The Case For Working With Your Hands By Mathew B. Crawford

Why is it that in today’s society people only think that a person can be successful if they have a degree from a higher education? In the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† author Mathew B. Crawford talks about his life as a mechanic and the decisions and revelations that got him there. Crawford claims that a good job can be defined to meet an individual’s passions and to see the â€Å"effects of the world† (Crawford). Crawford is saying that a person does not have to have a degree to have a good job. With Crawford’s claim, in the article titled â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands,† that a person should find a job that satisfies their own passions and desires I would agree with the author’s stance based on my own personal experiences as well as his information he presents. To start off, the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† is about Matthew B. Crawford and his decision to start a car re pair shop after getting his Ph. D in political philosophy. Crawford starts off the article by discussing a television show called â€Å"Deadliest Catch,† and how in today’s society many people can never see the effects they are having in their career. He goes on by creating a stance that in today’s society many people assume that a student must attend a college or university to achieve a overall success instead of following their â€Å"own inclinations† (Crawford, Matthew). Crawford talks about how he chose to open up a motorcycle shop to work as a mechanic instead of getting aShow MoreRelatedThe Case For Working With Your Hands By Mathew B. Crawford865 Words   |  4 Pageseducation? In the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† author Mathew B. Crawford talks about his life as a mechanic and the decisions and revelations that got him there. Crawford claims that a good job is defined to meet an individual’s passion and to see the â€Å"effects of the world† (Crawford). Crawford is saying that a person does not have to have a degree to have a good job. With Crawford’s claim, in the article titled â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands,† that a person should find aRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesFirst Edition Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, Seventh Edition Gehrlein, Operations Management Cases, First Edition Harrison and Samson, Technology Management, First Edition Hayen, SAP R/3 Enterprise Software: An Introduction, First Edition Hill, Manufacturing Strategy: Text Cases, Third Edition Hopp, Supply Chain Science, First Edition Hopp and Spearman, Factory Physics, Third Edition Jacobs, Berry, Whybark, and Vollmann ManufacturingRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 PagesManaging Change 121 121 147 147 Text 3. Why Organizations Change Text Cohen †¢ Effective Behavior in Organizations, Seventh Edition 14. Initiating Change 174 174 Text iii Cases 221 221 225 The Consolidated Life Case: Caught Between Corporate Cultures Who’s in Charge? (The)(Jim)(Davis)(Case) Morin−Jarrell †¢ Driving Shareholder Value I. Valuation 229 229 253 279 1. The Value−Based Management Framework: An Overview 2. Why Value Value? 4. The Value Manager Harvard BusinessRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesshould be addressed to the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ( 44) 1865 843830, fax: ( 44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.co.uk. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’ British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library The Case For Working With Your Hands By Mathew B. Crawford Why is it that in today’s society, people merely believe that a person can be successful if they have a degree from a higher education? In the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† author Mathew B. Crawford talks about his life as a mechanic and the decisions and revelations that got him there. Crawford claims that a good job is defined to meet an individual’s passion and to see the â€Å"effects of the world† (Crawford). Crawford is saying that a person does not have to have a degree to have a good job. With Crawford’s claim, in the article titled â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands,† that a person should find a job that satisfies their own passions and desires I would agree with the author’s stance based on my own personal experiences as well as his information he presents. To start off, the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† is about Matthew B. Crawford and his decision to start a car r epair shop after getting his Ph. D in political philosophy. Crawford starts off the article by discussing a television show called â€Å"Deadliest Catch,† and how in today’s society, many people can never see the effects they are having in their career. He goes on by creating a stance that in today’s society, many people will assume that a student must attend a college or university to achieve an overall success instead of following their â€Å"own inclinations† (Crawford, Matthew). Crawford talks about how he chose to open up a motorcycle shop to work as a mechanic instead ofShow MoreRelatedThe Case For Working With Your Hands By Mathew B. Crawford869 Words   |  4 Pageseducation? In the article â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands† author Mathew B. Crawford talks about his life as a mechanic and the decisions and revelations that got him there. Crawford claims that a good job can be defined to meet an individual’s passions and to see the â€Å"effects of the world† (Crawford). Crawford is saying that a person does not have to have a degree to have a good job. With Crawford’s claim, in the article titled â€Å"The Case for Working With Your Hands,† that a person should findRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesFirst Edition Fitzsimmons and Fitzsimmons, Service Management: Operations, Strategy, Information Technology, Seventh Edition Gehrlein, Operations Management Cases, First Edition Harrison and Samson, Technology Management, First Edition Hayen, SAP R/3 Enterprise Software: An Introduction, First Edition Hill, Manufacturing Strategy: Text Cases, Third Edition Hopp, Supply Chain Science, First Edition Hopp and Spearman, Factory Physics, Third Edition Jacobs, Berry, Whybark, and Vollmann ManufacturingRead MoreManagement Course: Mba−10 General Management215330 Words   |  862 PagesManaging Change 121 121 147 147 Text 3. Why Organizations Change Text Cohen †¢ Effective Behavior in Organizations, Seventh Edition 14. Initiating Change 174 174 Text iii Cases 221 221 225 The Consolidated Life Case: Caught Between Corporate Cultures Who’s in Charge? (The)(Jim)(Davis)(Case) Morin−Jarrell †¢ Driving Shareholder Value I. Valuation 229 229 253 279 1. The Value−Based Management Framework: An Overview 2. Why Value Value? 4. The Value Manager Harvard BusinessRead MoreStrategic Marketing Management337596 Words   |  1351 Pagesshould be addressed to the publisher Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: ( 44) 1865 843830, fax: ( 44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.co.uk. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (www.elsevier.com), by selecting ‘Customer Support’ and then ‘Obtaining Permissions’ British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library

Free Will and Moral Responsibility - 1037 Words

From its earliest beginnings, the problem of free will has been connected with the question of moral responsibility. Most of the ancient philosophers on the problem were trying to show that humans have sufficient control over their decisions, that all actions depend on them, and that they are not pre-determined by logical necessity, arbitrary gods, fate, or even by natural determinism. The problem of free will is often described as a question of reconciling free will with determinism. The problems of free will are also rooted in everyday thought, and many philosophers such as Nietzche and Dostoevsky address the issues of free will through the books; Beyond Good and Evil, Twilight of the Idols, and Notes from Underground. They both argued that there is no such thing as free will in this world early on, but later disagreed. Nietzche later developed the idea towards free will; human’s freedom and free will are accurately characterized by achievement and ambition, while Dostoev sky still remains with the same argument as before. In the early year, Nietzche’s theories about the issues of free will are not conceptually easy to understand. According to his book Beyond Good and Evil, he states that there is no such thing in this world as free will, because people can never be free to be morally responsible or free agent. It is because being a free agent requires people to be the cause of themselves, and since we are not the cause of ourselves, for example, we doShow MoreRelatedFree Will : Moral Responsibility1167 Words   |  5 PagesFree will is the ability of a representative to make individual choices and/or act upon them in their own desired way. People make choices every day in their lives, maybe with a little incentive here and there, yet in the end, it’s the people’s choice. Free will has been a commonly debated subject throughout history. Not just if it’s true, but ultimately the real meaning of it. How can we not believe in free will? Humans naturally have a strong sense of freedom. Free will is true in species and thereRead MoreFree Will : Moral Responsibility1168 Words   |  5 Pages15 Free will is the ability of a representative to make individual choices and/or act upon them in their own desired way. People make choices every day in their lives, maybe with a little incentive here and there, yet in the end, it’s the people’s choice. Free will has been a commonly debated subject throughout history. Not just if it’s true, but ultimately the real meaning of it. How can we not believe in free will? Humans naturally have a strong sense of freedom. Free will is true in species andRead MoreFree Will And Moral Responsibility Essay2171 Words   |  9 PagesThe concept of free will is a source of constant debate and has been a major focus of philosophic and religious discourse for more than two millennia; the concepts of determinism and free will are among the oldest known philosophies. In the modern age, compatibilists like Laura Ekstrom have argued that the possibility to have chosen a different action — even if the action itself is predetermi ned — renders moral responsibility possible in a wholly determined universe (Ekstrom). Conversely, incompatibilistsRead MoreThe Moral Responsibility Of Free Will Essay2084 Words   |  9 Pagesthat free will is seen as hugely important to western philosophy. In particular, it has been suggested that it’s absence may have ramifications for the existence of moral responsibility, henceforth ‘MR’. I will be arguing that ultimate responsibility is the only sufficient condition forMR and that Baker’s reflective endorsement argument fails to encapsulate all scenarios in which we have MR. In addition, I will argue that belief in moral responsibility isn’t necessary to treat people as moral beingsRead MoreFree Will : The Concept Of Moral Responsibility1275 Words   |  6 PagesPart One, The Thesis: Free-will can be defined as the ability an individual has to act without the limitation of necessity or fate. It the power a person has to act at one’s discretion. Do we really have the freedom to experience what we want, when we choose? Some would say yes while some others will say no, philosophers have argued about this topic and there hasn’t been any particular conclusion yet. It is the ability a person or animal has to choose his or her course of actions. Although most philosophersRead MoreHume s Theory Of Free Will And Moral Responsibility1940 Words   |  8 Pages ¶1)? Would possessing it suffice for us to have free will? David Hume was a Scottish philosopher who was largely active in the eighteenth century. While Hume is largely remembered as being part of the empiricist movement that comprised of John Locke and George Berkeley, which largely focussed on the belief that knowledge came from our sensory experiences; this essay will focus on Hume’s work regarding the concept of free will and moral responsibility. It will do this by introducing Hume’s compatibilismRead MoreSaving Morality: The Implications of Hard Determinism 1116 Words   |  5 Pageslibertarian free will, results in some serious consequences for moral responsibility. At its most extreme interpretation a form of moral nihilism arises. †Without God ... everything is permitted now.†[1] That is, if determinism holds true, then there is no free choice, and without free choice there can be no moral responsibility. By taking hard determinism to its logical conclusion, and evaluating the results of a steadfast adherence to the theory this paper serves to show that moral nihilism isRead MoreFree Will And Determinism Can Go Together1447 Words   |  6 PagesFree will is one of the great debates among humans. What is it and do we even have it are two common questions. Freedom is not always easy to define but there is one compelling version of free will. I believe that humans are not truly free, they have free will but much of their lives are determined by other external causes because of the dual nature of decisions. First I will argue what the theory of compatibilist is and why it is the most reasonable. Then I will look at the moral responsibilityRead MoreWhat Would It Entail?1221 Words   |  5 PagesIntroduction: Imagine a world without moral responsibility. What would it entail? Without moral responsibility, legal systems today would necessarily undergo a dramatic revision. I have not a clue what they might result to. With constituents not being morally responsible for their actions, criminal acts become easily defensible. For the subject, he/she was not â€Å"free† at the time of the act, for one can only be morally responsible for an act if one was free and consciously willed the act ( ). RapeRead MoreSartre View on Free Will Essay868 Words   |  4 Pagesview on free will when he says, either man is wholly determined or else man is wholly free. This quote shows us that Sartre believes that man is free to do what he wants. For Sartre, freedom is the most basic value, which renders possible all other values the way our fundamental plan precedes and grounds our small choices. In that sense freedom is the source of all values. It is not logically possible to make sense of human responsibility and notions of justice without a conception of free will .

The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman Essay Example For Students

The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman Essay The Autobiography Of Miss Jane PittmanIn the novel The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, there were many different stories about JanePittmans life. In the movie there were not as many stories as the novel, but they were still quite interesting. The novel and the movie had many similarities and differences. Some of the similarities were very noticeable. Just from the beginning, in both the movie and the novel, Ned carried the two rocks that made the fire for Jane and Ned. Ned then moves away and writes Jane, but the letter doesnt reach Jane for a whole year. Albert Clevoue shot Ned in both. Joe had to pay colonel Dye for getting him out of trouble with the Ku Klux Klan. Colonel Dye was selfish and asked for money as interest, most find him just greedy. Once Jane and Joe moved away, Jane had a couple of dreams that Joe would be killed by some horse, so she went to a hoo-doo. Sure enough, Joe was killed by a horse. Later, a boy was born, and they called him The One. His name was Jimmy. They wanted him to become a preacher, but he didnt want to. Differences that were highly noticeable were that in the novel, the interviewer was a teacher that wanted her information for his class and in the movie, it was a magazine reporter. When Albert Clevoue died in the novel, the chariots of hell came for him, and in the movie, you dont even hear of his death. In the novel, it was a black horse that killed Joe Pittman, and the movie, white. In conclusion, the novel had more, described the stories more thoroughly. One might find that the novel is much more enlightening than the movie, but it takes more time to read the novel than it does to watch the movie! All in all, The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman was a fine novel. In the novel The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman, there were many different stories about JanePittmans life. In the movie there were not as many stories as the novel, but they were still quite interesting. The novel and the movie had many similarities and differences. Some of the similarities were very noticeable. Just from the beginning, in both the movie and the novel, Ned carried the two rocks that made the fire for Jane and Ned. Ned then moves away and writes Jane, but the letter doesnt reach Jane for a whole year. Albert Clevoue shot Ned in both. Joe had to pay colonel Dye for getting him out of trouble with the Ku Klux Klan. Colonel Dye was selfish and asked for money as interest, most find him just greedy. Once Jane and Joe moved away, Jane had a couple of dreams that Joe would be killed by some horse, so she went to a hoo-doo. Sure enough, Joe was killed by a horse. Later, a boy was born, and they called him The One. His name was Jimmy. They wanted him to become a preacher, but he didnt want to. Differences that were highly noticeable were that in the novel, the interviewer was a teacher that wanted her information for his class and in the movie, it was a magazine reporter. When Albert Clevoue died in the novel, the chariots of hell came for him, and in the movie, you dont even hear of his death. In the novel, it was a black horse that killed Joe Pittman, and the movie, white. In conclusion, the novel had more, described the stories more thoroughly. One might find that the novel is much more enlightening than the movie, but it takes more time to read the novel than it does to watch the movie! All in all, The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman was a fine novel.

The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 free essay sample

This novel is broken into segments; the first of which discusses crisis’ that have occurred in the past that are similar to present day crisis’, for example, the Great Depression and the worldwide depression of 2008. The second segment analyzes the current crises, for example, the effects of the Latin American and Asian crisis in the 1900’s. Krugman also brings into light how countries thousands of miles apart have such a large impact on one another like a domino effect, for example, how when Russia experienced a financial crisis and economic reform, it devalued the Brazilian ‘real’, which then in turn effected the United States bond markets. The author uses his knowledge and view to analyze the United States’ and other county’s economic issues. He critiques the mistakes that were made and the warning signs that governments should be aware of and not overlook in order to prevent economic failure. An example was the over confidence in capitalism success due to increase of technology, globalization to third world countries, and the fall of socialism and socialist ideas that were prevalent in international ideologies. We will write a custom essay sample on The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This confidence in capitalism blindsided Economists to an approaching depression. Krugman warns that even though an economy may be very strong, they are still subject to fall and should never take warning signs lightly, however these signs may not always be the same for every country. As brought up in the book, it is discussed that perfect solutions for fixing an economy in one country may not work as well, or at all, in another country, for example capitalism success in the United States versus Japan and Mexico. Another example was when the British government devalued the pound and increased the interest rates. This led a strong economic recovery for Britain, but when Mexico tried this same tactic, it had no such success. Britain’s pound was devalued by 15 percent in 1990, thus being dropped from the European Monetary System’s Exchange Rate Mechanism. In 1995, the â€Å"Tequila Crisis† resulted from the mistake of the Mexican government not devaluing the peso enough and the GDP in Mexico dropped 7 percent and depreciated the peso by 15 percent, consequently. This is also an example of the domino effect of economic downfalls in countries impacting others. Even though Argentina’s peso is governed by a separate currency board, since they call their money the peso as well, currency speculation from investors in other countries didn’t regard the currencies as separate, thus negatively impacting the country. Robert Lucas, a professor at the University of Chicago, states that Macroeconomics needs to move forward from depression-prevention since the problem â€Å"had been solved for all practical purposes. â€Å"The Great Moderation† speech, by Ben Bernanke, then provided support to Lucas’ claim by stating that the business cycle problem had diminished, however, Krugman explains that instances similar to the Great Depression have more recently occurred, and in other countries in the 90’s. In the late 1990’s, Thailand caused trouble to the rest of the surrounding Asian countries when they began making lo ans to foreign investors to try and help their struggling economy, consequently leaving them with crippled trade exports. The Thai ‘Baht’ was devalued since these foreign investors were mainly only people who had connections with the government and the interest rates were much higher than other countries in attempt to boost their economy. This stipulation caused the economy to worsen, other countries to loose confidence, and for Thailand to loose investments. Krugman explains that if Thailand hadn’t tried to control the currency and interest rate, the ‘baht’ would have risen instead of causing their poor economy to expedite. Another piece that Krugman brings up is the Hedge funds, which are privately and actively managed investment funds and are subject to the regulatory restrictions of their country. Two examples discussed in the book were with Asia and Russia. Hedge funds were used on Hong Kong’s capitalist government and were forced them to use government intervention and non-capitalist ways to take back their stock market. In Russia, hedge funds were more widely created to excel profits, but consequently, led to their financial collapse. Alan Greenspan, on the Federal Reserves Board of Governors, served from May 1987 to January 2006 and played a large roll in the 2008 crisis. It was believed that he was the best fit for his position because of his vast knowledge of the Great Depression. In the beginning of his term, the economy was stable with low unemployment rates and a rising stock market. Consequently, Greenspan â€Å"let the good times roll† and when the stock market was in a ‘bubble’ he cut interest rates, but to no avail. This caused the unemployment rate to rise for almost three years and the recession to return. The housing bubble then developed in 2006 from the lack of Federal Reserve regulation of savings and loans and the â€Å"Shadow Banking System†. The housing market prices slowly skyrocketed to fifty percent over value but then suddenly dropped up to fifteen percent in the second quarter the following year. Krugman explains how this housing market crash crippled the United States economy, costing millions of Americans their lives as they knew them before. I found this book very appealing considering my vague understanding of the financial system. Although at times I felt lost in the terminology, the majority of the time I was able to comprehend what Krugman was trying to get across to the audience. What I found most compelling was how the book brought into perspective how history has consequently been repeating itself and will only continue to do so. With the examples Krugman gives with the Great Depression, Japan, Mexico, and our own economy deficit in 2008, we can see the errors that are repeatedly made through history. Krugman points out, while constantly questioning, why economic catastrophes keep occurring all over the world if all the signs leading up to them are ever so similar. If Mexico had used Britian as an example, they would have been able to get out of the ‘Tequila Crisis† much quicker. I also found interesting, yet disheartening, the amount of money that is lent to other countries and spent on helping them repair themselves when we ourselves have repairing to do in our economy still. I understand that it is a cyclical effect, and we may not know every detail about what is going on, and for that I have to give the government credit, but at the same time I don’t agree with the amounts given away that we never see any benefit from. Krugman used the example of Russia’s debt and the twenty-two billion given to them for a stabilization plan that was unheard of, and another fourty-one billion emergency bailout funds to Brazil. After reading this book, it has enlightened me about how an economy can get back on its feet and also what signs to look for in our economy so that we don’t repeat the past and we start learning from other country’s mistakes as well. [ 1 ]. Krugman. About Paul. New York Times, n. d. Web. 04 May 2013. [ 2 ]. Hedge Fund. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Mar. 2013. Web. 06 May 2013.

Curriculum Alignment in Modern Education

Curriculum Alignment in Modern Education The goal of curriculum alignment is to make sure that every student can acquire necessary knowledge and skills that will help him or her in the future. Moreover, its purpose is to help learners cope with standardized tests. This paper will show how the task is addressed by educators who teach algebraic thinking at elementary level.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Curriculum Alignment in Modern Education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The purpose of this lesson was to help student understand algebraic equivalence and find the correct order of operations for solving mathematical problems. This is the main competency that learners were supposed to acquire. The teacher, Ms. Soglin adhered to this purpose and every task that students were asked to do contributed to the eventual goal. Overall, the objectives of the lesson were clear and they manifested themselves in every activity of the class. Furthermore, the teacher r elied on the background knowledge and information from the previous lessons. According to the video, these students were used to working with pan balances in order to solve mathematical problems. This attribute is very important because students have to see the continuity of tasks that they do and understand why these activities are necessary Thus, in terms of this criterion the lesson corresponds to the professional standards that are set for teachers. The lesson had a clear delivery method; in particular, Ms. Soglin relied on inquiry. This method implies that a teacher should not give direct answers or instructions to the students; instead the task of a teacher is to encourage children to come up with their own answers and solutions by asking questions that are relevant to the experiences and background knowledge (Nilson, 2010, p. 175). For example, Ms. Soglin asked students whether such a tool as pan-balance had been familiar to them. In response, they compared a pan balance to a seesaw or scales. Moreover, Ms. Soglin did not simply explain how to solve pan-balance equations, but prompted students to offer their solutions to particular problems.Advertising Looking for essay on education? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Overall, she avoided giving direct answers. Moreover, the method of guided inquiry is closely related to experiment. This is why the teacher encouraged students to work with pan-balances in order to understand how algebraic problems could be solved. This approach places more emphasis on student’s autonomy (Borich, 2011, p. 258). In this way, the teacher tried to make the activities more interesting and she achieved this goal. The lesson was intended for students with various learning styles. For example, there were children who preferred kinesthetic learning. Such children usually prefer to carry out some physical activity in order to understand the concept of algebraic equivalence (Martin, 2011, p. 225). This is why they worked directly with pan balances and weighed different objects to understand the concept of equivalence and solve problems. In turn, some of the students were visual learners. Their needs were also met. In particular, they could use various diagrams and drawings explaining equations. Finally, some of the children relied more on auditory learning. This is why Ms. Soglin explained the way in which pan balance equations could be solved. Thus, this lesson was adjusted to various learning styles. The activities of the lesson were intended for students of various intelligences. For example, manipulation of balances is mostly oriented toward bodily-kinesthetic intelligence, whereas oral explanations were supposed to benefit students with linguistic intelligence. Finally, the lesson provided for the assessment of student understanding. For example, Ms. Soglin asked children to explain how they intended to solve a math problem and use su ch operations as addition, subtraction, division, or multiplication. In this way, she determined whether students did understand the notion of algebraic equivalence and its implications. Reference List Borich, G. (2011). Effective Teaching Methods: Research-Based Practice, Seventh  Edition. New York: Allyn Bacon.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Curriculum Alignment in Modern Education specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Martin, D. (2011). Elementary Science Methods: A Constructivist Approach. New York: Cengage Learning. Nilson, L. (2010).Teaching at Its Best: A Research-Based Resource for College Instructors. New York: John Wiley Sons.

Getting a Job in the Videogame Industry

Getting a Job in the Videogame Industry When the video game industry started, back in the days of Pong, Atari, Commodore, and of course, the coin-op arcade, the majority of the developers were hardcore programmers who became game developers because they knew how to work in the language of the machines at the time. It was the generation of the mainframe programmer and the self-taught hobbyist turned pro. As time went on, traditional artists, designers, quality assurance, and other personnel became part of the development process. The concept of game developers being limited to elite coders began to fade, and the term game design became formalized. Beginning as a Tester Testing games for money have been a dream job for countless teens. For a while, testing was a viable path for the industry, although many quickly realized that it wasnt the job they imagined it would be. This path  worked for quite some time, but as game design, development, and publishing grew into a multibillion-dollar industry, the potential game designer needed more formal training and the office became a more professional setting in the times past.  It is still possible to progress from tech support or quality assurance into the development, but doing so without higher level education and training has become a rarity inside the big development companies.   QA and testing were once considered a no-qualification-required or entry-level job, but many publishers and developers have test teams with higher education and even development skills as well. Applying for Development Positions Getting a development position isnt just a matter of having some programming or art classes on your resume. Long, sometimes multi-day interview processes  stand between the aspiring developer and their dreams of making games. Questions you will want to ask yourself: Programmers: What titles have you shipped? If youre still a college student, what was your final project? Have you worked in a collaborative programming environment before? Do you know how to write clean, concise, documented code? Artists: What does your portfolio look like? Do you have a solid command of the tools you use? Can you take direction well? How about the ability to give constructive feedback? Game designers or level designers: What games are out there that youve made? Why did you make the decisions you did about gameplay, level flow, lighting, art style, or anything else that you did to make your game unique? Those are the easy questions. Programming interviews frequently involve having to stand up in front of your potential coworkers at a whiteboard and solve logic or programming efficiency problems. Level designers and artists may have to talk about their work on a video projector in the same sort of environment. Many game companies now check for compatibility with teammates. If youre not able to communicate with your potential peers, you may lose the chance at a job that youd be perfect for. Independent Development The recent rise of independently developed and published games has opened a new path for those looking to get into the game industry- but this is not an easy route by any stretch of the imagination. It requires a significant investment of time, energy, resources, and a drive to face a very competitive market. And most importantly, it requires that you know how to fail, and despite this to get up and move on to the next project until you make it.

The Importance of Reflection in Nursing Practice Essay

The Importance of Reflection in Nursing Practice - Essay Example This process, called a meta-cognitive process, is normally reflected in a number of our daily routines and activities. Thus when we have to attend a call from a patient in pain, what priority we accord to it will be determined by the values and beliefs we hold and how we assess the situation. Reflective learning calls for instilling of the critical nursing skills in nurses through participative and emancipative education. This in turn helps in empowering the practitioners to deal with contradictory situations. Such training implies learning continuously with regular evolutionary inputs. Daloz (1986) describes the characteristics of support and challenge and the ways in which they might combine to foster learning. He describes support as an affirming activity. When a teacher supports a learner, the teacher lets the learner know that the learner is cared about. White (1997) suggests that new knowledge and theory can be generated when a structured and analytical methodology is applied to reflect on experience. In general, reflective practices can be categorized in two types; Reflection-in-action is when someone is working, and learning at the same time i.e. being fully aware of he's doing. Reflection-on-action is learning in a simulated environment when the nursing practitioners are taught by their tutors with the help of practical. For example nursing calls for advice being offered to the relatives and friends of the patients. Nursing is a science as it requires studying the medical practices and science, but it's an art as well because working with different types of people requires an attitude of understanding the feelings and compassion. Profession of Nursing involves being well versed with the technical gadgets, bio-medical terms, clinical tests, test reports as well as psychology, since during the majority of the times, when doctors are not around, nobody from family or friend circle is nearby, a Nurse is supposed to be the bedside companion taking care of the person with all sincerity. During such times most of our behaviors represent a mixture o f influences from both implicit, subconscious activations, and conscious considerations. The profession often requires long hours of working and heavy workloads while dealing with a range of people from all walks of life. Therefore, reflection-in-action is observing the things and the surroundings from one point of view and then devising 'in-time' appropriate reflections. Therefore in my opinion the profession of nursing requires; Compassion for another's suffering and love for the feelings of their patients Very high ethical standards Commitment to their profession Good interpersonal communication ability Critical cognitive process based thinking ability Highest standards of integrity and honesty Dealing with difficult and often unpleasant circumstances Working in physically demanding and often stressful environment Continuous aptitude for learning throughout one's life. Schon (1983) therefore calls for a "reflective practicum" to be an integral part of professional education. Lamb & Huttlinger, (1989) advocates reflection has a method by which nurses can enhance their future prospects and research practices. Williams (2001) enlists the results of a survey

Week #8 Learning Activity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week #8 Learning Activity - Essay Example Small businesses can use innovation to develop competitive advantages by being open to changes in HR practices and policies and by developing new ways of customer engagement. Whether there is a recession or not, small businesses grapple with the usual problems of limited capital and high demand for dedicated and talented employees. In order to attract or maintain talent, small businesses can offer alternative work arrangements, such as reduced work hours or flexible work schedules (Woods). Such arrangements are appealing to employees with children or who simply want more work-life balance. These are considered innovations when compared to traditional companies’ fixed office hours and 5-day work schedules. Apart from these HRM changes, small businesses can also use innovations in customer engagement for purposes of attaining social responsibility and brand promotion. Participating in social events, including contests, are good ways of improving brand awareness (Branson; Saylor Foundations 29). Moreover, promoting social awareness through discussing the social benefits of the product in community events is also an innovation that is less expensive than TV and print advertisements (Branson). These are innovations because they are not limited to traditional marketing promotions and communications. Small businesses have the advantage of introducing simple, but equally effective and efficient, innovations because they directly communicate with consumers more frequently than the decision-making executives of multinational corporations. As a result, small business owners can easily determine what customers want and develop what they can start (or stop doing, if applicable) to satisfy changing consumer needs. Woods, David. â€Å"Small Businesses Introduce Innovative HR Practices in Response to the Recession.† HR Magazine, 24 Sept. 2009. Web. 2 July 2014.

Reasons for applying to Boston University and personal experience Essay Example for Free

Reasons for applying to Boston University and personal experience Essay This is an important point in life that would perhaps provide me with the capacity to develop personal reformation. It is a comparative outlay of the epochs that have defined my life. I am aged twenty-seven with a great affiliation of developing a more rational and attractive imagery that blends me with the capacity of a better societal model. This is an important step however much it came at such a time in my life. However, the same has been catalyzed by the affliction and passive rejection from my family. At my early days in school, my character and personality was never straight forward, an impression that downplayed a poor education qualification. At the plane of the outlook of my family, my siblings have continued to request me go back to finish my education. Occasionally, my grandmother was a special icon in sensitizing a better state of reformation. Her long trailing motivation in completing my studies however came to an end after her death from cancer. This was such a big stumbling block in my future conception at school compounding that I was deeply held at work for helping my family. With such a norm, the transition from working at my age to going back to school remained however difficult. Elsewhere, my family considered it more rational to working than going back to complete my studies. At high school, I was an average student who tirelessly worked hard and managed to get between A’s and C’s. However, my dreams went surging after failing to complete my studies. However, I now want to join your university for adequate completion of my studies so as to achieve such dreams. The conception of developing my character and personality however necessitated my going back to school where I enrolled at Massachusetts Bay Community College. Such a transition was not a simple attribute but its cost equaled great sacrifice and personal contribution. In the due process of recapturing my educational etiquette however, I found myself with a learning disability. This was yet a drawback in the circumstances. This disability went over providing my incapacity to meet the challenge I met when I chose to attend one of the information sessions at Boston University. Coupled with all this life achievements however, I would like to apply for finishing up my education at your University (Boston University) To me, this is a great opportunity that will offer me a chance to have a cementing effect from the personality drawbacks that characterizes my life. Your university is amongst the best in the country with a diverse educational reputation. Either, its adequate perception of a wide flexibility in student learning and environment gives the pleasure to seek admission in this university. I have fountain knowledge in lieu of what the university can offer to safeguard my interest. I am a well-modeled and behaved person who has the capacity of adhering to the required values and requirements in your university. Either, I have a collaborative attribute where I will be adequately able to interact with the various structures and persons in the university. Given the chance, I will understand therefore to have the role and obligation of following the candid stipulations and requirement which safeguards every student’s threshold at the university. I greatly promise to fully abide by the regulatory dispensation which is the basic outlay of interactive limitations with the different parties and structures within the institution.

I am going to discuss is Kindertransport and my own piece The adoption :: Drama

I am going to discuss is 'Kindertransport' and my own piece 'The adoption' Danielle Grennan May2003 Performance Evaluation =============================================== The work I am going to discuss is 'Kindertransport' and my own piece 'The adoption'. I saw 'Kindertransport' in October 2002 at the Redbridge Drama Centre; my own piece was devised and performed in May 2003 also at the Redbridge Drama Centre. Both pieces have very similar themes about mother and daughter relationships and the difficulty of giving children away. Although both pieces are set in different periods of time. The theme of mother and daughter relationship is not very comprehensible so it is quite hard to act. My contribution to 'The adoption' was the part of the daughter, Clare Andrews, I had to be very aware of what a child of 11 would of felt like finding out she was adopted and had been lied to by the main person in her life. It was quite a difficult part to play and I personally feel I did not do it justice partly because of the time we had to prepare the piece and I did not learn the part as much as I would of liked to. I looked for articles on the Internet about mothers who have lost their daughters as part of my presentation. I also played a clip from 'Buffy the vampire slayer' showing this issue. I found many articles about this subject and they helped me to understand the emotions and anxieties of mothers who have lost their daughters. I think it did support our piece because by giving it more realistic feelings and emotions felt by mothers. Our piece was set in the modern day and 'Kindertransport' was set in the 1930s and modern day. Both pieces were about having to give your daughters away for various reasons. In 'Kindertransport', due to the historical background, the mother had to give her child away for its own safety because it was the time of the Holocaust. In our piece the mother had to give her daughter away because of her age and her parents. But in both pieces both mothers come back for their daughters and they chose to stay with their adoptive mothers. The characters in our piece were just general middle class people in modern times dealing with this hard but common issue. The characters in 'Kindertansport' were very different, the real mother and daughter are Jewish German citizens trying to escape the Jewish persecutions and the adoptive mother and the daughter's daughter are just modern day middle class people similar to the characters in our piece. This was shown by accents for the different nationalities.

Reaction Paper About a Play

Reyjin C. Balas Nov. 16, 2012 DAM5PROFES1 BS-Industrial Design Page 1 DULAANG FILIPINO Presents â€Å" E † The Dulaang Filipino is the College’s resident theater company. It is empowered to educate its audience on various social issues afflicting today’s society. This theatrical show was held at the 5F School of Design and Arts Theater (DLS-CSB SDA Campus). In this play, the story began in a musical way, showing their creative costumes, sounds, colourful lighings, all the characters were dancing, singing, saying out loud their dialogues one by one. The story was all about the mystery that was happening behind the so called â€Å"greatest show on Earth. There was this general manager of the world's largest railroad circus who has a number of problems on his hands for the upcoming season. Then there is his maid that knows all what was happening in their place. Other main characters in the story were the two agents who tried to solve the problem / mystery up to the end of the story, it wasn’t solved by the two. Up to the end of the story, I was still confused about the story and the characters because there was also a killing part where there were parts of the human body that were thrown everywhere on the stage, those hands, feet and the head that was taken off, I don’t know who’s head was that, but that part was very creepy for me, the light effects helped a lot because there was also a smoke effect and the color of the lights at that time was red. What I liked the most in the show was the roles of the two agents. I was amazed on the way they deliver their dialogues, kung ako ang nasa lugar nila, siguro malilito at Balas 2 mabubulol na ako sa pagsasalita. The second that I liked was the part that almost all of them were walking and dancing while wearing roller blades and they’re even on the stage. May part na kinabahan ako dahil baka may biglang mahulog sa platform na gawa nila, may mga maliliit din na gulong kasi ung ilalim. The third thing that I liked was that they got my full attention for the whole time of play, and I liked their costumes, colourful and creative, even though other props were not that made well and if I’m going to rate it out of ten, I will give them an eight.

Water Baptism: Its Significance in the Life of a Christian

Christian living is impossible without the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In fact the whole Christian faith is founded in the fact that Jesus died for the sins of mankind and yet after three days rose from the grave. In the numerous sacraments and ordinances issued by the Church there is nothing that comes close to this foundational aspect of Christianity other than the sacrament of water baptism. This paper will look into the significance of water baptism in relation to the life, teachings, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.In his last major pronouncements before he ascended into the clouds and into the heaven, Jesus commanded his disciples to teach, make disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the centuries since then, there is no argument that Christians should go into the ends of the earth to teach others about the Good News of the Kingdom and the details of the new covenant in the blood of Christ. There is als o no argument about the need to make disciples – to bring people of all nations into a committed relationship to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.But for hundreds of years, especially after the Reformation there is an ongoing and very much heated debate on how to obey the third part of the Great Commission and that is on how to go about with water baptism. Furthermore, this paper supports the argument made by a Scottish scholar named Alexander Campbell who in the middle-of-the-nineteenth century, made the following proposition, â€Å"Immersion in water into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is the one only Christian Baptism.† This is achieved by getting an in-depth look at Campbell's own work with regards to the subject matter; a review of what others had written about the topic; and finally consult the Scriptures and in the end let it be the verdict as to what is most probable in light of the whole Bible – whether baptism is immersi on or a) sprinkling of water; b) pouring of water; or c) purifying in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Significance Before going any further it is important to establish the significance of water baptism in order to justify a more extensive foray into the topic.There are at least three major reasons why water baptism is significant in light of Christian tradition. Aside from what was already mentioned; that there is a direct correlation between water baptism and the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, there are other reasons why the said sacrament is important. It is according to Kittel, â€Å"†¦ the reconciling action of God †¦ It places us objectively in Christ, the second Adam; it thus removes us from the sphere of death of the first Adam †¦Ã¢â‚¬  It is a way to transformation, the beginning point of a new life. Furthermore, water baptism is seen in the gospels as one of the primary actions necessary after conversion. According to Stanley Grenz water baptism is a bona fide ordinance because the foundation lies in the Lord's command as followed by the Apostolic Churches. (p. 520). Grenz also argues that water baptism is an appropriate symbol of the central aspects of the gospel story. He also adds that it provides â€Å"†¦a fitting means for us to symbolize our commitment to Christ, our participation in his death and resurrection, and our anticipation of the full reception of salvation at the eschatological consummation of God's program. † R. Bruce Compton of the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary quotes Martin Luther who made the generalization that, â€Å"It worketh forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives everlasting salvation to all who believes, as the Word and promise of God declares. † Compton goes further in saying that baptism is the sign of conversion – initiation, the evidence of genuine repentance.The latest statement made by Compton is very much significant i n light of human nature. This is because there is an inherent difficulty in understanding spiritual matters. Even Scriptures are full of references to man's inability to fully comprehend spiritual matters. In the case of salvation, forgiveness of sins, a new life in Christ, all these are alien to the flesh. Therefore, water baptism is a welcome event because it aids the carnal mind in absorbing newfound truths of his or her newfound relationship in Christ Jesus.Aside from the general understanding of water baptism as shown above, the significance of this sacrament or practice in the Christian community is supported by the following arguments. First of all water baptism was undoubtedly practiced from the very first, there are references of such practice as early as Acts chapter 2. Secondly, water baptism is a public declaration that one is following Christ. And thirdly that water baptism is a form of a rite of passage to distinguish those who are serious in their pursuit of Christian ity.Alexander Campbell arrived at the same conclusion while studying the New Testament. Previously Campbell was an expert in the Calvinist position of the baptism of infants but a thorough study of the Gospels made him to realize, â€Å"†¦ that the Church originally and intentionally immersed only penitent believers, able and willing to call on the name of the Lord. † There is no space to discuss the fine points of Calvinism but suffice it to say that Campbell's view follows closely the Christian tradition especially during the Acts of the Apostles and the first one hundred years of the Church's existence.Later it will be shown that this view fits nicely into the greater scheme of things. Baptizo The next thing that needs to be established is the fact the aforementioned submerging, immersion or dipping of the Christian should be done in water. This is very important because it has a direct bearing on the the main idea brought forward in the very beginning of this discuss ion. At this point there is already a general understanding that there is a raging controversy going on with regards to the interpretation of the greek term â€Å"baptizo†.An error in interpretation will greatly impact the Christian's journey into maturity in Christ because the foundations of his beliefs are seriously undermined. A new believer who was deprived of the experience – of full immersion in water and rising up from the same – can have a theoretical understanding of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and yet not have a clear grasp of what it actually means. Furthermore, with regards to the charge of the Apostle Paul, that Christians are dead to sin and yet alive to Christ, the new believer has very limited resources in trying to fully comprehend such a profound statement.It requires a step-by-step process to untangle the mystery and to find a resolution to the issue of water baptism. Resolving this issue requires going to the heart of the mat ter and to trace the root-cause of the controversy. For hundreds of year theologians from all over the world are splitting hairs and the source of contention is one mere word – baptism. The term baptism is the transliteration from two Greek words, â€Å"baptizo† which a verb and â€Å"baptisma† which is a noun. The transliteration produced a new English word â€Å"baptism† which roughly means the â€Å"†¦action of washing with or plunging into (literally, surrounding with) water. The issue of the usage of the term quickly turns into a heated debate because the transliteration in effect muddied the waters. It would have been easier if there is a more forceful translation of what Jesus actually meant when he said to go to the ends of the earth and baptizing disciples. There is a need to spend some time pondering why there is such difficulty in extracting the exact meaning of the command. It turns out that there is more to it than a simple case of misc ommunication.The authors of the Gospels are faced with a tremendous difficulty and it is to communicate a concept that is without precedence. This idea is not new. Many had pointed out to the unique ideas found in the Gospel. Even the Apostle Paul comments on the fact that others find the concept of Christianity mind boggling or simply unconventional. The same is true with baptism; it is without precedent and the Gospel is authors are trying to find the appropriate Greek word to describe a new rite of passage based on the teachings of Christ.In the old way of doing things it is simply the killing of a substitute to cover for the sin of another. In the new paradigm of Jesus Christ a person dies and then resurrects to new life. Since there is already an acknowledgment that there is no perfect human language to capture the ideas of God the next best thing to do is to immerse in an in-depth study of Greek terminologies. It is at this point when the work of those who devoted their entire lives in the stud of Scriptures proves to be very helpful. One of the most respected names in the study of water baptism is Alexander Campbell.In his opus, Christian Baptism: With Its Antecedents and Consequents, Campbell painstakingly analyzed the work of hundreds of Lexicographers and a multitude of linguists to ascertain the correct usage of the term â€Å"baptizo† and its root word â€Å"bapto†. The followign discussion is a summary of his conclusions. Campbell Elucidates By way of introduction, Campbell made very effective preparatory remarks when he argued that Jesus will not command anything that will not result in an act that would signify obedience.Thus, baptism should be understood clearly as an action that must be done to satisfy the commands of God. This simply means that a Christian after a careful study of the Bible will arrive at a correct understanding of what Jesus meant by baptism. Campbell, in the long run, was able to show convincingly that there i s no way one can miss the true intentions of the Lord and what he meant by baptism. Campbell made it very clear that the exact term used was â€Å"baptizo† and it was derived from â€Å"bapto† therefore one ought to focus on the root term to arrive at the correct definition.Campbell then concludes that since the root word, â€Å"bapto† can only mean immerse or dip. It is then easy to conclude that baptism is immersion or submersion into something and not to be poured or sprinkled with something. Pupose of Baptism Now that it has been made crystal clear the fact that baptism should be the immersion of a believer's whole body into a body of water preferably a running stream or river. But if the only source of water is the swimming pool or the nearby beach then this will do as long as the whole person is submerged and his or her body surrounded by water.This is a very crucial aspect of the baptism because there are two principles that are being demonstrated each an d every time a believer goes through the process of water baptism. The first principle is with regards to the symbolic representation of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. As the a person is submerged to water it mimics the death of Christ and when the same rises up exultantly out of the water it is symbolic of Christ's victory over the grave. Now, the second principle of Christian living that is demonstrated in water baptism concerns the washing of filth through the water of his Word.Death and Resurrection to Glory The water – which is deep enough to totally cover the whole body when submerged – it acts as a representation of the grave upon which Christ was buried. It now serves as the new believer's â€Å"grave† so to speak. As the person is dipped into the water, the person dies to himself and to the world. And when the person is raised up from the water, this action is symbolic of Jesus resurrection from the grave and therefore the person a lso rises with him.

ACT Prep Strategies If You Have a Low Test Score but High GPA

SAT / ACT Prep Strategies If You Have a Low Test Score but High GPA SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Do you have a high GPA, perform well in school, but can’t seem to do well on the SAT / ACT? This is a common pattern, and there are certain strategies that work especially well for you.First, we'll figure out why this is happening to you, and, depending on the reason, suggest ways to improve your SAT / ACT score.Second, we’ll go over what a high GPA but low SAT / ACT score signals to colleges and how to counter that signal. Academic Performance: The Missing Puzzle Piece Between GPA and SAT / ACT Score Many students and parents believe that only SAT / ACT scores and GPA make up a person's academics. After all, college admissions officers often use these two numbers to comprise the whole of high school academics. However, missing from this picture is a hidden variable: academic performance. Academic performance measures how skilled and strong a student is in a fair classroom setting compared to all students in the United States. You can think of academic performance as the percentile that you would get if you were in one huge class with all students in the USA. Unlike GPA, academic performance is a percentile measure, so there's no grade inflation. Because you’re in the same class as the rest of the USA, there is no such thing as an â€Å"easy class† or an â€Å"easy school district.† Unlike SAT / ACT scores, academic performance is not just based on a test. Instead, it’s based on projects, discussions, effort, and everything else that goes into learning. Colleges care about underlying academic performance more than GPA or SAT / ACT scores. Academic performance gets at the core of what colleges want to know: whether you will do well academically when you get to their school. Colleges think GPAs are imperfect because they depend too much on your school district and teachers. They also think SAT / ACT scores are imperfect because academics is not all about tests. However, they can’t measure academic performance directly, so they have to infer it from GPA and SAT/ACT scores. If you are prepping for the SAT / ACT, it's important for you to know your true academic performancebefore you begin applying to colleges. Having an accurate idea of your academic performance will enable you to develop a much more effective test prep plan. For example, if your true academic performance is high, yet your SAT score is low, then you should focus on improving your test-taking strategies because it is likely that a few strategic points are holding you back. However, if your academic performance is low, then focusing on strategy likely won't improve your score. Instead, you want to focus more on content. The point is that your true academic performance is also important for you to know! For most students, the three factors of 1) GPA, 2) academic performance, and 3) SAT / ACT scores move together most of the time. If you’re a student who is smart, studies hard, and knows all the content, this will mean you generally have: A high GPA, since you do well in class and get good grades. Good academic performance, since you’d do well even pooled with all US students. A high SAT / ACT score, since you know the content and have prepped enough. In statistics, we say that these three factors are usually highly correlated, or move together most of the time: Ideally, all three factors move together (with only minor discrepancies) because they are related. In reality, the three may be disconnected, but often not by very much. Therefore, usually both you and colleges can tell true academic performance. If you have a high GPA and high SAT/ACT score, it more than likely means you’re a high performer, and vice versa. There is a problem when your GPA is high, but your SAT / ACT score is low. You have mixed signals. How do colleges, or even you, know whether your true academic performance is high or low? When GPA is higher than SAT / ACT score, it’s important to figure out where your true academic performance lies. In this situation, there are some steps you need to follow to find a solution. First, you need to figure out your true academic performance. Knowing your true academic performance will help you prep in the most effective way. We have guidelines below to help you figure out how well you're performing academically. After you learn your true academic performance and prep for the SAT / ACT, your scores may either go up to match your GPA, or they may still fall short of your GPA. In the latter case, it's important to show colleges that your true performance is high- and we'll tell you how to do that too! How to Tell Where Your Academic Performance Really Is Okay, so you have a high GPA and a low SAT / ACT score. How do you tell where your true academic performance is?A good way is to start with your GPA, which is high. We’ll then examine whether your GPA matches your academic performance or is overstating your academic performance. The Most Common Reasons GPA Overstates Academic Performance The most common reasons a high GPA can overstate academic performance are grade inflation and a weak school district. You should begin by examining these two factors. As illustrated in the diagram below,grade inflation reflects the fact that the average grade has been going up over time. While a B average (3.0 unweighted GPA) may have been way above average several decades ago, today, in many schools, it’s far below average. Therefore, that B average, that 3.0 GPA, may not be as high as you think. I have seen a school where getting a 4.5 weighted GPA put you below the average. (It turns out that, at this school, everyone was taking APs, and the AP teachers gave out almost all A’s regardless of performance.) The Department of Education reports more than a .30 increase in high school GPAs in less than 20 years. To learn if grade inflation is skewing your academic performance, you should examine whether your GPA is relatively high compared to your entire grade.You can introspect on this, or you can just ask your guidance counselor for your rank in your class. If your guidance counselor doesn’t have a rank for you, ask 10 of your friends what their GPA is and compare their answers against yours. Remember, since true academic performance is relative to the other students in the USA, you need make your GPA high relative to other current students' (and not on some internal intuitive scale where 3.0 counts as great)! Using your exact rank above, or by asking your friends, you can get a rough idea of your GPA percentile. If you’re ranked 50 out of 200 people in your grade, then you’re 75th percentile. If you ask 10 friends and 5 are below your GPA, then you are 50th percentile. Is your GPA percentile much lower than you thought? If so, that’s a sign of low academic performance. Likewise, is your GPA percentile around the same range as your low SAT / ACT percentile? If so, again, chances are your academic performance is actually low. The second reason that a high GPA can overstate academic performance, even if your class rank is good, is due to a weak school district. By a weak school district, I mean that the average student in your school district is not academically that strong. Sometimes you have a sense of this - you might realize your school district isn’t particularly renowned in your state. However, one way to be sure is to check your school’s average SAT or ACT scores (you can often find this by Googling â€Å"[Your School Name] Average SAT ACT score† or asking your guidance counselor). If they’re lower than 500 per section for the SAT, or 20 for the ACT, then that’s a sign you’re in a weaker school district. If your school’s average SAT score is below 450, and their ACT score is below 18, then it’s likely that, even if your GPA percentile is good, your academic performance compared to the rest of the US is not strong. High GPA? Use the table below to figure out your academic performance Factor Considered Signs of Low Academic Performance Signs of High Academic Performance GPA Percentile: Compute using your school rank. GPA percentile is lower than you expected. GPA percentile is similar to your low SAT/ACT percentile. GPA Percentile matches what you expected. GPA percentile is much higher (20% or more) than your SAT/ACT percentile. School District Strength: Compute using your district’s average SAT / ACT score. Your district’s average SAT score is lower than 450 per section, or ACT score is lower than 18. The lower the average score, the weaker the district likely is. Your district’s SAT score is higher than 500 per section, or their ACT score is higher than 20. The higher the better. Introspecting Other Factors There are more signs that you can use to learn whether your high GPA is reflecting a high academic performance or whether your high GPA is misrepresenting a low academic performance. The key here is to introspect ona number of other factors, some of which will be similar to those above, and others which will be quite different. Introspecting just means looking at yourself honestly. In order to be honest, you have to be critical and accept the fact that you may have flaws. You must also have confidence that there are certain parts of you that are genuinely strong. Introspecting other factors can also tell you whether your true academic performance is high or not. Since this sort of qualitative introspection is very fuzzy, there is no hard line for whether your academic performance is high or not. Use each of the factors below as a weight. As you look through these lists, think about how you feel when you take the SAT / ACT, and, when you answer questions incorrectly, what the most common causes of those mistakes are. It may help to do some practice problems or review an old exam. It may also help to look at your high school transcript and think about the grades you got, how easy it was to get those grades, and how well you understood the material those classes covered. If you have a high GPA and low SAT / ACT score, these factors suggest HIGHreal academic performance: You find yourself especially anxious or nervous during the test. You find that, when you take the test unofficially in a realistic environment, your top score in a section (e.g. math) across many practice tests is much higher than your math score on a real administration of the SAT / ACT. I don’t mean 50 points better, but 120 points or more (on the SAT scale). This is a sign that your skill is actually high, but, during the actual exam, you run into some test-format trouble. You find that, when you give yourself just 20-30% extra time in an unofficial setting, your score shoots up by more than 100 points per section. You spend a lot of time during the SAT / ACT on questions that are much too hard for your skill level. Therefore, you end up putting a lot of time into questions you don’t get right anyway. The SAT / ACT is one of the few tests you do poorly in. On other exams, like in-class tests, AP tests, etc., you perform very well. You misread numbers and words a lot on the SAT / ACT, getting questions wrong even though you know the answer. Don’t count this factor if you genuinely are confused about the meaning of the words or numbers. You didn’t study at all for the SAT / ACT (less than 5 hours). You don’t study for the SAT / ACT because you find SAT / ACT study irresistibly boring. If you have a high GPA and low SAT / ACT score, these factors suggest LOWreal academic performance: Your classes give out a lot of A+, A, and A-s. Your school district is a weaker school district and, therefore, gives higher grades relative to objective skill. Your high grades are due to an easy teacher. Your high grades are due to pressuring the school (such as nagging your teacher for re-grades, parent pressure through PTA or Board of Education). You take easy classes to get better grades. The average GPA of your school is high. You are using the â€Å"weighted GPA† that goes as high as 4.33 or 5.00 but comparing it against unweighted GPAs (perfect students get a 4.00). Your GPA looks high compared to your school rank. Your grades / GPA were a lot lower at another school that didn’t have the properties above. You don’t feel more nervous than the average student during the SAT / ACT. Your classroom (non-SAT/ACT) test scores generally reflect your overall grade in a class and how well you understand the material. In other words, you don’t do particularly poorly on tests in class. You get a lot of questions wrong due to not knowing the underlying concept (e.g. what is volume of a three-dimensional shape, what the grammar rules for parallel construction are etc.) After reviewing these two lists, you should have a good idea of whether your academic performance is low or high. If you have qualities from both lists, figure out which list you have more factors in or which factors you feel have the biggest impact. For either case, we have specific advice for you. If you've found that your academic performance is high, start reading the next section. However, if your academic performance is actually low, skip down two sections for advice specifically tailored to you. How to Prep If Your Academic Performance Is Actually High If your academic performance is high, the good news is that you may have an easier time prepping because you only need to focus on test-taking skills, which are relatively fast to learn. You don’t have to worry about learning academic content, which is usually a slow slog. Also, even if you don’t get your SAT / ACT fully up to your GPA, you have many options to truthfully signal that you are actually an academic high-performer, which can convince colleges to place less significance on your SAT / ACT scores. Your SAT / ACT prep, however; will be quite different from that of an average student’s. Most average students are facing issues on all fronts with respect to the ACT / SAT. They need a little bit of work on content, a bit on timing, a bit on carelessness, and a bit on anxiety. However, for you, it is much more likely that there is one or, at most, two non-content issues holding you back. It is important to identify those issues specifically and focus on them. I had one student who was brilliant at math and could explain the most difficult ACT problem to me in person with no problem. But his scores all came back quite low for his skill. He wasn’t nervous about the test. He never ran out of time. It turns out that he was making a ton of careless mistakes. He understood all the problems and could solve them quickly, but he was just sloppy. I tailored a tactic specific to his situation: I asked him to read each question twice, and underline keywords. After trying that, he immediately scored a 35 (out of 36) on the next ACT. The above example likely illustrates the situation you are in.You have a singular non-content issue holding you back, and everything else is good. In these cases, I would absolutely not use a class or a book- these two options are much too one-size-fits-all. I would use a method that can properly identify and solve the issue, such as introspective self-study, a program that customizes to your needs (like PrepScholar Online Prep), or a skilled tutor who can find your one major weakness (like PrepScholar Tutoring). I will help you identify a few common weak spots for high academic performers with low SAT / ACT scores. For each one I’ll tell you how to identify the weak spot and what to do about it. Carelessness Carelessness is knowing the contents of a question, but making an error purely based on a lapse of attention. Misreading â€Å"integer† as â€Å"real number† counts as a careless error, forgetting what â€Å"integer† means is not a careless error. How to Identify:You know the answer to a question but just misread a number or a word. This is frequently overdiagnosed, so I recommend a more rigorous diagnosis method: Imagine answering the question with as much time as you needed and only starting your work after you've read the question three times over. Would you have avoided the mistake you made? If so, it’s a true careless error. Otherwise, this might be a content error that you’re brushing off as careless. Misreading `cat` as `rat’ is a careless error (clearly you know the difference between the two if you thought about it). Mistakingâ€Å"ambivalent† for â€Å"ambiguous† is rarely a careless error (most students actually don’t have the definitions of both words memorized). What causes carelessness? The main causes are reading too quickly and not focusing on the details. This often causes you to misread the question and thus answer it incorrectly. How to Solve:Do a few practice tests where you give yourself double time. Spend this extra time reading each question twice and underlining keywords. Be paranoid that your eyes might be playing tricks on you. Write down more steps of your thought process than you normally would (in algebra avoid bunching multiple operations into a single line). If carelessness is the true issue behind your low scores, you should see your score increasing as you apply these steps. Once these methods become a common habit, you should be able to apply them more quickly and easily. Begin reducing your time by 25% for each practice exam until you can take an entire practice exam in the standard amount of time while still minimizing the number of careless errors you make. For additional help, look at my strategies for carelessness in my article on SAT / ACT prep for high scorers. Running Out of Time How to Identify:During the middle of taking a section, you feel fine. (If you feel panicked during the middle of a section, refer to the section on anxiety below.) However, as time runs out on the section, you feel more rushed, and, when time is finally called, you’re leaving a lot of low-hanging fruit on the table. For example, during a real test you often find you have correct answers that you just didn’t have 20 seconds to bubble in, or there were still really easy questions that you didn’t get to. How to Solve:There are two strategies to try. First, do a practice test with 50% more time than you’re usually allocated, and see how much your score increases over normal. This provides an upper bound for how much your score can possibly increase. Make sure this increase is worthwhile and what you expect. If it is, then you know that learning better time management skills will raise your exam score. There are many ways to improve your timing skills, but the two major tips you should be using are becoming familiar with the exam and learning when to skip questions. The best way to get familiar with the SAT / ACT is to practice. By regularly completing practice tests or quizzes, you’ll become more familiar with the exam format, how questions are worded, and tricks you can use to find the correct answer more quickly. However, this information will only help if you don’t allow yourself to waste time struggling to answer questions you don’t understand. Therefore, you also need to learn to move on if you don’t know how to solve a problem. If you’ve stared at a problem for 30 seconds and have no idea how to solve it, move on and come back to it at the end if you have more time. Struggling with a single challenging question can eat up a lot of time and cause you to not get to other questions you might have been able to answer much more easily. After you have begun using the above tips, try the following strategy. Suppose you’re given 30 minutes to finish a section. Split the 30 minutes into the first 25 minutes and the last 5 minutes. Aim to finish the section in the first 25 minutes. After the first 25 minutes are done, stop your normal progress on the test. Instead, step back and reassess what the lowest-hanging fruit at this point is- bubbling in answers, reviewing that really easy question you made a careless mistake on, or doing one more question later on that you saw was easy. Do NOT try to make standard progress on the test anymore. See how much your score improves using this method. You should understand that the SAT / ACT is a timed test, and you will always feel time pressure (I’ve gotten perfect scores, and I still feel immense time pressure). The only thing you can do is make sure the time pressure is not preventing you from getting the lowest-hanging fruit. Anxiety Anxiety is primarily an emotional response, not a logical response. If you find that you’re not panicked or stressed during large parts of the test, anxiety is probably not the cause. The worst sufferers of anxiety are overcome with emotion just thinking about the exam. A clear sign you have anxiety is if you don’t spend most of the test time thinking about the questions themselves. Instead, you spend all your time thinking about the fact that you’re taking a test. How to Identify: Anxiety is relatively easy to diagnose. Usually, students with test anxiety will score substantially (200 points on SAT, 10 points on the ACT) better if they are asked the questions verbally with no time pressure. To test this, instead of doing a timed test, have someone read the questions to you (while you have a paper copy for reference), so you can think through the problem out loud. How to Solve: Fixing anxiety is relatively hard compared to diagnosing it. In fact, there are entire fields of psychology focused on the issue of anxiety in different contexts. However, there are definite steps that you can take. The first step is physiological: taking control of your body. Try taking deep breaths between each page flip to calm yourself down. Try meditation before the test and a mini-meditation during breaks. Also, if appropriate, check with your primary care doctor to see if you actually have a clinical medical issue with anxiety. I always hate to go from academic performance into medical territory, but I’ve seen students with extreme anxiety issues who perform better after their doctor found it was actually a medical issue and prescribed beta-blockers to eliminate the anxiety. Second, you have to attack the cognitive part of anxiety. A core reason that anxiety exists cognitively is because you are focusing too much on yourself. You are spending too much time thinking about you taking the test or doing badly on the test. You are obsessed with concepts of yourself. Instead, do everything you can to direct attention away from yourself. Pay attention to what the room looks like. Then, pay attention to the question, how it’s typeseton the page. Finally, pay attention to what the question is asking. You need to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about the question at hand. As part of reducing cognitive anxiety, it may help to try to predict what horrible things will happen if you don’t do well on the test. Write these predictions down on paper. You might say â€Å"parents will be very upset; never want to talk to me again,† or â€Å"my academics are ruined.† Then, if you don’t do well, compare that with what actually happens. Turns out, surprise surprise, parents get over it, and you always have the chance to take the test again. You’ll find that your worst fears are not true at all if you write them down beforehand and compare them to what happens. Finally, a tip for actually taking the test. Definitely do the easiest questions first, and give yourself some time to do them. The easiest questions will build your confidence and let you realize that the test can be done. You may not get all the problems, or even get to all the problems, butthat’s totally fine as long as long as you’re making progress during the exam. If you feel the anxiety is caused by being unfamiliar with the test, you should also try taking a few practice tests under as realistic conditions as possible. For some students, this familiarity and exposure reduce anxiety by a lot. If you suffer from anxiety, there are multiple ways for you to improve your test scores. Lack of Preparation for Standardized Tests How to Identify: This issue is the easiest to identify. If you’ve spent less than five hours studying for the test, then you’ve essentially had no preparation for the SAT / ACT. In fact, taking the actual SAT / ACT probably takes more than five hours if you add in transportation time and waiting for the exam to begin, so if you haven't even spent that much time studying for the test, you really haven't begun studying yet. How to Solve: Fortunately, this is also the easiest issue to fix as well as the item most worth fixing. After all, the first few hours you put into ACT / SAT prep will be the most efficient hours you’ll ever spend getting into college. In no other item on the college app can you just put in 20 to 80 hours and tremendously boost your admission chances. If you want to just tick off the box, gather a couple of practice tests and do them. That will get you past the five-hour minimum mark and get your score up effectively. However, if you want to boost your score by more than just a few points, you’ll want to invest in a real program. There are many valid programs out there, and our own program, PrepScholar, lets you prepare easily online. Lack of Motivation to Prepare for Standardized Tests How to Identify: You have at least tried to prepare, but you’ve found it incredibly daunting. Whenever you begin SAT / ACT prep, you find yourself bored. You make excuses to do anything else instead of SAT / ACT studying. How to Solve: This is a very important issue to overcome. If the student is not internally motivated to do well on the test, he or she will not improve much! (I also am presuming here that you, dear reader, are not personally the student because even reading this far into this article shows some baseline motivation.) In this case, examine what has motivated the student in the past. Beating his classmates? Making her parents proud? Getting a monetary reward? The best motivation is if the student wants to go to a good college or get scholarships. However, at this point, anything is fair game. Think about the ways the student has been motivated before and if these same motivators can be used to convince him to prepare more for the SAT / ACT. Talk to him about the ways a high test score can personally benefit him (can get into a better college which can lead to better job prospects, potentially avoid tens of thousands of dollars of student debt etc.) If this doesn’t work, you may want to consider hiring a tutor so the student is interacting regularly with someone who has experience with this issue and can hold him accountable. How to Solve All of These Issues In order to solve any of these above issues, you need to correctly identify it. It’s important that you go through a diagnostic phase first and figure out exactly what your weakness is. Getting treatment for the wrong problem won’t help you at all. Worse, it can hurt you when you don’t see your score improve and get discouraged. The tips above will help you identify the issues and find the right solution. However, if you'd like the solution found automatically, you can look into our Online Prep program where we leverage the data we collected through helping tens of thousands of students succeed on standardized tests. We automatically find your area of weakness and drill it away, which is especially useful if there are only one or two strategic areas you are weak in, like test anxiety or carelessness. How to Prep if Your Academic Performance Is Low If your academic performance is low, the bad news is that improving on the SAT / ACT will be more difficult. However, the good news is that the advice and steps you need to follow for the SAT / ACT are more standard for you. In this case, you don’t have any special weakness with the SAT / ACT. You don’t likely have many anxiety or test format issues that you’ll need special prep to overcome. For one reason or another, your GPA appears higher than it would for other students in the same ACT / SAT position as you. Your high GPA doesn’t make your study plan any different from that of an average student with a low SAT / ACT score. Thus, you should follow the standard guide for students with low SAT / ACT scores. We have many great guides for those with lower SAT / ACT scores who want to go higher, and I’d strongly recommend going through all of them: For the SAT, we have a general guide for raising your SAT score 160+ points, as well as guides for getting at least a 600 on each of the three main sections: Math, Reading, and Writing and Language. Similarly, for the ACT, we have a guide for raising your composite score 4+ points and guides for the Math, Science, Reading, and English sections. One thing you should make sure you do is complete some rigorous SAT / ACT prep. If your GPA is high and your SAT / ACT score is low, then it’s best to prevent the latter from marring colleges’ interpretations of your application. Time and time again, we’ve seen that SAT / ACT scores improve the fastest in the first 40 or so hours. Therefore, I would recommend at least studying that much for the SAT / ACT. Even if your academic performance is moderate, you can still improve your SAT / ACT scores through study, which will make your application look much stronger. Of course, if you’ve put 40, 100 hours, or more into SAT / ACT prep and your SAT / ACT score is still low, then the fact that you’ve diagnosed yourself as a low academic performer tells you exactly what to do: improve on your baseline content and academics. You can do this in many ways: General Strategies: Use an SAT / ACT program with a lot of content focus. Our PrepScholar Online SAT / ACT program devotes more than 50% of lesson time to baseline content and academics. Get a good tutor to teach you the underlying topics. Set aside a certain number of hours a week to improve your baseline content. Having a set schedule will make it easier and more likely for you to complete your studying. Math/Science Strategies: Review your math textbook, and ask for extra help if needed. Ensure that you’ve covered all the math topics on the SAT / ACT. Usually, these tests don’t cover very difficult topics like calculus or matrices, so choose classes that overlap with what the SAT / ACT covers. Focus part of your studying specifically on graphs, what information they provide, and how to interpret them. You can use examples specifically for test prep or study graphs you’ve used or seen in class. If you’re taking the ACT, brush up on geometry as well as algebra, since the ACT tests geometry much more than the SAT does. If you’re taking the SAT, it will still benefit you to know some geometry, but the majority of math problems will be on algebra, so focus most of your studying there. Reading/English/Writing Strategies: Develop your reading skills by reading often and using concepts like theme, tone, etc. to analyze the text. If you’re more comfortable with fiction or narrative writing, broaden your skills by reading more scientific passages, and vice versa. Learn the major grammar rules the SAT / ACT tests so you can nail those questions on the exam. Review some vocabulary lists so you’re more likely to be familiar with words you come across on the exam. Ask your English teacher for feedback on essays you’ve written and ways you can improve. To summarize, if you find that your true academic performance is low, then your SAT / ACT prep process is very standard. Use our numerous guides to help yourself improve. You should also look into our PrepScholar Online Prep program How to Apply to College With a High GPA but Low Test Score The above advice examined why you had low SAT / ACT scores but a high GPA. By using the missing puzzle piece of academic performance, we gave you different advice depending on your situation. Now, hopefully, after following the advice above, your ACT / SAT score will have risen to par with your GPA. After all, the best way to solve this situation is not to find excuses, but to actually improve your SAT / ACT score, so that will always be the best option.However, in case your SAT / ACT score still hasn’t increased as much as you want, this section gives you advice on how to apply to college. This section is also useful to read even before you begin SAT / ACT prep to see how an improved test score can bypass this problem entirely. Having a high GPA but low SAT / ACT score at least is better than a low GPA and low SAT / ACT score. Of course, it’s not as good as having both a high GPA and high SAT / ACT score. For colleges, a high GPA but low SAT / ACT score sends mixed signals - one indicates that your academic performance is high while the other indicates your academic performance is low. Just like above, where we explained how to figure out your true academic performance, colleges will also be seeking your true academic performance.The major difference in this situation is, regardless of your internal assessment, it is always more favorable for you to signal higher academic performance. Conversely, you want to avoid mistakenly signalinglow academic performance. On one hand, colleges hope that you’re truthfully a high academic performer, just not good on the ACT / SAT. Maybe you just dislike tests or don’t do well on â€Å"aptitude tests† like the SAT (versus content tests like the APs). Maybe the SAT / ACT stresses you out. The more you can emphasize this picture, the better you will do. On the other hand, colleges are afraid that you might, at the core, be a mediocre academic performer - that your SAT / ACT score is telling the truth, and your GPA is the one that’s fibbing. After all, GPAs are very difficult to compare across different classes, different teachers, and different schools. The entire reason colleges rely on ACT / SAT scores in the first place is to have a uniform way to measure students across all their environmental variation. Colleges are thus afraid that the high GPA is due to it being goosed up through one or more of so many possibilities: taking easy classes, getting in the teacher's’ good graces, being from an easy school district, or dozens of other ways that GPAs can be artificially raised. The more you can deemphasize this picture, the better you’ll do. To emphasize that your SAT / ACT scores don’t represent your true ability, and your GPA isn’t artificially high, here are some tips: Take classes with standardized tests and curriculum. The IB (International Baccalaureate)or similar program is the best. The grading is not all test based, yet it is standardized, so doing well on this really tells colleges that your high GPA is legitimate. Take other standardized tests, like the AP tests, or competitions like AMC. If you do well on these they definitely are effective at taking the sting off low standardized test scores. However, be aware that, on these tests you may likely suffer from the same issues that caused your low ACT / SAT scores. Have teachers vouch for your top performance, emphasizing that your performance is excellent relative to classmates, that your school is a high performing school, and most importantly, your performance is high relative to students at strongschools the teacher has taught at. Take classes at your local college.The better you can do in a college class relative to the college’s difficulty, the better you’ll be able to prove your skills are high. Perform in nationwide competitions to show that, face-to-face, you rank high. (If the following is somewhat true for you): Emphasize in your essay that your school is a difficult one, it’s ranked highly in the state, and that you have a high rank in the school. Take classes at highly-ranked neighboring high schools and show high grades in these classes. Consider preparing especially for the interview and essay portion of the college application. These items have a large impact on college admissions, and many students who are not especially strong on tests tend to do stellar on these. How will your signaling change if you’re actually a high academic performer versus a low academic performer? Well for one, high academic performers will have a much easier time doing the tasks above because they’ll be able to use their underlying skill to achieve it. However, since the abovesignalingis beneficial, everyone should attempt it whether they classify themselves as a high or low performer.In fact, you can even say that your ability to accomplish the above (e.g. IB classes) in some ways partially makes you a high performer. Your Real Performance and Overplacing Into Colleges What sort of college should you apply toif you have a high GPA but low SAT / ACT scores? The answer is that your competitiveness level will be about halfway between your GPA level and SAT / ACT level. After all, many colleges weigh GPA and SAT/ACT by similar amounts in admissions. For example, if your GPA puts you at the median of a US News rank 10 school, but your ACT puts you in the middle of a US News rank 70 school, you would be competitive at a rank 40 school or so. Note, however, that you’ll have a wider spread, a wider variability to which schools accept you. Some higher ranked schools (especially progressive private schools) might forgive the low ACT score, while other lower ranked schools (especially public state schools) may be quite strict. Finally, you might be wondering about overplacement. Suppose you’re a low academic performer, but using our stellar techniques above, you are able to achieve a school leaps beyond what you would otherwise be able to. Would it be a mistake to go to a school beyond where you otherwise could have gone? On an ethical front, you need to make sure what you say above is true. Not lying in your application, not saying your school is difficult when it is easy, is not only the ethical thing to do, it’s also the operationally smart thing to do because college admissions officers have a ton of data at their disposal. For the best experience for yourself, it is important not to overplace into one particular type of college: the difficult, grind-you-down sort of college. In these colleges, if you get there, and you don’t belong, you run a huge risk of flunking your classes, feeling bad, and not learning. Fortunately, it’s easy to tell which colleges are bad to overplace into: look at the graduation rate of the colleges. Any overall graduation rate under 90% is a huge red flag - these are schools that will chew you up and spit you out if you don’t meet their academic rigor. Do not overplace into these. Conversely, schools with graduation rates above 95% will likely baby you through - these colleges tend to tolerateoverplacement a lot better. Time for a personal story: many of my friends went to theUniversity of Chicago, a notoriously difficult university. I saw them pull all-nighters, recount stories of classmates being expelled for failing, and havepeople generally being pushed to their academic limit. Even the average student was having a hardtime meeting academic goals; I can only imagine an under-qualified student completely floundering in a school as punishing as UChicago. Now, I went to Harvard College, and the mythical motto there (with a huge dollop of truth) is that it’s hard to get in, but once you do, anyone can graduate. With an overall graduation rate of above 97% recently, this is completely true. Classmate didn’t fulfill a few requirements? I saw my college drop these requirements like flies. Flunking Algebraic Topology? Take â€Å"Magic with Numbers† instead. If you overplaced into Harvard, chances are you’d have a decent time all around, and you’d benefit from the educa tion and degree. The point is, you should focus on the overall graduation rate if you fear the consequences of overplacing. Parting Thoughts Just to reemphasize one final time, the strategies in the previous sections for applying with a low SAT / ACT score are only a band-aid for the underlying problem. If you have a fire in your house, the above tells you how to minimize damage. It’s much better to not have a fire in your house in the first place. Likewise, If you’re high in GPA but low in SAT / ACT, the absolute best solution is to bring up your SAT / ACT score. If you haven’t prepared at all - putting in 40 hours either by yourself or with a highly rated program is the first thing you should do right now! What's Next? Wondering how to start studying?Read aboutthe pros and cons of each type of test prep and learn which method is the best for you. Want to learnwhat your current test score is?Take a practice test! Checkout our official SAT practice tests and official ACT practice tests. Looking for some quick ways to boost your score?Check out ourguides to learn 15 tips forraising your SAT score and your ACT score.