Need help with ICT Coursework?

Here is an example of some coursework which describes the different properties of bitmap and vector images. Read more here!

History being a jumble?

Click here if you would like to find more about Mussolini and the Abyssinian Crisis during the 1930s!

Need inspiration for Controlled Assessment?

If you would like to read about my experience with the DigCom controlled assessment, see my work, and look for inspiration, read this page!

Stuck with essay writing?

Read this page about my English Literature Controlled Assessmenr on 'The Merchant of Venice'. Pick up structure techniques and ideas!

Evaluations doing your head in?

Here, you will find my example of an ICT evaluation, comparing 2 different advertisements. Collect ideas for your design and graphics coursework!

Tuesday 5 November 2013

How to Start a World War - Hitler Style



As you may know, Hitler was a politically obsessed man. He desired to make Germany and Austria unite into a great country, along the side of Britain, planning to destroy communism in the USSR. Growing up as a very disturbed individual with a strong character, he turned the Jews into scapegoats and killed millions..
Wanna know how to do that? Then this is the right post for you!

Step 1 - Become a Dictator

After the wall street crash, that had started in the 1920s, there was a worldwide depression. Although the idea of dictatorship may be seen as extremely wrong today, countries during 1933 didn't mind the concept if their dictator had promised jobs and a better economy. 
  • For example.. by 1938, there had already been a large population of Nazi supporters based in Austria. They had aided Hitler in his annexing. 
  • The Austrians had seen German economy improve after Hitler had come into power (as he had broken the Treaty of Versailles, and introduced conscription). They wanted him to lead their country as well in order to help their economy improve!
  • Benito Mussolini and Joseph Stalin were other dictators at the time. They had also become very powerful.

Step 2 - Come into power at the right time 

Hitler had chosen the perfect times to do everything:

  • As mentioned in step 2, people had supported dictators at the time due to their economic crises. This gave Hitler an excuse, a sense of acceptance and more opportunities.
  • Another reason as to why Hitler was able to annex Austria was because of his timing. The League of Nations was busy with trying to sort out the Abyssinian Crisis. This dispute had a higher priority, and therefore, Hitler wasn't taken as seriously as he should have been.
  • His actions came after the Treaty of Versailles. This had earned him a few points: appeasement. Britain had began to think that the treaty was too harsh.. and they let him get away with a few things.
(1933 is just about right)

Step 3 - Propaganda! Propaganda! Propaganda!

Hitler was a big user of propaganda. He used it to gain many supporters. 

However, on a more international level, he was a massive liar. For example.. 
  • When he had introduced conscription (which was not allowed according to the Treaty of Versailles) he had lied and said that he was very reluctant to do so.. when actually, he did do it to go against the treaty - one of his main aims.
  • To gain Czechoslovakia, he had lied to Italy, Britain & France about what he wanted. He kept increasing his demands.. and all of them were appeased.

Step 4 - Make Dictator Friends

Hitler became very good friends with Mussolini. Before they had been friends, invasion had been much more of a challenge for Hitler. In 1934, Mussolini had prevented his attempt to annex Austria, however after, he didn't do anything against him.

In fact, we can tell that he was very supportive of Hitler's actions. He had help Hitler organize the Munich Conference (which lead onto the invasion of Czechoslovakia). He had also destroyed Spain together with Hitler in the Spanish Civil War, and signed the Anti-Comintern Pact against the USSR (also with the Japanese dictator).

Making friends = doubling the power.

There.. That's it!

I hope this post will help you in world-denomination and your History GCSE exam!

Sunday 3 November 2013

Physics 2a - Remembering your Units!!

A big mistake made by students when they are trying to use formula triangles is that they always number crunch with the wrong units! Physics 2a is FILLED with formula triangles, and I felt that it was just important to make a post which would go through all of the units that you need to know. Read through the list, and try to familiarize or even remember them! ...

And here the list begins..

Time - secs
Speed - m/s
Force - N
Energy Transfer - J
Gravitational Potential Energy - J
Height - m
Kinetic Energy - J
Power - W or J/s
Momentum - kgm/s

Confused?

Read through my other blog posts to see the formula triangles in which these units are used..
Hopefully that will help :)

Thursday 31 October 2013

Physics 2a - Work Done

What is 'Work Done'?

The 'work done' is the same thing as 'energy transferred'. 

To do work, you must move something over a distance.. and to do this, you must have an object to move, a distance to move it over, and a force to move the object - this is the basis of doing work.

For example, work is done when you sweep with a broom: You have to provide a force; an effort to move the dirt over a distance. Energy is being transferred.

(Bear in mind that 'work done' is not always useful - it can be wasted.. especially as heat.)

Formula Triangle!


This is just a simple formula triangle. To find the 'work done', you must times the force by the distance. It is important to remember the units for the triangle. Examiners my try to trick you out by using cm or km instead of meters. Always remember to convert your units!

Let's go straight into an example...

Eg 1: A man pushes a car over a distance of 3m. The man pushes the car with a force of 500N. Find the amount of work done.
 
Work Done = Force x Distance
Work Done = 500 x 3
500 x 3 = 1500J

It's very easy! But let's now look at a more complicated example..

Eg 2: A professional weight-lifter pulls a heavy weight over 500cm with a force of 600N. Find the amount of energy transferred.

Key Notes:
  • The unit described here for distance is 500cm. You must convert this into meters.
  • Remember.. the "energy transferred" is the same as the "work done", so this question is still asking for the work done even though the wording might be a little different.
Work Done = Force x Distance
Work Done = 600 x 5
600 x 5 = 3000J

Physics 2a - Resultant Forces

What is a Resultant Force?

Forces always come in pairs. If you have one force, there will always be another opposing it; on the same line. For example, gravity's opposing force is the reaction force.

The resultant force is the calculated overall force from to opposing forces. To calculate resultant forces, you must add or subtract the two opposing forces from each other. By doing this, you will get ONE simplified force from the TWO forces.

Let's explain this further...

How to Calculate Resultant Forces?

Let's look at the car on the left. 

  • The car has a a driving force 1500N, right.
  • Air resistance act against the car, 700N left.

These two forces are opposing, one is on the right and the other, on the left (not up and left, or down and right). This means we can calculate a resultant force; a simplified version of the two original forces.

1500N right - 700N left = 800N right

By subtracting the forces, we have found out the resultant force. It is essential to understand that whether you draw the forces 1500N right and 700N left, it will be the same as 800N right.. They are the same thing!!



Let's look again at the example with the book on a table.

  • The weight of the book is 50N.
  • The reaction force acting on the book is also 50N.

The forces are opposing. One force acts downwards (gravity) and the other against it, upwards (reaction force). However, the forces are equal. Let's see what happens if we minus them from each other...

50N up - 50N down = 0N

There is no resultant force; A ZERO RESULTANT

What do Resultant Forces do?

If there is a resultant force in the mix, then that means there will be a CHANGE IN VELOCITY. Try and remember these 4 main rules to the effect of resultant forces!
  1. If the object is STATIONARY, and there is NO resultant force then the object will stay STATIONARY.
  2. If the object is STATIONARY and there IS a resultant force, then the object will ACCELERATE in the direction of the resultant force.
  3. If the object is MOVING, and there is NO resultant force, then the object will carry on moving at a STEADY SPEED ( - it will not stop!!)
  4. If the object is MOVING, and there IS a resultant force, then the object will either ACCELERATE or DECELERATE
Remember point 3! An object does not need a resultant force to make it move. Resultant forces only cause changes in velocity, whether an objecy was originally moving or not. 

If no resultant forces are acting on a moving object, it would be able to move forever (just like in space). However, on Earth, frictional forces will (in most cases) appear.. which explains why objects can't move forever. 

Wednesday 30 October 2013

5 Tips for Memorizing (the Mark's Gospel)


To be able to get the best grades in the Mark's Gospel exam, you must be able to retell passages, which can be a really time consuming and tedious process. From my experience, I know that it can be extremely frustrating.. so I am going to give you some tips as to how you can conquer this mighty challenge!!

1. Be motivated!

I know how boring learning the Gospel can be.. but you have to try and see the bright side of it all. Think to yourself, 'Why am I doing this?' and see what answers you can come up with. Is it because you want to strengthen your faith? Do you want to get good results so that you will have better opportunities in the future?

If you're feeling super unmotivated, write these reasons down on a piece of paper, and reflect on them any other time you feel so too.

Wanting to learn and wanting to memorize is what is going to help your memorization become a better experience.

2. Learn it over a longer period of time..

Often, I had relied on the 'leave it until the last day and then cram it in then' technique.

This is a trap! It is not the best way to learn, especially when trying to memorize the Mark's Gospel. You would be a superhero if you left it to the last day and did not fall asleep after your first passage.

Planning for your exam may mean learning each passage 4 - 5 times. The first time learning will be a long and not very enticing process.. It takes time for your brain to consume all of the content.. but bear with it! You will find that when the challenge comes the second time around, it will be easy! .. So don't leave it for the last day!

3. Use a more logical method..

Have you ever thought about how you learn your passages? Everyone for some reason seems to believe that reading the passage over and over will miraculously encode the sentences into their heads, but no.. things just don't work that way.

It's proven that if you try to remember; try to make connections in your brain you will remember things faster and more efficiently. 

So here is the method that I propose to you!..
..Let's try to memorize the first verse of Mark's Gospel which reads...
This is the Good News about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
Now, we are going to take the first letter of every single word and write it down so that it will look like this...
T I T G N A J C T S O G. 
Try and read that without looking at the original verse (no cheating!). You want to try to prevent, as much as possible, yourself from looking back at what you are trying to remember. Can you feel your brain erupting with connections? Easy, right? Now try it with a whole passage..

4. Pay attention in lessons..

To be able to do the method specified in tip number 3, you will need to be familiar with the passages that you are trying to memorize. This requires you to listen in your lessons! It's not that hard, once you think about it.

However, if for some reason this doesn't seem to work, and every time you try to memorize, you just go blank.. then try recording the passage on your phone.. listen to it a few times.. and then try again!

5. Make memorizing fun!

I know it's boring. I know watching videos on YouTube is much more fun.. but look & find even more ways to learn them.
You like hanging out with friends? Make a revision group and test each other.
You like drawing? Draw a storyboard for the passage, then see how much you can remember it!

Good Luck!! :D