What next after Ramadhan? :)

Just a suggestion!

Assalamualaikum!

To improve your language in writing, I would suggest blogging. I am not sure how effective it is but personally, it increased my interest in writing as well as my writing style. Of course, you will have to make sure that you blog in proper English and as far as possible, blog about things that you can state your opinions on. Be free to write about whatever you think interests you.

Wassalam,
Haslina

Fasting :)

“O Allah! You have granted me the honor and privilege of talking to you directly, have you given this privilege to any other person?

Allah Ta’ala replied, O!! Moosa during the last period, I am going to send an Ummat, who will be the Ummat of Mohammed (SAW) with dry lips, parched tongues, emaciated body with eyes sunken deep into their sockets, with livers dry and stomachs suffering the pangs of hunger, who will call out to me (in dua), they will be much much closer to me than you.
O Moosa! while you speak to me there are 70000 veils between you and me but at the time of iftaar there will not be a single veil between me and the fasting Ummati of Mohammed (SAW)

O! Moosa, I have taken upon myself the responsibility that at the time of iftaar I will never refuse the dua of a fasting person.”

Latest Updates

During this blessed month of Ramadhan, sessions will be changed to Saturdays 2-4 pm. Location will be at Level 3 Classroom 2.

I hope your revision is going smoothly, insyaAllah =) If there are any resources you need with regards to any essay topic or skill, feel free to approach us for them. We will help wherever we can. In the meantime, take care everyone and have a nice day ahead! May all of us be given the chance to experience Ramadhan and get closer to Him, insyaAllah..

Good Website for GP!

http://jc-general-paper.blogspot.com/2010/12/gp-paper-1-question-analysis.html

Preparing for your Examinations!

A.
Keep in mind that you want to be an active learner, not a passive one. The more you use and manipulate the information, the better you will understand it. Using and manipulating information in as many ways as possible also maximizes your ability to access your memory.

B.
Do not wait until the night before an exam to study! Of course, you should be regularly reviewing your notes, but the preparation still takes time.

C.
Know the format of your examination so that you are mentally prepared of what’s to come. Plan ahead the amount of time you should spend for each section.

D.
A good first step in preparation is to read through your notes a couple of times. While you are doing this, you might also
1.
Highlight major topics and subtopics, with the goal of generating an outline of your notes. Even if you take your notes in outline form, this is a good practice. Major topics often extend through more than one day’s lecture, and it is easy to lose track of the overall picture from day to day.

2.
With a second color, highlight all vocabulary terms.

E.
Outline the entire set of notes. When you study a large body of information, you should study from concept to detail, not the other way around. It will, in fact, be much easier to learn the details if you take the time to learn the concept and theory first. The least efficient approach to studying is to attempt to memorize your notes from beginning to end. It’s not the words which are important–it’s the ideas.

F.
Consider ways of dealing with the information other than those used in class. the more ways you can manipulate and experience the material you are trying to learn, the more secure your understanding and memory will be. Some suggestions:
1.
Make charts, diagrams and graphs.
2.
Make lists.
3.
If the subject matter includes structures, practice drawing those structures. Remember that a drawing is useless unless the important structures are labeled.

H.
One of the most universally effective ways to polish off your study activities is to prepare a self test.
1.
Challenge yourself as severely as you can.
2.
As you are studying, keep a running collection of “exam questions.” If you seriously attempt to write difficult and meaningful questions, by the time you finish you will have created a formidable exam. When you begin to feel you’re ready for your instructor’s exam, take out your questions and see if you can answer them. If you can’t, you may need to go back and reinforce some of the things your are trying to learn.

I.
Never, ever pull an “All-Nighter” on the night before an exam. This is a “freshman trick,” meaning that good students learn very quickly that it is futile. What you may gain from extra study time won’t compensate for the loss of alertness and ability to concentrate due to lack of sleep.

J.
On exam day:

1.
Try not to “cram” during every spare moment before an exam. this only increases the feeling of desperation which leads to panic, and then to test anxiety. You may find it useful, on the night before an exam, to jot down a few ideas or facts which you wish to have fresh in your mind when you begin the exam. Read through your list a couple of times when you get up in the morning and/or just before you take the exam, then put it away. This kind of memory reinforcement not only improves your performance on the test, it also improves your long-term memory of the material.

2.
Be physically prepared.
a.
Get a good night’s sleep.
b.
Bring necessary writing materials to the test–at least 2 writing tools, erasers, blue books if necessary, calculators if appropriate and allowed. Be aware of what the instructor has specified as permitted for use. Some instructors object to exams written pencil; some prohibit use of tools like calculators. It is your responsibility to know these requirements; you should be prepared to take the consequences if you don’t.
c.
This may seem silly, but go to the bathroom just before the exam. Don’t expect your teacher to let you leave to do this during the test! The tension which generally goes along with taking an exam may increase the need to perform this physical activity, so you may need to go, even though you don’t particularly feel like it.

From a book entitled “The Messenger” by Tariq Ramadan :)

The experience of physical and moral suffering made it possible to reach the state of faith where one accepts adversity, where one can doubt oneself without doubting God. In this respect, young Ammar’s story is edifying: he had seen his mother, then his father, being executed because they refuse to deny God. Then Ammar himself was tortured in the cruelest manner. One day while he was being tortured, unable to bear any more, he denied God and praised the gods of the Quraysh. His tormentors let him go, satisfied that they had achieved what they wanted. Ammar was alive, but he was besieged and undermined by a feeling of guilt he could not get rid of, as he was convinced that his denial could not be atoned for. He went to the Prophet in tears and confessed to him the cause of his misery and his doubts as to his own value and fate. The Prophet asked him about his innermost beliefs, and Ammar confirmed to him that they were unchanged, firm, and solid, and that he harboured no doubt as to his faith in God and his love. Muhammad calmed and reassured the young man, for he had done what he could and need not be angry with himself. Revelation even mentioned “one who, after accepting faith in God, utters unbelief… under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in faith.” He advised Ammar that if he ever again underwent the same unbearable torture, in order to save his life he should say with his lips what his torturers wanted to hear, keeping his faith and his prayers to God firmly in his heart.

Later on, Muslim scholars were to rely on this example, among others, in asserting that Muslims could, in an extreme situation where their lives were at risk at the hands of an unjust power, say with their lips what their torturers wanted to hear. This refers to the notion of taqiyyah (implying the act of dissimulating) and has been legitimated, as here in Ammar’s case, only when an individual has to save his or her life in an extreme situation involving unbearable torture. In any other situation, as we shall see, Muslims were to say the truth, whatever the price might be.

This was something new for me and I thought it would be good to share it with everyone here

May Allah bless all of you.. Wassalam

Haslina

Biggest general election winner, the new media

Singapore: Waiting for results of the 2011 General Election was better than the World Cup – at least that was what some netizens felt as they followed the events in Singapore on their computers.

It didn’t matter that they were in Changi or Canada, all waited with collective bated breath as they impatiently stared at MediaCorp’s election portal, ge.sg.

From the night of May 7 through to the wee hours of May 8, Singaporeans all over the world came together as one united, Internet people.

“Thanks for this platform to keep myself updated on the election results and all the live action as seen from a small hotel room in Guangzhou, China” wrote Jason Yap.

Some were also closer home such as Sam, who wrote: “There’s about 50 of us here in JB having a great beer drink-a-long while waiting for the count, hope we are still standing when the results are announced!”

Most however, were far-flung Singaporeans who checked in from different parts of Australia, the United States, Ireland, Saudi Arabia, Italy, France, Hong Kong and the Philippines; just to follow the General Election.

“In Buffalo NY now, thanks for the live updates. This is a historic moment in our history” said CY Kong.

The overseas Singaporeans who exchanged cheers and jeers met online through Cover It Live a live blogging tool which was employed as early as the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and utilised throughout the election period on ge.sg.

At one point of the night, there were 30,000 active users on the live blogging module on the MediacCorp election website which complimented the live video stream of the TV broadcast of polling results.

“Thanks for streaming live! I am in USA and the 9.30pm live streaming coverage is a god send!” said one user whose comments were echoed repeatedly by Singaporeans who dropped by.

“Watching from The Netherlands and loving our Singapore!” said JK who was joined minutes later by Boon with a “Hola” from Mexico and Leah who said “Thanks for the live stream! Watching here from Sydney. Go Singapore!”

At its peak, the website ge.sg served nearly 20 thousand live video streams at the same time as users followed polling results.

In total, 930,000 live video streams were served over the 6½ hours live telecast.

Live streaming was also available during the hustings with broadcasts being offered from different rally points each night.

The General Election had a clear online buzz that peaked on May 8, when the polling results were announced by the Returning Officer.

Page views on channelnewsasia.com hit a record 42 million from Nomination Day (Apr 27) to the small hours of May 8 as polling results were announced.

The increase of nearly four times the average daily traffic, was also seen on the special election website, ge.sg which offered a mobile site, m.ge.sg, for smartphone users.

“By having a mobile site, we were able to provide information to many smartphone users throughout the GE period. On Nomination Day, they checked where the political parties were putting their candidates; then followed the candidates’ rally speeches and walkabouts. And on Polling Day, they found out who won, within seconds after the results were announced by the Returning Officer”, said Yeo Hock Lin, VP (E-News), MediaCorp.

On the ground, it was not just Facebook and Twitter which helped keep the news flowing.

Other new new media tools proved handy in bringing updates to users, including those working on the back-end of the website, ge.sg .

As photos were a staple on the election website, Liveshare, a new off-shoot of the Cooliris photo platform, proved a successful collaboration.

“Just put the SD card into the attachment of the iPad, then drag and drop the photos. It’s great”, assistant producer Hester Tan said of the Facebook plugin that sent streams of images back to producers at base, as the small team of photographers went from one event to another.

Even as singlet-wearing uncles stood toe-to-toe with designer-togged young voters on open fields turned into election rally sites to catch political speeches, it was hard not to miss the presence of a laptop here, a smartphone there and the occasional iPad or even iPad2.

More significantly, the devices weren’t just in the hands of newshounds, but newsmakers waiting to make a speech as well as the average Singaporean who proved that in the 2011 General Election, the biggest win was for new media.

- CNA/sf

Source: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/technologyfeatures/view/1128177/1/.html

Useful websites

http://gpessays.co.cc/

This website contains essays written for GP. The essays are sorted into different catagories also! Many many essays so really good for those who wants to know alternative views on a certain topic. While reading other people’s essays though, formulate your ideas in the process and try to critique other people’s points instead of just absorbing the points you read in these essays.

http://www.rd.com/

I’m sure all of you have heard of reader’s digest. Here’s their website

All the best studying for GP! All of you can and will do well for this subject insyaAllah..

People turn ever more to the Web in times of crisis

While reading this article, one should think and analyse about the reasons as to why the Internet is such a powerful tool of communication. Think about what the Internet can do and why some people are addicted to it. In this case, think about why people turn to the Internet in times of crisis. How would it help in dealing with a crisis?

HONG KONG – The earthquake off the coast of Japan and the resulting tsunami has proven, yet again, how the Internet offers an information lifeline to the world in a time of crisis.

The Internet was designed so that US military communications could withstand a nuclear war, but is proving equally resilient in the face of natural disasters and even seismic shifts in global politics.

As the waves smashed into the Japanese coastline following the 8.9-magnitude earthquake 130 kilometres (80 miles) east in the Pacific ocean on Friday, a tsunami of images was also soon hitting the web.

In scenes worthy of any Hollywood disaster movie, a massive wave was shown rolling in from the sea, and one of the most watched and shared videos was of water slowly engulfing the city of Sendai’s airport.

Small aircraft, cars and trucks were shown scattered amongst the shattered debris of buildings like an unruly child’s toy box.

And what looked like prefabricated factory units were shown floating under a bridge as drivers spun their cars and trucks around to try to outrun the waves.

Nearly five million people tuned in to video sharing site YouTube on Saturday to watch one raw, unedited video of the wave chewing away at Japan’s coastline. Several other videos had notched up between three and four million hits.

Hundreds of people commented on the videos across the web and shared information, from social network giant Facebook to micro-blogging site Twitter — as well as local, Japanese language websites.

And the Internet also functioned as a virtual crisis centre as sites such as Google’s people finder service helped locate loved ones and offered help and support to survivors.

As the floodwaters subsided, worried friends and relatives leapt onto their computers to find information about people who had not been heard from since the mighty wave crashed ashore.

Google’s person finder service had notched up more than 81,000 records of people leaving messages seeking information on friends and family by 0300 GMT Sunday.

The site was updating, in English and Japanese, by the hundreds every few minutes.

A random search of the common Japanese surname “Sato” brought up hundreds of results, many of them for people living in Sendai — the city that faced the brunt of the thunderous body of rolling water.

Gunduzhan posted a message seeking Aki Sato, a dentist from Sendai who studied at Ohu University in Koriyama. A photo of the pretty young woman was also posted on the site.

“Looking for Aki Sato,” the post read. “Last heard from after earthquake but before tsunami.”

Another post seeking Fatima Sato had some good news — “Mom is ok. She is on her way home.”

The international and Japanese Red Cross also set up a similar site.

And micro-blogging site Twitter was updating every second with messages of good will, of condolences and offering aid.

A service was being shared on Twitter allowing people the chance to donate to the Red Cross via text message, the donation being added to phone bills.

Some tweets were posted by international celebrities such as the American singer Lady Gaga, who launched a bracelet to support the relief effort.

She asked her legion of fans — whom she calls “Little Monsters” — to buy a bracelet on her website saying, “We Pray for Japan,” for donations of US$5 or more. All proceeds will go to relief efforts, she said.

Wassalam,
Haslina