Delve into your advance level studies virtually

THE internet’s searchable databases effectively cater to the needs of students through a whole host of academic websites designed to help exclusively in the several areas of studies, revision and exam preparation.

Advanced Level study is one of those areas which have an extensive presence on the net. No matter which year you are in, or which subject you have, you will find an array of helpful matter. For those who have difficulty in sifting through the mass of search results which crop up when attempting to perform a search, here are some useful websites.

General: Since General Paper is one subject where you need to have an in depth knowledge of the world affairs, is an ideal place to start with. It gives you free access to a load of information on its different categories of trade related issues, media and propaganda, environmental issues, geopolitics, human rights and more.

Another site which has a specific reference section for General Studies is . This covers a wide range of topics, such as art, morality, culture, religion, science, technology and others, along with exam topics in each category.

Economics: This one-stop source gives all the economics resources you are looking for. It incorporates material on a variety of subjects, such as business studies, accounting and economics to name a few for different levels. The glaring feature of this website is a virtual economy, where you get to simulate various economic policies and then observe the consequences.

Another website custom made for Alevel economics is which can also be referred to if you are an accounting and finance student. This site, apart from revision notes, quizzes and forums to discuss the subject, has a comprehensive set of essay plans which categorically explain how to attempt a question. There are revision maps as well as an exam guide and UK economic data summary if you want to quote some figures in your paper.

Business studies: This website is divided into marketing and finance sections with a list of important terms and definitions associated with each.

Accounting: Again, the two websites in the economics section can be accessed. Both have an Accounting section as well with similar kinds of resources.

Sociology: A complete set of resources on this subject is available at . It provides detailed notes for downloading in Word format. The best thing about these notes is that they are categorized according to most of the examination boards’ syllabi. However, if you are looking for a link exclusively on sociology study skills, try . The other two sites dedicated to sociology are and .

Computing: For this is the place to start your research. It offers free access to a list of exam questions with answers in the webmaster’s textbook Understanding Computer Science by Ray Bradley. For revision notes go to . For sample questions and answers is the website to visit. For more practice questions try . Another link also has loads of resources which include summaries of the theory modules and guide to the project.

If you are doing your project in Visual Basic 6 or .Net, then is the site for you. It is a rich library of useful free e-books. The sites like and are also useful for novices and programming beginners. Apart from the subject oriented websites, you can download the latest syllabus and specimen papers in PDF format from .

If you have technical subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics, you’re in for a very tough time. Not only will you be cramming facts and ideas in your already cramped brain, but also, you will have to understand the different concepts according to the specification. Some useful websites on these subjects are given below:

Physics: A wonderful website intended to strengthen your basic concepts as well as providing ample of questions on the subject of Physics is . Here you will find an assortment of AS and A2 topics. You can click on any topic you want for instance, “Motion” and everything related to your course concisely worded, appears.

Another site on this subject takes you directly to the area in which you’re interested in, without the hassle of any extra clicks here and there. It gives a wide range of topics to browse with the variety of questions. This site is very helpful to those needing extra practice with a harder topic. For general study of Physics, is an amazing website which offers a bundle of extra information needed to ace the A2 exams mainly. One more useful website is which contains almost a hundred problems for students to solve. It even plays movies on some of the problems for better understanding. Great stuff!

Chemistry: This website is definitely for those students not wishing to slog over their books and make detailed notes. Here, you can download prepared notes for free. Another excellent site provides simple explanations to almost every topic in the syllabus. It even covers all mechanisms we need to memorize. Also, it has a whole section on chemistry calculations, so the answers to all your worries lie just a click away. is a really informative website containing all the topics we have to cover. Harder topics are handled explicitly.

Learnet’s site contains a list of the three parts Alevel Chemistry is divided into: Physical Chemistry, Inorganic and Organic Chemistry. The only drawback is that there are no answers but the questions are very much exam like. Great site for revision!

Another nice site on the subject is that provides a list of topics and their respective summary notes. Also, it provides notes on Experimental Chemistry, which can cause quite a few problems as this year’s AS practical proved.

Biology: For biology student, can be a good starting point. It has a whole assortment of useful links to the websites dedicated to the subject. Some of the topics include molecular biology, bacteria, DNA and the like.

Another useful sourcce is . Its information is neatly categorized into cells, biological molecules, genetics, etc.

Mathematics: For Maths, is a great website for students having pure mathematics and statistics. Just select the topic of your choice and it gives a clear explanation on how to solve the problems and answer the questions.

Having a problem with a topic? Go straight to Dr. Math and ask question. It is a nice site for practice.

Aother good link on Maths is which can be of great help to Alevel students stuck with a mind-boggling problem.

For tutorials on Math topics, such as trigonometry or calculus visit where you will find numerous solved and unsolved problems for practice.

English Literature: Literature student can start their journey with . Although the title says that it is mainly for teaching literature, the website has some very useful resources for students as well, which includes the current syllabi, references and details on writing texts, varieties of language and texts as well as metaphors.

You can also click which gives you techniques as to how to answer a literature questions with sample presentation of essay texts and definitions.

English Online is a document dedicated to disseminating hints and tips for writing a literature essay in the form of nine easy steps.

History: On this subject begin your research with . It stores useful resources in the form of exam revision, historic magazines, encyclopedias and other multimedia files. For history notes, click which has topics given in categorized form. On the same website you can access notes for other exams as well including GCSE and University level.

Similarly, also provides notes categorized topically along with an essay question.

The site Active History not only has the theoretical stuff but also some games to learn the historical knowledge and nature of history the fun way.

You will also find useful site. It is a webpage exclusively dedicated to organizing your studies where history is concerned.

All subjects: The internet not only hosts websites which are topic specific. It also has sites that comprise the general theme of “studies.” Some of these are as follows:

— is one such website containing a wealth of information regarding study skills. From the main page if you click on “Resources” it is going to take you to the webpage where the study skills have been explained in detail from “Getting Ready” to “Taking In”, “Processing” and “Output.”

Each of the sections has a list of online handouts. This webpage also has a “Study Skills” section that allows you to access the study skills on all the subjects.

— also has on offer loads of links related to every topic and its sub topics. But you have to register for a 30-day trial first after which you will have to pay to continue to use the website.

The web is, no doubt, loaded with educational websites, and every day its new sites are being added into its repository with more and more young minds coming up with innovative ideas about such websites.

The likes of such websites have not only provided a new form of reference material, but also has served to make learning a multimedia oriented experience.

Death penalty

THIS is with reference to the article The Ultimate Penalty, (July 13).

The writer seems very emphatic in suggesting that the capital punishment should be abolished in Pakistan, since it is doing more harm than good.

He also emphasized that our impaired justice system sends more innocent people to their deaths, rather than those who are really responsible.

I would like to stress here that if the justice system is impaired and misusing capital punishment, abolishing the latter will do nothing to improve the justice system.

If capital punishment in our society fails to deter criminals, then isn’t it the fault of the law enforcement agencies rather than the law itself?

Capital punishment has been clearly permitted in the Holy Quran in the following verse: “We ordained therein for them: Life for life; eye for eye; nose for nose; ear for ear; tooth for tooth; and wounds equal for equal.

“But if anyone remits the retaliation by way of charity it is an act of atonement for himself. And if any fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) wrong-doers.” Surah Al-Maidah; Ayah 45.

We, as the citizens of an Islamic republic, should not be questioning those laws in our constitution, which are in conjunction with Allah (SWT)’s rules.

To suggest that capital punishment should be abolished because the justice system is impaired, is analogous to throwing away the apples when we know that it is the oranges which are rotten.

Within the Blogosphere

Published in Sci-Tech World
10th May 2003

EVERY now and then internet provides a new avenue, for web surfers, enforcing its diversity further. The latest addition to its list of availables is blogging. A blog can be conceptualized as an individual’s space on the web which serves as an effective outlet for emotions, opinions and thoughts. It is an online log representing events and routines. To be more precise, it mirrors one’s activities in an offline journal. Here are a few guidelines which tells you how to create and maintain your own blog.

Blogging has created an online community of bloggers in its own right as more and more people are realizing its potential as a platform from which individuals from different nationalities can share and voice their opinions on current affairs, world conflicts and regional issues.

Why make a blog?

Blogging has broken down all barriers to online communication and has opened up various avenues for tolerance and awareness of different countries and the different cultures and religions associated with each. And that’s just one of the multitude of reasons for blogging.

How to start?

Whether you are a novice or an expert net user, if you want to know everything about blogs, Blogger.com is the place to start. After a free signup on this website, all you need to do is to select a template from the vast array displayed and start posting. You can select the format of the header and footer for each entry.

The HTML gurus amongst you can easily fiddle with the template’s HTML to suit your whims. You can even create your own HTML templates with FrontPage, etc. and then insert the HTML in the template box.

Now that you have created your own blog and posted a few entries, what next? Blogger gives you the option of keeping your blog public or private. If you want your blog to be open to visitors and serve as a regular webpage, you can, apart from setting your blog’s setting to “Public,” can get your blog listed in a variety of web rings specifically for bloggers.

How it works?

All of the above websites work in a similar fashion. You enter your blog’s details and the website will give you the web ring’s logo’s HTML code to insert anywhere in your blog. After a review of your blog by the ring administrator to check that you have added the code, your blog will be listed in the ring.

To keep a track on who’s visiting your blog, you can create an account with . Not only it keeps count of your visitors, but also track their domain, the time span for which they stayed on your blog and the search words/URLs from which they were referred to your blog.

Visitor tracking apart, there are a diversity of different tidbits around the internet which you can insert in your blog to make it more sophisticated. Tag boards (Shout boxes, as they are sometimes called) are one of them which enable your visitors to post a message on your blog if they do not want to get into the hassle of signing guest books.

You can get them for free from or . To enable your visitors to post their comments on each of your entries you can sign up with or . This will give you the HTML code to insert in your template with the complete guidelines on how and where to insert. With the yaccs website you can get various templates for your pop-up comment boxes or customize your own.

Another tidbit is a virtual mood. Yes, you can show your visitors how you are feeling at the moment by creating an account with and selecting a mood plus an emoticon to go with it. Again you will have to copy/paste the code in your template so that it shows up on your blog.

Bravenet at has another unique set of webmaster resources. You can choose from a Guest book, Guest Map, Link Exchange (which will allow your visitors to add a link to their own website/blog) and a form which will allow your visitors to refer their friends to your blog.

Blog Linker at performs almost the same function as the Link Exchange on Bravenet does, but the only difference is that Blog Linker will display all the links with the blog description on your blog.

Bloglet at also provides the code to insert a subscribe box on your blog. Your blog visitors can subscribe to your blog and receive an email notification whenever you update it.

Blog Skins at has a vast set of templates with varying colour schemes and designs. You can download them, and insert their HTML code in your template box at Blogger.

Another blog website allows your visitors to rate your blog from your blog only.

Some interesting links

Some notable ones are:

Pak Ranks: www.pakranks.com/

Blog Snob: www.blogsnob.idya.net

Muslim Blogs Webring: www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=muslimblogs;action=home

Blogging Muslimz Webring: www.blogginmuslimz.tk

Blog Plates Webring: www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=blogplates;action=home

I Love to Blog Webring: www.ringsurf.com/netring?ring=ilovetoblog;action=home

Blogmania Webring: www.blogmania.com/join.html

The aforementioned are just some of the popular webrings. In practice, you can go to and then perform a search by the keyword “blog” and get more 10,000 and webrings.