SAT Analogies and Comparisons Why Were They Removed, and What Replaced Them

SAT Analogies and Comparisons Why Were They Removed, and What Replaced Them SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips In 2005, major changes made to the question types in the reading and math sections of the SAT. Two types of comparison questions - quantitative comparison questions from math, and analogies from reading - were booted from the SAT. In this article I’ll give you the rundown on what these questions were like, how the SAT replaced them, and how questions have evolved even further on the 2016 version of the test. What Were SAT Quantitative Comparison Questions? Quatitative comparison questions used to be a considerable part of the math section (25 percent of questions).Instead of asking you to solve for a value, these questions asked you to determine which of two quantities was larger. Here’s an example: x and y are positive integers. 3x + 6y = 180,252 Column A Column B The maximum possible value of x The maximum possible value of y A. The quantity in Column A is greater.B. The quantity in Column B is greater.C. The two quantities are equal.D. The relationship cannot be determined from the information given. (the answer is A) Why Were Quantitative Comparison Questions Removed? These questions were removed from the SAT in 2005. They were deemed to besomewhat irrelevant to core math skills and a bit too confusing.QC questions were also more reading-based - they were the only math questions that didn’t have symbolic or numerical answers.Ironically, removing them was a move towards making the math section MORE quantitative (that is, purely number or variable quantity-based rather than logical reasoning-based). The SAT was hoping to disentangle itself from its long-standing reputation as a "tricky" standardized test.Quantitative reasoning questions came across more as riddles than math questions because they don't ask you to find a numerical solution or use a well-outlined mathematical skill set. Which Questions Replaced Quantitative Comparison Questions? The 2005-2015 SAT: New algebra II-related topics were added to the math section to replace quantitative comparison questions.These included: exponential growth, manipulation of fractional and negative exponents, functional notation, absolute value, equations of lines, and data interpretation. Quantitative comparison questions were replaced with questions that specifically targeted areas of math that students were familiar with from algebra and geometry classes and could be used to demonstrate a strong understanding of core math principles. The Current (2016) SAT: Not too much has changedfrom the previous version, but a few more math topics have been added.These include: basic trigonometry, more data interpretation, questions that invoke real life scenarios, and more in-depth questions involving algebra and solving equations. The latest version of the SAT wants to make sure students have a solid understanding of foundational math concepts AND can apply those concepts in real life. Here's an example of a math question that might appear on the current SAT: This question asks you to use your mathematical skills to analyze a real data set. The ability to answer quesitons like this more accurately reflects career and college preparedness than performance on quantitative comparison questions, which were totally disconnected from real life scenarios. What Were SAT Analogy Questions? These were the original stereotypical SAT questions.You were given a pair of words and asked to choose from five other pairs of words to find the relationship that most closely resembled that of the first pair. In the following example, you can interpret the dots as the words â€Å"is to† so you would think of it as â€Å"Paltry is to significance as _______ is to _________.† where the blanks are the two words in one of the answer choices. PALTRY : SIGNIFICANCE :: A. redundant : discussionB. austere : landscapeC. opulent : wealthD. oblique : familiarityE. banal : originality (the correct answer is E) An interpretation of this painting with all the words from the wrong answers: "I'm sick of these redundant discussions in this austere landscape on subjects with which I only have a very oblique familiarity. Let's go rob a bank and buy an opulent mansion with our newfound wealth." Why Were SAT Analogy Questions Removed? Analogy questions were removed in 2005 when the verbal reasoning section of the SAT was renamed "critical reading".These questions were criticized for being irrelevant to success in a college or work environment. Analogy questions gave the SAT its reputation for using â€Å"tricky† question formats and being a puzzle rather than a straightforward assessment. They were also criticized for being biased towards certain socioeconomic groups.This question in particular was called out by the National Center for Fair Open Testing for providing a clear advantage to coastal elites: RUNNER: MARATHON :: A) envoy: embassyB) martyr: massacreC) oarsman: regattaD) referee: tournamentE) horse: stable The answer was C, but unless you own at least one pair of salmon-colored shorts you probably don't have more than a vague idea of the relationship between those terms. It was also argued that analogies could be coached (giving more advantage to kids who can afford tutors) and used vocabulary that was too unorthodox for most students to know.On an analogy question, you can’t rely on context if you don’t know the meaning of a word. You’re basically stuck with guessing.Try comparing apples to oranges when you don’t know what an orange is or you think you have a vague idea that it might also be some kind of food. It’s...fruitless. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Which Questions Replaced Analogy Questions? The 2005-2015 SAT: Sentence completion questionswere the closest analogue (sorry, the wordplay is getting out of hand) to analogy questions on the 2005-2015 version of the SAT. Though they were also on the SAT prior to 2005, after the removal of analogy questions they became the only real vocab-centric questions in the Critical Reading section. These questions called for skills inidentifying vocabulary in the context of a sentence.You were given a sentence with one or two blanks and asked to choose the best vocabulary word to fill in the blank(s). Here’s an example about Jones, who you find out was actually a ghost the whole time at the end of the SAT: ____ by nature, Jones spoke very little even to his own family members. A. garrulousB. equivocalC. taciturnD. arrogantE. gregarious (the answer is C) You can see how these questions might still present a problem if you don’t have an advanced vocabulary, but they did give you a little more to work with if you weren't sure of the exact definitions of the words. The Current SAT: On the current SAT, sentence completion questions are replaced with vocabulary in context questions.Thesequestions are similar to reading questions found on the ACT. You are asked to pick out the closest synonym for a vocabulary word that appears in a passage. Here’s an example: ...The coming decades will likely see more intense clustering of jobs, innovation, and productivity in a smaller number of bigger cities and city-regions. Some regions could end up bloated beyond the capacity of their infrastructure, while others struggle, their promise stymied by inadequate human or other resources. As used in line 55, â€Å"intense† most nearly means A) emotional.B) concentrated.C) brilliant.D) determined.(the answer is B) The goal of these questions is to encourage students to understand the nuances in meaning of more common words rather than overwhelming them with a bunch of archaic vocabulary.The best way to study for these types of questions is to focus on honing your passage reading skills.The ability to read and interpret the meanings of passages correctly is key on the current version of the SAT because all questions in the reading section are passage-based. Conclusion Essentially, the SAT removed these old types of questions to reduce criticisms about inequality. The test continuously finds itself under fire for the direct proportionality of family income to test scores, and it has made numerous efforts over the years to reinvent itself to combat this problem. In a decade, we may see yet another re-imagining of the SAT to tackle these issues in a different way. What's Next? It's not just the SAT Math section that asks you to read charts and graphs. The Reading and Writing sections have data interpretation questions as well. Learn more about the best ways to solve them. You should also check out this guide to figure out when you should take the SAT. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

A Brief History of Banking Reform After the New Deal

A Brief History of Banking Reform After the New Deal As president of the United States during the Great Depression, one of President Franklin D. Roosevelts primary policy goals was to address issues in the banking industry and financial sector. FDRs New Deal legislation was his administrations answer to many of the countrys grave economic and social issues of the period. Many historians categorize the primary points of focus of the legislation as the Three Rs to stand for relief, recovery, and reform. When it came to the banking industry, FDR pushed for reform. The New Deal and Banking Reform   FDRs New Deal legislation of the mid- to late-1930s gave rise to new policies and regulations preventing banks from engaging in the securities and insurance businesses. Prior to the Great Depression, many banks ran into trouble because they took excessive risks in the stock market or unethically provided loans to industrial companies in which bank directors or officers had personal investments. As an immediate provision, FDR proposed the Emergency Banking Act which was signed into law the very same day it was presented to Congress. The Emergency Banking Act  outlined the plan to reopen sound banking institutions under the US Treasurys oversight and backed by federal loans. This critical act provided much-needed temporary stability  in the industry  but did not provide for the future.  Determined to prevent these events from occurring again,  Depression-era politicians passed the Glass-Steagall Act, which essentially prohibited the mixing of banking, securities, and insuranc e businesses. Together these two acts of banking reform provided long-term stability to the banking industry. Banking Reform Backlash Despite the banking reforms success, these regulations, particularly those associated with the Glass-Steagall Act, grew controversial by the 1970s, as banks complained that they would lose customers to other financial companies unless they could offer a wider variety of financial services.  The government responded by giving banks greater freedom to offer consumers new types of financial services. Then, in late 1999, Congress enacted the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. The new law went beyond the considerable freedom that banks already enjoyed in offering everything from consumer banking to underwriting securities. It allowed banks, securities, and insurance firms to form financial conglomerates that could market a range of financial products including mutual funds, stocks and bonds, insurance, and automobile loans. As with laws deregulating transportation, telecommunications, and other industries, the new law was expected to gen erate a wave of mergers among financial institutions. Banking Industry Beyond WWII Generally, the New Deal legislation was successful, and the American banking system returned to health in the years following World War II. But it ran into difficulties again in the 1980s and 1990s in part because of social regulation. After the war, the government had been eager to foster homeownership, so it helped create a new banking sector- the savings and loan (SL) industry- to concentrate on making long-term home loans, known as mortgages. But the savings and loans industry faced one major problem: mortgages typically ran for 30 years and carried fixed interest rates, while most deposits have much shorter terms. When short-term interest rates rise above the rate on long-term mortgages, savings and loans can lose money. To protect savings and loan associations and banks against this eventuality, regulators decided to control interest rates on deposits.

Aviation Maintenance Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Aviation Maintenance - Article Example With the use of X2 technology to trounce the design related challenges in the aircraft industry.The aircraft keep up with the advancing technology by being designed in a way that it can be flown by wire. So far the electronic control of the aircraft has shown superb performance than the human-directed, this is despite the fact the system has been in use for a short period. At the same time, there is increased acceleration and deceleration speed which is of the essence in the military planes more so for the fact that the aircraft at some point may be subjected to sudden landing and taking off for the security purposes. The new innovative ways of production and employment of the innovation in the aviation industry give room for more advanced and reliable products that meet the advanced needs of the clients. The aircraft in its form flies faster and for longer distances than the less technologically advanced planes in use. At the same time, there is increased the higher limit of the loa d.However, with increased technology and production of new technologically advanced aircraft, there is a need also to have an increased number of the maintained technology experts. With an increased surge of the new aircrafts, the world over with few people to maintain the same has made the industry and the maintenance of the modern aircrafts unbearable in terms of maintenance costs. Therefore, must a company to roll out technicians as well now that there is a shortage even for the present workload.

Describe what you see Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Describe what you see - Essay Example The statue is wearing a tunic and tights, adorned with a long fur coat, which has puffed sleeves, seeming pleasantly anachronistic against the background adorned by the premises of the State Community College. The legs of the statue are short, thick and firm, depicting a pachyderm like balance and strength. The hands are comparatively shapely and long, signifying the sophistication of the Western civilization. The facial features of the statue are lean, masculine and imbued with determination, resembling a mountain like stability and solidity. The statue is about as high as a young oak tree, commensurately solid and firm. The forehead is slim and slightly furrowed, evincing the determination of a crouching lion. The eyes are almond shaped and gazing ahead, akin to a search light like focus. Overall the contours of the statue are bold, monolithic, and round, accentuating the solidity of the marble rock from which it was

Paper-Based Versus Electronic Medical Record Keeping Essay Example for Free

Paper-Based Versus Electronic Medical Record Keeping Essay For many years, physicians’ offices documented all data in paper-based medical charts. Now, the physician or clinician records the medical data into a computer. Information stored in this manner is known as an electronic-based medical record or EMR. By definition, an EMR is a computerized record of the important health information regarding a patient including the care of that individual and the progress of that patient’s condition (Bonewit-West, Hunt, Applegate, 2009). The use of computers in physicians’ offices is not new. For decades, physicians have used computers and practice management software primarily to schedule appointments and for billing. The government has offered physicians incentives designed to encourage the adoption of electronic medical records to promote medical information accessibility, better patient care, greater efficiency, and financial savings (Hamilton, 2010). In the face of advancing technology, small medical offices must compare the cost, ease of use, and maintenance of electronic medical record systems versus paper-based record keeping. The cost of keeping paper-based and electronic medical records is not just about the actual price tag of the record-keeping systems. The cost of keeping an electronic medical record system (EMR) begins with the initial purchase and implementation of the hardware and EMR software. There are also ongoing maintenance expenses, loss of revenue associated with temporary loss of productivity due to converting paper charts to electronic ones, and the training of the staff (Menachemi Collum, 2011). The way these record systems are stored is very different and can greatly affect the cost as well. EMR records are stored on a server, digitally, in a secure computer database within the office practice (Hamilton, 2010). On the other hand, the cost of keeping a paper-based medical record requires certain supplies. File folders, folder labels, chart dividers, paper, and writing instruments are needed. Shelves are commonly used to hold and organize the charts for ease of accessibility by the staff. A growing medical practice may often require many shelving units that take up valuable office space. Storage boxes are required to store outdated charts or charts no longer in use (Bonewit-West et al., 2009). If there is not enough space in the office, then physicians may often have to pay for off-site storage (Hamilton, 2010).  The process of using a paper-based medical record system is relatively easy. However, there are some factors to consider. To use a paper chart, the medical staff must locate and retrieve it, make sure the appropriate documents accompany the chart, and have it ready for the physician. The physician or the medical staff must allocate enough time to accurately document the chart for each patient. Any chart, whether it is paper or electronic, needs to be comprehensible, so clear writing is imperative when recording using a paper chart (Bonewit-West et al., 2009). Meanwhile, using an EMR system requires the use of a computer. This can be a desktop model, laptop, or a tablet type device. The patient records are kept digitally within the EMR system and are accessed via the computer. This type of record-keeping system does not require the addition of paper documents. Al l paper documents are scanned into the EMR system or electronically obtained from other pertinent sources. Once paper documents are scanned into the EMR system, they become part of the patient’s permanent record and are no longer needed. This process requires EMR training of the medical staff, which is normally performed by the vendor supplying the EMR software. The physician and the medical staff must learn how to operate the new system and acclimate to the new paperless charting method. Learning an EMR program and using it with ease can take several months or more (Bonewit-West et al., 2009). The ease of use with both of these systems differs in the fact that paper-based records need to be filed properly in order to locate them when needed. Filing can be very time-consuming and paper-based records can be easily lost or destroyed. Even though electronic records are stored digitally on a server within the medical office, the medical staff will still need to enter the patient data into the EMR system. Electronic records need to be backed up daily because they can be lost due to fail ure of the hardware (Hamilton, 2010). Regular maintenance is required for both paper-based and electronic record keeping. The maintenance differs greatly between the systems and is ongoing regardless of which system is being used in the medical office. The routine maintenance of an electronic medical record system requires hiring network professionals to monitor and maintain the network. Some examples of maintenance tasks may include performing data backup once every twenty-four hours, storing a database backup offsite, and  archiving backup media once every month. There is also maintenance on the hardware and software. Hardware must be replaced and software will have to be upgraded regularly. A product specialist may need to run utilities for different applications within the EMR system. There will be ongoing training for all users of the electronic medical records system (Menachemi Collum, 2011). In contrast to electronic medical records, maintenance of paper charts require that they are examined periodically to make sure the chart remains in good condition since these charts will become worn over time. The charting of each patient should be complete, legible, and performed in a timely fashion. Paper charts that are outdated, that are deemed inactive or charts of patients who expired will have to be placed in boxes and put into storage (Hamilton, 2010). There are vast differences between paper-based and electronic medical record-keeping systems. One system is entirely manual while the other requires manual data entry combined with computerization. For decades, physicians and staff of medical practices have used only the manual or paper-based method of keeping medical records. Change can be costly and frustrating, but with the advancement of technology, coupled with the government requiring the use of EMR, small medical offices must explore the cost, ease of use, and maintenance involved in making this important change in the way of keeping medical records. References Bonewit-West, K., Hunt, S. A., Applegate, E. J. (2009). The medical record. In Todays Medical Assistant: Clinical Administrative Procedures. St. Louis, Mo: Saunders/Elsevier. Hamilton, B. (2010). Electronic health records (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Menachemi, N., Collum, T. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of EHRs. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 4, 47-55. Retrieved from doi:10.2147/RMHP.S12985.

Public School Curriculum Content :: Education Curriculum Teaching Essays Papers

Public School Curriculum Content In this era of progressive thinking and open mindedness, it was only a matter of time before society tried to change our school system for the better. The long-standing theories of Charles Darwin on evolution are finally being contested. Intelligent Design has emerged as the leading opposition to Darwin's blasphemy, but another equally valid theory has recently made some noise in the world of evolution. The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Intelligent Design, also known as FSMism, has recently built up quite a following. These two theories are pushing very hard to one day be in our high school curriculum. Are ID and FSMism both worthy of being taught in our schools or is one more scientifically valid? Intelligent Design, or ID, states that there are certain aspects in nature that show individual signs of intelligence that can not be accounted for, or that are too complex for our understanding. Therefore, an "Intelligent Designer" must have deliberately created everything in nature that shows this unaccountable sign of intelligence. Followers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, also called Pastafarians, follow the same criteria as ID proponents. On top of those ideals, Brian D Rabern, a Pastafarian and a member of the Department of Philosophy at UC Santa Barbara, adds another perspective. "Everything that begins to exist has a cause of its existence. The universe began to exist. Therefore, the universe has a cause for existence. Since no scientific explanation can provide a causal account of the origin of the universe, the cause must be supernatural, i.e. a god. Therefore, a god exists. Gods create humans in their own image. The brains of humans resemble a bowl of spaghetti. Thus, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the one true god." This statement brings up the most blaring difference between ID and FSMism, the fact that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is defined and ID has no particular designer. The fact that ID has no specified designer has both positive and negative effects on the theory. On the one hand, having no higher power defined brings the separation of Church and State out of the equation. Conversely, since no higher power is mentioned, one would have to come to the conclusion that there is not just one higher power. ID states that an "Intelligent Designer" must have created anything that shows an unexplainable intelligence. This means that the "Intelligent Designer" would have to have unexplainable intelligence of his own which would lead to the conclusion that their must be another designer that designed him.

Boy Bawang

Concepts of State and Government State – is a community of persons more or less numerous permanently occupying a definite portion of territory and a government. Elements of State 1. People – this refers to the mass of population living within the state. 2. Territory – it includes not only the land over which the jurisdiction of the state extends; but also the rivers and lakes therein. 116 square miles or 300,440 square kilometers 3. Government – it refers to the agency through which the will of the state is formulated expressed and carried out. 4.Sovereignty – the term may be defined as the supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience to its will from people within its jurisdiction. a) Internal – or the power of the state to rule within its territory b) External – or the freedom of the state to carry out its activities without subjection to or control by other states. Origin of state theories 1. Divine Right Theory †“ it holds that the state is of divine creation and the ruler is ordained by god to govern the people. 2. Necessity or Force Theory – it maintains that state must have been created through force. . Paternalistic Policy – it attributes the origin of states to the enlargement of the family which remained under the authority of the father or mother. 4. Social Contract Theory – it asserts that the early states must have been formed by deliberate and voluntary compact among the people to form society and organize government for their common good. Forms of Government a) Monarchy – or one in which the supreme and final authority is in the hands of a single person without regard to the source of this election or the nature or duration of his tenure.Monarchies are further classified into 1. Absolute monarchy – or one in which the ruler rules by divine right 2. Limited Monarchy – or one in which the ruler rules in accordance with a constitution. b) Aristocracy – or one in which political power is exercised by a few privileged class which is known as an aristocracy or oligarchy. c) Democracy – or one in which political power exercised by a majority of the people. Democratic governments is further classified into; 1. Direct or pure democracy – or one which the will of the state is ormulated or expressed directly and immediately through the people in a mass meeting. 2. Indirect Representative – or republican democracy or one in which the will of the state is formulated. As to extent of powers exercised by the central or national government a) Unitary Government – or one in which the control of national and local affairs is exercised b) Federal Government – – or one in which the powers of government are divided between two sets of organs, one for national affairs and the other for local affairs.Relationship between the executive and the legislative branches of the government a) Parl iamentary Government – or one in which the state confers upon the legislature the power to terminate the tenure of office of the real executive. b) Presidential Government – or one in which the state makes the executive constitutionally independent of the legislature. Other forms of Government a) Civil Government – one in which the affairs of the state are administrated and directed by the citizens or their representatives. ) Military Government – established and administered by a belligerent in the territory c) Constitutional Government – one in which the powers of those who rule are defined and limited in their exercised d) Despotic Government – one in which the powers of those who rule are not defined and limited in their exercised by a constitution e) Elective Government – one in which the state confers powers upon a person, or organization composed of persons chosen by qualified voters f) Hereditary Government – the state confers the powers of government upon a person in a certain family g) Coordinate Government – government according to their nature among separate departments or bodies. h) Consolidated Government – the state confides all government powers to a single body i) De jure Government – founded on existing constitutional laws of the state and has the general support of the people j) De facto Government – existing constitutional law of the state and is maintained against the rightful authority of an established and lawful government. ) Revolutionary Government – installed whether by force or otherwise, not in accordance with the procedure prescribed in an existing constitution. Source of Constitution authority 1. The Filipino People 2. A Sovereign People 3. Belief in God Article 1 – National Territory The Terrestial, Fluvial and Aerial domains of the Philippines 1. The territorial sea – it is that part of the sea extending 12 nautical miles (1 19 kms. ) from the low-water mark. 2. The sea bed – this refers to the land that holds the sea, lying beyond the seashore, including mineral and natural resources. 3. The sub-oil – this includes everything beneath the surface soil – including mineral and natural resources. 4.Insular shelves – they are the submerged portions of a continent or offshore island. 5. Other submarine areas – they refer to all areas under the territorial sea. Three fold division of navigable waters 1. Inland or internal waters – they are the parts of the sea within the land territory. 2. Territorial sea – it is belt of water outside and parallel to the coastline or to the outer limits of the inland or internal waters. 3. High or open seas – they are waters that lie seaward of the territorial sea. Article 2 – Declaration of principles and state policies Republican government – is a democratic government by representatives chosen by the peo ple at large Sovereignty – implies the supreme authority to govern.

Brief Notes on Karl Marx Essay

â€Å"Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains† Karl Marx, a 19th century sociologist, philosopher and political economist who suggested a theory explaining the conflict between capital and labour, and the role of classes in the state, has had a profound influence on political thinking all over the world. Karl Marx was born on May 5, 1818, in Prussia. His family was Jewish, but later converted to Protestanism. Marx read law at university, majoring in history and philosophy. He concluded his university course in 1841. A revolutionary, he upset too many governments on the continent and eventually settled in London, where he died in 1883. â€Å"ACCORDING TO MARX, human civilization has manifested itself in a series of organizational structures, each determined by its primary mode of production, particularly the division of labor that dominates in each stage. â€Å"Ideology functions as the superstructure of a civilization: the conventions and culture that make up the dominant ideas of a society. The â€Å"ruling ideas† of a given epoch are, however, those of the ruling class: â€Å"The ruling ideas are nothing more than the ideal expression of the dominant material relationships, the dominant material relationships grasped as ideas; hence of the relationships which make the one class the ruling one, therefore, the ideas of their dominance†. Since one goal of ideology is to legitimize those forces in a position of hegemony, it tends to obfuscate the violence and exploitation that often keep a disempowered group in its place (from slaves in tribal society to the peasantry in feudal society to the proletariat in capitalist society). The obfuscation necessarily leads to logical contradictions in the dominant ideology, which Marxism works to uncover by returning to the material conditions of a society: a society’s mode o f production. â€Å"The material conditions existing at a given time period Marx refers to as  the means of production. Any given time period’s ideology is most clearly revealed by uncovering the material conditions of production: the means of production, as well as the relations of production (the ways the society structures the relations between individuals, particularly through the division of labor), which together make up the mode of production: â€Å"life involves before everything else eating and drinking, a habitation, clothing and many other things. The first historical act is thus the production of the means to satisfy these needs, the production of material life itself† (48). For Marx, it is the materiality of human production that directly influences ideology: â€Å"Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life†. Felluga, Dino. (2003) â€Å"Modules on Marx, Introductory Guide to Critical Theory† . 17 Mar 2004 Marx states that Capitalist society is formed of the Owning Class (Borgoisie), those who own and control the economic functions of society and who can thus shape society to suit themselves; and the Working Class (Proletariat), the workers. These classes have nothing in common; they are antagonistic and in conflict with each other. This struggle will ultimately lead to revolution and the establishment of a single class society. All relationships are based upon Economics – even family relationships – economics is the fundamental driving force, surpassing even religion which he described as the Opium of the People. Understanding economic relationships is a crucial step if one wishes to gain control of them.

How to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score, by a 2400 Expert Full Scorer

How to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score, by a 2400 Expert Full Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Updated for the New 2016 SAT! The maximum score on the SATis a 1600. Out of the 1.7 million students who take the test every year, only about 300 get the highest possible SAT score. This elusive perfect score catapults you to the top of high school academic achievement and can be a big boost to your college applications. I scored perfect scores on the SAT. I actually scored two perfect scores- a 1600 in 2004 when I was in high school, and a 2400 in March 2014 when I took it ten years later. Most of the advice out there about how to get a perfect score come from people who didn't get perfect scores. In this exclusive article, I'll be breaking down exactly what it takes, and the ruthless techniques I used to get a perfect score. Quick Disclaimer Let me start with a few disclaimers. I'm a humble person, and I don't like talking about my accomplishments without good reason. I know a lot of you are looking to score the highest SAT score possible, so I've written this guide to help you get there. So whatever I say here, please take it as advice from a mentor eager to help, not as a braggart strutting his stuff. Also,a last note:I co-founded the company PrepScholar- we create online SAT/ACT prep programs that adapt to you and your strengths and weaknesses. I want to emphasize that you do NOT need to buy a full prep program to get a great score. If you follow the principles below and are very driven, you'll do just fine. I do believe, however, that PrepScholar is the best SAT program available right now, especially if you find it hard to organize your prep and don't know what to study. I'll refer to decisions we made in creating the program to flesh out principles I discuss below. What Perfect SAT Scores Look Like For full transparency, let me show you my personal score report. This is a screenshot from my College Board SAT Organizer: I took the two SATs 10 years apart. The 2004 test was in an old format of the SAT and was scored out of 1600. I took the new test in 2014 and scored a 2400. (Yes, I took the SAT as an adult. Besides getting funny looks from high school students, I wanted to go through the experience anew so I knew what my students at PrepScholar were going through.) So that you can see in bleeding detail how I got the 2400, I've attached my unofficial detailed score report from the College Board. You can see exactly how many questions I missed and read my essay (my handwriting could use some work). Using my score report as an example, let's examine what it takes to get a perfect SAT score. While this score report talks about the Old 2400 SAT, the principles are still the same. In the new SAT, there are still Reading, Math, and Writing sections, and you still need to do EXTREMELYwell on them to get a perfect score. What It Takes to Get a 1600on the SAT At the top end of the scoring range, the SAT is not forgiving. You need to aim for perfection. Specifically, here's what you need to do in each section: In Reading, you can only miss 1 or 2 questions. This depends on the curve for that test. It's best to aim for missing 0 or 1 question. In my test, I missed 1 reading passage question. In Math, you need to get every question correct. No question about it.The curve is unforgiving for Math. Miss 1 question and you won't get an 800 on this section. In Writing, you can sometimes miss 1 question at most.In some tests, you have to get a perfect Writing and Language score to have a shot at an 800. Essentially, you need to aim for perfection during your prep. If you're consistently missing one or more questions on each section, you're not performing consistently enough to be safe for a 1600. We'll go into more detail about this below. If you want to confirm my statements here, check out the College Board score charts for official SAT practice tests. One last question to answer before my actual advice: But Wait...Are You Just Smart? Will This Advice Work for Me? You may have heard about top scoring students who just rolled out of bed, strolled to the SAT test center, and scored the highest possible SAT score without any prep. This was not me. Some people like the above may in fact exist, but they're rare.In high school, I was naturally stronger at math- I participated in math and science competitions- and I could reliably get 800's on the math section. But my reading and writing needed work. When I started off, I consistently got in the 700 range. Now, this is already pretty high, but it wasn't enough for the top schools I was aiming for. I just wasn't that accustomed to the SAT reading passages and the types of questions they asked. It took a lot of hard work for me to learn how the SAT works, how it tries to trick students, and how to find a strategy that worked for myself so I could reliably get top scores.My co-founder at PrepScholarhad a similar story. Since I'm older, I also have the benefit of seeing whether my methods worked over time, or just on the SAT. Emphatically, the principles below have worked throughout my academic career. Here's another example. As an undergraduate in college, I planned to attend medical school, so I had to take the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test). In my view, this is a much harder test than the SAT. It covers many more topics: general chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology, and verbal reasoning. Furthermore, you're competing with pre-med's across the nation, people who are naturally driven and competing to get into medical school, not just the average high school student. When I started studying for the MCAT, I scored around the low 30's. The test is scored out of 45, and it's curved very aggressively. Again, this was already well above average, but it wasn't enough for the top medical schools I was going for. So I worked hard. I put in the time, covered all the subjects I needed to know, and was ruthless about my prep. In the very end, I scored a 44: As the testing organization notes, this is in the 99.9 percentile rank, with 0.0% achieving this score (this figure is rounded). I had multiple medical advisers tell me that they had never seen a score this high before, and there might indeed be fewer than three people per year- or none at all- who get a 44.Scoring this high definitely helped me get into the MD-PhD program at Harvard Medical School and MIT. I wish I were talented enough to get these test scores naturally without hundreds of hours of hard work. That would be the cooler thing to say. But it wasn't true for me, and it probably won't be true for you either. With this foundation laid, here's the meat of what I want to say: What Do You Need to Do to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score? In broad strokes, it takes a lot of hard work, a lot of smart work, and some amount of luck. But you've heard this before so just this alone isn't helpful. Let's dig deeper. You have to want it. Really, really want it. You need the motivation to push yourself. You need to put SAT prep as one of your top priorities in life, overcoming watching Youtube or hanging out at the mall. In the darkest of days, when you take a practice test and drop 100 points inexplicably, and your parents are freaking out, and you're worried you're never getting into your top college, you need the inner fire to not get depressed. Instead, you need to pull yourself up and objectively rip apart your mistakes so you don't repeat them. People don't often mention motivation, but in my view this is one of the most important pieces that differentiate successful people from not, in all aspects of life. It's much more important than just being smart. Make a list of all the reasons you want to get a perfect score. Write them down. Stare at them when you lose faith. Want to get into Harvard or an Ivy League school? Want to make up for a bad GPA? Want to prove to your parents that you can beat their expectations? Want to compete with your friends?Want to show up your 3rd-grade teacher who said you would never amount to anything? That's all good. Anything that drives you from within is a valid reason to work hard. You'll need this to combat procrastination and laziness. You'll need this to push yourself to execute every strategy I tell you below. If you're not motivated, it's just too easy to brush aside failure and be sloppy about your weaknesses. In my personal case, beyond the academic benefits, I thought the SAT was a dumb test that was impeding my life. I was angry at test writers who devised tricks to fool students. I approached it like a video game- the SAT and the College Board were bosses that I needed to dominate. Plus, my brother had a near-perfect score, and I wanted to one-up him. Write down all the reasons you want a perfect score and use it to fuel yourself every study session. Exclusive Blog Bonus: We've written a popular free guide on 5 tips to improving your SAT score by 160+ points. Get a free download here. Step 1: Do High-Quality Practice and Avoid Low-Quality Materials The SAT is a weird test. It's unlike tests that you've taken throughout school. It presents simple concepts in bizarre ways. This is essentially how the College Board makes the test hard- it takes concepts most students have seen before, twists them to be unfamiliar, and counts on students to screw up. To excel at this test, you need the highest quality practice materials. Because the SAT has questions that are twisted in a particular way, you need to train in exactly the way they're twisted so you learn the patterns. As we've said before, by far the best practice material comes directly from the College Board in the form of official SAT practice tests.When I was studying, I devoured every SAT practice test I could find. I took over 15 full-length practice tests and was ruthless about finding my mistakes, as I'll talk about soon. Just like the mantra about your diet and body, what you put in is what you get out. Trash in, trash out. If you train yourself on questions that don't reflect what's on the SAT, you're going to learn the wrong patterns. Using bad materials is like training for baseball by playing tee-ball. Yes, if you spend 1000 hours practicing tee-ball, you'll be a tee-ball pro. But when someone pitches a real baseball at you, you're going to freak out- "why is the ball traveling so fast? Why's it so close to my face? Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod." And then you strike out. To be frank, most of the books available on the market are trash. They boast about having a lot of questions, but they're written by people who aren't truly experts on the test. This means the questions don't test concepts in the same way; the answers are sometimes ambiguous; the questions don't trick you in the same way the SAT does. In my company PrepScholar, we hire only SAT full-scorers and 99 percentile scorers to craft our thousands of test questions. You need to have mastered the test to really understand the intricacies of how the SAT works. We've turned away dozens of applicants who scored below a 2300since they really don't understand the test well enough. If you likestudying with books, here's my list of the top SAT prep books available. There are some pretty high-quality books written by true experts, though they can get pricey- buying the top five books will cost you at least a hundred dollars. Collect good prep materials and study using only these. Step 2: Focus on Quality First, Quantity Second Now you have a lot of materials. Some students focus hard on getting through every single page of every book they have. They might not know why they're studying what they're studying, but at least they sure put in a lot of time and effort! This is the wrong idea. You don't want to pound your head against the wall and use a brute force approach. Improving your SAT score is about quality first, and quantity second. It's so tempting to just focus on getting work done, because that's the easy part. Understanding your weaknesses, as we discuss below, is what takes real energy and insight. Think about it this way- let's say you're learning to throw a football with a perfect spiral. You can pick up a football and, by trial and error, if you throw it 1,000 times, you'll make some progress. Now imagine you have New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady standing by your side. You throw the ball once, and he corrects your technique. Move your foot back this way, have your hand follow a certain motion, and follow through. You try again, and it's way better. In throwing 50 balls this way, I'm certain you'd end up doing better than 1,000 by yourself. I'm not suggesting that Tom Brady is a tutor, and you must have a tutor. You can be your own Tom Brady, and we discuss below how to do that. But you need to make sure you get the most out of your studying and make it as efficient as possible. You need your own SAT Tom Brady. Step 3: Be Ruthless About Understanding Your Mistakes On the ground level, when you're actually studying, this is by far the most important way you'll succeed over other students. EVERYmistake you make on a test happens for a reason. If you don't understand EXACTLYwhy you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. If you're performing at the 700 level, you're missing around 10% to 15% of all questions. This means you have some consistent errors that are holding back your score. This is what you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark EVERYquestion that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by subject and sub-topic (reading- passages vs sentence completion, writing- sentence errors vs improving paragraphs). It's NOT enough to just think about it and move on. It's NOT enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think HARD about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. Everyone who wants to get to an 800 on a section has different weaknessesfrom you. It's important that you discover for yourself what those are. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Go Deeper- WHY Did You Miss It? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't know this material." Always take it one step further- what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content: I didn't learn the skill or knowledge needed to answer this question. One step further:What specific skill do I need to learn, and how will I learn this skill? Incorrect Approach: I knew the content, but I didn't know how to approach this question. One step further:How do I solve the question, and is there a general rule that I need to know for the future? Wrong Guess:I was stuck between two answer choices, and I guessed wrong. One step further: Why could I not eliminate one of the last answer choices? Knowing the correct answer now, how I can eliminate it? Does this suggest a strategy I can use for the future? Careless Error: I misread what the question was asking for or solved for the wrong thing One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Does this seem hard? It is- you have to think hard about why you're falling short and understand yourself in a way that no one else can. But few students actually put in the effort to do this analysis, and this is how you'll pull ahead. By the end of my studying, I had notebooks filled with practice questions that I'd missed, and when eating breakfast I could thumb through them to review them, like flashcards. Adopt a no-mistake-left-behind policy toward your mistakes. Letting one slip through can mean you make the same mistake on your real SAT. Five Why's Here's another useful trick when reviewing mistakes: ask yourself "Why?" five times? This is a revolutionary technique developed by Toyota to figure out the root cause of manufacturing problems. The point is that when you ask yourself "Why?" five times, you'll dig deeper and deeper to understand what the underlying cause is, and how to fix it. Here's an example. Let's say you miss a Reading passage question. Everyone does this. Starting point: I missed a Reading question about the big picture summary of the passage. Why? I picked the wrong answer choice, out of the two I had left. Why? The wrong answer choice had a phrase that was in the passage, but otherwise the meaning was wrong. I got tricked. Why? I didn't fully understand the passage when I was reading it. Why? I read the passage too quickly. Why? I was scared about running out of time. Wow- you see how a single question can give you a TON of information about where you went wrong? Now you have a lot of opportunities to improve- on how you read passages, how you eliminate answer choices, and how to process big picture questions. Again, very few students actually have the discipline to go through this reflection. And this is why YOU'REgoing to get a better score. Step 4: Find Patterns in Your Weaknesses, and Drill Them to Perfection Now that you're collecting mistakes in a notebook, you'll be able to start finding patterns to your weaknesses. This might be a content area- like problems with math circle problems, or a specific grammar rule. Or it might be a personal habit of yours, like misreading the passage or eliminating the wrong answer. Focusing on your weaknesses is CRITICALbecause you have a limited amount of time to study, and you need to spend that precious time on the areas that will get you the biggest score improvement. I've worked with students who just love drilling their strong points because it's comfortable. Of course, this is a waste of time- you have to confront your demons and pick at where you're weak, which is uncomfortable and difficult. When I was studying for the SAT and MCAT, I kept track of my mistakes in an Excel spreadsheet. I found, for example, that I consistently missed Reading passage questions about inferencesbecause I was reading too far into what the author was saying. I then focused on drilling those specific types of questions until I had developed my own strategy for solving the questions. As another example, back when the SAT emphasized vocab more, I needed to study thousands of vocab words, any of which could show up on the test. I developed my own method onthe best way to study SAT vocab words- what I call the Waterfall Method. This method forces you to review words you don't know over 10x more than words you already know- efficient studying. You don't need to use this for the New 2016 SAT, but you may still find it helpful for any class you need to use flashcards for- foreign language, history, or English. Find the weak link in your chain. When you find your weakness, you need to find resources to drill that content area. If you're weak in Trigonometry questions, you need to find a lot of SAT Trig questions to really drill those skills. If you're weak in subject/verb agreement, you need to find grammar questions to drill. Doing all of this well is tough for many students, because you have to at once: Do practice questions Diagnose your weaknesses Find more practice questions Understand whether you're improving or not Adjust your plan continuously This is the backbone of every effective study method, but it takes a lot of mental energy to do well. This is actually why we started PrepScholar- we wanted to build an online prep program that would do all the heavy lifting for you, so that you can concentrate on learning.In our PrepScholar program, we detect your weaknesses andautomatically organize your quizzes by skill so that you can focus on learning and not on the higher-level activities of analyzing your own progress. By the way, a quick side point- be suspicious of any content-level strategies that promise you results. By content-level, I mean strategies that tell you how you must solve a type of question. At your level, you need to focus on what works best for you. For example, people approach reading passages differently. Some read the passage first, then answer questions. Some skim questions first, then go back to the passage. I know what works best for me, but that's not necessarily what works best for you. What you will have to do is aggregate strategies for your weaknesses, then test them out yourself to see if they work for you. Specific strategies for each weakness is out of scope of this article, but we'll post examples later. Step 5: Eliminate Careless Errors These types of mistakes are by far the most frustrating. You know the content, you know how to solve it, but because of a misreading of the question, you don't get the question right. This can already disqualify you from an 800 on Math. In my own SAT, I made careless errors because I was trying to finish early and save time for the end, so I would rush through questions too quickly. I hated myself every time I made a careless error. But when I focused on the two things below, I was able to claim back my lost points. #1: Double-check that you're answering the right question.The SAT is designed to ask you tricky questions.You might find the area of the square, but the question actually asks for the perimeter. To eliminate this, always underline what the question asks you to solve for. Don’t stop your work until you solve for the correct thing. Another strategy is to write what the question is looking for in your scratch area. For example, if it asks for seconds instead of minutes, write â€Å"= ____ seconds† and circle it before you start your work. This might sound like extra work, but how you defeat careless errors is by having a reliable, failproof system. #2: Be wary about choosing the "No Change" option.For Writing, a common careless error is choosing "(A) NO CHANGE"in grammar questions. That's because when you read the question, it seems grammatically correct to you because the grammar rule just isn't ringing a bell. Whenever this happens, make sure you double check the other answer choices to make sure that NO CHANGEis absolutely the best answer choice. You should check especially for grammar rules that are easy to overlook, like Subject-Verb Agreement and Misplaced Modifier. By analyzing your mistakes, you'll be able to find patterns in grammar rule weaknesses that you have. You can then build your own system for grammar rules that you often miss- for example, for Subject-Verb Agreement, identify the subject and the verb, and then make sure they match. Step 6: Develop AmazingStudy Habits If you're highly motivated and aiming for a top score, you're likely to spend at least 200 hours studying for the SAT. Your job is to get the most out of every hour you can. Learning how to study more effectively has huge returns on your time. Think about it- if you can learn some techniques to improve your study efficiency by 20%, this will effectively give you back 40 hours of your life. Here are my best recommendations on great study habits, all of which I follow myself. Habit 1: Create a Schedule and Force Yourself to Stick to It It's important to have a plan. You need to understand when you're going to do what, and then you need to follow that plan. Here are questions to ask yourself: How much time do I have until my next test? How much time will I spend studying every week? How many practice tests should I take before then? When will I take them? During each week, what specific times and days will I be studying? What will I actually be studying each day? Why? How should my schedule change based on the info I receive from practice tests? Do NOT approach SAT prep without a plan like this. You'll wander aimlessly from book to book, test to test, without actually focusing on what is going to get you results. We designed PrepScholar to take care of all this hard work for you. Every week, we create customized lesson plans so you know exactly what to study and when. We schedule practice tests for you at the best moments leading up to your test date. We ask you for your weekly study schedule,then text you reminders to study. We send you progress reports so you know how well you're doing and whether you need to study more. If you feel like you don't know how to create your own study schedule or aren't confident you can stick to one, you might like PrepScholar's SAT program. Habit 2: Eliminate All Distractions You have so many distractions at your fingertips- Snaps, texts,YouTube, games, and more. All of these are super fun and super easy to consume for hours on end. All of these will improve your SAT score by ZERO. If you're studying and you glance at your phone every 3 minutes, you are NOT STUDYING. The brain is actually terrible at multitasking, and every time you lose attention, you take minutes to go back to full concentration. I know how tempting it is to stay up to date with everything your friends are doing. There's major Fear of Missing Out. You don't want to miss a hilarious joke or be late to a scandalous story. The thing is, in the long term, these little interactions don't actually make a big difference. Think about the last time responding to a text within 3 minutes was VITAL to your friendship. You are not missing out on anything important if you text back an hour later.Maybe you'll call me an old man and just claim I don't get it, but a friend who gets mad at you for not replying within a few minutes doesn't sound like a good friend to me. I once sat in a coffee shop next to a girl who was trying to study chemistry. Every few minutes she would look at her phone, laugh, and return a text. She got through two pages in an hour- I kid you not. Instead, here's what you need to do: Go to a quiet place where you won't be interrupted. Wear earplugs if it helps. Turn your phone off or leave it another room. Don't listen to music where you actively have to listen to words. Don't study with friends. It's more fun but everyone does a crappy job of studying. If you're using a program like PrepScholar on a web browser, use tools like StayFocusd to keep yourself off of distractions. Treat this seriously.One hour spent studying at full concentration is better than three hours at 50% concentration. Habit 3: Have a Positive Mindset. Your Job Is to Grow. When you're trying to get a perfect 1600 SAT score, you'll get frustrated when you make mistakes. I was the same way, and I got mad at myself for making careless mistakes or for forgetting something I used to know. The important thing is to channel that frustration into learning and growth. Treat every mistake as a learning opportunity. Every mistake tells you exactly where your weakness is, and what you need to do to fix it. You are allowed to get upset, but not so much it paralyzes you. Instead, treat your primary goal as getting better- not as getting a specific score. Step 7: Get Fast Enough to Always Double Check Your Answers Now that you’re aiming for a top score, you need to finish each section ahead of time to give yourself time to double check your answers. A good rule of thumb is to finish the section with at least 5 minutes to spare. As you get better at the SAT, this will be easier to accomplish since you’ll solve each question in less time. When I took the SAT, I reliably finished each section with 5-10 minutes to spare. I would mark any questions that I felt I had to return to and double-check. I had enough time to review all my answers twice. The real time-killers are questions you get stuck on. It’s very easy to get sucked into a question for five minutes, frustrated that the SAT is taking a point away from you. Avoid this temptation. Follow this rule: if you’ve spent 30 seconds on a question and can’t see how you’re going to get to the answer, circle the question, and skip it. You’ll have time at the end to come back to it. For now, you need to work on the other questions.How do you double check effectively? It varies between sections. For math, you should try to re-solve the question quickly in a different way. For some questions, you’ll be able to plug the answer back in. For others, you’ll just need to check your steps you took the first time around.For writing, confirm that the sentence has the error you think it does. Again, for No Error answer choices, make sure you aren't missing something in the question.For reading, confirm that there is no other better answer ch oice than the one you picked. For passage questions, make sure you rule out four incorrect answers. For sentence completion questions, plug the words back into the blanks to make sure they fit perfectly. As you get better at the test, you'll have more time left. Aim for at least 5 minutes left after each section, and use that time to double-checkyour answers. Stay calm during the test, even if you get confused on a question. Step 8: Don't Get Inside Your Own Head During the Test If you're vying for a perfect 1600 score, you'll face pressure during the test. You know how little room for error there is. This means that if you're having trouble with a question, it's easy to psyche yourself out. "Oh no! I'm having trouble with this math question. If I don't get this right, my 800 in math is gone!" This will make you nervous, which makes you even less likely to answer the question, which makes you more nervous, and so forth. This vicious spiral can suck you down for the rest of the test. Controlling your mental status is important during the test. Just like a pro athlete or performer, you need to be confident about your skills. You already put in a ton of work, and you've learned most of what the College Board has to throw at you. The last thing you want to do now is ruin more of the test. So it's a single question you're unsure about- this doesn't affect your performance on any other question. Try your best and clear your head, then move on. Does All of This Really Work? I can say from personal experience that these are the principles that I used to excel in academics. If you follow these principles for your own classes and in college, you'll do an amazing job. I would also be hard-pressed to find any top scoring student who doesn't agree wholeheartedly with the advice above. This advice also works if you're not aiming for a 1600. If you want to improve from a 1200 to a 1500, you can use these principles to power your learning. These principles also work in life. As a startup founder, I adhere to lean principlesto constantly analyze where my weaknesses are, how to build them, and how to focus on what's really important for our company. While the SAT tests specific skills that you may not use in everyday life, the process of preparing for it can teach you a lot about yourself, your limits, and your ambitions. This sounds a little hokey, but take it from this old man, you can learn a lot about yourself. Finally, keep in mind that you don't need a 1600to get into top colleges! A 1520+ will make you more than competitive for top schools like the Ivy League. If you get a 1540, your time is better spent building up the rest of your application than eking out a few more points. Quick Plug:I've mentioned my company PrepScholar a few times. If you agree with what I say above, you'd like my course. I designed our SAT course around the principles above, knowing that most students don't have the energy or expertise to diagnose their own weaknesses. PrepScholar automatically figures out what you need to work on and focuses your learning by drilling your weak skills. It also builds in motivational features so you're up to date on your progress and commit to more study time. Check out our SAT program here. What's Next? If you liked this article, you'll also like my expert guides on getting an 800 in each of the SAT sections. Each one goes further into deeper details on how to ace each section. Check out: How to get an 800 in SAT Math How to get an 800 in SAT Reading How to get an 800 in SAT Writing Aiming to get into Harvard and the Ivy League? Read my How to Get Into Harvard guide. Youmight learn that you're headed straight to the rejection path. Finally, check out our online SAT prep program.We have a 160+ point money back guarantee: if you finish our course and don't improve by 160 points, you get all your money back, no questions asked. I designed the PrepScholar program around the principles in this article. Thousands of students have used PrepScholar to improve their score by hundreds of points, which is why I'm confident it'll work for you too. Try our program with a 5-day free trial today:

Free sample - Chemistry of Fireworks. translation missing

Chemistry of Fireworks. Chemistry of FireworksThe Chemistry of fireworks is a very interesting field. A look at an amusement park or a baseball game, or such events such as New Year’s Eve or Christmas Eve are just a few ways to show how much fun that comes our way from fireworks. This however is an intricate science requiring application of physical science. For instance, to produce a red chrysanthemum spray and an accompanying explosion requires certain components and materials such as an oxygen producer, color ejector, binder, fuel and propellants. There are three conspicuous and identifiable forms of energy produced by fireworks. These are heat, light and sound. The loud sound experienced in such events is attributed to the rapid release of energy into the atmosphere; hence the air expands at a greater rate than the speed at which sound travels. Therefore, a sonic boom which is a shock wave is produced. The chemistry behind fireworks is a series of oxidation and reduction reactions which result in the desired sound and light. This happens as propellants push the firework into the sky. Oxidation reactions ensure that the oxygen needed to exhaustively burn the mixture of reducing agents and excite the atoms in the light-emitting compounds is produced. Oxidizers used such as chlorates, nitrates and percolates and reducing agents such as carbon and sulfur are available of the shelf for home-made users. The combination of reducing agents with oxygen is there responsible for the energy dissipated during the reaction.Black powder, which mainly contains nitrates, is the most used oxidizer (Conkling, 1985). A look at an explosion under the use of potassium nitrate so as to provide nitrate ions (NO3-) after decomposition can be represented as: Potassium nitrate   potassium oxide + nitrogen gas + oxygen gas. 2KNO3 K2O+N2+2.502 The reaction is more controlled since when reacting, nitrates only release two in every three oxygen atoms, hence, the reaction is not exhaustive and vigorous since not all the oxygen atoms are actively used up. However, nitrates do not provide enough power to propel the firework into the sky and also ignite the package. Therefore, they cannot be used in star explosions since they cannot produce temperatures high enough to energize most color metal salts. Star reactions need a temperature ranging from 1700 to 2000 °C. This was enabled by the Italians in the 1830’s whereby they came across more explosive oxidizers, chlorates (ClO3-), which give up all their committed oxygen atoms upon reaction. This can be illustrated by the equation below which is highly spectacular, vigorous and releases more energy. 2KClO3 2KCl+3 O2   Potassium chlorate potassium chloride + oxygen gas. However, chlorates have the major demerit of being highly unstable, hence they can be dangerous to handle. On the merit side, chlorate can be easily ignited. For instance, dropping them on the ground can lead to a major explosion. This is since chlorates have the maximum potential of bonding with four oxygen atoms but they however bond with three. The fourth oxygen atom is left free, unsaturated and reactive. This makes chlorates better oxidizing agents. Further, in comparison to the slow-burning rate previously availed by nitrates, chlorates provide a faster reaction leading to a loud and exceedingly dangerous explosion. This was solved by the use of perchlorates which are more stable when releasing oxygen. The oxygen atoms in perchlorates are fully bonded hence stable. When reacting, perchlorates are able to release all their oxygen atoms. (Russell, 2009) KClO4   KCl+2O2 Potassium perchlorate   Potassium Chloride + oxygen gas So, perchlorates are not only more stable, but more oxygen-rich than chlorates. They, like chlorates, produce more vigorous reactions which produce hot, rapidly expanding oxygen atoms than nitrates in their star compartments. Carbon and sulfur in charcoal are the most common reducing agents. They are contained in black powder and react to produce carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide respectively. Oxygen + sulfurSulfur (IV) Oxide gas O2 (g) + S(s)   SO2 (g) Oxygen + carbon   Carbon (IV) Oxide gas O2 (g) + C(s)   CO2 (g) The magnanimous amount of energy released in these reactions and the hot rapidly expanding oxygen gas provide a basis for propulsion and consequent explosion. The chemistry of fireworks, so as to come up with a varying degree of colors has generated a lot of interest. Color is generated through two mainstream ways: Incandescence and luminescence. Incandescence entails the production of light by means of heat. When a substance glows as a result of heat, it first emits infrared wavelengths, then red light. Orange light is then produced as the object becomes progressively hotter, followed by yellow and finally white light. Under a controlled environment, the glow of reducing agents such as charcoal can be regulated at a certain temperature, hence emitting a particular color at the desired time. Temperature regulators that are most common are magnesium, aluminum and titanium. Luminescence is the production of light through other means other than heat. These can therefore occur at colder temperatures lower than room temperature since it is independent of any heat. An electron in an atom is first excited and destabilized by absorption of energy. The atom is then relegated to a lower energy state hence releasing the energy within via photons, the basics of light. The energy possessed by these photons consequently determines its wavelength or color. A major challenge in producing color through luminescence is that some salts used are unstable at room temperatures such as Barium chloride. Therefore, this problem must be solved by use of a combination of these salts with more stable compounds such as chlorinated rubber. For instance, in the combustion of the pyrotechnic composition between barium chloride and chlorinated rubber, a green color is produced. Other salts such as copper chloride which gives a blue color must be regulated not to attain high temperatures yet the brightness of the resultant blue color must be achieved. (Pressroom, 2010) Quality The quality of the resultant color produced by various factors can be compromised by various factors. First, pure colors require pure ingredients. No traces of impurities such as the dominant impurity, sodium, which gives a yellow-orange color, should be present since it easily overpowers all other colors. Secondly, the cost of the firework when the client is buying off the shelf often alludes to quality. Finally, it is important to note the date of manufacture and the skill and popularity attached to the manufacturer by other users. (Helmenstine, 2009) Firework Colorants How fireworks work. It is crucial to evaluate how both sparklers, which ensure production of bright light, and firecrackers, which enable the production of explosions, function. Firecrackers consist of black powder, commonly referred to as gun powder in a tight tube made of paper and fuse at one end so as to set the powder alit. The main compounds and elements of black powder are sulfur, charcoal and potassium nitrate. Further, some explosions are brightened the more by use of aluminum. On the other hand, sparklers are used to produce exceptionally bright and showery light for a longer period of time that can last up to a minute. There are commonly referred to as ‘snowball sparklers’ since they are accompanied by a ball of sparks surrounding the burning epicenter. A sparkler constitutes various compounds. Key among them is oxidizers, fuel, binder such as starch or sugar and iron or steel powder. They are mixed in water to form slurry which is then coated on a wire through dipping. This is then dried. It is then ready for use whereby it can be lit in order to burn end to end like a cigarette. In sparklers, oxidizers and fuel are carefully proportioned with other compounds so as it burns slowly rather than explode as is the case with firecrackers. Fireworks however are more complex in their manufacture. Bright shimmering sparks have to be induced by adding steel or iron, aluminum, magnesium and zinc. These metal flaks heat up to attain high temperatures that ensure production of light by incandescence beyond which they burn exhaustively. To create a wide range of colors, various chemical addictives are used. Aerial FireworksThese are large, conspicuous and colorful fireworks that can be observed on major celebrations such as the Fourth of July. The aerial firework shell contains: stars which are small cylinders, cubes or spheres that contain the compounds needed; container which has the pasted paper for instructions and things such as company name and an accompanying string; the bursting charge located at the center of the shell; and a fuse which ensures delay in time till the firecracker attains the right altitude. A lifting charge is located below the shell. A mortar is used to launch an aerial firecracker. This is a small, steel pipe containing black powder that serves as the lifting charge. When this is fired, the shell fuse is lit which burns progressively up to the desired height, then explodes. A simple shell, such as those used in an aerial display, contains stars in the blue balls, and a grey part containing black powder and the center tube containing the bursting charge. Multi- break shells burst over two or three phases. They have a variety of colors and compositions so as to contain various degrees of light and sparks. Multi-break shells have various compartments or sections in one with different fuses. Each shell bursts and consequently ignites the other through break charges, each with a different effect and possible color. Fireworks Displays The pattern painted in the sky by an aerial shell chiefly depends on the order and arrangement of star pellets in the shell. For instance, equally spaced pellets in a circle with the accompanying black powder produce a mid-air display of minor star explosions uniformly spaced in a circle. A specific figure can therefore be created by arranging the star pellets in the outline of the figure desired. Place explosive charges in the interior of the figure so as to blow them outside into a large figure as desired. Then, surround this with a layer of break charge so as to separate them with the rest of the shell contents. This break charges must be set to explode at the desired time. (Ashby, 2007) There are several shell names in the market: Firework Safety/ Conclusion   In conclusion, it is important to note that fireworks are sources of sun but they have however come along with various precautions that have to be adhered. Fireworks are used in most of today’s’ public celebrations. However, they are dangerous if mishandled. Over 8000 United States are reported to suffer every year due to fireworks. Of whom more than half are children. The most common hazard experienced by more than a third of the cases is burns which have been reported to occur from illegally acquired fireworks. Hence, there are a number of regulations that have been put in place to ensure mishandling reduces. The statute organization chiefly responsible for consumer fireworks is the National Council on Fireworks Safety. It educates the public on how to responsibly handle and use fireworks. The National Fire Protection Association is responsible for enforcing rigorous safety regulations for big fireworks displays. Spectators are required to watch at least 840 feet from the launching zone based on the height and burst diameter of the largest of shells. Secondly, shells cannot be launched if the winds at that particular time are stronger than 20 miles per hour, since they would be carried away over the set diameter thereby causing harm to onlookers. However, despite all these regulations that have been put in place, many accidents still do occur at informal and poorly regulated places. Manufacturers are also required by law to set up buildings in the manufacturing plants that are separated by concrete blast walls from any other buildings with roofs weakened so as any resultant explosion travels upwards instead of outwards. Further, mechanization in the industry is limited and work is mainly done by hand since machines may produce sparks or static charges that would be disastrous in causing explosions. However, some disasters have occurred between 1970 and 1995 resulting in the death of more than 20 factory employees. Environmentally Friendly Fireworks Most animals are scared by the explosions resulting from displays. Most regulations and rules bar people from attending such events with their pets in tow. Sadly, cases of pets getting lost at such events have been reported. Wide research is continuing on hoe to combine various elements into pyrotechnic compounds and mixtures have been made. This produces minimal smoke and particulate matter. This shall replace oxidizers such as perchlorates which are environmentally harmful.

Critique of a quantitative research report Paper

Critique of a quantitative report - Research Paper Example Through the selection of supporting literary research studies, analysis/interpretation of data and observations the objectives of the study were accomplished. The purpose of this paper is to critically reviewing the format, content in relation to the objectives, and evaluate the effectiveness of the quantitative research study. The scientific style of writing is a formal and rigid form of writing which is to succinctly with efficiency communicate scientific findings (Bates College, 2011). The abstract section of a research study should announce what is to proceed and clearly state the research question(s) or problem(s) under investigation. Additionally as the introduction the abstract should contain a descriptive of the research design, methodology used in the study, primary results or findings. along with an abbreviated analysis of the results in relation to the research study’s objectives. As a scientific research study the abstract should spark the curiosity in others and offer additional knowledge on the subject motivating and stimulating interest in the minds of the readers enticing him or her to continue reading with interest and anticipation. Creswell (2008) in his instructions on how to write compelling research studies suggested using crisp, clear, concise verbs and descriptive language incorporating the strategy used for data collection, identifying the research site, and providing information on the participants in the study as an interlude or in the abstract of the study (pp. 113-119). Neuman (2006) emphasizes the mental or critical thinking component of the researcher(s) as the initial undertaking with the evolution of the study taking form after the thought process is engaged and the decision of what the purpose and objective of the study is about and hopes to accomplish. Neuman (2006) suggested in his methods of formulating an