Learning & Hacking Studies
By Kevin
Competitors!
There are so might sites online about studying and publishing/distributing notes that ERPZ.net seem to be getting pretty redundant. We've so far been operating on a one-man show kind of way despite having multiple authors (who are mostly non-contributing to be honest). Scott seem to do the same as me when it comes to blogging except I guess he does it better and categorizes stuff in better ways than me. He publishes eBooks (some of them free) as well! And that is quite an inspiration given that I'm hoping to write a PW Guide soon - check out our Facebook page where I challenged myself to finish the book before we reach 1000 likes. Not such a tall order since there isn't that many likes yet but it does put pressure on me especially when I'm studying for exams this period.
Then there is Notes Academy, which was featured on Straits Times going the 'open source' style where they mostly curate and moderate while waiting around for kind people to contribute notes. That's not so different from me as well since I've been asking for contributions for some time and we've gather some stuff from kind souls here and there. But then they are a radical departure from the way we moderate content so strongly that contributions are slapped with our site logo before being uploaded though we've made exceptions now and then. I guess the fact that Notes Academy is a little more O Levels oriented means that I'm not exactly in direct competition with them anyways. The fact they've got a team to do all that work is admirable though.
Of course, who can forget Open Lectures who have just revamped their site. They're a pretty geeky bunch with quality content (clearly carefully produced and curated), which is on the other side of the spectrum compared to Notes Academy. I don't really know where ERPZ.net sit at anymore. In any case, a potential criticism that can be levered on them (and also relevant for me) is their content is skewed towards Economics probably because they've more of their team dabbling with that area. They definitely need to gather more MOE scholars who're not planning to break bond (ie. not doing 'practical' subjects like Economics or Engineering but dealing more with Literature, hard Sciences).
For those who thinks publicly available stuff are crap (or that there are no goodies in freebies), there is Darryl, who is taking the more exclusive 'coaching' path for studies. He offers quite a fair bit of coaching content and has worked a bit of money into building and putting together his entire suite of 'formula'. The thing is I believe it's suitable for people who actually looks up these stuff and have a more or less keen desire to excel - not someone who believes in shortcuts, simply one who believes in doing things smart.
Having said all that, the future of ERPZ.net is wondrously uncertain. All my notes might end up somewhere like Notes Academy and I'll continue blogging random ramblings while perhaps doing some eBook writing. Or maybe the site will become something all together different. There are ideas to crowd-source for ideas on what to do but I'll have to come up with proposals first. But for now, my exams comes first...
The Disappearance
By Kevin
So even when the main blog posting is inactive for the past 5 months, traffic continued to flow into ERPZ, ostentatiously as a result of the rich amount of resources that already has been built up on this website.
A couple of really micro-updates. ERPZ.net is now optimized for reading on mobile platforms, taking advantage of the feature from WordPress Jetpack. Then there should be an increasing amount of entries on my quirky observations of places I visited in the period of my long hiatus from posting. That is hopefully exciting enough to attract new groups of audience - the students from Singapore preparing to study abroad.
I will be updating interview tips and other jobs/career related issues since these are exactly the areas of knowledge and advice that schools in Singapore are inadequate in providing. That is the general route map for ERPZ.net for the rest of 2012. There has been hopes for a re-design of the website but this has proved challenging due to work commitments and the absence of technically competent members.
Clutter Free
By Kevin
Clearing the Mess
It was time ERPZ did a bit of reworking of the site. Hopefully by the end of August we'll have a new theme, and with better navigation for our expanding pool of materials.
There is thoughts of compiling an eBook on Project Work. There's some rethinking about the format of writings; current affairs musings by Kevin may simply stop and be channeled back to his personal blog and ERPZ will focus on education and advice. We might be running a poll on it so check out our facebook page for more updates on that. Make sure you 'Like' us.
We really hope to start a community and we need a team to work on this. Please write to us on the contact form if you believe you can contribute in any ways!
Facebook Page?
By Kevin
Some readers might have realised, there's now a Facebook page for ERPZ.net! With so many companies and brands going on to facebook for marketing and awareness-raising, ERPZ.net can't possibly just stand by. The page serves more to micro-blog by alerting fans to interesting news and fact tidbits that might be useful for General Paper as well as other subjects.
So go ahead and 'like' us!
Pseudo Updates
By Kevin
Some updates on the website that I don't even consider worth mentioning but this is just an excuse to write something on the ERPZ blog. We've removed the clunky banners in the front page and stop being long-winded about what ERPZ has to offer. It's an obvious treasure trove. Hopefully once my examinations are over I could make a Facebook page and possibly a Twitter so we can have a 'Like' button or something - an effort to keep up with times.
One of our readers requested for history notes at A Levels and I'm scrambling to look for resources and materials to collate but sadly I'm finding it difficult to find resourceful history students (no offense!) so I'm calling out for anyone with brilliant self-compiled, digitizable materials to come forth by filling up out contact form so that your materials will be distributed over ERPZ. Rest assure that you will be credited and that putting up your materials on ERPZ ensures you benefit the greatest number of peers and juniors.
We are also looking for any budding writers who wish to do writing for ERPZ! You should hopefully:
- Enjoy writing and discussing a variety of topics and issues from multiple angles
- Have a meaningful agenda of educating peers, juniors, motivating and encouraging the spirit of learning
- Be open-minded to criticisms and very balanced in thought and arguments
Once again, fill up the contact form and we'll reach you. When we get the facebook going we'll also hope to recruit administrators and people who would help us do some promotion over their statuses and just plainly liking it so that word about our resources would get out. In June, I would hopefully be able to publish a latest edition of Singapore economic review based on latest news, policies and statistics on the economy. And it will be a material mainly for A Levels students to update their current affairs for discussion in essays.
Home Update
By Kevin
I seriously doubt anyone would notice this but I updated the text on the homepage of the website. Hopefully we'll get down to a serious overhaul of the entire website theme. It's getting a little old. Meanwhile, check out the concept of 'counterfactual history' and then that of Counterfactual reasoning. It's not only going to help you think about history, events but also how well an argument stands.
A Levels Results
By Kevin
ERPZ congratulate all A Level graduates who have done well in the A Levels this time. It's the time of the year to work on scholarship and university applications again. We hope you'd find our articles on college matters useful! Alternatively, if there are resources you wish to direct my attention to, please fill it up in the contact form so I can share with everyone!
Meanwhile, there's much news about the activism and 'uprisings' in North Africa in particular and these would serve as good materials for writing about media, democracy, masses in GP. The academic approach would be to take a position, consider the events and use them to support your arguments about the importance of freedom, or how big change arises.
Economics Essay Guide
By Kevin
More Help...
I was working on my articles when I discovered, amongst my documents, a half-completed Economics Essay guide I was preparing for my tuition students. Apparently I didn't finish it though parts of it consists of what I've already taught to those students. I took some time to finish it up, recalling the content I had intention to include when the idea for such a guide hatched a couple of months back while I was still in Singapore. Obviously, having already been through the A Levels, my students won't be too interested and so to make this work useful at all, I'm publishing it completely free on ERPZ!
You can find it in the Economics Section of Resources; and here's a direct link to it.
I briefly thought of including a list of essay command words but this list seemed good enough and I think students can find such information online pretty easily. My focus is more on presenting ideas about essay writing that is normally not covered in school or quickly glossed over despite their importance.
Hope the students of Economics for the A Levels next year and the upcoming years would find it useful. Meanwhile, here's a Happy New Year to all readers in advance!
GP Section!
By Kevin
In an effort to increase the relevance of ERPZ to A Levels students, you now have a 'General Paper' Section under Resource to catalogue entries in the blog that is relevant to GP so that you can find the stuff you need faster. There is also the 'GP Arguments' series coming up, but it'll not be consistent in its release so just stay around ERPZ often to make sure you don't miss out any.
Following the survey of ERPZ, there might be some changes on the main page. The current layout emphasizes a lot on functionality and access rather than aesthetics. I hope to be able to change that a little.
Maths Stuff
By Kevin
Mathematics resources are finally here at ERPZ.net. Maths is a subject where you really have to practice a lot so we're providing only some aid with your typical practices and also notes that summarizes the concepts in the H2 Mathematics syllabus in A Levels.
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