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TOEFL Articles

Math Tutor

Hi, I am Preeti. I'll be more then happy to help students with math. Teaching I have done as hobby in college days. I love math and very good at it, and it will be my pleasure to share knowledge with students. All students are welcome who needs a math tutor and I'll be comfortable teaching at my place at your place or any common place.

Why Study Grammar?

One word describes how most students view the study of grammar. Boring! Want other descriptive words? Scary! Awful!

So, why do you want to study a subject that many students classify as being about as enjoyable as undergoing a root canal?

What is grammar, and why do you need it?

What exactly do you need to know about grammar to master grammar skills it in your life?

Besides, don't most people take grammar for granted...seldom giving how they use words a second thought...using slang, cliches and idioms to communicate their ideas?

That is exactly why you need to learn grammar...the slang, cliches and idioms that you use to communicate your thoughts stereotype you as being "uneducated," even if you are brilliant.

If you grew up using the language of an ethnic group (or a language other than English), you may find that people who evaluate you in the world of formal education (and in the world of work) do not promote you. Habits of using non-standard grammar can limit your career and your long-term earning prospects.

Fortunately, English grammar is easier than the grammar of other languages because our nouns decline little, and our verbs conjugate a tiny bit.

Even better, English grammar can be streamlined. You can get by with a few rules, then learn more as you master more precise language use.

English is difficult because there are so many exceptions to the rules...rules that should streamline learning, but add complexity. These exceptions to the rules of spelling and pronunciation occur because the roots of English come from French, Greek, Latin and Old English. But, English speakers, especially Americans adopt (relish and savor) words and concepts from anywhere.

English is a noun-pronoun and adjective-driven language, and English employs more words than any other modern language. Vast numbers of words, speech using an ever-changing pool of idiomatic expressions and the tendency to use different words that mean about the same thing in subsequent sentences (to avoid appearing boring when we talk) create language learning difficulties.

Compared to other language learning challenges, English grammar is a mild annoyance.

But, to master English grammar, you must master the English pronouns...maybe your biggest challenge.

So, determine if your interest in English grammar is academic or practical? And decide what motivates you to improve your use of English grammar.

Whether you are struggling in your English class, whether floundering during high-stakes test-taking (State tests required to graduate, college or graduate school entrance exams, military career exams) or whether you desire to write better...chances are that issues other than grammar are your major challenge.

You can master English grammar. But, to master English slang and idioms, now that is horse of another color...floating up a proverbial creek without a paddle.

Is Tutoring Cost Effective?

Tutoring is expensive. But, there are several factors that relate to cost besides here-and-now price. It is the ultimate (sometimes long-term) bottom line that you need to calculate to determine if hiring a tutor is cost effective.

But, what does "cost effective" mean? One way of looking at the term "cost effective" is to determine if the value you receive in return for your investment is larger than the investment. For example, if tutoring sessions cost you $100, but you passed an employment test that allowed you to earn an extra $0.50 per hour; then you would see the return for the money that you paid for the tutoring in less than two weeks (based upon your increased hourly rate of pay). Tutoring with that kind of pay back would be cost effective, and the monetary benefit would be easy to calculate.

Other pay backs for tutoring might not be as easy to calculate, but equally substantial. For example, if tutoring costs you $200 but enables you to increase your score on the military ASVAB Test so that you can get into the military service months earlier...and get into the military training program that you really want...then you have:

* the payback of an unknown number of months of military pay and benefits that you would not have received
* plus the value of the training you receive
* plus the value of a better paying civilian job once your enlistment with the military is completed

Clearly the return for this tutoring would be very valuable and substantial, although the exact amount of monetary benefit would be difficult to calculate. In addition, the value of the personal benefit; i.e., training and working in an enjoyable career compared to working in a less enjoyable career would also be difficult to calculate.

Another example: A students' parents pay $400 for tutoring that enables the student to pass the high-stakes, required-for-graduation state test. In this case, the student 1) graduates on time, 2) enters the job market and becomes 3) economically independent a year sooner by graduating with classmates.

Job prospects from having a High School Diploma also provide better entry level jobs than a GED certificate...therefore, better pay. However, the value of personal pride, satisfaction and self-esteem of graduating with peers (as compared for giving excuses to every friend and acquaintance for not graduating) are difficult to quantify with a monetary value...but are worth a lot.

A third example: $1,000 invested in test preparation tutoring that helps obtain a score on an ACT or SAT college entrance exam that earns a partial or full scholarship can pay off in yearly college financial aid that is ten times (or more) the tutoring cost...for up to four years...an excellent return that makes tutoring a cost-effective investment. And, getting into a higher ranking college may mean increased job prospects four years later. Lots of difficult-to-quantify returns...

In addition, the cost of not receiving something of value that could have been acquired and enjoyed is called "opportunity cost." And, it is the opportunity cost (of loosing out on benefits) that factor into determining if the investment in tutoring is worthwhile. So, be sure to factor opportunity cost into the equation when considering if the paybacks for tutoring justify the expenditure. Opportunity costs can be wide ranging, and reflect personal value and monetary value; so only you know what a specific opportunity cost means to you.

Another way of looking at opportunity cost is... Is the loss of some benefit that tutoring might have obtained for you greater than the cost of the tutoring? If so, consider tutoring to be a tool or a resource, as well as an investment; and go for the benefits. Decide not to go for a personal benefit that was in your grasp? Then consider the long-term unpleasantness of having to justify (to yourself) the fact that you didn't try.

Long-term regret, having no monetary value at all, may be one of the most costly outcomes of failing to try. So, consider your personal situation...the potential benefits of learning and performing at a test-passing level...and make the decision to enter into a tutoring relationship based upon potential gain, based upon opportunity cost and based upon what you will end up saying to yourself for years if you didn't try. If personal benefits are likely, realistic and possible, then "Go for the tutoring."

Test-Taking Skills - A Zoo with Many Animals?

Test-taking wracks the brains of many students, while others skate through tests with little stress, little care...and even less concern for the test's results. The reason for this is because some students have mastered the "Test-Taking Game," and others have not. This is natural. Some people master the game of golf, others don't. The same is true for any sport that requires skill and practice.

While throwing a javelin or piloting a toboggan may be irrelevant in the lives of most modern students, performing well on standardized, high-stakes tests has been elevated to the level of "top-priority." The students who figure out (crack, decipher, unravel) the test-taking code on their own may not be any "smarter" (or "less smart") than other students who perform with expected grade level scores. In fact, many standardized test scores reflect how well students maneuver around test questions instead of revealing what students' know and how well they know it.

In addition to the skill of taking the test, some students face mounting panic and anxiety when faced with yet another, all-important, "catastrophy-if-I-don't-pass-it" test. Test anxiety presents some students with a challenge of a different feather; i.e., they understand the tested material, and they understand the test-maker code so that they could pick the correct answers (or at least most of them) if their thought processes were "calm, cool and collected."

However, their thought processes are agitated, confused and narrowed...like playing that golf game with only one hand, throwing a javelin with a foot, or steering that toboggan while sitting backwards! Some student experience test anxiety so strongly that they are almost making every golf putt as if they were blindfolded. Some students experience test anxiety, and they don't know the code for answering multiple choice questions. This is a "double whammy."

Students who experience test anxiety and who do not know the test-taking code might just as well choose answers at random. Students who struggle with both issues often score worse than chance on tests; i.e., shaking dice and entering the answer based upon the numbers that are rolled may obtain a higher score on the test. Test scores for these students are amazingly poor. In order to obtain test scores this low, skilled test takers would have to know the "right" answer and deliberately choose an incorrect answer.

So, if test-taking seems like entering a jungle filled with dangers; determine if your issue is a need for improved test-taking skills, or a need to reduce test-taking anxiety. Fortunately, personal tutoring can provide solutions, a safety net, and hope that the test-taking beast can be tamed.

Learn How You Learn

Most people fall into step with a learning pattern without realizing exactly what happened to them. This random and arbitrary process serves maybe 80% of us well enough since our educational system doesn't expect much out of our learning abilities. Our educational system ignores most of our talents and abilities, and focuses upon a narrow subset of what we are capable of achieving.

So, we get along by skating past the really important talents and skills that would enable us to soar, excel and express our abilities. Our schools reward most of us into becoming complacent learners. But, for others, the kinds of learning our schools demand fall outside our learning zone. There seems to be a mismatch.

For these folks (and for anyone who wants to learn more effectively) learning by using their strengths is crucial. In fact, learning by using your strengths is the only efficient way to learn. Learning by remediating your weaknesses is a frustrating time-waster.

Learning by "working" to eliminate your weaknesses is like trying to bail water out of a boat with a spoon. Instead, turn on the electric bilge pump, or at least use a pail. Instead, discover how you learn.

The major learning strategies are:

* Auditory Learning - You learn best by hearing

* Tactile-Kinesthetic-Proprioceptive Learning - You learn best by hands-on methods

* Visual - You learn best by seeing

Of course, everyone uses a blend of these learning methods, but one method predominates.

Examples of haphazard learning (when you are trying to get rid of a weakness) include:

* A Hands-On person trying to remember some fact or formula by repeating the words over and over

* A Visual Learner listening to a lecture without creating mental pictures, without doodling and without seeing how the information relates to anything else

* An Auditory Learner being forced to complete worksheets

Learning matches occur when:

* A Hands-On learner builds, touches, moves, feels and connects learning material

* A Visual Learner converts the material to be learned into images, pictures, diagrams, graphs, charts, slide show and other visual media

* An Auditory Learner studies with a small group who talk out the ideas and concepts

Note: Only a tiny percentage of learners exhibit Auditory Learning as their major learning strength. This is true even though our schools and our teachers spend a lot of time talking. Not only is talk "cheap" but listen is an ineffective learning strategy for most learners because learning by listening is a weakness instead of a strength.

But, discovering your favored mode of learning (and thinking) is only the first step in mastering your learning. The second step is discovering what your least preferred mode of learning.

Your least preferred mode of learning (i.e., your weakness) happens to be the learning strategy that you revert to when under stress. Situations of stress can be taking a test, especially for people who have "failed" at tests in the past.

So, what happens?

The stress of the testing situation causes the test-anxious person to revert to their weakest mode of thinking, instead of relying on the strongest mode (i.e., the mode that was used for studying). This is like practicing to hit a target with a bow and arrow, but entering the target-hitting competition with a spear...a no-win situation.

So, discover your learning strengths...and your learning weaknesses...and increase your satisfaction with your performance in situations that require that you demonstrate what you have learned.


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