Best ACT Prep Books 2019

Best ACT Prep Books 2019 SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There are numerous â€Å"Best ACT Books† lists out there. But we think most of them aren’t very good or thorough, so I’ve tried to write a much better guide here. You’ll learn which books are absolutely critical for your ACT prep, which focus on improving individual sections, and which you'll need if you're aiming for a top score. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to use these top-notch ACT prep books for effective studying. This guide is pretty detailed, so here are some quick links you can use to jump around to different topics. That said, I recommend reading the whole article if you can! What's Better About This Guide to the Best ACT Books? Who Is This ACT Prep Books Guide For? Critical ACT Prep Books Best ACT Books by Subject Best Additional Books for Top ACT Scorers Best All-in-One Book for Less Motivated Low Scorers Other Free Resources for ACT Prep Is Using ACT Prep Books the Best Option for You? What’s Better About This Guide to the Best ACT Books? Because your ACT score is important for getting into collegeand you’ll probably spend a good amount of time studying, it’s important you get the right advice. Follow the wrong advice, and it might be too late to improve your score before you need to apply to college. You'll need to vet the advice you get (including ours) before deciding on your ACT prep plan. As you read each article in your research, ask yourself:why should I trust this person online giving me advice? To be transparent, here’s why we believe our ACT prep books guide is better than others online: I explain in detail why good books are good and what each book's flaws are.You probably haven’t heard of some of the books we recommend because they're either newer or less well known. By contrast, most other ACT book guides just list a few books without much rationale about what makes them worth buying. I believe it’s important to target your weaknesses and where you need to prep.I’ll point out books that are best for training specific sections, and books that are better depending on whether you’re scoring high or low. Other guides tend to assume all students are the same. I don’t get paid for promoting these books over others. I’ve studied dozens of books for ACT prep, and these are the books I'd be using if I myself were prepping. Other sites, such as about.com and reviews.com, are often paid to adjust their rankings and get kickbacks from publishers. I like to think that I know what I’m talking about.I scored a perfect 36 on the ACT and have worked personally with thousands of students prepping for the ACT. I’ve worked with students of all levels, from those scoring below 12 to those aiming for 34+. Other writers don't always have the expertise needed to differentiate between ACT prep books and thus recommend books as an afterthought (and you can probably tell). One important disclaimer: I’m co-founder ofPrepScholar, an online ACT prep program. I believe we’ve built the best prep program available. Itdiagnoses your strengths and weaknessesand gives you a structured all-in-one program, combining the best aspects of the books below, so you know exactly what you need to study at every point in your prep. However, I want to stress that you don’t need a program to excel at the ACT. In fact, writing this guide might lose us some customers if you decide you don’t need a program at all. But if you'd rather not have to manage 10 books and would prefer an integrated, complete program with the greatest chance of raising your ACT score,check out our comprehensive ACT program. No matter what you ultimately decide, if you’re serious about ACT prep like I think you are, keep on reading. Who Is This ACT Prep Books Guide For? First, this guide is for students who are serious about ACT prep.You must be motivated to get a high score, and you need to be willing to put in hard work. Getting through these books will take dozens of hours, simply because the ACT covers so much material. If you plan to study just five hours or so,your choice of book won't make much difference. You should focus your time mainly on taking an ACT practice test and reviewing your answers. With such a short amount of prep time, your score won’t go up much- and you shouldn’t expect a miracle. Buying high-quality ACT prep books is the first and easiest step of ACT prep. You'll need to put in serious work to actually get the score improvements you want. We'll explain below the best ways to use ACT prep books. Secondly, this guide is for students who want to improve their scores by more than 2 points. To make consistent improvements at this level, you need more than just tricks. You need to understand the contentbeing tested- the underlying math concepts and grammar rules- rather than just ineffective "tricks" that make you feel like you've learned something when you actually haven't. Now, if you’re looking to improve by only 1 point, you might be able to do that simply by retaking the test, especially if you’ve taken the ACT only once. Overall, as long as you’re serious about score improvement and want quality ACT books to study with, this is the guide for you. The Best ACT Prep Books of 2019 We’re going to divide the best ACT books into a few categories: Critical Books: These are absolute must-have books for your ACT prep, no matter your skill level or weaknesses. Subject-Specific Books: These are the best books to use for the ACT sections: English, Math, Reading, and Science. Books for Top Scorers:These books are challenging and guaranteed to push you over the top. Books for Low Scorers and Low Motivation: If you want to study for only a handful of hours and improve your ACT score by just a little bit, these are the best books to use. That said, we don't recommend putting such little time into your prep! Critical ACT Prep Books These must-have books are what I believe everyone should have, regardless of your current score or what you need to improve. This category is extremely hard for books to qualify for. In fact, there are only two ACT books out of the dozens I’ve tested that I think are worth buying. TheOfficial ACT Prep Guide 2019-2020 We’ve written at length about theimportance of official ACT practice questions. The ACT is weird and tests concepts in ways you’ve never seen in school before. This means that you need to train with realistic questions so you can learn the patterns of the ACT. Official ACT practice tests released by ACT, Inc., are the gold standard for ACT practice questions. Each test contains real questions given to students at previous test administrations. The quality of official questions is far better than those written by unofficial sources such as Kaplan and The Princeton Review. This particular prep book, informally called the "Red Book," is by far the best source of ACT practice tests. Pros It has the best set of ACT practice tests you can get anywhere, period. The book's five full-length practice tests offer a sufficient amount of practice for most students. Since each test takes at least four hours to complete and review, that's already 20 hours of material! Includes 400 additional practice questions. Answers for each question are available in the book. Cons You can get the same number of official practice tests for free online (although these don’t have answer explanations). Answer explanations in the book are not particularly helpful for self-learning. Most explanations say something like this: â€Å"A is wrong because A is wrong. B is correct for these reasons.† They don't show you how to solve the question from step one, which is what most students need; you need to understand yourself well to be able to learn from your mistakes. Five tests isn't enough for ambitious students. You'll need to supplement your prep with other free practice tests or the official online ACT program, which is good only for the extra test it offers. It doesn’t provide other instructional material. If you’re bad at algebra, you can’t rely on this book alone. You're really only buying it for the tests, and ACT, Inc., knows this. Taking practice tests without learning strategy isn’t going to improve your score, and the book doesn’t provide guidance on how to do this effectively. Most of thisbook is identical to the 2018-19 edition (except for the extra practice test), so if you already ownthat book, it's probably not worth buying this newest version. ACT Prep Black Book, Second Edition This is the only other critical book I recommend for ACT prep. Just using theBlack Bookalone, you’ll likely need supplemental help as I explain below. But what it does have is so good that I believe every student using ACT prep books in their studies should read it. What you’ll get from the Black Book is a way to think about the ACT.But what does this mean? Here are a couple of examples of what you'll learn: The ACT is designed to be a predictable, standardized test. It needs to test basic concepts so that it can be administered nationwide to all students, but it also needs to be difficult, so it distorts the questions in weird ways. Every answer must be unambiguously correct, or else students would complain that their incorrect answers are correct. This means that your strategy should be to rule out all incorrect answer choices, which is especially important on ACT Reading. Some of the concepts in this book were things I understood intuitively back when I took the ACT, but the author here articulates them in a crystal clear way. It’s influenced the way that I think about teaching our students at PrepScholar. Of all books on the market, this book aligns most closely with my personal philosophy on the ACT and how to succeed on it. Pros It offers a very lucid take on the ACT. The ideas in it will change your view on the ACT and hopefully motivate you to work harder, knowing that any student can excel on the test. It contains practical strategies that are more helpful than those in most other ACT books; you don't simply learn to rely on tricks. The book doesn’t assume that all students are the same. It offers a few alternatives for strategies, and then suggests that you try them out to see which one works best for you. It offers a solid set of answer explanations for the hardest questions in the Official Guide (see previous book). The author breaks down the best way to approach each question in a straightforward way. Cons This book requires a ton of self-discipline and insight to use effectively. Because you’re learning from your mistakes and no one is there to guide you, you need to be self-driven to experiment with different strategies and find out which one works best for you. For some students, following a set of straight guidelines could be less confusing. Question explanations are based on the old third edition of the Red Book. If you don't have that book, large parts of this book will be either difficult to use. Most question explanations cover the hardest questions in the Red Book. These serve as good examples for how to think generally about ACT questions, but if you’re scoring at the 8-26 score level on a section, these questions can be pretty confusing. The fundamental content is lacking. If you’re weak in algebra, for example, this book alone will not help you master the subject area. I believe more in recognizing your weaknesses and, throughfocused prep and specific practice questions, mastering that skill. This book is more about teaching an approach to prepping for the ACT. Its English and Science sections are not as strong as its Reading and Math sections are. This is largely due to the nature of the English section, in which it’s less about understanding how the test works and more about mastering grammar rules. Best ACT Books by Subject Beyond the critical books above, you’ll most likely need supplemental help on specific sections. This section discusses the best books for ACT English, Math, Reading, and Science. These books all follow my prep philosophy: Divide ACT content into skills, and get focused training on those skills. Use realistic, high-quality questions to prep effectively for the ACT. Cover only what you need to know- not advanced material that's not on the ACT. Best ACT English Prep Book The best way to excel at ACT English is to understand the grammar rules and how they appear on the ACT. You also need to do a lot of focused practice questions to make sure you learn the patterns of the ACT. That’show we designed our online ACT prep program to teach you grammar. My recommendation for best ACT English book is The Complete Guide to ACT Englishby Erica L. Meltzer. The book is fantastic at distilling grammar into exactly what you need to know for the ACT; you won’t have to learn any arcane grammar concepts that won't appear on the test. As for the rules thatare tested, Meltzer presents them all clearly and covers the essential foundations for those who want to brush up on basic grammar knowledge. Pros This book articulates grammar rules clearly and accurately. It covers only what you need to know for the ACT and cuts out extraneous material. Practice questions use a realistic ACT-passage format. They're also all grouped by topic so you can get repeated practice with the same skill. Cons It's a bit pricey for a book that covers just one ACT section (around $30). Testing a single grammar skill in this format can be misleading practice for the real test. For example, if you know the section is focusing on subject/verb agreement, you might be biased toward recognizing that error on a practice quiz but not on the actual test. Best ACT Math Prep Book My philosophy on ACT Math is thatthe best way to significantly improve your math score is to learn the underlying math content. Learning some simple strategies like plugging in answer choices can get you a little progress, but you’ll quickly run into a ceiling if you have gaps in your underlying math skills. Ultimately, you need to learn algebra, geometry, and number theory to be able to do well on the ACT. Your best bet, therefore, is to find a book that can bothteach you math content in an organized wayand give you practice problems to test individual skills. For these reasons, I recommend theUltimate Guide to the Math ACTby Richard F. Corn. This is a well-written ACT prep book that forces you to buckle down on your weakest math areas. Pros Its lessons teaching math concepts are clear and helpful. They stay focused on math you need to know for the ACT and don't dive into any irrelevant topics. The book divides math into more manageable sub-topics. For example, algebra is divided into solving equations, FOILing, word problems, etc. This division into smaller skills lets you concentrate on and attack specific points in your prep. It contains higher-level strategies on how to prep effectively. Cons Answer explanations are lacking. They show you why an answer is correct but don't teach you how to recognize the problem and solve it. Though high quality, questions could be more creative. The ACT has a host of questions that are unique and unusual, and having this variety is important to mastering the test. The book doesn't distinguish by difficulty level. On the ACT, the hardest questions are much more challenging than the easiest questions. If you're scoring in the average score range, you don't actually need to know how to solve the hardest 20% of questions. Trying to understand these can be a waste of time when you should instead build your fundamental skills. If you’re struggling with ACT math concepts at a basic level (say, scoring 16 or below), I recommend that you supplement your work withKhan Academy, a free online program that offers an engaging way to train your most basic math skills. Note that it's not customized for the ACT specifically, so this program alone won't be enough for your ACT prep. Best ACT Reading Prep Book In my experience with thousands of students, ACT Reading is the most difficult section to improve. It uses logical reasoning skills that aren’t as easy to master as math concepts and grammar rules are. It’s very important to figure out what types of Reading questions will be asked and how you can approach these questions in a systematic way. My recommendation for best ACT Reading book is once again by Erica L. Meltzer: The Complete Guide to ACT Reading.This book dissects the ACT Reading section by both question type and skill. Meltzer does a great job teaching the core of what the question is asking and how to work with the passage to arrive at the correct answer. Of all writers, Meltzer aligns most closely with my philosophy of drilling questions skill by skill to recognize patterns. Pros It offers a great breakdown of the Reading section on a skill-by-skill level.You'll get some of the most helpful strategies for every Reading question type. The book has lots of realistic, high-quality passages and questions.Meltzer uses passages extremely similar to those you’ll see on the ACT. It contains useful strategies on skimming and how to approach Reading passages. Cons For a book that covers just one section, it's a bit pricey ($30). The writing style is dry and clinical, like an academic textbook. I personally prefer this- cut out the fluff- but it can be quite dense for the average student. Its lack of creative page layouts and tendency to use a lot of text on large pages can get tiresome. BestACT Science Prep Book Despite the fact that many students find the Science section to be the most challenging part of the ACT, until recently there were no books specifically dedicated to helping you on ACT Science. At PrepScholar, we know all the tricks for making ACT Science easier, so we decided to compile them into a book. Because it's the only book on the market specifically dedicated to ACT Science, we made sure to make The PrepScholar Guide to ACT Science exceptional.This bookcovers every topic, skill, and question type you'll see on ACT Science, which means that nothingon this section will come as a surprise on test day. Most importantly,this bookalsoincludes all of our best ACT Sciencetest-taking tricks.Many students get tripped up ontheScience section because it's so different from the science tests they've taken in school. However, this book shows you how to identify all the tricks inACTScience and learn how toavoid getting fooled by them. Pros The book contains a complete breakdown of every type of passage and question type you'll see on ACT Science. It includes a list of every science fact you could be tested on, so you're only studying the science you need to know. It also containsmultiple strategies for tackling Science passages so you can choose the method that works best for you. It has lots of expert test-taking tips and strategies. Cons There's no final quiz or exam section at the end of the book. To fully practice everything you've learned from this book,we recommend takingfull-length Science sections. Best Additional Books for Top ACT Scorers Looking at the list above, you can see that you already have your work cut out for you. With nine full-length practice tests and five books at your disposal, you'll be studying for well over 80 hours. If you go through all of your practice using the guidelines we recommend, you’ll likely make huge improvements. If you still want additional practice, though, I recommend Barron’s ACT books- especially if you’re aiming for a near-perfect score. I remember using these books during myown prep in high school, and while Barron's questions are inferior to those in official ACT practice tests, they’re a solid backup source to use if you've finished everything else above. Pros These books offer a lot of content.With Barron's you get thousands of practice questions and detailed lessons with several examples. They're extremely thorough, covering every nook and cranny you need to know. You can be confident that very little is tested outside of what’s contained in these books. Cons Topics can sometimes be too difficult than what you need to know for the ACT. Some questionsget unrealistically hard in a way you’d never see on the actual test. If you’re not an ACT expert, you won’t be able to detect when this happens and might end up wasting time studying content that doesn't ultimately matter. The books often lack clear direction on what’s important and what's not. For example, a grammar rule that appears once every test gets the same number of pages as a grammar rule that appears eight times every test. Again, this is the flip sideof being thorough. As a result, these aren't the books to use if you have limited study time. Not all of their strategies are good.For instance, I have mixed feelings about the reading advice in Barron's ACT 36 (pictured above). Best All-in-One Book for Less Motivated Low Scorers My recommendations have so far been for the ambitious student who really wants to improve his or her score. But I know some students just want to put in five hours, get some exposure to the test, and then take the ACT and forget about it. I personally believe that for most students, improving your ACT score is thebest way to improve your chances of college admission. If you feel like you don't want to put in much effort to studying for the ACT, I strongly suggest reexamining your approach. That said, if you’re stuck in the mindset of simply getting the ACT over with, the book I recommend isKaplan’s ACT Prep 2019. It’s an all-in-one book that covers all four sections and contains practice questions and tests. It doesn’t excel at any of what it’s doing, but it covers the most important bases. It also tends to have more reasonable content than other all-in-one books, such as the ACT book by The Princeton Review. I'll be honest: I don’t love this book. I don’t even really like it. To be frank, I don’t recommend it if you seriously want to improve your ACT score and are willing to put in study time. But if you just want a single source that can do an OK job and is easily digestible, this is the best book out there. Pros It covers all four ACT sections and has a total of three full-length practice tests (two of which are online). At about $17, this book is pretty affordable in terms of the breadth it covers. It offers some helpful, basic strategies that can get you a few easy points if you get stuck answering questions. Cons Practice questions tend to be unrealistic. They often don’t phrase questions the way the ACT would, and they don’t test concepts the right way, either. Questions also don’t trick you in the same ways the real test does. The strategies are not very helpful once you move beyond a 24-score level on a section. Other Free Resources for ACT Prep More important than buying ACT prep books is knowing how to use them effectively. The more books you have, the more important it is to understand how to build a unified study system. We've written thorough guides to walk you through your ACT study plan: 5 Strategies That Will Get You 4+ Points on the ACT How to Get a Perfect ACT Score, by a 36 Full Scorer When Should You Take the ACT? Best Test Dates Is Using ACT Prep Books the Best Option for You? There are a lot of ACT prep methods available to you, and book studying is only one of them. Just to explore all of our options, let's quickly examine whether studying with ACT books is right for you. People who choose to study with books do so for different reasons. Some do it for cost reasons. As I noted above, the best ACT books can get expensive. If you buy all of the top books, you'll be spending around $200. This is already close to the cost of ouronline ACT prep program, which goes beyond books by guiding your studies step by step and motivating you to put in the time. Others study with books because they're self-motivatedand like teaching themselves. If this isn't you, books can be a disappointing way to spend your time- and you probably won't improve, either. By far one of the most important ways to improve your ACT score is to study your mistakes and learn from them. If you can't do this reliably, you'll need extra help to get started. We've written a free guide tocompare other methods of ACT prep. Click the image below to download this guide so you can compare the different methods and see which one is best for you. What's Next? Understanding your ACT target score is critical.Get started by reading ourstep-by-step guide to figuring out what ACT score you need to aim for. Check out our industry-leading online ACT program. We've designed it to cover all of the advantages of ACT books and tutors- and more- at an affordable price. Featuring in-depth strategy lessons and thousands of practice questions, our program uses content from the leading books. We even include the Official ACT Prep Guide above as part of your program. Beyond that,our programacts like your personal tutor. It guides you step by step through what you should be working on at every moment to best improve your score. It customizes to your strengths and weaknesses, and then gives you focused practice so you learn the patterns on the ACT. Furthermore, it motivates you to study so that you put in enough time. There's a 4-point guarantee, too- meaning that if you don't improve your score by 4 points or more, you get all of your money back!

The New Monarchies

The New Monarchies Historians have identified changes in some of Europe’s leading monarchies from the mid-fifteenth to mid-sixteenth centuries, and have termed the result the ‘New Monarchies’. The kings and queens of these nations gathered more power, ended civil conflicts and encouraged trade and economic growth in a process seen to end the medieval style of government and create an early modern one. Achievements of the New Monarchies The change in monarchy from medieval to early modern was accompanied by the accumulation of more power by the throne, and an according decline in the power of the aristocracy. The ability to raise and fund armies were restricted to the monarch, effectively ending the feudal system of military responsibility on which noble pride and power had been largely based for centuries. In addition, powerful new standing armies were created by the monarchs to secure, enforce and protect their kingdoms and themselves.  Nobles now had to serve on the royal court, or make purchases, for offices, and those with semi-independent states, such as the Dukes of Burgundy in France, were bought firmly under crown control. The church also experienced a loss of power – such as the ability to appoint important offices - as the new monarchs took firm control, from the extreme of England which broke with Rome, to France which forced the Pope to agree on a transfer of power to the king.Centralized, bure aucratic government emerged, allowing for a much more efficient and widespread tax collection, necessary to fund the army and projects which promoted the monarch’s power. Laws and feudal courts, which had often been devolved to the nobility, were transferred to the power of the crown and royal officers increased in number. National identities, with people beginning to recognize themselves as part of a country, continued to evolve, promoted by the power of the monarchs, although strong regional identifies remained. The decline of Latin as the language of government and elites, and its replacement by vernacular tongues, also promoted a greater sense of unity. In addition to expanding tax collection, the first national debts were created, often via arrangements with merchant bankers.​ Created by War? Historians who accept the idea of the New Monarchies have sought for the origins of this centralizing process. The main driving force is usually claimed to be the military revolution – itself a highly disputed idea – where the demands of growing armies stimulated the growth of a system which could fund and safely organize the new military. But growing populations and economic prosperity have also been cited, fuelling the royal coffers and both allowing and promoting the accumulation of power. Who Were the New Monarchies? There was massive regional variation across the kingdoms of Europe, and the successes and failures of the New Monarchies varied. England under Henry VII, who unified the country again after a period of civil war, and Henry VIII, who reformed the church and empowered the throne, is usually cited as an example of a New Monarchy. The France of Charles VII and Louis XI, who broke the power of many nobles, is the other most common example, but Portugal is also commonly mentioned. In contrast, the Holy Roman Empire - where an emperor ruled a loose grouping of smaller states - is the exact opposite of the New Monarchies’ achievements. Effects of the New Monarchies The New Monarchies are often cited as being a key enabling factor in the massive maritime expansion of Europe which occurred in the same era, giving first Spain and Portugal, and then England and France, large and wealthy overseas empires. They are cited as setting the groundwork for the rise of the modern states, although it’s important to stress they were not ‘nation states’ as the concept of the nation was not fully advanced.

Eurozone Debt Crisis - What are your predictions on how this crisis Essay

Eurozone Debt Crisis - What are your predictions on how this crisis will develop in the second half of 2011 and what impact will - Essay Example Soon after this optimistic representation of the future global economy, Greece made headlines, where the investors started asking if it would be ever possible for the country to â€Å"pay off the ?259 billion in government debt it currently owes’ (Khan, ibid). Soon Ireland and Portugal followed suit, while predictions show bad signs for Spain and Italy (Lucas, Find Safe European Stocks out of Unsafe Europe , April 2011). Thus, we find that Euro has taken a deep battering from the start of the new decade, with widespread fears that this economic crises may lead to the break-up of the Eurozone. Discussion In recent news published, we find that it presents gloomy figures, â€Å"The Eurozone crisis has gone from bad to worse as debt contagion threatens to engulf Italy. With analysts predicting that Britain could lose as much as ?43 billion should the Italian economy fold, Chancellor George Osborne called on his Eurozone colleagues to take "decisive action" before the situation g ets any worse. He also warned that Britain was "not immune" from the crisis† (Clarkson, Q&A: How will the latest eurozone crisis affect the UK? 2011). Thus, we find that the economic recovery has again hit a critical roadblock, where the economist Peter Spencer on 18th July 2011 stated, "The risks to the world economy and the Eurozone are plain to see, starting with the Greek default, threatening a domino effect on Portugal and Ireland, followed perhaps by Spain and Italy"(cited in, skynewsHD, July 2011). In review by the Ernst & Young group, we find that the predictions are not very optimistic for the second half of the year. In this report, it is stated that the economic forecasts show every indication of an increasing â€Å"EU sovereign debt crisis† (Ernst & Young Eurozone Forecast, 2011, 4). The review also shows that it is almost impossible to avoid the non-payment of the debt incurred by the Greece government. Similarly it would be also impossible to frame an econ omic restructuring, and in probability the country would require another bailout loan. However the review further adds that â€Å"a restructuring nor a bailout are in themselves likely to provide lasting solutions and restructuring would almost certainly carry in its wake the necessity of similar exercises for Ireland and Portugal. An additional uncertainty is whether debt restructuring comes via an orderly or disorderly process. If it is the latter, the risk of contagion to other countries increases and the Eurozone’s reasonably healthy growth prospects for 2011 and 2012 are likely to be extinguished. In fact, the economy would go backward† (ibid). Fig 1: The table below shows GDP growth rates for the European Union and select individual countries. Here we find that the 2011 and 2012 growth predictions vary from 4-5% for countries like Turkey and Poland, and an average of 1-2% for the PIIGS countries at the other end (Source: Lucas, 2011). The graph shows a picture wh ere we find that majority of the countries perform badly (economically) in 2011, with indications of a slightly better show in

Critical thinking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Critical thinking - Essay Example g or valid reasoning is also widely used in reporting events that is happening around us, tell jokes to our friends and colleagues, extending an invitation to a special someone, making promises to other people, telling stories, giving orders or instructions to our subordinates or co-workers, describing something, entertaining other people, the act of evoking emotions, and a lot more (Fischer a, pp. 15 - 16). To have a good critical thinking, having a good logic is never enough in enabling us to solve problems. It is equally important for us to have positive attitude and the necessary skills and knowledge in terms of solving problems. With regards to the importance of critical thinking, the definition of critical thinking as mentioned by Alec Fisher and Friedrich Nietzsche will be discussed followed by comparing and contrasting the two traditions of critical thinking. As part of going through the main discussion, specific examples coming from its respective texts will be provided accordingly. As part of the conclusion, my personal reflection will be expressed in details explaining how I view the two traditions of critical thinking as explained by Fisher and Nietzsche. Alec Fisher acknowledges the different definitions of critical thinking as provided by the famous contributors behind the development of critical thinking which includes John Dewey, Edward Glaser, Robert Ennis, Richard Paul, and Michael Scriven. According to Fischer, John Dewey – known as the ‘father’ of the modern critical thinking tradition defined critical thinking or ‘critico-creative thinking as â€Å"active, persistent, and careful consideration of a belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds which support it and the further conclusions to which it tends† (Fisher b, p. 2). Upon analyzing the definition of critical thinking as provided by Dewey, it simply means that critical thinking is an ‘active’ process or the process wherein the receiver of information or

Some Things To Know About Laos English Language Essay

Some Things To Know About Laos English Language Essay Lao is located in South-East Asia. It is one of the long history countries with well-established traditional in Asia. Laos has its own culture, traditional which is quite similar to other countries in South-East Asia However, Laoss culture is strongly influenced by religious, Buddhism believe and also nearby countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma. For people who come from different country, they always have a big crash in culture shock. They must learn and get used to Lao culture which is very important for their new living place. Normally, when they have conversation with Laos, they should use their eyes and common sense to navigate and learn Laos culture. Here is some information guideline for foreigner should know: Laos has its own traditional greeting called Nob where palms are placed together and held in front of the chest or face. The person who is in the lower level/position in social or younger should give a bow or greeting first, then but the oder or l/higher level/position in social person will respond greeting back. There are many levels for showing respect to the person in greeting with Nob. The higher of the hands holding level and the lower of the bow means the higher the degree of respect. During Nob, one should smile and say hello together with. Sa Bai Dee is a word used for the same purpose as  ´Hello ´. Its general meaning is How are you or Im fine. It is also used for meaning I am doing well. It is common in Laos to ask others if they already had dining or meal after greeting. When persons ask this question, they do not normally purpose for the answer but they show their care to those persons they ask. Nation Pride The Lao are truly  happy  being Laos. The Lao  accept  for who are they, what they are doing and  proud  in their long histories and well-established traditions. They appreciate when foreigner shows interest in their culture. Word expression Laos is a feeling sensitive culture. They care for other people feeling. Lao have many words to describe about their feeling and to express how they think. Laos words that are often used in everyday life are Bo Penh Nyang and Tham Ma Dha. These two words have various meaning according to the context. However, all meanings are related and influence by a Buddhist perspective. Bo Penh Nyang directly means No problem. It also has other meanings as never mind or are you all right? In some case, Bo Penh Nyang used with someone did something wrong to express that the action is forgiven. Tham Ma Dha is the word from Buddhist thinking, means everything goes on it way. In everyday life situation, it means average, the norm or everything process as usual. Religious Culture Similar to other countries in South-East Asia, Lao culture is influenced by Buddhism believe.. Buddhism deeply binds with Laoss everyday life and their ways of thinking also their traditional. With Buddhist teaching about the ways of things that things are as they are and as they should be, Lao easily accept the changing. Moreover, Buddhism religious always teach people to be peace and respect to each other. This builds Laos society to be a peaceful living. Lao people also highly give respect to monk and religious related things. Religious and Temple is the center of Lao mental conduct. Body conduct In Laos, as in most Buddhist cultures, head is considered the most precious/highest part of the body. In the other hand, the feet are the least sacred/lowest part of the body. There are many manners and aspects that are related to body conduct. It is necessary to remember this conduct whenever in Laos. Laos do not play other head as it is consider as the high part of body. Dress In big city and urban area, Laos dress the modern cloths in the same way as the western do. However, short and revealing clothes are generally not acceptable in Lao culture. In temple, everybody must wear polite cloth such as women must wear long pant or dress to cover their knee with long sleeve and must not show their chest. Losing face Losing face is a very sensitive situation for Laos. Losing face in public is a humiliated thing. Lao are afraid of being insulted. before talking about something or doing some action, those stuff should be reconsidered if it will cause losing face to anybody. Any form of confrontation for winner and loser which might lead to losing face must be avoided. Business Etiquette Dos DO say Sa Bai Dee as a greeting word in Lao with Laos traditional greeting. If you dont know how to greet in Laos tradition way, it is better to bow a little bit and say hello with a smile. Do smile a lot, Lao people love peaceful atmosphere. They always smile to each other. Do avoid showing affection in public. Lao are quite conservative. Greeting are any action with affection of person is not widely accepts even within the same gender. DO dress with neat and clean business suites for meetings. Lao are easily getting impressed by outside cloths. Do wear polite dress when visiting government, office and temple. Appropriate dress and behavior when entering places are essential. shorts or sleeveless shirts or flip flop is impolite dress. DO take off your shoes when invited into your Lao business colleagues home. Lao people try to keep their places clean. Taking hat and shoes off also are showing respect to the places. Lao appreciate and expect foreigner to do the same. Do crouch your back down when walking pass someone sitting, especially the elder. Lao highly give respect to elder. Also, as crouching back, body of walking person is consider as not higher than sitting person. Do show respect to Buddhism. Foreigner should show respect and be careful on their action in the temples area. Do speak respectful about the religion. One important thing about Buddhism is women should not touch Monks. Donts Do not touch anyone on the head. As head is the most sacred part of the Laos body, touching head is considered as very impolite behavior Dont put your feet on table or chair and shouldnt sit with crossed-leg or point your feet to anyone. The same thing as the previous one, Lao believe that Head is high and Feet are Low. Dont take any people photo without permission. You must ask them first to permission if they are ok or not. Do not shout or raise your voice or lose temper in public. Lao people speak softly and avoid confrontation. Speaking or shouting in loud voice may frighten them. It is also considered as uneducated or uncivilized person. People who lose their temper in public might be looked down on from other people. Do not involving with illegal stuff and sex tourism. The use of drugs is illegal in Laos.. The selling of wildlife and wildlife products should be avoided. Trading antique Buddha, sacred items and other old artifacts are prohibited. They are not allowed to be taken out of Laos. You might have problem when leaving Laos. Sex tourism is also illegal in Lao Business Practical Business Value Business culture in Laos is different from westerners business culture. In order to understand the difference of business culture between different cultures, the person has to have real experience and navigate deeply in the culture. The comparison of the value emphases that can be found for each culture, Laos and Western, are listed in the following Table.1. This table is derived from real experience of western businessman in Lao with his point of view and his own navigating. It can be used as a guideline for more understanding Laos business value. Table.1 Business value emphasis comparison between Lao and Westerners. Source: Laoletter (2008). Lao Business Culture blog. Relationship Businesses are often based on personal relations developed within social circles. In Laos business culture, work and social relationship are getting along and depend on each other. Since the emphasis placed on personal relationships is high, having a reliable and well-connected local agent or representative is crucial to the success of a foreign venture. Lao are seeking for trusted and credible relationships. Relationships progress slowly in Laos with the step-by-step approach. Asking Laos partner about their family, traditions, culture help foreigner understand their Laos partner better and also effective in building the relationship. View of Time Punctuality Lao people are not so punctual. They are often late for the appointment. Normally, they do not have exact plan and time table for their schedule. Foreigner should learn how the locals plan their time and keep their sense of time flexible. However, punctuality from foreign partner is appreciated Business Hours Official office hours are from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. from Monday to Friday. In factories and private companies work hours can be extended according to the laws allowance. Business Etiquette Greeting In business, nowadays, handshaking is becoming increasingly common during the conduct of business but only for people with same gender. Men and women should avoid public displays of affection. However, Laos traditional greeting is preferred. Naming Lao people should be called by their first names, with their title Mr//Ms//Madame or Than (in Lao) before the name. In the special occasion or to give higher honors, last name or their family name should be followed after their first name. Dress In Laos business, dress code for business is an importance. Men should wear western clothing such as shirt and trousers for normal business occasion. For special occasion, lightweight suits with tie should be worn. Women usually wear long skirts or blouse with long sleeve covering the shoulders and upper legs. Womens business cloth should avoid showing skin. Another important thing for dressing is perfumes. Laos are quite sensitive to odour. Westerners who have strong body odour should wear soft perfumes. Clean and neat cloths help in giving impression to Laos. Language Official language is Lao. English and Fresh are also commonly used in Business. However, French is more widely used, spoken and understood than English. Business cards When doing business in Lao, carry lots of business cards. Business card exchange is common in Laos business practice. Business cards should be translated into Lao and printed out.   A common used one is to have English version on one side and Lao version on the other side. In business card exchanging, cards should be given and received using both hands. Giving business card with this posture shows honor and humble to the person whom is dealed with. Exchanging business card with one hand also acceptable, but only exchanging with right hand where left hand lightly wrap around wrist and lower arm. The card should never be immediately kept into the pocket or placed somewhere. The detail in card for person name and position should be studied after receiving another persons card. Also, the card should not be written anything down. At meetings, other peoples business cards should be arranged on the table according to the sitting position. This helps tracking of people names.   It also is a sign of respect and interested in for the person. Another important thing is, playing or writing anything down in other people business card is disrespectful action. Business card should be treated with respect in same degree of respect as one would show the person him or herself. Gift Giving It is not required to give the gift when meeting business partner but giving gift shows consideration to other people and good relationship. Gift can be anything and do not have to be expensive things. Gift can be offered to anyone in the meeting but the most importance is giving one for the host or person in the highest rank. Gifts are given in the order of peoples importance or their position.   Wrapped gifts will be opened only when the person is alone. Shoes and socks are not suitable to be gifts in Laos as it is related to foot which is the least sacred part of the body. Green and red are the most suitable colors for wrapping paper in Laos. White wrapping paper, which is considered as unlucky and miserable color, should be avoided. Negotiation Negotiations process in the Lao is quite slow. It is also highly unwell-organized. Lao contracts are normally written in short with simple language. The Laos contract focuses on principles while western contract is obtuse and legalistic. Relationship is more important than the terms and conditions in the contract. They view the contract as the starting point of relationship but are able to change later. The agreement may become meaningless if the circumstances change. Good  relationship with Lao partners is a big help in negotiation. Breaking of negotiation should be done very carefully as it might shut the door on future cooperation.   Seeking for legal  counsel might lead to failed relationship i Meeting Meeting in Lao is not well-conducted.  In many case, meeting for Lao people is made for purpose of opportunities for social occasion. The highest ranking person of the group should be the first one who go into the room and speak to other people.   There is normally business card exchange before the meeting start. Meetings always begin with informal talk with serving coffee or tea.   The served tea or coffee should be drink or sip before main topic start as a polite and appreciate behavior. A several  discussion are normally takes place before launch into the the main topic of the meeting. The host will be the person who starts talking into the main topic. There are several signals from host that indicate the end of meeting. The signals include asking guest if they would like more tea, beginning to summarize things up, thank you for coming, and leading guest to the door. Table Manner If Lao has invited someone to a dinner it means that they interest to build deeper relationship. It is important to return the favor as it is a sign of interested in having relationship with them. Whenever accept dining invitation, it is important to be a host for next meal. If the meal take place at Laos house, remember to take shoes off before enter the house. Guest should not take seat until host invites to sit. For dining at restaurant, do not ask to share the bill if have dining at restaurant if they propose to pay for you. Instead, accept the invitation and then host the next meal. Communication Lao has indirect communication style. Rather than confront a person with an issue or disagreement, Lao prefer a non-confrontational ways of communicating for disagreement. As Laos are collectivism, relationship between people is important thing. They avoid having any conflict in relationships especially when in public.   People are more likely to avoid anger, confrontation or verbal criticisms which can lead to loss of face. Instead of direct confrontation, they try to find another way to solve the conflict. Body languages are quite preserved in Lao. They try to avoid eye contact. They also have few body language gestures. For documentation, written documents should be in both Lao and the foreign language so Lao people could understand more correctly about the content of the document. One more important thing is document written with red ink might get negative feedback from Lao. One more thing that foreigner should know is thing are not as the way they seem to be. For example, Foreigner should never ever take yes of Lao as an answer. Lao normally say yes to indicate that the message has been heard and understood. Yes means maybe or perhaps or no. Maybe means yes, no, or just maybe. And there is really no no as they try to avoid any form of conflict. Another example is bad news from Lao is often slowly  introduced. The main topic is normally come after the word and which generally is when the most important content is revealed. Another important thing in communication is saying Apologize. Lao normally apologize when something happen, even if they did not do anything worng. But they apologize because an  unfortunate incident has occurred. i It is importance to remember how to show respect. When in Laos, try and do as the Laos. Do and remember about body conduct, dress, and public affection and religious manner.

Flight Patterns Essay

What is Sherman Alexie’s notion of the reality behind a story as this notion is presented in â€Å"Flight Patterns† I think Sherman ‘s notion of reality is that life is full of contradictions. The society sets up so many rules for people to follow, and people are often judged by their ethnic group, gender, religion†¦etc. Accordingly, they have to behave properly in order to meet the expectations. However, in reality not every person can deal easily with the role he is supposed to be in. For example, William doesn’t want to choose between American and Spokane. He loves them both. In religion, he is a generously religious man. In ethnic, he is a Spokane Indian while having in civic life like most American. In the text, it states that† William wanted all of it .Hunger was his crime.† I think Sherman Alexie points this out to tell us that in reality, a person might feel bemused to make a choice among all he wants. Fikadu faces the difficulties between killing his own people for Selassie and living with his family. William faces the difficulty between jobs and family. They both make up their mind and make the difficult choice despite feeling uncomfortable. The reality is not perfect as we may consider it. People sometimes have to make sacrifices or compromises to accomplish a bigger task. I think William chooses to believe Fekadu’s story because no matter it is true or not, it tells the essence of reality in this society.

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