Welcome to the first issue of Scotty Says! The first question came in almost immediately after our first post! The question is, “I always seem to have no time for breakfast in the morning even though I know I should eat. Any tips?”
What a great question! Not only is breakfast a crucial aspect to maintaining a healthy body, but it can also be a great motivator at the same time! Think of having breakfast as a reward for getting up in the morning! Even if you are short on time, something as simple as grabbing a piece of fruit or having a glass of water will get the apple rolling on the whole breakfast situation. You wouldn’t skip first period, so why would you skip breakfast! Breakfast is 10x more interesting than homeroom, and I guarantee it leaves a better taste in your mouth! So give it a try, even if you miss a few days! Try and build up the courage to eat in the morning, and I guarantee you will feel more motivated to get work done and to pay attention in those boring morning classes! The next question is, “Any advice on how to improve test writing skills? In need of help because I’m in full IB!” Thank you for sending in your question! This is a tough one only because everyone’s writing skills are different. Though, the first step to improving your writing skills during a test is making sure you understand the question asked. This is crucial because in order for you to answer the question properly, you need to know what it is saying. Once you understand the question, ask yourself what you know about the topic of which was asked. Let’s say you’re in Marketing class and one of the test questions was “What are the 4 P’s? Give an example.” You will have to remember the topic (Marketing Mix) of the question and then answer. (Sorry, I’m taking marketing right now and it’s the only example I could think of.) It is understandable that sometimes things that are asked on the test are worded funny which makes you interpret the information in a different way, but that’s okay because you need to continue to try, don’t give up! Also, make sure you are looking at how much each question is worth. If one of the question is worth five marks, you should know that having a one sentence answer will not get you those full marks. Even if you think it only needs one sentence, continue writing. Make sure you are including keywords and the terms you learned in class. Trust me, one time I got full marks on a question because I included the terms but had no idea what the question is asking me. The second last thing to help improve your test writing skill is not to panic. Before you head into your test, you should not feel unprepared because it really does affect your mentality. If you go in trying to answer a question but you are not giving yourself that positivity, your mind will be more focused on that than answering the question that you know. This is easier said than done, but you need to tell yourself that you will try your best no matter what and you understood as much as you can! Finally, studying! I think that what helps improve test writing skills is making sure you know your material because understanding what you learned makes it so much easier to write your test. You don’t have to worry about making sure you need to hit a certain amount of sentence because the next thing you’ll notice is that you already filled the page up. Being in IB is tough, the work is overwhelming and you know that every mark affects you, but everything has a positive end to it so don’t feel like you’re not doing something right just because you have been pushed down. Life is testing you! And now I will end this with a quote my friend has said to me, “Life is rough, so you gotta be tough!” Thanks for sending in your questions and we hope we gave you some good advice! Be sure to send in more questions for the next issue of “Scotty Says” !!
0 Comments
Authors: Alicia Cole & Emma Johnston November Book of the Month - Cinder by Marissa Meyer
A unique twist on the classic fairytale, Cinder, written by Marissa Meyer, is a noteworthy novel loosely based on the tale of Cinderella. Although it does compare to the original story in some aspects, Cinder stands alone, in that the author designs a more exciting and science-fiction based spin on the tale, setting it in our planet’s high tech future, more specifically in the post-war formed country of New Beijing. In the author’s created world, humans, androids, and cyborgs live alongside each other on Earth, while rivaling other beings with special powers that live on the moon, referred to as “Lunars”. The Lunars constant threat of war often causes tension between Earth and Luna, as influenced by Luna’s extreme dictator, Queen Levana who indicates nothing but hatred towards Earthen life. An independent and strong namesake for the novel, Cinder, a teenage cyborg and self-taught mechanic, eventually finds herself tangled up in the political affairs of Earth and Luna after meeting the Prince of New Beijing, Kaito. Though she struggles, dealing with prejudice from her stepmother and sisters while also being considered a second-class citizen due to her cyborg status, Cinder is bravely able to defend herself and stand up for her country as conflicts progress and the safety of the planet is questioned time and time again. One of our favourite things about Cinder was the fact that it was so creative! There have been countless adaptations of Cinderella, but this one is particularly unique, as it includes political, science-fiction, and technological elements, all within an extremely capturing story. Marissa Meyer was incredibly still able to incorporate the magical, awestrucking nature of the original fairytale while being able to branch off a bit more in a way that was coherent and made sense to the reader. We also appreciated that the plotline was consistently well-paced and interesting as there were little to no slow parts. Another element of the story we both found quite special is Cinder’s character in itself. As opposed to the original fairytale, Cinder is a mechanic, not a princess, making her independent, strong, and willing to fight for what she believes in. We were glad that, although there are romantic storylines, it is not all-consuming within the novel. We have found that there is a nice balance of all elements. Despite the many impressive parts of the novel, as per usual, there are a few downsides. For instance, Marissa Meyer very often goes into detail about Cinder’s cyborg abilities, but makes the assumption that the reader is able to decode all of the technical speak, which for us, wasn’t the case. As well, when reading, we wondered why cyborgs were considered second class citizens when they are clearly more advanced than humans. This issue was never given any background, or thoroughly explained in the novel. In addition to that, we believed that the reader would have also benefitted from more explanations and examples of the New Beijing culture and how exactly it came to be. This was not explored as much as we would have liked it to be. Lastly, although the characters are relatable and lovable, we found them to be lacking a little bit in depth as many of them felt slightly flat. We would have appreciated further exploration of their stories and personalities overall as well as giving them a greater variety of character traits. All in all, we both thoroughly enjoyed Cinder, which is the first installment in the Lunar Chronicles series. We would recommend it to a wide variety of people, from Disney fans to sci-fi fans alike! If you enjoy this book we definitely recommend reading the rest of the series as well, which explores other fairytales with a similar twist, including Little Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, and Snow White. Happy Reading! |
The Globe and Gael