IB Grade Boundaries

I've suddenly found this site displaying the IB exams grade boundaries. the range of mark displayed gives me a more optimistic view of what i can actually achieve for my IB exam. it's also obvious that the school's requirement of getting seven (19/20 and above) is just skyrocketingly high. the requirement is overtly stringent and this might bear the risk of causing Sri KDU IB students' level of confidence and motivations to decrease. perhaps, now is the perfect moment for the school to modify its IB grading system to become more relevant to everybody.

If u wanna see the whole IB grade boundaries, just hit the link below:

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/IB_Grade_Boundaries


p/s I just checked my 'Feedjit' and apparently this post has garnered quite a lot of hits, hence the action of fixing the link above that was broken for quite a while. It is now working, finally. Apologies on my part. Good luck!


Faizal Hamssin

choices~

okay things are getting better right now; my EE is on the verge of being fully completed, my IAs are progressing well and my 1st World Lit is also to be given a final touch up before being submitted to Mr.Shaw. Thus, this is the very right time for me to focus for nothing but my IB final exam. Forget about class test;who cares about the class test when you have an ultimate and divine emphasis for the year, which definitely is the IB final year exam. i actually have faith in my ability in getting the result that petronas demands. now i need the God's blessings, and mercy and more efforts should be poured to fortify my strengths and rectify my weaknesses in IB. Come on, the IB, Sri KDU, and all the sufferings that I have to bear throughout these definitive 2 years are truly the opportunities of my lifetime. this year should be either the most glorious or devastating period of my life; and i can't afford to flop. okay all of us should cease worrying too much about our exams because we are all going to make it. each of us is blessed with our own distinctive strengths and flaws, but we are all here for a reason. we're here because we deserve to be here. we're here because we have what it takes to succeed. we're all gonna make it through the rain my dearest IB mates...

All of the petronas scholars from my batch were required to fill in a form to give Petronas and Sri KDU a clearer picture of the universities that we're all eyeing. the universities that are included in the list are all located in the southern hemisphere countries of Aus, NZ, or South Africe; there's nothing surprising nor shocking about this. however, this fact has never eroded my ultimate dream to get a place in one of the prestigious universities in the UK. fortunately, petronas did also give us an additional list which consists of several top UK universities where we're all allowed to apply for. however, the costs incurred throughout the application and assessment processes are all to be bear by the applicants, which sets this option apart from the previous option of studying in the southern hemisphere countries. I've been very interested in going to imperial college london, which is one of the institutions of my dream.

luckily, several of my friends are also very keen to apply for the UK universities that are 'recognized' by our patron petronas- Ox-bridge, Imperial, LSE. this would make our self-application processes much easier as we would have each other to turn to.

However, i do understand that getting a place in Imperial has never been easy. my result should be fantastic and my level of charisma should also be polished to prepare me for the rigorous university entrance exams and interviews. therefore, i'm not going to put a hope as high as the Eden for me to get a place in the UK colleges that have been listed by petronas. i believe that the chance is there, but life is not a fairy tale, after all. it is very difficult to predict something that will happen next year, as humans and their destinies keep on changing with time.

Thus, I've picked 4 universities in the southern hemisphere for me to apply. (it is compulsory for us to apply four southern-hemisphere universities). my choices are as follows:

1) University of SYDNEY



This university has a long history of excellence;
THES Rank: 31
Sydney is a great city to live in. definitely my first choice.



2) University of AUCKLAND



University Rank (THES) = 50
NZ tempts me with its kiwi culture and great landscape. I don't personally love living in an overtly-bustling and hectic place. Auckland should do.



3) University of QUEENSLAND



THES Rank: 33
The university offers an excellent geology program.



4) University of CAPE TOWN



THES rank: top200
The main reason for me to pick UCT is the charm that Cape Town and South Africa has to offer. it is a place full of natural wonders and sexy architectures. the weather is also gorgeous (Summer: 16-26 celcius, winter: 7-17 celcius). the cape winelands region is really picturesque with all the vineyards and quaint towns with mighty mountain ranges as their backdrops. table mountain? breathtaking.






Faizal

IB Solidarity Party

while pouring my heart and soul typing my previous post, i suddenly got stuck and dragged into some serious YM conversation with Afida about...POLITICS? The conversation was at its zenith of intellectual exchange between us two (something i really rarely do via YM), when the topic suddenly changed into the really less-serious ones. it's time for us to have some fun joking around. it all started like this:

Afida Liyana Yahya (2/15/2008 11:43:08 PM): he opposes lobbyist.. which means he would do something for the country for the sake of the people.. not for the lobbyist..
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:43:19 PM): oic thats good
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:43:31 PM): seems that u know a lot about us politics than i do
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:43:35 PM): thats great
Afida Liyana Yahya (2/15/2008 11:43:41 PM): he has background of africa.. and lives in indonesia for four years..

minutes later...,

fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:52:12 PM): i hope msians would become as matured as the americans in the future
Afida Liyana Yahya (2/15/2008 11:52:24 PM): insya-Allah.. it starts with us..
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:52:28 PM): we really need to get outta this stagnating state
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:52:31 PM): haha yeah
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:52:38 PM): lets form IB party
fay hamssin (2/15/2008 11:52:47 PM): all IB alumni unite
Afida Liyana Yahya (2/15/2008 11:52:52 PM): yep..



then it started with the formation of our own utopia party on the net. the IB Alumni Party. that was just too too crazy man. just imagine, the conversation about our funny, and, sometimes, unrealistic party has just dragged us two into a kinda long conversation. here is the list of petronas IB people and their imaginary role(s):

mary: leader, spokesperson
syed: highly-spirited campaign cum tganu minister (that's the most realistic prediction we made i guess)
fida: HQ (secretary) & the so-called samaritan who visits the flood victims etc. soo sweet
aiman: women's right
jiha: kelantan's minister (omg)
amin: he woos the female voters!
aleen: she woos the guys!
fatin: fida said,"fatin woo the gangster, mat rempit and all the sweet but naughty people.."
kay: segambut mp. gonna sing her fav alicia keys' number "no one" to woo voters. "no one no one no one can replace me..."
pau: economist (presenting all the statistics to the voters)
zara: fida said,"zara woo the kids and the handicapped..". lets keep finer crossing that she wont sleep in the orphanage together with the orphans due to her drowsiness.
yvonne: finance minister
ju anne: national musician
siangie: human cum animals right advocate. he shares the latter position with zara
chanhu: money lender a.k.a. along to help the poors
hafiz: rock kapak to entertain the voters
ammirul: a MP cum fashion model. his election poster's gonna be filled with the images of him posing like there's no tomorrow
khairul:msian version of CIA computer hacker
linges: next samy velu (his EE is the mainstay of all future projects)
aggie: faizal said,"aggie bwat yoga demo to campaign". health minister. SMASH should be built everywhere. yoga lessons should be provided for free. No high-calorie food is gonna be sold in the country. tau foo and porridge is the national delicacy. relationship with mongolia n nepal is gonna be fortified.
me: senator to advocate for a better position of the women. (hello, am i that sweet?) =P
osem: MUFTI NEGARA

For the other IB people (non scholars), just wait for a while as we're gonna expand this list to include u guys later, but, im just damn sure that aaron's gonna be the foreign minister, while kim can make a perfect arts & cultural senator. riza the msian dancer who dance to woo voters. winson? minister of education while jonmah can be a great minister of science and innovation. this list is so gonna be expanded from time to time.

escapade

The increasingly-demanding IB has eventually taken its toll. time has never been this precious before, and this very possession is the constraint that has greatly barred me from updating my stagnating blog frequently. however, thinking that my blog should not succumb due to the woes that i'm currently facing, added by the constant encouragement (and decree) by my friends (pau especially, needless to say), give me the strength to keep on writing and having fun blogging. after all, that's having fun is the golden reason to blog am i right?

Okay, Chinese New Year holiday rocks i guess, but, i didn't go back to bintulu the place i love for the break. having nothing to do (putting aside the IB craps) i've decided to join my cousins for a trip to Genting Highlands. actually I've gone genting before but this very trip was really fun and full of nothing but enjoyment! however, it was kinda bad that my sister was sick that she couldn't make it with us. here are several pictures that were shot during our Genting so-called crazy escapade.



this was only the beginning



okay the place was damn freakingly crowded on that day. there were people here there and everywhere and getting a headache was just inevitable. needless to say, the hotel rooms were all fully-booked and there was simply no place for four of us. thank goodness there was a shine at the end of every deep tunnel, and we did, miraculously, get a room just before the outdoor park was closed. that thrilled me a lot as there was not a single room when we sought for them in the daytime.perhaps some Samaritans were wonderful enough to leave their room earlier than they were required to. that's a total blessing for us. getting a room saved us from having to ride the cable car back to the foothill in the complete darkness of night. I'd surely dread that.

having a room, there's nothing that could stop us from savoring the real essence of that really lively night. we just kept on having great rides at the indoor theme park while sharing hottest gossips with each other.




Our hands =)


searching for a demon

we all went back on the next morning with extreme fatigue sticking on me. damn tiring and exhausting experience it was but, who cares, if you had real bunch of fun throwing all the misery of IB for just a little while.

New year, new vision, new spirit, same destination~

i think it's really obvious that my blog has not been updated for quite a time, and here i am.
perhaps it is not very for me to wish everyone a prosperous and joyful 2008. may everyone be showered with an abundance of eternal joys and achievements this year.




before writing my main resolutions for this year, it is best for me to reflect back to the year 2007 and dig all the bittersweet memories that i've either savored or endured throughout the year.

The year 2007 was actually the year that managed to put many marks in the history of mine. it was the year of glory, achievements, success, and happiness, intertwined with the challenging events that helped to shape a better me. by the way, i've managed to get straight A1 for my SPM!The result did amaze me and it enabled me to continue receiving petronas sponsorship that is hoped to breathe life to my intellectual development in the coming years. my life as an IB student in sriKDU has also given me a chance to unleash my real potential to the fullest, and fill the scars and holes that have always been somewhat dominant negative cofactors in the past years. it is a place where i learned to appreciate myself and my intrinsic as well as extrinsic flaws to the extent that i've never thought of before. i've also been able to overcome my inferiority complex that did do a lot in retarding my social life before. for this, i would like to express my sense of gratitude towards my friends who have always been with me throughout the year.





the year 2007 has also been very challenging for me. there were even times when i felt that everything went against me, and the hectic life as an IB student did nothing to mitigate the emotional woes i faced, it did exacerbate it, in fact. every cloud has its silver linings, and i do believe that the struggle i faced last year enabled my complete reincarnation and rebirth as a stronger and resilient person. my family has always been very supportive, and thankfully my academic result has been improving from the mediocrity to somewhat i can feel happy and proud of. assignments and hectic life they cause can no longer stop me. they're just like scattered marbles, laying impotently on the floor waiting for me to pick them up and put them all into the place they belong.

2008

i don't really have a lot of wishes for this new year. of course, my biggest priority is upcoming IB final exam, whose success would be the key for a better future of mine. i've even set up a realistic target for the exam, which lies between 40 to 45 points. a more specific target is actually 42 points, which would be made achievable given that more emphasis is made towards elevating my level of strength in maths and french. my achievement in the former subject was better off in the first half of 2007, but the practical absence of our maths teacher for quite a time has created a sizable black hole that needs to be covered up soon, while my command in the latter language used to be ailing, but it has since improved sensibly.

another vision of the year is towards improving my relationships with everyone, be it friend or foes. i just want to appreciate all my friends to the extent i have never reached before. it is my hope that my social life would flourish this year, without having to sacrifice my number one priority in my studies. perhaps a weekly malling won't retard me academically.

i also want to spend my money wisely this year around. unnecessary expenditures are going to be cut off this year, while the spendings on stuff that would greatly enhance my total well-being would be greatly increased. thus, a more prudent fiscal management is anticipated this year hoping that a sizable amount of money would be able to be saved for my future usage in the overseas later on.




i think i should stop blablaing now. wishing everyone a splendid 2008. au revoir.

Faizal

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Hibernating Star

Listening to Jordin Sparks's "No Air". it's a really great song indeed.

i've just gone through my friends' blogs and it seems that most of them have actually put more spices and herbs to enhance their blogs during the holiday.not longer daunted by the scarcity of time to waste, i've decided to put something on my blog, though my life has practically stagnated since the school closed its door last month for the 2 month holiday we're currently savouring. it's a shame that i've actually joined the group of polar bears who do nothing but hibernate during the bitter winter season. (in my case, idle life during the holiday) however, thank god i've done my TOK, thus, being free from the clutches of mr.shaw who has vowed to hunt the sinners (those who haven't submitted their assignments on time) as the first thing in the morning (8am sharp, January 3rd, 2008)...


my family having a morning walk in Genting (about 3 weeks ago)

despite the boring seconds and minutes i've actually undergone through, the holiday is not that bad after all. i've started to miss my IB friends very much and the time being spent with them. wanna go to OU!hish2. the only person i've talked to here is miss aggie, who has grown chubbier after weeks of holiday. she has also noticed that i'm getting slightly chubby nowadays, but everybody knows that the situation for both of us is extremely different. while a weight gain is considered as a curse for aggie, it is hailed as a miraculous blessings for me who has fallen into the 'skinny' group of people. however, aggie shouldn't be worried as the intensive SMASHing would keep her back in her old shape.huhu~
being away from bintulu has led me to appreciate the inner beauty of this place. really love to be here. by the way, i'm gonna sit for my driving exam next week. wish me luck okay.




My serene and leafy neighborhood

To my friend feghy who has just moved to kch, do keep in touch. the whole clique would never forget you. have fun over there and may god bless you.

Happy holiday to all

HAPPY HOLIDAY to all my friends out there. to all IB crews, have fun indulging yourselves with an abundance of assignments. hope we're all gonna have a great time, and great TOK essay! (the latter was snatched from one of the mr Shaw's very last words before the school's over)

Bonnes Vacances pour tous =)

Il s'agit Octobre!

having been infamous for updating my log rarely, i've decided to sum up the whole wonderful month of october into a post. yeah, the month is too memorable to be forgotten...
yeah, before the raya holiday which started on the 12th, we had bad times sitting for our year-end exam.i was kinda satisfied with my result, thanks to the many nights of burning midnight oil, studying, studying and studying for the exam. however, this exam is a wake up call for me; pay bunches more of attention toward improving my maths (my maths has downgraded my overall IB pointage to an unbelievable extent)...however, i'm not the sole sufferer, as most of my IB mates did flung in their maths paper. only yvonne was able to stand up tall with her seven, while the rest have to feel satisfied with their four, three, two, and even one, thanks to the shockingly difficult questions~ however, i'm quite happy for my chemistry, physics, and French, while my business result gave me a reason to smile. my English result was mediocre, and, to be frank, i think that it really fell short of my expectation.

Chemistry: 18/20 SIX(i've normally scored this for my chem.it's kinda ok,just gotta keep it up!)
Physics: 18/20 SIX (My physics is getting better. used to get worse than this. keep the good effort up!)
MATHS: 14/20 FOUR(never been this close to failing before.it's a tragedy)
eng: 16/20 FIVE (should've scored better)
French: 18/20 SIX (an improvement)
Business: 20/20 SEVEN(hooray, i've got full mark for the very first time.keep it up, faizal)
TOTAL: 34/42

The outcome was neither fantastic nor tragic. it was mediocre and MODERATE.my greatest challenge next year is to actually get out of the realism of having a MODERATE result. i must get a better result than this next time around, god-willing. i should never get complacent with such results as this!

okay, let's move on to the raya celebration. raya's great this year, though the absence of nenek, whose soul has recently returned to the afterlife did fill our raya with a dosage of sadness. however, knowing that nenek lived such a happy life and did never like to see her grandchildren being plunged into sadness in her lifetime gave us the spirit to live life as usual. the raya celebration carried on as it always did before. i had fun, chatting with my cousins, exchanging stories and, of course, gossiping about anything under the Sun. i also used the opportunity to visit my old friends in bintulu, and we really had fun having dinner, hanging out, and malling together, while sharing the countless interesting stories.
the icing of the cake was actually sleeping in my own room! yeah, home sweet home. although i'm known for my tendency to go back to bintulu pretty frequently, my home-sickness has never subsided. it even grew at an exponential rate, as my life as an IB student is getting more and more hectic than ever before. the pressure can, sometimes, be unbearable for an 18-year-old soul who has never parted away from his family before. that's why i can say that going back home is the best therapy that can cure them all.

After having fun on my self-proclaimed extended raya holiday, i went back to kl just to be amazed by how anxious mr shaw can become. One of the first things i heard from chan hu as i stepped into my really less-than-ideal room was about nothing but extended essay dateline. he told me that we're all supposed to submit our Extended Essay (EE) by the end of THE WEEK. omg. i hadnt even finished conducting my questionnaire, and was a thousand-miles-far from doing my analysis, and that guy's demanding me to finish writing the complete stuff, which is destined to be a testament of how cruel IB can become, by the end of the week? feeling afraid that my EE's progressing a way behind the schedule, me, zachary, kay n pau went to the curve on the next day for the sake of having all of our questionnaires answered.

we went to the curve, and, it was a really productive trip to a shopping mall, i guess. yeah, i'm saying that because we were able to do simply everything in that single evening...zachary and i can surely admit that both of us are getting more aggressive from day to day. we were becoming more forceful to make sure that most of the people we approached wouldnt refuse to answer our questionnaires and give us what we want; their say. amazingly, i managed to finish doing all my work by 9 o'clock, and, just before we wanna go back after having our dinner, we decided to have another repast, this time, it's a supper at the Burger King. that was the weirdest and freakiest trip i've ever made to a fast-food restaurant. we ordered our supper and spending most of the time not to eat, but, to do the camhorring. omg. so embarrassing. we were posing like mad, as if that was our 'last supper'. perhaps our pictures are enough for us to create a modern version of the age-old 'the last supper' painting by da Vinci. just kidding. here are some of the pictures that can act as a testament of how insane we can be...

owh, yeah, the month was ended with my 18th birthday, which fell on the 31st! now i'm legal and loving it! yeah~ really wanna express my sincere gratitude towards my friends who did go all the way to OU (though it isnt 2 marhalah's away from d'shire, obviously) just to celebrate my birthday there. i do really appreciate all your wishes and hope that we're all gonna be blessed with an abundance of joy and happiness. let our relationship flourish. my wishes? to get 40 and above for my IB, to have a happier and better life in the future, to secure a place in a top university over the seas, and other private wishes that i'm so not gonna enclose here.haha.let it remains a mystery. je t'aime octobre...

by the way, i've submitted my EE draft ahead the schedule! i will survive! yeah! i'm gonna be hunted no more by mr shaw. savoring the sweet emancipation and newly-found freedom is the sweetest part of being free from the clutches of EE! au revoir =)

I HATE DOING MY EE QUESTIONNAIRE!

just went back from OU. I was spending 8 hours with zara there and we did suffer terribly to get right people to answer our questionnaires. guess what? i've only got about thirty questionnaires filled after all my blood, sweats, and tears in approaching one after another people at the mall.zara fared slightly better, i guess. however, every cloud has got its silver lining, and the result for tonight is much better than what we got when we went to klcc 2 weeks before. after hours of having my skin thickened for several inches and waiting endlessly and patiently at the main atrium and several popular spots in the building, i went back home getting only 19 of my questionnaires answered and unforgettable fatigue that couldn't be eliminated by even a week of sleep. gosh~ perhaps my questionnaire forms look a bit too lengthy (2 pages each) and this factor might have shied people away from answering the questions given. i understand that having our 5 minutes in our life wasted for the sake of filling a questionnaire form from a stranger is a less sunny thing to do.however, thanks a lot to zara who has helped me a lot in my quest of getting at least 100 respondents to fill in my not-so-professional questionnaires.owe u a lot.it's a lot easier to do this job with you than doing it all on my own. so far i've go nearly 80 of my questionnaire forms filled thus the remaining 20 will be distributed in school next week for the teachers to fill in.20 to go, and my life will be...
emancipated at last!


*Owh, as we were looking for the next prey to become a part of our IB masterpieces in the making, i came across an optic shop and bought myself a new glasses to replace my old and damaged one! yeah, it looks nice on me according to zara.can't wait to show off next monday.yeah!

Gosh...

yeah, exam's really, really around the corner. huh~ gotta buck up after this. i really hope that my result in this upcoming and extremely crucial exam's gonna be a far cry better compared to my previous ones. oh god, bless me with the strength as magnificent as the diamond and the burning spirit as hot as the scorching ray of the Mother Sun as i'll find myself fighting on the exam's battlefield next week while pushing myself to the limits unexplored before, and unearthing my real potential and abilities in the exam. i need your strength to be by my side!

*have study now but the great satiation i'm experiencing right now does actually bar me from doing so(thanks to an abundance of good food served during the Petronas fast breaking function just now). i did even find it difficult to perform my 'tarawih' due to my full and bloated stomach.gosh!with that, see you tomorrow, books!i'm so gonna make love with you all for the next two weeks. i really can't wait for the exam to be over and am really looking forward to celebrating raya in Bintulu.miss bintulu soo much!my beloved camera that has been very recently fixed is also there, sleeping on my desk, waiting for its owner to pick him up.really wanna get you!miss farith damn much.really miss those days of quarreling and having a shrieking session with him at home.good luck fasting for the first time,my lil' bro...proud of you! gotta sleep now.wish me luck ,friends.hope you guys (IB mates) are doing very well for our exam next week.gambadeh!

"After every storm, of you look to the sky patiently, a rainbow appears."

A Picture Means A Hundred Words (a thousand is quite an exaggeration, i guess)

We were having great time celebrating the eve.i take pride of myself for being able to avoid the misery of being the sole worst performer for the bowling game.haha.meiling,we're tied and i'm not the last,okay!

the next morning, i had to endure terrible exhaustion and sleepiness to get to the merdeka square for our season drumming activity. i was sleeping all the way to the square as our bus marched towards the venue at the crack of dawn. just look at the following pictures that will be the testament of how early did the BIG day begin.however, joy has started to eclipse fatigue as the event we were all filled by the excitement for being parts of the really colourful event. the heat was scorching, obviously...we're all cladded in the chinese costume. that's pretty cool i guess.