maths

playing games to study maths

I’ve said before one of the major benefits of doing an IT course is that everything you need is online. It’s just a case of finding it or taking the time to find it.

As you’ll all know i started studying for maths last week… i ended up playing games online but fear not - they’re games which help me learn about maths

I hadn’t a clue what a ‘planer’ graph was before today. After playing this game - it all made it so clear… none of the lines or ‘edges’ can overlap. That’s it. So simple. One problem cleared up by playing a game for 3 minutes.

Forget two or three paragraphs of boring text, show us the damn games!!

Anyway, it’s very much a case of getting down to business now. Despite the fact it’s only one exam, there’s more pressure now than there was on any of the other 11 modules i’d passed first time.

That’s good. It means i know what i have to do and i only have one chance to do it - that’s when i work best. I also think the experience of a repeat is a good thing for me, especially so early on in college (with 2/3 years left).

It means i’ll be more pumped up for exams from now on… any exams i do this year and next, actually mean something… it’s not just about passing or failing, it’s about honors / ordinary / fail

Honors require a 70%+ average. That’s not easy, no matter who you are… it takes time and a lot of dedication…

It doesn’t bother me too much though if i end up with an ordinary degree, as i know the difference between ordinary and honors will be my online work.

Nobody can question my dedication to my online work I’m 2 years doing this now, but i’m slowly starting to see how things work online. College stills comes 2nd and always will until someone can show me how an honors degree outclasses and ordinary degree + bags of experience.

This week however, college comes first (until thursday at about 5pm!)

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week of maths ahead

This time next week i’ll have completed my repeat maths exam. Although it’s not quite do or die, this is something that i definitely don’t want over my head for the entire year. If i fail, again, i think i’ll have to take it next summer. I’m pretty confident that won’t happen though.

I’m determined to pass and pass comfortably. If i were to sit it now, i’d fail - no doubt about it. But i have a week to cover everything which is more than enough time for me. I reckon i could pass with just one day full study, but i’m not taking chances…

So starting tomorrow, i’ll be sitting down and studying maths. I’ll still be blogging and keeping an eye on things online, but my time online will be rationed.

In other news, i got back from Dublin today… i’ve updated my flickr account with a few pics… The Morrison, as expected, was top notch. Without doubt the best hotel i’ve stayed in, ever. That’s probably due to the fact i had a 22″ Mac Screen and Mac mini with free wi-fi

The bathroom was something else though… normally it’s the least of my concerns, but this bathroom was HUGE… a nice large bathtub with leather headrests, separate shower which was also pretty big and plenty of floor space to move about - it was almost ridiculous for a bathroom

We also had a scented candle, robes, slippers etc… the room itself wasn’t bad either, but we did get a studio room which cost a bit extra

Always nice to get away for a night though and it’s really handy to have your own MAC mini in your bedroom with free wi-fi. I didn’t even use it that much, but it was great just to check emails, check news/weather etc… It got me thinking… when i am away anywhere, even at college, i don’t do any hard, serious work which requires mega processing power and speed… it’s usually just browsing or checking emails, or ftp work.

An ultra-portable (as in something like this only better) would definitely suit me now that i have my power setup at home. It would mean i could retire the ferrari and come to think of it, i don’t use the ferrari at all these days. I only use it for college but it’s pretty heavy and has poor battery life. A nice slim ultra-portable with great battery life might be the way to go as i’d be more inclined to take it with me.

July 08 recap

I’m keeping up the trend of calling these posts ‘recaps’ rather than ‘earnings’. So here’s July’s recap…

Traffic wise, it’s been my most successful month to date on any site i’ve ever owned. Have a look at July’s (recorded) traffic;

Financially, it hasn’t been bad either… i’ve been keeping detailed records of all the sites i’ve sold;

In total, i took in $827 in july 2008, $634 of which was pure profit. I estimate all those sites took about 33 hours to complete.

So my average actual rate per hour works out at just under $20 Not bad. Looking back, i *could* have done all that in one week, but it would have been extremely hard work and it’s not something i could replicate every week… i’m happy with creating a few sites a week - i find it’s just a nice balance. I sold bannedtvad.com this week for $249 - meaning for the past three weeks now, i’ve averaged over $200/week.

I’m definitely getting the hang of things…. i’ve also bought plenty of domain names this week… they all have a combined estimated value of over $2.5k. I only paid about $50 for them. Over the next while i’ll be building sites for them all, then selling.

I’ve now proven i can flip sites for a healthy profit, so i’ll be using that method to keep the cash rolling in from now on. I can only become more experienced, gain more contacts and sharpen up my skills, so the only way is up… i’ve been saying that for the past two years, but it’s true

It’s really only NOW that i’m beginning to ‘get the hang’ of making money online. I mean, if you were to put a bet on and ask me to make $500 profit in one week, i could do it. Not a problem. But it would mean sacraficing my time on longer term projects. I don’t like doing that.

Anyway, August will be the month of my maths exam - that’s all i care about now… pass maths and earn $0 and i’ll be happy… it’s just a case of getting the job done and being prepared for a tough paper. It’s less than 13 days away now (august 14th), so my study will start this week.

Will i pass? Without question. I simply have to sit down, read over the notes and concentrate. Dedicating the time to it is the hardest part. So expect a quite couple of weeks from me… i’ll still be working here and there but my focus will be on maths