

and somehow bukit panjang accumulated heaps of sand. so a car sped past me and whipped up a mini sand storm which i [having a slow reaction time] ran into. if humans didn’t have eyelashes i probably would’ve flailed about like some blind person and done a forward flip landing on my head.

irritated, and semi-blinded, i contemplated stopping to let the stomach ache subside, but the last time i did that i didn’t start running again. =.=

so i just jogged ~3k, subconsciously mentally repeating these  7 letters which helped distract me from the stomach ache. this miracle 7 letters are:

O…M…F…G…W…T…S…

lol. it subconsciously repeated itself in my head like a mantra. proof that swearing does help increase pain tolerance.

anw, it took a shocking half an hour, compared to earlier that week, the full route of ~5k took half an hour as well.

goodness, id rather believe its cos of my stomach ache instead of believing that my stamina dropped within a week.

Sun

i can’t work at my table around late afternoon-night cos the sunlight just shines in and blinds me –.-

loved the ballerina one haha and the E.coli metaphor is biologist-worthy too.

Elitism

Somehow i chanced upon the wee shu min incident again, ie, the girl who said: “please get out of my elite uncaring face”

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my take: in every society, especially in a meritocratic society, there will be the elite, the tip of your bell curve distribution, the upper echelons of continuous variation. hence there will exist the accusation of elitism, and probably the manifestation of elitism.

its inevitable.

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people don’t make a huge fuss over calling those fast marathon runners “elite runners”

yet somehow when it gets to academics, the word “elite” gets an extra negative connotation.

double standards, unfortunately because education is mandatory for all from 7-15yrs old.

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actually the “elite” depends on your sample size. the concept of sample size is important as it serves as a reference point for many comparisons, yet it is often overlooked.

individuals can gain certain benefits [for example to be called an elite] simply by virtue of the sample size.

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yes, i do think a minority of the elite stupidly throw their weight about in certain unhappy incidences such as wsm’s case. but thats just 1 case, out of an entire population of elite.

i honestly do respect the elite. namely ministers and those in the government high up there. they’re doing a decent job with singapore, im happy with it.

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whao there’s such an instrument:

I’m on a high.

Been cionging SRP thru the night! and possibly through the day as well XD

A realisation.

i was in love and still am very much in love with …

 

knowledge

 

i’m not falling into the trap of NARRATIVE FALLACY – the urge to give a reason to everything we see, as according to nicolas taleb – i’ve been turning this idea over in my head for some time and this is the root cause of most of my actions.

nothing has proved it wrong thus far.

it explains why i get excited when hearing/reading new experiences. it explains why i crave adventure. it explains why i never get sick of learning. it explains why i go out with people of all walks. it explains why i have an open mind.

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is it bad?

well, having too much knowledge is not dangerous, to me at least.

intentional ignorance is not bliss. avoiding facts and escaping the grip of reality will never do any one good in the long run because facts endure, facts survive and eventually become part of history. history will not and cannot be changed. it will forever remain so. running away from an event or a memory will only ultimately exhaust the person. its a futile attempt to flee from corporeal facts.

this is the start of a long essay. -not now.

there is no power in knowledge unless it’s put into action.

knowledge cannot harm the impassive viewer. the trick is to not get personally involved with knowledge, unless you’re sure you can manage the consequences.

Cool Vids

http://www.anatomylab.com/learnResources/practica/practical_01.html

whoa got like 6 out of 42 correct…

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worth watching (:

‘the first’ post

the first time i crashed something: NUMIHT D&D

hi i’m cuba from GA5, or maybe i’m australia from GA6 depending on who you don’t know. not to mention that im from HC and i’m 17.

AWESOME. THANKS TO some brilliant people :D

edit* sensitive info

 

the AOS was a failure. #1 somehow kept evading me, and #2 was 15 yrs old –.-

overall, people there were quite sticky to their own social groups. the DJ got pwned. people just stormed into the DJ box and started choosing their own songs. poor DJ.

think i burned 0.5kg! XD & man im really tempted to pick up break dancing.

the first time i joined a flash mob: the sound experiment 2009

what can i say, it was brilliantly, amazingly, terrifically, horrifically, mind-blowingly, awesome.

the beat and the stuff was pretty easy to pick up. took a total of 1hr+ to perfect it. practise was carried out at city link’s bomb shelter.

 

there were 2 performances: 1 at the esplanade, and another was to help some random couple out with the proposal.

for the esplanade, you should have seen the security guard’s face LOL. but on the flip side, we got accosted by the guard, and the vids got deleted >:( guess its the esplanade and they’ve an international reputation to maintain thats why they can’t allow such impromptu performances. ah well.

an important factor for consideration: how to manage security. and i think the dance was planned very well. [since somewhere there was this bit where we stopped for more than 8 counts – the security guard thought we really stopped, but there was PART 2!]

KY popped by to have a look and said the beginning was well planned. o yeah. XD

anyway, after assuaging their egos and assuring them we did not mean harm, we all said sorry, then S simply had to say the damnest things and the most inappropriate times: he laughed loudly. zzzz

for the proposal, i’ve no idea how they managed to contact us, but they did, and we went to help out. the bride-to-be kept asking “who are these people?” haha the proposal was damn sweet. very elaborate and awww.. i guess in PE’s words it made the bride-to-be “crumble on the inside”

 

im definintely going for more flashmobs!!

missed the re-run though. was sleeping trying to recover from conjunctivitis D:

check out: http://improveverywhere.com/

the first time i’ve seen such a MV: coldplay’s strawberry swing

the first time i’ve been sick on and off for too long: end of EOYs till now. thats 50 days and counting. down with flu AGAIN.

damnit missed the wushu chalet D:

missed njd training D:

fell behind my SRP plans D:

went late for proj meeting and think pissed PE again D:

waste tonnes of time sleeping/resting/vegetating at home D:

the first time i’ve blown so much on my brother: his birthday treat

i footed the bill for famous amos + 1 entire day + PC Bunk

well painful for my pocket but it made him happy. im starting to really appreciate having a younger brother. haha i now fully understand what a sister-brother relationship means, and it took me 10 yrs.

the first time i’ve been so emotionally stirred:

3 reasons.

firstly, promises are not meant to be broken. i don’t break promises. but now that i know its hindering the healing process, putting me into a dilemma. even though benefits>cost [omg im thinking econs] i can’t divulge anything cos i promised not to. argh.

we’re so close to coming to a palatable outcome.

so. darn. close.

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secondly, bloody hell. i don’t know exactly what im doing. you can probably say i’m a little confused.

i shouldn’t be doing some things. but how?

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on a separate incident,

i realised that storytelling (kaya’s style) is actually quite different for guys/gals. mainly cos gals don’t chase guys.

i did some story telling :O the first time in so much detail. and i’d fail at story telling.

incoherent. un-grammatical. too many pauses. singlish.

Surprise!

i physically died. couldn’t even hold a pair of chopsticks properly during dinner and had to switch to a fork…

all because of ~2hrs of badminton. outing rocked XD except that we got stranded at the Community Centre for 2hrs cos it didn’t stop raining.

[the weather forecast for the month is: everyday thunderstorm. i think the singapore monsoon is getting more extreme. global warming argh! ]

didn’t know K was so pro at badminton. his smashes were really scary. i bet we can take on badminton players and trash some of them XD

the truth or dare was..hilarious :)

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njd: grading’s coming up and i need some miracle to help me survive 30min of jumping/running/kicking/punching.

plank breaking shouldn’t be a problem, i’ll just use my right foot all the way.

and i’ve no idea how i managed to lose my short sticks…

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a humbling surprise: i underestimated some people.

research attachments, international competitions, local competitions, long attachments, short attachments, scholarships, school awards. [continue listing all the prestigious stuff]

…and self-searched/googled opportunities!

that everything the singapore science field has to offer to students. its literally a finger in every pie.

very impressive.

MY HOLIDAY BEGINS NOW

FINALLY AFTER CHEM OLYM IS OVER WOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

paper was easier than expected XD the internal test was probably harder. but that being said i couldnt do abt 1/4 of the stuff cos i forgot how to do ionic equilibrium. ><

so damn ridiculous, i mug the higher order stuff then the basic comes out and i forget how to do it.

anw mr wee really prepared us well for it. his teaching rocks too.

today: I FORGOT TO BRING MY CALCULATOR@!

but thank goodness emily brought a spare and lent me hers :D thanks to rita for lending me hers halfway as well cos we needed to use the polysimult equation solver on the graphic calculator.

here’s one open ended question which i semi-screwed.

yea i forgot the fact that NH2 was 2,4-directing. >< hope they still give me marks for the correct reagents tho.. 

this is what i got after cross referencing with ALFRED zong. lol

the hosts were indonesian?? none of the people invigilating were locals –.- wierd.

oh and for the paper: no spectroscopy!

just as well i didn’t really mug hard for it XD. saved effort.

saw kylie there again! NUSHS got their yr6 student who went for IChO this year to train their batch of yr5s. free labour! whoa their school saves loadsa $..

saw guoyang there as well!! lol ACSI: epic fail. their chem olym training started 1 week ago. only.

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i realised since the start of yr5, im getting to know alot more sciency people. haha.

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bodyworld@sciencecentre. a MUST GO! open now till march2010.

i took this pic before realising they said no photography lols. so this is the only pic i have.

horse for alicia.  :D

had an anatomy lessons from mom. –and learnt that

• the liver is gigantic. its almost the size of ur head! 1.5kg
• kidney is about half the size of ur fist –.- not the size of 1 fist
• heart is about 1.5 the size of ur fist.
• latisimus dorsi muscle gives guys the nice V shape.

but the exhibits are recycled. the latest one was done in 2006 –.-

华文补习！

FINALLY, SUCCESS!!

after infinite failures, i finally discovered and affirmed the key to my brother’s enthusiasm, and found a way to apply his ENTHUSIASM to CHINESE.

how to convince your little bro to love something he actually hates [in this instance: chinese]

STEP1: appear to love it yourself.

STEP2: appeal to whatever attracts him.

my bro is addicted to the computer. so, i created a word document which became his chinese diary. 

and he WILLINGLY typed the stuff himself. here’s an extract:

E 现在很累，因为他今天早上吃了太多。。。

it gradually evolved into a convo-like diary:

…

E: 我要玩点脑。

V: 什么？你要玩 DOT BRAIN？

E: COMPUTER 啦！

V: COMPUTER ，叫做电脑。

E: 我要玩现在！

V: 翻译成：I WANT TO PLAY “THE PRESENT”？？？

E: 玩电脑啦。

V: 哦，你要现在玩？先做完习字吧。不然连爸爸都不会让你玩。

E: 可是太多。

V: 什么太多？

E: 你要我写十一遍

V: 把你的习字本那来。那里有十一遍？现在只剩几遍！

[he points to the book and counts]

v: 剩。 你不知道剩的意思？

E: “sigh”

V: 真的不知道啊？ 剩是留下的意思。现在只留下四次。

E: 一口气

V: A BREATH OF AIR？你在叹气吧？

then i get him to do 习字 of all the words he typed wrongly.. but here arises another problem.

STEP3: don’t bang you head against the wall. it hurts. i.e.  don’t persistently do things that you know he dislikes.

gave him 听写 and 习字, and he didn’t study for the spelling, and didn’t do the practises. and it ended pretty badly. [a couple of times] i currently haven’t thought of any solution, cos these 2 are essential in getting him acquainted with the chinese words.

after all the exams are not typed out…

no solution for this yet. but hope i get another brainwave soon :D

 

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here’s what you get when u cross wulong drums with music background:

LOL okay i confess, the mugger me at work.

i double and triple checked. the tempo’s accurate, just that it has many self-invented notations.haha

seriously if i hadn’t done this i’d have forgotten it –.- short term memory =/

right now need to make my transitions more clear. but no drums to practise for 1 month D: ugh.

drums are addictive XD

…

the last training day was funny.

after the 110 yuanditiaos chalked up on wednesday, jiaolian wanted to test the sec1 juniors again, and make it a ‘memoriable’ last day for us. so every1 turned up early to train and perfect the juniors wubugong and liulutantui cos a mistake costs 10 yuanditiao =/

but then shigong came and wulong it was! so we were all spared the potential XXXXX yuanditiaos . shigong the saviour! LOL

 

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ah i ought to be studying =/

Wushu reunion dinner 2010

details: http://thewushuhub.blogspot.com/

Disorder in the court

been blog hopping. :D

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Book: Disorder in the court. records funny REAL Q&As that occurred.

Q: Are you sexually active?
A: No, I just lie there.

Q: This myasthenia gravis, does it affect your memory at all?
A: Yes.
Q: And in what ways does it affect your memory?
A: I forget.
Q: You forget. Can you give us! an example of something that you've forgotten?

Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people. [EPIC!]

Q: All your responses must be oral, OK? What school did you go to?
A: Oral.

 

Q: Do you recall the time that you examined the body?
A: The autopsy started around 8:30 p.m.
Q: And Mr. Dennington was dead at the time?
A: No, he was sitting on the table wondering why I was doing an
autopsy. [oh the sarcasm!] 

RVHS hostel application

open!

http://www.rivervalleyhigh.moe.edu.sg/cos/o.x?c=/wbn/pagetree&func=view&rid=1043675

O level HCL + Bio Olympiad

i woke up today with a sore throat! WOW brilliant start to an exam day. it’s probably the worst state i’ve attended an exam in…

think i took a total of 12 strepsils today. =X thats like 8 more than recommended [1 in 3 hours] .. but.. ah well… desperate times call for desperate measures.

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i’m filing my chinese for what i pray is the last time. hey this time i can afford to be more optimistic. it feels like a C5.

thanks to all who helped. seriously, thanks^(infinity)

我没有离题！- 作文应该及格。 but 公函 was difficult, ah well, but it’s 20 marks only.

i finished my main paper with 20 min to spare. (wow like 1st time in 5 years?) so i checked thru again and added stuff to the answers. was half dozing off midway, but somehow i managed to wake up.

chinese ended at 12.45pm. i wanted to rush straight to get the cab i booked, but then had to detour to the washroom to puke [cos of the phlegm]  –.- gosh, the bile taste lasted the entire cab ride to NTU.

very sickening.  i really shouldn’t have eaten...

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Ms Ong was giving me directions over the phone, but well the taxi drive just drove to the sports recreation centre in NTU and i saw ms ong! LOL. i got out, she gave me directions, and she got into the very cab i was taking.

the steps up to the gym from the bustop is #%T#$#@ especially when you are rushing. felt like a sick person running a vertical marathon.

but managed to reach in time for the paper! haha

now here’s some info about sibiol aka singapore biology olympiad. 2009.

• only 10% of each school’s cohort is allowed to go
• only 300 students were present. [meaning there are only 3000 students doing A level bio? minus NUSHS’s 140 students and 140 IB students..]
• the chief coordinator is like mrs look –.- the way she speaks, physique, except for the tone.

now for the paper format:

there are 4 sections ( A,B,C,D) each section comprises of 50 MCQ questions.

• A – energetics/ photosynthesis/ respiration etc
• B  - DNA/genetics
• C- animal physiology/evolution/cell biology
• D – Plants/ ethology/ecology

within the first 90 minutes, you are expected to completed both section A and B. [ie, shade your answers to the 100 questions on the OAS]

don’t worry there is more than enough time. because some stuff is either you know or you don’t. i rushed through it and had 30min leftover… some people didn’t listen to the instructions or i don’t know what, but they only did section A within the first 90 min. ouch, there goes their chance.

then you have a 30 min break [more like 15 min break – watchout, the toilets near the exam venue will be FLOODED]

and you return for another 90 minutes of section C and D.

funny thing is some questions have part E while some don’t. and i got alot for C & D for the second half of the exam…

as for the content:

whoa my school totally didn’t prepare us for that type of questions. but thank goodness i went to search the stuff online and did my own notes.  as well as watch loads of youtube videos.

i know i’ll pass it, but well, only the top 10% gets selected for the practical round. we’ll see if i make it

plants:

there’s loads about plants. which was rather terrifying cos i didn’t study that in depth for plants. at least 4 questions came out regarding plant hormones [ which wasn’t stated in the syllabus!] some questions were:

• whats the different between c4 plants and CAM plants??!?!!??!?! erh, the spelling?
• if you put a c3 and c4 plant in a sealed jar, what level will the carbon dioxide level drop to? compensation point of c4 or c3 or what? [ i only know c4 means the carbon dioxide acceptor is a 4 carbon molecule]
• functions of plant hormones – especially growth hormones.
• meristematic tissues – only the tip of the plant grows

animals/biosystematics

• whats ligand?
• whats nucleic acid?
• only one questions came out about nervous system. . if i apply electric potential to BOTH sides of a neuron, what will happen? will the electrical impluses cancel each other out?
• characteristics of mammals [ argh forgot if nucleus-lacking blood cells is a characteristic]
• at least 4 questions about evolution [ thank goodness i watched some random youtube clip and knew that dinos went extinct 65 MYA]
• there’s this HISTORY quesiton: who inspired Darwin to write the ‘origin of species’ ? carl linneus?
• only 1 question about human reproduction: if alot of people consume an oestrogen mimicking substance, what will happen? sperm production drops? follicle cells stimulated? etc
• what type of animals only exist in seas? jellyfish? cnidarians? sponges?
• if a freshwater fish was chucked into a sea, how would it adapt?
• there was this amusing question:  if you only had a cow and some wheat, how would you ensure you get the most food to survive the longest period of time? the answer was something along the lines of: feed the cow, drink it’s milk, when it stops producing milk, eat the cow, then eat the wheat.
• homologous vs analagous structures.

DNA/genetics

this was tough..

• what stuff do you need for replication of DNA in vivo?
• translating a long string of bases
• a person has a deficiency. tests revealed that the person’s DNA was either in long strands or short strands. what enzyme went haywire? – ans DNA ligase. okazaki fragments cannot be joined hence the short strands
• alot of application quesitons with real life examples of stuff you don’t learn in school. this is okay, they give you the background so you can make some sense out of the questions.
• alot of MCQ options were long, with many many parts to it, and usually 1 part of the long MCQ ans is wrong. however this part is easily overlooked. eg. a ribosome is synthesised in the nucleolus and comprises of snRNA and has a large subunit and small subunit and catalyses the translation of mRNA  [yea so be careful when you speed read]
• all the ratios! whats 9:3:3:1? ans: dihybrid!
• allele frequency! shame on me, i watched 2 videos about this and forgot how to do it.

i was coughing non stop [ think i pissed some pple off cos it’s rather irritating if you cough nonstop] puked halfway during the 2nd paper & wasted 15 min of the time.

talked to the invigilator who was camping outside the toilet waiting for me, on the way back, and realised that they are lab techs. their profs organise this bioO, so they just help out.

haha but on the bright side, after puking i got my voice back!

ethnology

most fun, most interesting, most ambiguous part. there were loads of “part a,b” or “part a,c” options.

• what would a male grouse do where there are many female grouses dispersed throughout the area? erm, get a territory, be monogamous? make a nest? create a hierarchy to distribute resources?
• what encourages positive dispersal of an organism?
• what does this special type of moth employ to evade it’s predator? M-something

well there’s more but i’m tired.

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saw kylie there! SEIROUSLY didn’t realise we’re that imba. i was thinking if she did phyO as well i’d faint on the spot. [well she doesn’t so i didn’t faint]

i’m gonna mug chem with her :D she says bio has more stuff than chem to mug. well thats probably cos NUSHS had bio intensive for 1 week…

saw mervyn there as well! thought he was going for chem instead, apparently it’s bio. and mister i’m not pregnant, i’m sick.

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seems like i never fully recovered since october’s biology EOY

and i’m not PE, so i can’t survive like this