Don't swear by the "notes"
 

its my sincere advice to every fellow aspirant..

we tend to overestimate the importance of "notes", secure in a twisted belief that just because they worked for someone else, they will do the trick for us too..we overlook the fact that these much sought-after items are available to thousands of other aspirants which kinda dilutes their effectiveness;as our aim is to [I]stand out[/I] by differentiating our answer, not [I]blend in [/I]with the crowd by reproducing something which has been written by most of the others...

but the purpose of this post was NOT to highlight the above mentioned commonsensical observation..no, i wanted to expose another pitfall of these notes...the errors

i heard a lot about these notes by a famous professor working at IIU...i thought it wont hurt to take a look..
and i found the following errors in one sitting

2008 Arabic paper 1.
6. Al Ahram newspaper was first published in
according to professor sb, the answer is [U]none of these[/U] :nono
while the correct answer is [B][URL="http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=yVeszi3b14EC&pg=PA88&lpg=PA88&dq=ah+ahram+newspaper+alexandria&source=bl&ots=AvDqf4Gkkb&sig=iADsamMdim5ujX84r_CfJtc0EVs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4yAAT6__C4nJrAe318TsDw&ved=0CEMQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=ah%20ahram%20newspaper%20alexandria&f=false"][U]Alexandria[/U][/URL][/B]

16. author of الوساطه بين المتني و خصومه اسم المؤلف
professor sb ticked the option of Al amdi :nono
while the correct answer is [B][URL="http://www.google.com.pk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%D9%83%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%A8+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B7%D8%A9+%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86+%D9%88+%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A9#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%87+%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A+%D9%88+%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D9%87+%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%84%D9%81&psj=1&oq=%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%88%D8%B3%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%87+%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A+%D9%88+%D8%AE%D8%B5%D9%88%D9%85%D9%87+%D8%A7%D8%B3%D9%85+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%A4%D9%84%D9%81&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=14576l15154l0l15481l1l1l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=4326e476e2253813&biw=1366&bih=607"]al jurjani[/URL][/B]

2001 paper 1
12. Ibn al amid was
a [U]famous writer [/U]according to the prof:nono
while the correct option is [B][U][URL="http://www.google.com.pk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF#sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&source=hp&q=%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF++historian+-+Ibn+Al+%27Amid&psj=1&oq=%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%8A%D8%AF++historian+-+Ibn+Al+%27Amid&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=15784l16657l3l16985l2l2l0l2l2l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=4326e476e2253813&biw=1366&bih=643"]historian[/URL][/U][/B]

paper 2
2. author of طفل من القرية
professor sb encircled [U]mustafa lutfi [/U] :nono
while the correct answer is[B][U][URL="http://www.google.com.pk/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%84+%D9%85%D9%86+%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%A9"] syed qutb [/URL][/U][/B]


i would like to make clear that i dont have sufficient prior knowledge of Arabic history and literature...i am only a compulsive crosschecker and chronic googler :wacko::cool::D

so folks, caution is advised..DO [B]NOT[/B] rely solely on the n**** (i detest the word:sick)..no matter how intimidating the name and credentials of the professor are :snor;)

well i believe that notes are personal. sometimes we can not even feel comfortable with other person's writing. also one make it for one's satisfaction. while u have pointed out mistakes that are from objectives and may be learned teachers have points to prove themselves right (it often happens in scholastic discussions), and there will definitely be no mistakes in subjective portion (?)

i was looking forward to buy those notes from IIU professor but have learnt that the authority charge high.

do you people advise me to search for these here and there, without directly crediting the author of those notes? would it be dishonesty if i get it photocopied from some chap? the author must not have copyrighted it and these remain free notes! i did not expect it from an arabic teacher who also happen to be religious and won;t understand sadaqa-e-jariyah.