How to Raise Your GPA in High School Class Strategies

How to Raise Your GPA in High School Class Strategies SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The road to a good GPA can be paved with setbacks, but if you figure out where your problems lie and put in the effort to get yourself back on track, you can overcome these obstacles. In this article, I’ve compiled a list of dos and don’ts that will be helpful to you in combating academic pitfalls (and learning to avoid them in the first place!). Read on to figure out how you can improve your GPA by paying attention to your areas of weakness, taking responsibility, and cultivating better study habits. DO's This list includes my best advice on how to change your behavior to reverse negative trends in your GPA. It's best to start by getting a good handle on the fundamental grading structure of the courses where you're having trouble and work your way up to better study habits and strategies. Understand the Course's Grading Scheme The first step in improving your GPA is understanding how you will be graded and which assignments carry the most weight.In some classes, for example, homework assignments might be worth 30% of your grade.If you consistently forget to do homework assignments, you'll be in for a world of hurt when you see your report card even if you did well on all of the tests. That’s why it’s critical to pay attention to the grading methodology. Read the grading guidelines for each class thoroughly. Your teacher probably handed them out to the class at the very beginning of the year, so if you can't find yours just ask for another copy.The guidelines are there to tell you what the expectations are and where you need to focus your effort in the class.Don’t ignore the emphasis that a teacher places on certain aspects of your work and class conduct.If you’re aware of the expectations, it’s impossible to remain in denial about what’s causing your bad grades, which meansyou can start fixing your bad habits and improve! Focus on the Most Important Areas Once you’ve reviewed the grading guidelines, you'll have a better sense of where you should be focusing most of your efforts.Some classes emphasize tests and little else.Others include lab assignments, homework assignments, or papers that strongly influence your final grade.Whatever the case may be, you should alignyour study schedule with the grading policy. This means you shouldn't spend tons of time on a small project that will have minimal impact on your grade or toilaway at ungraded homework assignments late into the night.Though I always recommend at least trying to do the homework (as you’ll see in the next piece of advice), don’t waste hours of your time trying to figure out a tough problem that has stumped you if homework isn’t a largepart of your grade.Do as much as you can while making time for more important tasks.If you have trouble on a homework assignment, most teachers will go over the answers with you later to help you understand the material. They'll appreciate that you at least made an honest effort to complete it on your own. If a project, paper, or test will comprise a large fraction of your final grade, make sure you put yourself in the best position to do a good job.This means planning out your studying far in advance or setting up a schedule for when you will complete each stage of a project.If you put in the time,your efforts will be reflected in your grades. A disturbing street sign to see if you're actually driving, but an inspiring one for the purposes of this article Always Do the Homework, Especially in Math and Science I had many math classes in high school where it didn’t technically matter if you did the homework problem sets. We would go over them together in class, but the teacher never went around and checked whether each person did the assignment.In such a situation, it’s tempting to skip homework since it doesn’t seem like it will impact your grade.But the fact is that this WILL have an indirect negative impact once you're faced with tests and other large assessments. With math and science in particular, knowledge builds on itself.If you don’t understand one unit in math because you didn’t bother figuring out any problems for yourself in the homework assignments, chances are you’re going to have an even tougher time with the next unit.This is how people end up falling farther and farther behind.By the time they’re faced with a test that covers multiple units that they didn’t understand, they realize too late that they should have put in the work earlier.If this tends to happen to you, you may need to be stricter about forcing yourself to do homework assignments even if they â€Å"don’t matter† in and of themselves. Ask for Help If You Don’t Understand Something If you’re struggling with a concept in any of your classes, speak to your teacher as soon as possible to clear up any confusion. It can be difficult to swallow your pride and admit that you don’t understand something, but it’s much easier than dealing with a failing grade later.Again, this is especially important in math and science classes where knowledge builds on itself.You absolutely need to understand basic concepts at the root of what you’re doing before you can progress.Don’t let these concepts pass you by and hope that you’ll somehow catch on later. If you feel nervous about asking for help and aren't sure what to say, you might start with something like this, "I'm having trouble with [subject] and was hoping you could give me some extra guidance. I'll come up with a list of my questions if you're willing to meet sometime after school this week." If you're really shy and don't want to ask your teacher in person (although I would recommend that you do), you can send an email instead so you have more time to think of what to say. Remember that you shouldn't be worried. Even if you ask the grumpiest teacher for help, you're likely to be met with a positive response. Teachers love to see students who are engaged with their classes and are making an honest effort to understand the material. Push the button. Know What’s Being Tested and How Before any test, ask your teacher what concepts will be tested and which types of questions you’ll see.This will help guide your studying and lead to less stress and anxiety when it comes to actually taking the exam. Some teachers might be willing to show you examples of their old testswith similar formats but different questions. These are very useful study materials.Teachers may also offer extra review sessions for students who are looking for more guidance before the test.If this is the case in any of your classes, take advantage of it. You can also ask the teacher if he or she would be willing to do this for a specific test that makes you especially nervous. There are some teachers out there who don't like to tell you what types of questions will be on the test. Don't panic if this is the case. Even these teachers will at least tell you the gist of what's being covered. Even though you'll have less information, you'll still know which materials to study. Just make sure you're as thorough as possible in your review sessions. Study Smart: Know the Difference Between Reading It Over and â€Å"Getting It† So you have to study for a history test, and your teacher gives you some review sheets of the information you need to know - what do you do now?Some people think â€Å"oh, I’ll just read the review sheets a couple of times, and I’ll pretty much know everything I need for the test†.Unless you have a photographic memory, this isn’t the most effective method.You have no way of knowing what will happen when you're asked tocome up with this information after it’s no longer in front of you.Twenty-fourhours later it might be completely lost. While you’re reviewing information that you need to know for a test, read each section or set of facts in your notes, and then look away from them and test yourself.Restate the information in your mind to yourself and/or come up with a totally ridiculous way to remember it (the more absurd and stupid the more likely it is to stick in your brain).After you’ve done this exercise a few times, have a friend, sibling, or parent help you by asking questions about the information. If you know the test will have open response questions, practice connecting different pieces of information in conjunction with basic memorization.Tell a study partner to ask you questions like â€Å"what were the causes of [historical event]?† This will force you to connect different details and gain a more solid grasp on the knowledge you’ll need for the test. Study Smart 2.0: Practice Responsible Study Habits I mentioned above that getting your peers to help you with studying is a good strategy. However, this only works in moderation. Studying with your friends can be great, but studying shouldn’t always be a group effort.Sometimes the focus gets diverted, or you end up convincing each other that you all understand something when only one person really does. Reserve time afterwards to briefly review the information on your own. Also,turn your phone off or put it away while you're studying. Believe me, I know how hard this is. I sleep with my iPhone under my pillow. But if you're going to get some high quality studying done, you can't allow yourself to be distracted by SnapChats or whatever other examples of popular apps I might give that will soon sound ridiculously outdated. The best thing you can do to make the most of your study sessions is to turn off your phone and block distracting websites from your computer so that you won't be tempted to veer off course. Instead of studying, let's just make fun of the one person who isn't here today. Review Your Mistakes In the process of improving your GPA, you’ll probably face some setbacks.How you react to those setbacks makes a big difference.If you get a bad grade on a test, you might not even want to look at your mistakes, but to improve you need to understand where you went wrong.Reviewing mistakes thoroughly is the only way to ensure that you don’t make them again. Even abstract mistakes, like failing to fully explain your ideas in a paper, are worth reviewing.You might not fully agree with your teacher’s opinion about your writing, but it can provide valuable insight into what he or she expects from you.You can then make an active decision the next time you write something to do it in a way that follows the appropriate standards (I know, this is not very punk rock - I’m sorry). Avoid Procrastination I know people who procrastinate to severe panic attack levels while managing to do very well in school and work.The truth is, however, that these people are in the extreme minority.If you’re already struggling in your classes, resist the allure of waiting until the night before to do a project or cramming for a big test. Procrastination can seem glamorous (we all want to be the cool kid who never does anything until the night before and gets all As), but it’s not a wise strategy for most students. If you have problems with procrastination, plan out a schedule beforehand when your teachers hand out assignments.For a project that’s due in a month, set up informal deadlines for yourself that cover different aspects of the project.You might even be able to ask your teacher to check in with you and hold you accountable.If you have a test coming up and you don’t feel prepared, set up a study schedule a week in advance so you can avoid cramming. What procrastination will do to you DON'Ts This second section is all about the pitfalls to avoid when you're struggling with your grades. Surrendering to these negative attitudes and patterns of behavior will only hurt you in the long run! Blame the Teacher The first thing many students do when they get a bad grade is blame the teacher.It’s understandable - you don’t want to think that yougenuinelyearned a bad grade. It’s easier to shift responsibility away from yourself so you don’t have to make any difficult changes.What you need to understand is that when you do this, you’re ultimately sabotaging yourself (unless your teacher is Dolores Umbridge or something). There are bad teachers out there, but they can’t just decide to give you bad grades if you follow their standards.This goes back to understanding how the course will be graded and how much weight is given to certain assignments.Make sure you ask your teacher exactly what is expected of you.It might feel like you'repandering to someone you don’t respect, but if you end up with a bad grade, you’ll be the one who loses out in the end. Obviously, you should speak up to people in higher authority if your teacher is being grossly unfair.If you’re honest with yourself you should be able to tell the difference between malicious injustice and differing standards. She should have been fired just for this outfit, am I right? Compare Yourself to Others There’s nothing more frustrating than hearing that one casually smart kid in your class say that he didn’t study at all for the test and got an A.When you hear stuff like this, you should keep in mind two things: This person is probably stretching the truth to show off. Everyone has different learning styles, and it’s better to learn good study habits now so you can figure out what works for you. You know what you’re already good at and what you need to work harder to master, and you shouldn’t consider yourself dumber than another person if it takes you a little longer to understand something.Persevering through these challenges will give you the type of mental strength that is critical in college and the real world beyond.Kids who breeze through high school may have trouble dealing with setbacks later on when they have to really stretch themselves to succeed (believe me, I’ve experienced the stress of this first-hand). Remember, regardless of the effort that anyone else is putting in, only you know yourself well enough to judge how much time you need to study for a test or learn a new concept.This type of self-awareness helps build skill sets that will help you later in life! Throw in the Towel If you have a GPA that seems hopelessly low, you may be tempted to stop trying to fix it and just give in to the â€Å"I’m not cut out for school† mentality. Yes, it’s discouraging to have a low GPA, but before you give up, think about whether changing your habits could make a difference. What caused you to end up with a low GPA?It could be anything from struggles in your personal life to irresponsible study habits to misunderstandings about class requirements.Whatever the case, nothing that you’ve done in the past to end up with a low GPA has to define what you do going forward (unless you’re still struggling with personal issues - please get help if so!). You have the ability to turn over a new leaf, especially if it’s still early in your high school career.Also, not everyone HAS to go to a four-year college. You might have a professional field in mind that requires hands-on training but not a bachelor’s degree.No matter what, don’t lose hope for your future! Don't throw me in, you're my beeeest friend Summary Here's a consolidated list of all the tips included in this article: 1. Understand the course's grading scheme2. Focus on the most important areas3. Always do the homework (especially in math and science)4. Ask for help if you don't understand something5. Know what's being tested and how6. Know the difference between reading something over and actually understanding it7. Practice responsible study habits (avoid distractions)8. Review your mistakes9. Avoid procrastination And if you find yourself struggling, try to avoid blaming the teacher, comparing yourself to other students, or giving up entirely. Perseverance is everything! What's Next? Hoping to raise your GPA very quickly? Read my article on how to raise your GPA fast for some helpful strategies. If you're worried about getting into college because of your GPA, check out this list of the best colleges with low GPA requirements. Not sure whether your GPA is too low for college? Learn more about what's considered a high or low GPA in the college admissions process. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points? We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Getting College Essay Help Important Dos and Don’ts

Getting College Essay Help Important Do's and Don’ts SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you grow up to be a professional writer, everything you write will first go through an editor before being published. This is because the process of writing is really a process of re-writing – of rethinking and reexamining your work, usually with the help of someone else. So what does this mean for your student writing? And in particular, what does it mean for very important, but nonprofessional writing like your college essay? Should you ask your parents to look at your essay? Pay for an essay service? If you are wondering what kind of help you can, and should, get with your personal statement, you’ve come to the right place! In this article, I’ll talk about what kind of writing help is useful, ethical, and even expected for your college admission essay. I’ll also point out who would make a good editor, what the differences between editing and proofreading are, what to expect from a good editor, and how to spot and stay away from a bad one. Table of Contents What Kind of Help for Your Essay Can You Get? Editing What's Good Editing? What Should an Editor Do For You? What Kind of Editing Should You Avoid? Proofreading What's Good Proofreading? What Kind of Proofreading Should You Avoid? What Do Colleges Think Of You Getting Help With Your Essay? Who Can/Should Help You? Advice for Editors Should You Pay Money For Essay Editing? The Bottom Line What's Next? What Kind Of Help With Your Essay Can You Get? Rather than talking in general terms about "help," let's first clarify the two different ways that someone else can improve your writing. There is editing, which is the more intensive kind of assistance that you can use throughout the whole process. And then there's proofreading, which is the last step of reallypolishing your final product. Let me go into some more detail about editing and proofreading, and then explain how good editors and proofreaders can help you. Editing Editing is helping the author (in this case, you) go from a rough draft to a finished work. Editing is the process of asking questions about what you're saying, how you're saying it, and how you're organizing your ideas. But not all editing isgood editing. In fact, it's very easy for an editor to cross the line from supportive to overbearing and over-involved. What’s Good Editing? Ability to clarify assignments. A good editor is usually a good writer, and certainly has to be a good reader.For example, in this case, a good editor should make sureyou understand the actual essay promptyou’re supposed to be answering. Open-endedness. Good editing is all aboutasking questions about your ideas and work, butwithout providing answers. It's about lettingyou stick to your story and message, and doesn't alter your point of view. Objectivity. It's usually better for an editor tonot be emotionally involved with what you’re writing. For example, if your essay is about a parent, that parent should probably notedit your work.Good editing can also be a preview ofhow a reader will respond to what you’re writing, pointing out potentially confusing or offensive moments in your work. Great editors show you the many available paths, but don't tell you where to go. What Should an Editor Do For You? Think of an editor as a great travel guide. It can show you the many different places your trip could take you. It should explain any parts of the trip that could derail your trip or confuse the traveler. But it never dictates your path, never forces you to go somewhere you don't want to go, and never ignores your interests so that thetrip no longer seems like it's your own. So what should good editors do? Help Brainstorm Topics Sometimes it’s easier to bounce thoughtsoff of someone else.This doesn’t mean that your editorgets to come up with ideas, but they can certainly respond to the various topic optionsyou've come up with. This way, you’re less likely to write about the most boring of your ideas, or towrite about something that isn’t actually important to you. If you're wondering how to come up with options for your editor to consider, check outour guide to brainstorming topics for your college essay. Help Revise Your Drafts Here, your editor can't upset the delicate balance of not intervening too much or too little. It's tricky, but a great way to think about it is to remember: editing isabout asking questions, not giving answers. Revision questions shouldpoint out: Places where more detail or more description would help thereaderconnect with youressay Places where structure and logic don’t flow, losing the reader's attention Places where there aren’t transitions between paragraphs, confusing the reader Moments where your narrative or the argumentsyou're making are unclear But pointing to potential problems is not the same as actually rewriting – editors let authors fix the problems themselves. A good editor's favorite punctuation mark. What Kind of Editing Should You Avoid? Bad editing is usually very heavy-handed editing. Instead of helping you find your best voice and ideas, a bad editor changes your writing into their own vision. You may be dealing with a bad editor if they: Add material (examples, descriptions) that doesn’t come from you Use a thesaurus to makeyour collegeessay sound "more mature" Add meaning or insight to the essay that doesn’t come from you Tell you what to say and how to say it Write sentences, phrases, and paragraphs for you Change your voice in the essay so it no longer sounds like it was written by a teenager Colleges can tell the difference between a 17-year-old's writing and a 50-year-old's writing. Not only that, they have access to your SAT or ACT Writing section, so they can compare your essay to something elseyou wrote. Writing that's a little more polished is great and expected. But a totally different voice and style will raise questions. Where's the Line Between Helpful Editing and Unethical Over-Editing? Sometimes it's hard to tell whether your college essay editor is doing the right thing. Here are some guidelines for staying on the ethicalside of the line. An editor should say that theopening paragraph is kind of boring, and explain what exactly is making it drag. But it's overstepping for an editor to tell you exactly how to change it. An editor should point out where yourprose isunclearor vague. But it's completely inappropriate for the editor to rewrite that section of your essay. An editor should let you know that a section is light on detail or description. But giving you similes and metaphors to beef up that description is a no-go. With a good editor, these things will always only come from the author's head. Proofreading Proofreading (also called copy-editing) is checking for errors in the last draft of a written work. It happens at the end of the process and is meant as the final polishing touch. Proofreading is meticulous and detail-oriented, focusing on small corrections. It sands off all the surface rough spots that could alienate the reader. Because proofreading is usually concerned with making fixes on the word or sentence level, this is the only processwhere someone else can actually add to or take away things from youressay. This is because what they are adding or taking away tends to be one or two misplaced letters. What’s Good Proofreading? Laser focus. Proofreading is all about the tiny details, so the ability to really concentrate on finding small slip-ups is a must. Excellent grammar and spelling skills. Proofreaders need to dot every "i" and cross every "t." Good proofreadersshould correctspelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar. They should put foreign words in italics and surround quotations with quotation marks. They should check that you used the correct college's name, and that you adhered to anyformatting requirements (name and date at the top of the page, uniform font and size, uniform spacing). Limited interference. A proofreader needs to make surethat you followed any word limits. But if cuts need to be made to shorten the essay, that’s your job andnot the proofreader's. Proofreaders are like entomologists, hunting for tiny specks amidst a vast landscape. What Kind of Proofreading Should You Avoid? A bad proofreader either tries to turn into an editor, or just lacks the skills and knowledge necessary to do the job. Some signs that you're working with a bad proofreader are: If they suggest making major changes to the final draft of your essay. Proofreading happens when editing is already finished. If they aren't particularly good at spelling, or don't know grammar, or aren't detail-oriented enough to find someone else's small mistakes. If they start swapping out your words for fancier-sounding synonyms, or changing the voice and sound of your essay in other ways. A proofreader is there to check for errors, not to take the 17-year-old out of your writing. Does your proofreader's desk look like this? Maybe not the right person for the job... What Do Colleges Think of Your Getting Help With Your Essay? Admissions officers agree: light editing and proofreading aregood – even required! But they also want to make sure you’re the one doing the work on your essay. They want essays with stories, voice, and themes that come from you. They want to see workthat reflects your actual writing ability, and that focuses on what you find important. On the Importance of Editing Get feedback. Have a fresh pair of eyes give you some feedback. Don’t allow someone else to rewrite your essay, but do take advantage of others’ edits and opinions when they seem helpful. (Bates College) Read your essay aloud to someone. Reading the essay out loud offers a chance to hear how your essay sounds outside your head. This exercise reveals flaws in the essay’s flow, highlights grammatical errors and helps you ensure that you are communicating the exact message you intended. (Dickinson College) On the Value of Proofreading Share your essays with at least one or two people who know you well – such as a parent, teacher, counselor, or friend – and ask for feedback. Remember that you ultimately have control over your essays, and your essays should retain your own voice, but others may be able to catch mistakes that you missed and help suggest areas to cut if you are over the word limit. (Yale University) Proofread and then ask someone else to proofread for you. Although we want substance, we also want to be able to see that you can write a paper for our professors and avoid careless mistakes that would drive them crazy. (Oberlin College) On Watching Out for Too Much Outside Influence Limit the number of people who review your essay. Too much input usually means your voice is lost in the writing style. (Carleton College) Ask for input (but not too much). Your parents, friends, guidance counselors, coaches, and teachers are great people to bounce ideas off of for your essay. They know how unique and spectacular you are, and they can help you decide how to articulate it. Keep in mind, however, that a 45-year-old lawyer writes quite differently from an 18-year-old student, so if your dad ends up writing the bulk of your essay, we’re probably going to notice. (Vanderbilt University) So, basically, a big old thumbs up on the whole "get someone to look at your essay" situation, as far as colleges are concerned. Who Can/Should Help You? Now let's talk about some potential people to approach for your college essay editing and proofreading needs. It's best to start close to home and slowly expand outward. Not only are your family and friends more invested in your success than strangers, but they also have a better handle on your interests and personality. This knowledge is key for judging whether your essay is expressing your true self. Parents or Close Relatives Your family may be full ofpotentially excellent editors!Parents are deeply committed to your well-being, and family members know you and your life well enough to offer details or incidents that can be included in your essay. On the other hand, the rewriting process necessarily involves criticism, which is sometimes hard to hear from someone very close to you. A parent or close family memberis a great choice for an editor if you can answer "yes" to the followingquestions.Is your parent or close relative a good writer or reader?Do you have a relationship where editing your essay won’t create conflict?Are you able to constructively listen to criticism and suggestion from the parent? One suggestion for defusingface-to-face discussions is to try working on the essay over email. Send your parenta draft, have themwrite you back some comments, and then you can pick which of their suggestionsyou want to use and which to discard. Teachers or Tutors A humanities teacher thatyou have a good relationship with isa great choice.I am purposefully saying humanities, and not just English, because teachers of Philosophy, History, Anthropology, and any other classes where you do a lot of writing, areall used to reviewing student work. Moreover,any teacher or tutor that has been working with you for some time, knows you very well and can vet the essay to make sure itâ€Å"sounds like you.† If your teacher or tutor has some experience withwhat college essays are supposed to be like, ask them to be your editor. If not, then ask whether they have time to proofread your final draft. Guidance or College Counselor at Your School The best thing about asking your counselor to edit your workis that this is their job. This means that they have a very good sense of what colleges are looking for in an application essay. At the same time, school counselorstend to have relationships with admissions officers in many colleges, which again gives them insight into what worksand which college is focused on what aspect of the application. Unfortunately, in many schools the guidance counselortends to be way overextended. If your ratio is 300 students to 1college counselor, you’re unlikely to get that person’s undivided attention and focus. It isstill useful to ask them for general advice about your potential topics, but don't expect them to be able to stay with your essay from first draft to final version. Friends, Siblings, or Classmates Although they most likely don't have much experience with what colleges are hoping to see, your peers are excellent sources for checking that your essay is you. Friends and siblings are perfect for the read-aloud edit. Read your essay to them so they can listen for words and phrases that are stilted, pompous, or phrases that just don’t sound like you. You can even trade essays and give helpful advice on each other's work. "I loved that part when you wrote Baa-aaa-baaa. But I feel like you should add some more details to that Baaa-baa-aaa section." "Oh, thanks, man. You're the baaa-est." Advice for Editors If your editor hasn't worked with college admissions essays very much, no worries! Any astute and attentive reader can still greatly help with your process. But, as in all things, beginners do better with some preparation. First, your editor should read our advice about how towrite a college essay introduction, how to spot and fix a bad college essay, and get a sense of what other students have written by going through some admissions essays that worked. Then, as they read your essay, they can work through the following series of questions that will helpthem to guide you. Introduction Questions Is the first sentence a killer opening line? Why or why not? Does the introduction hook the reader? Does it have a colorful, detailed, and interesting narrative? Or does it propose a compelling or surprising idea? Can you feel the author's voice in the introduction, or is the tone dry, dull, or overly formal? Show the places where the voice comes through. Essay Body Questions Does the essay have a through-line? Is it built around a central argument, thought, idea, or focus? Can you put this idea into your own words? How is the essay organized? By logical progression? Chronologically? Do you feel order when you read it, or are there moments where you are confused or lose the thread of the essay? Does the essay have both narratives about the author's life and explanations and insight into what these stories reveal about the author's character, personality, goals, or dreams? If not, which is missing? Does the essay flow? Are there smooth transitions/clever links between paragraphs?Between the narrative and moments of insight? Reader Response Questions Does the writer’s personality come through? Do we know what the speaker cares about? Do we get a sense of â€Å"who he or she is†? Where did you feel most connected to the essay? Which parts of the essay gave you a "you are there" sensation by invoking your senses? What moments could you picture in your head well? Where are the details and examples vague and not specific enough? Did you get an "a-ha!" feeling anywhere in the essay? Is there a moment of insight that connected all the dots for you? Is there a good reveal or "twist" anywhere in the essay? What are the strengths of this essay? What needs the most improvement? Editing is just like fixing a guitar. Except, you know, without a screwdriver. And you don't need to know anything about guitars. Should You Pay Money for Essay Editing? One alternative to asking someone you know to help you with your college essay is the paid editor route. There are two different ways to pay for essay help: a private essay coach or a less personal editing service, like the many proliferating on the internet. My advice is to think of these options as a last resort rather than your go-to first choice. I'll first go through the reasons why. Then, if you do decide to go with a paid editor, I'll help you decide between a coach and a service. When to Consider a Paid Editor In general, I think hiring someone to work on your essay makes a lot of sense if none of the people I discussed above are a possibility for you. If you can't ask your parents. For example, ifyour parents aren’t good writers, or if English isn’t their first language. Or ifyou think getting your parents to help is going create unnecessary extra conflict in your relationship with them (applying to college is stressful as it is!) If you can't ask your teacher or tutor. Maybeyou don’t have a trusted teacher or tutor that has time to look over your essay with focus. Or, for instance,your favorite humanities teacher has very limited experience with college essays and so won’t know what admissions officers want to see. If you can't ask your guidance counselor. This could be because your guidance counselor is way overwhelmed with other students. If you can't share your essay with those who know you. It might be thatyour essay is on a very personal topic that you’re unwilling to share with parents, teachers, or peers. Just make sure it doesn’t fall into one of the bad-idea topics in our article on bad college essays. If the cost isn't a consideration. Many of these services are quite expensive, and private coaches even more so.If you have finite resources, I’d say that hiring an SAT or ACT tutor (whether it’sPrepScholaror someone else) is better way to spend your money. This is because there's no guarantee that a slightly better essay will sufficiently elevate the rest of your application, but a significantly higher SAT score will definitely raise your applicant profile much more. Should You Hire an Essay Coach? On the plus side, essay coaches have read dozens or even hundreds of college essays, so they haveexperience with the format. Also, because you'll be working closely with a specific person, it’s more personal than sending your essay to a service, which will know even less about you. But, on the minus side,you’ll still be bouncing ideas off of someone who doesn’t know that much about you. In general, if you can adequately get the help from someone you know, there is no advantageto paying someone to help you. If you do decide to hire a coach, ask your school counselor, or older students that have used the service for recommendations. If you can’t afford the coach’s fees, ask whether they can work on a sliding scale - many do. And finally, beware those who guarantee admission to your school of choice – essay coachesdon't have any special magic that can back up those promises. Should You Send Your Essay to a Service? On the plus side, essay editingservices provide a similar product to essay coaches, and they cost significantly less. If you have some assurance that you'll be working with a good editor, the lack of face-to-face interaction won't prevent great results. On the minus side, however, it can be difficult to gauge the quality of the service before working with them. If they are churning through many application essays without getting to know the students they are helping, you could end up with an over-edited essay that sounds just like everyone else's.In the worst case scenario, an unscrupulous service could send you back a plagiarized essay. Getting recommendations from friends or a school counselor for reputable services is key to avoiding heavy-handed editingthat writes essays for you or does too much to change your essay. Including a badly-edited essay like this in your application could cause problems if there are inconsistencies. For example, in interviews it might be clear you didn’t write the essay, or the skill of the essay mightnot be reflected in your schoolwork and test scores. Should You Buy an Essay Written by Someone Else? NO! Let me elaborate. There are super sketchy places on the internet where you can simply buy a pre-written essay. Don’t do this! For one thing, you’ll be lying on an official, signed document. All college applications make you sign a statement saying something like this: I certify that all information submitted in the admission process- including the application, the personal essay, any supplements, and any other supporting materials- is my own work, factually true, and honestly presented... I understand that I may be subject to a range of possible disciplinary actions, including admission revocation, expulsion, or revocation of course credit, grades, and degree, should the information I have certified be false. (From the Common Application) For another thing, if your academic record doesn’t match the essay’s quality, the admissions officer will start thinking your whole application is riddled with lies. Admission officers have full access to yourwriting portion of the SAT or ACT so that they can compare work that was done in proctored conditions with that done at home. They can tell if these were written by different people. Not only that, butthere are now a number of search engines that faculty and admission officers can use to see if an essay contains strings of words that have appeared in other essays – you have no guarantee that the essay you bought wasn’t also bought by 50 other students. Don't be the guy trying to pass this off as your own original work. The Bottom Line You should get college essay help with both editing and proofreading A good editor will ask questions about your idea, logic, and structure, and will point out places where clarity is needed A good editor will absolutely not answer these questions, give you their own ideas, or write the essay or parts of the essay for you A good proofreader will find typos and check your formatting Colleges very much want to see your authentic self (your ideas, your insights, your writing ability, and style) on the page All of them agreethat getting light editing and proofreading isnecessary Look for admissions essay help from: Parents, teachers, guidance or college counselor, and peers or siblings If you can't ask any of those, you can payfor college essay help, but watch out for services or coaches whoover-edit you work Don’t buy a pre-written essay! Colleges can tell, and it’ll make your whole application sound false. What’s Next? Ready to start working on your essay? Check out our explanation of the point of the personal essay and the role it plays on your applications and then exploreour step-by-step guide to writing a great college essay. Using the Common Application for your college applications? We have an excellent guide to the Common App essay prompts and useful advice on how to pick the Common App prompt that’s right for you. Wondering how other people tackled these prompts? Then work throughour roundup of over 130 real college essay examples published by colleges. Stressed about whether to take the SAT again before submitting your application? Let us help you decide how many times to take this test. If you choose to go for it, we have the ultimate guide to studying for the SAT to give you the ins and outs of the best ways to study. Want to improve your SAT score by 240 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. 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Television programming Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Television programming - Essay Example These questions are basic essence of my research conducted and ABC channel being my prime lab rodent to experiment upon. What programs they air, why they air them and what strategy they are implying to attract the maximum number of audience in the post-dinner time. TV Ratings Any guesses how the intelligent people sitting in the ABC production offices know, when to air what, when most people are tuned in and most importantly which slots to offer the highest advertisement rate to add agencies and commercial vendors. The answer to this question lies in the name â€Å"Nielsen ratings†. It is an audience measurement system developed by Nielsen media research to do exactly the magic described above. The program uses set-meters, small devices installed behind television sets to monitor the channel activity and record time data of TV programs being watched at what time. A further sophisticated method implies that what audience is watching what. This is done by the help of viewers inp ut in the very same device. The audience enters this survey voluntarily and is a big help to create a data base and analysis which helps in securing maximum advertisement rates for the prime time slot (Frank, 20). American Broadcasting Company The TV channel under research is ABC. Some of the basic questions mentioned in the start of the paper will be answered with the help of forensic research into the media world of today where people can choose to record there TV shows and watch them add-less. What are they trying to accomplish? The basic purpose of any television broadcast company, to earn maximum profits. For that purpose on Thursday nights ABC airs the program â€Å"wipeout† to kick-off the evening. This reality game show has fast gained popularity to an extent that it is the second most watched TV show in the American TV broadcasting. They follow it up with â€Å"Grey’s Anatomy†, a well renowned serial related to doctors practicing and their issues. A tru ly griping hi-paced drama of common people saving people’s lives and complicating their own in the process. This medical drama is followed by a follow-up medical drama named private practice which is a spin-off of grey’s anatomy. A wide variety of household people have a keen interest in every new upcoming episode that is being shown. The people targeted with this include adults and also the ones in the bracket of being grandparents. Do not bold, italicize or underline the subheading. What audiences are they targeting and how? If you compare the first hour of the prime time with other network channels being broadcasted, ABC has created a clever strategy by targeting the young and adult audience by broadcasting wipeout, a funny reality game show whereas the other channels are broadcasting one after the other serious genre serials which are not a huge attraction to children and young alike. After that, they target the sample of audience that is parents and grandparents b racket by airing similar set up medical dramas. Coming to the fact that how did they end up devising a clear edge among the top ranked broadcasters? The answer lies in the post writers strike era, when a new team was formed to sail them out of a storm without a lot of financial blocks crumbling over them and sailed they did. They indeed came out on top of the storm and ended up being the most watched channel according to the post wipeout season ratings. The team had a

Recruitment and Selection Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Recruitment and Selection - Research Paper Example Hence, without the recruitment process, the link between employers and potential employees would not exist. Selection is all about how to make accurate assessments on the weaknesses and strengths of applicants when identifying the person who is highly likely to perform a task more effectively. An excellent description of what selection is all about is provided by Gatewood, Field and Barrick (2010) on page 307. An applicant’s pool may serve as a limiting factor during the selection process because if there are applicants who are not appropriate for the position, the probability that the human resource management team will identify the appropriate applicants is low (Gatewood, Field and Barrick, 2010). The illustration shows the selection process is all about organizations choosing between job candidates. a. The selection process extremely critical in a company is because of its cost efficiency. The selection process makes it easier for companies to operate. When a company hires an unqualified employee, the person may increase the losses incurred because of low productivity from such an employee. The cost of operating with qualified employees tends is more economical than the costs incurred when operating or training unqualified employees. b. Most organizations today are now under the strict observation of the 21st century litigious society. As a result, it has led to many firms protecting themselves against discriminatory lawsuits more critical particularly when the hiring process is ongoing. Hence, the selection process is important because of the legal concerns involved. There are laws such as the Americans with Disability Act which ensure that there are equal opportunities for all candidates during the recruitment process regardless of their race, age, disability, sexual orientation among other differences (Gatewood, Field and Barrick, 2010). c. Lastly, the selection process is important because it promotes screening tools development. The key goal

The Pardoners Prologue Essay Example for Free

The Pardoners Prologue Essay Paying close attention to the passage, comment on what insights this offers into the Pardoners concerns and methods. (The Pardoners Prologue, lines 141-176) In this passage, we are introduced to the Pardoners motivations in tricking people, how he tricks people and his corrupted nature. Through this, we are given insights into the Pardoners concerns, that of his trade and the idea of sin. We also gain an insight on the Pardoners method of performance. One of the insights we gain through the Pardoners description of his job in the passage is on the theme of hypocrisy. The Pardoner says here, kan I preche again that same vice/ Which that I use, and that is avarice. From this, we see how illogical it is for someone to be criticising about the extreme love for money when he himself is obsessed with amassing a large amount of wealth. It shows that the Pardoner does not really mean what he says and that what he does is all just a performance. While it is ironic that the Pardoner is successful in preventing people from sinning by committing sins himself, we see that the Pardoner seems to be very proud of this achievement. We can see this from how he boasts kan I maken oother folk to twynne/ From avarice, and soore to repente and A moral tale yet I yow tell kan,/ Which I am wont to preche. Thus, we see that the Pardoner does not see the seriousness of his sins, and furthermore feels that he is very successful in his job because he is skilful and experienced in performing. His skill and experience is later shown again when he says For lewed peple loven tales olde;/ Swiche thinges kan they wel reporte and holde. From these two lines, we get the impression that the Pardoner is very shrewd and is able to understand his audience and tell them what they like to hear. We gain more insight of the Pardoners character firstly from the way he continues to trick people even though he knows and admits that it is wrongful. This can be seen when he frankly states For though myself be a ful vicious man and But though myself be gilty in that sinne. Secondly, we learn that he tricks the commoners not only of their money but also of their spiritual salvation. This shows the extent of corruption of the Pardoners character. This idea of him not having a hint of remorse is further reiterated when he goes on to say that is nat my principal entente/ I preche nothing but for coveitise and from the end of the passage Which I am wont to preche for to winne. There is another irony here in that the idea of preaching is usually associated with being holy, but in this case is used as a tool for greed. The repetition of this irony serves to emphasise the point that the only thing he cares about is monetary gains. This focus on material achievement is constant throughout the whole passage. For example, it is said And winne gold and silver for I teche, I wol noon of the apostles countrefete;/ I wol have moneie, wolle, chese, and whete, Nay, I wol drinke licour of the vine,/ And have a joly wenche in every toun and Now have I dronke a draughte of corny ale. Through these actions, we see that his life revolves around material pleasures and this is very unlike what you would expect out of someone who is supposed to be a representative of the church. We obtain more insight on the thoughts of the Pardoner through the description of his method of telling tales to trick people. We see this when he says For lewed peple loven tales olde;/ Swiche thinges kan they wel reporte and holde. From these two lines, we get the impression that the Pardoner holds himself in high regard because he sees other people as ignorant and simple-minded. This idea of self-importance is again emphasised in the later lines when he says For I wol preche and begge in sondry landes;/ I wol nat do no labour with mine handes,/ Ne make baskettes, and live therby,/ By cause I wol nat beggen idelly and That I wol live in poverte wilfully?/ Nay, nay, I thoghte it nevere, trewely!. His refusal to even think about living in poverty and his unwillingness to put himself down and do manual jobs reflects on how he thinks he is of high social status. This is ironic because by gaining wealth through such unscrupulous means of tricking people, he is the one who is truly of lower moral character. We also gain insight on his character from his description of his job. He says that he would still want to enjoy the monetary gains from all his trickery even if Al were it yeven of the povereste page,/ Or of the povereste widwe in a village,/ Al sholde hir children sterve for famine. This three lines really show the extent of the evil side of the Pardoner that he almost seems inhuman and unfeeling because he shows no sign of discomfort in enjoying even at the expense of another persons life. We can gain another insight on the methods that the Pardoner uses when he says, Now hoold youre pees! My tale I wol biginne. Over here, the Pardoner is telling everyone to keep quiet and listen to his story. This is quite dramatic and we are reminded of the theme of performance because it seems as if he is acting for the other pilgrims. In conclusion, we are already able to see the various themes of The Pardoners Tale through the concerns and methods used by the Pardoner in the Prologue. Furthermore, this also contributes to providing us with a better characterisation of the Pardoner. This better understanding of the Pardoner is useful in comprehending the tale which he goes on to tell.

Points Against And In Favour F :: essays research papers

The trial scene in the Merchant of Venice is the climax of the play as Shylock has taken Antonio to court, as he has not paid back the money he borrowed. Shylock wants the pound of flesh that is the forfeit of the bond concerning the money Antonio borrowed from him. Shylock’s main motivation for wanting this forfeit is as his daughter has stolen his money and run away, he is taking out his spite on Antonio and this blinds him as he does not watch what he is getting into during this scene From the point where Shylock enters the courtroom everyone opposing him is appealing for mercy for Antonio and this is what the scene demonstrates, a need for mercy. Portia says shortly after she has entered the scene ‘Then the Jew must be merciful’ she is not saying that this is what the law says he must be, but that he should do this because it is the only thing he can do morally. The mercy theme runs all the way through the scene and many opportunities were offered by the Duke, Bassanio and Portia for Shylock to take the moral course of action, but he constantly refuses saying he should get what he deserves not by moral justice but by the law. Shylock does have the right to the forfeit of his bond and it is Antonio’s fault that he is in this situation because he signed the bond of his own free will. He knew the consequences if he couldn’t pay it back as Shylock made it clear from the start. This is shown by when at the start of the court scene when he says ‘Make no more offers use no farther means, but with all brief and plain conveniency let me have judgement, and the Jew his will’. When he didn’t pay Shylock the money he owed him, Shylock had a right to Antonio’s forfeit by law. The problem was he didn’t choose the moral path where he probably could have gotten a lot of money and become a very rich man, but chose the forfeit out of spite over his daughter. This theme is also repeated through the scene that Shylock deserves his justice by the letter of the law and the forfeit of his bond. This is shown when he says phrases like ‘My deeds upon my head I crave the law, the penalty and forfeit of my bond’.

Safe Driving

Everything happening oh so fast; from getting in the car to seeing the black escalade ram through our car. With the thought of â€Å"im dead† then everything going pitch black, everything seemed meaningless. Accidents factor in more than just impaired driving and icy roads. The drivers’ condition along with their responsibilities is the reason Peggy will never walk again.Drivers need to stay sharp and aware on the road, and judging from the story ken did not seem to follow this. Even if you pay full attention, the danger of others is always on the road. As careful as you are other drivers mistakes are inevitable. In the story it says he rolled up his sleeves, even though it isn’t much; its still a sign of him compromising Peggy’s safety. Even if you take all precautions and stay aware of the road; you can’t always keep track of the always changing road conditions.Safety is key for driving, but there are many complications on the road. It’s no t always the road that complicates your safety; in the story it refers to Peggy wanting to visit the liquor store. Impaired driving injures someone ever other minute; with 16,000 deaths a year. Alcohol could’ve been a factor of why ken crashed, or it could’ve been a health issue. Peggy speculated he had a stroke or something at the wheel. Another safety violation occurred in the story; says he has only hand on the wheel. Again, it’s not much but it could’ve aided to the accident.Even if the accident wasn’t within kens control, he is still responsible for it. Drivers are responsible for just about everything that happens to it and in the car. Ken took the wheel; as long with Peggy’s mobility. Other people on the road are highly unpredictable, but that doesn’t change the fact your responsible for your own.In the end, it truly is Kens fault for paralyzing Peggy. Many things factor into an accident; but I think the main reason were his aw areness for the road and lack of safe driving. It may have been Peggy’s choice to get in the car; but its clearly Kens fault for the crash. I feel people take driving to  lightly, its one of the most dangerous methods of travel. People need to be more cautious.

Littering in malaysia

Other than that, the SSE who living in urban area produce 1. Keg of solid waste a day. This led to an estimated 30, 000 to 33,000 tones of waste being produced a day last year, compared to 22,000 tones o f solid waste produced daily in 2012. From the data, we can see that littering in Malaysia is getting from bad to www rise now. It may cause a lot of problems to our country. Thus, what are the problems our count try can face as a result of littering? Litter can affect local economy, especially in tourist location s.When the aorist come to our country, it will give a bad impression for them. Indirectly, t hey and people in their country won't come to our country again. Elf they don't come to our coo entry, how can we can earn money from them a lot of shop will close because there are nobody come and buy things in our country, economic depression will happen soon! Now, why a person don't want to throw rubbish into a rubbish bin and choose e to litter? Most of the people are lazy to wa lk to the rubbish bin to throw rubbish into it!They are very selfish ND don't know the government have to use the taxes that you pay to clean the e rubbish. Government will collect more taxes from people and everybody will only loss I instead of get any benefits. Not only that, our country can't be develop because most of the money will be used to clean the rubbish. In Malaysia everywhere is full of rubbish bin but I r ally don't know why they are lazy to throw the rubbish into the rubbish bin. Because of lazy, s o many bad things will happen in our country. Lastly, what we can do to overcome this problem?We should keep a litter baa in our car and hang on to litter until we find a garbage receptacle. Besides, we must make s ere your trash cans have tightening lids. Len our workplace, provide plenty of containers for GA ravage and recyclables. What can government do to overcome this problem? The govern meet can create a Law to protect places from littering. For those who caught by th e authorities must be fined heavily so that they will scared and behave themselves. I hope that this problem will be overcome as soon as possible. Why Singapore e can do it but Malaysia can't do it?

4 Rules for Setting Designations off with Commas

4 Rules for Setting Designations off with Commas 4 Rules for Setting Designations off with Commas 4 Rules for Setting Designations off with Commas By Mark Nichol Where do commas go in the vicinity of references to city and state names, or when identifying a date? Is a comma necessary before Jr. or II after a person’s name, or between a corporate name and a tag like Inc.? The rules for use of such functional punctuation follow: 1. City-and-State Designations In a city-and-state (or city-and-nation) construction, the state is set off from the city by a pair of commas: â€Å"A point near Rugby, North Dakota, is the geographic center of North America.† However, when describing an address, no comma appears between the state name or abbreviation and the ZIP code: â€Å"He listed his address as 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500.† (Note that DC, like all other abbreviations consisting of two or more uppercase letters, requires no punctuation. Also, all the letters in ZIP, an acronym for â€Å"Zone Improvement Plan,† should be capitalized.) When should you list a state or nation in addition to the name of a city, and which cities are familiar enough that their location does not need to be further specified? The distinction is arbitrary and based on context: A local newspaper need not identify the state in which an obscure nearby town is located, but a publication with national distribution should provide more information about the community’s location; the approach for a book depends on whether the setting is local or the text refers to a variety of locales. Companies and organizations that regularly publish content featuring references to geographic locations should establish, as part of a style guide, a list of names of cities that stand on their own and those that should be accompanied by the name of a state or nation. 2. Month-Day-and-Year References In a month-day-and-year phrase, set the year off between commas: â€Å"Children born on February 29, 2012, will have to wait four years for their next birthday party.† If only the month and year are used, no punctuation is necessary: â€Å"Precipitation levels in April 2012 were nearly double those recorded last year during that month.† The same rule applies for holidays with years: â€Å"The caption identified the occasion as Christmas Day 2012.† No punctuation is used in the day-month-year system: â€Å"The next sample will be collected on 1 May 2012.† 3. Generational Suffixes Though those who append Jr. or Sr. (Jnr. or Snr. in British English) to their name may choose to use one or two commas (depending on whether the designation is at the end of a sentence or in its midst) to set the element off, this style is outdated and seldom applied anymore. For the sake of consistency, always omit such punctuation. Also, this usage is not, and never has been, correct in association with II, III, and the like to denote use of an identical name down through successive generations. 4. Legal Endings Likewise, Inc., Ltd., and other designations of corporate structure are variously treated according to a particular company’s preference, but the dictates of consistency overrule such choices. Of course, if you work for a company that deliberately sets the element off with punctuation, follow that style, but the importance of consistency necessitates that in your employers’ publications or documents, you refer to any other company according to the same rule even if the other company omits punctuation in its treatment of its name. (But what if that other company is a strategic partner, and you feel the urge to honor its style? Resist I won’t tell if you don’t tell.) Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Writing a Reference Letter (With Examples)Latin Plural EndingsHow to Send Tactful Emails from a Technical Support Desk

The Old Man and the Sea Questions for Discussion

The Old Man and the Sea Questions for Discussion Written by Ernest Hemingway,  The Old Man and the Sea is a famous novel about man versus nature and the determined struggle against inevitable aging and death. While Hemingway is known to be the master of brevity, his concise works also are much more complex than they would first appear, and  The Old Man and the Sea  is no exception. A literary classic, this novel is a great pick for a book club and a part of many schools curriculum. Here are questions related to The Old Man and the Sea that will get the discussion going.   Start From The Top: What is important about the title?   Plot Development: What are the conflicts in The Old Man and the Sea? Would you describe them in terms of physical, moral, intellectual, or emotional conflict?How does Ernest Hemingway reveal character in the novel? Symbolism: What are important themes in the story? How do they relate to the plot and characters?What are some of the symbols in the novel, and what do they represent?How universalare the ideas in  The Old Man and the Sea?  Does the story end the way you expected? How? Why? How realistic is the story?Where does The Old Man and the Sea take place? Is the setting important to the ideas in this book? Whats Your Opinion? Would you recommend this novel to a friend?

Art periods - Impressionism and Post Impressionism Essay

Art periods - Impressionism and Post Impressionism - Essay Example The impressionist deviated from their predecessor artists as they painted in the open air (en plain air) (Rewald, 2005). This was very important in confronting the modern city life and the nature. They further painted their work by use of pure color. The use of pure color was very important as they made the work of the artist impressive. The work was attractive unlike the previous artistic work. The artists who fall in this category influenced the western conception of drawings and paintings. The impressionists revolutionized the western work of art. It was an avenue of the post impressionists who created their work basing on the impressionism. They modified the impressionism work of art. They thus, maintained some other aspects of the impressionism. The impressionism is very important as it made a base for the post impressionism. All the paintings, drawings and films of post- impressionism were borrowed from the impressionism. Even though the post impressionists deviated from the im pressionists, they still borrowed some knowledge from impressionists to perfect their works of art. Claude Monet is the greatest artist in this period. He aimed at catching light and atmosphere something which had not been thought by the past artists. His enjoyment in painting outdoors let to spontaneous and free painting technique. Monet’s brushwork is remarkably varied and flexible. He could change his work. Sometimes his work was dappled and sparking but at other times it was broad and sweeping.