The Nightmare Before Report Cards

'As your island of knowledge grows, so does your shoreline of wonder.' Anon

We have all read the "Night Before Christmas" story to our children but for many students who are on a semester system, Christmas signals the "Month Before Exams" and that inevitable report card home.

YIKES! With all the festive activities, gieco auto insurance often forget that those children in our house who are in the older grades should probably be thinking about their exam schedules. As teachers scramble to get those last minute study outlines into their student's hands, there are things that both parents, teachers and students can do to assist in this time of high stress to assist.

What is it about Exams That Strikes Fear Into the Hearts of Many?

Going into an exam feeling unprepared is the most reported fear of students. Sometimes it is a simple case of not knowing how to study properly. Make student loan debt consolidation your students have a solid understanding of, "How to Study".

Rereading the Textbook Puts Monsters in the Closet

The simple process of rereading the textbook or rereading notes will not usually prepare a student for an exam unless they have been doing it every night since the semester began. The human brain simply cannot process the information and place it into long term stores with the efficiency a student will need for an exam. They often will go into an exam and suffer from the old, "My Head Just Went Blank" syndrome.

Why?

The amount of information a student learns in a semester is increasing at an incredible amount. It is a lot of information to keep up with and if reading is a struggle, the ability to hold onto that information only dwindles as time goes by. In order to be able to retrieve information easily, one must have successfully moved that information from short term to long term memory stores.

Learning to Study Effectively Ends the Nightmares

There has been much scientific research into effective ways to study and to give Iowa Lemon Laws a complete, "How to Study Effectively Guide" would take up more space than I have in this ezine. I can, however, give you a small portion of a system we have found quite effective to get you started.

Before you study do the following:

Sit down and arrange a study schedule (Remember: Science says that you retain more if you study when you are alert and during daylight hours.)

Approach your studies with a positive attitude. (It may not be the most fun you've ever had but it may very well be the most important in the long run.)

Educate yourself again:

Use sizeable chunks of material to study at any one time. (Studying the entire history of WWII is likely not a very realistic chunk.) However, studying the cause of and/or the key players is.
Take a look at your class notes and textbook readings. Note the headings, graphics, pre and post questions to get an idea of what your exam questions may include.

Assess what you know:

Take a blank sheet of paper and start listing what you have studied and summarize what you know. You can do this on your own or with a friend but attempt to do it without referring to your notes or texts.

Compile a list of what you don't know:

Pull out your text and notes and compare it to your list of things you have studied and know. Take careful note of what you do not understand. Investigate alternate sources of information, including texts, internet, experts, teachers and yes - even parents.

Overview:

It is difficult to study effectively if you do not have application for it.

Reflect on the material:

How can you apply this material to what I am interested in? (I know sometimes it is a stretch.) Relay understanding by figuring out how to make the information interesting and understandable to others. (See, now you can teach your parents a few things.)

Navigate:

Time to look over and look where you are and where you want to be. Examine your process and progress and focus on improving it if need be. Explore study and test taking options with your teacher.

Three Things You Can Do RIGHT NOW For Your Child:

1. Make sure your child has a day-timer or calendar where they can record due dates and exam schedules. Place it somewhere that is visible on a daily basis. Yes, even for you.

2. Encourage your child to sit down with you and plot out their goals for the academic term. Ask them how you can best assist them.

3. Here is a website that allows you to download a ton of calendar formats. It is not very expensive and worth it's weight in gold. calendarsthatwork

Feeling overwhelmed by it all? Not to worry, you are certainly not alone. The time to develop good study habits is when school begins. It is not too early to begin getting the habit in place even in elementary school.

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What is Your Website's Personality?

There are so many avenues to marketing a business on the internet today that, frankly speaking, it's got me puzzled erictile dysfunction well. And I've been doing this for more than ten years. Recently, a couple of people wanted to start an online business and asked me help out with their websites - I agreed. And I ask them the very same question that I ask all my graphic design and viatical settlement company development clients.... ' So, what do you want your customers to see as?'

It's an important question because websites are mainly faceless vehicles that people use to market themselves or their businesses. And when you're faceless, it's crucial... ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL to them (and you) what they see you as the first time they pop into your website. And that's one of the hardest questions a new business owner has to answer. Once you get over this hurdle, you're pretty much clear on the website branding front.

Let's assume that you're selling antique stuff on your website....and this is a really tough one, what kind of antique store owner do you want the customers to see...or rather, what kind of first impression do you want to give your potential customers? Do you want them to come into your website and see you as an exuberant website with loads of new affordable products? Do you want them to hop in and see you as an old-school but reliable website and business owner - you make no bones about the fancy stuff, rather, you focus on quality (which equals high prices, I am assuming)? Do you want your customers to think of you a new-age antique store owner selling affordable, charming and stuff that appeal to young home owners as well?

As you can see, there are many ways to appeal to the right customers through your website and it won't work, I repeat, it WON'T WORK, if you're being too general. And many website owners struggle with this even as they are developing their websites, logos and what-nots. It pays for you, a new website and business owner to pay a little bit more attention to the initial branding of your website.

There are many ways to find out the kind of branding you want to use to reach your target audience. For one, you can use a focus group - oh, you don't need a lot of people, really. Just ten people who belong to the right demographic profile would do. Shoot them with a list of questions, compile the information and you'll have your answer. If you have a blog, a popular one would be good, use it to get feedback from your potential customers or 'fan base'.

It gets a little trickier if you already have a website and you're trying to revamp it and give it a branding lift. Consider, for a moment, what will it take to 'change the first impression'. Changing the first impression can be an extremely exigent task, mind you.

What I find extremely useful is to use my imagination, or rather, prompt my client to use his or her imagination. This goes beyond just trying to imagine what the website will look like when it's done. But it's more like....imagine if your website is a new friend. What kind of person would this person be wearing? What kind of personality traits would you imagine your website albeit new friend would have? How do you think this website will try to sell you stuff - persistent, grunge, gentle, new-age, funky, chic, patient, endearing?

If my client is able to give me an Consolidate federal loans like that, it would make life easier (and his or hers, as well) when it comes to developing his/her website. Time is not wasted and we hit the hammer double-whammy to deliver the right message right from the start.

Marsha Maung is a Malaysian-based marshamaungfreelance web content writer with two kids. She spends her time ferrying her kids around, watering her plants, writing web content, SEO stuff, ghostwriting books and also indulges in the occasional Facebook-ing. Visit her marshamaung.blogspotblog for more dirty details on the life and times of a mother, writer, designer, housekeeper, coffee-maker, poop-wiper, chef...and just about everything else under the sun.