"People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up." - Ogden Nash

***

My most quiet lecture group is at 8am. I think everyone is still asleep.

I found myself saying, for the second time in 8 days after a test, "the curve will pull me up". Gah.

I suspect some people deliberately leave their phones on, or on silent mode, during exams, and then place them with only the fabric of their bags separating them from the floor (so the vibrations will have maximum effect). They then either set a reminder to sound during the exam or ask people to call them repeatedly. This distracts other students who do not anticipate this noise.

You always hear of some people who like to ask other people for assignment answers, or consult with them when they are unclear, but in turn refuse to share any of their own knowledge or answers, usually providing lame answers to mask their selfishness. An effective strategy in dealing with such people is to provide a carefully calibrated set of specious answers to mislead them.

I am freaked out. On October 6 I blogged about a sign with bad grammar in the NUS Central Library, peripheral to bemoaning the floodgates of decadence academic privileges in watching uncensored productions were opening. On Wednesday morning, I noticed it had been reprinted, the grammar mistake had been corrected and the sign had been moved forward so it was now prominently displayed on the counter. If I complain about my modules being too hard, maybe they will be toned down in difficulty too.

Photocopying prices have risen to 3 cents at the Central Library. Since paper is a non-negligible cost, they should implement a 0.5 cent rebate for each double-sided sheet printed. So instead of 6 cents, a double-sided sheet would cost 5.5 cents. If nothing else, this would save some trees.


For one of my modules this semester, we get to bring in a 2-sided cheat sheet for the exams. I've always fantasised about bringing in a magnifying glass during such an exam, so I went to buy this huge (and rather ugly, I might add) magnifying glass from the NUS co-op. Unfortunately, I didn't get down to using it since, even though I squeezed everything into less than 1 page, I could read my handwriting. And since the test was so devilishly hard, I didn't get to twirl it around for fun. In any case, proof of concept has been demonstrated.

Apparently for some modules in Science where cheat sheets (A4-sized pieces of paper on which you can write anything you want - midway between an open-book exam and a closed-book one) are allowed, some smart people shrink A3 sheets to A4 size with photocopiers. And, catching on, some modules ban doing that.