The Ultimate SAT Study Guide for SAT Prep

The Ultimate SAT Study Guide for SAT Prep SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips At PrepScholar, we've writtenthe largest set of high-quality SAT guides available, covering pretty much everything you need to know to improve your score on the SAT. They're all free and online, right here on our blog, and we think they beat any book you can purchase. This guide, our Ultimate SAT Prep Study Guide, combines our most important SAT guides on one page. If you master all of the concepts linked to on this page, use them in your own practice and studying, and stay motivated to work hard, you'll have an amazing shot at improving your SAT score. Essentially, you'll have a huge advantage over students who don't know this information and lack the motivation to employ it in their own studying. First we'll cover how to use this guide. We'll then go through, section by section, what's important for you to know. Here's an outline of what's coming next: How to Use This SAT Study Guide Intro to the SAT The Right Mindset for SAT Prep SAT Content and Strategies Overall SAT Test Strategy SAT Reading Prep Guides SAT Writing Prep Guides SAT Math Prep Guides SAT Essay Prep Guides SAT Logistics and Planning How to Use This SAT StudyGuide This guide contains the information we believe is most important for all students taking the SAT to know. It's ordered roughly in the sequence we recommend reading the articles in. This guide also serves as a launching point for further reading. Many of these links will direct you to pages with more links, and you should explore the resources we link to that you find helpful. There's a lot to read here, and you probably won't be able to do it all in one sitting. If you find this guide helpful, bookmark this page or email it to yourself to remind yourself to come back to it later. You'll notice as you read further that we cover a lot more than just test content, which is where most students tend to focus too much of their time. Rather, we also cover test strategy, mindset, behavior and motivation, and planning in the context of college admissions. If you're serious about improving your SAT score, you need a lot of information. It's not just about SAT test content- you also need to master test strategy so that you can apply your foundational knowledge to the specific format of the SAT. You need to have the right mindset as you approach the test and understand the perspective of the College Board, the SAT's creator. You need to stay motivated to be able to push through the dark days when you don't feel like doing SAT prep. You also need to consider what your college goals are, find an SAT score target that's right for you, and plan the logistics of taking the SAT. I encourage you to even read the guides about subjects you feel like you already know. In the worst case, you'll just spend 10 minutes refreshing important concepts. In the best case, you'll learn a new aspect of SAT prep that can have a big impact on how you study. Intro to the SAT If you're a beginner in SAT prep, it's important to understand the format of the SAT, what's tested, and how it works. This section will give you a strong foundation to help you understand the test more deeply. Complete Guide to the New SAT The SAT underwent a huge transformation in 2016, so it's important to know the basics about the test and its format. What kinds of sections are on it? What do questions look like? Start building your foundation here. What's Actually Tested on the SAT Reading Section? SAT Reading Skills What's Tested on the SAT Math Section? Topics and Practice What's Tested on the SAT Writing Section? Grammar and Questions Next, learn what's tested on each of the three sections on the SAT: Reading, Math, and Writing and Language. Each of these guides covers the format of the section, question types, and the skills you'll need to have to do well. How Is the SAT Scored? Scoring Charts You know that your SAT score will likely be an important part of college admissions. But how is the test graded to arrive at a final score out of 1600? What happens when you skip or miss questions? How is each section scored out of 800? Learn here in this guide. What Is the Average SAT Score? SAT Percentiles and Score Rankings It's good for you to get a sense of what SAT scores are considered good on a nationwide scale. These guides tell you the average SAT score overall and for each state, and your national percentile for your score. Is the ACT Easier Than the SAT? This is a common question. If you're trying to decide between focusing on the SAT or the ACT, it's important to understand exactly what the differences are and how to decide which test to take. Here's a clear breakdown of each test with strategies for figuring out the right test for you. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! The Right Mindset for SAT Prep What many students don't appreciate is that doing well on the SAT is as much about good planning and your mental mindset as it is about understanding the stuff that's actually tested. This section contains concepts that arecritical for all students to understand before they spend any timedoing even a single test question. Why Is the SAT Important for Your College Goals? You know that you need to take the SAT to get into college. But why do colleges actually care about the SAT? Couldn't they just use your grades and application to evaluate you? The SAT serves a critical function in college applications by comparing you on equal footing with the rest of the country. Learn more about how the SAT achieves that here. What Is a Good SAT Score? A Bad SAT Score? An Excellent SAT Score? This is a question on nearly every student's mind. You've likely heard from other students, your parents, or teachers about what a good SAT score is or isn't.If they've given you a specific number without any reasoning or logic behind it, they're dead wrong. The truth is, there's only one SAT target score that's good for you and your personal college goals. It's not what your friends think you should get, and it's not what your parents keep telling you to aim for. Figure out what your target SAT score should be in this guide. How to Beat Procrastination in Your SAT Prep A common problem in pretty much everyone's life is procrastination. We put off unpleasant tasks for later because we're pretty sure we'll get around to them - and watching YouTubevideos feels so much better right now. This is a huge problem for a lot of students and their SAT prep. Studying isn't nearly as fun as texting or Snapchatting, and the test seems so far away. It's often really hard to sit down for five hours a week and actually commit to working through problems and improving your SAT skills. So wewrote a practical guide to beating procrastination. You'll learn about why people procrastinate and how this problem applies to SAT prep, too. More importantly, we share specific strategies you can use to stop procrastinating in your test prep. How to Get a Perfect 1600 SAT Score, by a 2400 Expert Full Scorer If you're aiming for a high SAT score, this is a must-read guide. Even if you're aiming for any score above a 1200, I recommend reading this guide. I've gottenperfect scores on two versions of the SAT: back in 2004 when it was (originally) out of 1600, and later when it was out of 2400 (now the test is back to the 1600 scale!). My perfect scores didn't magically happen - they took a lot of hard work. In this perfect score guide, I've put every important concept that I believe you must understand to get a super high SAT score.This guide doesn't contain any actual test content; it's more about the mental game of understanding why your score is low, where your weaknesses lie, and strategizing focused attacks on your weaknesses to improve your score. SAT Content and Strategies By reading the guides above, you'll have a strong mental framework for understanding what the SAT is andhow you can do well on the test. Next comes the part where you'll be spending most of your time - mastering the concepts and skills tested on the SAT. Section by section, we'll go through the most important guides you need to read. Overall SAT Test Strategy The Best Way to Review Your Mistakes for the SAT A lot of driven students prep for the SAT by doing a ton of practice questions without any insight. They churn through practice tests mindlessly without reviewing their mistakes or understanding how to improve. Why? It feels great, and it feels like progress. This is a critical mistake - it's like pounding your head against the wall. If you don't do practice problems and review themwith the right perspective, you'll be wasting hours of your time. In this guide, we teach you how to use every mistake you make on the SAT to identify your weaknesses and improve your prep. Best SAT Prep Books 2018 Are you a self-studier who plans to study for the SAT using books alone? We've reviewed the best books currently available for SAT prep in this guide. We talk about the best books for overall studying and for each section, as well as books you should avoid. Even if you're being tutored or taking a prep class, this article is still useful to read to see if there's anything you can supplement your studying with. The Best SAT Prep Websites You Should Be Using If you prefer to study online, then this list is for you. It contains all the best SAT websites, from strategy guides, to study tips, to high-quality practice questions for all sections of the SAT. Websites are a great way to do some quick studying as well as a way to prep without needing to carry around a prep book. SAT Reading Prep Guides The #1 Critical, Fundamental Strategy of SAT Reading If there's only one guide you read for SAT Reading, make it this one. On SAT Reading, do you ever find yourself waffling between two or three answer choices that all seem plausible? Do you throw up your hands and just guess on one of them? Nearly all studentssuffer from this problem. That's because they don't understand the #1 critical rule about SAT Reading: every question has only one unambiguously correct answer, and every other answer is unambiguously wrong for specific reasons. In this guide, you'll learn this concept in detail and get strategies for identifying incorrect answers on SAT Reading questions. The UltimateStudy Guide for SAT Reading: Strategies, Tips, and Practice This guide contains everything you need to know about SAT Reading in one place. We cover every single question type, with custom strategies on how to attack each one. Every great SAT Reading prep guide we've created can be found on this page! The Best Way to Read the Passage in SAT Reading SAT Reading gives you passages and a bunch of questions about each passage. How you read passages and approach their questions (and in which order) dramatically affects how well you'll be able to answer the questions. Many students use ineffective strategies to attack these passages, costing them valuable time and points. Here, you'll learn our recommended approach to SAT Reading passages. The Best Way to Study SAT Vocab Words Vocabulary isn't a huge part of the SAT anymore, but you'll need to how to study it if you're aiming for a perfect or near-perfect Reading score. My strategy teaches you how to memorize SAT vocab words so that you use your prep time effectively. How to Improve Your SAT Reading Score: 8 Strategies Are you scoring below 600 on SAT Reading? The first thing you should do, then, is aim to break 600. The strategies you'll need to use are quite different from the ones you'd use if you were aiming for 800. For example, we recommend skipping harder questions to help you maximize your score in the short amount of time you have. How to Get 800 on SAT Reading: 11 Strategies by a Perfect Scorer Aiming for a high score on SAT Reading (above 600)? This guide covers everything you need to understand to give yourself a great shot at a perfect score. We teach you how to pinpoint your biggest weaknesses, give you strategies to fix them, and explain the mindset you'll need when practicing for SAT Reading. SAT Writing Prep Guides What Is SAT Writing and Language? 5 Tips to Excel SAT Writing tests grammar rules in a very strange way; it's not at all like the grammar tests you've taken throughout your schooling. Here, we discuss the unique style of the SAT Writing section and strategies you need to succeed in it. The Complete Guide to SAT Grammar Rules The core of SAT Writing is its grammar rules. Subject/verb agreement, pronoun usage, and writing style are all tested in this multiple-choice section. Read our extensive guide to learn every grammar rule you'll need to know for Writing. The Complete Prep Guide for SAT Writing: Grammar, Strategies, and Practice This guide contains everything else you need for SAT Writing, including detailed guides for every single grammar rule tested. We teach you expert strategies for attacking different question types, and give you tips on how to eliminate answers. We also offer our best advice on how to practice SAT Writing questions effectively. How to Improve Your SAT Writing Score: 8 Key Strategies Are you scoring in the 300-600 range on SAT Writing?The first thing you should do is reach 600. There are a few specific strategies you can use to raise your score quickly: learn and practice the most important grammar rules that appear, skip the hardest questions, and figure out how to pick the right answer. How to Get 800 on SAT Writing: 11 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer Aiming for a high score on SAT Writing(above 600)? This guide covers the core strategies you need to use as you aim for perfection. We'll cover how to learn every grammar rule to mastery, how to train your weaknesses in a focused way, and what it takes to get 800 on test day. SAT Math Prep Guides Heart of Algebra: Key Strategies for SAT Math 3 Key Strategies for SAT Passport to Advanced Math Problem Solving and Data Analysis: Key SAT Math Concepts SAT Math is divided into three main content types: Heart of Algebra, Passport to Advanced Math, and Problem Solving and Data Analysis. These guides not only give you an overview of the kinds of problems you can expect but also offer expert tips for attacking math questions effectively. The Complete Guide to SAT Math Word Problems Many students find word problems to be the trickiest problems on SAT Math, and since they make up about 25% of math questions, you need to know how to tackle them. This guide explains how to approach and simplify word problems so they're less intimidating and can be answered easily. The 28 Critical SAT Math Formulas You MUST Know To answer SAT Math questions both quickly and correctly, it really helps to know the important formulas you'll need for the test. Memorizing these 28 critical formulas and knowing how to apply them to new questions will not only empower you but also improve your Math score. The Ultimate SAT Math Prep Guide: Tips, Formulas, and Practice We've written a ton of content about SAT Math, and it's all available here in this guide. We cover every major math concept tested, from integers and rational numbers to advanced algebra and solid geometry. Read this guide to get the rundown of every critical idea you need to know for a great SAT Math score. 7 Most Common SAT Math Mistakes and How to Avoid Them Don't let little mistakes keep you from getting the SAT Math score you want on test day. In this guide, we go over the most common mistakes test takers make on the Math section, such as forgetting formulas and solving for the wrong value, and teach you how to avoid making them. How to Improve Low SAT Math Scores: 9 Strategies Are you scoring in the 300-600 range on SAT Math? This guide shows you how to think about the Math section correctly and how to apply test strategies to give yourself the best chance at improving. In particular, we discuss how to avoid getting bogged down by questions that are too hard for your level, and how to use your study time effectively. How to Get 800 on SAT Math, by a Perfect Scorer Aiming for a high score on SAT Math (above a 600)? You'll learn the key strategies you need to use to master every math concept tested and to analyze your mistakes. We also cover how to eliminate careless mistakes - a common problem for people aiming for those last points - and how to put yourself in the right mindset for a perfect score. SAT Essay Prep Guides Should I Take the SAT Essay? How to Decide The SAT Essay isoptional, raising an important question: should you take it or should you skip it? This guide goes over the most important factors to consider when deciding whether the essay is essential for your success. SAT Essay Prompts: The Complete List Knowing the kinds of prompts to expect from the SAT Essay can go a long way to helping you feel prepared to get a high score. In this guide, we've compiled a list of 11 official SAT essay prompts the College Board has released. It's the most comprehensive set of new SAT essay prompts available online, and reading through them will give you a better understanding of the types of prompts you can expect to see and what graders will be looking for. How to Write an SAT Essay, Step by Step With this expert guide, you'll learn the essay structure that the SAT expects and get specific tips on how to read the passage, organize your response, and use your time wisely. Follow all of the advice here and you're guaranteed a strong essay score. The Ultimate SAT Essay Study Guide: Tips and Review For a complete collection of all of our best and most important SAT Essay guides, definitely check out this link. We give you everything you need to know to get a high score on the essay, including a list of colleges that require the SAT Essay, actual essay prompts, and sample essays for a variety of prompts. SAT Essay Tips: 15 Ways to Improve Your Score Not scoring as highly as you'd like to on the SAT Essay? Then check out this guide. We give you the best tips you'll need to know, from developing a clear thesis to writing more than one page,to get at least a 6|6|6 essay on test day. How to Get a Perfect 8|8|8 SAT Essay Score Aiming for perfection on the SAT Essay? In this article, we reveal our best tips for scoring 8s on all three essay rubrics. Specifically, we explain how a 6 essay differs from an 8 essay, and give you an essential list of do's and don'ts to think about when writing your response. SAT Logistics and Planning A major part of doing well on the SAT is higher-level planning strategy. When should you take the SAT? How many times should you take it? How long should you study? These are all important points to consider when structuring your SAT prep time and preparing college applications. When Should You Take the SAT? Best Test Dates Planning out your SAT testing schedule is really important to doing well. If taking the SAT more than once (which we recommend), you'll need ample time to prep in-between test dates and hopefully improve your score. In this guide, you'll learn a solid SAT-test-date strategy that works well for most students. We'll also busta common myth about SAT test dates and curves. 2018 2019 Full Review of Every SAT Test Date Here's a list of every SAT test date available this school year, including registration deadlines and when you can expect to get your scores. We also cover the latest dates by which you can take the SAT for early admission and regular decision deadlines for colleges. How Long Should I Study for the SAT? 6-Step Guide This is a key question on most students' minds, and the answer is that it really depends on your personal goals, where you currently are in your prep, and your potential to improve. This guide breaks down what you need to understand to reach your SAT score target in a timely manner. Which Colleges Superscore the SAT? SAT Superscoring is the practice of combining your best section scores from different test dates to create a Superscore. (The College Board's technical term for this is "SAT Score Choice.") A lot of schools now allow it, which has huge implications for your test strategy. In short, the more times you take the SAT, the greater your chance of increasing your score will be. This guide gives you a list of all colleges that currently Superscore the SAT. Concluding Words Congratulations on making it to the end! By now, you should have clicked on at least a few of the dozens of guides listed here. Read them, see if you like the advice we give, and then use them as launching points to even more guides. You might not get through all of this information in one sitting, so bookmark this page or email it to yourself as a reminder to come back later. There's a lot to learn out there - that's the first step. The hard part that comes after, though, is actually applying the knowledge you've learned and putting it into action. It won't be easy, but it'll definitely be worthwhile for your future. Soldier on. What's Next? Need help with your SAT prep?Allow us to give you a hand. Our online, customizable SAT prep program supplies you with realistic SAT practice questions and targets your biggest weaknesses to help you achieve the scores you need for college. Taking the ACT instead of or in addition to the SAT?Then you'll benefit greatly by taking a look at our ultimate ACT guide. Like this guide, we give you tons of free links and resources so that you can have a successful test day! Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today:

Future Forms for English Learners

Future Forms for English Learners There are a number of future forms in English, just as there are different forms for the past and present. Lets take a look at examples of the four different forms: Simple Future, Future Continuous, Future Perfect, and Future Perfect Continuous used to speak in English about the future. Peter will be at work tomorrow. - Future SimpleShes going to travel to Hong Kong next month.- Future with Going toJennifer will have finished the report by ten tomorrow. - Future PerfectDoug will be enjoying a good book at this time next week.- Future ContinuousI will have been working for six hours by the time I finish this. - Future Perfect Continuous The following article takes a look at each of these forms, as well as some variations in future tense usage with clear examples to help explain the use of each. Listed below are examples, uses, and formation of Future Forms. Uses of the Future With Will The future with will is used for a number of situations: 1. Used for Predictions It will snow tomorrow.She wont win the election. 2. Used for Scheduled Events The concert will begin at 8 oclock.When will the train leave? Used for scheduled events 3. Used for Promises Will you marry me?Ill help you with your homework after class 4. Used for Offers Ill make you a sandwich.Theyll help you if you want. 5.  Used  in Combination with Time Clauses  (as soon as, when, before, after) He will telephone as soon as he arrives.Will you visit me when you come next week? Uses of the Future With Going To 1. Used for Plans   The future with going to is used to express planned events or intentions. These events or intentions are decided on  before  the moment of speaking. Frank is going to study Medicine.Where are they going to stay when they come?She isnt going to buy the new house afterall. Note: Going to or -ing are often both correct for planed events. Going to should be used for distant future intentions (example: Hes going to study Law) 2. Used for Future Predictions Based on Physical Evidence. Oh no! Look at those clouds. Its going to rain.Be careful! Youre going to drop those dishes! Use of Future Continuous Use the future continuous to speak about what will be happening at a specific time in the future. She will be sleeping at 11:30.Tom will be having a good time this time tomorrow. Use of Future Perfect Use the future perfect to speak about what will have been finished by a time in the future. I will have finished the book by tomorrow.Angela will have fond a new job by the end of the year. Use of the Future Perfect Continuous Use the future perfect continuous to speak about how long something will have been happening up to a point of time in the future. They will have been studying for five hours by six oclock.Mary will have been playing golf for five hours by the time she finishes. Uses of Present Continuous for the Future Its also possible to use the present continuous for planned or personally scheduled events. Usually used with principle verbs such as: come, go, begin, start, finish, have, etc. Note: Going to or -ing are often both correct for planned events. Going to should be used for distant future intentions (example: Hes going to study Law) Hes coming tomorrow afternoon.What are we having for dinner?Im not seeing the doctor until Friday. Common future time expressions include: next (week, month, year), tomorrow, in Xs time (amount of time, i.e. two weeks time), in year, time clauses (when, as soon as, before, after) simple present (example: I will telephone as soon as I arrive) soon, later.

Rview of Financial Statements Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rview of Financial Statements - Essay Example Accountants keep track of the financial activity of a company by recording journal entries. The eight steps of the accounting cycle are: record transactions in journal, post transactions to ledger, prepare adjusting entries, prepare summary of account balances, prepare income statement and revenue and expense accounts, close revenue and expense accounts to retained earnings, prepare post closing summary of account balances, prepare balance sheet and statement of cash flow. Once the accountants of Lowe’s and Home Depot complete the accounting cycle the financial statements are ready. The income statement is a statement that states the profitability of a company. At the top of the statement the revenues of the company are expressed. The costs of goods sold are subtracted to arrive at the gross profits. Then the operating expenses and taxes are subtracted to obtain the net income of the firm. The revenues and net income of Lowe’s in fiscal year 2009 were $47.22 billion and $1.783 billion (Annual Report: Lowes, 2009). In 2009 Home Depot’s performance was better. Home Depot in 2009 had revenues of $66.18 billion and net income of $2.66 billion (Annual Report: Home Depot, 2009). The balance sheet is a financial statement that reflects the financial position of a company at a specific point in time. The basic elements of the balance sheet are the assets, liabilities, and stockholder’s equity.

History of Junior High Schools in America Essay

History of Junior High Schools in America - Essay Example In terms of purpose, students of ten to fifteen years are referred with the term of middle years in pedagogical manner. Meanwhile organizational structure leveling of classes six to ten in a separate school is often referred with the middle schooling. In this regard, different aspects of junior high schooling will be focused in this paper. Usually, middle or junior high schools are separated from rest of the classes of school, which does not include separation from the school campus. In middle schooling, relationship of teachers and students is enhanced, and different teaching teams are established for the better performance in the high schools. Curriculum plays an important role in the middle schooling, as integrated and negotiated form of the curriculum is devised during the middle schooling. Moreover, different learning tasks are assessed with the utilization of authentic measures. While the application of middle schooling philosophy is possible for the teachers in the context of secondary schooling, it is very difficult to sustain or widespread such examples. Consequently, broader reforms for the implementation of more sustainable philosophy of schooling are linked with the term of middle school. ... History One hundred years ago, the United States witnessed a wave of interests around reforms, which originated the concept of Junior High Schools in the country. Initially, fundamental, pedagogical, organizational, and curriculum outcomes were promised by the progressive reformers who promoted the abovementioned concept of schooling in the country, in order to resolve serious national problems at that time. A coalition of diverse reformers produced an indefinite mission that was related to a number of agendas and interests of these reformers, which turned out to be innovation of junior high schools. In other words, the junior high schools provided an image of implementation of hopes of the reformers and educators that had different and diverse interests and requirements. (Beane, 2005) It is quite impossible for the paper to highlight the appearance of junior high schools in the United States with the in-depth exploration of complexities that were confronted at that time. However, recent developments of current middle schooling in the United States will be focused to understand the status of junior high schools in the country. Two versions are observed in the history of junior high schools in the United States. Firstly, developmental needs of adolescences and provision of teacher training were the specific objectives of junior high schooling in the country. Secondly, an integrated process of learning was provided to the students; while demographic and economic influences kept the students sensitive to the middle schooling reforms. (Comber, 2006) In brief, middle schooling or junior high schooling was criticized by the second version of the history, and therefore, the

The contribution of motherese or child-directed speech

The contribution of motherese or child-directed speech Language is the standard by which higher intellectual processes are revealed. It is important means of social communication and is one of the exceptional systems of habits which distinguish man from the animals. Differences in language account for many of the distinct contrasts between peoples, and to its deficiency may be attributed the differences between intellectual development. As preverbal infant it is important for caregivers to know how to acquire the fundamental aspects of language more efficiently. Motherese or child-directed speech (CDS) is a pattern of speech which is used for communication with preverbal children. Child-directed speech found to draw children attention more decently due to distinctive characteristics (Brand, Baldwin Ashburn, 2002; Bohannon Marquis, 1977; Fernald Mazzie, 1991; Greiser Kuhl, 1988; Hoff-Ginsberg, 1986; Masataka, 1998; ONeill, Bard, Linnel, Fluck, 2005; Rowe, Pan Coker, 2004; Sokol, Webster, Thompson Stevens, 2005; Tamis-LeMonda Borns tein, 1994). In this study we will investigate the aspects of child-directed speech and the contribution of it to infants language development. First, to describe CDS it is important to underline that for occurrence of CDS an infants or young childs presence is required. Adults, especially mothers, use this pattern of communication by adjusting, their linguistic and prosodic aspects of speech which construct the concept of motherese. Child-directed speech is distinctive by its slower production of utterances, and pitch contours are often pronounced more clearly and exaggerated (Brand, Baldwin Ashburn, 2002; Bohannon Marquis, 1977; Fernald Mazzie, 1991; Greiser Kuhl, 1988; Hoff-Ginsberg, 1986; Masataka, 1998; ONeill, Bard, Linnel, Fluck, 2005; Rowe, Pan Coker, 2004; Sokol, Webster, Thompson Stevens, 2005; Tamis-LeMonda Bornstein, 1994). Several studies indicate that prosodic features of child-directed speech are far more important than its syntactic or semantic features (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). Moreover, studies show that the exaggerated prosody of CDS increases the salience of acoustic cues to linguistic structure for the preverbal infant (Fernald Mazzie, 1991). Additionally, the prosodic features of the maternal speech help infant to distinguish the identical syllables (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). The evidence show, that child-directed speech is characterized by perceptual features which are more attractive to children, although it is important to investigate the contribution of motherese on language development. The study of Greiser and Kuhl (1988) provide us with three general explanations of CDS to contribution to language development. Three major characteristics are described in a study of Greiser and Kuhl (1988) consistent of linguistic, attentional, and social/affective constructs. Linguistic explanation is characterized by expanded pitch contours which serve as indication of linguistic boundaries (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). Moreover, by highlighting the linguistic boundaries make the language explanation more efficient (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). In several studies of syntax growth related to maternal speech, the most frequently appearing predictor of syntax growth is the occurrence in input of expansions, reacts, and other sorts of utterances that repeat some or all of the semantic content of the prior utterance while changing the syntactic form of expression (Hoff-Ginsberg, 1986). In addition, positive effects have been found of mothers utterances that repeat part of the childs previous utterance and of utterances in which mothers or experimenters repeat part of their own previous utterance (Hoff-Ginsberg, 1986).Natura listic and experimental studies have also found the occurrence of yes or no questions in input to be positively associated with measure of childrens syntax growth (Hoff-Ginsberg, 1986). The attentional characteristic of CDS contributes to the level of perceived language by the infant, and the level of prominence of perceived language respectively (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). By using high pitch contours combined with deep emotional expressions contribute to the level and prominence of perceived utterances (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). Moreover, Sokol, et al. (2005) proposes that maternal speech patterns is more suitable for the infants immature auditory system. The study shows , that maternal pattern of speech is adjusting to infants auditory and cognitive abilities. By adjusting to infants auditory and cognitive abilities it is credible to draw and maintain infants attention. Social/affective characteristic of CDS contribute to infants language development by regulating infants affective state (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). In a study of Clarck (as cited in Sokol et al., 2005) suggest that salience regulation of infants affective state may sustain language learning at the early stages of development. The use of higher and expanded pitch contours allow mothers to assign important affective discriminative stimuli and information which will be identified by the infant as positive signals regulating the infants affective state (Greiser Kuhl, 1988; Sokol et al., 2005). Child-directed speech serves to adjust the affective states of the infant depending on whether the caregiver encouraging, soothing or just seeking to elicit the infants attention (Sokol et al., 2005). According to developmental psychologists nonlinguistic representations of the world contribute and constrain the structure of child language and the course of its development (Tamis-LeMonda Bornstein, 1994). What is more, when interacting with infants adults alter their movements in ways that increase infants attention to action and highlight meaningful units within the flow of motion (Brand, Baldwin Ashburn, 2002). Mothers shape their language-related gestures to infants, using fewer gestures over all, and more often gestures to reinforce or disambiguate the verbal message, rather than to add new information (Brand et al., 2002). Gestures associated with child-directed speech called motionese are likely to assist infants attention to action (Brand et al., 2002). Such reinforced attention should help infants to learn about action more readily (Brand et al., 2002). Studies show that mothers showed higher level of enthusiasm and interest in the object demonstrating to infants, which is considered reinforcing behavior for the baby (Brand et al., 2002). Additionally, increased gaze from mothers in mothers infant-directed action, help maintain infants attention and thus can benefit in language and cognitive development (Brand et al., 2002). Overall it is important to evaluate gestures as a part child-directed speech because of their attentional and linguistic contribution to infants development. Child-directed speech or motherese is a universal pattern of speech with preverbal children by caregivers independent of language (Greiser Kuhl, 1988). Some aspects of motherese as motionese could be found in different sign languages, whereas sign motherese shares analogous characteristics with maternal speech (Masataka, 1998). In her study Masataka (1998) found that hearing infants exposed to motherese sign language showed more interest and attraction then to adult sign language. This study support that, special properties evident in infant-directed speech may have universal attentional and affective significance (Masataka, 1998). In addition, it is important to investigate the importance of father talk to infants and their contribution to the language development. Several studies demonstrate the difference in the ways fathers talk to their preverbal infants (Rowe et al., 2004). Fathers in Western middle-class produce more directives, more wh-questions, and more frequent requests for clarification in talk with children, thus engaging children in more complex cognitive processes (Rowe et al., 2004).Fathers tend to use directives in their indirect form which may present cognitive/linguistic challenges in interpretation (Rowe et al., 2004). By addressing the wh-questions the conversation becoming more demanding and require child to respond non-imitatively and verbally (Rowe et al., 2004). Although there are only few studies on paternal talk to the infant it is clear that CDS of father contribute to the language development by putting the child in more complex linguistic and cognitive processes. Concluding it is important to underline aspects of motherese contributing to language development. Child-directed speech or motherese, play an important role in language development of an infant. Motherese prosodic characteristics influence directly the language development because of its slower and smooth production, higher and exaggerated pitch contours and sensitive pause distribution in utterances. Additionally, motherese influence the child affective and attentional states, which contributes indirectly to the language development. Although, there is a lot of evidence about child-directed speech positive qualities there should be more investigation about the contribution of child-directed speech to language development. Word Count: 1337

OCR physics B research project Essay

Originally most people believed that the universe was constant as this seemed both more sensible and more comforting. Most Greeks set the planets, sun and other stars in a series of fixed spheres. Newton’s religious beliefs lead him to create a static and eternal model of the universe where there is an infinite number of stars and each of them are the same and equally distant equally distant, thus causing their attractions to cancel out, despite obvious problems with this idea. Even once most scientists agreed that the universe is expanding or that it has done so in the past, there was much speculation about why it is expanding and what will happen to it in the future. Hypotheses such as the Big Bang and Steady State models of the universe have persuaded physicists over the past century. Some remain in favour while many others have been dismissed on the basis of observational evidence. The static universe This was historically the most popular view as it seems to fit best with everyday experience of the universe. Until Newton developed his Theory of Gravitation, there seemed to be no particular reason to dismiss this idea. It became ingrained in the minds of many people to the extent that scientists who could see that it was not consistent with currently accepted Theories rejected the idea of a changing universe. Once the idea of a universal attraction between masses was introduced, people used two different ideas to justify a belief in a static universe. The first was that God held everything apart. The second was by introducing a force which opposed gravity on a large scale. When Einstein formulated his Theory of General Relativity, he introduced a force called the â€Å"cosmological constant† to fit in with his views of a stationary universe. Speculation regarding a non-eternal and expanding universe Olber’s paradox, first described in 1823, suggests that the idea of an infinite universe does not fit with observational evidence. If there is an infinite number of stars, an infinitely large amount of light should reach us. From this, it can be concluded that the universe is not infinite in size and age. After the Russian mathematician, Alexander Friedmann, learned of Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity, he saw that it implied a changing universe. He saw the cosmological constant as unnecessary. In 1922 he published an article in a publication called Zeitschrift fur Physik. In this he put forward three possible realities based upon his calculations. He worked from the starting point of an expanding universe; this allows everything plenty of time to happen, while a universe created in a static state might be expected to contract in a small amount of time. The scenarios differed in their average density of the universe. A high average density relative to speed of expansion would lead gravity to pull all matter back to one point, an idea now commonly referred to as a Big Crunch. A low density would leave the gravitational attraction too weak to stop the expansion completely. The universe would expand forever and become cold and desolate. In the remaining option, the density would be enough to slow the expansion to a rate low enough to give a universe that remains roughly the same size for a long period. Einstein rejected Friedmann’s work, initially claiming that the calculations were incorrect. He eventually admitted that the work was mathematically sound, but he maintained that it did not represent reality. If the assumption that the universe is expanding is removed, collapse is the only possible outcome. Justification for this assumption was required and it soon arrived as a result of meticulous observation and measurement of the stars by Edwin Hubble. But first, another important idea was announced. In 1927, a Belgian cosmologist named Georges Lemaitre reasoned that if the universe is expanding, it must have previously been smaller. He extrapolated back from this to theorize that the whole universe must have once been small and compact. He called this state the â€Å"primeval atom† and it was the origin of the Big Bang Theory. This is not the only possible logical conclusion of the creation of an expanding universe, but it seems the most obvious and simple one, and therefore the first choice using Ockham’s Razor, the idea that a simple solution is usually preferable to one that seems needlessly complicated. Lemaitre’s work, just like Friedmann’s, was rejected by the majority of the scientific community, including Einstein, upon whose theory their ideas were based. To persuade people, data was needed. Observations suggesting an expanding universe The easiest way to get a rough idea of the distance to a star is to compare its brightness to that of a star of known distance. The amount of light observed is inversely proportional to the square of the distance to the star. If two stars are equally bright, this can be used to work out the ratio of their distances. Stars vary greatly in brightness, so this method can only give a very rough figure. It’s accuracy was improved by focusing on a group of stars that are believed to be of approximately the same level of brightness. This group came in the form of Cepheid variables. The brightness of these fluctuates over time and the speed at which this happens can be measured. Data from Cepheids in the Small Magellanic Cloud (so the distances should all be reasonably similar) suggested that the amount of light emitted could be linked to the period of oscillation. It therefore seemed reasonable to assume that the ratio of the squares of the distances of two Cepheid variables was inversely proportional to the observed brightness. (http://map. gsfc. nasa. gov/universe/uni_expansion. html) Edwin Hubble used this to work out the distances to a large number of stars. All he now needed to see whether the universe was expanding, contracting or staying roughly the same in size was the recessional velocities of the stars. If the recessional velocities were mainly positive and proportional to distance from the Earth, it suggested an expanding universe. Mainly negative and getting more negative as you get further from us would indicate contraction. Mainly positive or negative with no correlation between speed and distance might suggest expansion in the first case and contraction in the second, but it would not be as simple as the other cases. A roughly even mixture of positive and negative recessional velocities would indicate a static universe. Recessional velocities cannot be measured directly. The change in distance over a short period is too small relative to the starting distance for the imprecise measurement system previously described to detect. Hubble instead used the Doppler Effect to find out the speed of retreat. The spectrum of observed light varies depending upon the elements present within a star. Each element gives a unique pattern of spectral lines. The amount these lines are red shifted can be used to measure the recessional velocity. Higher speeds result in a greater red shift. Observed frequency = f+fv/c f is transmitted frequency, v is velocity of approach of the object and c is the speed of the waves (the speed of light). (http://library. thinkquest. org/27948/doppler. html) Hubble made measurements of the distance to and the red shift of a vast number of stars and concluded that stars have a recessional velocity directly proportional to their distance from us, as would be expected in an expanding universe. He came up with Hubble’s Law, which states v=H0d v is recessional velocity, H0 a constant (Hubble’s constant) and d is distance. (Advancing Physics A2, p. 74) image00. png Hubble drew the above graph to show his results. The distance estimates have since been revised upwards. (http://www. phys. unsw. edu. au/astro/wwwlabs/hdfSize/hdfSize_intro. html) Early estimates of Hubble’s constant placed it at around 50-100kms-1Mpc-1, while newer estimates have narrowed it down to around 70-80kms-1Mpc-1. Hubble’s constant can be used for several things, including estimating the age of the universe. I shall use it to work out the approximate distance away a star would have to be for the observed frequency to be half the emitted frequency. observed frequency One Mpc is roughly 3. 26Ãâ€"106 light years, so the star would be about 6. 5 billion light years distant. Fred Zwicky suggested in 1929 that light may lose energy as it travels, which would explain the proportional relationship between red shift and distance. This idea was called the Tired Light hypothesis. This idea has not been very popular as it has trouble explaining some observations while expansion seems a much simpler solution. (http://www. astro. ucla. edu/~wright/tiredlit. htm) Theories to explain expansion Although many hypotheses were posited, two took prominence, the Big Bang and Steady State theories. The Big Bang theory gradually developed from Lemaitre’s idea of the primeval atom, while Fred Hoyle, Thomas Gold and Hermann Bondi created the Steady State theory. The Big Bang is the idea that the whole universe was created by the expansion of a very small and heavy region. The Steady State theory states that the universe is infinite in age, but new matter is constantly being created and space is expanding. Both theories gained great popularity, but there were some problems with the Steady State idea (http://www. alief. isd. tenet. edu/Hastings/student/2/steadystatestands. html). Some stellar objects, such as quasars, were only found at large distances, suggesting that the universe has changed in appearance over time, contrary to the Steady State principle that the universe should have been similar throughout time, despite its expansion. It also had trouble explaining the relative abundance of different elements, which is something the Big Bang model was able to do after a variety of calculations, including those published in the Alpher-Bethe-Gamow paper (http://physicsworld. com/cws/article/news/30915). Olber’s paradox may again be seen as a problem, though the suggestion was put forward that the light would be red shifted, so the sky would not always be bright as the red shift would move the light to a non-visible region. Despite this, the Steady State theory remained popular. One set of observations, however, changed this. The existence of Cosmic Background Radiation was predicted by the Big Bang model and it was detected in 1964 (http://archive. ncsa. uiuc. edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/Footprints. html). Some proponents of the Steady State theory attempted to explain this as the result of scattered light from distant stars, but they could not explain the black body spectrum produced. Following these results, the Big Bang theory became dominant and it currently remains so. Bibliography Paper sources All the sections up to, but not including, â€Å"Observations suggesting and expanding universe† are sourced from Big Bang by Simon Singh. Published by Fourth Estate in 2005. Advancing Physics A2, IoP, 2001 These sources should both be reliable as the second was published by the IoP, while the first is a well known popular science book, so any errors would have probably been highlighted by now. Internet sources http://www. phys. unsw. edu. au/astro/wwwlabs/hdfSize/hdfSize_intro. html http://www. astro. ucla. edu/~wright/tiredlit. htm http://www. alief. isd. tenet.edu/Hastings/student/2/steadystatestands. html http://archive. ncsa. uiuc. edu/Cyberia/Cosmos/Footprints. html http://adsabs. harvard. edu/abs/2005ApJ†¦ 635L.. 37R These sources are all from university websites, so should be reliable. http://physicsworld. com/cws/article/news/30915. Physics World is a magazine published by the IoP, so should also be reliable. http://library. thinkquest. org/27948/doppler. html According to the website, Thinkquest is written by students under a qualified teacher. Although it is not necessarily as reliable as the other sources, I feel that this is suffici.

Effects of Climate Change Essay - 1095 Words

Can you imagine a world without the state of Florida? Having a giant hole in Australia? Asian Islands vanished under water? While many people have doubts about the underwater city of Atlantis, we are looking at a world where underwater cities will no longer be objects of wonder and fantasy. The map above is an estimate of what the world will look like if the ice caps melt and sea levels rise the projected 216 feet. As one can see, entire cities will be wiped off the map. While Wisconsin will not become flooded as a direct result of this catastrophe, one should not be naive to think that Wisconsinites, along with everyone else in the world, will not be directly affected by this global melting. In fact, Wisconsin’s outlook may be just as†¦show more content†¦1 out of 8 human deaths are linked to poor air quality. It is common in big cities to have smog and frequent air alerts, if Wisconsin becomes a shelter for humans who become displaced due to rising seas, Wisconsin c ould become a smog filled region, leading to health problems and possible deaths. With more people living in a smaller region, there will be more air, land, and water pollution, which will make the global climate situation even worse. Our Earth cannot afford a worsening climate situation, even at this rate, the planet will become uninhabitable to any human life and the human race will no longer exist. The second area of impact is the Earth’s sustainability. Our water, fuel, and farming resources are becoming strained by the sheer number of human lives that the earth has to support. We are at risk of depleting these resources completely and will not be able to survive. 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