“I can usually tell where a response is going after the first half page.” –Brian
As much as we can hate it, first impressions say a lot and usually stick. The same goes for a reader’s first impression of an essay. How you lay out your argument in the first few paragraphs frames not just how the reader views your paper, but also his or her impression of you as the writer. Convince the reader that you are an intelligent writer that knows your stuff, and they will give you the benefit of the doubt for the rest of the paper. Even some mediocre paragraphs in the body can appear stellar in the reader’s mind if the lens through which they view them is tainted rose by the good impression you made on them earlier. Conversely, it becomes an uphill battle to dig yourself out of a bad impression if your first imprint on the reader was a poor one. Keep your first paragraph clear, organized and confident about the goals you intend to achieve in your body.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Insider Exam Tips: #1 Make it Nice
Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down and interview several exam graders from Harvard and Columbia. For the next five days I'll be relating some of the strategies that came out in the interviews for doing well on exams.
#1 Make it nice:
“I’m human, I usually save most of the grading for the last night. By the third hour or so I’m usually seeing double from reading so many handwritten scribbles.” –Julie
For two identical responses-- if there is any bias on behalf of the reader--the one that appears cleaner and neater is going to get the better grade. It’s human nature to favor the more aesthetically pleasing responses, so make sure yours is neat. Try to write as neatly as possible given the time constraints. For those of us (like myself) who were not blessed with neat handwriting, there are other things which can have a big effect on presentation: skip every other line in your response, keep wide margins and use pen. Also, when crossing out words, a single stroke through the line will suffice: “your misspelled words are not national secrets; you don’t have to completely annihilate your mistakes with so much pen that it bleeds through to the other side.”
#1 Make it nice:
“I’m human, I usually save most of the grading for the last night. By the third hour or so I’m usually seeing double from reading so many handwritten scribbles.” –Julie
For two identical responses-- if there is any bias on behalf of the reader--the one that appears cleaner and neater is going to get the better grade. It’s human nature to favor the more aesthetically pleasing responses, so make sure yours is neat. Try to write as neatly as possible given the time constraints. For those of us (like myself) who were not blessed with neat handwriting, there are other things which can have a big effect on presentation: skip every other line in your response, keep wide margins and use pen. Also, when crossing out words, a single stroke through the line will suffice: “your misspelled words are not national secrets; you don’t have to completely annihilate your mistakes with so much pen that it bleeds through to the other side.”
Friday, October 23, 2009
A little background about me
I'm Michael. I graduated last May from Columbia University with a degree in Economics. During my time in school, I tutored privately as well as volunteered my time serving as a mentor for high school students in Harlem through a fantastic program called Peer Health Exchange. One of the most amazing things I found when working through this dichotomy of social strata was that what mattered most for students' success, be they in a rich private school or a disadvantaged public school was their motivation and confidence on their exams.
For all the hype about higher-education, what college taught me best was not facts and information, but effective ways of organizing and parsing information. The workload every day at Columbia was more than anyone could ever hope accomplish in a 24-hour period, so I developed ways to prioritize and condense what I had to know so that it was much more manageable. By graduation-time, that was probably my best skill.
As the end of the year approached, I had less and less time for the tutoring. In the last two weeks of school, the mother of one of the kids I tutored asked me if I could do several sessions in a row in order to help her son get ready for the AP exams he had to take at the end of the year. Between finals and preparing for graduation, I had to tell her I didn't have any spare time. She asked me if maybe I might be able to write down some of the testing techniques that I used at Columbia and she could purchase them for me.
It became clear to me that the techniques I had developed over 6 years of education were not only effective, but in demand by others to learn as well. The edition I sent to her was expanded, amended and built on until I arrived at the final edition I have now. It took almost 5 months to produce, but I think it was worth it.
I'll be updating this blog with segments from the book, as well as things which I didn't include in there. For the full exam study tips and study skills guide, visit http://www.examstudytips.com
For all the hype about higher-education, what college taught me best was not facts and information, but effective ways of organizing and parsing information. The workload every day at Columbia was more than anyone could ever hope accomplish in a 24-hour period, so I developed ways to prioritize and condense what I had to know so that it was much more manageable. By graduation-time, that was probably my best skill.
As the end of the year approached, I had less and less time for the tutoring. In the last two weeks of school, the mother of one of the kids I tutored asked me if I could do several sessions in a row in order to help her son get ready for the AP exams he had to take at the end of the year. Between finals and preparing for graduation, I had to tell her I didn't have any spare time. She asked me if maybe I might be able to write down some of the testing techniques that I used at Columbia and she could purchase them for me.
It became clear to me that the techniques I had developed over 6 years of education were not only effective, but in demand by others to learn as well. The edition I sent to her was expanded, amended and built on until I arrived at the final edition I have now. It took almost 5 months to produce, but I think it was worth it.
I'll be updating this blog with segments from the book, as well as things which I didn't include in there. For the full exam study tips and study skills guide, visit http://www.examstudytips.com
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Blog component of Exam Study Tips .com
Hey everybody,
This is the new blog home for www.examstudytips.com . Someday I'll figure out how to build the blog into the website, but this will have to do in the meantime. Check back for updates!
This is the new blog home for www.examstudytips.com . Someday I'll figure out how to build the blog into the website, but this will have to do in the meantime. Check back for updates!
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