6 ways to proofread an essay

University applications, an IB Extended Essay, coursework and even blogposts; sometimes I feel like I am really just an essay-generating machine. But thankfully, this has helped me improve my writing skills quite a bit. Even better, almost all of these were done digitally, which gave me more ways to double-check my essays before publication/submission. For those who’ve yet to discover some of these gems, here are 6 ways to proofread an essay:

1. Spell-check
This might sound obvious, but it really is a marvel of modern technology that you can do this. A simple way of making sure that everything is spelt correctly. It looks bad to anyone reading an essay, especially when it is submitted digitally, if there are spelling mistakes. What does it say about you when you can’t spell properly even when given spell check?

But beware, just because a word is spelt correctly doesn’t mean it’s the correct word. “I feel a lump in my throat” and “I felt a lump in my throat” aren’t quite the same sentence, even if they are spelt correctly.

Canton IV [MOTIONS]

Motions of the Canton IV 2012

Round 1
1）THW ban homeschooling
2) THBT school uniforms are harmful
3) THW make university education free for all

Round 2
1) THBT China should abolish the One Child Policy
2) THBT China should allow provinces to use local dialects (Cantonese, Shanghainese, etc) as a medium of instructions in schools
3) THW abolish all restrictions on immigration between Hong Kong and Mainland China

External Economies of Scale

Economic textbooks will tell you about Economies of Scale. Many even mention External Economies of Scale, but it is often hard to visualize any realistic example of where this is actually the case. This is a very good, high profile example of external economies of scales from The Economist when discussing comparative advantage.

What Shenzhen has to offer on top is 30 years’ experience of producing electronics. It has a network of firms with sophisticated supply chains, multiple design and engineering skills, intimate knowledge of their production processes and the willingness to leap into action if asked to scale up production.

What Shenzhen provides, in other words, is a successful industrial cluster. It works for Apple because many of the electronic parts it uses are commodities. The real innovation lies in designing the product and creating smart software, which is the speciality of another successful cluster, in Silicon Valley, where Apple is based.

Norway: Part 2

I spent the remainder of my two weeks in Norway with Heidi (Norwegian first year) in Oslo. What a city, and what a week. Oslo is small enough to traverse on foot and makes visiting everything a heck of a lot easier. At the same time, it is big enough to have a bit of everything; lots of parks, museums and attractions, all within easy access. I also loved the amount of green space in Oslo, it’s really quite a change from Hong Kong, and surprising how much green space can be found in the little city center. I had quite a bit of sun, generally good weather and even managed to avoid the heavy rain. Boy did we do a lot that week.

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Norway: Part 1

After many goodbyes and farewells at the formal conclusion of my high-school life, I promptly set-off for Norway, where I spent about two weeks. I, along with a group of above a dozen other AC students managed to land at Oslo Gardermoen airport despite a lost passport, two lengthy full-security bag checks and a lot of running from one place to another. After a (relatively) short train journey and a car ride, we arrived at Jacob’s (Norwegian co-year of mine) where we were more than happy to crash after a few sleepless nights signing yearbooks, or sleeping at Heathrow as was the case for a few first years.

The next two days were surprisingly lazy, consisting of a bunch of games in Jacob’s garden as we enjoyed the Norwegian sun, a lot of brilliant food and a trip to the beach somewhere along the way. I don’t know what got the better of me, but I somehow found myself atop a 10 meter diving platform, committing myself to launching off it. It’s probably relevant to note that I’ve never dived off anything taller than 3 meters and even then, (some 5 years back?) emerged with a sore back. 10 meters is a long way, but the scariest thing is the 3-4 seconds before you hit the water. It was enough time for me to wonder what exactly I was doing before I plunged into the water; or in the case of Oli (my Welsh roommate), to scream f*** 4 times. Let’s just say I probably won’t be diving anytime soon =D

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And we’re back!

Wow, it’s been a long time since my last post. IN fact, this has been the longest hiatus from blogging since I started back in October 2009. Although I continued blogging during trips overseas, debate championships and even my IGCSEs, the final IB exams were unfortunately, successful in removing my fingers from the keyboard. Thankfully, IB Exams are now over and all that remains is waiting for the results.

In the end-of-year melee at AC, what with yearbook signing and goodbyes, I decided not to post anything. Then it was off to Norway for a short holiday, much-needed after a two-year slog at AC. Then some friends visited Hong Kong, and I became a de-facto tour-guide. After all that, I finally had time to catch-up on a bit of sleep (two years worth), unpack and generally get life back in order.

Thankfully, all that is now dealt with. So let the summer begin!

Some study that I used to know

Seems so appropriate post IB (minus the inappropriateness of the video itself)