Monday 30 July 2012

Class Tomorrow from 8 am to 11

Get tuned up for a heavyweight class tomorrow (Tuesday)

Timing:

8.00 am - 11.00 am

I will also sit with 2 students whom I have not sat with before.

Sunday 29 July 2012

Class Resumes from Tuesday / My Physical Condition

MY Leg Condition:
  1. Right femur (right below pelvic joint) shows a 'cyst' - detected benign. The cyst is healing but the outer wall of the bone has been 'thinned'. I had been advised to walk with extreme care.
  2. Left pelvic joint shows collection of serum/pus - indicating inflammation and infection - currently being treated with 4th generation Antibiotic, painkillers etc.
  3. The Diagnostic tests have already excluded - Arthritis, Kidney problem, lungs and liver 'erosion', 'heart disease' of the Cardiac type. However, I do know for certain that I suffer from certain amount of heart disease - the doctors will be unable to identify.
  4. Waiting to exclude TB and Psoriatic Arthritis
I regret to say that I will not take class tomorrow. I am improving as most of the Deadly Diseases that had been on the shelf had been excluded - except for a few lesser ones.


I would also like to assign Adnan to keep in touch with Mahmud - so that Mahmud is encouraged to send me reading reports. Adnan shall also answer some of the preliminary Questions that Mahmud has. I am sending Mahmud's email address to Adnan.


I want to RE-install classes from Tuesday and shall follow the following schedule.


Tuesday:       8.00 am to 11 am
Wednesday:  8.00 am to 11 am
Thursday:      8.00 am to 11 am


I want to make one of the above dates an 8 hour class - after consultation with all of you. 


I HOPE everyone is alright - and ready to go full-throttle from Tuesday.


Cheers.

Tuesday 24 July 2012

SAT II Subject Choice

This is a request to everyone to remind me of SAT-II subject choice BEFORE we start our class tomorrow Wednesday morning at 8.00 am.

I am happy to notice that a large number of Reading Reports by most of the Students . This is definitely a HUGE improvement in the overall standard of our SAT class.

Monday 23 July 2012

No Class tomorrow - Tuesday

We will have no class tomorrow Tuesday.

However, on Wednesday I will take class from 8 am to 12 am. 

I will cover a large number of Critical Reading and Writing items.

Everyone is AGAIN requested to send me a minimum 15 min report. I will be greatly honored.

The following is a report after today's CLASS.


Today morning I went to the Anglophiles SAT class. There at first we were asked to tell the profession of an artist in a music video on a Rabindranath Tagore’s Dance Drama. At first glance we were all wrong. It showed how noncompetitive was our reasoning skills by watching something. But when you showed us and helped us to identify the trigger by which we can actually guess that "dancing man's" profession accurately one of our fellow class mates did identified that but that wasn't hundred percent correct though.

By that question and our initial response I came to conclusion that I do answer questions shallowly. And the remedy is to concentrate and work harder.

After that you showed us how to approach a Critical reading passage or a text. Our approach will made by three steps. These are:

1.        Place name Identification
2.       Identity of the person and profession
3.       Identity of the range of vocabulary (lexical field)

Later you showed us the rules to write an effective essay. You were giving importance in reporting in order to improve our writing and help us to write an excellent college essay.
Later you admonished us for not sending you reports regularly. You told us that we will be reporting and learning these new things for just two more weeks after that we will be doing only mock tests. But SATs are not everything in the Admissions and receiving Financial Aid in US colleges. As our goal is to get admission with financial aid we should improve our writing by reporting you about the reading items.

Now here is my report on Art movements and Cubism and I did it within 7 minutes. 
Wikipedia says that Art Movement is a tendency of art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists in a period of time. Suddenly I saw a link of Cubism, which I went through. I found it interesting as this Cubism asks to analyze, break up and reassemble different types of objects around to have a better view of it.

But Sir I think it is needed when you are investigating a murder or scrutinizing an integrated circuit. You do not need to see your laptop in a cubist point of view to have a better understanding of it but you would need if it gets out of order to fix it.

So I think cubist images of something should be used to analyze it technically not visually. Do not you think the same way?

Really enjoyed doing this report in a short time.

Sunday 22 July 2012

Yelling for Report - Monday SAT Class

I want me reports - everyone - please please PLEASE please - please. 


Also to remind that we have class tomorrow Monday - at 8.00 am - 11.00 am.


Monday 16 July 2012

Of Writer's Block - Contributed by Kashef [of Northwestern U]

"Writer's block is tough to overcome- but it can be overcome if you trust that your mind is beautiful and write without inhibitions no matter how silly or horrible something might sound. Open your mind. Forget word limits. Write many drafts. Good writing requires inspiration, but the best inspiration comes from starting to write in the first place. Refinement is something that comes with time."

Stranger - by Washeq

A very 'unemotional' summary of The Stranger. Therefore, I liked it a lot.


The Stranger is a novel written by Albert Camus. The story is about Meursault, a man who is very indifferent to the events going around him. 
        At the beginning of the story we learn that Meurasult's mother has just died and he has gone to attend her funeral. Meursault has to take two days off to go to his mother's funeral in her old home which he put her in. He doesn't feel any remorse and sheds no tears, neither does he want to see his deceased mother's face. As his mother is to be buried in the morning, Meursault spends the night beside her mothers coffin drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes. He thinks that it is absurd that people close to her mother are crying for her. On returning from the old home he goes swimming where he meets Marie, a former typist at his workplace. They go out to see a comedy film and have intercourse at night. Next Meursault meets Raymond, a man everyone knows as a pimp. Meursault helps him write a letter so that Raymond can beat up a Moor girl. Meursault sees nothing wrong with this and Raymond convinces him that the woman had betrayed him. Meursault then helps Raymond plead innocent at court. Meursault and Marie go to the beach to visit Raymond's friend where they are accosted by the moor lady's brother. Meursault and the others at first succeed in scaring off the brother when Raymond threatens them with his gun. At one point Meursault takes Raymond's gun and goes for a walk. By chance he meets the the moor lady's brother. The man draws a knife and in haste Meursault fires multiple shots and kills the man. 
      The real story begins as Meursault is arrested and taken to prison. He says that he is innocent and he fired the shots impulsively. However, the lawyers and judges are more interested by his personal life and his mother's death. Meursault says he put his mother away in a home because he could not afford to keep her with him. The prosecution lawyer puts forward his nonchalant behavior in front of the court and calls him a "soulless monster", the prosecutor lawyer believes that due to this behavior he will resort to much larger crimes. Meursault and his friends try to plead that his intentions were not wrong but the judge doesn't believe him, he is sentenced to be executed. Before his execution a chaplain comes to him and tells him to pray to God. Meursault says that he doesn't want to waste his time on God and believes people will move on if he dies, and that everyone must die one time or another. His last hopes are that a large crowd will come to witness his execution.
      The story shows how the society ill treats Meursault just because of his straightforward and very unemotional way of thinking. However it is also very hard to argue that he was wrongly executed. Because he might have been involved in future crimes just because his friends convinced him that it was right. Thanks for suggesting the book.

Class tomorrow Tuesday / 2 MOCK Test Reports

This is to confirm that we have class tomorrow at 4.00 pm. It is going to be a VERY Important Class.

Everyone should try to Attend.

Today was our SAT Mock day. I have received 2 responses from 2 of our students. I am posting their statements regarding the Mock.

Zuhair wrote:

"Dear Sir,

When I took my 5th test TODAY, I found that in the Writing portion of the Test I was able to identify the problems quicker. It felt like accurate guessing."

Hasnat's REPORT is even more encouraging:

"Dear Sir,

This is the 5th Practice Test I have taken. I have noticed how the passages are SIMILAR to the reading items done in the class, especially - feminism, behaviourism, epistemology.


I have reached a conclusion that every Critical Reading Passages in the SAT exam follow a similar trend. In the case of Writing Sections, those 11 Grammar Drills from the Stress Book helped me a lot. About the Math Sections, it's all a mixture of algebra, geometry, statistics. Well I finished those sections in time except for a few of them.


I hope there are more to learn and catch up with the shuttle."


Thursday 12 July 2012

Liberal Feminism in Bangladesh

The following text appears in a report sent by Nahaz. Please note a very sharp observation on connection between Liberal Feminism and Bangladesh
"Feminism, as you have shown us has three main schools of thought, namely Liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, Socialist feminism and Radical feminism. Liberal feminists believe that women are deprived from emancipation due to individual ignorance. Every woman must stand up for her own rights. They believe that widespread awareness on women's rights, and the drive to overcome the social hurdles can help them achieve their goals. From my reading, I understand that most feminists and women's rights activists in our country base their practices on the principles of Liberal feminism."
"Marxist feminism and Socialist feminism have a lot in common. They believe economic inequality between males and females, and dependence of women on men has caused the social inequality. Marxists aim to end the differences by eliminating capitalism, which they believe is the root of economic inequality. Socialist feminists believe oppression must end by women decreasing dependence on men. They believe that apart from economic differences, professionalization social responsibilities on women such as motherhood and child-rearing have aided in taking women farther away from liberation. Radical feminists have an anti-male domination stance. They view patriarchy as the oppressive institution. Social reorganization is required to end oppression according to them.

Contributed by Nahaz.

Wednesday 11 July 2012

A Report on "Heart of Darkness" and Feminism by Argho


Dear Sir,

I have started my last remaining must read item, Heart Of Darkness. Till now I have successfully gone through the first chapter and have acquired some knowledge of its difficulty level and its content that I would like to share with you. The book is very descriptive, vivid and pictorial. The observations regarding the smallest of items and moments and some remarkable comparisons I have come across is very much pictorial. However it is not easy to read at a go. The stranger and The metamorphosis however did not require any breaks. Maybe the words used are slowing me down, however I might take comparatively a little more time than usual but I will try to get it done. I am guessing there is more stories of sea coming my way as I embark on a subconscious parallel journey on the Thames, the heart of darkness.


Sir here is a report on a previously done assignment on 2nd and 3rd wave feminism.


Feminism

Feminism relates to the collection of movements that established equal political, social, legal rights for women via three major time frames that is regarded to as "Waves". The entire movement can be broadly broken down into three major waves. The first wave ensured the rights of women to vote which was the first and foremost success of the feminism movement to begin with. 

2nd wave: It focuses mainly on women's right in different places of the society, broadly in family and workplace regarding legal rights. The most prominent figure who is thought to be the main influence for the second wave is Betty Friedan, the writer of the book which forged the movement, "The Feminine Mystique". This book mainly criticizes the role of women in society. It goes against the typical thought of what women are expected to do and states that women being at home limits the possibilities of women and is actually a waste of their talent and potential. The movement lasted as long as, from 1960 to 1999. The national organization for women was established by Betty Friedman along with others on 1966. Gender discrimination were legalized along with reforms in gender pay gap. One of the prominent anthem of the feminism movement was "I am woman" by Helen Reddy. Abortion, equal pay was legalized and on the other hand marital rape was illegalized. 1979 was the year when Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister of UK( the first female prime minister).

3rd wave: The third wave was largely different from second wave. This wave mostly considered individual enrichment of women rather than legal acts. It fought for the reforms in the way women were viewed in the society. They believed that women are a being of free will and may choose to whatever they wish to with their life regardless what the society thinks. No regret for sexual relationships( free will) and would consider themselves to be survivors rather than victims.

Feminism is the reason for the present status women hold in our society today. A saying goes, "If you do not fight for your right no one will give them to you." The saying is well served as far as feminism is concerned.

Thank You
Argho.

PS: When do I register for my SAT 1 and SAT 2?

Some SAT Exam Items



Barron’s SAT I test Reading Items
Test 1/3:                 James Joyce The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Test 1/5:                 Thomas Hobbes and John Lock -philosophers of the 17th century / Nature of medieval cities
Test 2/1:                 Medieval Cities
Test2/3:                  Frederick Douglas / Charles Darwin and his expedition /
Test 2/5:                 Detective Story – W.H. Auden / Crime and Punishment / Kafka-Trial and Metamorphosis
Test 3.1:                  Plato-Myths and Rituals / Golden Bough-James Frazer /
Carpe Diem ('Seize the Day'), an analysis of Rock & Roll and its Socio-political Impact
Test 3/5:                 Issues of “Back to Africa / Issues regarding identity crisis
Test 4/1:                 The Duchess of Malfi – Bosola [Scholar Assassin]
Test 4/5:                 Particle Physics and its connection with dance and music
Test 5/1:                 Rewriting the Native American Population’s history
Test 5/3:                 Archetype, Psychoanalytical Criticism, Mickey Mouse, and Taboo and Totem (Carl Jung and collective unconscious)
Test 6.1:                  Gothic World
Test 6/5:                 American Philosophy- Plato and Aristotle, George Santayana, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche [Thus Spake Zarathustra]
                                Art [Realistic – Non-realistic, Surrealism, Impressionism, Expressionism, Gothic, Rococo, Cubism]

·         Read and vocalize the words you collected from Official SAT [use the printed list]
·         Princeton 11 tests
·         SAT II Kaaplan Mathematics [finish it in 3 days]
·         Sundry Topic
o    Psychoanalysis [Freud, Jung]
o    Behaviorism / Neurology [Skinner]
o     Evolution [Darwin, T. H. Huxley]
o    Feminism [Mary Wolstencraft, Simon de Beauvoir]
o    Post-Colonialism [Heart of Darkness, Tempest, Robinson Crusoe, Jane Eyre, Things Fall Apart]
o    Art Movements [renaissance [Raphael], impressionism [Monet, Manet], surrealism [Dali],  cubism [Picasso]
o    Film – Lawrence of Arabia, The Dictator, Monsieur Verdouix 
o    Music – Moonlight Sonata
o    Why is/isn’t Monalisa a Political Art
·         Assignments given on 26/07/09
o    My Antonia [read the PDF from the net].
o    Watch “Dr. Zhivago” and consider 2 following questions
§  How much the individual is crushed by the forces of history?
§  Are individuals pawns in the hands of destiny or can individuals decide their lives?
·         Assignments given on 28/07/09
o    Modest Proposal
o    Shooting an Elephant
o    Politics and the English Language
o    How should one Read a Book – Virginia Woolf
o    Of Studies
Advice to the Youth / On the Decay of the Art of Lying > Mark Twain

What is to be Done (An allusion to Chernishevsky’s revolution-time novel in Russian)

  1. You have to remind yourself constantly that SAT is not a Coursework – it is a lifestyle. Read something new every hour – see something new every day, try to LOCATE your new experience as you prepare for the next day.
  2. Finish the SAT I tests from Official SAT + Princeton 11 Tests + Barron’s SAT. If you are done with the tests then retake the tests for a second time.
  3. Carry a Note Book [this is your Log Book of Reading items] in which write down any thought comes to your mind.
  4. NEVER come to the SAT class without Heavy Breakfast or healthy Lunch.
  5. Use internet like a Professional Researcher. A good learner shall use the net for about 4 hours daily.
  6. Spend a time on the NET to read diverse reading items. Go to websites  such as www.cummingsstudyguides.net + www.lrb.org + www.mit.edu + www.bates.edu on a regular basis. Make it a daily business. 
  7. Whenever you have an Academic, Non-academic, existential question or otherwise – talk to me or email the query to the following address ––– mamun_shahidul_sm@yahoo.com. The mails are treated as thoroughly confidential.
  8. If you do not mail me on a regular basis let me tell you straight – you are a shirker, and a deceiver. YOU are NOTHING. You may have excuses but your excuses SHALL fall flat on my ear. If your computer breaks down often, change the computer. If you do not have good net connection, then get yourself a Dial-Up Network or a Grameen Internet connection for just TK 300/- per month. For the next 4 months this is a very crucial investment.
  9. If you want to sit with me, PLEASE ask for an appointment over the net or through an SMS.
  10. Start working on the SAT II subject tests. Two subjects are enough – but 3 subjects are very good. You must work towards a perfect score of 800 in every SAT II subject tests.
  11.  Access the Admission page of any selected College or University. See what are the requirements for admission. Find out meanings of some terms such as – RD, ED, Need Based, EA, ED2, Certificate of Finance, Supplementary Essay, Why Essay, Graded Essay – do not get frightened by all these strange lingo.
  12. Become a FREE member of www.collegeboard.com – this is the OFFICIAL site through you will later register. Please register as soon as you can – otherwise you may have to go to Chittagong. The cost of one SAT I test is US $ 82.00.
  13. You must give the first SAT I test on 6th October 2012. The result comes on the 20th October. You are STRONGLY advised to retake the test in December 2012.
  14. For SAT II you take the test only once. In this single sitting you have to score high.

Some Very Important Articles

I will use the following articles in next week's class.

  1. Critical Thinking in College Writing - Gita DasBender
  2. Essay Writing: The Essential Guide - David Gauntlett
  3. Is Our Culture Dying - Tyler Cowen
  4. Approaches to Argument in a Critical Essay
  5. 5 Essential Elements of Writing
Please try to find these in the web and if possible read a few pages.
On July 10, 2012 we had a brief class of 2 hours in which we discussed about  ‘Critical Reading Strategies’. As reference the items have been assigned for reading and Report.

1.       THE POSSIBILITY OF SOCIAL CHOICE.
              Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1998 by.AMARTYA SEN
2.    Art Since 1950
 National Gallery of art Washington
3.    The Elements of Style by William Strunk
4.    My Perspective: A Response to "Syntax at an Early Age". By: Melanie Sperling
5.       Magic  Realism by Stephen Slemon http://cinema2.arts.ubc.ca/units/canlit/pdfs/articles/canlit116-Magic(Slemon).pdf
6.    Don't Begin Sentences with But  by George Dorrill www.nwp.org/cs/public/download/nwp_file/468/Dont_Begin_Sentences_with_But.pdf?x-r=pcfile_d
7.    White Teeth and Postcolonial Literature                                                              www.teachit.co.uk
8.    Reading Lolita in Tehran A Memoir in Books
by Azar Nafisi
9.       How to Become a Man of Genius
10.   A Modest Proposal  by Jonathan Swift.  
11.   Theory of knowledge Published March 2006                                    
Read pages 6 to 40
12.    Miss Sarajevo - A documentary by Bill Carter 
13.     Amistad [Story of Slave revolt on the ship Amistad]
14.  We also added a poem titled The Convergence of Twain by Thomas Hardy


Tuesday 10 July 2012

After a Short Break

Dear All,

I apologize for not being able to access the BLOG. During the last two days we have covered a few things such as, -

  •  Vocabulary
  • A few Articles [Amartya Sen, Bertrand Russell, Jonathan Swift etc.] 
  • A few ideas and concepts in Philosophy
  • Admission criteria
Today I had brief meeting with Farheen and Adnan and on Thursday I have arranged to meet with the following students. 

  • Washeq
  • Umama
  • Nahaz
  • Nirjhor
  • Shabbir
All of you are instructed to come at 2.00 pm. I will sit with individual students and I will ask you about your preparedness for SAT and Admission. 

I hope that rest of the students shall send me reports of their reading.

Thursday 5 July 2012

Fateless - Movie

“Holdvilágos éjszakán miről álmodik a lány… – what does she dream of while cradled in blue darkness and isolation?” 

Of a "Sacked" Zuhair


"I logged on to SparkNotes yesterday and started reading a book “Sacked”. I am currently on chapter 5, and I have so far found the book interesting and more enjoyable then the summaries on cummings."

I will kill you for this - you sloth.

Reading Report on "College: What it was and Should be"


I just finished reading the reviews and introduction of College by Andrew Delbanco. I think we are all aware, to some extent, of the problems discussed in this book. But as we are least bothered about actually learning so, it is not even an issue. My friends are spending fortunes in universities, stressing themselves over exams and grades, but at the end, it all just to survive the competition or the inflation. 

It got me thinking  for a while about the colleges I would apply to. This book has helped me believe in my decision, that I should not study just for the sake of getting a job but also to become competent. It leaves me thinking, “I don’t want to go to a college where I will be forced to study just for tests, mid-terms and finals, BUT how can I find a college which would help me define myself?” This is why, I have listed this book as a “must read” before SAT.

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Very Important Notice

Report - Report - Report ---- Or, face consequences!

Even a short 1 line report will suffice.

I have also posted a large number of selected links from our previous posts under the top banner titled Old Blog - Select Posts.

Everyone MUST check it today and tomorrow.

Monday 2 July 2012

Important !!!

I am going to POST new things in about half an hour from now. Check the BLOG in about an hour.

This is also to confirm that our class has been scheduled TOMORROW at 4.00 pm.

Thanks.

Sunday 1 July 2012

Big Questions

Dear ALL,

Do as much as possible - Anything at all!

http://www.templeton.org/signature-programs/big-questions-essay-series

A few of the peoples have missed today's class - please contact others and return to this BLOG tomorrow to find out what have we covered in the last 2 days.

I hope all those who were present have lot of things to think and WORK on.