“Creativity is making what you want, with what you have.”
You have unleashed your creativity and now the results are in…
THE WAIT IS OVER
English Day 2020 organized by the the Royal College English Literary Association.
Missed the live stream? We got you covered Watch the English Day down below
“We don’t grow when things are easy, we grow when we face challenges.”
CHRONICLES is a series of Exclusive Online Interviews with Leaders & Industry movers on how they navigate a fast-changing landscape of challenges due to the covid 19 pandemic.
Today’s interview will be with the Honorable Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs Mr. Namal Rajapaksa who will be sharing with us on how the Covid Pandemic has affected the sports field and youth around Sri Lanka and how he is managing to solve these problems.
Catch us on Youtube
https://youtu.be/4SvCbr5hsbs
CHRONICLES is a series of Exclusive Online Interviews with Leaders & Industry movers on how they navigate a fast-changing landscape of challenges due to the covid 19 pandemic.
This exciting interview will be with the vice president of John Keells Holdings and the head of brand marketing Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts Mr. Dileep Mudadeniya who will be sharing with us about how the Covid Pandemic has effected businesses and what they did to cope with it.
Catch us on Youtube
https://youtu.be/8kCN_7ifM_k
The 3rd Edition of TV Royal, Asia’s premier student-run TV network, ended its two-day broadcast with the resounding sound of success. With the motto of ‘A Story of Change’, this year’s rendition of the project focused mainly on sustainability and responsibility towards the world we live in; an extremely important message to focus on in today’s day and age. With a plethora of programs and new and innovative techniques that strove to bring the viewership closer to the channel, TV Royal has remained true to its legacy of trailblazing, moving forward and originality.
While in the midst of a pandemic, it was no small feat to brew this fresh content and maintain a sense of freshness and originality. However, with shows such as Adieu, Suits, Gastronauts, and many other shows detailing the path to sustainable development and positive growth, TV Royal succeeded in moving from strength to strength for the third consecutive time. Not only the scope of content, the scope and magnitude of how all-encompassing this project was, can be understood by how far the students had ventured out of the sheltered streets of Colombo. Visiting locations such as Yala, Polonnaruwa, Anuradhapura, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Ampara, Chilaw, Trincomalee and Galle, this project was done on a scale hitherto unheard of. This success was largely bought on by the students who stood behind the camera, the ones who sat hunched behind their computers, the ones who wrote on every surface possible, the ones who spoke and presented the content, as well as every other student that came to support this cause.
Of course, as with any great victory, there must also be a certain amount of sacrifice, to make it unto the very end. This is, and always has been, the recipe of greatness, the formula of success. Sleep was lost, meals were foregone, rest was forgotten and comforts foregone, but at the end of it all, stood a testament to the work and contribution of everybody involved; there stood a testament to the ethos of TV Royal.
This would not be possible without the guidance of our teachers, the contribution of our valued sponsors and the support of our peers and parents; and last but not least, the support of our viewership, who pushed us to do great things, and make great content and be great men. To all who helped us on this journey, a big thank you and more gratitude than we could ever express.
By Charanga Gamage and Lakdinu De Silva
“Studies are the number one priority, the cake itself. Everything else(sports,
clubs,etc) is the icing.”
In the 14th century the society of the world was divided into various social classes. In England there existed many social classes such as the nobility, freemen, peasants and serfs. The general rule in this feudal society was that the son follows in his fathers footsteps and learns his fathers trade. If his father was a king the son would learn to rule, a blacksmiths son would learn to work iron, a potters son will have to learn pottery. There were no crosslinks in this society which enabled a man to change the social class to which he was born. A man born a peasant will die a peasant.
However this all changed as the world progressed into the current society where one giant crosslink joined all of the social classes, this crosslink is education. In the present society if you are born poor it does not necessarily infer that you would die poor, nor will it infer that a rich birth would lead to a rich life. Therefore we cannot forget the fact that it is education that will define our lives and Royal College being an academic institution grants academics a priority over all other activities.
Although academics will help you to earn qualifications and establish a security and stability in your social life. Sports and society activities will enrich your life. Simply said academics will help you to get the job co-curricular and extracurricular activities will help you to do the job. However you must understand that in order to do the job you must first get the job. And for this you need academics. I cannot stress enough upon the importance of learning, as how well you learn will completely change your life. There are very few trees which yield a fruit sweeter than
the fruit of an enriched education.
2. How to set targets and goals.
“A goal properly set is halfway reached.”
a) Grade 6-10
b) G.C.E. Ordinary Level
c) G.C.E. Advanced Levels-
“In all things that you do, consider the end.”
3. Awards and accolades for academic performance.
a) Prize Giving
The first prize-giving of Royal College has been held in the year 1836.
It is a tradition for the ruler of the country to be the chief guest for the occasion. There are one hundred and sixty-five prizes and awards handed out each year.
The most coveted prize at this event is the Dornhorst Memorial Prize , awarded since 1930 to the Most Outstanding Royalist each year, in the memory of Frederick Dornhorst, KC, followed by the Lalith Athulathmudali Memorial Prize for the Best Academic Achiever of the year. The Turnour prize is the oldest of the panel prizes, awarded continually from the year 1846 itself.
b) Scholarships
Many scholarships have been awarded for students who have performed
exceptionally well in their academic activities during their life at Royal College. These scholarships are awarded in the hope of assisting students to achieve their full potential. Some of these scholarships include.
Personally we don’t feel that it is required to impress upon a Royalist the importance of academics or force him towards academics like dragging a cow to the butcher shop. It is something that you must know is required for a balanced life. A Royalist should be proficient in working with societies, performing in sports and engaging in academics. Academics was once a ladder to achieve heights, once a mechanism to generate wealth, but actually academics is nothing but the enrichment of life. Wealth, recognition and power are all byproducts.
Charanga and Lakdinu are Prefects of 2019/20, who were excellent students at their time. They got 3As for Biology and 2As 1B for Mathematics respectively at the A/L exam in 2019. What was most impressive was their excellent academic records since the primary and middle school years that show consistency. These were achieved amidst being heavily involved in sports, clubs and societies.
Studied hard, but didn’t get enough marks? It’s a common thing which you hear after results being released. The problem is that all the effort and hard work you’ve been putting in for years will have to be showcased within 2 to 3 hours in the exam. So, it is extremely necessary to focus on understanding the nature of the exam papers. It is highly necessary to analyze the papers and work on it to be able to do well during that short time. For that,the best thing you could do is to do past papers after self-studying.
When you start doing papers for practice it is very normal to get the majority of your answers wrong. So don’t worry! Regular practice will improve your answering capabilities. Doing past papers is not just doing it and counting your marks. That will only help you to judge yourself. So, what should you do?
1) Analyze the paper
You should analyze the paper well. Most of the questions and question patterns get repeated in almost all types of exams, from grade 6 term tests to O/Ls and A/Ls. According to Prof. S.R.D. Rosa, who has experience in making A/L physics paper for more than a decade, the 2009 physics multiple choice question paper has had only 11 questions with new concepts, which means the rest of the 49 questions could be done with the concepts used in papers of previous years. Identify those common questions, patterns and common areas that the examiners used to ask questions. It’ll be really helpful to face exams. It is highly recommended to use the original marking scheme to check the paper. Then not only you’ll be able to correct your mistakes, but also will be able to identify on wordings, specific terms to be used when answering questions. You should understand that you won’t be the one’s marking your own paper. You should use specific keywords and the correct wordings (better to practice the answer patterns in marking schemes), to ignore the slightest risk of losing marks. Always try to be on the safe side.
2) What to do when you get wrong answers?
Find the reason for getting it wrong. There may be several reasons such as not reading questions and instructions properly, a problem with the angle you looked at the question, being unable to understand the question properly, not knowing how to apply theory properly to the question or also, it could be a simple math error. After identifying the reason, concentrate more on improving those areas where you fail mostly at. For example, you could practice more sums if you make more math errors. If you have no idea even after referring to the marking scheme, the best thing you could do is to meet the teacher or a friend as soon as possible and clarify it. Never ever postpone that due to any reason. Don’t be shy to ask a thing which you don’t know. You might forget if you postpone and will have to suffer when such a question appears in your real exam. Next thing advisable to do is to go through your notes and constantly add if you find new things from papers so that you can revise those when you go through the notes again.
3) Focus on important areas
As time is a limited factor for you, concentrate more on important areas. Find the lessons that the examiners are very keen to ask questions based on. Focus more on those areas. Also, focus on areas based on the structure of the paper. For example, the A/level physics or chemistry paper consist of 50 multiple choice questions each carrying 1 mark out of 100 marks. However, since the 2nd paper comprises of 1000 marks which is divided to get 50, each mark carries as little as 0.05 to your final score. So, it is recommended to focus more on those sections. Marks, marks and marks! I hope just like me, all you seek for marks in an exam. So, you should definitely have an idea of how marks are divided for questions. You have to go through answer schemes to find the marks allocated and the types of answers they expect for different questions (for example number of statements required and the key terms).
4) Timing
Next biggest obstacle that you’re likely to face is timing. No point knowing everything if you can’t apply that within the time allocated. So, you have to know the format of the paper well. Identify the format and divide your time ideally according to the question types. When you’re doing past paper questions try to finish within that time limit. The best thing to improve timing is practice. When you’re familiar with question types and know the method, you will be able to finish those soon. Getting used to the exam conditions is another way to perform well in the exam. Once you’re done with the syllabus or majority of the syllabus, so that you can answer full papers, start doing papers with timing. At the beginning, you won’t be able to finish on time. Improve day by day. Try to increase the number of questions you do during that time. This doesn’t mean that you have to leave the other questions undone. Do those as well after the time, but see your timing and try to improve day by day.
Then comes the day!!!
After all the hard work and dedication, the days for the exams will come much sooner than you expect. It will be all about how you apply your knowledge and practice that you’ve been gaining for years. For that, you should have a good mindset. No matter how little you have studied, you should have at least 6 hours of sleep on the day before the exam. This will make you feel really fresh and free-minded on the day of the exam. Sportsmen know how inconvenient it is to use different sports equipment than what they’re used to. Just like that the logic of ‘nothing new’ applies to exams as well. Go with the momentum that you’ve been going with. No matter how others try to convince you, never change the methods you are used to, on the last few days. On the day of the exam, go a little bit early to the exam hall to get used to the hall and the exam conditions. Be relaxed, get used to the setting.
Once you sit down and get the paper, don’t expect 100%. You must set your mind to leave questions if you don’t know the answer. This is really important as past experiences of students reveal that so many students have wasted their time hanging on the same question. Another very important thing is to read the instructions and questions properly. Many students lose their marks due to not reading the questions properly. Sometimes valuable information which will ease you will also be among the instructions. Not only that, reading the whole paper will help you to select the questions which you can score more (better if you can mark the questions that you know). Answering easy questions at first will boost your confidence and also will provide an overview of the test. Another mistake done by students is, they skip questions if they don’t know the answers. Why don’t you try your luck? You will not lose anything, but luck might add you more marks. Especially with MCQs. Use methods such as elimination of answers to increase the probability of getting it right. Try to get every single mark that you can.
Work hard, work smart, get used to the paper before the exam, analyze the question patterns, practice answering questions and face the exam with a good mindset and with great concentration. You will definitely be able to get really good results.
By Nimesh Ranchagoda
Nimesh Ranchagoda is a Prefect, who obtained 3As for A/Ls in Mathematics in 2019 and 9As for O/Ls in 2016. He was also the captain of the College Table Tennis team in 2018, and peaked at the 3rd place in the National Open rankings, with multiple international representations under his belt, while still in school. He is an example of how one can balance extracurricular commitments with academics