The Madina Collection Of Islamic Art At The Lacma Essay Example For Students

The Madina Collection Of Islamic Art At The Lacma Essay The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) announced recently that it had acquired the remarkable Madina Collection of Islamic art. The collection contains works of various media dating from the late 7th through 19th centuries from the vast areas that comprise the Islamic world, from Southern Spain to Central Asia (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). While the museum already had quite an extensive collection of Islamic art, this particular exhibit truly adds the collections as a whole. The Madina Collection of Islamic Art The first item to be examined is a bowl from the 14th century, from either Egypt or Syria (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It is ceramic, fritware and is underglazed-painted (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It is 10 and   inches in diameter. The design is very symmetrical and incredibly colorful in its green and cream along with black lines. Without knowing what the design symbolizes one could imagine that it is very much an Islamic design, and appears to be religious or spiritual in content. There is a Mandela presence to the design, with very strong lines and striking elements. We will write a custom essay on The Madina Collection Of Islamic Art At The Lacma specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now The next piece to be examined is cup from the 13th century, from Greater Iran. This cup is Silver, gilded, chased and punched and measures 3 7/8 x 4 5/8 in. (9.84 x 11.75 cm) (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It is a relatively simple cup, almost seemingly like a cup with very little, if any, base. It is very rounded and almost appears as though it is to be only held, and never set down. There is a design around the rim of the cup. The design is a repetitive design and appears to be an almost universal type design that could be attributed to any culture. It is something of a floral, or leaf design and looks to be gold rather than silver as is the rest of the cup. It is a very balanced and beautifully simple piece. There is a finial from the 14th century Northern Iran, perhaps from Mazanderan (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). This piece is intricately carved from wood and possesses traces of paint (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It measures 14 inches tall and 6 inches in diameter at its widest point. It is wide at its base and tapers off, not completely to a point, at the top. It is a very solid as well as very patterned piece of art, or architecture. Like the previous items discussed or examined, it seems to have a very symmetrical feel to it, as there is not necessarily a picture to be seen, but a repetitive element that is seen throughout the piece, or all around the piece in this case. The carving appears to be open carving in that there are holes in the finial where there is no wood as part of the carved out design. The last piece to be discussed or examined is the base of a candlestand. This piece from Syria or Egypt during the 13th century and is made from bass, with inlaid silver and gold (Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2005). It measures 2 3/8 x 5 1/4 in. this piece appears to have three sides along with three feet. Though not all sides are shown online, it can be assumed that all three sides are the same, especially considering how the previous works discussed seem to present a repetitive pattern. The side seen shows intricate details of three birds flying through design elements, around a circular centerpiece. The three legs are somewhat scrolled, and the entire piece is very flowing and organic in design, yet also possesses a somewhat sharp geometrical position in its triangular shape. .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .postImageUrl , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:hover , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:visited , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:active { border:0!important; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:active , .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012 .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .ud3678adef3b1a85bf3e64fe12d813012:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Rap As Art EssayThe pieces presented and examined come from the 13th or 14th century and are all pieces that are on display in the museum. Some of the pieces presented in the museums website about the exhibit are not currently on exhibit and those chosen for discussion were partly chosen because they are for the public to view at present. The information presented on these items is presented only as suggestive to assist the student with the further development of their own analysis of this, or another, exhibit in California.

Objectives of Project Management

Objectives of Project Management The objectives of project management can be summarized as the end results that are to be achieved from a project. What must be understood is that, from a literal perspective, the term objectives can be defined as the driving force which pushes an individual or group towards a set of defined goals.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Objectives of Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Taking this particular definition into consideration, objectives in project management can thus be defined as a series of goals by which a project manager or a project team will attempt to reach via their work strategies or strategic positioning resulting in the advancement of their agenda (Street Daniels, 2010). Another way of looking at project management objectives is to see it from a perspective where a set of particular results need to be accomplished by the project manager or team. This can come in the form of increasing the level of productivity in assembly lines through the use of Six Sigma processes or new technologies which increase the efficiency and effectiveness of an assembly line. Other examples of project management objectives come in the of figuring out new and innovative ways of decreasing the cost of labor through the use of outsourcing, implementing new methods of environmental and work safety compliance as well as reducing a companys overhead through the use of new resource strategies (Street Daniels, 2010). Based on these examples it can be seen that objectives in project management can be described as the end result brought about from the completion of a project. It must be noted though that objectives are not immovable sets of goals that need to be followed exactly, rather the unique aspect of project management objectives lies in the fact that they can be modified depending on the end goals of a particular project and the various influences and changes that occurs within a busin ess environment. One example of this can be seen in the project management objective of developing a new chicken based product that will sell well within the targeted demographics in the companys various restaurants. If there are issues related to the availability of local and international suppliers regarding the necessary chicken parts then the project management objectives will subsequently adjust due to the provided information and attempt to modify itself to proceed in another direction (Andersen, 2010). What must be understood is that businesses do not operate within a vacuum wherein decisions on specific operations within a particular project dont undergo eventual changes due to market forces. As markets and the factors that influence them change so too do the objectives that drive a specific project. Failure to properly adjust a project’s objectives can lead to disastrous consequences for a company due to possible ramifications in terms of time and resources lost in s upporting an objective that didnt take into consideration changing market events (Andersen, 2010). One example of this can be seen in Microsofts ill fated attempt at penetrating g into the music player industry with their new product the Zoon.Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This particular device was meant as a response to Apples growing dominance of the portable music player industry yet as evidenced by the failure of the Zoon it was obvious that Microsoft didnt take into consideration the sheer amount of market influence already possessed by Apple which would make almost any attempt at penetrating the same market an utter and complete disaster. Other companies ranging from Hp to Dell have had similar experiences with a host of other experimental products and as such can be considered evidence of the necessity of adjusting project management objectives based on an examination of outside information and changing as necessary. Why is it so essential in developing information systems? Information systems can be described as the interface between people, organizations and technology enabling the business to accomplish a specific task or action (Willcocks Whitley, 2009). One example of an information system are the various applications and websites utilized by Amazon in selling products, accepting client payments through credit card processing applications, contacting their warehouses and shipping bought products to the correct addresses indicated by their consumers. While this is only a one example of the plethora of information systems out there what must be understood is that information systems act as methods of integration for a company helping to streamline specific processes so that they can be controlled, influenced and improved when necessary (Willcocks Whitley, 2009). Developing proper information systems is an essential aspect for a company for without it a company will be unable to properly deal with the buying, selling and the utilization of resources across various locations in the country. Due to the varied and often complicated nature of company operations it becomes a necessity to streamline and integrate product delivery processes, methods of operation, customer service and various other operational capacities. A company cannot just simply develop and market a product without taking into consideration how best to allocate specific resources in determining where a product needs to go, which branch needs it most, how will product returns be processed and how HR services will deal with salaries for the myriad employees within a company. A company requires an efficient and up-to-date information system in order to integrate the factors mentioned into an efficient and effective operational strategy so as to better serve its clients. The larger a company get the more hectic and haphazard its operations tend to become, especially in instances where its operations are located in different countries (Saunders, 2007).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Objectives of Project Management specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Organizations need to understand how to properly allocate resources to specific international locations, how suppliers can be contacted, what are the limits of production on a daily basis and how will each branch location contact each other (Saunders, 2007). In other words information systems can be classified as solutions to identified problems or necessary methods of integration. What must be understood is that while managers and CEOs are great at coming up with specific solutions to problems they are lost when it comes to implementing these particular solutions when they require computer programming as one of the factors behind the implementation. Information systems and information system specialists bridge thi s gap by being able to integrate the ideas of managers and CEOs into viable technological applications that can be implemented on a company wide basis (Al-Abdul-Gader, 1999). For example, if a company is currently having problems with its archaic method of form based ordering in order to get products from the warehouse to consumers a manager or CEO would think to implement a faster and better means of getting orders to warehouses without having to rely on someone physically going there and handing them the orders. They would of course think to apply a computer based system for this particular solution and this is where information systems come in. An information system in this particular situation becomes an applied solution where it is developed in order to help a company resolve a particular problem. On the other hand if the company was to expand and have a more diverse array of products and factories further development of the initial information systems becomes necessary in orde r to adapt to the growing needs of the company. It is based on this that it can be seen that information systems act as a necessary method of process integration which enables a company to do its job better and as such it is essential to have it within a company. Reference List Al-Abdul-Gader, A. H. (1999). Managing Computer Based Information Systems inDeveloping Countries : A Cultural Perspective. IGI Global. Andersen, E. (2010). Are we getting any better? Comparing project management in the years 2000 and 2008. Project Management Journal, 41(4), 4-16.Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Saunders, C. (2007). Information Systems in Developing Countries. MIS Quarterly,  31(2), iii-vi. Street, J. N., Daniels, R. L. (2010). Reducing Risk of Unacceptable Project Performance: A Demonstration Case Analysis. Cost Engineering, 52(12), 10-19. Willcocks, L., Whitley, E. A. (2009). Developing the Information and Knowledge Agenda in Information Systems: Insights From Philosophy. Information Society,  25(3), 190-197.

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading 11 Strategies by a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading Strategies by a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Reading + Writing? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 800? Getting to a perfect SAT Reading test score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 800 on Reading on my real SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for advanced students already scoring a 600 on SAT Reading or above (this equates to a Reading Test Score of 30+ out of 40 on the New SAT). If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your SAT Reading Score to a 600" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the SAT Reading tips in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 600. Also, the New 2016 SAT now has a single 800 Reading + Writing score, combining the individual Reading and Writing test scores. Technically, when I mention a perfect Reading test score, I'm referring to a perfect 40/40 test score, which is essential to getting an 800 Reading and Writing score. In this guide, I'll use800 and 40 interchangeably to mean a perfect Reading score. We won't talk about Writing here, but if you want to improve your Writing score too, check out my Perfect SAT Writing score guide. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to score an 800 are pretty low quality. They're often written by people who never scored an 800 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. It's not enough to be reminded of simple Reading tips like "don't forget to guess on every question!" In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting an 800 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score 800 on SAT Reading consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring an 800 is a good idea, what it takes to score an 800, and then go into the key SAT Critical Reading strategies so you know how to get a perfectSAT Reading score. Stick with me - as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why an 800 Reading and Writing score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. This guide has been updated for the New 2016 SAT, so you can be sure my advice works for the test you're about to take. Final note: in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to an 800. But if your goal is a 700, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why an 800 SAT Reading + Writing? Let's make something clear: a 1550+ on an SAT is equivalent to a perfect 1600. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 1590than a 1550. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 1550, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 1600.You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 1540 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 1550 or above. There's a big difference between a 1450and a 1550, largely because it's easier to get a 1450(and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 1550. A 1540places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of Ivy League-level admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get an 800 on SAT Reading+Writing? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your composite score more sothan your individual section scores. If you can get a perfect 40 in SAT Reading, you can get a 39 in SAT Writing (for a total of 790 in Reading + Writing) and a 760 in SAT Math and still be confident about your test scores. This gives you a lot more flexibility. Harvard's 75th percentile Reading score is 800. There's another scenario where an 800 in SAT Reading is really important. If you're planning to apply as a humanities or social science major (like English, political science, communications) to a top school. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a humanities/social science major, you're competing against other humanities/social science folks: people for whom SAT Reading is easy. Really easy. Here are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and U Chicago, the 75th percentile SAT Reading score is an 800. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Reading. But if you can work your way to an 800, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. I'll be honest - SAT Reading wasn't my strong suit in high school. When I started studying, I was scoring around the 700 range. I was always stronger in math and science. But I learned the tricks of the test, and I developed the strategies below to raise my score to an 800. Now I'm sharing them with you. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a perfectSAT Reading score. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your SAT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. SAT Reading is Designed to Trick You. You Need to Learn How Here's why: the SAT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? I bet you've had this problem: in SAT Reading passages, you often miss questions because of an 'unlucky guess.' You'll try to eliminate a few answer choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to you. Well, you throw up your hands and randomly guess. This was one of the major issues for myself when I was studying SAT Reading, and I know it affects thousands of my students at PrepScholar. The SAT is purposely designed this way to confuse you. Literally millions of other students have the exact same problem you do. And the SAT knows this. Normally in your school's English class, the teacher tells you that all interpretations of the text are valid. You can write an essay about anything you want, and English teachers aren't (usually) allowed to tell you that your opinion is wrong. This is because they can get in trouble for telling you what to think, especially for complex issues like slavery or poverty. But the SAT has an entirely different problem. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It needs a solid test to compare students with each other. Every question needs a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer. There's only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate three incorrect answers. Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that each reading answer had two answer choices that might each be plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would complain to the College Board about the test being wrong. If this were true, the College Board would then have to invalidate the question, which weakens the power of the test. The College Board wants to avoid this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has only one, single correct answer. But the SAT disguises this fact. It asks questions like: The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements? The first paragraph primarily serves to: In line 20, 'dark' most nearly means: Notice a pattern here? The SAT always disguises the fact that there's always one unambiguous answer. It tries to MAKE you waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely. And then you guess randomly. And then you get it wrong. You can bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year. Students who don't prepare for the SAT in the right way don't appreciate this. BUT if you prepare for the SAT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the SAT plays on you. And you'll raise your score. The SAT Reading section is full of patterns like these. To improve your score, you just need to: Learn the types of questions that the SAT tests, like the one above Learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes The point is that you can learn these skills, even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a great English student.I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. One last point: let's make sure we understand how many questions we can miss to score an 800. What It Takes to Get a Perfect 40 in Reading If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. There are 52 questions in the Reading section, and how many questions you miss determines your scaled score out of 40. From the Official SAT Practice Tests, I've taken the raw score to scaled score conversion tables from 4 tests.(If you could use a refresher on how the SAT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Raw Score Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 52 40 40 40 40 51 40 39 40 39 50 39 38 39 39 49 38 37 38 38 48 38 37 38 37 47 37 36 37 36 46 37 35 36 35 45 36 35 36 35 These grading scales are harsh. For tests 2 and 4, if you miss just ONE question, you get dropped down to a 39. This means your maximum Reading + Writing score is a 790. For tests 1 and 3, if you miss one question, you're still at a perfect 40, but miss another and you drop down to a 39. The scoring chart curvedepends on the difficulty of the test. The harder the test, the easier the curve. But you can't predict what kind of test you're going to get on test day. The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for an 800. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 800. For example, if you're scoring a 35 raw score, you need to answer six to seven more questions right to get to a perfect 40 and an 800. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report from March 2014, showing that I missed one question and earned an 800. (This was from the previous 2400 version of the SAT, but it had a similar grading scale). OK - so we've covered why scoring a higher Reading score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies and reading tips that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get aPerfectSAT Reading Score What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness - Time Management or Passage Strategy? Every student has different flaws in SAT Reading. Some people don't have good strategies for tackling the passage questions. Others don't manage their time correctly and run out of time before getting through all the questions. Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Find an official SAT practice test, and take only the Reading section. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For each section, use a timer and have it count down the 65 minutes for the Reading section. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out for that section and you're 100% ready to move on, then move on. If you're not ready to move on, keep on working for as long as you need. For every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." When you're ready, grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 35or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35), then you have strategy and content weaknesses. All the extra time in the world couldn't get you above a 35, so your first angle of attack will be to find your weaknesses and attack them (We'll cover this later). If YES (Extra Time score 35), then: Was your Realistic score a 35 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35, Realistic 35), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than 3points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you using the best passage reading strategy for you? Does it take you too much time to get the answer for each question? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient passage strategies will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 35), then you have a really good shot at getting an 800. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score - if they differed by more than 2 points, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a40with extra time, but score a 35 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 40. This type of analysis is so important that it's a central part of my prep program, PrepScholar. When a new student joins, he or she gets a diagnostic that figures out specific strengths and weaknesses. The program then automatically customizes your learning so that you're always studying according to where you can make the most improvement. No matter what your weakness is, my following strategies will address all weaknesses comprehensively. Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers This strategy was by far the most effective for me in raising my Reading score. It completely changed the way I viewed passage questions. I spent some time talking above about how the SAT always has one unambiguous answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right SAT Reading answer. Here's the other way to see it: Out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is totally wrong about them. Only one answer is 100% correct, which means the other three are 100% wrong. You know how you try to eliminate answer choices, and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? "Well, this can work...but then again this could work as well..." STOP doing that. You're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember - every single wrong choice can be crossed out for its own reasons. You need to do a 180 on your approach to Reading questions. Instead, find a reason to eliminate three answer choices. "Can I find a reason to eliminate this answer choice? How about this one?" You have to learn how to eliminate three answer choices for every single question. "Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about HOW to eliminate answer choices." Thanks for asking. One thing to remember is that even a single word can make an answer choice wrong. Every single word in each answer choice is put there by the SAT for a reason. If a single word in the answer choice isn't supported by the passage text, you need to eliminate it, even if the rest of the answer sounds good. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the SAT loves to use. Here's an example question. For example, let’s imagine you just read a passage talking about how human evolution shaped the environment. It gives a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species like Homo habilus to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, which caused wildfires and shaped the ecology. It then talks about Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of species like woolly mammoths to extinction. So then we run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are the answer choices: A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals B: The study of evolution C: How the environment shaped human evolution D: The plausibility of evolution E: The influence of human development on ecology (We're using five answers for purposes of illustration - the SAT will only have four choices). As you're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounded really plausible to you. Surprise! Each of the answers from A-D has something seriously wrong about it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the SAT. Wrong Answer 1: Too Specific A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you because you might think to yourself, "well, I see this mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice." Wrong! Think to yourself – can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage? You’ll find that it’s just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage. Wrong Answer 2: Too Broad B: The study of evolution This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem – it’s way too broad. Yes, theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, but only one aspect of it, and especially as it relates to the impact on the environment. To give another ludicrous example, if you talked to your friend about your cell phone, and he said your main point was about the universe. Yes, you were talking about the universe, but only a tiny fraction of it. This is way too broad. Wrong Answer 3: Reversed Relationship C: How the environment shaped human evolution This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped. Students who read too quickly make careless mistakes like these! Wrong Answer 4: Unrelated Concept D: The plausibility of evolution Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution, this might be a trigger answer since ANY discussion of evolution becomes a chance to argue about the plausibility of evolution. Of course, this concept will appear nowhere in the passage, but some students just won’t be able to resist. Do you see the point? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds possibly correct. A less prepared student would think that all of these were plausible answers. But plausible isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even one word - you need to eliminate these. Carry this thought into every SAT Reading passage question you do and I guarantee you will start raising your score. Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices As we've discussed already, the SAT is designed to goad you into making mistakes by putting really similar answer choices next to each other. In Strategy 2, we covered the strategy of ruthless, unforgiving elimination of answer choices. Here's another Strategy that works well for me. Before reading the answer choices, come up with your own answer to the question. Gaze into your crystal ball and predict the right answer. This strategy is exactly designed to counteract the trickiness of the answer choices. If you DON'T apply this strategy, your thinking process likely meanderslike this: "OK, I just read the question. Answer A is definitely out. B can kind of work. C...it doesn't exactly fit, but I can see how it mightwork." and so on. By now, you've already fallen into the College Board's trap of muddling the answer choices. Take the opposite approach. While you're reading the question, come up with your own ideal answer to the question before reading the answer choices. This prevents you from getting biased by the SAT's answer choices, especially the incorrect ones. If it's a "Big Picture" type question asking about the main point of the passage, answer for yourself, "What would make a good title for this passage?" If it's an "Inference" question, answer for yourself, "What would the author think about the situation given in the question?" Even if you can't answer the question straight away - for example, if you have to refer back to the line number to remember what the passage was saying - try to solve the question before looking at the answer choices. The key here is that the passage must support your answer choice. Every correct answer on SAT passages needs to be justified by the passage - otherwise the answer would be ambiguous, which would cause problems of cancelling questions I referred to earlier. Warning: this only works if you can read and understand passages well, and if you have prior experience with SAT Reading questions! That's why I don't recommend this strategy yet before you hit a 600 level since you're more likely to come up with the wrong answer choice in your head. Strategy 4: Experiment With Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You In your prep for the SAT, you may have read different strategies for how to read a passage and answer questions. Some students read the questions before reading the passage. Others read the passage in detail first. At your high level, I can't predict which method will work best for you. We're going for perfection, which means that your strategy needs to line up with your strengths and weaknesses perfectly, or else you'll make mistakes or run out of time. What I will do, however, is go through the most effective methods. You'll then have to figure out through your test data which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Skim the Passage, Then Read the Questions This is the most common strategy I recommend to our students, and in my eyes the most effective. I prefer this one myself. Here it is: Skim the passage on the first read through. Don't try to understand every single line, or write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just get a general understanding of the passage. You want to try to finish reading the passage in 3 minutes, if possible. Next, go to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, then go back to that line number and understand the text around it. If you can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it. My preferred way to tackle a passage: skimming it on the first read-through. This strategy is a revelation for students who used to close-read a passage and run out of time. This skimming method works because the questions will ask about far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-20 of a reading passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to deeply understand lines 5-20, you’ll be wasting time. By taking the opposite approach of going back to the passage when you need to refer to it, you guarantee reading efficiency. You're focusing only on the parts of the passage that are important to answering questions. Critical Skill: You must be able to skim effectively. This means being able to quickly digest a text without having to slowly read every word. If you're not quite good at this yet, practice it on newspaper articles and your homework reading. Passage Method 2: Read the Questions First and Mark the Passage This is the second most common strategy and, if used well, as effective as the first method. But it has some pitfalls if you don't do it correctly. Here's how it goes: Before you read the passage, go to the questions and read each one. If the question refers to a series of lines, mark those lines on the passage. Take a brief note about the gist of the question. Go back to the passage and skim it. When you reach one of your notes, slow down and take more notice of the question. Answer the questions. Here's an example passage that I marked up, with questions coming first. Notice that beyond underlining the phrase referenced in the question, I left clues for myself on what's important to get out of this phrase. (questions not relating to specific lines aren't shown above) In the hands of an SAT expert, this is a powerful strategy. Just like Method 1 above, you save time by skipping parts of the passage that aren't asked about. Furthermore, you get a head start on the questions by trying to answer them beforehand. But there are serious potential pitfalls to this method if you're not careful or prepared enough. Here's one: when you first read the questions before the passage, you won't have enough time to digest the actual answer choices (nor will they make sense to you). So you have to make your best guess for what the question is asking when you're writing a note along the passage. In some cases, this can lead you astray. Take this example from above: When I read the question, I saw that it asked me to find how Woolf characterized the questions I marked in lines 53-57. The problem is how broad the question is. How something can be characterized gives a wide range of options. Here are a number of plausible characterizations as I read the text: important, life-changing ("have to ask ourselves") communal ("we") detail-oriented ("on what terms?") urgent ("here and now") ambitious progressive and future-looking ("where is it leading us") There's a lot of flexibility in interpretation here, since the questions really do touch upon all these characterizations. It turns out "important" and "urgent" are the right interpretations, for answer choice C. But when I'm reading the passage and see my note, I can waste a lot of time coming up with potential options that aren't even correct answer choices. In the worst case, it can bias me toward the wrong answer. Critical Skill: You need to have so much experience with the SAT Reading section that you can anticipate what the question is going to ask you for your notes to be helpful. If you're not sure of this, you can easily be led down the wrong track and focus on the wrong aspect of the passage. Passage Method 3: Read the Passage in Detail, Then Answer Questions This method is what beginner students usually use by default, because it's what they've been trained to do in school. Some beginner books like Princeton Review and Kaplan also suggest this as a strategy. It's my least favorite method because there are so many ways for it to go wrong. But for the sake of completeness, I'm listing it here in case it works best for you. Here's how it goes: Read the passage in detail, line by line. Take notes to yourself about the main point of each paragraph. Answer the questions. As you might guess, I don't like this method for the following reasons: By reading the passage closely, you absorb a lot of details that aren't useful for answering questions. The notes you take aren't directed toward helping you answer the questions. By interpreting the passage ahead of time, you risk being led astray. But this might work especially well for you if you're very good at reading for understanding, and if you have so much expertise with the SAT that you can predict what the test is going to ask you about anyway. Choose Which Works Best for You, Based on Test Data Because I can't predict which one will work best for you, you need to figure this out yourself. To do this, you need cold, hard data from your test scores. Try each method on 2 sample test passages each, and tally up your percentage score for each. If one of them is a clear winner for you, then develop that method further. If there isn't a clear winner, choose the one that feels most comfortable for you. As part of our PrepScholar program, we give you advanced statistics on your score performance so that you can experiment with methods that work best for you. Next strategy:Understand your mistakes. Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even just one mistakewill knock you down from an 800, as we saw in the score charts above. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 SAT questions customized to each skill. The second step - and the more important part - is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who did 20 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a perfectSAT Reading score. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one - and find the source of each one - or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question 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 1) the gist of the question, 2) why you missed it, and 3) what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by question type (vocab questions, big picture questions, inference questions, etc). 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. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a Reading Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. 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 Reading question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Elimination: I couldn't eliminate enough incorrect answer choices, or I eliminated the correct answer. One step further: Why couldn't I eliminate the answer choice during the test? How can I eliminate answer choices like this in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or answered for the wrong thing. One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Vocab: I didn't know what the key word meant. One step further:What word was this? What is the definition? Are there other words in this question I didn't know? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. Many people don't know the right way to study. Of the people who do, very few will diligently apply the right methods, day in, and day out, with discipline. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Reviewing mistakes is so important that in PrepScholar, for every one of our 1,500+ practice questions, we explain in detail how to get the correct answer, and why incorrect answers are wrong. We also point out bait answers so that you can you can learn the tricks that the SAT plays on test takers like you. Bonus Tip: Re-Solve the Question Before Reading the Answer Explanation When you're reviewing practice questions, the first thing you probably do is read the answer explanation and at most reflect on it a little. This is a little too easy. I consider thispassive learning - you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different - find the correct answer choice (A-D), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to re-solve the question once over again and try to get to the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new reason to eliminate the wrong answer choice, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information far better than if you just passively absorbed the information. This is perfect for SAT Reading because you'll often miss a question because of an incorrect interpretation of the text. By forcing yourself to get the right answer, you'll practice getting the CORRECT interpretation of the text. Even better, you'll be scrounging the passage for clues as to why the correct answer is correct, which is exactly what you need in your passage strategy to begin with. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to 10 minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Reading passage questions might look similar, but they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar we believe the major passage skills to be: Big Picture/Main Point Little Picture/Detail Inference Words and Phrases inContext Citing Textual Evidence Perspective Analyzing Word Choice Analyzing Text Structure Analyzing Multiple Texts Analyzing Quantitative Info Whew - that's a lot of skills. That's a much more detailed breakdown than what appears at first glance, and what most books and courses offer. Each of these question types uses different skills in how you read and analyze a passage. They each require a different method of prep and focused practice. The SAT requires a lot of skills. Make sure you know which ones are your weaknesses. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in Reading than others. You might be better at getting the Big Picture of a passage, compared to the Inference. Or you might be really strong in vocabulary, but weak in understanding the function of sentences in a passage. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. This means for every hour you study for the SAT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're SHOCKED. I'm not. Studying effectively for the SAT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover all your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough time on their weaknesses. Instead, studying effectively for the SAT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to SAT Reading? You need to find the sub-skills that you're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fix up the biggest holes. Within reading, you need to figure out whether you have patterns to your mistakes. Is it that you don't get Inference questions? Or maybe you're really weak at interpreting details? Or from strategy 1: is it that you're running out of time in reading passages? For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is. When you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this subskill. Say you miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). You need to find a way to get focused practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our SAT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty SAT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: SAT Free Signup // Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction This is a quick tip that many students ignore. Each passage comes with an italicized introduction, like this for the passage shown above: This is a freebie. It gives you context for the entire passage. By knowing that the passage is about "the situation of women in English society," you hit the ground running when you read the very first sentence. This helps a lot. Sometimes, the introduction alone can giveyou the answer for the "Big Picture" question about what the main point of the passage is. Always always make sure that you read this introduction, no matter what passage method you use from Strategy 4. Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter The SAT has passages about a lot of weird topics. Victorian novels, underwater basket-weaving, and the evolution of gerbils are all fair game. It's unlikely that you're naturally thrilled about all the subjects you'll read about. This makes it easy to tune out when you're reading the passage. This makes it harder to answer the questions, which will make you more frustrated. Instead, adopt this mindset: For the next 10 minutes, I am the world's most passionate person about whatever subject this passage is about. This passage is the most frickin' exciting thing I could be reading right now. For every single passage, be as excited as she is. Force yourself to care about what the passage is telling you. Pretend that your LIFE depends on understanding this passage. Maybe you're about to give a lecture on this subject. Or someone's holding a puppy hostage if you don't answer enough questions correctly. Or your crush turns out to be a huge mid-18th century English literature fan, so you pay rapt attention to every single word. When I was preparing for the SAT in high school, I took this so far to the extremethat I ended up genuinely fascinated bywhatever the passage was telling me about. I remember reading a passage about volcanic activity and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I just learned this." (I know this sounds crazy.) If you stay engaged while reading, you'll understand the passage so much better, and you'll answer questions with way more accuracy. Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Vocab typically gets way too much attention from students. It feels good to study vocab flashcards, because it seems like you're making progress. "I studied 1,000 vocab words - this must mean I improved my score!" This is why other test prep programs love teaching you vocab - it feels like they're teaching you something useful worth your money, but it's not obvious that vocab actually isn't helping your score. Fortunately, vocab doesn't play a big role in your SAT Reading score anymore. This is especially true in the redesigned 2016 SAT. They've completely taken out Sentence Completion questions, and the words that you have to analyze in context are usually pretty common. Here are examples of words that you need to understand in context in the current SAT: ambivalent clashes convey plastic postulate These are somewhat advanced words, but they're nowhere near the level of the words you used to have to know, like "baroque," "diatribes," "platitudes," and "progenitor." College Board lowered the emphasis on vocab because of complaints that memorizing esoteric vocab was useless in college success and career success. Instead, it's now asking you to figure out the meaning of more common words the way the author intended. For example, "plastic" can mean "malleable," "artificial," or "sculptural." Only one of these is right in the context of the passage. This doesn't mean that vocab is totally useless. For one, SAT Writing still has a few vocab questions (read more about this in my Perfect SAT Writing guide). Furthermore, sometimes knowing the definition of the words in context is helpful. Here are a few tips on what to learn, and how to learn vocab effectively. First, I've written a super detailed guide on the best way to study SAT vocabulary. This method makes your studying much more efficient so you retain words longer and engage with the most difficult vocab most often. Second, you need to take notes on vocab words that you don't know that you see in your practice questions. Don't just focus on the right answers- understand the definition of wrong answers as well. Only take notes from official SAT tests. It's hard to predict what words the SAT will use, and the SAT doesn't often repeat words from previous tests. But the official free practice tests from the Official Study Guide that we integrate in our PrepScholar program are the best sources. Strategy 9B: Don't Spend Time Reading Books or Magazines Over the many years I've studied for tests or run a test prep company, I've heard this advice for SAT Reading: "Read great novels and well-written magazines, like in the New York Times or the Atlantic. This will help with reading comprehension." I hate this advice. A test like SAT Reading is very specific. It tests reading comprehension in very specific and formulaic ways, as I showed with all the question types in Strategy 3. Reading for general leisure does NOT train you effectively for the test. You're not exercising the same skills you need on the test, nor is it goal-driven enough to help you make progress. This terrible advice is like saying you can train for a swim meet by standing in the shower for longer. Yes, by being in the shower, you'll be in water, just like you will in the swimming pool. But you're not using the same skills. Yes, if you have a lifetime of strong reading, with thousands of hours of leisure reading experience, you will do better on SAT Reading. But right now, reading general material won't help you efficiently. Take your extra time and do SAT Reading practice questions instead. Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at SAT Reading that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school, I was able to finish a Reading section in about 60% of the time allotted. For SAT Reading, this means finishing all 5 passages and 52 questions in 40 minutes. This means I have a whopping 25minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. How did I get so fast? 1) I have an efficient reading strategy that works best for me. Namely, I skim the passage and work through the questions afterward. 2) Through a lot of hard work, I have a strong instinct for the test. I understand the test so well that when I read a question, I can predict the answer within a few seconds. I can rule out wrong answers instantly because they just feel wrong. I've surveyed thousands of questions and understood every single SAT skill deeply to design PrepScholar, so I can typically understand exactly what the College Board is asking. Kind of like Neo seeing code in The Matrix. Here are some time benchmarks that might help: You should finish skimming a long passage within three minutes. Each passage question should take you no more than 30 seconds. If you can do this well, you'll finish the entire section in 40 minutes, leaving a lot of time to double check. What's the best way to double checkyour work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate answer choices. If it's a reading passage question, make sure that the passage supports your answer. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double checkthat I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A D B C B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a near perfect raw score for an 800, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just ten seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on a section that has 20 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection in SAT Reading. You know the best strategies to use for tackling the passage. You know how to identify your weaknesses and learn from them. You know how to save time, and you know to stay engaged while reading a passage. Even despite all this, sometimes a passage just won't click with you. Of all SAT sections, I find that Reading has the most volatile score. How you vibe with a passage has a big impact on your score. You might get a string of questions wrong just because you couldn't really understand what the passage was really about. This doesn't happen on Math or Writing. No matter what happens, you need to keep calm and keep working. You might swing from an 800 on one practice test to a 710 on another. Don't let that faze you. Don't start doubting all the hard work you've put in. Keep a calm head, and, like always, work hard on reviewing your mistakes. This might even happen on the real SAT. You might get below your target score and be crestfallen. Pick yourself up. This happens. If you've consistently been getting 800's on practice tests, you should take the test again and try to score higher. Very likely, you will. And because most schools nowadays Superscore the SAT, you can combine that new 800 with your other sections for an awesome SAT score. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your SAT Reading score to an 800. If you're scoring above a 600 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect SAT Reading score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. Here's a recap of all the strategies, in case you want to go back and review any: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Time Management or Passage Strategy Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices Strategy 4: Experiment with Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your SAT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your SAT score. Read our complete guide to a perfect 1600, written by me, a perfect scorer. Read our accompanying guide to a 800 on SAT Math. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 SAT essay, step by step. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. I built the PrepScholar program based on the principles in this article - the principles that worked for me and thousands of our students. I'm confident they'll also work with you. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Enter preneuship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Enter preneuship - Essay Example The international business scene offers unlimited opportunities for entrepreneurs in generating income and increased revenues. However, such success does not come without a close analysis of the market, as well as the factors that are likely going to contribute to the success of the business at the international markets. Thus, different factors contribute to either the success or failure of businesses operating at an international level. This essay discusses the factors that entrepreneurs should bear in mind whenever trying to establish their operations at the international level. Culture According to Neelankavil (2007), culture of the people is one of the most important factors to consider before establishing a business at the international market. Different countries have different cultures and within these countries, people hold diverse cultural practices and beliefs. Experts argue that since United States is the most developed country globally, assuming that all cultures in the w orld resemble the United States is the worst mistake that a business could make. ... This is however not true as some cultures do not embrace technology at all. Subsequently, whenever deciding on the methods to use in advertising for the products, putting into consideration the level of technology absorption is important. Using technological modes of advertising such as the internet and social media, live adverts and television targeting such people is less likely to have any impact. Further, some communities due to their religious beliefs do not use some products. These could be either processed foods or elements of technology, which they consider unspiritual and unhealthy. An entrepreneur should be aware of such issues in the society before establishing operations in any place. Additionally, observing the traditional cultural events and practices of different communities is equally important for the success of any entrepreneur at the international market (McDonald & Burton, 2002). Observing and respecting these events in addition to making the business appealing to the local people reduces the levels of conflicts with the people. By showing respect and engaging in these events with the people engages the business, thus creating a good relationship with the locals. This could contribute to the success of the business in this market. Legal factors Every country has different legal systems from each other. As constitutions govern different countries, the constitution establishes the laws governing businesses operating within its jurisdiction. As such, any entrepreneur seeking to establish operations at the international level ought to consider the laws governing the businesses in target countries. The most important law to put into consideration is taxation of the businesses in the country (McDonald &

The Invention of E Commerce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Invention of E Commerce - Essay Example In order to understand the success of e-commerce, it would be necessary to refer to the terms and the causes of the specific invention. Reference should be also made to its characteristics, meaning especially its advantages and disadvantages. In this way, it would be easy to understand whether the invention of e-commerce has actually benefited entrepreneurs worldwide. Different views have been developed in the literature in regard to the nature and the role of e-commerce. Still, all these views have a common characteristic: they all emphasize on the value of e-commerce as a tool for promoting online sales. For example, Basu (2007) notes that e-commerce is a term used for describing ‘commercial transactions which take place in or over electronic networks’ (Basu, 2007, p. 15). Pinto (2003) refers to the definition of e-commerce as developed by the Australian Taxation Office. According to the above definition, e-commerce refers to ‘the buying and selling goods on the Internet’ (Pinto, 2003, p. 2). On the other hand, it has been stated that e-commerce is ‘the process of sharing business information, maintaining business relationships and conducting business transactions through telecommunication networks’ (Sun & Finnie, 2004, p. 47). In other words, e-commerce does not focus on sales but it can incorporates a wi de range of business activities, as described above. This means also that e-commerce is not affected solely by the economic conditions of each market but also by the local social and political conditions, as related to commerce and trade. For example, a law introducing restrictions to the exchange of business information can negatively affect e-commerce, as used by the businesses in a particular state. The history of E-commerce is closely related to the history of the Internet. In fact, it was because of Internet that the development of E-commerce has become feasible (Schmid,

Marking Time Essay Example for Free

Marking Time Essay Marking Time is an Australian mini TV series written by John Doyle and was aired on ABC in 2003. Its based on a small town called Brakley. The story is told through the eyes of an 18 year old named Hal. Hal falls in love with an Afghani girl, Randa, who recently fled her own country with her father to escape the Taliban. The two face racism and taunts by their community, whose views are influenced greatly by the media and politicians that are expressed during historical events taking place at the time. Soon after 9/11 occured, their home was set on fire by arsonists. Hals family let them stay in their home and Randa needed comforting, but Hal and Randa were found in bed together the next morning. Their refugee status got later denied and they were orderd to return to Afghanistan. Hal then went over seas to look for her. This mini-series reflects whats happening in the world during the years 2000 and 2001 by representing the small town of Brakley as a microcosm. It shows the attitudes Australians have towards Asylum seekers. Hal is educated about whats really going on by his father and his fathers girlfriend and therefore sees Randa for the person she really is, rather than just a refugee or boatie apparently causing trouble. Everyone else in Brackley dont have the right education and are believing everything the media and politicians are saying about them. The aim of this series is to make us question the information we get fed us, and to hopefully change the assumptions we place on refugees. Marking Time covers the events surrounding the Afghanistan war and Australia’s involvement. This included historical and political events. These events include The 2000 Olympic games and the re-election of the Howard government, The Tampa Crisis, the 9/11 Terrror attack and the Children Overboard affair. These events also include the social aspects in Brakley which led the town to behave in such ways. Australia was the host of the 2000 Olympic games. During this period there was a lot of conflicting opinions regarding the refugee policy as more refugees headed our way. There was also a lot of argument regarding what Australias part in the war in Afghanistan was. These two tied together led to suspicion of other cultures, especially refugees. People had little knowledge with what was going on in the war in Afghanistan and about refugees and what they were going through. The social attitude towards what was happening was very mixed. People didnt have the knowledge for a different view point and they found it hard to understand what was going on, and how they should be responding. Politicians have a large impact on how a society acts towards everything. Its very easy to believe what they say about anything, especially if all the news were saying the same thing. The Prime Minister of the time, John Howard put the ideas that George W Bush was using in America on Australia. These ideas were that refugees coming to the country were terrorists.

The Concept of Information :: Exploratory Research

The Concept of Information There is such a point of view that information is an abstract unit as an invariant of informational processes. Information consists of object, procedural and morphological components.We have an opportunity to consider that information consists of object and procedural components. So we have the relation-functional concept of information.Information has such attributes as syntactics, semantics and pragmatics. These attributes are relational definitions. Semantics and pragmatics are considered to be external features (characteristics) of the definite syntactics. Information may be considered as an universal property of matter (attributive concept) or as a property of self-managing (cybernetic) system (functional concept). Then we can not get a full understanding of information, universal and flexible enough. So it is necessary to widen and develop the definition of information. There are two basic ways of unification of any concept: a) abstracting, b) integration. The classical theory of information and cybernetics used the first - abstracting. It means the volume ("demanded place") expressed by the quantity of bites. It is a quantity of information. The semiotics used the second way. It means the sign system (sign), the unity of three attributes - syntactic, semantics and pragmatics. In this work integration (abstracting) concept of information is offered. For the final description, we said that information is consist of 1) object (attributive), 2) procedural (functional) and 3) morphological (structural) components. We must offer two definitions for further developing the concept of information. These are a message and a language. Language is a sign system with alphabet, vocabulary and grammar. Message is a definite construction in a definite language. Any language is an interface (means of interaction) between users (communication function) or between users and environment. Exchange of information is possible by plunge into definite surroundings - own language of this message. Any message is a set of signs without such a plunge. So information can not exist in "a pure state", without physical bearer. We also point out that information can exist as messages. Information may be extracted from messages. Thus we say object component is realized by messages, procedural component is realized by grammar, morphological is realized by material bearers. We may examine information as a unit with two components: object and procedural. Then we have a relation concept of information. It means a ratio between properties of the object, which consist of tables and charts. The second concept is a set of specific procedures. We may use a philosophical concept of information.

Safe Disposal of Wastewater – Disinfection

2.1.4 Disinfection Disinfection is the primary mechanism for the inactivation or devastation of infective beings to forestall the spread of waterborne disease to downstream users and the environment. ( Municipal Technology Branch U.S. EPA, 1999 ) Chlorination is the most common method of disinfection. Chlorine is effectual at killing most bacteriums, viruses and Protozoa that rise hazards to human wellness. The reactions of Cl in effluent are shown as below: Chlorine2+ H2O > HOCl + H-Cl Chlorine Hypochlorous Gas Gas HOCl + OCl + H Hypochlorite Ion In chlorination intervention, Cl must be removed before treated H2O is released due to chlorine is itself toxic to marine life. Sodium bisulfite is added to the treated H2O to take any Cl residue. ( Patrick, n.d. ) Besides, ultraviolet light disinfection is a physical procedure that transportations electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength of about 4 to 400 nanometers from a quicksilver discharge lamp to an being ‘s familial stuff ( DNA and RNA ) . When UV radiation, generated by an electrical discharge through quicksilver vapour, penetrates the familial stuff of micro-organisms and idiots their ability to reproduce. ( Anon. , 1999 ) UV disinfect at wavelength of about 254nm is most efficient for disinfection intent. This procedure adds nil to the H2O but UV light, therefore, there is no residuary consequence that can be harmful to worlds or aquatic life. In add-on, UV is an effectual germicide for chlorine-resistant Protozoa like Cryptosporidium and Giardia. However, UV disinfection is non every bit cost-efficient as chlorination. Recently, ozone has begun to acquire attending as a effluent disinfection method. Ozone is an unstable gas comprising of three O atoms, the gas will readily degrade back to O, and during this passage a free O atom or free group is formed. Most wastewater intervention workss generate ozone by enforcing a high electromotive force jumping current ( 6 to 20 kVs ) across a dielectric discharge spread that contains an oxygen-bearing gas. Ozone is a really strong oxidizer and viricide. It has greater disinfection effectivity in taking virus and bacteriums present in H2O due to direct oxidization or devastation of the cell wall with escape of cellular components outside of the cell, reactions with extremist byproducts of ozone decomposition and harm to the components of the nucleic acids. ( Anon. , 1999 ) Ozone is besides known to cut down the concentration of Fe, S and manganese and extinguish olfactory property and gustatory sensation jobs. Ozone oxides the manganese, sulfur and Fe into in dissoluble metal oxides. These indissoluble atoms are subsequently removed by filtration. Furthermore, ozone increases the O content of H2O, a good side-effect of disinfection. 2.1.5 Third Treatment After biochemical debasement of the sewerage in the secondary intervention, the clarified wastewater is farther treated to take non-biodegradable toxic organic pollutants, disable disease doing beings and viruses, and other man-made pollutants. ( Anon. , n.d. ) After this intervention, the waste H2O becomes relatively safer and can be discharged into the environment. There are three chief third intervention procedures, which are filtration, lagooning, and alimentary remotion. In the filtration procedure, sand or activated C are used to filtrate the effluent. The H2O is made to go through through a bed of sand activated C, so that the particulate affair in the H2O adheres to the filter medium and gets removed from the H2O. Sand filtration removes much of the residuary suspended affair whereas filtration over activated C removes residuary toxins. ( Anon. , n.d. ) Lagooning provides colony and farther biological betterment through storage in big semisynthetic pools or lagunas. These lagunas are extremely aerophilic and colonisation by native macrophytes, particularly reeds, is frequently encouraged. Small filter feeding invertebrates such as Daphnia and species of Rotifera greatly assist in intervention by consuming the biodegradable atoms in the sewerage H2O ( taking all right particulates ) . Removal of foods nitrogen and P is necessary as their inordinate release to the environment can take to a buildup of foods, called eutrophication that in a manner lead to the giantism of weeds, algae, and blue-green algaes ( bluish green algae ) . This lead to a phenomenon called Algae Bloom, where there is a rapid growing in the population of unsustainable algae which finally dies. As the bacterium works on the decomposition of these algae, they use up excessively much of O which may take to the decease of most of the aquatic biology which creates more organic affair for the bacteriums to break up. In add-on to doing deoxygenation, some algal species produce toxins that contaminate imbibing H2O supplies. Therefore, remotion of foods is indispensable measure in third effluent intervention. Phosphate remotion is achieved by precipitation as Ca phosphate. Besides, N is removed through the biological oxidization of N from ammonium hydroxide to nitrate ( nitrification ) , followed by the decrease of nitrate to nitrogen gas ( denitrification ) . Nitrogen gas is released in the ambiance and therefore removed from the H2O. ( Anon. , n.d. ) 2.1.6 Sludge Treatment Sludge is produced from the intervention of effluent in on-site ( infected armored combat vehicle ) and off-site ( activated sludge ) systems. The sludge are likely to incorporate microorganisms which may lend to the transmittal of diseases, every bit good as organic and inorganic contaminations which may be risky or toxic to worlds or have damaging effects on the environment in general. Therefore, all sludge must be treated before recycling or disposal and the grade of intervention depends on the intended concluding usage. The intervention procedure may affect thickener, dewatering, digestion, composting, and concluding disposal. 2.1.6.1 Sludge Thickening Thickening of sludge increases its solids content and reduces the volume of free H2O thereby minimising the unit burden on downstream procedures such as digestion and dewatering. The most normally used inspissating procedures include gravitation thickener, dissolved air floatation and extractor thickener. Gravity thickener is normally carried out in a round armored combat vehicle where the sludge is fed to the armored combat vehicle through a centre provender good. The provender sludge is allowed to settle and the thickened sludge is withdrawn from the underside of the armored combat vehicle. Conventional sludge roll uping mechanisms with deep trusses or perpendicular lookouts are used to stir the sludge gently thereby easing the release of H2O from the sludge. The supernatant flow is returned either to the primary subsiding armored combat vehicles or to the influent of the intervention works, whereas the thickened sludge is pumped to digesters or dewatering installations. Typically, sludge can be thickened to approximately 2 to 3 % for solids derived from activated sludge or RBC systems, whilst for primary sludge and dribbling filter sludge, they can be thickened to approximately 4 to 6 per centum solids concentration. ( Alturkmani, 2012 ) Flotation thickener is a solid-liquid separation procedure. Separation is unnaturally induced by presenting all right gas bubbles into the floatation procedure system. The gas bubbles become affiliated to the solid particulates, organizing a gas-solid sum with an overall majority denseness less than the denseness of the liquid. Therefore, these sums float on the surface of the fluid. Once the solid atoms have been floated to the surface, they can be collected by a skimming operation. ( Lawrence K Wang, n.d. ) Centrifuges are a compact, simple, flexible, self-contained unit. They have the disadvantages of high capitals, care and power costs and frequently a hapless, solids-capture efficiency if chemicals are non used for bio sludge. However, they have extra advantage of less infinite demand, less odour potency and housework demand. ( Anon. , n.d. ) Centrifugal thickener is acceleration of deposit through the usage of centrifugal force. Centrifuges are normally used for inspissating waste activated sludge. Primary sludge is usually non fed to centrifugate as it may incorporate scratchy stuff. 2.6.1.2 Stabilzsation Stabilization is the term used to denote the procedure of biochemical O demand ( BOD ) decrease. The stabilisation procedure can be carried out under aerobic or anaerobiotic conditions. In anaerobiotic system, the sludge is passed through a well-mixed digester at 35 °C. The procedure is uninterrupted and takes 15-20 yearss. The organic stuff interruptions down in the digester to bring forth methane gas and C dioxide. The gas is burned to heat the digester or in really big workss to bring forth electricity through a combined heat and power works. Digested sludge has a low smell and H2O is easy removed to cut down volume. The procedure kills potentially harmful bacteriums and can be enhanced by usage of high force per unit area or sonic systems which destroy bacteriums cells. ( Anon. , n.d. ) Aerobic stabilisation is carry out in an aeration armored combat vehicle with the nowadays of O which is same manual as in an activated sludge procedure. Due to the high O demand, this procedure is energy intensive and high costs. In aerophilic digestion, sludge stabilisation is achieved when aerophilic and facultative micro-organisms convert biodegradable organic affair in an environment where aeration is provided. End merchandises of the digestion are chiefly C dioxide, H2O and non-biodegradable stuffs. 2.1.6.3 Sludge Conditioning Sludge conditioning is a procedure that sludge solids are treated with chemicals to fix the sludge for dewatering procedures. Chemical conditioning prepares the sludge for better economical intervention with vacuity filters or extractors. Sulfuric acid, alum, chlorinated copperas, ferric sulphate, and ferrous chloride with or without calcium hydroxide are common chemicals that used in this procedure. The intent of adding chemicals to the sludge is to take down or increase its pH value to a point where little atoms coagulate into larger 1s and the H2O in the sludge solids is given up most readily. Thermal conditioning has two rudimentss which are wet air oxidization and heat intervention. Wet air oxidization play a function in reduces the sludge to an ash whereas heat intervention improves the dewaterability of the sludge. This procedure produces a more readily dewaterable sludge and besides provides effectual disinfection of the sludge. Blending is a procedure where two or more types of sludge are â€Å"blended† together to ease a higher sludge solids concentration and a more homogeneous mixture of sludge prior to dewatering. Blending operations tends to diminish the chemical demand for conditioning and dewatering sludge. The blending operation normally takes topographic point in sludge keeping armored combat vehicles usually where primary sludge is assorted with waste activated sludge. ( Anon. , n.d. ) 2.1.6.4 Dewatering Sludge dewatering is a procedure that taking H2O from sludge. The most common manner to dewater sludge is to physically squash the H2O out of the sludge. The usual dewatering method are pressure filtration dewatering, belt imperativeness dewatering filtration, air sludge drying procedures, sludge dewatering centrifugation and vacuity filtration. Furthermore, a sludge desiccant can be utilized at the terminal of the procedure. Desiccants are oven like equipment that really bakes out the H2O. 2.1.6.5 Volume Decrease Sludge incineration is the thermic devastation of sludge by oxidization at high temperature, this procedure besides known as burning. The gases from burning must be kept at temperature of 677?C to 760?C until they are wholly burned. Wet air oxidization is one of the methods for the intervention of aqueous effluents. In wet air oxidization aqueous waste is oxidized in the liquid stage at high temperatures of 400K to 573 K and force per unit areas of 0.5MPa to 20 MPa in the presence of an oxygen-containing gas. ( Anon. , n.d. ) 2.1.6.6 Sludge Disposal 2.1.7 Safe Disposal of Wastewater Wastewater intervention workss must dispose of the remainders ensuing from effluent intervention.

Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel Decision-Making Model Essay

My family recently purchased a Toyota Prius.   This is a magnificent car which has a positive effect on the environment.   The Toyota Prius runs on both petrol and electricity thus saving both money and the rapidly decreasing ozone layer.   My family has always been environmental conscious and this was an important decision considering the current state of the environment and global warming.   Not only was there much research put into this purchase but there are also incentives in places such as Westminster City where Eco-cars receive FREE parking permits (â€Å"Free Parking†).   Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel have been working together for many years to determine the consumer decision making process.    Together they have created many models and completed much research to support their theories of consumer behavior.   Using the Blackwell, Miniard and Engel decision-making model I will show how my family came to the decision of the purchase.   There are many steps that one goes through before making an important decision such as a purchase of a new car. Reviewing these steps in sequence and having an inside look of the though that went into each step will help establish the process of consumer behavior. Beginning with stimuli, we will review the exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention stage that occurred to cause the thought of this purchase to hold steadfast in the memory, then moving on to need recognition, environmental influences, individual differences influencing the purchase decision, we will see what cause the purchase to became complete, and what happens thereafter with satisfaction/dissatisfaction and divestment stages of the consumer process. Stimuli: Product Exposure What better stimuli for a new product are available to the consumer than media exposure?   There has been a lot media exposure to global warming and the effects green house gases on having on the ozone layer.   There have also been many celebrities choosing to go green and help save the world.   Stars Penelope Cruz and Leonardo DiCaprio hosted a Pre-Oscar green party to show their support of electric cars.   They, along with several other celebrities, opted to drive themselves to the Oscars in their new electric cars. The point was clear; everyone needs to take steps to prevent global warming (and you should hurry up and jump on the band wagon celebrities are giving up limo rides!).   The Pre-Oscar green party is was a genius idea as the Oscars are huge and people from all over the world partake in the nights events.   The   marketing behind such an event draws attention to the eco friendly cause and covers all of the beginning stages of the Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel decision making model; exposure, attention, comprehension, acceptance, and retention. Of course these five characteristics contribute to memory and that is where the consumer behavior process begins.   My parents had already decided that it was time to purchase a new car. Need recognition was already determined.   But at this point they were just beginning to take a look around.   The genius of the marketing ploy/awareness campaign for Eco-friendly cars stayed with my parents as they began to make some decisions about their new car purchase and once again reinforced to memory the importance of eco-friendly vehicles. Social Influences Eco-friendly cars are a hot topic and many friends of my parent’s had also started to think about or start purchasing green cars over the last year.   Now with the price of petrol constantly on the rise how could you not consider it?   The influences of friends have always helped my family move along and make a final decision.   In this case all of my parents’ friends were considering taking a step towards a cleaner environment or at least taking a step to stay trendy and up to date with the current issues concerning the world.   Of course this is a tough cause to turn your back on as many people are adamant and taking firm stand to lower the rate fossil fuel is burned. Research With this heavy exposure to both the cause and the solution my family chose to reevaluate the current car situation and see if it was time for an upgrade which would be the need recognition stage of the model.   After a quick internet search on the status of the ozone and the effect of fossil fuels on the greenhouse gases my father discovered; the effects of global warming are being felt worldwide.   â€Å"Global warming and the melting of polar ice cover is predicted to raise ocean levels worldwide, directly impacting on island nations who plead most strongly for restraint of fossil fuel consumption by industrialized nations† (Mayer). Some alternative fuel methods have been tried and found to be very successful.   â€Å"Another strategy for reducing fossil fuel emissions from vehicles is to shift to alternate fueled vehicles. Various choices include electric, natural gas, methane, and fuel cell vehicles† (Mayer). He decided it was time to step in and help the cause.   During the pre purchase evaluation my father decided it was time to upgrade the vehicle and began an internet search to find out everything he could about the Toyota Prius, and other green cars including the Volkswagen Touran, the Peugeot 407, and the Honda Accord.   He learned everything possible about each car including the gas mileage, cost, efficiency.   He read consumer reports, company reports, and online reviews and eventually evaluated the positives and negatives of each car. Personality, Values, Lifestyle Choices permit Consumer Buying My parent’s liberal nature permitted personality, values, and lifestyle choices to properly fall into place with the purchase. For years my organic food was the only thing available in my house and my parents have supported many environmental causes.   After the Oscars my father’s motivation to purchase a green car increase ten hold and he begun his thorough investigation.  Ã‚  Ã‚   The individual differences of the cars and manufactures had much to do with my family’s purchase of the Prius. The internet provided all the consumer resources my parent’s needed to come to a narrowed the decision down to either the Toyota Prius or the Volkswagen Touran. The next step was for my parents to go and see both cars.   They met with salespeople; test drove each car, learned how much fuel each car consumed per kilometer, and investigated the electric components of the car.   Although comparable in design, boot space, and kilometers to the liter, my parents both choose the Prius and after much research were happy to take it home. Consumer Satisfaction My parents are very happy with this vehicle at home.   Consumer consumption is a concept that can be defined as â€Å"a mean’s of producing one’s self and self-image† (Arnould & Price, 2000, p. 141).   The image my parent’s are trying to produce is one of a trendy and environmentally aware people.   The Toyota Prius definitely portrays this image.   In terms of satisfaction this may be the best purchase my parents have every made.   They are more than happy to show it off and tell all of the perks and special features to anyone who cares to listen.   In retrospect if Toyota ever needs spokes person for the Prius they should definitely consider my parents. Divestment   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   At this time divestment is not a concept that is considered with this purchase.   The social value alone has causes an investment in the environment which is never a lost cause.   Friends and neighbors are impressed and this is important to my parents. Conclusion My parents played out each step of the decision making process in almost the exact layout of the model provided by Blackwell, Miniard, and Engel. Beginning with stimuli, we will review the exposure, attention, comprehension, and retention stage that occurred to cause the thought of this purchase to hold steadfast in the memory, then moving on to need recognition, environmental influences, individual differences influencing the purchase decision, we will see what cause the purchase to became complete, and what happens thereafter with satisfaction/dissatisfaction and divestment stages of the consumer process.   Overall this has been an interesting investigation into the thought process behind such a purchase for our family.   Consumers as a whole have a difficult time choosing environmental friendly products â€Å"Until (recently), industrialization had enjoyed an extraordinary and almost continuous success–except for occasional wars. Technological development and its products were widely accepted. Standards of living, prosperity, and welfare were and are closely tied to the successes of industrial society. Energy, particularly in the form of fossil fuels, has been and continues to be essential to an advanced, industrial society. The enterprises and authorities involved in energy production and supply–and the decision making and planning relating to them–enjoyed respect and support. They had well established legitimacy. An ample supply of energy was seen as crucial for industrial development and for providing important ingredients to everyday comforts and welfare. Since the â€Å"golden age of energy† came to an end (around 1970), there have occurred significant changes in our consciousness, in our policies, and to some extent in our practices. In part, this is reflected in the results of energy research. In response to the energy problem, policymakers and planners have tried–and continue to try–a variety of strategies: Attempts to reduce energy consumption, save energy, and increase energy efficiency† (Monnier et al., 1986, p. 54). These are issues that need to be clear in every consumers thought process.   I applaud the thoughtful efforts of celebrities, manufacturers, countries, and individual states that support the cause and try to encourage consumers to be conscious about their buying decisions.   It is important to consider the consequences of all of our actions and this includes our action when we purchase a new product. References Arnould, E. J., & Price, L. L. (2000). 8 Authenticating Acts and Authoritative Performances. In The Why of Consumption: Contemporary Perspectives on Consumer Motives, Goals and Desires, Ratneshwar, S., Mick, D. G., & Huffman, C. (Eds.) (pp. 140-163). London: Routledge. Donnelley, Astrakhan. â€Å"Natural Responsibilities: Philosophy, Biology, and Ethics in Ernst Mayr and Hans Jonas.† The Hastings Center Report 32.4 (2002): 36+. Questia. 21 Mar. 2007 . Johansen, Bruce E. The Global Warming Desk Reference. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Questia. 21 Mar. 2007 . Lackner, Klaus S., and Jeffrey D. Sachs. â€Å"A Robust Strategy for Sustainable Energy.† Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2005): 215+. Questia. 21 Mar. 2007 . Lee, J., & Geistfeld, L. V. (1998). Enhancing Consumer Choice: Are We Making Appropriate Recommendations?. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 32(2), 227+. Retrieved March 21, 2007, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=5001394368 Mayer, Donald O. â€Å"Corporate Governance in the Cause of Peace: An Environmental Perspective.† Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law 35.2 (2002): 585+. Questia. 21 Mar. 2007 . â€Å"Free Parking Permits for Eco-Cars.† BBC News 15 Mar. 2007. 21 Mar. 2007 .