Summer Vacation Plans

This week, I will talk about my future plans for summer vacation. Summer vacation is now 3 days away. I originally wanted to spend the first few days playing some video games. However, Kalen, mommy, Darcy and I will be going to the cottage on Thursday. I am not sure what I want to do when I arrive. Most likely, I will just end up on the couch playing video games. I will probably also end up fishing on the boat at some point. I would also like to finally finish the light novel I have been reading for half a year.

After our return from the cottage, I will have around 33 days before my summer gets interrupted by summer school. I have already covered summer school in a previous blog, so I will not cover it in this one. During the time outside summer school, I hope to play a lot of games with my friends. Some games we will probably play are BDO, CSGO, and possibly Borderlands 2.

In the end, this summer I will just end up playing video games and going to summer school. I will also have a wedding to attend at the end of the break. I don’t mind going to a wedding, but I dislike the required clothes. Overall, I doubt this summer vacation will be exciting but it is a break from school.

First Black Desert Online Experience

This week, I will talk about my first Black Desert Online. I previously talked about the game in another blog. However, due to the launcher, I wasn’t able to play. After a few months, I just had my first BDO experience last weekend.

The first thing I realized when I opened the game, was the huge character creation. If you wanted to create your ideal character, you could do it in BDO. You could change any part of the body. For example, if you wanted skinny arms and thicker thighs you can do it.

After the long character creation, I finally entered the game. The first thing I noticed was the amazing graphics. Normally, MMOs have not as good graphics as single player games. For example, Tera’s graphics aren’t as good as Skyrim’s or Fallout’s. After a few quests, I also realized the skill system was very different from traditional MMOs. Instead of using keys to activate a certain skill, BDO uses a combination of W, A, S, and D while holding down the LMB. I found this system very intuitive and easy to use. However, over time the combos became harder to remember. This system also makes me wonder how mages cast spells. I use a melee class, so the new system was very easy. However, a magic caster usually remains stationary when casting. This means you could move and cast or the spells constantly gets interrupted. I personally haven’t played a magic casting so I don’t know.

In the end, I have been having a great time. I have been focused on leveling so I can catch up with my friends. In one day I managed to get to 42 in one day. Meanwhile, my friends are in the 50+. Overall, I hope to catch up with my friend soon.

EQAO week

This week, I will talk about my second EQAO experience. Usually, a student takes three EQAO in their school experience. However, our grade skipped the second EQAO because of a strike. During my first EQAO, I didn’t do so well. I think I got around a 70 on both the math and English EQAOs. This year, we weren’t told anything about an English EQAO. This made me believe we wouldn’t get an English EQAO during the same week. This allowed me to focus more on the math EQAO.

During the actual study time, we received four study packages. The first package we got was at the end of our final summative. Each package contained multiple questions from a certain unit. We were supposed to finish the package on the weekend. Next week, we got a supply teacher who gave us the remaining three packages. At the time, we were supposed to finish two packages in class and complete the last one at home. Once completed the packages, our teacher went through all the question. After that, we did a practice EQAO. We were seated in our positions and did a sample of last years EQAO. From that point on, every day was independent study till EQAO day.

EQAO lasted for two days. I was placed in a different room because I was allowed extra time. This also meant I got to skip the third period for two days. Fortunately, we were just doing inquiry box presentations. The first day was quite challenging, but I think I did well. The second day was easy compared to the first and I had the package done quickly with time to check my answers.

In the end, this year EQAO was not as challenging as I anticipated. Compared to my final summative, EQAO was easy. It feels like the effort I put into studying helped me a lot. EQAO will also help me prepare for the final exam. Overall, I’m happy EQAO is finally finishing. Unfortunately, this means exams are just around the corner.

2nd Preparations for Exams

This week, I will talk my plans for the upcoming exam. In the next to weeks exams and final summative will be due. So far, I have managed to complete my English final project, health project, and health summative. Currently, I have been studying for math EQAO, math test, working on my final geography project, and studying for my English exam.

In order to prepare for exams, my math teacher gave us a few practice worksheets. However, this is only for math. In geography, our teacher has recently been away for a week. This resulted in our geography speeding up at a rapid pace to finish our final unit. Meanwhile, our English teacher was more concerned about our final projects. After the final projects, I’m unsure what we will do. We also basically finished gym, and are just counting the days now.

My personal priorities are English, then math, and finally geography. I am prioritizing English over math because of my current mark. Currently, I have 77% English average, while my math has an 85% average. Unlike last semester, I would like all my marks to have an 80% average. To study for my English, I reread all the book that will be covered on the exam. Other than reading there is not much studying to do in English. Since I had extra time, I used it on math. After many adjustments, my new schedule includes primarily math. During my breaks, I also do some English and geography.

Overall, I feel this semester is more stressful than the last. Last semester had more exams but felt less stressed. I think this is because I have math and English in one semester. Next year, I would like to have a more balanced first and second semester.

My thought on summer school

This week, I will talk about summer school and why I decided to participate. There are two type of people who take summer school. First, are the students who failed a course during school. These students must go to summer school and take a makeup course to get their credit. The second type, are students who what to take a course before school starts again. There are multiple reasons to finish a course before school. My reason is so I can have more time to focus on important classes during school. This year, my english mark was not what I wanted and in grade 10 it’s only going to get harder. By having an extra slot, I can focus more on the important subjects like math and english. Originally, I didn’t want to go to summer school because I wanted to spend my summer doing something fun. However, my parents insisted on it.

I think summer school will go smoothly because summer school takes place at my high school. Previously, my first concern was the summer heat. Now I won’t need to worry about it because my school has air conditioning. The only downside is that none of my friends are coming along.

In the end, this blog was short. I wanted to talk about summer school, but there isn’t much to talk about. I believe summer school is just another way to make my school life easier. However, I don’t think summer school is necessary and I would rather spend my summer doing something else. Overall, I’m not exactly looking forward to summer school but I don’t mind taking it.