This year I was introduced to blogging in my 5th hour American Literature class. Although I was familiar with blogging I had never tried to make a blog. Each month I had to write a blog about my learning experience, and post comments on some of my peer's blogs. The commenting aspect of blogging helped me get to know people in my grade better. I would often figure out new information about someone I have been in a class with for years. It also introduced me to new people that I had never talked to in real life or in person. Receiving comments on my blogs was fun as well. Similarly to commenting on other student's blogs, receiving comments introduced me to knew people. Sometimes if I was interested in someone's comment I would even check out their posts too. Although giving and receiving comments had been fun, the best part of my blogging experience had been posting my own blogs. Writing these blogs helped me reflect and learn new things about my learning process. I found out that I often enjoyed preparing to learn instead of simply diving in head first. I remembered I had made a schedule before most of my finals, and made a blog about it. Posting these blogs affected the way I went about learning on a daily basis. I noticed that I had made a schedule before starting to study for the SAT. I thought back to the ways I had studied in the past and molded my schedule around what worked the best. I decided to study using Khan Academy because online resources helped me the most in my experience. Using past experiences that I had remember through blogging helped me prepare for many of the other learning experiences I ran into this year as well. www.khanacademy.org
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One of the hardest writing assignments I have had was writing my first short story. I did not have much guidance on what I was supposed to write about or how to write it. The experience was hard at first, although it became easier as I improved my writing skills. Due to my lack of writing experience I decided to seek help from people around me. Many family members gave me interesting ideas to write about, and tips and tricks about grammar. One family member suggested that I base the story on one of my personal experiences. I decided to take this advice, and write about a fictionalized version of my trip to universal studios. I also decided to consult educated adults about my writing. My 4th grade teacher ended up being a helpful resource in guiding me on my writing. She mainly helped me with grammar, and common errors. One helpful tip she taught me was to differentiate between "there" and "their". These types of small tips helped me improve my writing slightly although still did not get me to where I wanted to be. However I did not learn the most about writing until my parents recommended that I looked up how to get better at writing. On the internet my parents were able to find some kid friendly websites and videos that helped me practice my writing skills. These online resources helped me get the grade I wanted on the assignment, and helped me improve my writing skills. Last year I was met with the task of taking an AP exam for the first time. I decided to learn how to study before I jumped right in because I wanted to do well. Although the task at hand seemed overwhelming at first, I eventually figured out what I was supposed to do. The first action I took to prepare myself was to recall what my teacher told me about studying for the AP exam. I picked up a Princeton review packet because I remembered her talking about how useful they were. This book ended up being the most helpful aid in my studying process. Not only did it help me review what I had already learned that year, but it also taught me how to approach the exam. However despite how helpful the review could be I still tried to use other resources. I often looked at past AP World History exams to see what I could expect. Some online resources helped me learn the content, but few taught me how to approach the exam. Since they changed up the format that year most resources were for the old AP exam and could not tell me what to expect. Due to the recent change I decided to stick to more credible sources. I tried to stay away from older books and videos to avoid incorrect information. Instead I used sources that my teacher could recommend. She would often recommend Crash Course videos which were helpful in review content and giving a general idea of the topic. However the most helpful resource she recommended was the textbook for the class. I had used it all year to learn all the information I needed to know for the exam. It provided the information in the most detail. Whenever I was confused about something I would look back at the book to figure it out. Once the exam came in May I felt ready to approach it. Since May is around the corner I have been able to apply some of the information I learned last year to this year's AP exams. Hopefully my extra experience this year can result in scores higher than last year's score. Earlier this year my sister introduced me to a game called Player Unknown's Battle Ground. I was fascinated by the simple premise of the game that was putting 100 people on a field and making them take each other out. PUBG sparked my interest in the battle royale genre, and is what got me wanting to improve my skills at games similar to it. The first step I took was playing with some friends. Although at first this was helpful for all of us because we were all inexperienced, I found myself becoming overly reliant on them. I ended up often being the one that would die first or miss the shot that could win us the game. Playing with friends also hurt my solo matches. I was accustomed to having them save me so I would often die quick in games where I did not have a partner. Out of frustration I decided to watch some videos on how to get better at battle royale games. Some videos that ranked landing spots and weapons were useful because they increased my knowledge of the game. However I found the videos that claimed to help with aiming and hiding useless because those are not skills that can be taught. To improve these skills I decided to just practice. Practicing on my own allowed me to learn from my mistakes and improve because of them. This became my most useful tactic for approaching battle royale games. Although I do not have a win in PUBG yet, I continue to get more kills each game. Getting better has also resulted in branching out to other battle royale games such as Fortnite. I find the genre fun, which is why I hope to continue to get better and to find new games. The time after winter break is the worst part of my year. Not only is the fun from the vacation brought to a halt, but it is also when I have to study for final exams. By far the worst finals I have had to study for were the first ones I took. The classes I took were not hard, but it was the first time I had taken large exams. My first step in studying for finals that year was to organize my classes. It was a foreign experience to me, so I wanted to know what I was going to do before I jumped right in. In order to determine the priority of exams I had to study for, I looked at my grades to see what finals I would have to get the highest grades in in order to get the grade I desired. I also considered how much I would have to study for each class based on how much I already knew. Once I realized what classes I would study for first, I had to decide on a learning tactic. Prior to that point flashcards were my main way of learning, and I decided not to change that. I found the repetition of flashcards were helpful in memorizing facts. The three classes I decided to use flashcards for were History, Science, and literature because they involved the most memorization. I decided to study for my other academic class, math, by doing practice problems. That way I would be familiar with multiple different types of problems by the time of the exam. The weeks leading up to exams I had been constantly asking my family to quiz me. Although I could have easily quizzed myself, I found when someone said a word out loud it helped me memorize it better. Often times my family would even help me memorize a word by giving me Mnemonic Devices. Mnemonics were some of the most useful learning tactics I used because they were easy to learn and I could think of them during the exam. Before the exams I ate a good breakfast and got enough sleep as my teachers had warned me to. Once exams came I felt prepared to tackle them. Thanks to my preparation I was able to allocate my time well enough to get just enough studying for each class, and it showed. Once I got exams back, I was pleased to find out I got just what I needed on each exam to get the grades I wanted. One of my favorite times of the year is the holiday season because I get to acquire more gadgets and games then I do all year round. This year, my parents bought me a new laptop, and I decided to download some games onto it. I do not know much about video games, so the first place I turned to was the Microsoft store. Here I was surprised by the small selection of apps. The only game I could imagine myself playing was asphalt 8 so I downloaded it. I opened up the app and decided to skip the tutorial because I played asphalt a few years prior. Jumping right in was not hard. The controls were the same as all other car racing games, and were easy to get a hang of. My sister even let me borrow her game controller, which made the whole experience easier. Soon I was winning multiple races in a row. Although my beginner's luck stopped short once I got to the second season in the game. Here I was met with the challenge of Gate Drifts. These races consisted of large hoops I had to drift through in order to gain points. I figured I could beat them through trial and error, as I had been up to that point. However Gate Drifts did not get easier the more I played. I ended up so frustrated that I looked to YouTube for a tutorial on how to drift in Asphalt. I thought a video would help because I usually learn best when something is explained to me, but the process left me more confused. The only video I found told me to do what I was already doing, but it did not explain what I was doing wrong. I decided to ask a friend who plays asphalt what my mistake was. Apparently holding the drift instead of tapping it was a common mistake that he also had. With my new information I replayed the Gate Drifts, and I found myself flying threw them. Playing with a friend was more productive than any other method of learning. Being able to ask him about my specific confusions allowed me to overcome them quicker. Now that I have all the controls figured out, practicing is what helps me get better at the game. Practicing now is more productive because I am getting used to using the right controls instead of the wrong ones. Looking back I wish I had not jumped in right away. Not only because I spent a while practicing the wrong information but the tutorial probably explained how to drift , which would have saved me time in the long run if I had just watched it. With my new knowledge on how to adapt to a game, I am think of branching off to new games. If you have any suggestions for games feel free to tell me in the comments. Throughout most of my elementary school career I was obsessed with card games. What game I played usually depended on what everyone thought was popular at the time. Most of these games didn't stay with me for long except for Yu-Gi-Oh. Before middle school I thought I was great at playing Yu-Gi-Oh. I had some of the best cards, and whenever I played a family member they let me win without me knowing. I didn't have access to the internet so I watched almost every episode of the animated series to learn the rules. Unfortunately once I did get access to the internet I learned many of the rules I acquired from the show weren't true. The creators of the show exaggerated the rules in order to make the main character win in a twist at the end of every arch. In spite of the creators I have recently dusted off my old deck, and tried to learn how to play Yu-Gi-Oh the official way. I set aside some time at night to research the game. This was easier because no one was awake to annoy me. I also feel a little more motivated at night to get a task done. Most of my research was done in my room because I feel more comfortable there, and I am able to get more thinking done. The most logical first step for me was to look up how to play on the internet. The downside was I got multiple different answers. Some websites gave different reasons for what stars meant, or how the point system worked. I ended up more confused then I was before. Eventually I found instructions on their official website, and decided to stick with those because they were straight from the people who made the cards. While reading the rules I found it helpful to have my old cards sitting out in front of me. If the directions referenced attack points I could see what they were referring to. I combined and revised my knowledge to fit this new information I was given. After successfully weeding out all the useless and incorrect information I felt as if a practice round would be beneficial. I didn't wan't anyone to interrupt my learning process so I set up a round against myself. Learning on my own was beneficial because I was able to get a feel for both sides of the game . Setting up the cards and playing a round helped me get a better grasp of tactics and dynamics. After, I almost felt as familiar with the game as I did when I was a kid. Learning the game was a lot of fun. I probably will not go to an international tournament after this, but it feels good to know I learned how to play one of my favorite childhood games correctly. |