Commas and semi-colons. If the rules you learned about commas and semi-colons don't mean much to you, forget them and try this: Read one of your sentences aloud and see where you would naturally pause, where you would draw a breath. If it's a short pause, like that just was, you probably need a comma. If it's a longer pause, but not quite a full stop (for which you'd need a period), you probably need a semi-colon; remember that whatever follows a semi-colon must be able to stand on its own, as a full sentence, like this one.
If you don't want your reader to pause, there shouldn't be a comma, there, because as, this demonstrates it's very difficult to figure, out, what you're saying when your punctuation, makes the sentence unreadable.
Your sentences shouldn't leave your reader hyperventilating from the constant shallow breaths that over-punctuation requires. Nor should they be gasping for breath at the end of a long, unpunctuated sentence. (Consider yourself responsible for your readers' cardiovascular health.)
Check your dashes and hyphens. When you're setting off a clause—this one is a good example—use the longer dash, called an m-dash. (You can indicate this dash with two hyphens—like this—if you don't have an m-dash function on your computer.) Be sure that the parts of the sentence that precede and follow the dashes would make sense even if you removed the dashes and the words they bracket. (In the example above, the sentence is readable with or without the clause inside the dashes.)
You can also use the m-dash in place of a colon if you want to emphasize more dramatically the words that follow: "The mantlepiece was lined with photographs of people she loved—her mother, her grandmother, a favorite aunt." Or you can use it to add a surprising element into a sentence: "Her family's photographs were displayed on the mantlepiece; there were pictures of parents, grandparents, and siblings—and of Muffin, a Yorkshire terrier." Whereas the m-dash is used to set off parts of a sentence, hyphens are used to join words together: broken-hearted, two-thirds, sister-in-law.
Always identify abbreviations before you use them, unless you feel reasonably confident that the average intelligent reader would be able to identify the acronym—like when the acronym is more commonly used than the words it stands for. (It would be odd to write out all the words for ESP, NATO, CEO, or AIDS.) Keep in mind the audience for the particular essay you're writing, though; readers who are specialists in a particular discipline may not want or need to have terms spelled out for them.
Try to avoid split infinitives. This is no longer a hard and fast rule, and occasionally keeping an infinitive together in a sentence can introduce more awkwardness than the split, but usually the split is ungraceful. (Imagine: To be or to not be.)
Make sure all your referents are clear. When you say "This theory" or "that point" or, simply, "it," is it clear which theory or point you're referring to? When you use "he" or "she" or "these critics," will your reader have to pause to figure out who all these people are?
There's more to say about this. We often throw in a "this" when we're not entirely sure exactly what we want to draw our readers' attention to, especially when we're making a complex argument with many different elements. Sometimes vagueness in our language can be a symptom of muddled thinking. So ask yourself, what does this "this" refer to? What words would I replace it with? If you're not easily able to answer, you need to go back and work out your ideas in that section. (Readers will never understand what you mean when you don't know yourself. When you notice vague referents, or other apparently minor problems, take the opportunity to ask yourself if there might be any larger problem lurking beneath your surface error.)
Never use "that" when you're referring to a person: "The first man that walked on the moon." "The author that she was referring to." These are people, not objects—it's insulting to call them "that." Use who or whom: "The first man who walked on the moon." "The author to whom she was referring." Are you using "that" because you're shaky on the who/whom thing? See below. (And while you're at it, consider whether you're twisting your sentences around to avoid any other grammatical points you're uncertain of. If so, take control! Liberate yourself! Learn the rules once and for all so you can write freely, instead of skulking around trying not to break the rules—or breaking them without realizing it. Try starting a text file in which you list the rules you tend to forget, and keep it open when you write. You can look rules up in any style manual, or come to the Writing Center.)
Who is what doing what to whom? That's the question you need to ask yourself if you're uncertain which word to use. The one that does the action (the subject) is who. The one that gets something done to it (the object) is whom.
Avoid passive voice. It tends to sap energy and power from your prose. It's usually better to say "Einstein's theory" than "the theory that was formulated by Einstein."
Italics and underlines. You can use one or the other but never both. They mean the same thing—underlining used to be a copy-editing mark to tell printers to set certain words in italic type. Underlining italics meant the editor wanted the words taken out of italics. So underlining your already- italicized phrase is, in effect, like using a double negative.
Be sure all of your sentences have parallel construction. This sentence doesn't have it: "Re- reading my first draft, I notice it's trite, repetitive, and with no thesis." This sentence does: "Re- reading my first draft, I notice that it's trite and repetitive, and that it has no thesis." Or you could say: "Re-reading my first draft, I notice it's trite, repetitive, and lacking in a thesis." In the two examples with parallel construction, you could take out any of the words in the list and still have the sentence make sense.
Norm-ReferencedStandardized tests compare students' performance to that of a norming or sample group who are in the same grade or are of the same age. Students' performance is communicated in percentile ranks, grade-equivalent scores, normal-curve equivalents, scaled scores, or stanine scores.Examples: Iowa Tests; SAT; DRP; ACT
Criterion-Referenced
A student's performance is measured against a standard. One form of criterion-referenced assessment is the benchmark, a description of a key task that students are expected to perform.
Examples: DIBELS; Chapter tests; Driver's License Test; FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test)
Survey
Survey tests typically provide an overview of general comprehension and word knowledge.
Examples: Interest surveys; KWL; Learning Styles Inventory
Diagnostic Tools
Diagnostic tests assess a number of areas in greater depth.
Examples: Woodcock-Johnson®; BRI; "The Fox in the Box"
Formal Tests
Formal tests may be standardized. They are designed to be given according to a standard set of circumstances, they have time limits, and they have sets of directions which are to be followed exactly.
Examples: SAT; FCAT; ACT
Informal Tests
Informal tests generally do not have a set of standard directions. They have a great deal of flexibility in how they are administered. They are constructed by teachers and have unknown validity and reliability.
Examples: Review games; Quizzes
Static (Summative) Tests
Measures what the student has learned.
Examples: End-of-chapter tests; Final examinations; Standardized state tests
Dynamic (Formative) Tests
Measures the students' grasp of material that is currently being taught. Can also measure readiness. Formative tests help guide and inform instruction and learning.
Examples: Quizzes; Homework; Portfolios
STEP 1: PREWRITINGTHINK· Decide on a topic to write about.· Consider who will read or listen to your written work.· Brainstorm ideas about the subject.· List places where you can research information.· Do your research.
STEP 2: DRAFTING
WRITE
· Put the information you researched into your own words.
· Write sentences and paragraphs even if they are not perfect.
· Read what you have written and judge if it says what you mean.
· Show it to others and ask for suggestions.
STEP 3: REVISING
MAKE IT BETTER
· Read what you have written again.
· Think about what others said about it.
· Rearrange words or sentences.
· Take out or add parts.
· Replace overused or unclear words.
· Read your writing aloud to be sure it flows smoothly.
STEP 4: PROOFREADING
MAKE IT CORRECT
· Be sure all sentences are complete.
· Correct spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
· Change words that are not used correctly.
· Have someone check your work.
· Recopy it correctly and neatly.
STEP 5: PUBLISHING
SHARE THE FINISHED PRODUCT
· Read your writing aloud to a group.
· Create a book of your work.
· Send a copy to a friend or relative.
· Put your writing on display.
· Illustrate, perform, or set your creation to music.
· Congratulate yourself on a job well done!
We found a killer list of concentration strategies for students.This list is perfect for those who want to know the best way to cram for an exam. Check this out:Eat Frequent Small MealsAvoid eating a big meal before a study session. Too much food will send your body into a ‘rest’ mode. On the other hand, don’t starve yourself either. Frequent small meals are best.Study When You’re Sharpest
Study according to your body-clock. Are you sharpest in the morning or at the evening? Schedule your most difficult materials when you are mentally at your best, and schedule the easier ones when you are mentally less efficient.
Drink Water Often
Drink plenty of water during a study session, especially when you feel sluggish. Caffeine may help you to stay awake, but it can increase your anxiety – use it in moderation.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable in Your Chair
Choose a chair that supports your back. It should be comfortable, but not too comfortable. Just like an athlete during a performance, your body should be relaxed, so that all your energy goes to where it matters – your brain.
Clear Your Desk of Everything You Don’t Need
Have everything you need on the desk. Put away what you do not need for the study session. Seeing reminders of other assessments or domestic bills may increase your anxiety and distract you.
Take Breaks Every Hour
It is important to take a break before you feel tired and lose your concentration completely. Regular breaks at least once an hour helps to sustain your concentration. If the work is not going too well and you have difficulties in concentrating, you may need a long break and go back to it later
Stretch During Your Breaks
Know and respect your concentration span which will vary from hour to hour and from day to day. When you sit for long periods, gravity draws the blood to the lower part of your body. When you take a break, take a few deep breaths and get more oxygen to your brain: try walking around and doing some light stretching for a few minutes. It will help to release tension in your body, and help your circulation.
Study at the Same Time, Same Place
Study at the same time and at the same place, devoted to study only. This helps you to associate the time and place with studying and concentrating. You will find that you get into a habit of studying as soon as you sit down.
Have you ever considered why we study social studies? There are as many important reasons to study social studies as there are applications for social studies in our daily lives. A lot of students dread social studies and history, thinking it is boring, or that it is just dates, names, times and numbers and will be of no use to them in their lives. However there are many reasons that our young people need to study and understand our country's past. As a people we need to know where we came from and how we were molded into the country we are today, we need to understand past mistakes, and students may even end up using their knowledge of social studies based on their future career choices. But probably the most important reason is that studying social studies can help young people sort out their lives a bit, grasp important ideals and define who they are as people.
We as humanity and as Americans need to know how we became the people we are today. It is not enough to just know the timeline of American history, we need to understand exactly what it is that we were fighting for, put ourselves in the places of our forefathers, and try to understand their ideas and thoughts at the time they were alive. I believe we came to be the unique nation that we are by the direct influences of our forefathers, and learning their history also gives us valuable insights to understanding ourselves.
Learning from past outcomes is also very important, so that we as a society do not make the same mistakes twice. When a mistake is made it is best to learn from it and to study the circumstances and choices that could have been made instead. How a leader handled a traitor, a fight between states, a law that the people are against, a decision that does not resound well with the nation, will help our current and future leaders make better decisions for our country today. When looking at social studies and really studying it, it becomes clear to us that our past is a part of our present and our future. If we know about our great past leaders; what inspired and motivated them, how they came to their methods of creatively solving world challenges then we can use and apply this to our nation today.
As they grow older, many teenagers of recent and present generations may choose a career which incorporates the travel industry, military or politics. They may choose to become archaeologists, anthropologists, curators of museums, public relations professionals or even ambassadors. They may even find that history and social studies is their passion and go on to teach it to young people in the coming generations. In any and all of these career paths it is vital that a person know about our country's history, and having that knowledge will help them advance within their careers. These are just a few of the many examples of social studies and it's use in daily life. Social studies is not just for those who choose these kinds of career paths though, social studies is important for every citizen to study, and as a person understands our country's history they can truly understand what America is, what makes us the great nation that we are today. Social studies is equally as important as math, science or English, not only to a person but to help them understand daily life, their country and better serve as a citizen of the world.
Study Strategies If you have a strong preference for learning by aural methods, you should use some or all of the following: INTAKETo gain information: • attend classes • attend discussions and tutorials
• discuss topics with others
• discuss topics with your teachers
• explain new ideas to other people
• use a tape recorder
• remember the interesting examples, stories, jokes...
• describe the overheads, pictures and other visuals to somebody who
was not there
• leave spaces in your notes for later recall and 'filling'
Study Better
To make a learnable package:
Convert your notes into a learnable package by reducing them (3:1)
Your notes may be poor because you prefer to listen. You will need
to expand your notes by talking with others and collecting notes
from the textbook.
Put your summarized notes onto tapes and listen to them.
Ask others to 'hear' your understanding of a topic.
Read your summarized notes aloud.
Explain your notes to another 'aural' person.
OUTPUT
To perform well in any test, assignment or examination:
Imagine talking with the examiner
Listen to your voices and write them down.
Spend time in quiet places recalling the ideas.
Practice writing answers to old exam questions.
Speak your answers aloud or inside your head.
Love them or hate them, it’s hard to get away from exams. All that preparation before the big day, a race against the clock as you sit at the desk, and the aftermath that sometimes feels as stressful as the exam itself.Effective technique goes beyond the exam hall. You’ll never be stress-free from the examination process, but you can limit it greatly by following these tips:Before the exam – PreparationLink relevant concepts together. You need to see the bigger picture, not isolated facts. Immersion in the subject itself is better than remembering individual facts.
Don’t fuss about rewriting your notes again and again. Simply copying your notes out won’t help you revise effectively. Rewriting does help some people take in key concepts, so restrict it to writing the main point as an anchor rather than regurgitating everything.
Use all your senses. Don’t just read; write out brief points that you want to solidify. Don’t just use your eyes; discuss key topics with other people on your course.
Revise in different locations to vary your intake. It also helps you recall later, because you’ll store different information at the different places. In the exam, you could recall more by picturing the different places you were and remembering what you studied in each place.
Use pictures and diagrams in places you’d usually rely on words alone. If nothing creative is forthcoming, at least try setting out your ideas in a mindmap of some sort.
Don’t go to heavy on the memorising. Some detail does need to be in your head clearly and correctly, but much of what you study is about arguing and analysing a subject, as opposed to exact recall of specific points and quotations.
Read (and attempt) past exam papers. This advice is often dished out, but many either don’t bother, or don’t take it seriously enough. When you do read through the papers, see how the questions are worded and try to grasp what is being asked of you. Look for any recurring themes across past papers so you have an idea of the kind of topics that crop up again and again.
Time yourself at writing answers to essay topics. You may be confident that you’ve got the knowledge, but it’s no use when you know it’ll take four hours to write that knowledge in a two hour exam! Learn to gauge the time you have and get the important factors written out first.
If you can’t access past papers, set your own questions or ask tutors if they’d suggest sample questions for you. If tutors are willing, don’t automatically expect these to be the questions you’re going to get! Tutors may have alternative ways of helping you revise, so hear them out.
Refer back to past lectures to get an idea of what the lecturers wanted you to focus on.
Understand the layout of the exam. Understand the logistics so you’re prepared on the day. I’m amazed at how infrequently this is done. I’ve known module handbooks handed out at the beginning of the year with the exam layout explained…yet some students haven’t bothered reading it.
Guess what, they’re less prepared than everyone else!
Focus on what you *don’t* know. You don’t need to waste time on what’s already firmly planted in your head. I’m sure you feel good going over that stuff, but it’s not actual revision!
Practise writing basic notes on topics you think may crop up. This will help your initial preparation when in the exam. As soon as you start working on a question, you’ll have learned to list main points to cover. That way, forgetfulness won’t be an issue halfway through your. You can simply refer back to your brief list that took you a minute or two of your time. Yay!
Pack the stuff you need to take in advance. Don’t leave it until the last minute.
Make sure you know where you’re going. When I assisted in setting up exam halls, a surprising number of students came rushing along at the last minute and were clueless about where they needed to be. One or two were in the wrong place entirely and had to run to the other side of campus. Not a good way to ease into an exam!
If you’re allowed to take textbooks, notes, specialist equipment, or calculator in to the exam, remember to bring them along!
On the day and during the exam
Give plenty time for getting to the exam. Even if it’s just a one minute walk away, get there with time to spare.
Don’t revise as you’re walking into the exam! If it’s not in now, it won’t go in with seconds to spare…
Read the question properly. The difference between taking five seconds to read the question and half a minute is not that big. The difference in your answer will be huge…
Wasting time on less important points is pointless when you’re against the clock. Stick with the big issues. Mention minor detail in passing and move on.
Try to retain your focus on the bigger picture. C. A. Mace wrote about the psychology of study in 1932. Now it’s 2010 and the information is just as relevant:
“The failure to recall what is well known may be in large measure due to a type of over-concentration of attention and consequent restriction to the free play of the mind over the total field of relevant information.”
In short, try not to panic and close your mind off to the many possibilities. It’s similar to reading the same two or three words again and again as if you’re not taking them in. Let go and feel the flow!
Spend the right amount of time on each question. If marks are equally weighted on questions, give them roughly the same amount of time. If one question is worth 10% and another is worth 90%, it’s pointless spending half the exam worrying solely about the 10%.
Explain each point as clearly as possible. It’s no use burying the important stuff halfway through a paragraph. Markers are only human. If they don’t understand the point you’re making, or if they miss exactly how vital your point is, you’ll miss out on marks unnecessarily.
Set aside time for notes before you tackle the question. Before you get writing, spend a few moments preparing your answer with brief notes and key features you want to mention.
Read over the answers when you’re done. Give yourself a few minutes before the exam ends to make sure you’re happy with what you’ve written. Even if you don’t change anything, you’ll feel better having checked. And if you do change something, you’ll be happy you spotted it. Either way, you win.
Present your work neatly. Don’t rush your writing so it can’t be read by the markers! And if you need to make additions or changes, make sure it’s clearly set out.
If you have selection of questions to choose from, take them in carefully. Don’t rush into a choice. When you think you’ve made your choice, carefully read the question again to make sure you didn’t just pick up on a key word. Be absolutely sure you’re happy to answer that question.
Answer the questions in the order you want to. It’s often best to start working on the question you’re most comfortable and confident with. Many exams don’t force you to answer in number order. For instance, question 2 before question 1 should be fine. If in doubt, ask!
Don’t bash the point home too much. This isn’t a lengthy essay or dissertation effort. Make the point, justify and show working, then move on.
Keep a basic sense of order, but don’t worry about a beautifully planned work of art. Timed essay answers still need to have some flow, but you’ll be forgiven the occasional stumble. You writing doesn’t need to be as tight as in your coursework.
Don’t panic! If you can’t think straight, stop trying to concentrate for a few seconds. Take a few deep breaths and start again. If you’ve calmed down slightly, make some basic notes to help get back on track. If you still feel a mess and it’s getting worse, have a toilet break or ask to be escorted out the room for a breather. Walking away from the exam may sound like wasted time, but a massive panic is likely to waste even more time!
When short on time, do a mind dump. Briefly list the points you would have made and give short examples if you can. Expand on is as you can until the exam’s over. You may not have produced a fully formed answer, but that list should gain you some extra credit.
After the exam – Letting go
Give yourself a break. When it’s all over, some students act like they’re still in the exam and think up more points they could have made. It’s like they can’t switch off. But there’s not point in stressing further. You’re through it, so breathe a sigh of relief.
Don’t beat yourself up. No matter how you did, it’s time to let go. You did what you could and you have to draw a line under it. Look to the future, not the past.
Students around you will be comparing notes and how they fared. You don’t have to join in. What other students wrote in the exam is irrelevant and only serves to worry you and make you second guess your own effort.
Keep your performance in isolation. If you have more exams to go, it doesn’t matter how well or badly you think you did in this exam. Each one is different.
Take a break. Stop for a moment, even if you’ve got another exam that day. Always leave a gap. Due to crazy timetable issues, I’ve seen some people (fortunately not me!) who’ve had three exams in a day. Can anyone beat that!? Have a breather, even if it’s for a mere 5 or 10 minutes. Your brain deserves a rest!
