Choosing the Right Book

When you're trying to improve your English, nothing is more important than getting the right book. If you start with a book that's either too easy or too hard, you'll lose interest quickly. That's the moment when most people start thinking of reading as a chore.

So, the how do you pick a book that's just right for you?

Well, I'm gonna tell just how to do that with this beautiful flowchart!

A real work of art ain't it?

Hopefully, this masterpiece flowchart will help you find the right book for you to improve your command of English. 

Tell me in the comments what you want me to post about next!

How to Improve Your English

You can watch Oh My English on Astro Ceria or on Youtube.

I'm here to tell you some time tested ways to improve your command of English(both grammar & vocabulary) which are as effective as they are fun.

1. Watch movies/series of any language(preferably the language you're fluent in) with English subtitles.
   For example, you could watch Ombak Rindu(Malay) or Kung Fu Hustle(Mandarin/Cantonese) or anime(Japanese) and turn on the English subtitles. Subtitles(official and fan made) may have grammatical mistakes so I recommend this method mainly for increasing your vocabulary.
   


2. Watch English movies/series/videos.
   Watch movies in English and turn on the English subtitles/captions(for Youtube) so that you can see the spelling of hard words and how the sentences are structured. Oh My English is a show teaching English in a story format. Just watch till Season 1 because it goes downhill fast after that.


3. Read English comic books.
   Try to buy those made by Westerners because Malaysian comics tend to use Manglish (Malay+English) which is great for comedic purposes but not so great for improving grammar. I'd recommend the Horrible History and Horrible Science series which as a plus can also be used to help you study for Sejarah, Science and the Pure Sciences.
   


4. Speak English as much as possible.
   So what should you do with all those awesome words you just learnt? Well, you should try incorporating those new words into your daily conversation. As the saying goes, use it or lose it! When I first learnt the word balderdash, I would irritate my entire family by saying it every few seconds(even when I was alone watching TV lol). Even if you have no new words to use you should try speaking as much as possible so that words and sentences will come easier to you when you're writing.
   


5. Eavesdrop Listen in on English conversations.
   Is anybody having an English conversation nearby? Join in(esp. if it's your classmates) or just sit nearby and listen to what they're talking about especially if their English is good. 
   


6. Read English novels
   Yup those books without pictures. I can literally hear all of you muttering "Freakin' bookworms" under your breath but trust me reading can be really fun. But that's only if you get the right book that suits your interest. I am pretty much book trash so I read anything other than self-help & horror(cause that shit freaks me out). Also, if you find words you don't understand in a book, take out a notebook and write down the word and its meaning(s)
   
   Book recommendations:
   -The Hardy Boys series(Action, Adventure, Mystery)
   -The Maze Runner series(Action, Adventure)
   -The Fault in Our Stars(Romance)
   
   ^Too hard?
   Try going for the stuff like the Mr. Midnight series and Ronald Dahl and Enid Blyton books. 
   
   ^Too easy?
   Try going for the stuff like Animal Farm, The Count of Monte Cristo, Robinson Crusoe, Pride and Prejudice and other classics.

Personal Opinion
I still think books are the best choice for improving your command of English(or any language for that matter) because you can take your time and change the difficulty of books you read gradually.


If you want some movie/book recommendations, just tell me what genres you like in the comments section below and I'll reply you soon. :D

Featured Video #1

Title: How to Memorize Fast and Easily

Channel: Memorize the Periodic Table

Here's a great video I found demonstrating visual memory and how it can help make memorising easier and more efficient.

;

My score on the verbal test was 8 and my score on the visual was 15. 

How did you do? 🤔 

Tell me in the comments! 

Driving Lessons with Satan(Part 1)

I'm going to be brutally honest. My driving instructor was downright terrible. He's either the reincarnation of the devil or Satan himself. I'm inclined to believe it's the latter. For the purposes of this article, I'll refer to him as Satan. 

For a month or so, I had been searching for a cheap driving school for a while at that point but none of them really fit the bill. Most of the driving schools were either too expensive or too far with no transport provided. Another problem was getting the right instructor. They either couldn't speak English or seemed kinda sketchy/scary. 

That's when my dad met Satan. My dad was at usual barber shop getting a hair cut and Satan happened to be sitting beside him. They exchanged numbers and we called him up for details later. Let me just tell you that it was cheap. Like really really cheap.  The full price was RM 1300 for a manual car license and an extra RM 160 if you want guarantee pass. In comparison, most of my Kuantan friends paid anywhere between RM 1500-RM 1800 and my friend in KL paid over RM 2000 without guarantee pass. Plus, he could speak (broken)English and Malay and Mandarin. We thought "This is perfect!" and signed up.

This marked the beginning of my days in hell.

SPM Rechecks

If you read my post about my SPM results from (almost) two months ago, you might remember me mentioning that I decided not to get a recheck for my only B(Physics).

Yeah I made it sound like I made that decision easy peasy lemon squeezy with the whole Ein nope gif but it was really more like me having an existential crisis, Shakespeare-style.

That is the question,

Maybank Scholarship Award: Pre-Interview Research

Logo

Slogan
"Humanising Finacial Services"

Core Values
T- Teamwork
I- Integrity
G- Growth
E- Excellence & Efficiency
R- Relationship building

Important people

• Khoo Teck Puat(Founder)
  -banker & hotel owner
  -wealthiest man in Singapore at one point
• Datuk Abdul Farid Alias(President & CEO)
• Dato' Mohd. Rafique Merican(Group CFO)

Background

• Founded on the 31st of May 1960
• Malaysia's largest bank
  -by market capitalisation & total assets
• One of the largest banks in South East Asia
• Largest public listed company on Bursa Malaysia(M'sian stock exchange)
• 2400 offices worldwide
• More than 45,000 employees

Countries with Maybank presence

• Asia
  -Malaysia
  -Singapore
  -Philippines
  -Indonesia
  -Cambodia
  -Vietnam
  -Laos
  -Myanmar
  -Hong Kong
  -China
  -Brunei
  -Bahrain
  -Pakistan

• Outside Asia-United Kingdom
  -United States

Maybank Scholarship Award: Assessment Centre

I didn't manage to make it all the way to Stage 3, the assessment centre so I don't have any firsthand experience or tips for you guys. I'm just gonna link you guys to posts by people who actually made it there.

http://scholarst.com/project/maybank-benjamin-yau

https://collegelah.com/2014/08/10/what-it-takes-to-be-a-maybank-scholar/

http://callmetiffany.blogspot.my/2014/05/maybank-foundation-scholarship-round-3.html
http://myobscurenook.blogspot.my/2013/05/interviews-for-maybank-scholarship-2013.html
http://darshinisubramaniam97.blogspot.my/2015/05/maybank-scholarship-2015the-assessment.html

I have a friend who made it to the third stage so I'll try and blackmail ask her if she wants to be a guest writer. Anyways, hope to see ya soon!

Maybank Scholarship Award: Interview

About a week after the online assessment, I received a call from a Maybank employee asking me to choose a convenient date and time for stage 2 of Maybank's scholarship selection, the interview, which was pretty darn exciting to say the least. I also received an email from Maybank informing me of the dress code and required documents. 

Word Crimes: Part 2

I'll break this guideline into multiple parts so you can just skip to whichever part you're interested in.