There are only so many hours in a day, a week, and a term. You cannot change the number of hours, but you can decide how to best use them. To be successful in school, you must carefully manage your study time. Here is a strategy for doing this.

Prepare a Term Calendar

At the beginning of a term, prepare a Term Calendar. Update it as the term goes on. Here is what to do to prepare a Term Calendar.

• Record your school assignments with their due dates and your scheduled tests.
• Record your planned school activities.
• Record your known out-of-school activities.Prepare a Weekly ScheduleEach Sunday before a school week, prepare a Weekly Schedule. Update it as the week goes on. Here is what to do to prepare a Weekly Schedule.
• Record your daily classes.
• Enter things to be done for the coming week from your Term Calendar.
• Review your class notes from the previous week to see if you need to add any school activities.
• Add any out-of-school activities in which you will be involved during the week.
• Be sure to include times for completing assignments, working on projects, and studying for tests. These times may be during the school day, right after school, evenings, and weekends.Prepare a Daily Organizer Each evening before a school day, prepare a Daily Organizer for the next day. Place a √ next to each thing to do as you accomplish it. Here is what to do to prepare a Daily Organizer.
• Enter the things to do for the coming day from your Weekly Schedule.
• Enter the things that still need to be accomplished from your Daily Organizer from the previous day.
• Review your class notes for the day just completed to see if you need to add any school activities.
• Add any out-of-school activities in which you will be involved the next day.

Your Weekly Schedule should have more detail than your Term Calendar. Your Daily Organizer should have more detail than your Weekly Schedule. Using a Term Calendar, a Weekly Schedule, and a Daily Organizer will help you make the best use of your time.

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This article contains three parts:

1. Step One: Brainstorming
2. Step Two: Selecting a Topic
3. Step Three: Writing the Essay

Step One: Brainstorming
The most important part of your essay is the subject matter. You should expect to devote about 1-2 weeks simply to brainstorming ideas. To begin brainstorming a subject idea consider the following points. From brainstorming, you may find a subject you had not considered at first.

1. What are your major accomplishments, and why do you consider them accomplishments? Do not limit yourself to accomplishments you have been formally recognized for since the most interesting essays often are based on accomplishments that may have been trite at the time but become crucial when placed in the context of your life.
2. Does any attribute, quality, or skill distinguish you from everyone else? How did you develop this attribute?
   Consider your favorite books, movies, works of art, etc. Have these influenced your life in a meaningful way? Why are they your favorites?
3. What was the most difficult time in your life, and why? How did your perspective on life change as a result of the difficulty? (more…)

Learning German is similar to learning most other languages. You must learn new grammar rules (sometimes totally different from your native language), new vocabulary, a new logic, and of course, you will have to practice a lot. But if you really want to, you will learn to read and write in German, you will understand spoken German. and you will even learn to speak German.

It’s not so easy, but not so hard either.

Sometimes you will have the feeling that you’re improving your German very quickly. At other times, you will feel that your learning has become blocked. Do not blame yourself; this is natural. Take it step by step, and take as much time as you need. Some parts of German are harder to master than are other parts. But if you trust in your skills and work as hard as you can, you will make it.

Immerse yourself in the German culture.

The German culture is rich, amazingly rich. The German language is spoken in several European countries (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and Luxembourg), so that German culture is diverse. The German culture has much to offer in music, classic and modern art, architecture, plays and cinema, and written literature. Plunging yourself into the German culture (reading about it, discovering its music and movies, etc.) will increase your motivation to learn the German language.

Live the language.

The best way to learn German is to live for a time in a country where it is spoken. In this way you can practice using German in its daily context and in the way that native speakers use the language. Of course, this may not be practical for you. If it is not, then watch as much German TV and movies as possible. German TV offers plenty of hilarious talk shows, deep and beautiful intellectual movies, and some very cool bands like Tomte and Die Sterne. Also try to watch news programs that are broadcast in German.

Learn with a friend.

What is more exciting than challenging people and being challenged yourself? Learning German with a friend is a fun experience that will provide you with another perspective other than your own. It’s really fun to make up little games as you study with a friend. For example, the first one to master a certain grammar rule wins a free ice cream. Learning with a friend is always stimulating, and you will motivate each other to do better and better.

Use what you learn.

Don’t wait until you master German before you begin to use the language. At any point during your learning, practice whatever you have learned at that point with as many people as you can. If you live in or visit a German-speaking country for a time, opportunities to do this will be all around you. If not, see if you can join a German social group in your community. Go to a German restaurant and try ordering in German. You’ll know how well you did by what arrives at your table.

Learning German is like learning anything new. Practice makes perfect.

It is important for you to be a good listener in class. Much of what you will have to learn will be presented verbally by your teachers. Just hearing what your teachers say is not the same as listening to what they say. Listening is a cognitive act that requires you to pay attention and think about and mentally process what you hear.

Here are some things you should do to be a good listener in class.

Be Cognitively Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Make sure you complete all assigned work and readings. Review your notes from previous class sessions. Think about what you know about the topic that will be covered in class that day.

Be Emotionally Ready to Listen When You Come to Class. Your attitude is important. Make a conscious choice to find the topic useful and interesting. Be committed to learning all that you can.

Listen with a Purpose. Identify what you expect and hope to learn from the class session. Listen for these things as your teacher talks.

Listen with an Open Mind. Be receptive to what your teacher says. It is good to question what is said as long as you remain open to points of view other than your own.

Be Attentive. Focus on what your teacher is saying. Try not to daydream and let your mind wander to other things. It helps to sit in the front and center of the class, and to maintain eye contact with your teacher.

Be an Active Listener. You can think faster than your teacher can speak. Use this to your advantage by evaluating what is being said and trying to anticipate what will be said next. Take good written notes about what your teacher says. While you can think faster than your teacher can speak, you cannot write faster than your teacher can speak. Taking notes requires you to make decisions about what to write, and you have to be an active listener to do this. (more…)

The SAT is the most popular standardized test used for admission into colleges and universities in the United States.  It includes three sections: math, critical reading, and writing.

General Tips

• In each section of the SAT, the questions start out easy and become increasingly difficult.  Answer the questions that are easiest for you first.
• Be careful about guessing.  For most questions, you don’t lose a point for omitting an answer, but you do lose a fractional point for a wrong answer.
• Don’t spend more than one or two minutes on any one question.
• Mark the test book in any way that will help you.
• Keep track of time.
• Bring water and healthy snacks to renew your mental and physical energy during breaks.

Math Section Tips

Most of the items in the math section are multiple-choice questions.

• Use a calculator as needed.  (Be sure to bring a calculator.)
• Use the test booklet for scratch work.
• If stuck, try substituting the numbers given as answer choices for the variables in the question.

Other questions require that you come up with your own answers and fit them into a grid.

• Since there is no penalty for wrong answers here, take your best guess if you can’t figure out the answer.
• The answer cannot be a negative number.  Do the problem again if you come up with a negative number.
• The answer cannot be a mixed number.  If your answer is a mixed number, convert it to an improper fraction or a decimal.

Critical Reading Section Tips

Some of the questions require you to read a sentence containing one or two blanks. You are required to select the answer choice that correctly completes the sentence.

• Read the sentence and try to complete it before looking at the answer choices.  If what you come up is one of the answer choices, select it as your answer.
• Read all the answer choices before selecting one.  Don’t just select the first one you come to that you think might be correct.
• Be especially careful when sentences include negative words (e.g., not) or prefixes (e.g., un).  These change the meaning of a sentence.
• When a sentence contains two blanks, do not select an answer choice unless you are certain that both words in the answer choice are correct.

Other questions require you to read a passage and select the correct answers to questions about the passage. (more…)