How to Get 800 on SAT Math, by a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 800 on SAT Math, by a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Math? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible- to a perfect 800? Getting to an 800 SAT Math 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 scored 800 on Math on all my 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 students already scoring a 600 on SAT math or above. If you're below this range, my "How to improve your SAT Math score" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 600. Overview A lot of SAT Math guides out there are pretty bad. They're written by people who don't have actual expertise in the test, or they contain vague advice that isn't helpful to the advanced student. You need better advice than simple SAT Math tips like "remember there's no guessing penalty!" 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 Math, every time I've taken the SAT.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 8 key SAT Math strategies so you know how to get an 800 on SAT Math. 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 Math score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. Finally, in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 800. But if your goal is a 700, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why an 800 SAT Math? Let's make something clear: for all intents and purposes, a 1530+ on an SAT is equivalent to a perfect 1600. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 1580 than a 1540. 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 1520 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 1530or above. There's a big difference between a 1450 and a 1550, largely because it's easy to get a 1450 (and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 1550. A 1530places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get an 800 on SAT Math? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your composite score moreso than your individual section scores. If you can get an 800 in SAT Math, that means you only need a 730 in SAT Reading and Writing. This gives you a lot more flexibility. MIT expects an 800 in SAT Math. There are two other scenarios where an 800 in SAT Math is really important. First is if you're planning for a quantitative or science major (like math, physics, statistics, chemistry). The second is if you're applying to a highly selective technical school like MIT or Caltech. 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 math/science major, you're competing against other math/science folks: people for whom SAT Math is easy. Really easy. Here are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, and even less selective schools like Harvey Mudd, the 75th percentile SAT Math score is an 800. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Math. Even more surprising: the 25th percentile score for SAT Math at MIT and Caltech are 750 and 770, respectively. This means if you score a 750 on your SAT Math, you'rewell below average for these schools! I'm not going to lie. SAT Math was super easy for me. I got 800 on pretty much every practice test and official SAT I ever took. This was largely because I had a strong math background and competed in math competitions like AMC/AIME. I also worked hard and applied the strategies below to achieve perfection. You're competing against people like me. And if you apply with a 700 on Math, schools like MIT, Harvard, and Princeton are going to doubt your ability. Because SAT Math is supposed to be trivially easy for you. 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. 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 an 800 on SAT Math. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if math wasn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in Calculus, 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. 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? It's purposely designed this way. The SAT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who never took AP Calculus. It can't ask you to solve Fermat's Last Theorem. The SAT is a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. So it HAS to test concepts that all high school students will cover. Basic algebra (solving single-variable equations, word problems), advanced algebra (quadratic and exponential equations), geometry (x-y coordinate geometry, circles squares and triangles), and basic statistics. You've learned all of this before in high school. But the SAT still has to make the test difficult to differentiate student skill levels, so it needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students who understand the test well. Here's an example: Find the area of the shaded region below, if the radius of the circle is 5. This is a classic SAT type question. You might already know how to solve it. But it's unlikely you ever ran into something like this in school. The first time you see this, it might be confusing. How do you get the area of each of the shaded corners? It kind of looks like a triangle, but not really because of the curve region. But you've learned all the concepts you need to solve this. Notice that the shaded area is the area of the square, with the area of the circle punched out. To get to the answer quickly, this means that the area of a square is 10 x 10 = 100, and the area of a circle isÏ€r2, orÏ€ * 5 * 5 = 25Ï€. So the area of the shaded region is 100- 25Ï€. The SAT math section is full of weird examples like this, some of which get much more difficult. To improve your score, you just need to: master the types of questions that the SAT tests, like the one above draw on the correct concepts you already know to solve the questions practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to get right an 800. What It Takes to Get An 800 in Math 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 58 questions in the Math section, and how many questions you miss determines your scaled score out of 800. 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 58 800 800 800 800 57 790 790 790 800 56 780 780 780 790 55 760 770 770 790 54 750 760 750 780 53 740 750 740 770 52 730 740 730 760 51 710 730 720 750 Math has a REALLY strict grading scale. On 3 out of 4 tests, if you just miss a single question, you get dropped down to a 790. That's it- no perfect score! On one of these tests, you get an extra cushion of 1 question, but that's not much. This all depends on how the particular test you're taking is scored. The harder the math questions are, the more likely you can miss one question and get an 800. 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 700 now, you need to answer 8-9 more questions right to get to an 800. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report showing that I missed 0 questions and earned an 800. (This was from the previous 2400 version of the SAT.) OK- so we've covered why scoring a higher SAT math 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 actually get into actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get an 800 on SAT Math What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Every student has different flaws in SAT Math. Some people aren't comfortable with the underlying math material. Others know the math material well, but can't solve questions quickly enough in the harsh time limit. Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Take only the math sections of one practice test. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For each section, use a timer and have it count down the time allotted for that 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, move on to the next section, and repeat the above until you finish the second math section. 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 700 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 700), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of subjects, or a deep weakness in only a few subjects. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with all SAT Math subjects. If YES (Extra Time score 700), then: Was your Realistic score a 700 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 700, Realistic 700), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than 50 points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you generally slow at math across most questions? Or did particular problems slow you down? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient solutions will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 700), then you have a really good shot at getting an 800. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score- if they differed by more than 30 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 an 800 with extra time, but score a 700 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get an 800. Strategy 2:Do a TON of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on all of SAT Math will knock you down from an 800. 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 an 800 on SAT Math. 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 subject and sub-topic (algebra- solving equations, data analysis- experimental interpretation, 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 Math 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 question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't learn the math skill or knowledge needed to answer this question. One step further:What specific math skill do I need to learn, and how will I learn this skill? Incorrect Approach:I knew the content, but I didn't know how to approach this question. One step further:How do I solve the question? How will I solve questions like this in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or solved for the wrong thing. One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? 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. 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. 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: Strategy 3:If You Have Math Content Gaps, Be Ruthless About Filling Them Within SAT Math, you have to master a lot of subjects. At the high level, you need to know basic algebra, advanced algebra, data analysis, and geometry. Even further, within algebra, you need to know how to solve equations, how to deal with word problems, properties of functions, etc. Here's our complete mapping of all 24 skills you need in SAT Math: Basic Algebra Linear functions Single variable equations Systems of linear equations Absolute value Advanced Algebra Manipulating polynomials Quadratic equations Dividing polynomials Exponential functions Function notation Solving exponential equations Systems of equations with nonlinear equations Problem Solving and Data Analysis Ratios and proportions Scatterplots and graphs Categorical data and probabilities Experimental interpretation Mean, median, mode, standard deviation Additional Topics Coordinate geometry- lines and slopes Coordinate geometry- nonlinear functions Geometry- circles Geometry- lines and angles Geometry- solid geometry Geometry- triangles and polygons Trigonometry Complex numbers Whew! That's a handful. This might be a greater breakdown of skills then you're used to, but at PrepScholar we believe in grouping questions by specific skill so you can train most effectively. In our program, we break down all our SAT Math content into these detailed skills so you can train your specific weaknesses in focused groups. Unless you're a math whiz and are already scoring a 750-800, it's unlikely that you've mastered all of these evenly. You probably have different strengths and weaknesses across these subjects. If from the analysis of mistakes above you find that you have a content problem, you need to improve your understanding of that content. By Content problem, I mean that you're not comfortable with the underlying math concepts in a subject. Maybe you forgot how to solve a type of problem, or you forgot a formula to use, or you just don't remember the subject material. If you've identified one of these issues, you've spotted an opportunity for yourself to improve your score. Fill in the potholes of your understanding. Think of a mistake like discovering a cavity in your mouth. When your dentist fills in a cavity, he doesn't just patch up the hole right away. He cleans out the entire cavity, sterilizes it, then adds a filling. Content mistakes are similar- you have a weakness in a subject, say x-y coordinate geometry. This probably means you have a lot of other weaknesses in that subject other than the one identified by that question. Don't just focus on understanding that one question you missed. Take the opportunity to research that subject and get more practice in it. You need to find a way to get lesson material to teach yourself the main concepts that you're forgetting. Then you need to find more practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. In our SAT prep program PrepScholar, we do that work for you by splitting up our 1,500+ practice questions by skill and difficulty. If you're weak in algebra- solving equations, you get 20+ questions in a quiz dealing specifically with that skill. This repetitive practice fills up your content gap far better than any other method I know. Strategy 4: If You Miss a Question, Try It Again Before Reading the Explanation When you're doing 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 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 strategy, 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. 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 5: Master Every SAT Math Skill- Even the Rare Ones The SAT has an uneven balance of questions by skill. Algebra dominates the test, taking up over 50% of the test. This is somewhat good news, in that if you're an Algebra whiz, you'll do well on the bulk of SAT math. The bad news is that there's a long tail of straggling skills that show up just a few times a test. We've done a careful analysis of every math question on every official SAT test, and here are the LEAST common skills in SAT math. I'll show you the frequency of appearance, as well as the expected # of questions per test for that skill. Skill Frequency Expected Questions Per Test Dividing polynomials 1.72% 1 Trigonometry, radians 1.72% 1 Absolute value 1.29% 0.75 Complex numbers 1.29% 0.75 Experimental interpretation 0.86% 0.5 Lines and angles 0.86% 0.5 Solid geometry 0.86% 0.5 Systems of equations with nonlinear equations 0.86% 0.5 Function notation 0.43% 0.25 This might surprise you. Some of these skills have an expected # of questions lower than one. That's right: sometimes you might not even get a complex number or solid geometry question. But you have to know it anyway. You have to know it all. In some ways, this is really extreme. You have to know a LOT of topics in trigonometry, just to answer that one question per test. Here's an example: You need knowledge of radians and standard triangles to answer this question.To solve the question, you can realize that if the x length is√3, and the height is 1, then you know that this is a 30-60-90 triangle lying on its long side. Thus the angle is 30 degrees. Then, becauseÏ€ radians is 180 degrees, then the angle isÏ€/6 radians, so a = 6. But notice that you weren't tested on any other items in standard trigonometry- SOH CAH TOA, graphing functions like cos (90 + 2x), and converting between sin and cos. Yet you still need to know this, because you can't predict what they're going to test. This is also true of complex numbers, solid geometry (volumes, surface areas), absolute value, dividing polynomials, etc. This is the challenge of the 800 Math scorer- you need a wide BREADTH of knowledge as well as DEPTH of mastery in each one.No single test is going to test the entire breadth of your knowledge, but you must be prepared anyway. The way we handle this at PrepScholar, which is based on how I mastered the SAT myself, is to give you detailed lessons and quizzes for all 24 Math skills, and all Reading/Writing skills. For even the least common skills like complex numbers and solid geometry, you'll get dozens of questions to practice with and master the skill. You'll leave no stone unturned, which is why top scoring students love us. If you don't use PrepScholar, then you need to find great sources of practice content yourself, and to structure your study time optimally so you get both breadth and depth. Strategy 6: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at SAT Math that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school and even now, I can finish SAT Math sections in about 60% of the time allotted. This means I finish a 25 minute section in 15 minutes or less, and a 55 minute section in 35 minutes. This gives me a TON of time to recheck my answers two times over and make sure I make no careless mistakes. How can I finish a section this quickly? It comes down to mastery of the math skills and a LOT of experience with the test. When I see a question, I usually know exactly what the College Board is asking for, and I've seen so many such questions that I know exactly how to solve it in the fewest steps needed. It comes from hard work and perseverance.If you're pretty far from this time benchmark, don't fret- it took me a lot of training and experience to get to this level. (After all, I've seen thousands of questions in my own SAT prep and when designing our PrepScholar SAT program). So let's say you finish a section ahead of time. What do you do with all that extra time? Don't rest and don't put your head down. Use this valuable time to double-check, even triple-check your work. Remember, even ONE question missed will bring you down from an 800- you need to achieve perfection. What's the best way to double-check your work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Re-read the question again. Question your assumption about what the question is about. If the question asks for a specific variable, make sure you're solving for that variable! Try to resolve the question another way. If I solved a question algebraically, I can recheck it by plugging in the solution. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I draw a huge check mark in the test book and never look at the question again. Even if I feel just a little twinge of remaining doubt, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least 2 minutes before time's up, I rapidly double-check that 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 5 at a time ("A D E C B") for more speed. Here's an example of solving a question two ways: First way: My natural instinct is to solve this algebraically. I know I can plug in numbers, but I feel that's slower and more error prone than getting a definitive answer through solving the equation. 3x - 5≠¥ 4x - 3 I can rearrange in my head in one step like so: -2≠¥ x (if you make careless mistakes, like the College Board expects you to do, it's worthwhile splitting it up into smaller steps) OK, so the solutioin set is numbers less than or equal to -2. This leaves answer A as NOT the solution. Doublecheck way:Now that I know answer A should be correct, I'm going to verify by plugging that value back in and expecting the inequality to fail: 3x - 5 ≠¥ 4x - 3 -3 - 5≠¥ -4 -3 -8≠¥ -7 That's obviously false, so I can verify that A is the right answer. At this point I'm confident enough that I can move on and not check this question again. Another time management tip: 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 perfect raw score for an 800, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and on your first pass it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you 2 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 10 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. 5 minutes before the section ends, make sure you bubble in the answers you already have. Strategy 7: Eliminate Careless Mistakes Careless mistakes are one of the most frustrating types of errors to make, and nearly everyone makes them, especially on Math. You know the underlying material, you know how to solve the question, and you're feeling good. But then you grade the quiz, and you find a careless mistake. Oops- the question asked for the perimeter of the circle and not the area, which is what you calculated. These types of errors are the most costly and frustrating. You've already put in a ton of work to master the underlying material, and here a question has tricked you into losing a point. This is why finishing the test early, like I mention above, is so helpful. You get extra time to take a breather and double-check your answers. If you find that careless mistakes are a recurring problem for you, here are some strategies to get rid of them: In the question, underline what the question is specifically asking you to solve for. It's so easy for the SAT to trick you into solving the wrong thing. If you're solving for a particular value (like length, area, etc), write the units down in the scratch space. Be careful with calculator entry. A missing parentheses makes a big difference. "4 + 9 / 2" is completely different from "(4 + 9) / 2" Avoid bubbling errors by using the Quick Tip above. Here's an example: This question is asking us to solve for y + z. Not x, y, or any other combination of variables. To make sure I remember this, I underline y + z, and I also write "y + z = ?" in the work space so that I remember what I'm solving for. You can bet that in many answer choices, the SAT will have trap answers for other things you can solve for, like x. (This one happens not to, but it's very common). Memorize the SAT Math Formulas. Strategy 8: Memorize the Formulas and Common Math Facts If you're still flipping to the front of the section to look at the math formulas, you haven't gotten to understand SAT Math well enough yet. Not only does this cost you time, it also indicates that you haven't practiced enough with SAT Math to have the required formulas come to you fluidly. Memorize the formulas at the front of the section and these common math facts: calculating slope from two points (rise over run) remainder when dividing a polynomial common right triangles: by angles 45-45-90 (1-1-√2) 30-60-90 (1-2-√3) by sides 3-4-5 5-12-13 formula forvolumes, surface areas We have a complete list of SAT Math formulas here. Strategy 9: Don't Overly Depend on the Calculator As you likely already know, Section 3 is a Math section forbidding the use of calculator, with 20 questions. Section 4 is a Math section that allows calculator, with 38 questions. The calculator is really useful for certain questions that require complex calculations, like multiplying decimals together or taking square roots of weird numbers. However, in many other situations, it's too much of a crutch, and it can make you soft. Learning to solve questions without the use of a calculator will strengthen your math intuition and force you to understand the underlying math, rather than relying on a calculator. Actually, every question on the SAT is solvable without a calculator. Because the College Board cares a lot about equality, it doesn't want to give an unfair advantage to students who have grown up with graphing calculators compared to students who can't afford them or never used them in school. So it designs questions that don't require advanced calculators to solve. Practically, this is important because some of the no-calculator questions are solvable WITH a calculator, and you need to wean yourself off of the calc. Here's an example: Yes- you can solve this by plugging it into your graphing calculator's systems of equations tool. But this appears on the no calculator section, so you have to get used to solving this with pen and paper. The second reason to depend less on the calculator is because solving without a calculator is actually faster in many cases. Here's an example: The calculator way to solve this would be to solve for the quadratic formula, 0 = -4.9 t2 + 25t. You can plug it in and the calculator will spit out two values for t. How I would naturally approach is to factor first: 0 = t (-4.9t + 25) Obviously t = 0 is one solution, but the other solution is pretty easy to find too.I don't even need to use the calculator- I know 4.9 is close to 5, so I can see that t is close to 5. This is answer D. For me, the second way is faster and feels more robust than the first. I know I've solved for t definitively, and I'm confident in my answer choice. Whereas if I used a calculator, I don't have a "feel" for the solution- I'm purely trusting the calculator and what I entered into the calculator as correct. Now, when I doublecheck (Strategy 6), I might solve it a different way by plugging in the answer choices. I'll try plugging in answer choices C and D, and it'll be clear that Dis the better answer. But this is reserved for answer checking, rather than the first time I solve it. Being able to solve SAT Math questions without a calculator will train your SAT Math skills more rigorously. This is important when you're aiming for a perfect math score. Strategy 10: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection on SAT Math. You know that it's critical to get a perfect raw score, or you might score a 780. This makes a lot of students freak out during the test. "I can't solve this question...my 800 is gone...I'm getting more nervous and I have to skip the next question too..." You can see how quickly you can unravel like this. Before you know it, you're scoring way worse than you ever did on a practice test. You need to learn to be mentally strong, like an athlete on game day. Yes, you might have to skip a question on the first pass through. Maybe even two in a row. But you've practiced hard up to this point. You know this stuff, and you'll come back to those questions and get it later. You need to keep up a positive mindset during the test, or you'll crumble. And in the worst case, maybe you won't get an 800. But if you've consistently been getting 800's on the practice tests, you likely won't go much lower than 750- and that's still really good. Recap: How to Get a Perfect SAT Math Score Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your SAT math 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 Math score. Notice that I didn't actually teach you that much math content. I didn't point to any specific math solutions that will instantly raise your score. That's because these one-size-fits-all, guaranteed strategies don't really exist. (And anyone who tells you this is deceiving you). Every student is different. Instead, you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. If you want to go back and review any strategies, here are quick links to them: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Strategy 2:Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake Strategy 3:If You Have Math Content Gaps, Be Ruthless About Filling Them Strategy 4:If You Miss a Question, Re-Solve It First Strategy 5: Master Every SAT Math Skill- Even the Rare Ones Strategy 6: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Strategy 7: Eliminate Careless Mistakes Strategy 8: Memorize the Formulas and Common Math Facts Strategy 9: Don't Overly Depend on the Calculator Strategy 10: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What 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 SAT score, written by me, a perfect scorer. Are you aiming for a top school like Harvard or the Ivy Leagues? Here's my famous guide, How to Get Into Harvard. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 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. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Definition and Meaning of Environment Assignment

Definition and Meaning of Environment - Assignment Example So the environment is the foundation for the human sustenance and growth and we need to protect it at all costs. According to ( Beggs,2012) â€Å"The regulation of practices that affect the environment has been a relatively recent development in the United States, but it is a good example of government intervention in the economy for a social purpose†. 2. Risk controls can be categorized into three types mainly; prevention, detection, and correction. In this type of risk control, there are controls to prevent the harm and loss from occurring. Like authorizing people in an organization with different tasks and having specific experts for hazard management can avoid problems. In detection, activities are monitored to identify risky behaviors and actions. In corrective type, the controls are made to restore the system or process to a normal position like as in state prior to the harmful event. Factors leading to hazard can be an unrefined authority, inappropriate hiring system, unhygienic atmosphere and unplanned management. For example, if the employee having less professional knowledge of hazard management, handling hazardous materials can bring forth a lot of mishaps, accidents, conflicts, and chaos. 3. The nine classes of hazardous material by D.O.T are 1) Explosives 2) Gases 3) Flammable and combustible liquid 4) Flammable solid, spontaneously combustible and dangerous when wet 5)Oxidizer and Organic Peroxide 6) Poison and Poison Inhalation Hazard 7)Radioactive 8)Corrosive 9) Miscellaneous. One of the news articles which research on acid has been detailed to understand its nature and hazardous effect. This article titled â€Å"Rise of Acid Ocean eats away the base of the food chain† explains the effect of acidic content in the ocean on its marine life. As per (Connor,2014 ) â€Å"Rising amounts of carbon dioxide dissolving in the ocean is causing the acid corrosion of tiny sea creatures that form the base of the marine food chain, scientists have discovered†.  Ã‚  

UK Constitutional Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

UK Constitutional Law - Essay Example "The special pre eminence which the king hath over and above all other persons and out of the ordinary course of the common law, in right of his legal dignity. It signifies, in its etymology (from Latin prae and rogo) something that is required or demanded before or in preference to all others." "The residue of discretionary or arbitrary authority which at any time is legally left in the hands of the Crown.Every Act which the executive government can lawfully do without the authority of an Act of Parliament is done in virtue of this prerogative (Dicey,1885) Notably Dicey's definition, unlike that of Blackstone's admits that the prerogative power is residual, inherent and particular to the Crown. In addition to this if we adopt Blackstone's classification it is possible to decipher two kinds of these powers as in the Sphere of "Domestic Affairs" and secondly in the matter of "Foreign Affairs". The powers or prerogatives inherent for a Monarch in the matter of Domestic Affairs are, the summoning and dissolution of Parliament, the appointment of a Prime Minister and all the other Ministers, the Royal Assent to bills, the granting of honours, defence of the realm (issues of national security),parens patriae over children, the power to stop criminal prosecutions, the power of mercy/pardoning of offenders, control of the civil service and of the royal fisheries. In the matter of foreign affairs these powers include treaty making provisions, Declarations of war and peace, state recognition, diplomatic relations and control of the armed forces engaged in combat outside the country. The background and the logic behind prerogatives can be explained in a rather historical context , ", the medieval monarchy was both feudal lord and head of the kingdom. As such, the King had powers accounted for by the need to preserve the realm against external foes and an 'undefined residue of power which he might use for the public good'. He could exercise the 'royal prerogative' and impose his will in respect of decision-making. Moreover certain royal functions could be exercised only in certain ways. The common law courts were the King's courts and only through them could the King decide questions of title to land and punish felonies. Yet the King possessed a residual power of administering justice through his Council where the courts of common law were insufficient."1 As far as the sovereign's personal prerogatives are concerned this will be the main issue of scrutiny within this paper. The Crown's personal prerogative powers are mainly recognised under the common law as the power to appoint the Prime Minister that is a person who will be in the best position to receive the support of the majority in the House of Commons. Practically however the Queen/King will have no impact on the political orientation of such a sovereign.2Secondly, the Monarch has the power to dissolve the parliament and allow for re-elections in certain circumstances.3 The third prerogative relates to the

The Increased Use of Genetically Modified Food Essay Example for Free

The Increased Use of Genetically Modified Food Essay Genetically-modified foods (GM foods) have made a big splash in the news lately. European environmental organizations and public interest groups have been actively protesting against GM foods for months, and recent controversial studies about the effects of genetically-modified corn pollen on monarch butterfly caterpillars1, 2 have brought the issue of genetic engineering to the forefront of the public consciousness in the U. S. In response to the upswelling of public concern, the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held three open meetings in Chicago, Washington, D. C., and Oakland, California to solicit public opinions and begin the process of establishing a new regulatory procedure for government approval of GM foods3. I attended the FDA meeting held in November 1999 in Washington, D. C. , and here I will attempt to summarize the issues involved and explain the U. S. governments present role in regulating GM food. What are genetically-modified foods? The term GM foods or GMOs (genetically-modified organisms) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. The enhancement of desired traits has traditionally been undertaken through breeding, but conventional plant breeding methods can be very time consuming and are often not very accurate. Genetic engineering, on the other hand, can create plants with the exact desired trait very rapidly and with great accuracy. For example, plant geneticists can isolate a gene responsible for drought tolerance and insert that gene into a different plant. The new genetically-modified plant will gain drought tolerance as well. Not only can genes be transferred from one plant to another, but genes from non-plant organisms also can be used. The best known example of this is the use of B. t. genes in corn and other crops. B. t. , or Bacillus thuringiensis, is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larvae. B. t. crystal protein genes have been transferred into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects such as the European corn borer. For two informative overviews of some of the techniques involved in creating GM foods, visit Biotech Basics (sponsored by Monsanto) http://www. biotechknowledge. monsanto. com/biotech/bbasics. nsf/index or Techniques of Plant Biotechnology from the National Center for Biotechnology Education http://www. ncbe. reading. ac. uk/NCBE/GMFOOD/techniques. What are some of the advantages of GM foods? The world population has topped 6 billion people and is predicted to double in the next 50 years. Ensuring an adequate food supply for this booming population is going to be a major challenge in the years to come. GM foods promise to meet this need in a number of ways: Pest resistanceCrop losses from insect pests can be staggering, resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use many tons of chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards, and run-off of agricultural wastes from excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers can poison the water supply and cause harm to the environment. Growing GM foods such as B. t.corn can help eliminate the application of chemical pesticides and reduce the cost of bringing a crop to market4, 5. Herbicide toleranceFor some crops, it is not cost-effective to remove weeds by physical means such as tilling, so farmers will often spray large quantities of different herbicides (weed-killer) to destroy weeds, a time-consuming and expensive process, that requires care so that the herbicide doesnt harm the crop plant or the environment. Crop plants genetically-engineered to be resistant to one very powerful herbicide could help prevent environmental damage by reducing the amount of herbicides needed. For example, Monsanto has created a strain of soybeans genetically modified to be not affected by their herbicide product Roundup  ®6. A farmer grows these soybeans which then only require one application of weed-killer instead of multiple applications, reducing production cost and limiting the dangers of agricultural waste run-off7. Disease resistance There are many viruses, fungi and bacteria that cause plant diseases. Plant biologists are working to create plants with genetically-engineered resistance to these diseases8, 9. Cold toleranceUnexpected frost can destroy sensitive seedlings. An antifreeze gene from cold water fish has been introduced into plants such as tobacco and potato. With this antifreeze gene, these plants are able to tolerate cold temperatures that normally would kill unmodified seedlings10. (Note: I have not been able to find any journal articles or patents that involve fish antifreeze proteins in strawberries, although I have seen such reports in newspapers. I can only conclude that nothing on this application has yet been published or patented.) Drought tolerance/salinity toleranceAs the world population grows and more land is utilized for housing instead of food production, farmers will need to grow crops in locations previously unsuited for plant cultivation. Creating plants that can withstand long periods of drought or high salt content in soil and groundwater will help people to grow crops in formerly inhospitable places11, 12. NutritionMalnutrition is common in third world countries where impoverished peoples rely on a single crop such as rice for the main staple of their diet. However, rice does not contain adequate amounts of all necessary nutrients to prevent malnutrition. If rice could be genetically engineered to contain additional vitamins and minerals, nutrient deficiencies could be alleviated. For example, blindness due to vitamin A deficiency is a common problem in third world countries. Researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Institute for Plant Sciences have created a strain of golden rice containing an unusually high content of beta-carotene (vitamin A)13. Since this rice was funded by the Rockefeller Foundation14, a non-profit organization, the Institute hopes to offer the golden rice seed free to any third world country that requests it. Plans were underway to develop a golden rice that also has increased iron content. However, the grant that funded the creation of these two rice strains was not renewed, perhaps because of the vigorous anti-GM food protesting in Europe, and so this nutritionally-enhanced rice may not come to market at all15. PharmaceuticalsMedicines and vaccines often are costly to produce and sometimes require special storage conditions not readily available in third world countries. Researchers are working to develop edible vaccines in tomatoes and potatoes16, 17. These vaccines will be much easier to ship, store and administer than traditional injectable vaccines. PhytoremediationNot all GM plants are grown as crops. Soil and groundwater pollution continues to be a problem in all parts of the world. Plants such as poplar trees have been genetically engineered to clean up heavy metal pollution from contaminated soil18. How prevalent are GM crops? What plants are involved? According to the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are over 40 plant varieties that have completed all of the federal requirements for commercialization (http://vm. cfsan. fda. gov/%7Elrd/biocon). Some examples of these plants include tomatoes and cantalopes that have modified ripening characteristics, soybeans and sugarbeets that are resistant to herbicides, and corn and cotton plants with increased resistance to insect pests. Not all these products are available in supermarkets yet; however, the prevalence of GM foods in U. S. grocery stores is more widespread than is commonly thought. While there are very, very few genetically-modified whole fruits and vegetables available on produce stands, highly processed foods, such as vegetable oils or breakfast cereals, most likely contain some tiny percentage of genetically-modified ingredients because the raw ingredients have been pooled into one processing stream from many different sources. Also, the ubiquity of soybean derivatives as food additives in the modern American diet virtually ensures that all U. S. consumers have been exposed to GM food products. The U. S. statistics that follow are derived from data presented on the USDA web site at http://www. ers. usda. gov/briefing/biotechnology/. The global statistics are derived from a brief published by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) at http://www. isaaa. org/publications/briefs/Brief_21. htm and from the Biotechnology Industry Organization at http://www. bio.org/foodag/1999Acreage. Thirteen countries grew genetically-engineered crops commercially in 2000, and of these, the U. S. produced the majority. In 2000, 68% of all GM crops were grown by U. S. farmers. In comparison, Argentina, Canada and China produced only 23%, 7% and 1%, respectively. Other countries that grew commercial GM crops in 2000 are Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay. Soybeans and corn are the top two most widely grown crops (82% of all GM crops harvested in 2000), with cotton, rapeseed (or canola) and potatoes trailing behind. 74% of these GM crops were modified for herbicide tolerance, 19% were modified for insect pest resistance, and 7% were modified for both herbicide tolerance and pest tolerance. Globally, acreage of GM crops has increased 25-fold in just 5 years, from approximately 4. 3 million acres in 1996 to 109 million acres in 2000 almost twice the area of the United Kingdom. Approximately 99 million acres were devoted to GM crops in the U. S. and Argentina alone. In the U. S. , approximately 54% of all soybeans cultivated in 2000 were genetically-modified, up from 42% in 1998 and only 7% in 1996. In 2000, genetically-modified cotton varieties accounted for 61% of the total cotton crop, up from 42% in 1998, and 15% in 1996. GM corn and also experienced a similar but less dramatic increase. Corn production increased to 25% of all corn grown in 2000, about the same as 1998 (26%), but up from 1. 5% in 1996. As anticipated, pesticide and herbicide use on these GM varieties was slashed and, for the most part, yields were increased (for details, see the UDSA publication at http://www. ers. usda. gov/publications/aer786/). What are some of the criticisms against GM foods? Environmental activists, religious organizations, public interest groups, professional associations and other scientists and government officials have all raised concerns about GM foods, and criticized agribusiness for pursuing profit without concern for potential hazards, and the government for failing to exercise adequate regulatory oversight. It seems that everyone has a strong opinion about GM foods. Even the Vatican19 and the Prince of Wales20 have expressed their opinions. Most concerns about GM foods fall into three categories: environmental hazards, human health risks, and economic concerns. Environmental hazards Unintended harm to other organismsLast year a laboratory study was published in Nature21 showing that pollen from B. t. corn caused high mortality rates in monarch butterfly caterpillars. Monarch caterpillars consume milkweed plants, not corn, but the fear is that if pollen from B. t. corn is blown by the wind onto milkweed plants in neighboring fields, the caterpillars could eat the pollen and perish. Although the Nature study was not conducted under natural field conditions, the results seemed to support this viewpoint. Unfortunately, B. t. toxins kill many species of insect larvae indiscriminately; it is not possible to design a B.t. toxin that would only kill crop-damaging pests and remain harmless to all other insects. This study is being reexamined by the USDA, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other non-government research groups, and preliminary data from new studies suggests that the original study may have been flawed22, 23. This topic is the subject of acrimonious debate, and both sides of the argument are defending their data vigorously. Currently, there is no agreement about the results of these studies, and the potential risk of harm to non-target organisms will need to be evaluated further. Reduced effectiveness of pesticidesJust as some populations of mosquitoes developed resistance to the now-banned pesticide DDT, many people are concerned that insects will become resistant to B. t. or other crops that have been genetically-modified to produce their own pesticides. Gene transfer to non-target speciesAnother concern is that crop plants engineered for herbicide tolerance and weeds will cross-breed, resulting in the transfer of the herbicide resistance genes from the crops into the weeds. These superweeds would then be herbicide tolerant as well. Other introduced genes may cross over into non-modified crops planted next to GM crops. The possibility of interbreeding is shown by the defense of farmers against lawsuits filed by Monsanto. The company has filed patent infringement lawsuits against farmers who may have harvested GM crops. Monsanto claims that the farmers obtained Monsanto-licensed GM seeds from an unknown source and did not pay royalties to Monsanto. The farmers claim that their unmodified crops were cross-pollinated from someone elses GM crops planted a field or two away. More investigation is needed to resolve this issue. There are several possible solutions to the three problems mentioned above. Genes are exchanged between plants via pollen. Two ways to ensure that non-target species will not receive introduced genes from GM plants are to create GM plants that are male sterile (do not produce pollen) or to modify the GM plant so that the pollen does not contain the introduced gene24, 25, 26. Cross-pollination would not occur, and if harmless insects such as monarch caterpillars were to eat pollen from GM plants, the caterpillars would survive. Another possible solution is to create buffer zones around fields of GM crops27, 28, 29. For example, non-GM corn would be planted to surround a field of B. t. GM corn, and the non-GM corn would not be harvested. Beneficial or harmless insects would have a refuge in the non-GM corn, and insect pests could be allowed to destroy the non-GM corn and would not develop resistance to B. t. pesticides. Gene transfer to weeds and other crops would not occur because the wind-blown pollen would not travel beyond the buffer zone. Estimates of the necessary width of buffer zones range from 6 meters to 30 meters or more30. This planting method may not be feasible if too much acreage is required for the buffer zones. Human health risks Allergenicity Many children in the US and Europe have developed life-threatening allergies to peanuts and other foods. There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions31. Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies. Labeling of GM foods and food products will acquire new importance, which I shall discuss later. Unknown effects on human healthThere is a growing concern that introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an unexpected and negative impact on human health. A recent article published in Lancet examined the effects of GM potatoes on the digestive tract in rats32, 33. This study claimed that there were appreciable differences in the intestines of rats fed GM potatoes and rats fed unmodified potatoes. Yet critics say that this paper, like the monarch butterfly data, is flawed and does not hold up to scientific scrutiny34. Moreover, the gene introduced into the potatoes was a snowdrop flower lectin, a substance known to be toxic to mammals. The scientists who created this variety of potato chose to use the lectin gene simply to test the methodology, and these potatoes were never intended for human or animal consumption. On the whole, with the exception of possible allergenicity, scientists believe that GM foods do not present a risk to human health. Economic concerns Bringing a GM food to market is a lengthy and costly process, and of course agri-biotech companies wish to ensure a profitable return on their investment. Many new plant genetic engineering technologies and GM plants have been patented, and patent infringement is a big concern of agribusiness. Yet consumer advocates are worried that patenting these new plant varieties will raise the price of seeds so high that small farmers and third world countries will not be able to afford seeds for GM crops, thus widening the gap between the wealthy and the poor. It is hoped that in a humanitarian gesture, more companies and non-profits will follow the lead of the Rockefeller Foundation and offer their products at reduced cost to impoverished nations. Patent enforcement may also be difficult, as the contention of the farmers that they involuntarily grew Monsanto-engineered strains when their crops were cross-pollinated shows. One way to combat possible patent infringement is to introduce a suicide gene into GM plants. These plants would be viable for only one growing season and would produce sterile seeds that do not germinate. Farmers would need to buy a fresh supply of seeds each year. However, this would be financially disastrous for farmers in third world countries who cannot afford to buy seed each year and traditionally set aside a portion of their harvest to plant in the next growing season. In an open letter to the public, Monsanto has pledged to abandon all research using this suicide gene technology35. How are GM foods regulated and what is the governments role in this process? Governments around the world are hard at work to establish a regulatory process to monitor the effects of and approve new varieties of GM plants. Yet depending on the political, social and economic climate within a region or country, different governments are responding in different ways. In Japan, the Ministry of Health and Welfare has announced that health testing of GM foods will be mandatory as of April 200136, 37. Currently, testing of GM foods is voluntary. Japanese supermarkets are offering both GM foods and unmodified foods, and customers are beginning to show a strong preference for unmodified fruits and vegetables. Indias government has not yet announced a policy on GM foods because no GM crops are grown in India and no products are commercially available in supermarkets yet38. India is, however, very supportive of transgenic plant research. It is highly likely that India will decide that the benefits of GM foods outweigh the risks because Indian agriculture will need to adopt drastic new measures to counteract the countrys endemic poverty and feed its exploding population. Some states in Brazil have banned GM crops entirely, and the Brazilian Institute for the Defense of Consumers, in collaboration with Greenpeace, has filed suit to prevent the importation of GM crops39,. Brazilian farmers, however, have resorted to smuggling GM soybean seeds into the country because they fear economic harm if they are unable to compete in the global marketplace with other grain-exporting countries.

Characteristics of Becker in the Film M :: Films Movies M Becker Essays

Characteristics of Becker in the Film M The character of Becker in the film "M" had many childlike qualities, which drew in his victims. These qualities that Becker possessed, he exploited to his own gain. The children immediately gave him their trust because of his ability to relate to them, and he knew that. But I really don't think this was really an alter ego, because he seemed to have these traits all the time. Inside he was really a sick man, to kill there has to be something wrong with him, epically to kill small children, and furthermore little girls. Becker knew how to dram them in. He bought them balloons, and whistled. He bought them fruit, and candy, and openly ate on the street with them. Something that was, "against the norm", for grownups to do. He chatted them up, and they even felt comfortable enough to call him uncle. Becker when confronted reverted back to childhood, acting like he didn't know right from wrong. The way he explained it he was like a kid in a candy store, the girls were tempting him, and the only thing he could do was snatch them up. They preserved his youth. This isn't an uncommon thing to do. Epically with mass murders, they have to make their victims feel comfortable enough to go with them. In the case of John Wayne Gasey, he preformed as a clown and acted like a perfectly nice gentleman when luring his victims. People trusted them, especially their victims, or they never would have been killed in the first place. The element of trust and relating with the prey is apparently crucial in gathering up victims. In the case of Hiltler, he had the whole of Germany under his spell, and that is how no one questioned his tactics. He was a very forceful speaker and people trusted him, and they believed in his ideas for a utopia. If no one trusted his, the war wouldn't have been as devastating and the jews would have left Germany far before they were ever marked as pariahs. Becker had to be trusted or his ploys would have never been carried out. He had to be crafty in his manner and nice enough to keep the children calm. So nobody would suspect what his motives were.

Colloquial English Grammar

Estonian Business School Institute of Foreign Languages GRAMMAR OF SPOKEN ENGLISH Term Paper By Maria Esko BBL-2 Supervisor: Ludmilla Podolski Tallinn 2012 Table of Contents Introduction3 Common Features of Spoken English4 Grammar Characteristics7 Clause Combination7 Position of items8 Pausing, Repeating and Recasting8 Organising the discourse9 Ellipsis9 Response Tokens10 Vague Expressions11 Headers and Tails11 Conclusion12 References13 Introduction In the business world, communication is vital for creating new networks and acquiring important business partners.Communication is the activity of conveying information. Effective communication skills can be considered the key to success. I have chosen to investigate English spoken language in order to clarify what spoken English grammar is. As a non-native speaker I consider learning spoken grammar incredibly important in order to understand the other party. The communication process can be considered successfully completed only when the listener has understood the message of the speaker. The fact that speaking and writing are different is quite obvious.The studies of the spoken English grammar have been neglected for a long time, since it was considered as confusing and full of mistakes. Development of technology has made it possible to analyse spoken language more thoroughly. Therefore many fascinating facts about spoken Grammar have arisen. In this paper I will use the term spoken grammar in the meaning of colloquial English. The characteristics of formal English speaking, e. g. prepared speeches are not analysed in this term paper. This paper gives an overview of the main features of the grammar of spoken English.The differences between spoken and written English are supplied with illustrations. In the conclusion the overall characteristics of the grammar of spoken English have been summarised. Common Features of Spoken English Is there any grammar in spoken English? To answer this question I have to define the overall meaning of grammar. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica the term grammar in a restricted sense refers only to the study of sentence and word structure (syntax and morphology), excluding vocabulary and pronunciation.Although language is the same the grammar of spoken English may differ since following the grammar rules during a conversation is time consuming and unnatural. When spoken language is observed in more detail it also has patterns and specific structures which may be considered as the grammar of spoken language. During a conversation we do not have much time to think what we are about to say and can not plan our speech in advance (excluding some special cases). While listening to a recorded speech it feels normal, fluent and easy to follow. On the other hand, when put on paper it is rather difficult to understand.However it gives an opportunity to notice some specific features of colloquial English language, such as silent pauses, voice filled pauses, repetitions , false starts, discourse markers(small words or fixed phrases used to indicate the beginning or the end of an idea) and short forms (Leech, Svartvik, 2002). Specific features mostly have a contextual meaning for the listener and can indicate different changes in the subject of the conversation. In this paper the term Spoken English language is understood in a narrow sense. It only includes the colloquial English and face-to-face interactions.Prepared speeches and other types of formal English speaking are not taken into account and are not discussed in the given work. In the figure below are presented the seven most typical conditions operating in real-time conversation. These features best describe why spoken language is so difficult to put in writing. Figure 1: Seven conditions operating in conversation (Leech, n. d. , figure 2) Further is given an example of a conversation which illustrates the conditions generally operating in a conversation. It will be later analysed and used as an example for various items of spoken grammar.Four speakers are sitting at the dinner table talking about a car accident that happened to the father of one of the speakers. At the end of this sequence they switch to another topic. I’ll just take that off and Have you got hold of it? are references to a large pan which is on the dinner table. The = sign indicates an utterance which is cut short The + sign indicates an interrupted turn which continues at the next + sign A: I’ll just take that off. Take that off. B: All looks great. C: [laughs] B: Mm. C: Mm. B: I think your dad was amazed wasn’t he at the damage.A: Mm. B: It’s not so much the parts. It’s the labor charges for= D: Oh that. For a car. B: Have you got hold of it? A: Yeah. B: It was a bit erm= A: Mm. C: Mm. B: A bit. A: That’s right. B: I mean they said they’d have to take his car in for two days. And he said all it is is straightening a panel. And they’re like, à ¢â‚¬ËœOh no. It’s all new panel. You can’t do this’. C: Any erm problem. B: As soon as they hear insurance claim. Oh. Let’s get it right. C: Yeah. Yeah. Anything to do with+ A: Wow. C: +coach work is er+ A: Right. C: +fatal isn’t it. A: Now.As can be seen in the example taken from Cambridge Grammar of English a comprehensive guide spoken and written English Grammar and usage (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 165), understanding of the text depends on the context and the immediate situation. Example shows some of the units that can be frequently encountered in spoken grammar, such as indeterminate structures ellipted forms, incomplete structures, subordinate clauses not obviously connected to any particular main clause, interrupted structures with other speaker contributions intervening, words whose grammatical class is unclear.Conversation happens in real time and is spontaneous, therefore speakers make mistakes and we can observe common features of spoken grammar. Some sentences are confusing and hard to understand because we do not have the knowledge of the shared background of the conversation. It is difficult to represent speech in writing so that the reader could easily follow the written conversation. In order to do so there have to be made many remarks to explain what the speaker means. In real-time conversations emotions and vocal intonations are important to understand the speaker.Moreover, it is difficult to determine when the sentence starts and when it ends. This conversation is meant to illustrate precisely what is analysed in the term paper. Spoken Language and Interpersonal Communication In this paper only one part of spoken English will be discussed which is colloquial English. It is an informal interpersonal communication and has its own peculiarities. Conversations are typically carried out in face-to-face interaction with others. They are tied to the participants and the immediate situation. Speakers usually share a common contextual ackground and exchange meanings rather than the content of the message. Meanings will vary depending on the specific social, cultural and institutional knowledge (Biber, Conrad, Leech, 2002, 428). Grammar Characteristics Spoken language and written language coexist. They are not divided sharply but have many different characteristics. Therefore the grammar of colloquial English differs from the written one. There are many differences that could be mentioned; however, due to the limitation of space they remain outside the scope of this paper, which gives a brief overview of the main features of spoken English.Clause Combination In spoken English it is typical when the hierarchy of clauses in sentences is in discord. In real-time communication the speaker is not able to construct over-elaborate patterns of main and subordinate clauses. Usual are sequences of clauses connected by coordinating conjunctions (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 170). Conjunctions are a grammatical resource to link text. In speech coordinating conjunctions are more frequent than in writing. Coordination is less empathic and more vague, which is characteristic of speech (Leech, Svartvik, 1983).Often subordinate clauses are used by one of the speakers to maintain the conversation or to give additional comments. They often occur after a pause to give evaluation to what have been said. Sometimes clauses â€Å"blend† in a sentence it happens when the beginning of a sentence is different from how it was completed. This syntactic structure is common in spoken language and is easily understood by the listener. (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 171): Well, no, Melanie’s actually still a student and she still has ten hours of lectures a week, so she works in McDonald’s in her spare time cos she needs the money and she works in McDonald’s in Hatfield†¦.Subordinate clauses: A: So I turned round and chased after him. B: Just as I would have done. Clausal blend: They ’ve nearly finished all the building work, hasn’t it? Position of items Spontaneous speech often requires adjustments to be made according to the communicative needs. Therefore it is natural when the speaker changes the position of items in a sentence in order to help the listener to the understand information better (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 172). In colloquial English subject-verb inversion often takes place.In informal speech it helps to emphasise the subject (Leech, Svartvik, 1983): B: I think your dad was amazed wasn’t he at the damage. Pausing, Repeating and Recasting There are two types of pauses: unfilled and filled. Unfilled pauses are just silent and quite short. They often indicate a change in the direction or the subject of the conversation. Filled pauses are marked by vocalisations, such as er, erm, uh or uhm. These marks can indicate a shift in the topic or that the speaker has not yet finished talking and is thinking of the best way to continue (Ca rter, McCarthy, 2006, 172).Repetition and recasting are very common in colloquial speech. When answering a question by repeating words or phrases the speaker can get some more time to think. Usually repetition occurs at the beginning of an utterance or clause. Recasting is normal in real-time speaking. It happens due to the fact that the speaker is talking very fast and needs to reformulate words or phrases (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 173-174): I spoke to her last night†¦well, she’s not going to take the job. It was, er, the director, wasn’t it? I, I’m, I’m not sure he’ll he’ll be able to arrange that at such short notice.Organising the discourse Spoken language seems quite unorganised. However, speakers often use specific words and structures to indicate how the speech will continue. For example items such as anyway, okay, right, I mean, so, now, etc. These items are named discourse markers. Structurally these markers do not belong to cla uses (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 174-175). One of the more frequent discourse markers in spoken English is like it is used to mark direct speech (Adolphs, Carter, 2003): Right, we’d better try to phone and see what they have to report.And they’re like, ‘Oh no. It’s all new panel. You can’t do this’. Ellipsis Ellipsis is the absence of elements required by the grammar. However the message doesn’t suffer and missing parts can be understood from the context. In most conversations ellipsis can be classified as initial ellipsis and final ellipsis in some cases also medial ellipsis takes place. In initial ellipsis, words at the beginning of the sentence are dropped, in correspondence in the medial ellipsis in the middle and in the final ellipsis at the end of a sentence (Biber, Conrad, Leech, 2002, 441-443).Also ellipsis can be categorised situational, textual or structural (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 181): Initial ellipsis: Didn’t know tha t film was on tonight. – I is omitted. Final ellipsis: A: I suppose Kathy is still living in that same place. B: Yeah, she is. – living in that same place omitted Medial ellipsis: Yeah dude, I’ gotta start working. – instead of I have got to Ellipsis is highly characteristic of spontaneous speech. During a conversation speakers need to reduce syntactic complexity due to real-time pressures.Ellipsis also takes place when avoiding unnecessary repetition and giving fast responses to other speakers (Biber, Conrad, Leech, 2002, 441). Response Tokens Response tokens are very common in spoken language. These are some adjectives and adverbs used to give quick and clear response to the speaking partner and to show that the user is listening and understands what is said to him. Such words include absolutely, definitely, great, fine, good, really. Some words have an association with a particular context. For example fine is used when making arrangements and reaching decisions.Response tokens help the listener to give quick feedback to the speaker, which is very convenient in case of a conversation (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 188-189): C: Yeah. Yeah. Anything to do with+ A: Wow. C: +coach work is er+ A: Right. C: +fatal isn’t it. A: Now. Vague Expressions Speakers tend to avoid aggressive or authoritative language and in order to sound polite and to soften the language vague expressions are used. The most common are stuff, like, anything, kind, whatever, sort of, etc. Vague expressions soften the information and often are used before some accurate or precise information (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 202-203).Sometimes these expressions are overused by the speaker: Between then and like nineteen eighty four I just spent the whole time, I mean for that whole sort of twelve year period or whatever, erm I was just working with just lots and lots of different people. Headers and Tails Headers and tails are very common features of spoken language. The y rarely occur in written English and seem very strange. A header occurs in a sentence where an item within a clause structure is placed before the clause and repeated in the clause itself. In other words the header stands in the initial position.Most typically header consists of a noun phrase and is followed by one or more pronouns. Headers are used by the speaker to help the listener to orientate in the facts (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 192-193): The teacher with glasses, he seems very nice. Tails are similar to headers; the difference is that these items are placed outside the clause structure. Tails are also typically noun phrases. Their purpose is to clarify something mentioned in the main clause. Usually tails clarify or repeat the referent of a pronoun (Carter, McCarthy, 2006, 194-196): They’re incredibly nice, our neighbours.Conclusion In conclusion it is possible to say that English spoken language has grammar. However there is still much to be researched. The need to i nvestigate spoken grammar is important in order to improve the speaking skills. In world where communications are developing so rapidly, spoken language and the mastery of it is an empowering skill. Writing is practiced everywhere in the world but the art of conversation is practiced rarely (Brazil, 1995, 11). Spoken grammar highlights the contextual and interpersonal aspects of communications. It is an interactive process and usually it is quite rapid.Therefore speakers use different structures in order to give quick comments or answers. Those structures include response tokens and ellipsis. Often the speaker changes the position of items in order to help the listener to understand the topic. In order to make the speech softer and less authoritative speakers use vague expressions. During the conversation the speaker often looses track of thoughts and therefore pauses, repetitions and recasting help to combine new clause structures. Many other characteristics of the grammar of spoke n English can be named.The knowledge of the grammar of spoken English is important for business communications. People need the necessary skills to express themselves in a best possible way. Studying this subject will provide a better understanding of grammar as a whole and can be a source of new knowledge. References Adolphs, S. , Carter, R. , 2003, And she’s like it’s terrible, like: Spoken Discourse, Grammar and Corpus Analysis, International Journal of English Studies Biber, D. , Conrad, S. , Leech, G. , 2002, Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English, Edinburgh: Pearson Education Limited Brazil, D. 1995, A Grammar of speech. Oxford: Oxford University Press Carter R. , McCarthy m. , 2006, Cambridge Grammar of English a comprehensive guide spoken and written English Grammar and usage, Cambridge University Press Eggins, S. and D. Slade, 1996, Analyzing casual conversation. London: Cassell Leech G. , Svartvik J. , 1983, A communicative grammar of English, Moscow Prosveshchenie Leech G. , Svartvik J. , 2002, A communicative grammar of English 3d edition, London: Pearson ESL Leech, G. , n. d. , English Grammar in Conversation Lancaster: Lancaster University

Understand the principles and values that underpin work with parents Free Essay Example, 1500 words

This is essential because while practitioners are equipped with sufficient knowledge and expertise, it is also important for the knowledge and opinions of the parents to be considered in the process. Thus, both parties working in collaboration are able to devise an efficient and effective plan for the children (Smith, 2004). Another value embedded into the system includes the adoption of a strengths-based approach. It is vital for all parents to be respected and the process being non-judgmental regarding the parents’ abilities to rear and provide for their child. The programme aims to emphasise and reflect upon each parent’s strengths, expertise, and knowledge, and work on enhancing these capabilities (Smith, 2004). The services should all be inclusive and easily accessible to the parents as another principle of the Work with Parents project. This means that the services should be specifically tailored to meet the requirements of different cultures, genders, and specific lifestyles. Hence, the programmes should include no discrimination and should aim to understand and relate to the specific needs of different families. Thus, the programme should be able to conform to the specific circumstances posed by every family (NOSWWP, 2012). We will write a custom essay sample on Understand the principles and values that underpin work with parents or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now It is also highly emphasised in the principles of the National Occupational Standards that workers should be highly aware and conscious of good practice, and it must thus cater to the needs of the families with the utmost skill and competence. They must apply their skills, knowledge, and training in order to provide high-quality parental support (NOSWWP, 2012). While the main principles of the Work with parents programme have been briefly outlined, the Work with Parents National Occupational Standards underpins and defines fifteen specific principles which govern the programme. The first principle outlines the rights of the child as highlighted and described by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), which was approved in the UK in the year 1991. The second principle highlights the need for practitioners to work in partnership with parents and in accordance with the wishes and demands of the parents involved. It also emphasises the need for practitioners to give parents a sense of independence and autonomy while working with their children (NOSWWP, 2012). The third principle acknowledges the supreme knowledge of parents regarding the unique circumstances of their child and assigns them the role of primary educator for their children.