Summer Fever, IPL fever, Viral fever and more

Well, I haven't posted for a long time, and for good reason too. The previous two weeks were boring, lack-luster weeks without almost no activity at all, except for a couple of noteworthy incidents.
PMS had a 'talk' with us last week, about his being 'harshit'. He promised--no, clarified that he would only beat students with a high capacitance-- no, capacity-- and kept true to his word.
The first was 3 days ago. We had PMS for the morning, as usual, and he became angry, or rather disappointed, after Sagnik didn't submit his NCERT notebook. He launched himself into a turbo mode with an 800% increase in teaching speed. After an hour of continuous dictating-writing, we had Chemistry.
CVM sir, on discovering that quite a few didn't balance iodoform reactions (well, he asked us to balance them the previous day), his heart rate increased quadruple. He shouted, and my heart skipped a beat (Poor Anand). There was a moment of stunned silence in the class, followed by more shouting. After chemistry was over and CVM was relieved of his misery, we had physics again, and PMS looked visibly happier. The only logical conclusion I have is that he heard CVM too.
Our midphase was pretty normal. As usual, I screwed up chemistry, but our class made a marked improvement. CVM sir told us to write in a more... NCERTish way for the Bi-Weekly, and most ended up having to take extra time. Unfortunately, PMS came in before we could, and no one could finish on time.
All said, we get AC classrooms from tomorrow, and we can study happily ever after. We get summer holidays in a couple of weeks.
Our juniors had their first fiitjee PTM yesterday, while we get our first one on May-End. Why doesn't fiitjee take an interest in our class? We had no reshuffling test either- not that I'm complaining, just saying.
Oh, and about our holidays, what are you going to do during those magic days? How about an international vacation? Or olympiad preparation? Let me guess: The IPL. The CSK faction of our class seems to be pretty happy right now, and I'm willing to bet CSK will end up at the top of the points table. Haha, my sadism took a high last year when CSK lost the finals last year. I hope that continues. As I write, CSK plays. Hey, Murali Vijay is OUT! Awesome. I won't be surprised if CSK scores lower than 80.
One more thing, there's a viral fever out there in the city. About 6 of them contracted it already, so be careful. If you want to stay out of this, don't:

• Eat ice-cream
• Drink Pepsi
• Switch on the AC
• Eat delicious mangoes
• Take a swim
• Watch the IPL

And here we are at the end of this boring, inconclusive post. Next post next week!

Bye-Bye!

3 Lame excuses that worked in class

The past week has been a bit hectic. With all those Bi-weekly tests and RPI exams, not to mention the class-quizzes, we've had to study a lot more. Well, MP seems to be very happy for some reason, and he promised us centralized AC by next month. As a front bencher, the heat and suffocation was really getting to me.
Also, about last week, we saw our f1 juniors for the first time. I'll have to admit, though, they're a gazillion times nerdier than us. Or at least for now. Fortunately/Unfortunately for them, they haven't got PMS-- poor things. Let's see how well they do in physics. Speaking of physics, we won't be seeing PMS very often, for the next two months. Of late, he's been leaving us a bit early at 4, so either he's exhausted from all that teaching or he's disappointed with us for some strange reason.

Anyway, let's get to the main topic here: Excuses. I've heard many weird ones in the past, and they magically worked for weird people. Let's start of with this one from Davidson:

PMS: Ah, Davidson! What's the time?

Davidson(Smiles, bobs his head up and down, checks his watch): 8.10 am, sir.

PMS: And why are you late?

Davidson(Bobs his head up and down again, smiles): ---

PMS: Okay, when did you wake up?

Davidson(Keeps smiling): ----

PMS: TELL ME, DAMMIT!

Davidson(Smile slowly fades away): Umm... 7:30, sir...

PMS: What?!? So you just woke up, threw on some clothes, and ran here?
Davidson(Smiles again, faintly nods): ----

PMS: Ah, okay. Get in. Wake up early next time.

Don't ask me how that worked. Was it Davidson's face? The second on this list would be Sagnik:

PMS: Oh, you. I'm not allowing you inside...

Sagnik: Sir, I'm neither dead nor dying!

PMS: ROFLOL! That was a real cracker! Come in!

Point taken. Crack a joke, next time you're late for physics. But, for chemistry, try this approach by Pranav:

CVM: Shabba, Pranav, why didn't you do the package?

Pranav: Sir, it got mixed up-

CVM: (You know what happens, after that he leaves the class)

Or, even better:

CVM: Why are you late? And what's that bandage on your arm?

Pranav: Sir, I was walking down the street when I saw a girl almost getting crashed into by a speeding car. I ran at full speed and pushed her aside, and got a scratch in the arm. I went to a nearby hospital, and they wrapped some cotton and a bandage there.

CVM: (Blinks, starts teaching again)

Magic, eh? There are lots of other gems out there, and let's end the post with this one:

Q. Why are you late?

A. My father overslept.

Are we born with Intelligence?

Ah, finally.  A boring, long post for the first time. If you have some homework left, or you're a lazy reader like Abishek Sudarshan, skip. Anyway, going back to the question: Are we born with intelligence?

This is a question that does not have a clear answer. Odds are that you've  heard of at least 4-5 different answers to this question. Well, at least I have. Let me list some of them.

First, the theories directly answering the question:

• Theory A: There's nothing such as born-intelligence. You are what you made of yourself. The only way to become intelligent is through hard work and patience. If you spend your time diligently, you'll gain a lot of intelligence. The so-called 'toppers' you see around you worked hard to get to this point. To put it short, here's the deal: The more time you spend studying, the more intelligent you become.
• Theory B: Obviously, intelligence is something you're born with. It's all in the genes. The more intelligent your mom/dad/grandpa/grandma/uncle is, the more intelligent you are. If you were dumb yesterday, you'll stay dumb. No point trying to improve. You're stuck the way you are.

Yeah, you've heard about the first one much more than the second. A's optimistic and positive, and most teachers say this to students in despair. B isn't what you would call pleasant-- but admit it, that's what sounds plausible, isn't it?

Okay, before we look into that, one observation: Both these theories hint that intelligence is pretty important in life. Now, let's see some other theories that have a partial/complete disregard for intelligence, and say that success in life depend on other things!

• Theory C: Intelligence doesn't matter. It's how you use that intelligence, however big or small, that counts. And that's called smartness. If you're smart, that'll get you far in life. Develop your smartness and reap the benefits. If you're not convinced, check this out. That's how it works!
• Theory D: Who cares about intelligence? Follow your heart. Find your passion. Cultivate your interests. You're automatically good in what you like, so don't worry about intelligence! 
• Theory E: C.V Raman's own words: "I admit, success in life is not always to the intelligent or the strong and it is to some extent a bit of a gamble, but nonetheless those who have got their minds right and those who know their job will sooner or later, sooner perhaps than later make their way in life".

All these answers sound nice and philosophical, don't they? For a word that doesn't have any fixed meaning, intelligence serves more or less a great topic for wise story-tellers, teachers and blog-posters to discuss about. Oh, and let me sign off with a great Confucius quote:

“When we have intelligence resulting from sincerity, this condition is to be ascribed to nature; when we have sincerity resulting from intelligence, this condition is to be ascribed to instruction. But given the sincerity, and there shall be the intelligence; given the intelligence, and there shall be the sincerity.”

 To be honest, what the hell is he talking about? Naah, can't waste time on philosophy right now.
See ya next time, fellas!

5 ways to get a free period in class

If you're a student in my class,  and you're not Abhishek Sudarshan, you've probably read a lot of books.  And one major, prominent idea that appears in many books is 'sacrifice for the greater good'. Read on, you'll understand what I'm trying to say.

Physics: Getting a free period in physics is like getting some sort of a tax discount. Well, for some strange reason, if you do feel like getting a free period in the middle of a boring afternoon session, it's better not to try and get one all by yourself. The only thing you'll get by annoying our physics sir is probably a cardio-muscular pull. On a second note, even if the whole class annoys him, he'll leave us at 4'o clock. Trust me, it's just not worth it.

Chemistry: Easy one. I can even write a book on this topic. Here are the obvious ones:

1. Buy one Get one free. Selectively bunk all chemistry classes one day, get free periods next.
2. 30% off. Be physically present in class, but mentally absent. Spend class time wisely through sleeping; this builds up some energy for the subsequent physics class as well. While you get a full 'free period', others gain a bit from it too.
3. Family Deal. Comfortably arrange a PTM outside class, all by yourself. This is the safest way, and best, too. A helpful prerequisite would be a bad mark in the most recent Phase Test or NCERT test.
4. Unlimited Coke. Drink a lot of coca cola before the class, and channel your extra energy into asking mindless doubts. The closer you sit to Sagnik/Arvind KR, the more successful you will be. Just make sure there's no physics class after that, though.

Math(s): There's really no point in getting a free period, is it? 

That's it, fellas! My rate of blogging has suffered a sudden fall-- I'll launch an RSS feed anytime soon. Also, congrats to Sagnik and Subiksha for getting the KVPY mentor scholarship! You deserve it!

The transition to 12th

Yay, we finished our exams. We got some marks, too, though. Mathematics brought us quite a few surprises and let-downs. Chemistry was average, and computer science was unfair. Anyway, the good news is that almost all of us passed. And that's what matters, at least for now.
Now to other stuff. We're starting phase 5 from next week.
Whew.

Wonderful.

Just think about how 4 phases just flew so far. Admit it, we've enjoyed ourselves to the maximum. Somehow, thinking about all these past memories, 12th seems haunting to me. Physics homework everyday, and insanely difficult (or easy, depends on how much you like it) chemistry, make 12th look different from 11nth. But, again, observe: 11nth took us 11 months, and 12th will take about 7-8. Easy, right?
Anyway, a good and bad of recent times:
1. CVM sir created a forum. A few months ago, I thought this was a statistical impossibility; so this is a pleasant surprise. Let's just hope this doesn't die down soon.
2.We're getting summer holidays. This is what you call an 'unexpected reward'. 10 days. Will you use it to study or have the time of your life?
3. Bi-weekly tests. We will be putting a lot more time on NCERT now, but Bi-Weekly tests are too far. Half the kids in our class will have to attend some sort of Remedial Class, for NCERT stuff. Oh boy, I'm gonna miss those days when we used to cram in the last minute.
4. Pranav's mini-sculptures. They're pure awesome. The level of detail he puts into little chalk pieces are amazing. He can make mini-skulls, mini-minivans, everything. Woah. I'll ask him to make a mini-earth next.

All the best for phase test-4, guys. Hey, and btw, I'm making this little hacking game. If you want to beta test it, send me a message!

Computer science, and Practicals

Before you get started on me about physics, listen to this: Physics was totally predictable. No point creating a blog post for chapters we had months of experience in. Anyway, computer science appears to be a a more dangerous subject, so let's get to business.

The standard approach to CS would be: Mug up all theory QA and Practice all programs. Although the latter would be a tad more difficult for insincere lab students, having an understanding in the former can help a lot. Be sure to expect the following types of questions (as usual) and keep in mind:

• Theory questions: This is easy. I mean, most questions are the obvious type, the basic theory questions anyone can answer. A revision helps, though. Oh, and if you don't know an answer, just take a minute to cough up some fancy vocabulary, and you're good in no time.
• Debug: This is pretty easy. The mistakes aren't hard to find, and over-corrections are generally not  penalized. If you're doubtful something's a mistake, don't waste time debating about it.
• Record the output: This is the tough nut. Be extremely careful with this, and for security, do the outputs again at the end of the exam. This can be a bit confusing at times, but we'll be getting standard questions in the annual paper. Also see Random Functions below.
• Rewrite: This is a cross between Write Programs and Record the Output.  Be acquainted with all the standard conversions like for-while-dowhile, matrix-array, string.h-nostring.h, etc.
• Write programs:  This too is a toughie. Correction isn't exactly, well-- lenient, so be a careful. Practice notebook questions, and especially record questions. And if you have time at the end, debug your programs.. heh heh.
• Random functions: I don't think this is gonna come, but if it does come in a record-the-output question, remember: There can be repetitions. If you generate 3 random numbers, for instance, they may be 3,3,3 or 4,5,5 or 5,6,5. The randomize() function does not prevent repetitions. It prevents the generation of the same set of random numbers. It's like this-- without the randomize() function, suppose you execute a program, the numbers 3,7,7 are generated. When you close the program and run it again, the numbers 3,7,7 are generated again. Basically, this means that the first time you generate random numbers, they are stored in memory, and they appear the next time you execute the program too. Randomize() prevents this.

Computer science looks easy in front of what's next-- practicals. Physics isn't all that hard, but chemistry sends shivers down my spine. And by the way, we have a full day on Tuesday. That doesn't leave out a lot of time for record-writing and studying, so you'd better do it now.

Oh, and IMPORTANT: If you need any program, just comment. Or post on facebook. I'll reply in minutes.

The Math test-- Blueprint, tips, and more

Getting a 90+ on this exam is easy, provided that you've read through all the chapters and solved a couple of random problems here and there. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the problems will be textbook problems, so your mark depends almost wholly on your preparation. Anyway, here are some tips to maximize your score:

• Time yourself. I repeat this again, and you probably know why. No one knows how long the paper is going to be, so it's better to keep track of time. Don't waste too much time on a problem if you're not getting it, and if you see a problem and it looks new to you, save it for the last.
• Check. Check. Check. I don't know why no one does this. If you finish the paper fast, don't give the paper and leave. Check your paper, instead. Become MP in word and thought, and check for mistakes. Trust me, this works. Every time I check my paper, I find at least 3-4 marks' worth of mistakes.
• Go through the example problems in the textbook. Sometimes, misc. level problems appear there, and can catch you unawares in the exam. This happened in the last term exam, as I remember it.(Remember? The tan3x problem everyone expanded and wasted 15 minutes on?)
• Explain your answer. This applies to Probability and P&C problems. The explanation is a must, otherwise you'll lose more than half the marks of the problem, although you took all the pains to solve it. And don't write your explanation like a social science one. Make it crisp and proper. 

I hope that helps. Here's the blue print:

Topic	1 mark	4 mark	6 mark
Trigonometry	2	2	-
Linear inequalities	1	1	1
Permutations and Combinations	1	-	1
Binomial Theorem	1	1	1
3D Geometry	1	1	-
Limits And Derivatives	1	2	1
Probability	1	1	1
Straight Lines	1	2	1
Matrices	1	2	1

Well, that's it, then. If you liked this article, give a +1!  Oh, and if you're reading this on the day I posted it, don't forget 50 rupees for the group photo.
Next post on Thursday, for physics. So long, guys!