American Farmers in the West essays

American Farmers in the West essays In Americas history, farmers have always played an important role. In the later part of the 19th century, farmers moved to the west. The farmers of the West were economically vulnerable due to factors beyond their control. Environmental conditions greatly affected the farmers economy. The lack of government protection of farmers put the farmers in a difficult economic position. The mortgage companies, which controlled the farmers land, caused the farmers to go further into debt. Mother Natures wrath severely harmed the farmers. First, floods caused the erosion of the land and destroyed the scarce fertile topsoil. Farmers, who were suffering from a loss due to the weather damaging the crops, now had to buy overly expensive fertilizer to repair the land before next seasons crops had to be planted. Second, droughts plagued the trans-Mississippi west. Due to the lack of production due to the lack of water like Powell had warned people, farmers left the farms. One poet describes the conditions of the drought as fifty miles to water. New farming methods called dry-farming had to be used to make use of the land that got little water. The new farming methods ultimately made to soil useless and created the Dust-Bowl. Last, extreme heat caused farmers to abandon their farms. The heat led to a poor production of crops and crops not suited to be sold. Because of the hot temperatures, fires could occur in the dry wheat and rye fields and on the sods twig-thatc hed and sun-baked houses. The dangers of fire, dehydration, and flooding mixed with the insufficient production of crops caused the farmers to leave their farms or stay and live off of virtually a nonproductive piece of property. The lack of government aid and protection of the farmers resulted in the farmers economic sufferings. First, the Homestead Act was supposed to be a g...

How Knowledge and Learning Survived in the Middle Ages

How Knowledge and Learning Survived in the Middle Ages They began as men alone, solitary ascetics in wattle huts in the desert, living off berries and nuts, contemplating the nature of God, and praying for their own salvation. It wasnt long before others joined them, living nearby for comfort and safety, if not for conviviality. Individuals of wisdom and experience like Saint Anthony taught the way to spiritual harmony to the monks who sat at their feet. Rules were then established by holy men like  Saint Pachomius  and Saint Benedict to govern what had become, in spite of their first intentions, a community. Monasteries, abbeys, priories- all were built to house men or women (or, in the case of double monasteries, both) who sought spiritual peace. For the sake of their souls people came there to live a life of strict religious observance, self-sacrifice, and work that would help their fellow human beings. Towns and sometimes even cities grew up around them, and the brothers or sisters would serve the secular community in a variety of ways- growing grain, making wine, raising sheep- usually remaining separate and apart. Monks and nuns played many roles, but perhaps the most significant and far-reaching role was that of the keepers of knowledge. It was very early in its collective history that the monastery of Western Europe became the repository for manuscripts. Part of the Rule of Saint Benedict charged its followers to read holy writings every day. While knights underwent special education that prepared them for the battlefield and the court, and artisans learned their craft from their masters, the contemplative life of a monk provided the perfect setting in which to learn to read and write, and to acquire and copy manuscripts whenever the opportunity arose. A reverence for books and for the knowledge they contained was not surprising in monastics, who turned their creative energies not only into writing books of their own but into making the manuscripts they created beautiful works of art. Books may have been acquired, but they were not necessarily hoarded. Monasteries could make money charging by the page to copy out manuscripts for sale. A  book of hours  would be made expressly for the layman; one penny per page would be considered a fair price. It was not unknown for a monastery to simply sell part of its library for operating funds. Yet books were prized among the most precious of treasures. Whenever a monastic community would come under attack- usually from raiders like the Danes or Magyars but sometimes from their very own secular rulers- the monks would, if they had time, take what treasures they could carry into hiding in the forest or other remote area until the danger had passed. Always, manuscripts would be among such treasures. Although theology and spirituality dominated a monastics life, by no means were all of the books collected in the library religious. Histories and biographies, epic poetry, science and mathematics- all of them were collected, and studied, in the monastery. One might be more likely to find a bible, hymnals and graduals, a lectionary or a missal; but a secular history was also important to the seeker of knowledge. And thus was the monastery not only a repository of knowledge, but a distributor of it, as well. Until the twelfth century, when Viking raids ceased to be an expected part of everyday life, almost all scholarship took place inside the monastery. Occasionally a high-born lord would learn letters from his mother, but mostly it was the monks who taught the oblates monks-to-be in the tradition of the classics. Using first a stylus on wax and later, when their command of their letters had improved, a quill and ink on parchment, young boys learned grammar, rhetoric and logic. When they had mastered these subjects they moved on to arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and music. Latin was the only language used during instruction. Discipline was strict, but not necessarily severe. Teachers did not always confine themselves to the knowledge taught and retaught for centuries past. There were definite improvements in mathematics and astronomy from several sources, including the occasional Muslim influence. And methods of teaching were not as dry as one might expect: in the tenth century a renowned monastic by the name of Gerbert used practical demonstrations whenever possible, including the creation of a forerunner of the telescope to observe heavenly bodies and the use of an organistrum (a kind of hurdy-gurdy) to teach and practice music. Not all young men were suited to the monastic life, and though at first most were forced into the mold, eventually some of the monasteries maintained a school outside their cloisters for young men not destined for the cloth. As time passed these secular schools grew larger and more common and evolved into universities. Though still supported by the Church, they were no longer part of the monastic world. With the advent of the printing press, monks were no longer needed to transcribe manuscripts. Slowly, monastics relinquished this part of their world, as well, and returned to the purpose for which they had originally congregated: the quest for spiritual peace. But their role as the keepers of knowledge lasted a thousand years, making the Renaissance movements and the birth of the modern age possible. And scholars will forever be in their debt. Sources and Suggested Reading The links below will take you to an online bookstore, where you can find more information about the book to help you get it from your local library. This is provided as a convenience to you; neither Melissa Snell nor About is responsible for any purchases you make through these links. Life in Medieval Times by Marjorie Rowling Sun Dancing: A Medieval  Vision  by Geoffrey Moorhouse The text of this document is copyright  ©1998-2016   Melissa Snell. You may download or print this document for personal or school use, as long as the URL below is included. Permission is   not  granted to reproduce this document on another website. For publication permission,  please   contact  Melissa Snell. The URL for this document is:http://historymedren.about.com/cs/monasticism/a/keepers.htm

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 Essay

Would you have signed the Constitution of 1787 - Essay Example purposes of the Constitution is posted at the exact beginning of the document, stating, â€Å"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity [†¦].† That in itself is a set of rules that the government can follow. It lists aspects that they should be aware of when they make decisions, and the people that should be considered during the decision-making process. The Constitution of 1787, as opposed to any other government-based documents, is the best plan for the government because it focuses on the more important aspects of the government system itself. The important positions are pointed out, as well as their tasks and duties. There are numerous positions in the government, each with varying jobs and tasks. The Constitution helps to keep people on track with what they need to be doing. It goes into heavy detail about what a member can or cannot do, as well as the specifics of each branch. This document is perfect for the government as it can keep things from going completely out of control, and it centers in on the things that are most important to the people. The Constitution also goes into the process by which a bill is considered, created, and enforced, which most definitely proves helpful when large groups of people are at ends with what to do. There are other â€Å"how-to† instructions in the Constitution, adding further to the fact that the Constitution can be viewed as appropriate guidelines for running a stable government. How one votes and how someone is chosen for a specific job is also mentioned throughout the document. The Constitution is the perfect set of guidelines to be looked at for any government system, really. It is something that really suits the workings of the United States of America. However, if I were around during the signing of it, I

Google and saving face in China Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Google and saving face in China - Case Study Example Thus, Google cannot always count on the Chinese government focusing on cultivating innovation and promoting technology. However, it should also be mentioned that innovation is a crucial factor for an emerging country such as China from longer perspective of development and considering this fact, companies such as Google should continuously strive for creating and enhancing innovative technologies.5 The incident about Google and China is unforgettable, but Google is very attracted towards Chinese market and it has developed innovative technologies such as ‘Nexus S’, ‘Android Phone’ and ‘Chrome Operating System’. 6 Recommendation to Google’s Openness Policy in Countries that have Autocratic Regimes Learning from Google's China adventure, it would not be wrong to suggest that the company has to be extremely careful in the future before implementing operations in other autocratic countries. Avoiding problems such as that of ‘losing face ’, the company should build on collaboration with the governments of these countries. In this context, partnership with the governments of the countries that have autocratic regimes that Google want to operate in can be found through mutual dialogues as this will help to avoid clashes in future. Google should carefully examine the sensitivities of the host country in order to avoid providing user access to websites that can compromise relations with the government. This will certainly help in eradicating any conflicting views especially in terms of political and cultural factors that has been the major conflicting issues in China.7 For the strengthening of the openness policy in those countries, Google should gravely concentrate on factors related to politics and religion. Any news,... Learning from Google's China adventure, it would not be wrong to suggest that the company has to be extremely careful in the future before implementing operations in other autocratic countries. Avoiding problems such as that of ‘losing face’, the company should build on collaboration with the governments of these countries. In this context, partnership with the governments of the countries that have autocratic regimes that Google want to operate in can be found through mutual dialogues as this will help to avoid clashes in future. Google should carefully examine the sensitivities of the host country in order to avoid providing user access to websites that can compromise relations with the government. This will certainly help in eradicating any conflicting views especially in terms of political and cultural factors that has been the major conflicting issues in China. For the strengthening of the openness policy in those countries, Google should gravely concentrate on factors related to politics and religion. Any news, articles or journals and forums that criticize the political or religious values of the countries should not be revealed through Google’s search engine. Views of opposition political parties should be avoided as far as possible. Any access to information that may insight violence within the country or threaten the government stability should be carefully vetted. Google should comprehensively adhere to the factors that can harm moral or cultural beliefs of the people of those countries in the East Asia, Middle East or Latin America.

Ronald Reagan Essay Example for Free

Ronald Reagan Essay Ronald Reagan came from humble beginnings. He was born on February 6, 1911 in the town of Tampico, Illinois. His parents were Jack and Nelle. Jack Reagan was an unsuccessful salesman who was also known as an alcoholic. His mother, Nelle Wilson Reagon was a devout farmwoman who raised Ronald and his older brother, Neil, in the Disciples of Christ Church despite their fathers Catholicism. The family moved frequently, sometimes in response to new job opportunities, sometimes after Jack had been fired because of his drinking. In 1920 they settled in Dixon, Illinois, where Jack became the proprietor and part owner of a shoe store (Reeves 2). Ronald Reagan was an outgoing, optimistic, popular, and apparently happy youth despite the problems of his family. He was interested in sports from an early age and particularly liked football and swimming. Ronald was also nearsighted, which was later diagnosed, made baseball difficult for him. He was a hardworking and modestly successful student, with a talent for memorization (Miller Center). He was active early in school dramatics. As a teenager, he worked during summers as a lifeguard at the swimming area of the local river and put aside much of what he earned for his education (Reeves 6). Reagans youth was in many ways oddly similar to that of other provincial Americans who rose to political prominence: a boyhood in a small town, a family struggling precariously on the edges of the middle class, education in small, undistinguished schools. Huey P. Long, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and many others had grown up in comparable circumstances. But unlike most other small-town boys who rose to political greatness, Reagan showed little early interest in politics (Brinkley). Jack Reagan, like most American Catholics of his era, was a staunch Democrat and Ronald inherited his fathers unreflective enthusiasm for the party even though, throughout the 1920s, it enjoyed little national success. He became a fervent admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932, an attachment that grew stronger when the New Deal agencies began providing jobs to unemployed men (among them his father) in depression-ravaged central Illinois (Miller Center). But he never became actively involved in Democratic politics in the state. He found himself drawn occasionally into campus politics at Eureka and in his senior year won election as class president. But when he graduated in 1932, with a B. A. in economics and sociology, politics and public life remained far from his thoughts. He was, he later wrote, drawn to some form of show business, an interest born in part of his experiences in the Eureka drama society (Brinkley). Following graduation, at a time when a quarter of Americans were unemployed, Reagan found work as a radio announcer, first in Davenport, Iowa, then later Des Moines. Reagan struggled at first but in time became one of the best-known sports announcers in the Midwest (Reeves 9). He also became a popular speaker before Des Moines service groups and enlisted as a reserve officer in the U. S. Cavalry so he could ride horses regularly. But he dreamed of bigger things. In 1937, Reagan went to California with the Chicago Cubs baseball team on spring training and arranged through a friend for a screen test at Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers offered Reagan a contract for $200 a week that launched his film career (Brinkley). His growing success also won him a series of deferments from military service (at the request of Warner Brothers) once the United States entered World War II, and then after he was called up and commissioned an officer in the cavalry, an assignment with an army film unit. He spent the war in California making army training movies at a military base in Los Angeles, with time off to make feature films at Warner Brothers (among them the successful 1943 tribute to the military, This Is the Army ) (D’Souza 10). Much of the time, he lived at home with his family. Despite his later claims to the contrary, he never left the country and never saw combat. But he cooperated with studio public relations efforts to portray him as a soldier, who, like other soldiers, left his family to go off to war. Feature stories described Wyman bravely carrying on, raising the children and maintaining the household while her man was away. Newsreels and magazine photos depicted Reagan coming home for leaves and visits. Reagan later sometimes seemed actually to have believed the ruse. Even decades later, he liked to talk about coming back from the war, like other veterans, eager to take up family life again (a life that in his case had hardly been interrupted) (D’Souza 11). Reagans postwar acting career never regained the momentum it had enjoyed in the early 1940s. He had some occasional successes (among them The Hasty Heart in 1949), but he found himself working more often now in minor roles or minor films. Jane Wymans career, in the meantime, was flourishing, and her absorption with it contributed to what were already growing tensions within the marriage. The couple divorced in 1948 (Reagan 4). As his career and his marriage languished, Reagan had begun to become active in politics. His first vehicle was the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the film actors union. Reagan had been active in SAG since his first months in Hollywood, and his involvement grew with his marriage to Wyman, who was also an important figure in the organization. In 1946, he chaired a union strike committee and demonstrated an energy and a toughness that his SAG colleagues had not previously seen. In 1947, he became president of the union, a position he held for six years. Reagan still considered himself a liberal Democrat, and he used his new political distinction to campaign for Harry Truman in 1948. There was occasional talk of Reagan himself running for Congress as a Democrat, but party leaders apparently opposed the idea because they considered him too liberal (Barlietta 15-17). In reality, Reagans political views were changing more rapidly than his public activities suggested. During the war, he had harshly criticized the waste and corruption he saw in the awarding of military contracts, and his suspicion of government bureaucracies only grew in the following years. He was also now complaining frequently about taxes. He had signed a million-dollar contract with Warner Brothers in 1944, but the very high wartime tax rates (up to 90 percent in the upper brackets) greatly reduced his income. In 1950, after initially endorsing the actress Helen Gahagan Douglas for the United States Senate, he switched his support to Richard Nixon in mid-campaign. And as president of SAG, he became active in efforts to distance the union from Communist influence (driven to do so, no doubt, by the savagely anti-Communist political climate, but also by his own deep and growing aversion to Communists) (D’Souza 12). By the late 1940s, he was cooperating with the FBI and testifying before the House Committee on Un-American Activities against Communism in the union (although he was not asked to name any individual Communists). Subsequently, he cooperated with the studios as they quietly administered the notorious blacklist of alleged Communists who were to be barred from employment in the movie industry. Reagan later claimed that the effort by Hollywood Communists to take over the motion picture business, and the unwillingness of many liberals to confront them, was responsible for his political turn to the right (Brinkley). At least as responsible, however, was his marriage in 1952 to Nancy Davis, a young and largely unknown actress whom he had met at a dinner party in 1949. Davis was the daughter of a once-successful stage actress, Edith Luckett. Her natural parents separated when she was an infant, and she spent most of her childhood in the home of her mothers second husband, Loyal Davis, whose name Nancy took and whose right-wing political views she uncritically absorbed. Her familys conservatism reinforced Reagans own accelerating drift to the right (Brinkley). Reagans second marriage was a happy one. The couple lived in a comfortable home in Pacific Palisades and began to spend time at a ranch Reagan had bought near Santa Barbara. They had two children, Patricia, born in 1952, and Ronald, born in 1958. But Reagans film career was now in serious decline. Warner Brothers had not renewed his contract, and he was having difficulty finding steady work elsewhere. He was now in his mid-forties, and major stardom was coming to seem beyond his reach (Reeves 13). Over the next few years FBI agents working with the House of Un-American Activities Committee and the Hollywood Motion Picture Producers, got 320 people blacklisted from the entertainment industry. As president of the Screen Actors Guild, Reagan refused to support those actors such as Larry Parks, Joseph Bromberg, Charlie Chaplin, John Garfield, Howard Da Silva, Gale Sondergaard, Jeff Corey, John Randolph, Canada Lee, and Paul Robeson who were on this list.   Reagans support of McCarthyism enabled him to continue working in Hollywood but his films continued to appear in mediocre films such as Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), The Last Outpost (1951), The Winning Team (1952), Law and Order (1953), Cattle Queen of Montana (1954), Tennessees Partner (1955) and Hellcats in the Navy (1957). Between 1954 and 1962 Reagan also worked for General Electric as host of the companys weekly half-hour dramas for television. (Miller Center) In the 1930s and 40s Reagan had been a loyal supporter of the Democratic Party. However, he switched to the Republican Party after the war and supported Dwight Eisenhower (1952 and 1956) and Richard Nixon (1960). In 1964 that Reagan became a national political figure. (Barlietta 67) This was as a result of a televised speech in support of Barry Goldwater. It did not help Goldwater win the election (he was seen by most people in America as a dangerous, right-wing extremist). However, it did convince members of the Californian business community that here was a man with the charm to sell right-wing extremism. Reagan was approached about becoming the Republican Party candidate as Governor of California with the help of a smear campaign against Pat Brown and promises of tax cuts he won an easy victory. (Miller Center)? As governor Reagan quickly established himself as one of the countrys leading conservative political figures. This included dramatic budget cuts and a hiring freeze for state agencies. He also put up student fees and when they complained he sent state troopers to deal with their protest meetings. (D’Souza 45) Re-elected with 52 per cent of the vote in 1970, Reagan introduced a series of welfare reforms during his second term in office. This included tightening eligibility requirements for welfare aid and requiring the able to seek work rather than receiving benefits. However, the tax cuts never came, in fact, he presided over the largest tax increase any state had ever demanded in American history. Ronald Reagan won the Republican Presidential nomination in 1980 and chose as his running mate former Texas Congressman and United Nations Ambassador George Bush. Voters troubled by inflation and by the year-long confinement of Americans in Iran swept the Republican ticket into office. Reagan won 489 electoral votes to 49 for President Jimmy Carter. (Miller Center) On January 20, 1981, Reagan took office. Only 69 days later he was shot by a would-be assassin, but quickly recovered and returned to duty. His grace and wit during the dangerous incident caused his popularity to soar. (Brinkley) Dealing skillfully with Congress, Reagan obtained legislation to stimulate economic growth, curb inflation, increase employment, and strengthen national defense. He embarked upon a course of cutting taxes and Government expenditures, refusing to deviate from it when the strengthening of defense forces led to a large deficit. (Brinkley) A renewal of national self-confidence by 1984 helped Reagan and Bush win a second term with an unprecedented number of electoral votes. Their victory turned away Democratic challengers Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro. In 1986 Reagan obtained an overhaul of the income tax code, which eliminated many deductions and exempted millions of people with low incomes. At the end of his administration, the Nation was enjoying its longest recorded period of peacetime prosperity without recession or depression. (Brinkley) In foreign policy, Reagan sought to achieve peace through strength. During his two terms he increased defense spending 35 percent, but sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union. In dramatic meetings with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he negotiated a treaty that would eliminate intermediate-range nuclear missiles. (Brinkley) Reagan declared war against international terrorism, sending American bombers against Libya after evidence came out that Libya was involved in an attack on American soldiers in a West Berlin nightclub. By ordering naval escorts in the Persian Gulf, he maintained the free flow of oil during the Iran-Iraq war. In keeping with the Reagan Doctrine, he gave support to anti-Communist insurgencies in Central America, Asia, and Africa. D’Souza 74) After leaving office in 1989, the Reagans purchased a home in Bel Air, Los Angeles in addition to the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara. They regularly attended Bel Air Presbyterian Church and occasionally made appearances on behalf of the Republican Party; Reagan delivered a well-received speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention. Previously on November 4, 1991, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library was dedicated and opened to the public. (D’Souza 111) At the dedication ceremonies, five presidents were in attendance, as well as six first ladies, marking the first time five presidents were gathered in the same location. Reagan continued publicly to speak in favor of a line-item veto; the Brady Bill; a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget; and the repeal of the 22nd Amendment, which prohibits anyone from serving more than two terms as president. In 1992 Reagan established the Ronald Reagan Freedom Award with the newly formed Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. His final public speech was on February 3, 1994 during a tribute to him in Washington, D. C. , and his last major public appearance was at the funeral of Richard Nixon on April 27, 1994. Brinkley) In August 1994, at the age of 83, Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimers disease, an incurable neurological disorder which destroys brain cells and ultimately causes death. In November he informed the nation through a handwritten letter, writing in part: â€Å"I have recently been told that I am one of the millions of Americans who will be afflicted with Alzheimers Disease At the moment I feel just fine. I intend to live the remainde r of the years God gives me on this earth doing the things I have always done I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead. Thank you, my friends. May God always bless you. † (Miller Center) After his diagnosis, letters of support from well-wishers poured into his California home, but there was also speculation over how long Reagan had demonstrated symptoms of mental degeneration. In her memoirs, former CBS White House correspondent Lesley Stahl recounts her final meeting with the president, in 1986: Reagan didnt seem to know who I was. Oh, my, hes gonzo, I thought. I have to go out on the lawn tonight and tell my countrymen that the president of the United States is a doddering space cadet. But then, at the end, he regained his alertness. As she described it, I had come that close to reporting that Reagan was senile. (Miller Center) However, Dr. Lawrence K. Altman, a physician employed as a reporter for the New York Times, noted that the line between mere forgetfulness and the beginning of Alzheimers can be fuzzyand all four of Reagans White House doctors said that they saw no evidence of Alzheimers while he was president. Dr. John E. Hutton, Reagans primary physician from 1984 to 1989, said the president absolutely did not show any signs of dementia or Alzheimers. (Miller Center) Reagan did experience occasional memory lapses, though, especially with names. Once, while meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, he repeatedly referred to Vice President Bush as Prime Minister Bush. Reagans doctors, however, note that he only began exhibiting overt symptoms of the illness in late 1992or 1993, several years after he had left office. His former Chief of Staff James Baker considered ludicrous the idea of Reagan sleeping during cabinet meetings. Other staff members, former aides, and friends said they saw no indication of Alzheimers while he was President. Barlietta 197) Complicating the picture, Reagan suffered an episode of head trauma in July 1989, five years prior to his diagnosis. After being thrown from a horse in Mexico, a subdural hematoma was found and surgically treated later in the year. Nancy Reagan asserts that her husbands 1989 fall hastened the onset of Alzheimers disease, citing what doctors told her, although acute brain injury has not been conclusively proven to accelerate Alzheimers or dementia. Reagans one-time physician Dr. Daniel Ruge has said it is possible, but not certain, that the horse ccident affected the course of Reagans memory. (Barlietta 209) Reagan died of pneumonia at his home in Bel Air, California on the afternoon of June 5, 2004. A short time after his death, Nancy Reagan released a statement saying: My family and I would like the world to know that President Ronald Reagan has died after 10 years of Alzheimers Disease at 93 years of age. We appreciate everyones prayers. (Brinkley) President George W. Bush declared June 11 a National Day of Mourning, and international tributes came in from around the world. Reagans body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California later in the day, where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American flags in the grass. On June 7, his body was removed and taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral was held conducted by Pastor Michael Wenning. His body lay in repose in the Library lobby until June 9; over 100,000 people viewed the coffin. (Miller Center) On June 9, Reagans body was flown to Washington, D. C. where he became the tenth United States president to lie in state; in thirty-four hours, 104,684 people filed past the coffin. On June 11, a state funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, and presided over by President George W. Bush. Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both Presidents Bush. Also in attendance were Mikhail Gorbachev, and many world leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq. Brinkley) After the funeral, the Reagan entourage was flown back to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, where another service was held, and President Reagan was interred. (Brinkley) At the time of his death, Reagan was the longest-lived president in U. S. history, having lived 93 years and 120 days (2 years, 8 months, and 23 days longer than John Adams, whose record he surpassed). He is now the second longest-lived president, just 45 days fewer than Gerald Ford. He was the first United States president to die in the 21st century, and his was the first state funeral in the United States since that of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973. (Miller Center) His burial site is inscribed with the words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: I know in my heart that man is good, that what is right will always eventually triumph and that there is purpose and worth to each and every life.

Dinner with the Experts :: Personal Narrative Online Dating Essays

Dinner with the Experts Beep. Beep. â€Å"Okay, now what was that timer for?† I said to myself. â€Å"Oh, it’s the steak!† Once the tray was safely on the table, I took off my oven-mitts and crept towards the door to peak in and spy on my guests. The dinner party invitation said to arrive at six o’clock, but I was not surprised to open my door to Ellen and Sherrie at 5:15. They rang the doorbell at least a dozen times in the thirty seconds it took me to get to the door. I found two middle aged women decked out in trendy clothes, the sort a teenager might wear. Ellen had a bright yellow headband on, and Sherrie’s hair was died a fiery red. The kitchen door made a creaking sound as I shut it to return to my cooking, but I was not concerned that they would see me looking in on them. I knew those two would never hear the little noise over their own gabbing. A few weekends ago I saw a segment on online dating on NBC. Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider, who co-authored The Rules For Online Dating, spoke with David and Liz, a couple whom had just started dating thanks to online dating services. Prior to seeing the show, I thought that online dating was ridiculous and only for desperate people. David and Liz though, seemed perfectly normal, and from what I gathered, the online dating scene is quickly gaining popularity (Ellen Fein and†¦). I just did not know what to think about it all. Is online dating a good thing? Is it safe compared to real life? I decided to invite all four of them (Ellen, Sherrie, David, and Liz) over for dinner the next week to talk about online dating and if and how it worked. Even after sending out my invitations though, all I could think about was online dating, and I just could not seem to make up my mind as to whether it was a good idea or not. I spent time researching the topic and I came across two more experts on online dating that I wanted to invite to dinner as well. Both Kelly Starling and Andrea Svoboda seemed to be fairly laid back (judging by their writings) people, so I had decided to invite them to dinner also (even though it was short notice).

Mill’s Utilitarianism Analysis Essay

Thesis: Objectors of Utilitarianism states that there is no time for calculating and weighing the effects on utilizing the general happiness. On the contrary, Mill says that mankind has been learning by experience the tendency of actions in order to know what is right and wrong. The rules of morality is improvable, therefore we should pass all that experience on others. However, improving the rules of morality is one thing, but to educate it to the younger is another; since there is still much to learn about the effects of actions on general happiness, and all rational people go through life with their minds made up on the common questions of right and wrong. Reasons: 1. Philosopher and the human: They have to acquire experience about the effects of some actions on their happiness and improving it or at least maintain it. . Traveler: Mill uses the traveler going for his destination as for if a man needs to follow the rules of general happiness, we should open the way and direct him to the knowledge, and not to forbid it. 3. Sailors: They go to sea with it calculated on the Nautical Almanac. Therefore, as for the people, they go on the sea of life with a made up mind on the common questions of right and wrong, and more complicated questions of wise and foolish. Discussion: Mill’s defend against the objectors of Utilitarianism is that the rules of general happiness are made up by the experience of the people. Also, it is improvable by teaching it to the younger and other people. But, he also argues that human are rational creature. Human are capable of answering the questions of right and wrongness by their own experience, and they also capable of learning and experiencing more on their way of life.

Leadership in organizational behavior Essay

Leadership is the process of influencing people and providing an environment for them to achieve team or organisational objectives. As a property, Leadership is the set of characteristics attributed to those who are perceived to use such influence successfully. Leadership involves neither force nor coercion. It is widely believed in the world of business that leadership is the key ingredient in the recipe for corporate achievement. Typically, when we speak of leaders we are referring to people who influence others without threat, using non-coercive means. In fact, this characteristic distinguishes a leader from a dictator. Whereas dictators get others to do what they want by using threats of physical force, leaders do not. Subordinates accept influence from leaders because they respect, like, or admire them as well as because they hold positions of formal authority (that is, leaders may have both position power and personal power). We need to caution against the everyday practice of using tile terms leader and manager interchangeably. The primary function of a leader is to create the essential purpose or mission of the organization and the strategy for attaining it. In contrast, the job of the manager is to implement that vision. He or she is responsible for achieving that end, taking the steps necessary to turn the leader’s vision into reality. The confusion between these two terms is understandable insofar as the distinction between establishing a mission and implementing it is often blurred in practice. This is because many leaders, such as top corporate executives, are frequently called upon not only to create a vision, but also to help implement it. Similarly, managers often are required to lead those who are subordinate to them while also carrying out their leader’s mission. With this in mind, it has been observed that too many so-called â€Å"leaders† get bogged down in the managerial aspects of their job, creating organizations that are â€Å"over managed and under lead. † Leadership Perspectives Goal Attainment : influence function of leadership and deals the mechanisms that motivate members’ behaviors towards the group’s goals. Adaptation : helps the group to define its goal in a way that is consistent with the demands of the environment in which operates. Integration : some mechanism must coordinate the activities of group members towards the common goal e. g – Communication and conflict resolution Maintenance : mechanism to maintain their morale and keep them interested in staying in the group THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP: There are three major approaches to leadership: a) trait theories, b) behavioral theories, c) situational theories. Trait theories highlight that there exists a finite set of individual traits or characteristics that distinguish successful from unsuccessful leaders. Behavioral theories highlight that the most important aspect of leadership is not the traits of the leader, but what the leader does in various situations. Successful leaders are distinguished form unsuccessful leaders by their particular style of leadership. Situational theories outlines that the effectiveness of the leader is not only determined by his or her style of behavior, but also by the situation surrounding the leadership environment. Situational factors include the characteristics of the leader and the subordinates, the nature of the task and the structure of the group. THE TRAIT APPROACH: ARE SOME PEOPLE REALLY â€Å"BORN LEADERS†? Common sense leads us to think that some people have more of â€Å"the right stuff’ than others, and are just naturally better leaders. And, if you look at some of the great leaders throughout history, such as Martin Luther King, Jr. , Alexander the Great, and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a few, it is clear that such individuals certainly have characteristics in common that differ from ordinary folks. The question is â€Å"what is it that makes great leaders so great? † Leaders have certain traits, e. g. Honesty and Integrity : Trustworthy ; reliable ; open Intelligence Self – Confidence : Trust in own abilities Emotional maturity Stress tolerance Task – relevant knowledge : knowledge of business, relevant technical matters Ambition and high energy : Desire for achievement ; tenacity ; initiative Desire to lead : leadership motivation – desire to exercise influence over others to reach shared goals Research suggest that traits contribute less than 10% of what makes a successful leader Leadership Grid (Robert R. Blake & Jane Mouton) Impoverished Mgmt (1,1): Exertion of minimum efforts to get the required work done is appropriate to sustain organization membership. Country Club Mgmt (1,9): Thoughtful attention to the needs of people for satisfying relationships leads to a comfortable organizational atmosphere and work tempo. Middle Of The Road Mgmt (5,5): Adequate organizational performance is possible through balancing the necessity to get out work with maintaining morale of the people at satisfying level. Authority Compliance (9,1): Efficiency in operational results from arranging conditions of work in such a way that human elements interfere to a minimum degree. Team Mgmt (9,9): Work accomplishment is from committed people; inter dependence through a common stake. In organization purpose leads to relationships of trust and respect. Managerial Grid: The five basic approaches to management identified by Black and Mouton are based on the two dimensions of concern of people and concern for production that are associated with leaders. A managerial grid is formed based on these two dimensions which are rated on 9 point scale. If manager is securing the lowest score on these two dimensions I,I is identified as impoverished style of managers who are low on both their concern of people and production, 1,9 or country club style is designated to those managers who are having high concern for people but low concern for production. The 5, 5 or the middle-of-the road style concerns the moderate levels of concern for both people and production. The 9,1 or task management style is one where there is a high concern for production but very little concern for people and finally, 9,9 or team management style is one where the manager has high concern for both people and production. According to Black and Mouton the one best style for all mangers is the 9,9 or team management style. Fiedler’s Model Effective groups depend on a proper match between a leader’s style of interacting with subordinates and the degree to which the situation gives control and influence to the leader. LEADER SITUATION MATCH A task oriented leader is appropriate for a very favorable or very unfavorable situation. Relationship oriented behavior is predicted to work best when situation is moderately favorable or unfavorable. /* only read Favorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly favorable if it possess a high level of positive interpersonal relations between leaders and members, a well defined task structures and a leaders perceive that they are bestowed with strong perceived positional power. In such type of situation the leader will have a great deal of control over situations and will simply have to make sure that he gives the necessary instructions to get the task done. There is no need for him to waste time talking to each employee in order to be perceived as friendly. A task-oriented style will be effective in such situation. Unfavorable Situation: The situation is considered as highly unfavorable if it possesses a low level of interpersonal relationship between leaders and members, a poorly defined task and a relatively a weak perceived power. The leader of a task-force committee which is appointed to solve problems encountered in the work setting is likely to find him in such a situation. In such type of situation, the leader is in highly vulnerable situations and there is no other way to enforce a strict discipline and order to bring the situation in normalcy than following relationship oriented style. Moderately Favorable Situation: Here the leader might find herself in a mixed situation. For instance, a manager might have good relationship with her workers, but the task structure and position power of the leader may be low. For example, a bank officer may have a good relationship staff member, but the task structure or the power to control the staff members (either to reward or punish members) is not strong enough. In such situations, the manager will be very successful and get the desirable results if he follows more of relationships oriented style than task oriented task style. */ PATH GOAL THEORY PATH GOAL THEORY believes that a leader can change subordinates expectancies by clarifying the path between the subordinates’ action and the outcome, which is the goal which the employee wants to achieve. Whether leader’s behavior can do so effectively also depends on situational factors. Path-Goal Leadership Model Path-Goal Leadership Behaviour Directive Leadership Behavior: This deals with planning, organizing, controlling and coordinating of subordinates activities by the leader. It is similar to the traditional dimension of initiating structure in that the leader’s emphasis is on letting the subordinates know what is expected of them. Supportive Leadership Behavior: This concerns giving support consideration to the needs of the subordinates, displaying concern for their well-being and welfare and creating a friendly and pleasant environment. Participative—a pattern in which the leader consults with subordinates, permitting them to participate in decision making. Achievement-oriented—an approach in which the leader sets challenging goals and seeks improvements in performance. The benefits to the company of the achievement-oriented leader approach include greater employee confidence and commitment, more employee decision making, increased employee creativity, more challenging objectives, and reduced supervision for employees who work best independently. SITUATIONAL FACTORS Employee Contingencies Locus of control A Participative leader is suitable for subordinates with internal locus of control. A directive leader is suitable for supportives for external locus of control. Self perceived ability Subordinates who perceive themselves as having high ability do not like directive leadership. Environmental Contingencies When working on a task that has a high structure, directive leadership is redundant and less effective. When a highly formal authority system is in place, directive leadership can again reduce worker’s satisfaction. When subordinates are in a team environment that offers great social support, the supportive leadership style becomes less necessary TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP Definition: It’s the process of leading for change rather than for stability. Transformational leaders Leading — changing the organisation to fit the environment Develop, communicate, enact a vision. It is exercised when the leader intellectually stimulates the subordinates, excites, arouses and inspires them to perform far beyond what they would have thought themselves capable of. By providing a new vision, the transformational leader transforms the followers into people who self-actualize. Charismatic leadership is central to transformational leaderships. These kinds of leaders guide or motivate their follower’s in the direction of established goals by clarifying role and task requirements. Transformational leaders arouse strong emotions. They also help transform their followers by teaching them, often serving as mentors. In so doing, transformational leaders seek to encourage followers to do their own thing. In contrast, charismatic leaders may keep their followers weak and highly dependent on them. A charismatic leader may be the whole show, whereas a transformational leader does a good job of inspiring change in the whole organization. Many celebrities, be they musicians, actors, or athletes, tend to be highly charismatic, but they do not necessarily have any transformational effects on their followers. As such, although some people may idolize certain rock stars, and dress like them, these celebrities’ charisma will unlikely stimulate their fans into making sacrifices that revitalize the world. When you think of it this way, its easy to see how charisma is just a part of transformational leadership.

The eNotes Blog Just How Many Books Are There Googles Massive Project to Count ThemALL

Just How Many Books Are There Googles Massive Project to Count ThemALL Books to the ceiling, books to the sky, / My piles of books are a mile high. / How I love them! / How I need them! / Ill have a long beard by the time I read them.   ~Arnold Lobel Have you ever wondered just how many books are actually out there?   Well, thanks to Googles researchers, now we know: 128,854,790.   (A number, of course, which will continually change.) Googles Herculean effort is aimed at cataloging and indexing all existing books. The goal is to ultimately have every piece of literature in the world digitized and searchable. The project had some prickly problems with which to contend from the beginning, starting with what actually counts as a book.   You can read more about how they arrived at what counts here. Despite the altruism on many levels of Googles meta-project, there are some concerns about having a private company being in charge of all the worlds data.   But their work will accomplish what governments and/or non-profit entities have not been able to achieve:   the free dissemination of data to the masses, one of the biggest changes of access to knowledge since the printing press.

How to Get 36 on ACT Science 13 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 36 on ACT Science 13 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring between 26-34 on ACT Science? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 36? Getting to a 36 ACT Sciencescore isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on Scienceon my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or very close. Brief note: This article is suited for students already scoring a 26 on ACT Scienceor above. If you're below this range, my "How to Improve Your ACT Science Score" articleis more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 26. Overview For somereason, there aren't very many ACT Science guides out there. There's a lot of material for ACT Math and ACT Reading, but people just seem to shy away from the science section. In contrast, at PrepScholar we've written what we believe are the best guides to ACT Science available anywhere, and we've published them online for free. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring a 36 in ACT Science is a good idea, what it takes to score a 36, and then go into the 13 key ACT Sciencestrategies so you know how to get a 36 on ACT Science. Stick with me - as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why a 36 Sciencescore is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. Then we'll get into the meat of the article. Finally, in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 36. But if your goal is a 32, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why a 36 ACT Science? Let's make something clear: for most college applications, a 34 composite on an ACT is equivalent to a perfect 36. Almost no college is going to give you more credit for a 36 than a 34. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 34, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 36 unless you're applying to a STEM program at a top tier school (which we discuss more in a few paragraphs). For most schools, you're already set, and it's time to work on strengthening your extracurriculars, coursework, and overall application. But if you're scoring a 33 or below AND you want to go to a top college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 34 or above. There's a big difference between a 32 and a 34, largely because it's easy for top students to get a 32but a lot harder to get a 34. A 33 places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. A 36 in ACT Science can also help you compensate for weaknesses in other sections like Reading or English.By and large, schools consider your ACT composite score moreso than your individual section scores. If you can get a 36 in ACT Science, that gives you more flexibility in your English, Math, and Reading scores. It can compensate for a 32 in one other section, for example, to bring your average back up to 34. MIT expects a 36 in ACT Math. There are only two scenarios where a 36 in ACT Scienceis really important beyond just raising your composite score. The first is if you're planning for a science or quantitative major (like biology, physics, statistics, chemistry). The second is if you're applying to a highly selective technical school like MIT or Caltech. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a math/science major, you're competing against other math/science folks: people for whom ACT Scienceis easy. Really easy. Even though schools don't typically release their ACT scores by section, they do release SAT section scores. As a proxy for ACT Science, we can take a look at SAT Math scores at top schools. (I know ACT Science and SAT Math are different, but I'm going to bet that people who are good at math are also going to score high on ACT Science). Here are a few real examples. For Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, and even less selective schools like Harvey Mudd, the 75th percentile SAT Math score is an 800 (or equivalent to an ACT 36). That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Math, or a 36 on ACT Math. Even more surprising: the 25th percentile score for SAT Math at MIT and Caltech are 750 and 770, respectively, or a 34 on the ACT!This means if you score a 34 on your ACT Math, you'rewell below average for these schools! That's how competitive these top-tier colleges are. I'm not going to lie. ACT Science was easy for me. I got 36 on pretty much every practice test and official ACT I ever took. This was largely because I was a science nerd in high school, competing in the academic olympiadsand doing a ton of science research as an extracurricular. I also practiced hard and applied the strategies below to achieve perfection. So reading science passages was like reading English to me. You're competing against people like me. And if you apply as a science major with a 34 or below on Science, schools like MIT, Harvard, and Princeton are going to doubt your ability. Because ACT Scienceis supposed to be easyfor you. But if you can work your way to a 36, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a 36 on ACT Science. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if you don't consider yourself a science geek, or you got a B in Biology, you're capable of this. More than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how strategically you study. Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that many questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? It's purposely designed this way. The ACT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who never took AP Physics.The ACT Science sectioncan't ask you to solve cold fusionor build a rocket to get to Mars. The ACT is a national test, which means it needs to be a level playing field for ALL students around the country. So it HAS to test scientific concepts that every high school student will cover: how to interpret data graphs, what the scientific method is, how scientific theories disagree from each other. You've learned all of this already in high school. But if all the questions were easy and straightforward, then everyone would score too high. So the ACT needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students whocan predict exactly how the test is going to work. Here's an example graph from a real ACT test: This is one of the most complex graphs I've seen in ACT Science. I can guarantee you've never seen something like this graph before in school. But there's good news - every other high school student in America hasn't seen this graph before either! This means that the ACT expects you to be able to understand this graph using basic science skills. Skills like looking at the twoaxes, understanding how a plot works, and how to get data values from this graph. Just to prove this to you, further down we're going to understand this graph and go through a sample question. On ACT Science, there will alwaysbeweird scenarios you've never seen before, from composition of sediment to dinosaur claw sizes. But more than anything, ACT Science isn't actually about science - it's a lot more about reading comprehension and logic. The key to improving your ACT Science score is to: Master the types of passages the ACT tests Draw on the basic skills you already know to solve the questions Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes and know the test inside and out. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to answer correctly to score a 36. What It Takes to Get a 36 in ACT Science If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. I compiled the raw score to ACT Science Score conversion tables from four official ACT tests. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Raw Score Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 40 (miss 0) 36 36 36 36 39 (miss 1) 34 34 35 35 38(miss 2) 32 32 33 34 37(miss 3) 30 30 32 33 36(miss 4) 29 29 30 31 35(miss 5) 28 28 29 30 34(miss 6) 27 27 28 29 Source: ACT On all 4 of these tests, if you get a perfect raw score and miss 0 questions, you get a perfect 36 score. No surprise there. But if you miss just ONE question, you immediately drop down to a 34 or a 35. Miss another, and you drop to a 32, 33, or 34. This goes to show that the stakes are high. The more difficult the test is, the more leeway you have, but the grading scale istough. The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for a 36. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 36. For example, if you're scoring a 30 now, you need to answer 3-4 more questions right to get to a 36. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report: 13 Strategies to Get a 36 on ACTScience OK - so we've covered why getting a higher ACT Science score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll actually get into actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High-Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Knowing your weaknesses in ACT prep is SUPERimportant. When you know your weaknesses, you can surgically focus your time on what will improve your score most.When you don't, it'll feel like pounding your head against the wall. Every student has different flaws in ACT Science. Some aren't comfortable with underlying skills, like reading data graphs. Others get bogged down in the minutiae of science passages and can't solve questions in time. (As we'll discuss, the ACT Sciencesection applies pretty heavy time pressure. So you likely do suffer from some time pressure - we're trying to figure out how much) Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Take only the sciencesection of a practice test. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For that section, use a timer for 35 minutes. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out and you're not done yet, keep working for as long as you need. But starting now, for every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." Grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, and 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Seewhat we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you'd get if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of skills, or a deep weakness in only a few skills. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with ACT Science question types and passages. If YES (Extra Time score 32), then: Was your Realistic score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32, Realistic 32), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than two points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you getting bogged down reading the science passages? Or did specific types of problems slow you down? If you practice a lot and learn more efficient ways to tackle science passages, you'll be able to reduce your time significantly. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 32), then you have a really good shot at getting a 36. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score - if they differed by more than one point, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues in ACT Science, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a 36 with extra time, but score a 32 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 36. This perfect ACT Science guide covers both time management and content issues, so you're in luck. If you learn that time management is a big problem for you, here's one of the most likely problems with the way you approach ACT Science... Strategy 2: Don't Waste Time onthe Passage and Figures ACT Science passages are full of scientific details that don’t actually matter to answering the questions. This is especially true of charts. The ACT does this on purpose to confuse you and to mimic what real scientific research looks like. But you aren’t reading a science journal – you’re answering ACT Science questions. A common mistake people make is to try too hard to understand the passage in its entirety. They want to understand every detail in every chart. This can happen regardless of how strong a scientist you think you are. If you’re a science geek, you’re tempted to understand all the details since you want to flex your science muscles. If you’re not a science geek, it’s harder to distinguish what’s useful or not, since it all looks the same. Trying to understand the entire passage is a HUGE waste of time because most of the passage isn’t going to have a question asked about it. This is true in ACT Reading, and it’s even more true in ACT Science. So what should you do instead? Skim the passage and understand the passage at a very high level. Answer these two questions only: What’s the main point here? What’s the figure showing? That’s it. When I read ACT Science passages, I don’t understand the deep details of what’s happening. I get the gist and I move on to the questions. Let’s try an example from a real ACT Science passage. I’m going to show you how useless most of the passage is and how little you need to understand to answer the questions. My skimming: There is an old lake. The lake sediment tells us about the climate in the past. They mention average temperature for figure 3, so that’s probably what the main point is. There’s a weird oxygen symbol 18O, but all I need to know is that SMALLER values mean COLDER. This is a map showing three sites. We’ll probably be looking at samples from these three sites. This shows us a cutaway section of the lake, with the three sites from Figure 1. The y-axis is elevation. The key shows that each colored section is a different layer. Lake clay, glacial till, bedrock. The layers change as you move across the graph. How they change I’m not going to care about until I get asked about it. I have no idea what the hell â€Å"glacial till† is but I’m not going to worry about that, since I’ll bet the ACT isn’t going to ask me to define it. Oh lord, a bunch of graphs designed to be confusing. OK. Well they all look about the same. We’ll just look at Site 1. The y-axis shows depth, so the further down the deeper we go. The x-axis shows the 18O thing. From left to right, this value gets larger. From the passage we know that the SMALLER 18O is, the COLDER it is. So the LARGER 18O is, the HOTTER it is. What Site 1 shows is as you go UP in depth, you get a LARGER 18O value, which means it’s getting HOTTER. Now look at the other 2 Sites. Site 2 looks about the same, except for a glacial till boundary. Site 3 looks the same as Site 1. And now there’s this formula. I’m not even going to bother with this crap until they ask me a question about it. Notice from my notes that I really understand the passage only at a high level. I’m not getting bogged down in details, and I’m not understanding every detail of every graph. Doing that would be a waste of time. Just to convince you this high level of understanding works, we’re actually going to answer all five questions for thispassage. Lake clay is gray. Where is it thinnest? Winnipeg, F. You actually didn't even have to read the passage to solve this! You could solve it just by looking at the picture. We want to find the SMALLEST 18O value, which means it’s more on the LEFTside of the graph. From the dots we see that’s going to be at the BOTTOM LEFTof the figure. Choice C. Once again, you barely had to read the passage to solve this! It's just figuring out where the dots are. OK, so figure 2. We start from Grand Forks on the right, then move to Site 3. Lake clay, the gray piece, gets THICKER. They say this in the question, and we see it in the figure. The question asked about glacial till, the striped layer under it. It gets THINNER as you go from Grand Forks to Site 3. So thickness DECREASES, choice J. Yet once again, you barely had to know the passage to solve this! OK, we want the elevation of the TOPof GLACIAL TILL at each of three sites. Glacial till is the STRIPED layer. At Site 1, the top is 200. At Site 2, the top is 205ish. At site 3, it’s 180 ish. Answer choice C is the only one that fits these values. YET AGAIN you barely had to know the passage! To rephrase: it rains. Water gets to 3m deep. What is the 18O 3m deep? Look at figure 3 at a depth of 3m. In each figure, it’s around -15. Answer J. Finally, surprise surprise, you didn't have to know the passage at all to answer this question. EASY PEASY. Notice all the crap we didn’t have to care about: In the passage, we didn’t have to care about how old the lake was or how it formed. Against my expectation, we didn’t even have to care about what 18O means about temperature, so I actually over-read the passage and wasted my time! We didn’t use Figure 1 at all. Stupid map. In figure 2, we didn’t care at all about bedrock. Also, we only needed to care about how the layers changed when we were asked about it. In figure 3, we didn’t have to care at all about how Site 2 had a glacial till layer. We sure as hell didn’t have to know what the formula meant. I hope you get the point. So much of each passage is USELESSto getting the questions right. The ACT knows this, and they WANT you to get bogged down. â€Å"Oh gee, I wonder what bedrock is? How might they ask questions about this?† â€Å"Boy this formula looks real tough. What is 18O, and what is 16O? What’s groundwater and what’s standard water? Why multiply by 1,000?† You can waste so many minutes trying to make sense of the entire passage. If you have time management problems, skimming the passage can be a huge time savings for you! Again, when you read the passage focus on only two questions: What is the MAIN POINT of the passage? What is the MAIN POINT of each figure? I’ve started yelling more just because of how angry this test makes me. So let me take a deep breath. Moving on†¦ Disappointed with your ACT scores? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Strategy 3: Understand EVERY Type of ACT Science Passage and Question ACT Science stands out as the most structured and predictable section on the ACT. What I mean by that is ACT Science has three passage types, and each passage type has specific question types associated with it. This is unlike ACT English, where all five passages have all sorts of random question types associated with it. The great thing about predictability is that it's really easy to diagnose where your problems are and then get focused practice on your weaknesses. Below are the passage types and question types associated with them.I've linked to our guides for every question type, butfirst I suggest you finish reading this 36 guide to get the high-level picture, then come back to the detailed guides. 3 Data Representation Passages - describes a study, heavy on graphs and charts Read-the-GraphQuestions Interpreting Trends Calculating Values 3 Research Summaries Passages - describes an experiment with multiple parts Experimental Design Hypothetical Experimental Changes Interpreting Experiments 1 Conflicting Viewpoints Passage - two or more scientists disagree Understanding Viewpoints Comparing Viewpoints Here's a helpful writeup of the three types of ACT Science passages and an overview of question types. Understanding the content on ACT Science is critical because you next have to understand precisely where you make your mistakes. Our PrepScholar ACT program does the hard work for you by dividing up the entire test into specific skills you need to master. For every skill in ACT Science and every other section, you'll get a focused lesson and a quiz customized to your skill level. This is how I studied for the ACT and got a perfect score, so that's how I designed our prep program to work. If you could use help breaking down the ACT like this, definitely check out our PrepScholar ACT program. Strategy 4:Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on ACT Science will knock you down from a 36. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 ACT questions customized to each skill. The second step - and the more important part - is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who have completed ten official ACT practice tests. They've solved over 400 sciencequestions, but they're still nowhere near a 36 on ACT Science. Why? They never truly understood their mistakes. They just pounded their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one - and find the source of each one - or else the infestation is going to continue and your restaurant's going to be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect answer. This way even if you guessed an answer correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by passage type and skill(like data representation - calculations, or conflicting viewpoint). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. It's not even enough to understand how to get the right answer. You have to think HARDabout why you SPECIFICALLYfailed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a ScienceQuestion? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further - what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss an ACT Science question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't have the science knowledge to understand what was being described in the passage. Example: "I forgot how forces work in physics." One step further:What specific content do I learn, and how will I learn this? How could I have done better, even without understanding the passage? Incorrect Approach:I understood the passage, but I didn't know how to solve this question. Example: "I didn't know how to extrapolate the line in the graph." One step further:How do I solve the question? Where have I seen other questions like this? How will I similarquestions in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or solved for the wrong thing. Example: "I confused Scientist 2's perspective with Scientist 1's." One step further:WHYdid I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're making every single mistake. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills, including the ACT Science skills above. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. We also explain the ways every question tries to trick you so you won't get fooled again. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 5:If You Miss a Question, Re-Solve It When you're doing ACT Science practice questions, the first thing you probably do when reviewing is read the answer explanation and think about it a little. This is too easy. I consider thispassive learning - you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different - find the correct answer choice (A-D or F-J), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to resolve the question and get the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new strategy, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information FARbetter than if you just passively absorbed the information. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to ten minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Then, log your mistakes in your notebook, like I recommended in Strategy 3. Strategy 6: If You Miss a Question, Generate New Questions Missed questions are such important learning opportunities that I have yet another strategy for them. After you fully review the question and understand exactly why you missed it, create two more questions yourself in the very same style. Then solve them. These questions are meant to be close replicas of the original question, so they test the same skill with the same passage but use slightly different scenarios. If it's a graph-related question, change the numbers so you're looking at a different part of the graph. If it's about conflicting viewpoints, changewhich scientist you're talking about. This is perfect for ACT Science because the questions are so stylistically formulaic, it's a lot easier to generate realistic questions. (Contrast this to ACT Reading, where it's tougher to come up with your own questions because of how passage-dependent the reading questions are.) What do you gain from doing this? First, you have a few more chances to practice the very question you just missed. This gives you instant reinforcement of your weakness. Think about it this way - if you're learning how to throw footballs with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, and he gives you some advice, do you drop your football right at that moment and refuse to throw another one? No! You instantly use his advice to correct your next few throws! The same is true of the ACT, and especially ACT Science. If you instantly practice right after noticing a weakness, you'll get rid of your weakness far more quickly. The other thing you get out of doing this is you put yourself in the mind of the question maker - the ACT - which helps you understand how the test is constructed. Here are a few examples: 1) Change the question so instead you look at the LARGEST 18O value in lake clay. 2) Change the question so you look at the smallest 18O value inGLACIAL TILL. 1) Change the question so it's about 15 m below the surface. 2) Change the question so it's about 30 m below the surface. If youmake a mistake on a question and you review it well, you'll be able to answer your two variants 100%. When I was taking tests for high school and college, I used this strategy all the time. It gave me a lot more practice in areas I already knew I was weak in. Strategy 7:Get Used to Weird ACT Science Graphs On every single test, there will be a weird way to present data that you’ve never seen before. Like this graph of rock types at different temperatures and pressures: or this graph of sediment types and their characteristics: or this masterpiece on hearing: This last one is the craziestfigure I’ve ever seen on an ACT science test. Don’t be alarmed by these complex graphs. Remember what I said in the beginning? To make the test difficult, the ACT has to test SIMPLE concepts in COMPLICATED ways. In this case, that means using the same simple graph reading skills, you can understand EVERY graph the ACT throws at you. Don’t panic – just remember the same basic rules: What does each axis represent? What does the graph show? We're going to tackle, step by step, the last graph about hearing. So scroll up, skim the passage and graph (remember Strategy 2), and then work on this question: ... Ready? Did you give it a good try? It's really easy to get tripped up by a problem like this without knowing where to start. There are all these squiggly lines and even a curve that loops back on itself. But remember the fundamental principles that apply to every single graph. First, let's start by understanding what the graph is even showing. As the text says, "the figure below displays, for sounds in water and in air, the human thresholds of hearing and of pain." And in the paragraph above, it says that "the human threshold of hearing is the minimum intensity at each sound frequency required for a sound to be heard by humans." The critical first step for every graph is to look at the two axes - what's being shown here? On the x-axis is the intensity of the sound (in decibels, or db). As we move left, we lower the intensity. As we move right, we raise the intensity. On the y-axis is the frequency of the sound (in hertz, or Hz). As we move up, we increase the frequency. As we move down, we decrease the frequency. Both axes, intensity and frequency,relate to the definition of "human threshold of hearing" above. Next, on the graph we locate the curved line called "threshold of hearing." Again, this is a weird line, but remember the threshold is the MINIMUM intensity at a specific frequency to be heard by humans. Below that intensity, humans can't hear the sound. Above that intensity, we can. For example, let's pick a frequency: 1 x 102 (or 100) Hz. The threshold of hearing line is an intensity of roughly 40 db. Above 40db, humans can hear a sound at 100 Hz. Below 40db, humans can't hear a sound at 100 Hz. But the threshold of hearing intensity isn't the same at other frequencies! Let's pick103(or 1000) Hz. The line is much lower in intensity - around 0db. So at this frequency, the threshold of hearing is lower than at 100 Hz. As you follow the "threshold of hearing" line up and down, you'll see the intensity increase and decrease. At each frequency, there is a minimum intensity required to be heard by humans. Great - so now we understand the graph. We don't really care WHY this is actually true in real life. For this test, we just need to be able to read the graph. Now, the question - "which of the following is closest to the lowest frequency that can be heard by a human being?" We know that the "threshold of hearing" line defines what can be heard by humans. "Lowest frequency" suggests that we need to look downward on the y-axis. Here's the graph again: Look at the threshold of hearing line and follow it downward in frequency until....wait. It disappears. What does this mean? It must mean that humans can't hear the sound, no matter what the intensity is! Now, the question asks, at what frequency does this happen? To figure this out, you need to look at the y-axis. I draw a line from the point where the line disappears to the left: So we see the frequency is 2 x 101 Hz, or 20 Hz. That's answer G, which is correct. Whew - that was a handful, and one of the most difficult graphs I've seen on ACT Science. You're going to see crazy graphs like this, and possibly even more complicated graphs, on your ACT Science test. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED. Remember Strategy 2? You're not going to need most of the figure anyway! Break every figure down: What does each axis represent? What does the graph show? I guarantee that if you can answer these questions for each graph, you'll be able to answer every question relating to the graph. Strategy 8: Eliminate Careless Mistakes In your quest to get a perfect ACT Science score, you need absolute perfection. Probably the most frustrating type of mistake is a careless mistake. You understand the question, you know the answer, but you get excited and slip up. Oops - they were asking about Scientist 2, but you answered for Scientist 1 instead.There goes your 36. These types of errors are the most costly and frustrating. You've already put in a ton of work to master the underlying material, and here a question has tricked you into losing a point. ACT Science has a few especially tricky question types that are purpose built to trick you. If you understand this beforehand and know how to defeat them, you’ll be in a much more secure position. The first type is the Interpreting Experiments Question. The answer choices for these are almost always in this form: No, because A No, because B Yes, because A Yes, because B Here's a real example question: (The answer to this question is A.) The tricky part to these questions is that you can focus on getting one half right (especially the A/B part which has more words), and then miss the other half. For example, you might focus so much on verifying whether the solution was blue or yellow that you pick answer choice C, which has the same second half as A, but is Yes instead of No. To combat this, answer each half independently. â€Å"Do the results of Experiment 2 support this claim?† No – because the pH is higher at 1.8 mL.â€Å"If no, why not?† Because the solution was yellowat 0.2 and blue at 1.8mL.OK - then it's answer A. This way, you're less likely to make a careless mistake by misinterpreting the question. Make sure BOTH parts of the answer are correct! The other type of question that breeds careless mistakes is the Understanding Viewpoints questions. The passages will give you the perspectives of two or three scientists, and the questions will ask you about how each one behaves. Here's an example: So here you're tasked with finding the perspective of Student 2. But notice how they bury "Student 2" in the mess of the rest of the question. No doubt the ACT wants you to get distracted and forget which Student you should be thinking about. The correct answer is G. But if you had accidentally identified Student 1, you would have incorrectly answered J! One way to solve this is to circle the "Student 2" in the question text. Then, when you answer the question, think explicitly in your head, "Student 2 believes that..." Avoid considering the wrong perspective at all costs! Strategy 9: Drill Your Weaknesses Until They Disappear When your dentist inspects your mouth and finds a cavity, does she just ignore it and move on to looking at your other teeth? No! She cleans out the entire cavity with a drill so that the rotting doesn't continue. Then she fills in the hole with a filling. This completely solves the problem and preventsfuture cavities in the same location. You should treat every mistake you make like a cavity. Every question you miss on ACT Science points to an infection - a weakness that you have with ACT Science. To clear out the infection, you need to practice on the same type of question repeatedly until you COMPLETELYget rid of your weakness. Again, to get a perfect 36, you can't afford to make any mistakes. Fill in the potholes of your understanding. Remember the listingof every passage and question type in Strategy 3? When you grade your practice test, you MUST keep track of how many questions you are missing in which categories. Be scientific about this - you put in a lot of hard work in the practice test, now get the most out of it! Then, find a LOT of practice questions to keep drilling that specific weakness. Do you keep getting thrown offby complicated figures and charts? Find those charts and practice with them! Do you keep making careless mistakes on Viewpoints questions? Then keep practicing them until you don't anymore! In our ACT prep program PrepScholar, we do that work for you by splitting up our 1,500+ practice questions by skill and difficulty. If you're weak in graph reading, we're going to give you a ton of questions on graphs of all kinds. If you don't know how to interpret experiments, you'll get 20+ questions in a quiz dealing specifically with that skill. This repetitive practice fills up your content gap far better than any other method I know. Want to learn more about ACT Science? Check out our new ACT Science prep book. If you liked this lesson, you'll love our book. It includes everything you need to know to ace ACT Science, including deep analysis of the logic behind ACT Science questions, a full breakdown of the different passage and question types, and tons of expert test-taking and study tips. Download our full-length prep book now: Strategy 10: Be Fluent WithBasicScientific Concepts By and large, ACT Science is far more a reading and logic test than it is a science test. You can get a good score without understanding much science at all. But if you want a PERFECT score, you will have to understand the most important scientific concepts. The ACT DOESexpect you to know these by heart, even if the information isn't included in the passage. Here's a notable example: (there's more to this passage, but this is all that's relevant for the next two questions) This question asks about the function of organelles. This info isn't provided in the passage! You have to know that photosynthesis occurs in chloroplasts. Another question: Once again, you have to know that C6H12O6 represents glucose in the photosynthesis equation. It's not in the passage - otherwise this would be trivial to answer. Luckily, we've gathered every scientific concept you have to know in our guide, "The Only Actual Science You Have to Know for ACT Science. We scoured dozens of official ACT tests to collect the scientific concepts you need that won't show up in the passage text. This includes concepts like: pH, acids and bases how charges attract and repel the scientific method natural selection and more. To get a perfect 36, you HAVE to know some science - here's what you need. Strategy : Pace Your TimeSection by Section, Question by Question In my experience, ACT Science has the second-most intense time pressure on the ACT (first is ACT Math). For ACT Science, you have to answer 40 questions across seven passages in 35 minutes. And if you want a perfect 36, you'll need to finish the section with time to spare so you can go back and check your work. This is why I recommend aiming to finish the entire ACT science section in 25 minutes. This gives you 10 minutes to spare to go back to questions you weren't sure about and make sure you're not making any careless mistakes. What this also means is that you should try to finish each passage and all associated questions within four minutes. Some passages are easier than others, but this should be your average. This is hard. Even though I'm pretty good at science, I still need 25 minutes or so to finish the section, because some passages really are pretty tricky. But this is what you should aim for. If you can accomplish this regularly, not only do you have extra time to perfect your answers, you've also reached a level of mastery that puts you on the path to a 36 score. It's important to pace yourself section by section and question by question because you do NOT want to obsess over a passage and waste time. The trouble with trying to get a perfect 36 is that you KNOW you have to miss zero questions, so you're more likely to fret about a single hard question. Before you know it, you've sunk three minutes on a single question. So if you spend over 30 seconds on a question, just skip it. You can always come back to it later, and right now it's most important to rack up as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you five minutes, automatically. If you've read my other ACT 36 guides, then you'll already know this. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just five seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on the 40 questions. This is huge. Note: Be careful that you don't run out of time before bubbling in answer choices! If the instructor calls time and you haven't bubbled anything, you're screwed. Strategy 12: DON'T Study With Actual Science Journals If you actually like science, you may be tempted to pick up an academic journal like Science or Natureto study for ACT Science. "If the testis about science research, then why wouldn't reading science research help?" Don't do it. ACT Science is superficially about science research, but it is VERY simplified for high schoolers. Remember that the ACT needs to be appropriate for high school students around the country, not for leadingscientists with PhDs. The time you spend trying to understand what in the world is going on in a study like thisis far better spent actually doing ACT Science questions. Furthermore, ACT Science asks questions in a very specific way about their passages. You don't do this when you read research journals, so you don't get to practice the actual skills you need to perfect. Now, if you get a kick out of science research, then by all means do read science journals - for fun. Since I did a lot of science research in high school, I tried to read some academic literature too. Just don't expect it to improve your ACT Science score. Strategy13: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection on ACT Science. You know that to get a 36, you have to aim for ZERO missed questions. Otherwise, you might get a 35. This makes a lot of high-achieving students nervousduring the test. "I don't get this passage...I can't solve this question...my 36 is gone...I'm getting more nervous and I have to skip the next question too...oh dear...I don't think I know how to read anymore..." You can see how quickly you can fall into a vicious cycle because you have really high goals. Before you know it, your anxiety leads to a worse score than you would have ever expected. You need to learn to be mentally strong, like an athlete on game day. You have to roll with the punches. Yes, you might have to skip a question on the first pass through. Maybe even two in a row. But you've practiced hard up to this point. You know this stuff, and you'll come back to those questions and get it later (especially if you've been using the time-saving strategies above). You need to keep up a positive mindset during the test, or you'll crumble. And in the worst case, maybe you won't get a 36. But if you've consistently been getting 36's on the practice tests, you likely won't go much lower than 34 - and that's still an awesome score, even for the best colleges in the United States. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT Sciencescore to a 36. If you're scoring above a 26 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect ACT Sciencescore. Notice how much I talked about reviewing your mistakes, understanding your weaknesses, and drilling them with good practice. I don't tell you that there's a magic solution to getting a 36 that works for everyone. That's because one-size-fits-all, guaranteed strategies don't really exist. (And anyone who tells you this is deceiving you.) Every student is different. Instead, you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. If you want to go back and review any of the strategies above, here's a list of all the strategies: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Strategy 2: Don't Waste Time In the Passage and Figures Strategy 3: Understand EVERY Type of ACT Science Passage and Question Strategy 4: Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake Strategy 5: If You Miss a Question, Re-Solve It Strategy 6: If You Miss a Question, Generate New Questions Strategy 7: Get Used to Weird ACT Science Graphs Strategy 8: Eliminate Careless Mistakes Strategy 9: Drill Your Weaknesses Until They Disappear Strategy 10: Be Fluent with Basic Scientific Concepts Strategy : Pace Your Time Section by Section, Question by Question Strategy 12: Don't Study with Actual Science Journals Strategy 13: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your ACT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read our complete guide to a perfect 36, written by me, a perfect scorer. Also check out our 36 Math, 36 Reading, and 36 English guides. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 ACT essay, step by step. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today: