M2S Evolution of the problem Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

M2S Evolution of the problem - Essay Example Most people do not understand how they can pay the insurance premiums on their own. Here, organizations come in with the desire that each and everyone are taxed to pay the insurance premiums. The decision is usually made by the board or the government in some countries. With a half done bureaucracy, the board comes up with policies that each employee must adhere. Pilzer (2005) argues that one should apply for his own individual /family health insurance policy as soon as possible .if one has a health savings account, one is allowed to withdraw money tax free to pay health insurance premiums. Another problem is when an employer offer s a high deductable amount which affects the employees. The employers come up with a figure without consulting the employees. The health care insurance on the other hand has its advantages. Without the scheme many people could not afford treatment from good private hospitals in the world today. Presently whether poor or rich, a person can access proper medical care. This can be made better if people are allowed to call their own insurance company and get the policy. The problem in many organizations is that one is forced to an insurance

Genre Analysis Essay Example for Free

Genre Analysis Essay For this rhetorical analysis I have done research on two electronics engineering documents commonly referred to as project proposals. The first project proposal that was reviewed was for Security Guard Monitoring Systems by Group Engineering Solutions (GES). The second proposal is a business-oriented document for Multi-Robot Manipulation and Maintenance for Fault-Tolerant Systems by Shanghai International Conference Center (SICC). The purpose of this rhetorical analysis is to identify various similarities and differences within the specified texts using Anne Beaufort’s (a linguist in the field of writing) five-knowledge domains: genre, subject matter, rhetoric, writing process, and discourse community. The attention of this rhetorical analysis will be mainly focused on the intended audience, context of the documents, writing structure and format, and each author’s appeal to Anne Beaufort’s rhetorical knowledge domain. The Shanghai proposal was written by an electronics engineer for viewers within several different qualifications and statuses. Apparently this proposal’s targeted audiences are people at the Shanghai Conference Center. The primary audience would consist of employees that are in the workplace genre of mechatronics and automation (MA), such as financers, operators, and managers. The second audience consists of those that may work in smaller sections of the field, such as maintenance workers, auditors, and supervisors. There are also audiences besides the primary and secondary audiences. Other potential audiences might include legislatures, product testers, and other smaller services within the field of engineering. This is evident through the description of the projects maintenance procedures. Someone has to test the machine and meetings must be held to discuss them. Unlike the Shanghai proposal the Group Solutions Engineer (GES) proposal has various audiences that don’t spread out to the same extent that Shanghai’s do. The project proposal by GES does not meet the expectations of business companies instead, their proposal meet expectations for good academics. This claim was easily identified at the beginning of text. They clearly stated that â€Å"Dr. Miguel Figueroa and Dr. Nayda G. Santiago† was receiving the proposal. Additional support to this claim was found through extended research on the two professors. The two professors are both neurologist which seemingly has nothing to do with engineering. This makes it apparent that the professors were teaching at a college or university during the proposal of this project. This also explains why they were the targeted audience (primary audience) for the proposal. The secondary audiences for the GES proposal are other university graduate students. Similar to Shanghai, the GES proposal also has a third audience except, these audiences consist of spectators and scouts. In other words, these viewers are graduate students from another university or managers out for potential employees. Moreover, Shanghai’s proposal contains several rhetorical aspects in is context. Shanghai’s proposal was obviously written in response to a company’s request for improved multi-robot systems. This demand was recognized because of the frequently used term referring to problems, errors, and system malfunctions. More specifically, they used the term â€Å"failure† more consistently than others throughout the paper. For instance, in part â€Å"a† of section five (V Multi- Robot Maintenance policy) the writer of this Shanghai proposal says â€Å"In this period†¦the failure rate of the robot is also increased. † Another aspect contained within the Shanghai proposal is on how they express time as an issue. The term â€Å"failure† also implies that there is a time limit for this project proposal. It is relevant to assume that this project proposal was in the process of being developed during the time that the multi-robot machines were failing to operate accordingly. One can also tell that demand for the proposal was growing by reading the maintenance policy section. They take previous robot failures into considerations and develop loop holes to overcome it. Although the company that the proposal was written for isn’t mentioned in the document, it is easy to see that this proposal was written in response to some company’s policy. Unlike Shanghai’s proposal, the GES proposal does express who the proposal was written in response to. GES proposal was written in response to the request of the University of Puerto Rico (title page). Another contextual aspect in which differs from Shanghai’s proposal is the time constraint that is also posed on their proposal. GES makes it easier to recognize that they are working in a timely manner. They clearly state â€Å"A work breakdown structure has been created in which all members†¦work in two variables: time and personnel† (section 1. 3). This evidence arises from the fact that the group of graduate students working on this proposal are attempting to fulfill the requirements for the project. This evidence is also apparent because of diagrams and charts used to show how much the project proposal has progressed (section 2. 6). In addition to sections 2. 6, section 2. 7 gives explicit detail, also using diagrams and charts, on the â€Å"work breakdown structure. This section displays the tasks assigned to each genre of the project such as, oral presentation, software prototype, web application, and final report. The work is divided evenly amongst the group to ensure that they have successfully completed the requirements relative to the audiences’ values which will, later on, be discussed in further detail. In addition to the contexts (frameworks) of the proposals, there are several similarities in both GES and Shanghai’s writing structures and formats. The first similarity located in the proposals is often used in writing books such as literature, political science, and algebra. Both proposals use a wide range of bold letters, titles, and numbers. They also use titled numbers or subheadings, bullets, and roman numerals. Even though these writing style are incorporated in both project proposals, GES uses titled numbers, subheadings, and bullets (even checks) more frequently than Shanghai’s proposal. Shanghai’s proposal repeatedly uses roman numerals, and subheadings with starting letters (for example; B. Robot Failure). Both seem to be an effective approach to formatting project proposals. Moreover, abbreviations are also used quite frequently throughout the proposals. Like GES, Shanghai makes an effort to use abbreviations to make it less difficult for readers to comprehend. However, their attempt in doing so has obvious flaws that can potentially puzzle the reader and shorten the number of intended audiences. For example, â€Å"Weibull distribution depicts the decreasing-failure-rate (DFR)†¦period of the bathtub curve† (section B: Robot Failure). The proposal tells what each letter in the acronym stands for, but it does not define the abbreviation as a whole whereas, GES proposal doesn’t give an explicit description of each term, but defines it completely. Another method of writing noticed within the proposals is the inclusion of references at the end. These references often consists of others documents that helped produce the current one. It is apparent that references are commonly used in any form of written documents regardless of its field or genre. Adding to the structure and formatting, both proposals present several rhetorical features relative to Anne Beaufort’s rhetorical knowledge domain (ethos, logos, and pathos). The GES proposal puts most of its efforts into establishing its credibility (ethos). In the personal biography section of their proposal they give explicit detail about their background experiences in their field of study such as, software and hardware engineering. The proposal also provides charts and graphs of estimated costs which show that they are the best team to be chosen for the project. It also shows that they are prepared for real life situations. Shanghai’s proposal does not focus the entirety of its text on ethos, because most of its audiences are professionals within their company. There is no evidence to prove their experience in the field however; the credibility that is provided in the document consists of only charts and drawings that show that they will likely have effective productivity. These graphs and charts also help the company see the approach taken to improve the systems. Moreover, both proposals take consideration in establishing logos. The charts and graphs each proposal uses to establish credibility is also used to establish logic. These charts and graphs are used to support their claim that they meet all the required policies for the completion of the project. Pathos is also used widely in Shanghai and GES proposals. As mentioned earlier both proposals are relevant to the audiences common values (end of page 3). These values are expense, time, proficiency, and development. The charts and graphs used to support the ethos and logos in each proposal are also used to support this claim. They provide a description of estimated cost, efficiency and productivity, and give a timely description of the projects progression. The wide-ranging of appeal to these values allows for each proposal to be very persuasive while passing on factual statistics. Most project proposals are done similar to Shanghai’s and Group Engineering Solutions (GES) proposals. These two documents contain several similarities and differences in their rhetorical features. Although both texts may differ in their proposal method, they both have the same goal. They were meant to convince the reader that they were the most fit group or company for the completion of the project proposal. After completing this rhetorical analysis I realize the significance in writing in the specific genre. Each project proposal reflects positively according to the necessity of the request.

Interview of Insurance Ad :: essays papers

Interview of Insurance Ad Interview of an Insurance Field Adjuster As I fumbled through radio stations, the unforgettable memories of a horn blaring, tires screeching, and turning just in time to see a truck smashing into my car came flooding back. Glass shattering, the airbag deploying, I had gasped for breath from the sudden impact. It is sad that most people will have to go through a car accident like this one at least once in their lifetime. Kathy Highland was the insurance adjuster from Shelter Insurance Company who was assigned to my case. Her professionalism, courtesy, and understanding changed this horror story into just another chapter in my life, a chapter which I am now able to look back upon as a valuable learning experience. The morning sun warmed the air that April day. It was Thursday around nine a.m. when I arrived at the Shelter Insurance building. I looked around Kathy's office noticing her diploma from the University of Oklahoma and a couple of certificates for the insurance company hanging on the wall. Directly behind her was a quotation in a small frame. It read, "When looking for the reason why things go wrong never rule out sheer stupidity." I asked Kathy what it meant to her. Kathy looked at me and said, "People come into my office thinking I have all the answers and I can give them everything they want." It is easy to see that Kathy's knowledge is what people desire. With her professionalism and courtesy she is able to ease the suffering of her clients and not compensate them more than the company is willing to. About that time the phone rang, and she picked it up and said, "Kathy Highland." She listened for a few seconds as she tapped her pen on the desk, and finally said, "What is the claim number." As if she had done this a million times, Kathy told the person on the phone to go ahead and extend the car rental and then hung up the phone. Clearly Kathy handles her work swiftly and methodically easing the anguish of the ordeal as easy as possible. As I asked Kathy, "Where does the claim process begin?" She started to explain to me the claim process from beginning to end. First the adjuster will call both parties involved in the accident. Kathy said, "This could be the fun part. Most of the time you get two different stories of the accident." Then the adjuster will go to the scene of the

Empowerment of the Employees in the Hospitality Industry Essay

Introduction Human Resource Management group of any type of business group play a great role in any organization’s progressive procedures. This is especially true in terms of the organization’s joined in the hospitality industry. Most likely, it is agreeable among all business organizations that the people or the target market is the main source of the â€Å"blood line† of any business group at that. Constant referral of the people as the main source of life for the said organizations certainly leads to the idea that most of their activities and business operations are aimed to please the clients that they ought to serve basing on the products and the services that they offer for public consumption. This is the reason why understanding the primary role of HRM in the progressive procedures of the said hospitality industry organizations is an important factor that must be dealt with in examining the progressive factors that contribute to the advancement of the hospitality industry within the American society as well as around the world. The fact that the key role of the employees within an organization is to keep its reputation up with regards the service that the company gives to its clients, there should be a certain span of attention given to their motivated progress as part of a progressing company as well. However, to know the most important factor contributing to the progression of this discussion, it is important to examine what really is the hospitality industry pertaining to? Background of the Study The business organizations making up the hospitality industry are mainly those that are serving the social market with the best service that they are able to offer to the human community. Overall, the organizations that are concerned with servicing the human society at the best possible process that they could are considered a member of the hospitality industry. The organization’s constant aim of giving state of the art service to the people makes them survive in the industry that they are involved with. To give at least a much vivid picture of the industry, the discussion of its four major branches shall help in the process of comprehension of the issue being talked about. The said four branches of the hospitality industry include (a) Accommodation Service Providers, which includes hotels, public houses for rent, motels, resorts and sanatoriums; (b) Travel and Tourism, which includes travel agents, airline cabin staff and travel technology; (c)Bars and Clubs which includes nightclubs and public houses; (d) Service and Support such as accountancy as well as occupational health and spa. The branches mentioned herein show the obvious fact that the organizations that are involved within the said industry tries to pioneer in the market of entertainment and servicing activities that actually ease the responsibilities of the human society. Since this is a fact that makes up the entire hospitality industry, it should be considered that human effort is a very important factor in the progress of the said industry. Hence, empowering them and giving them the attention that they need for them to be motivated enough to perform the best possible service that they could offer both the company and their clients as well. This particular procedure of taking care of the inner force of certain servicing organizations indeed affects the overall reputation of the entire business that also affects its performance in the world trade market. This is the main reason why it is very important for the administrations of several servicing organizations to understand the impact that motivational procedures have on the status of the progressive steps that the business groups are trying to aim for and complete within their operational engagements. This is where the involvement of the Human resources Management enters the situation. The motivational procedures that they are taking into consideration actually affects the performance of the entire business organization in the industry. Human Resources Management: The Challenges and Changes The need for having strong health assistance systems in large urban cities in the United States as well as other highly industrialized countries around the world is a challenge to many medical institutions that provide the needed services for such concerns. This is where the role of the Human Resources Management comes in. As known to many, this kind of issue demands a high shift on the human resource systems that a certain company uses. As for medical institutions such as Mt. Carmel and Tucson Medical Center, hiring and retaining employees within the work loading systems of the medical institution was much of a hard challenge for them. In the paragraphs to follow, the issues along with the responsibility of the Human Resource Management team of both medical institutions shall be discussed. The resolutions made for the said issues would also be tackled afterwards. The HRM Responsibilities The Human Resource Management Department or team is a common section that every profit or at times even non-profit organizations have. The reason behind the constant existence of this bisection in every organization is the fact that it has so much control over the staffing systems as well as providing the people within the organization with what they are due as well as with what they need (Clarke, 1998). In this regard, the importance of the presence of this organizational sector is then essential for keeping and motivating employees do their best in their assigned duties. As mentioned earlier, the challenge that has mainly directed HRM teams of both Mount Carmel Medical Institution and Tucson Medical Center to resorting to some revolutionary solutions to be able to meet the said challenges. Indeed, the responsibility that they have towards the employees that include providing them with what they need while still upholding the objectives of the institution to gain the best possible profit solution for the organization. The balanced view towards these needs have to be addressed thoroughly by the HRM team. By doing so, they are expected to provide the stakeholders of the organization with what they needed at a best possible solution (Keener, 1999). Before, the solution that both company’s HRM team was hiring temporary nurses to fill in the need. However, in due time, temporary nurses were not able to fill much of the needs of the said medical institutions. The Best Solution With the introduction of new technology and information processing systems through the internet, the revolution of network based staffing remedies hosted by some information programming companies has been the best possible solution for many people support techniques that different organizations in the business industry use today. This fact has also been proven true by the way Mount Carmel and Tucson Medical Center have faced the challenge of effectively using the human resources that they already have and doing away with hiring temporary nurses to fill in the void positions in the hospitals. At first, the HRM team of both medical institutions has had doubts on how effective the online processes could be for their employees. However, when they saw that the said program would be much beneficial both for the hospital’s objectives as well as with the employees, they took the chance of implementing the said resolution. As a result, this system has provided both institutions with so much ease and best results for the services that they offer to their clients who are hoping for excellent healthcare provisions. Implementing such programs have fully equipped the Human Resource Management teams to rearrange the staffing system in the institutions they work for while also being able to provide the organization with what they expect from their service operations. However, the said implementation also has its own disadvantages as further enlisted by Maureen Minehan in the article â€Å"Technology’s increasing impact on the workplace†. The said advantages are as follows: †¢ Portability †¢ Discrimination †¢ Legal issues †¢ Worker’s compensation and liability scheduling (1997) The said issues are considered to be among the least yet most important details that must be considered in the implementation of online programs for staffing employees. Minehan further adds that it would not be so much a surprise that because of the implementation f such technological systems, the said techniques that are governed by technological advancement â€Å"would eventually change, thus also affecting the activities of the HRM teams of the organizations† (1997). The existence of the new technological innovations on information sharing is indeed a gift to the social systems, especially organizational systems that exists today. However, like other remedies, the said innovations have their own advantages and disadvantages once they are implied. Hence, this is the main reason why the Human Resources Management teams are further faced with the challenge of whether to apply the said technological innovations in their company’s system or not. The important thing though is the idea that whether they would implement it or not, the main focus of their job is to provide the company and its employees with the best benefit that could get from the service that they render the clients of the organization. By being focused in the said responsibility, it would be easier to choose on whether to implement the technological programs or not. Management and the Hospitality Industry T, take for example the Australian economy. The Australian community is made up of a large number of minorities or immigrants who have been entering the boundaries of the country searching for employment. Hence, through this particular truth, it could be observed that the management teams of the business organizations in Australia faces the challenge of dealing with the differences of the people who are employed in the country especially in the hospitalityindustry (Leat, 2001, 14). This is particularly the one of the reasons why management and its procedural applications could not simply be passive agent in the foundation of a fine employee relations structure.(Greenwood, 2005, 19) The fact that the internal effects of globalization is focused upon the idea of employing people more than ever, the Australian retailing industry primarily aims to commit its services to the people as much as it could. Along with this, the business organizations are given the high privilege of making a difference in the society, aiming to continuously allowing people see the fact that through employment, they could be able to satisfy their needs and their demands with regards an aimed lifestyle that they have always dreamed of for them and their families as well (Kaufman, 2003, 25). This particular truth on employment satisfaction is the primary reason why the management teams are established. TO be able to motivate the employed personnels for them to work with the goals of the organization along with their personal aims as well, It is necessary to develop the ways by which the management is able to provide them with the satisfaction that they need (Kaufman, 2003, 19). This is the way by which an employee relations procedure is established for the betterment of the entire workforce of business organizations. Hospitality Organizations are expected to control a large number of employees as they are mainly empowered by the selling abilities of salesclerks and cashiers and other rank and file positions within the organization. Creating a fine working environment for the employees would certainly help in the establishment of a strong business organization. Through policing and employee relations establishment the said motivational factor that would assist the employees in working their efforts towards the right path of success is indeed needed.(Greenwood, 2005, 56) This is where the management procedures practiced by the management teams of different organizations enters the scene. Several hospitality companies in Australia are paying much to be able to help their workforce have a clear motivation towards their goals as well as with the company’s goals (Bruce, 2004, 21). Conclusion Continuously sticking to the example carried herein with regards the Australian economy, it could be noted that there are those that preempt the industries in Australia as neither as strong or even a weak status in the world economy. At some point, the said reactions are derived form the fact that the hospitality industries are at some point lacking the capability to assist their employees in reaching their goals making it harder for the workforce to perform well, which might result to lesser successful accounts of profitable outcome for the Australian economy. This is where the importance of human resource management should be strongly applied among hospitality organizations. From this perspective, it could be observed and thus proven that the management sector of any organization is definitely not a passive agent when it comes to empowering the human relations of certain business companies especially in the Australian Hospitality Industry (George, 2005, 65). Most often than not, it could be noted that the Management team even has the largest responsibility in creating the possibilities for a larger, more successful employee relations within the hospitality industry systems. Especially taking into consideration the major role of the human resource management in empowering the people of those who are working within the hospitality industries, it could be observed that people are supposed to be served and be serviced at the same time. The ability of the human resource management to create possibilities by which the stakeholders of the organization would actually benefit from could actually help the said industry grow towards its peak servicing operations within the human society. From the study presented herein, it could be noted that there are several responsibilities that the HRM need to attend to. However, because of the focus that they have to put on empowering their own people, they need to balance the aspects that they ought to take into consideration in actually completing their responsibilities. BIBLIOGRAPHY Maureen Minehan . (1997). Technology’s increasing impact on the workplace. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3495/is_n12_v42/ai_20204659. (January 14, 2007). Ronald Keener. (1999). Problems for Everyone in IT Staffing Needs – Industry Trend or Event. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DUD/is_4_20/ai_54586477. (January 14, 2007). Richard Clarke. (1999). Investing in human assets. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3257/is_11_52/ai_53286806. (January 14, 2007). Brent Wilder. (2002). Mt. Carmel takes records to Web-based network. http://www.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2002/06/24/focus3.html. (January 14, 2007). Rosemary Notarantonio. (2006). Health Management Technology. Atlanta: Feb 2006. Vol. 27, Issue. 2; pg. 30, 2 pgs. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1011570911&sid=1&Fmt=3&cl ientId=29440&RQT=309&VName=PQD. (January 14, 2007). Greenwood. (2005). The Practice of Workplace Participation: Management-Employee Relations at Three Particpatory Firms. IAP – Information Age Publishing Inc.; New Ed edition. Mike Leat. (2001). Exploring Employee Relations. Butterworth-Heinemann. Bruce E. Kaufman. (2003). Industrial Relations to Human Resources and Beyond: The Evolving Process of Employee Relations Management (Issues in Work and Human Resources). M.E. Sharpe. Margaret Bruce. (2004). International Retail Marketing: A Case Study Approach. Butterworth-Heinemann. McCracken, M., Wallace, M. (2000a), â€Å"Towards a redefinition of strategic HRD†, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 No.8, pp.425-67. McCracken, M., Wallace, M. (2000b), â€Å"Exploring strategic maturity in HRD – rhetoric, aspiration or reality?†, Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 24 No.5, pp.281-90. Maxwell, G., McDougall, M., Blair, S. (2000), â€Å"Managing diversity in the hotel sector: the emergence of a service quality opportunity†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 10 No.6, pp.367-73. Weiermair, K. (2000), â€Å"Tourists’ perceptions towards and satisfaction with service quality in the cross-cultural service encounter: implications for hospitality and tourism management†, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 10 No.6, pp.397-409.

Pakistan Cng Industry

Compiled by: Mirza Rohail B http://economicpakistan. wordpress. com/2008/02/10/cng-industry/ Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. Argentina and Brazil are the two countries with the largest fleets of CNG vehicles. As of 2005, Pakistan is the largest user of CNG in Asia, and third largest in the world. The Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) sector of Pakistan by end of 2007 has attracted over Rs 70 billion investments during the last few years as a result of liberal and encouraging policies of the government. Presently, more than 2,700 CNG stations are operating in the country in 85 cities and towns, and 1000 more would be setup in the next three years. It has provided employment to above 30,000 people in Pakistan. Over 2 million vehicles were converted to CNG as of march 2009, showing an increase of 35 percent yearly. On average 29,167 vehicles are being converted to CNG every month. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) Sana-ur-Rehman confirms that CNG stakeholders have invested Rs. 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. The CNG consumers had invested around Rs 60 billion in converting their vehicles to CNG. The CNG was replacing at least 6. 12 billion liters of petrol every year and saving foreign exchange to the tune of billions of dollars. The CNG sector pays 24 percent sales tax and 4 percent withholding tax to the government. Moreover, the CNG is contributing tremendously towards maintaining the air pollution level lower since it emits almost 85 percent less harmful gasses, zero lead and zero particulate matter. Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) is a substitute for gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel. It is considered to be an CNG has grown into one of the major fuel sources used in car engines in Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The government of Punjab, Pakistan, the most populous province of that country, has mandated that all public-transport vehicles will use CNG by 2007. CNG conversion 3rd generation environmentally â€Å"clean† alternative to those fuels. It is made by compressing methane (CH4) extracted from natural gas. It is stored and distributed in hard containers, usually cylinders. Conversion has been facilitated by a substantial price differential with liquid fuels, locally-produced conversion equipment and a growing CNG-delivery infrastructure. A ‘Blue-network’ of CNG stations is being developed on the major highways of the Southern Cone (including Chile and Bolivia) to allow for long-haul transportation fuelled by CNG. According to the International Association for Natural Gas Vehicles, Pakistan has the third-largest number of natural gas vehicles. In the Middle East and Africa, Egypt is a top ten country in the world with more than 63000 CNG vehicles and 95 fueling stations nationwide. Egypt was also the first nation in Africa and the Middle East to open a public CNG fuelling station in January 1996. Brisbane Transport and Trans-Perth in Australia have both adopted a policy of only purchasing CNG buses in future; the former purchasing 216 Scania L94UB and 180 MAN 18. 10 models, with the latter purchasing 451 Mercedes-Benz OC500LE buses, including 58 articulated buses. Brisbane Transport has also ordered up to 30 articulated CNG buses on MAN chassis’. During the 1970s and 1980s, CNG was commonly used in New Zealand in the wake of the oil crises, but fell into decline after petrol prices receded. Technology CNG can easily be used in Otto-cycle (gasoline) and modified Diesel cycle engines. Lea n-burn Otto-cycle engines can achieve higher thermal efficiencies when compared with stoichiometric Otto-cycle engines at the expense of higher NOx and hydrocarbon emissions. Electronically-controlled stoichio-metric engines offer the lowest emissions across the board and the highest possible power output, especially when combined with EGR, turbo charging and inter-cooling, and three way catalytic converters. The octane rating of CNG is far greater than Petrol and if handled correctly it can produce same or more power output from an engine provided the Compressed Natural Gas is compressed properly and accurate amounts of BTU Figures attained. CNG cylinders can be made of steel, aluminum, or plastic. Lightweight composite (fiber-wrapped plastic) cylinders are especially beneficial for vehicular use because they offer significant weight reductions when compared with earlier generation steel and aluminum cylinders, which leads to lower fuel consumption. CNG may be refueled from low-pressure or high-pressure systems. The difference lies in the cost of the station vs. the refueling time. There are also some implementations to refuel out of a residential gas line during the night, but this is forbidden in some countries. CNG compared to LNG and LPG CNG is often confused with LNG. While both are stored forms of natural gas, the key difference is that CNG is in compressed form, while LNG is in liquefied form. CNG has a lower cost of production and storage compared to LNG as it does not require an expensive cooling process and cryogenic tanks. CNG requires a much larger volume to store the same mass of natural gas and the use of high pressures. CNG is also often confused with LPG, which is a compressed blend of propane (C3H8) and butane (C4H10). The Advantages of Compressed Natural Gas The Environmentally Clean Advantage Compressed natural gas is the cleanest burning fuel operating today. This means less vehicle maintenance and longer engine life. CNG vehicles produce the fewest emissions of any motor fuel. Dedicated Natural Gas Vehicles (NGV) has little or no emissions during fueling. In gasoline vehicles, fueling emissions account for at least 50% of a vehicle’s total hydrocarbon emissions. CNG produces significantly less pollutants than gasoline. Tailpipe emissions from gasoline operated cars release carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. This is greatly reduced with natural gas. The Maintenance Advantage Some fleet operators have reduced maintenance costs by as much as 40% by converting their vehicles to CNG. Intervals between tune-ups for natural gas vehicles are extended 30,000 to 50,000 miles. Intervals between oil changes for natural gas vehicles are dramatically extended–anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 additional miles depending on how the vehicle is used. Natural gas does not react to metals the way gasoline does, so pipes and mufflers last much longer. The Performance Advantage Natural gas gives the same mileage as gasoline in a converted vehicle. Dedicated CNG engines are superior in performance to gasoline engines. CNG has an octane rating of 130 and has a slight efficiency advantage over gasoline. Because CNG is already in a gaseous state, NGV’s have superior starting and drivability, even under severe hot and cold weather conditions. NGV’s experience less knocking and no vapor locking. The CNG Cost Advantage Natural gas is cheaper per equivalent gallon than gasoline (an average of 15% to 50% less than gasoline). The Safety Advantage Surveys indicate that NGV’s are as safe or safer than those powered by other fuels. A 1992 AGA survey of more than 8,000 vehicles found that with more than 278 million miles traveled, NGV injury rates per vehicle mile traveled were 34% lower than the rate for gasoline vehicles. There were no fatalities reported–even though these vehicles were involved in over 1,800 collisions. The Financial Incentive Advantage Some States offers a 50% investment tax credit for each vehicle converted to natural gas. This 50% credit on state income tax features a three-year, carry-forward option. A federal tax deduction is also available for the cost of conversion. Apprehensions in Industry The CNG Stations Owners Association of Pakistan (CSOAP) in January 2009 demanded the government to introduce a separate tariff for CNG to protect the investment by CNG station owners. An executive committee members meeting of CSOAP Thursday urged the Ministry of Petroleum and OGRA to keep the CNG policy 1992 enforced. The recent steps by the government to increase gas price would damage the CNG industry and would put additional burden on the common man. The current increase of 10 percent in gas prices is unjustified and uncalled for when the fuel prices all over the world have plunged. The 33 percent steep increase of gas prices in July 2008 by SSGCL and SNGPL was fully absorbed by CNG station owners and dealers by reducing their profit margins. He said the CNG sector as a whole consumes less than 6 percent of total gas output from SSGCL and SNGPL. The investments of more than Rs 60 billion of middle and lower middle class people who converted their vehicles to use cheap and environmental friendly CNG would go waste if the government does not revert the recent increase of gas price immediately. The CNG industry’s efforts to reduce government’s burden of foreign exchange payments and huge savings of Forex reserves resulted from shift to CNG use in vehicles. He claimed CNG has resulted in savings of more than $250 million per annum of foreign exchange for Pakistan. The recent increase of gas prices would force the CNG vehicle owners to buy CNG at a higher rate forcing CNG stations to close down their businesses leaving 2. 1 million vehicle owners including rickshaws and taxis prone to inflation. He said if the government did not meet their genuine demands, they would be forced to shut down their businesses and would not be able to pay their leasing payments and other loans. All Pakistan CNG Association (APA) in 2008 had also expressed resentment over the government’s plan to increase CNG prices equalizing petroleum prices so as to resolve ongoing gas crises in the country. The APA has contacted the planning division for holding a meeting on the issue but the concerned officials have refused to meet the stakeholders, he claimed. The APA chairman Sana-ur-Rehman claimed that there is an anti-CNG lobby in the planning division. He said that the CNG stakeholders have invested Rs 90 billion in this sector and another Rs 20 billion investment is in pipeline. He expressed apprehensions that the industry would totally collapse if the CNG prices were equalized with petroleum prices. According to APA Chairman, the CNG sector accounts only for 6 percent of the national gross consumption of the natural gas, where as it is being portrayed as the cause for present gas shortage crisis. The domestic sector consumes 21 percent gas during summer, which rises to 69 percent in winter and that was actually responsible for the gas shortage every winter season. He informed journalists that gas was provided to industrial sector for a contract of 9 month in a year. The industries were required to arrange for alternate energy source during the remaining three months of winter, he maintained. However, he regretted that the government machinery wanted to provide supply of gas to industrial sector throughout the year for the last several years against the contractual obligations. CNG Conversions Converting a gasoline-powered car to CNG requires only minor engine modifications. To learn more about converting your car, please contact a certified CNG conversion company. (c) ECONOMIC PAKISTAN

One party political systems essays

One party political systems essays Political scientists often describe Mexico as a one-party authoritarian state. Power is centralized in the hands of a virtually omnipotent president, who is always the candidate of the dominant or ruling party, which in Mexico is the Institutional Revolutionary Party (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, or PRI). Singapore is a one-party state that declares that it is democratic although when analyzed by political scientists is considered socialist. These parties have many similarities and many differences and this paper will undertake the task of comparing and contrasting the one-party system in both Singapore and Mexico. The controlling political party in Mexico is the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), and it had been the governing political party since 1929. The PRI is divided up into three sectors: labor, agrarian, and popular. This party claims to be the true heir of Mexicos revolutionary tradition, and has worked extremely hard to keep an appearance as a left-wing party. Although the PRI certainly has right-wing and left-wing factions. Until very recently for many Mexicans the PRI, the state, and the government were basically the same thing. From 1929 up until 1988 the candidates of the PRI had won in all presidential, state, and Senate elections, and practically all the representative elections for federal and local congress, including municipalities. Military chieftains and regional bosses who survived the Mexican revolution started the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI); they created the National Revolutionary Party to put an end to two decades of violence and turmoil. Si nce then the PRI and its partisan predecessors have never acknowledged the loss of a presidential election and always controlled both houses of Congress. The machinery of politics at the presidents service, the ruling party and the government officials charged with managing political affairs, often governed effectively, but ...

How to Write a DBQ Essay Key Strategies and Tips

How to Write a DBQ Essay Key Strategies and Tips SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The DBQ, or document-based-question, is a somewhat unusually-formatted timed essay on the AP History Exams: AP US History, AP European History, and AP World History.Because of its unfamiliarity, many students are at a loss as to how to even prepare, let alone how to write a successful DBQ essay on test day. Never fear! I, the DBQ wizard and master, have a wealth of preparation strategies for you, as well as advice on how to cram everything you need to cover into your limited DBQ writing time on exam day. When you're done reading this guide, you'll know exactly how to write a DBQ. For a general overview of the DBQ- what it is, its purpose, itsformat, etc.- see my article â€Å"What is a DBQ?† Table of Contents What Should My Study Timeline Be? Preparing for the DBQ Establish a Baseline Foundational Skills Rubric Breakdown Take Another Practice DBQ How Can I Succeed on Test Day? Reading the Question and Documents Planning Your Essay Writing Your Essay Key Takeaways What Should My DBQ Study Timeline Be? Your AP exam study timeline depends on a few things. First, how much time you have to study per week, and how many hours you want to study in total? If you don’t have much time per week, start a little earlier; if you will be able to devote a substantial amount of time per week (10-15 hours) to prep, you can wait until later in the year. One thing to keep in mind, though, is that the earlier you start studying for yourAP test, the less material you will have covered in class.Make sure you continually review older material as the school year goes on to keep things fresh in your mind, but in terms of DBQ prep it probably doesn’t make sense to start before February or January at the absolute earliest. Another factor is how much you need to work on. I recommend youcomplete a baseline DBQ around early February to see where you need to focus your efforts. If, for example, you got a six out of seven and missed one point for doing further document analysis, you won’t need to spend too much time studying how to write aDBQ. Maybe just do a document analysis exercise every few weeksand check in a couple months later with another timed practice DBQ to make sure you’ve got it. However, if you got a two or three out of seven, you’ll know you have more work to do, and you’ll probably want to devote at least an hour or two every week to honing your skills. The general flow of your preparation should be: take a practice DBQ, do focused skills practice, take another practice DBQ, do focused skills practice, take another practice DBQ, and so on. How often you take the practice DBQs and how many times you repeat the cycle really depends on how much preparation you need, and how often you want to check your progress. Take practice DBQs often enough that the format stays familiar, but not so much that you’ve done barely any skills practice in between. He's ready to start studying! Preparing for the DBQ The general preparation process is to diagnose, practice, test, and repeat. First, you’ll figure out what you need to work on by establishing a baseline level for your DBQ skills. Then, you’ll practice building skills. Finally, you’ll take another DBQ to see how you've improved and what you still need to work on. In this next section, I’ll go over the whole process. First, I’ll give guidance on how to establish a baseline. Then I’ll go over some basic, foundational essay-writing skills and how to build them. After that I’ll break down the DBQ rubric.You’ll be acing practice DBQs before you know it! Want to get a perfect 5 on your AP exam and an A in class? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. #1: Establish a Baseline The first thing you need to do is to establish a baseline- figure out where you are at with respect to your DBQ skills. This will let you know where you need to focus your preparation efforts. To do this, you will take a timed, practice DBQ and have a trusted teacher or advisor grade it according to the appropriate rubric. AP US History For the AP US History DBQ, you’ll be given a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time. A selection of practice questions from the exam can be found online at the College Board, including a DBQ. (Go to page 136 in the linked document for the practice prompt.) If you’ve already seen this practice question, perhaps in class, you might use the 2015 DBQ question. Other available College Board DBQs are going to be in the old format (find them in the â€Å"Free-Response Questions† documents). This is fine if you need to use them, but be sure to use the new rubric(which is out of seven points, rather thannine)to grade. I advise you to save all these links, or even download all the Free Response Questions and the Scoring Guides, for reference because you will be using them again and again for practice. AP European History For this exam, you’ll be given a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time. The College Board has provided practice questions for the exam, including a DBQ (see page 200 in the linked document). If you’ve already seen this question, the only other questions available through the College Board are in the old format, because the 2016 DBQ is in a new, seven-point format identical to the AP US History exam. Just be sure to use the new DBQ rubric if you want to use any of the old prompts provided by the College Board. (DBQs are in the documents titled â€Å"Free-Response Questions.†) I advise you to save all these links (or even download all the Free Response Questions and the Scoring Guides) for reference, because you will be using them again and again for practice. Who knows- maybe this will be one of your documents! AP World History For this exam, you’ll be given a 15-minute reading period and 45 minutes of writing time.As for the other two history exams, the College Board has provided practice questions. See page 166 for the DBQ. If you’ve already seen this question, the only other questions available through the College Board are in the old format, because the 2017 World History DBQ is in a new, seven-point format identical to the AP US History and AP European History exams. So be sure to use the new DBQ rubric if you want to use any of the old prompts provided by the College Board. (DBQs are in the documents titled â€Å"Free-Response Questions.†) I advise you to save all these links (or even download all the Free Response Questions and the Scoring Guides) for reference, because you will be using them again and again for practice. Finding a Trusted Advisor to Look at Your Papers A history teacher would be a great resource, but if they are not available to you in this capacity, here are some other ideas: An English teacher. Ask a librarian at your school or public library! If they can’t help you, they may be able to direct you to resources who can. You could also ask a school guidance counselor to direct you to in-school resources you could use. A tutor. This is especially helpful if they are familiar with the test, although even if they aren’t, they can still advise- the DBQ is mostly testing academic writing skills under pressure. Your parent(s)! Again, ideally your trusted advisor will be familiar with the AP, but if you have used your parents for writing help in the past they can also assist here. You might try an older friend who has already taken the exam and did well...although bear in mind that some people are better at doing than scoring and/or explaining! Can I Prepare For My Baseline? If you know nothing about the DBQ and you’d like to do a little basic familiarization before you establish your baseline, that’s completely fine. There’s no point in taking a practice exam if you are going to panic and muddle your way through it; it won’t give a useful picture of your skills. For a basic orientation, check out my article for a basic introduction to the DBQ including DBQ format. If you want to look at one or two sample essays, see my article for a list of DBQ example essay resources. Keepin mind that you should use a fresh prompt you haven’t seen to establish your baseline, though, so if you do look at samples don’t use those prompts to set your baseline. I would also check out this page aboutthe various â€Å"task† words associated with AP essay questions. This page was created primarily for the AP European History Long Essay question, but the definitions are still useful for the DBQ on all the history exams, particularly since these are the definitions provided by the College Board. Once you feel oriented, take your practice exam! Don’t worry if you don’t do well on your first practice! That’s what studying is for. The point of establishing a baseline is not to make you feel bad, but to empower you to focus your efforts on the areas you need to work on.Even if you need to work on all the areas, that is completely fine and doable! Every skill you need for the DBQ can be built. In the following section, we’ll go over these skills and how to build them for each exam. You need a stronger foundation than this sand castle. #2: Develop Foundational Skills In this section, I’ll discuss the foundational writing skills you need to write a DBQ. I’ll start with some general information on crafting an effective thesis, since this is a skill you will need for any DBQ exam (and for your entire academic life). Then, I’ll go over outlining essays, with some sample outline ideas for the DBQ. After I’ll touch on time management. Finally, I’ll briefly discuss how to non-awkwardly integrate information from your documents into your writing. It sounds like a lot, but not only are these skills vital to your academic career in general, you probably already have the basic building blocks to master them in your arsenal! Writing An Effective Thesis Writing a good thesis is a skill you will need to developfor all your DBQs, and for any essay you write, on the AP or otherwise. Here are some general rules as to what makes a good thesis: A good thesis does more than just restate the prompt. Let’s say our class prompt is: â€Å"Analyze the primary factors that led to the French Revolution.† Gregory writes, â€Å"There were many factors that caused the French Revolution† as his thesis. This is not an effective thesis. All it does is vaguely restate the prompt. A good thesis makes a plausible claim that you can defend in an essay-length piece of writing. Maybe Karen writes, â€Å"Marie Antoinette caused the French Revolution when she said ‘Let them eat cake’ because it made people mad.† This is not an effective thesis, either. For one thing, Marie Antoinette never said that. More importantly, how are you going to write an entire essay on how one offhand comment by Marie Antoinette caused the entire Revolution? This is both implausible and overly simplistic. A good thesisanswers the question. If LaToya writes, â€Å"The Reign of Terror led to the ultimate demise of the French Revolution and ultimately paved the way for NapoleonBonaparteto seize control of France,† she may be making a reasonable, defensible claim, but it doesn’t answer the question, which is not about what happened after the Revolution, but what caused it! A good thesis makes it clear where you are going in your essay. Let’s say Juan writes, â€Å"The French Revolution, while caused by a variety of political, social, and economic factors, was primarily incited by the emergence of the highly educated Bourgeois class.†This thesis provides a mini-roadmap for the entire essay, laying out that Juan is going to discuss the political, social, and economic factors that led to the Revolution, in that order, and that he will argue that the members of the Bourgeois class were the ultimate inciters of the Revolution. This is a great thesis! It answers the question, makes an overarching point, and provides a clear idea of what the writer isgoing to discuss in the essay. To review: a good thesis makes a claim, responds to the prompt, and lays out what you will discuss in your essay. If you feel like you have trouble telling the difference between a good thesis and a not-so-good one, here are a few resources you can consult: This site from SUNY Empire has an exercise in choosing the best thesis from several options. It’s meant for research papers, but the general rules as to what makes a good thesis apply. About.com has another exercise in choosing thesis statements specifically for short essays. Note, however, that most of the correct answers here would be â€Å"good† thesis statements as opposed to â€Å"super† thesis statements. This guide from the University of Iowa provides some really helpful tips on writing a thesis for a history paper. So how do you practice your thesis statement skills for the DBQ? While you should definitely practice looking at DBQ questions and documents and writing a thesis in response to those, you may also find it useful to write some practice thesis statements in response to the Free-Response Questions. While you won’t be taking any documents into account in your argument for the Free-Response Questions, it’s good practice on how to construct an effective thesis in general. You could even try writing multiple thesis statements in response to the same prompt! It is a great exercise to see how you could approach the prompt from different angles. Time yourself for 5-10 minutes to mimic the time pressure of the AP exam. If possible, havea trusted advisor or friend look over your practice statements and give you feedback. Barring that, looking over the scoring guidelines for old prompts (accessible from the same page on the College Board where past free-response questions can be found) will provide you with useful tips on what might make a good thesis in response to a given prompt. Once you can write a thesis, you need to be able to support it- that's where outlining comes in! This is not a good outline. Outlining and Formatting Your Essay You may be the greatest document analyst and thesis-writer in the world, but if you don’t know how to put it all together in a DBQ essay outline, you won’t be able to write a cohesive, high-scoring essay on test day. A good outline will clearly lay out your thesis and how you are going to support that thesis in your body paragraphs. It will keep your writing organized and prevent you from forgetting anything you want to mention! For some general tips on writing outlines, this page from Roane State has some useful information.While the general principles of outlining an essay hold, the DBQ format is going to have its own unique outlining considerations.To that end, I’ve provided some brief sample outlines that will help you hit all the important points. Sample DBQ Outline Introduction Thesis. The most important part of your intro! Body 1 - contextual information Any outside historical/contextual information Body 2 - First point Documents analysis that support the first point If three body paragraphs: use about three documents, do deeper analysis on two Body 3 - Second point Documents analysis that support the second point Use about three documents, do deeper analysis on two Be sure to mention your outside example if you have not done so yet! Body 4 (optional) - Third point Documents and analysis that support third point Conclusion Re-state thesis Draw a comparison to another time period or situation (synthesis) Depending on your number of body paragraphs and your main points, you may include different numbers of documents in each paragraph, or switch around where you place your contextual information, your outside example, or your synthesis. There’s no one right way to outline, just so long as each of your body paragraphs has a clear point that you support with documents, and you remember to do a deeper analysis on four documents, bring in outside historical information, and make a comparison to another historical situation or time (you will see these last points further explained in the rubric breakdown). Of course, all the organizational skills in the world won't help you if you can't write your entire essay in the time allotted. The next section will cover time management skills. You can be as organized as this library! Time Management Skills for Essay Writing Do you know all of your essay-writing skills, but just can’t get a DBQ essay together in a 15-minute planning period and 40 minutes of writing? There could be a few things at play here: Do you find yourself spending a lot of time staring at a blank paper? If you feel like you don’t know where to start, spend one-two minutes brainstorming as soon as you read the question and the documents. Write anything here- don’t censor yourself. No one will look at those notes but you! After you’ve brainstormed for a bit, try to organize those thoughts into a thesis, and then into body paragraphs. It’s better to start working and change things around than to waste time agonizing that you don’t know the perfect thing to say. Are you too anxious to start writing, or does anxiety distract you in the middle of your writing time? Do you just feel overwhelmed? Sounds like test anxiety. Lots of people have this. (Including me! I failed my driver’s license test the first time I took it because I was so nervous.) You might talk to a guidance counselor about your anxiety. They will be able to provide advice and direct you to resources you can use. There are also some valuable test anxiety resources online: try our guide to mindfulness (it's focused on the SAT, but the same concepts apply on any high-pressure test) and check outtips from Minnesota State University, these strategies from TeensHealth, or this plan for reducing anxiety from West Virginia University. Are you only two thirds of the way through your essay when 40 minutes have passed? You are probably spending too long on your outline, biting off more than you can chew, or both. If you find yourself spending 20+ minutes outlining, you need to practice bringing down your outline time. Remember, an outline is just a guide for your essay- it is fine to switch things around as you are writing. It doesn’t need to be perfect. To cut down on your outline time, practice just outlining for shorter and shorter time intervals. When you can write one in 20 minutes, bring it down to 18, then down to 16. You may also be trying to cover too much in your paper. If you have five body paragraphs, you need to scale things back to three. If you are spending twenty minutes writing two paragraphs of contextual information, you need to trim it down to a few relevant sentences. Be mindful of where you are spending a lot of time, and target those areas. You don’t know the problem- you just can’t get it done! If you can’t exactly pinpoint what’s taking you so long, I advise you to simply practice writing DBQs in less and less time. Start with 20 minutes for your outline and 50 for your essay, (or longer, if you need). Then when you can do it in 20 and 50, move back to 18 minutes and 45 for writing, then to 15 and 40. You absolutely can learn to manage your time effectively so that you can write a great DBQ in the time allotted. On to the next skill! Integrating Citations The final skill that isn’t explicitly covered in the rubric, but will make a big difference in your essay quality, is integrating document citations into your essay. In other words, how do you reference the information in the documents in a clear, non-awkward way? It is usually better to use the author or title of the document to identify a document instead of writing â€Å"Document A.† So instead of writing â€Å"Document A describes the riot as...,† you might say, â€Å"In Sven Svenson’s description of the riot†¦Ã¢â‚¬  When you quote a document directly without otherwise identifying it, you may want to include a parenthetical citation. For example, you might write, â€Å"The strikers were described as ‘valiant and true’ by the working class citizens of the city (Document E).† Now that we’ve reviewed the essential, foundational skills of the DBQ, I’ll move into the rubric breakdowns. We’ll discuss each skill the AP graders will be looking for when they score your exam. All of the history exams share a DBQ rubric, so the guidelines are identical. Don't worry, you won't need a magnifying glass to examine the rubric. #3: Learn the DBQ Rubric The DBQ rubrichas four sections for a total of seven points. Part A: Thesis - 2 Points One point is for having a thesis that works and is historically defensible. This just means that your thesis can be reasonably supported by the documents and historical fact. So please don’t make the main point of your essay that JFK was a member of the Illuminati or that Pope Urban II was an alien. Per the College Board, your thesis needs to be located in your introduction or your conclusion. You’ve probably been taught to place your thesis in your intro, so stick with what you’re used to. Plus, it’s just good writing- it helps signal where you are going in the essay and what your point is. You can receive another point for having a super thesis. The College Board describes this as having a thesis that takes into account â€Å"historical complexity.† Historical complexity is really just the idea that historical evidence does not always agree about everything, and that there are reasons for agreement, disagreement, etc. How will you know whether the historical evidence agrees or disagrees? The documents! Suppose you are responding to a prompt about women’s suffrage (suffrage is the right to vote, for those of you who haven’t gotten to that unit in class yet): â€Å"Analyze the responses to the women’s suffrage movement in the United States.† Included among your documents, you have a letter from a suffragette passionately explaining why she feels women should have the vote, a copy of a suffragette’s speech at a women’s meeting, a letter from one congressman to another debating the pros and cons of suffrage, and a political cartoon displaying the death of society and the end of the ‘natural’ order at the hands of female voters. A simple but effective thesis might be something like, â€Å"Though ultimately successful, the women’s suffrage movement sharply divided the country between those who believed women’s suffrage was unnatural and those who believed it was an inherent right of women.† This is good: it answers the question and clearly states the two responses to suffrage that are going to be analyzed in the essay. A super thesis, however, would take the relationships between the documents (and the people behind the documents!) into account. It might be something like, â€Å"The dramatic contrast between those who responded in favor of women’s suffrage and those who fought against it revealed a fundamental rift in American society centered on the role of women- whether women were ‘naturally’ meant to be socially and civilly subordinate to men, or whether they were in fact equals.† This is a â€Å"super† thesis because it gets into the specifics of the relationship between historical factors and shows the broader picture- that is, what responses to women’s suffrage revealed about the role of women in the United States overall. It goes beyond just analyzing the specific issues to a â€Å"so what†? It doesn’t just take a position about history, it tells the reader why they should care. In this case, our super thesis tells us that the reader should care about women’s suffrage because the issue reveals a fundamental conflict in America over the position of women in society. Part B: Document Analysis - 2 Points One point for using six or seven of the documents in your essay to support your argument. Easy-peasy!However, make sure you aren’t just summarizing documents in a list, but are tying them back to the main points of your paragraphs. It's best to avoid writing things like,â€Å"Document A says X, and Document B says Y, and Document C says Z.† Instead, you mightwrite something like,â€Å"The anonymous author of Document C expresses his support and admiration for the suffragettes but also expresses fear that giving women the right to vote will lead to conflict in the home, highlighting the common fear that women’s suffrage would lead to upheaval in women’s traditional role in society.† Any summarizing should be connected a point. Essentially, any explanation of what a document says needs to be tied to a â€Å"so what?† If it’s not clear to you why what you are writing about a document is related to your main point, it’s not going to be clear to the AP grader. You can get an additional point here for doing further analysis on 4 of the documents. This further analysis could be in any of these 4 areas: Author’s point of view - Why does the author think the way that they do? What is their position in society and how does this influence what they are saying? Author’s purpose - Why is the author writing what they are writing? What are they trying to convince their audience of? Historical context - What broader historical facts are relevant to this document? Audience - Who is the intended audience for this document? Who is the author addressing or trying to convince? Be sure to tie any further analysis back to your main argument! And remember, you only have to do this for four documents for full credit, but it’s fine to do it for more if you can. Want to get a perfect 5 on your AP exam and an A in class? We can help. PrepScholar Tutors is the world's best tutoring service. We combine world-class expert tutors with our proprietary teaching techniques. Our students have gotten A's on thousands of classes, perfect 5's on AP tests, and ludicrously high SAT Subject Test scores. Whether you need help with science, math, English, social science, or more, we've got you covered. Get better grades today with PrepScholar Tutors. Practicing Document Analysis So how do you practice document analysis?By analyzing documents! Luckily for AP test takers everywhere, New York State has an exam called the Regents Exam that has its own DBQ section. Before they write the essay, however, New York students have to answer short answer questions about the documents. Answering Regents exam DBQ short-answer questions is good practice for basic document analysis. While most of the questions are pretty basic, it’s a good warm-up in terms of thinking more deeply about the documents and how to use them.This set of Regent-style DBQsfrom the Teacher’s Project are mostly about US History, but the practice could be good for other tests too. This prompt from the Morningside center also has some good document comprehensions questions about a US-History based prompt. Note: While the document short-answer questions are useful for thinking about basic document analysis, I wouldn’t advise completing entire Regents exam DBQ essay prompts for practice, because the format and rubric are both somewhat different from the AP. Your AP history textbook may also have documents with questions that you can use to practice. Flip around in there! This otter is ready to swim in the waters of the DBQ. When you want to do a deeper dive on the documents, you can also pull out those old College Board DBQ prompts. Read the documents carefully. Write down everything that comes to your attention. Do further analysis- author’s point of view, purpose, audience, and historical context- on all the documents for practice, even though you will only need to do additional analysis on four on test day.Of course, you might not be able to do all kinds of further analysis on things like maps and graphs, which is fine. You might also try thinking about how you would arrange those observations in an argument, or even try writing a practice outline! This exercise would combine your thesis and document-analysis skills practice. When you’ve analyzed everything you can possibly think of for all the documents, pull up the Scoring Guide for that prompt. It helpfully has an entire list of analysis points for each document. Consider what they identified that you missed. Do you seem way off-base in your interpretation? If so, how did it happen? Part C: Using Evidence Beyond the Documents - 2 Points Don’t be freaked out by the fact that this is two points! One point is just for context - if you can locate the issue within its broader historical situation.You do need to write several sentences to a paragraph about it, but don’t stress; all you really need to know to be able to get this point is information about major historical trends over time, and you will need to know this anyways for the multiple choice section.If the question is about the Dust Bowl during the Great Depression, for example, be sure to include some of the general information you know about the Great Depression! Boom. Contextualized. The otherpoint is for naming a specific, relevant example in your essay that does not appear in the documents. To practice your outside information skills, pull up your College Board prompts! Read through the prompt and documents and then write down all of the contextualizing facts and as many specific examples as you can think of. I advise timing yourself- maybe 5-10 minutes to read the documents and prompt and list your outside knowledge- to imitate the time pressure of the DBQ. When you’ve exhausted your knowledge, make sure to fact-check your examples and your contextual information! You don’t want to use incorrect information on test day. If you can’t remember any examples or contextual information about that topic, look some up! This will help fill in holes in your knowledge. Part D: Synthesis - 1 Point All you need to do for synthesis is relate your argument about this specific time period to a different time period, geographical area, historical movement, etc. It is probably easiest to do this in the conclusion of the essay. If your essay is about the Great Depression, you might relate it to the Great Recession of 2007-2009. You do need to do more than just mention your synthesis connection. You need to make it meaningful. How are the two things you are comparing similar? What does one reveal about the other? Is there a key difference that highlights something important? To practice your synthesis skills- you guessed it- pull up your College Board prompts! Read through the prompt and documents and then identify what historical connections you could make for your synthesis point. Be sure to write a few words on why the connection is significant! A great way to make sure that your synthesis connection makes sense is to explain it to someone else. If you explain what you think the connection is and they get it, you’re probably on the right track. You can also look at sample responses and the scoring guide for the old prompts to see what other connections students and AP graders made. That's a wrap on the rubric! Let's move on toskill-building strategy. Don't let the DBQ turn you into a dissolving ghost-person, though. #4: Focus on Your Skill-Building Strategy You’ve probably noticed that my advice on how to practice individual rubric skills is pretty similar: pull out a prompt and do a timed exercise focusing on just that skill. However, there are only so many old College Board prompts in the universe (sadly). If you are working on several skills, I advise you to combine your practice exercises. What do I mean? Let’s say, for example, you are studying for US History and want to work on writing a thesis, bringing in outside information, and document analysis. Set your timer for 15-20 minutes, pull up a prompt, and: Write 2-3 potential thesis statements in response to the prompt Write all the contextual historical information you can think of, and a few specific examples Write down analysis notes on all the documents. Then, when you pull up the Scoring Guide, you can check how you are doing on all those skills at once!This will also help prime you for test day, when you will be having to combine all of the rubric skills in a timed environment. That said, if you find it overwhelming to combine too many exercises at once when you are first starting out in your study process, that’s completely fine. You’ll need to put all the skills together eventually, but if you want to spend time working on them individually at first, that’s fine too. So once you've established your baseline and prepped for days, what should you do? It's time to take another practice DBQ to see how you've improved! I know you're tired, but you can do it! #5: Take Another Practice DBQ So, you established a baseline, identified the skills you need to work on, and practiced writing a thesis statement and analyzing documents for hours. What now? Take another timed, practice DBQ from a prompt you haven’t seen before to check how you’ve improved. Recruit your same trusted advisor to grade your exam and give feedback. After, work on any skills that still need to be honed. Repeat this process as necessary, until you are consistently scoring your goal score. Then you just need to make sure you maintain your skills until test day by doing an occasional practice DBQ. Eventually, test day will come- read on for my DBQ-test-taking tips. How Can I Succeed On DBQ Test Day? Once you’ve prepped your brains out, you still have to take the test! I know, I know. But I’ve got some advice on how to make sure all of your hard work pays off on test day- both some general tips and some specific advice on how to write a DBQ. #1: General Test-Taking Tips Most of these are probably tips you’ve heard before, but they bear repeating: Get a good night’s sleep for the two nights preceding the exam. This will keep your memory sharp! Eat a good breakfast (and lunch, if the exam is in the afternoon) before the exam with protein and whole grains. This will keep your blood sugar from crashing and making you tired during the exam. Don’t study the night before the exam if you can help it. Instead, do something relaxing. You’ve been preparing, and you will have an easier time on exam day if you aren’t stressed from trying to cram the night before. This dude knows he needs to get a good night's rest! #2: DBQ Plan and Strategies Below I’ve laid out how to use your time during the DBQ exam. I’ll provide tips on reading the question and docs, planning your essay, and writing! Be sure to keep an eye on the clock throughout so you can track your general progress. Reading the Question and the Documents: 5-6 min First thing’s first: read the question carefully, two or even three times. You may want to circle the task words (â€Å"analyze,† â€Å"describe,† â€Å"evaluate,† â€Å"compare†) to make sure they stand out. You could also quickly jot down some contextual information you already know before moving on to the documents, but if you can’t remember any right then, move on to the docs and let them jog your memory. It’s fine to have a general idea of a thesis after you read the question, but if you don’t, move on to the docs and let them guide you in the right direction. Next,move on to the documents. Mark them as you read- circle things that seem important, jot thoughts and notes in the margins. After you’ve passed over the documents once, you should choose the four documents you are going to analyze more deeply and read them again. You probably won’t be analyzing the author’s purpose for sources like maps and charts. Good choices are documents in which the author’s social or political position and stake in the issue at hand are clear. Get ready to go down the document rabbit hole. Planning Your Essay: 9-11 min Once you’ve read the question and you have preliminary notes on the documents, it’s time to start working on a thesis.If you still aren’t sure what to talk about, spend a minute or so brainstorming. Write down themes and concepts that seem important and create a thesis from those.Remember, your thesis needs to answer the question and make a claim! When you’ve got a thesis, it’s time to work on an outline. Once you’ve got some appropriate topics for your body paragraphs, use your notes on the documents to populate your outline. Which documents support which ideas? You don’t need to use every little thought you had about the document when you read it, but you should be sure to use every document. Here's three things to make sure of: Make sure your outline notes where you are going to include your contextual information (often placed in the first body paragraph, but this is up to you), your specific example (likely in one of the body paragraphs), and your synthesis (the conclusion is a good place for this). Make sure you’ve also integrated the four documents you are going to further analyze and how to analyze them. Make sure you use all the documents! I can’t stress this enough. Take a quick pass over your outline and the docs and make sure all of the docs appear in your outline. If you go over the planning time a couple of minutes, it’s not the end of the world. This probably just means you have a really thorough outline! But be ready to write pretty fast. Writing the Essay - 45 min If you have a good outline, the hard part is out of the way! You just need to make sure you get all of your great ideas down in the test booklet. Don’t get too bogged down in writing a super-exciting introduction. You won’t get points for it, so trying to be fancy will just waste time. Spend maybe one or two sentences introducing the issue, then get right to your thesis. For your body paragraphs, make sure your topic sentences clearly state the point of the paragraph. Then you can get right into your evidence and your document analysis. As you write, make sure to keep an eye on the time. You want to be a little more than halfway through at the 20-minute mark of the writing period, so you have a couple minutes to go back and edit your essay at the end. Keep in mind that it’s more important to clearly lay out your argument than to use flowery language. Sentences that are shorter and to the point are completely fine. If you are short on time, the conclusion is the least important part of your essay. Even just one sentence to wrap things up is fine just so long as you’ve hit all the points you need to (i.e. don’t skip your conclusion if you still need to put in your synthesis example). When you are done, make one last past through your essay. Make sure you included everything that was in your outline and hit all the rubric skills! Then take a deep breath and pat yourself on the back. You did it!! Have a cupcake to celebrate. KeyTips for How to Write a DBQ I realize I've bombarded you with information, so here are the key points to take away: Remember the drill for prep: establish a baseline, build skills, take another practice DBQ, repeat skill-building as necessary. Make sure that you know the rubric inside and out so you will remember to hit all the necessary points on test day! It’s easy to lose points just for forgetting something like your synthesis point. On test day, keep yourself on track time-wise! This may seem like a lot, but you can learn how to ace your DBQ! With a combination of preparation and good test-taking strategy, you will get the score you’re aiming for. The more you practice, the more natural it will seem, until every DBQ is a breeze. What's Next? If you want more information about the DBQ, see my introductory guide to the DBQ.Haven't registered for the test yet? See our article for help registering for AP exams. For more on studying for the AP US History exam, check out the best AP US History notes to study with. Studying for World History? See these AP World History study tips from one of our experts. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

All 104 Need-Blind Colleges in the US A Complete Guide

All 104 Need-Blind Colleges in the US A Complete Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips When universities go through admissions applications, they take many factors into consideration, like your grades, your extracurriculars, and even your personality! But many college applicants don’trealizethat some universities also consider youand your family’sability to pay tuition as well. The hard truth is that some universities use an applicant’s ability to pay tuition without financial aid as a factor in the admissions process. This became the subject of a 2015 article from Time Magazine, which explains that many universities consider how students can contribute to their institution financially when they make admissions decisions. This sounds like scary news. But don’t worry! Many schools are addressing the issue by transitioning to need-blind admissions policies, which remove economic status as an admissions criteria. In this guide, we’ll give you a complete list of need-blind colleges in the United States and answer all of your burning questions, including: What is need-blind admission? How do need-blind policies affect tuition costs? What should you look for in a need-blind school? So let’s get started! What Are Need-Blind Colleges and Universities? Simply put, need-blind colleges are schools where a student’s ability to pay tuition costs is not factored into the admissions decision. Yes, it’s really that simple! These universities only consider the non-financial parts of your applicationlike your essays, transcript, and letters of recommendationwhen deciding whether to offer you admission. But just because a university uses need-blind admissions processes doesn’t mean the school won’t ask you about your family’s finances. You will still have to submit your financial information through documents like the FAFSA, the College Board’s CSS profile, or university-specific forms. At a need-blind college, this information will only be used to calculate your aid package after you’ve been admitted. (More on that later.) Through need-blind admission, colleges are trying to level the playing field. The idea is that the admittance system becomes more merit-based: each student stands on their own achievement in high school, not on the wealth (or lack thereof) of their parents. For example, let’s say that Emma graduates in the top 5% of her class, serves as the student body treasurer, and scores a 34 on her ACT. But Emma also comes from a single-parent household where finances are tight. A need-blind university would only consider Emma’s stellar academicsnot her family’s incomewhen deciding whether to accept her. In other words, need-blind policies help admissions counselors evaluate each applicant on the basis of merit rather than economic class. As a result, need-blind policies tend make the admissions process a little more competitive. But Aren’t All Colleges Need-Blind? While it’s true that all universities are looking for excellent candidates that are good academic, intellectual, and cultural fits for their institutions, many universities weigh whether a student can pay for tuition during the application process. As Andrew Belasco, CEO of College Transitions explains, not all institutions have access to the same amount of financial aid funding. He says: â€Å"Reduced appropriations, rising costs and budget crunches have forced many institutions to increasingly rely on tuition revenue to meet expenses†¦ [and] in the case of two students with similar credentials, many colleges are likely to give preference to the student who is able to pay more out-of-pocket.† That is not to say that most universities only consider your financial ability to pay, or that it is even a top-tier consideration! But when it comes to making decisions on students who are on the borderline, familial finances can made the difference between an acceptance and a rejection letter. Tim Gouw/Unsplash How Do Need-Blind Policies Affect Tuition Costs? There is a common misconception that colleges that are need blind also offer students who cannot pay a full ride. That is not true: just because a university is need-blind does not mean that tuition is free! Just because you get into a need-blind college does not mean you are guaranteed a free ride. For example, take a look at Brown University need-blind admissions policy. It starts like this: Need-blind admission simply means that an applicant's ability to pay for their education will not be a factor in the admission decision. In other words, a candidate's financial need will not be taken into consideration when deciding to admit, wait list, or deny an applicant. Sounds pretty good, right? Just like any need blind school, Brown does not consider a student’s ability to pay when deciding whether to admit them or not. But the statement doesn’t end there. It also clarifies how this affects Brown’s financial obligations to admitted students, and vice versa. The rest of the policy says: Need-blind admission does not require that an applicant with demonstrated financial need be awarded financial aid, nor does it require that 100% of the applicant's demonstrated need be met. Okay, let’s break this second statement down. What Brown is saying is that although they don’t look at finances to decide whether to grant a student admission, the school doesn’t guarantee that anyoneincluding lower-income studentswill be awarded financial aid. That means you will still be on the hook to cover your tuition costs through grants, scholarships, and loans. The truth is that most need-blind schools are also top-tier institutions that will offer a financial aid package to students who demonstrate need. But that isn’t guaranteed funding, and it certainly isn’t a full ride! So be aware that you might have to pay some of your tuition out of pocket even if you are accepted into a need-blind university. Ryoji Iwata/Unsplash The 3 Types of Need-Blind Financial Aid Policies So what kind of financial aid can you expect from a need-blind university? As with most things, it changes from case to case. While every need-blind university has its own policies on financial aidcheck with each individual school to get the details!we have found that in general, need-blind universities fall into one of three categories when it comes to financial aid. Category 1: Full Need, No Loans Schools So what exactly does it mean for a school to be â€Å"full need, no loans†? Full need schools are universities that promise to make sure that a student’s demonstrated financial need will be covered through financial aid opportunities without requiring student loans. Put another way, a full need, no loans school will offer a 100% financial aid package that does not include loans! This is awesome, especially since the average college student graduates with $37,172 in student debt. Need-blind schools with no loans policies are committed to helping provide students with excellent educations without burdening them with loan repayments after graduation. This is really important for moderate- to low-income students whose loan burdens might be disproportionately large compared to their more affluent counterparts. The one caveat to full need, no loans schools is that they only guarantee to cover a student’s â€Å"demonstrated financial need,† which refers to the difference between the cost of tuition and what your family can pay. So let’s look at Emma once again. She has been admitted to a full need, no loans school that costs $48,000 a year in tuition. After looking Emma’s FAFSA form, the school calculates that Emma’s family should be able to contribute $5,000 a year to her education. That means that Emma’s demonstrated financial need is the difference between those two numbers, or $42,000 a year. Because Emma’s school is full need, they provide a financial aid package that covers every penny of that $42,000 through a combination of scholarships, grants, and work study opportunities with no federal or private loans! As you can imagine, full need, no loans schools are pretty rare. In fact, as of 2017 there are only 18 universities in the U.S. that meet full financial need for each student with a no-loans policy. We’ve bolded their names in our master list of need-blind universities below, so be sure to check whether your dream school offers this opportunity. Category 2: Full Need With Loans Schools A need-blind university that is full need with loans is very similar to their â€Å"no loans† counterparts. These schools also guarantee to cover 100% of a student’s demonstrated financial need through a financial aid packagethe only difference is that this package might include loans alongside grant, scholarship, and work opportunities. Let’s see how this might affect Emma, who has also been accepted into a â€Å"full need with loans† school with an annual tuition rate of $43,000. Since this university also uses the FAFSA to determine a student’s demonstrated financial need, they also calculate that Emma’s family can contribute $5,000 a year to her education. That means Emma’s demonstrated financial need comes to $38,000 a year. The school offers Emma a financial aid package that covers the full $38,000...only unlike the first school, this financial aid package contains a Stafford Loan, too. That means when Emma graduates from a full need with loans university, she will have a small amount of student debt to repay unlike at a no loans school. Category 3: No Guaranteed Financial Aid Schools The third category of need-blind universities are schools that use need-blind policies for admissions but offer no guarantee for financial aid. As we mentioned before, most students can expect to receive some amount of financial aid from a need-blind university. But in this case, the financial aid is not guaranteed to cover a student’s demonstrated financial need, and it will often leave a gap that a student will have to fill beyond their already-determined family contribution. We know this sounds complicated, so let’s try to simplify it a bit. Take Cody for example. He has been accepted to a need-blind school that is not full need. The yearly tuition is $40,000 a year, and the school calculates that Cody’s family can contribute $15,000 a year to his education. That makes Cody’s demonstrated financial need $25,000. The school also offers Cody a financial aid package upon admission made up of scholarships and loans that covers $20,000, or 80%, of his demonstrated financial need. That leaves $5,000 uncovered, so Cody will have to find another way to make up that cost, such as private loans or outside employment. Like we mentioned earlier, your need-blind school might have a financial aid policy that differs slightly from the three we’ve talked about above. That’s why it’s important to check with your school’s admissions and financial aid offices to understand what options are available to you! What Should You Look for in a Need-Blind College? Now that you understand what a need-blind university is and how that translates to your pocketbook, here are three things you should look for when considering a need-blind college. #1: Make Sure the School Is the Right Fit for You Need-blind colleges are great institutions that often offer generous financial packages to qualified students. But it is most important that you choose a school that’s a good fit for you. A need-blind college might sound great on paper, but if it doesn’t offer the major or opportunity you have your heart set on, it’s probably worth applying to other institutions as well. #2: Check the School’s Financial Need Calculator Every school has its own tuition calculator to help you understand what the actual cost of tuition will be. Here are the tuition calculators for two need-blind schools: Yale University and Tulane University. While these will not predict the exact makeup of your potential financial aid package, a tuition calculator will clarify what you will have to pay out of pocket to attend. It is critical that you use the tuition calculator for each university when trying to determine your financial need. Your FAFSA will give you a general idea of your financial contribution, but many schoolsespecially elite institutionsuse their own proprietary formula to calculate your demonstrated financial need. The only way to get an accurate idea is to type your numbers into each calculator and see what comes out. #3: Don’t Let the Potential Aid Package Keep You From Applying to Your Dream School Remember: your FAFSA and a tuition calculator do not a financial aid package make! Don’t get discouraged if the number the forms spit out is higher than you can pay. Universities look at student need on a case-by-case basis, so your financial aid package might be more generous than you would think! Also keep in mind that the calculators don’t account for outside scholarship money, so additional awards can help bring down costs. Joey Csunyo/Unsplash A Complete List of Need-Blind Colleges in the United States Here is a complete list of need-blind universities in the United States in 2018. We’ve also bolded the names of full-need, no-loans schools to help you in your decision-making process. The colleges are: Adrian College Harvard University SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Amherst College Harvey Mudd College Swarthmore College Babson College Haverford College Syracuse University Barnard College Hiram College The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) Baylor University Jewish Theological Seminary Thomas Aquinas College Biola University Johns Hopkins University Trinity University Boston College Julliard Tufts University Boston University Kenyon College Tulane University Bowdoin College Lawrence University University of Chicago Brandeis University Lehigh University University of Illinois at Chicago Brown University Lewis Clark College University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business Cal Poly San Luis Obispo Marist College University of Miami California Institute of Technology (Caltech) Marlboro College University of New Hampshire Carnegie Mellon University Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapman University Middlebury College University of Notre Dame Claremont McKenna College Mills College University of Pennsylvania Columbia University Mount St. Mary’s College University of Richmond Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art New York University (NYU) University of Rochester Cornell College North Carolina State University (NCSU) University of Southern California (USC) Cornell University North Central College University of Vermont Dartmouth College Northeastern University University of Virginia Davidson College Northwestern University University of Washington Denison University Penn State Ursuline College DePaul University Pomona College Vanderbilt University Duke University Princeton University Vassar College Elon University Providence College Wabash College Emory University Randolph College Wake Forest University School of Medicine Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) Rice University Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) Florida State University Salem College Wellesley College Fordham University San Jose State University (SJSU) Wesleyan University Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering Soka University of America Williams College Georgetown University St. John’s College Yale University Grinnell College St. Olaf College Yeshiva University Hamilton College Stanford University What’s Next? The idea behind need-blind admissions is that it focuses on merit rather than financial status. This is a great thing, but it also makes getting admitted a little more competitive. Get the inside scoop on the people who will be reading your essay, and learn what admissions officers are looking for in top applications. Regardless of whether your top university is on the need-blind admissions list, most students need to know how much financial aid they qualify for before they commit to a school. Here’s our comprehensive list of every college that offers 100% financial aid. Many financial aid packages offer students work study opportunities. Learn more about work study and how it can help you pay for your education. Want to build the best possible college application? We can help. PrepScholar Admissions is the world's best admissions consulting service. We combine world-class admissions counselors with our data-driven, proprietary admissions strategies. We've overseen thousands of students get into their top choice schools, from state colleges to the Ivy League. We know what kinds of students colleges want to admit. We want to get you admitted to your dream schools. Learn more about PrepScholar Admissions to maximize your chance of getting in.