Change Is Not a Four-Letter Word - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / Change Is Not a Four-Letter Word - Introvert Whisperer Change Is Not a Four-Letter Word Don’t you just love your habits? You must love them, because they are a big part of who you are, right? You have a habit of twisting your hair, sniffing, or eating when you’re tense. You do it without thinking about it, and that’s the great thing about a habit. It’s the robot part of living. It’s autopilot. The problem with a habitâ€"either one you want to get rid of or one you want to startâ€"is that you have to… change. Ick! We live in the midst of urban myth about change. The myth is we are resistant to change, yet we change all the time in every way and have from the moment we were born. We believe change is impossible, but that’s not true either. The one thing that is true is while there is expert knowledge about how to effectively make change, very few of us know about this information and subject ourselves to a lifetime of “do-overs.”  It’s not surprising our myths about change persist. In order to avoid being in the 70% of people who fail when making any type of change, there are a few things you can do. You must deploy all of these things: Plan to fail.   As negative as that sounds, it’s not. It means in our effort to change a habit, we will stray at some point. You might stray more than once. Make your strategy ahead of time and use it guilt-free. An example is eating. If you are dieting and can’t resist having some birthday cake, then recognize what you did and cut back your intake on the next meal. It works for anything, but do figure out where you might stray and know what you will do ahead of time. You need help. As a nation of cowboys, we’re prone to not ask for help. If you’re making a change, you need help. You need a person to hold you accountable, cheer you on, and keep you focused.   It often helps if that person is an expert in whatever habit you are working on, because they will have specific insight you need to know. People that attempt to make changes without another person in the mix, won’t succeed. You have to have an emotional need to change. You can’t logic your way to a change. If you don’t have an emotional connection or reason, you will lack the internal drive to push you forward. Think of this: If logic worked, no one would smoke or do drugs. We start for an emotional reason, and it takes an emotional reason for us to stop. The problem may be you haven’t connected to a deep-rooted emotion. Until you do, don’t start down the path of change, because you will quickly get derailed. It’s going to be uncomfortable. Part of the beauty of a habit is we don’t have to be conscious of what we’re doing. It’s a way to save energy. We do something and don’t burn one brain cell in the process. With change, you have to become conscious about your behavior, and that isn’t comfy, because it requires energy and focus. You have to keep doing something new in its place long enough to ultimately turn it into a lifestyle habit. Developing new behavior requires your time and attention far longer than you’d like. (Experts say repeated behavior for 21 days.   I think that is the bare minimum.) It’s a lifetime commitment. Many people make the mistake of thinking they will “do something until…”   In other words, they have a point out in time when they can take their foot off the gas and relax about the new behavior. Don’t plan on that working for you. You’ll notice people who go through 12-step programs to stop drinking refer to themselves as an alcoholic even when they haven’t drunk in years. It’s a way to maintain a level of consciousness as well as vigilance for the hard-fought-for change to stay in place. If you’re planning to change a habit, you don’t want it to be temporary. Tomorrow morning when you brush your teeth, be grateful your parents taught you so many good habits when you were young. Because now that you’re an adult, you realize how habits conserve your energy and how challenging it is to change them. This article was originally published on Evolving Magazine. Go to top Do you know what your next career step is?  Many people don’t. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my eBook on how to construct your Career SMART Goals â€" that will help you put together your actions and keep you accountable. Get your copy now and start your action plan today! Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleashing your professional potential. Introvert Whisperer

What is it Like to Attend Swarthmore College

What is it Like to Attend Swarthmore College The tutors behind Varsity Tutors are not just here to teach theyre sharing their college experiences as well. David is a New York City tutor specializing in many subjects including SAT prep tutoring. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 2010 with Bachelors degrees in Engineering and Political Science. Check out his review of his alma mater: VT: Describe the campus setting and transportation options.How urban or safe is the campus?Are there buses or do you need a car/bike? David:Swarthmore College is located in the suburbs, 11 miles southwest of Philadelphia. Unlike many suburbs, it has great rail and bus connections to Center City via SEPTA. Within a half hour, its possible to access all of the benefits of a major city. Yet, Swarthmores walkable and bikeable campus, coincident with an arboretum, is so beautiful that its tempting to stay put. VT: How available are the professors, academic advisers, and teaching assistants? David:As a liberal arts college, Swarthmore encourages an atmosphere of constant dialogue between professors and students. Most professors come to Swarthmore with a strong desire to engage with students one-on-one and challenge them to dive into the material. Moreover, most courses are small enough that it is nearly impossible to study at Swarthmore and not form a strong connection with a professor. Professors and students become so close that professors often invite students to their homes for seminar dinners to continue their conversations. In a handful of larger courses, upperclassmen provide teaching assistance as a supplement to in-class instruction. VT: How would you describe the dorm life rooms, dining options, location, socialization opportunities with other students? David:Swarthmore is truly a residential college. Nearly 95 percent of students live all four years in campus housing. As such, dorm life tends to be very lively. Students never run out of opportunities to socialize with each other, but that happens in many different ways such as debating the hot political issue of the day, taking in a performance from one of the visiting artists on campus, or even wandering around Crum Woods late at night. The biggest constraint on dorm life is the amount of time students spend reading and studying, as studying is a constant activity. Students work hard and play hard, spending much of their free time joining clubs, groups, and organizing for social justice. VT: Which majors/programs are best represented and supported?What did you study and why? Did the university do a good job supporting your particular area of study? David:Every major is strongly supported by the college. Some of the more common majors include Economics, Political Science, Biology, Engineering, Mathematics, and English Literature. I studied Engineering and Political Science because of my passions for understanding the built environment and the politics that informed societys investments in infrastructure. Swarthmore encouraged me to explore the intersections between seemingly unrelated courses and make connections between areas of study. Given the large number of students graduating with special majors, it is clear that the college values breaking down academic silos. VT: How easy or difficult was it for you to meet people and make friends as a freshman? Does Greek life play a significant role in the campus social life? David:I found it very easy to meet people and make friends in my first year. Living in a dorm lends itself to striking up interesting conversations at unexpected times. The college also hosts many different social events throughout the year. Students can be as involved as they like. Students at Swarthmore can be awkward sometimes, but they are almost always well-intentioned and friendly. Greek life plays a small but fiercely debated role in campus social life. VT: How helpful is the Career Centerand other student support services?Do many reputable companies recruit on campus? David:The Career Center is primarily useful because of its ability to connect current students with Swarthmore alumni. The colleges alumni work in such a wide range of industries that there is likely to be someone in your field of interest. If not, theres always a former Swarthmore student who will connect you to the right person. Alumni often go on to become leaders in their fields and make contributions that lead to a more vibrant society. Many reputable companies recruit on campus, but its often because of an alumni connection. The Swarthmore alumni network is strong and tightly knit. VT: How are the various study areas such aslibraries, the student union, and dorm lounges? Are they over-crowded, easily available, spacious? David:There are many study areas scattered all over campus. The libraries have large and small meeting spaces. Most academic buildings have study alcoves with comfortable seating. There are even a few large common spaces with long tables. Dorm lounges are also used for studying. Around midterms or final exams, spaces can be crowded, but alternatives always exist. VT: Describe the surrounding town. What kinds of outside establishments / things to do are there that make it fun, boring, or somewhere in between?To what extent do students go to the downtown area of the city versus staying near campus? David:The borough of Swarthmore is quiet and fairly boring. It has a charming small-town feel. The town is also a dry one, so there aren't any off-campus bars immediately surrounding the college. For more lively activities, head to Philadelphia or stay on campus. VT: How big or small is the student body? Were you generally pleased or displeased with the typical class sizes? David:The student body is very small, about 1,400 students total. Each class of students is about 360. Some high schools have more students than Swarthmore, but few high schools have such an interesting student body. The size of the student population lends itself to the formation of close friendships and interacting with people who do plenty of other things than you do. It also means class sizes are small on average. The college quotes an 8:1 ratio, with eight students for every one faculty member. This ratio makes for a very personalized educational experience. VT: Describe one memorable experience with a professor and/or class. Perhaps one you loved the most or one youregretthe most. David: One of my fondest memories from Swarthmore was writing my senior paper in political science. I met one-on-one with a professor several times to discuss my research into growth management strategies used in Portland to limit the human impacts of development on the natural environment. The writing experience helped me summarize my political science knowledge and launched me into graduate school for city planning. I've never enjoyed writing a paper as much as I did writing that one. Check out Davids tutoring profile. The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of Varsity Tutors.

Tips for Introverts on How to Be More Emotionally Healthy at Work - Introvert Whisperer

Introvert Whisperer / Tips for Introverts on How to Be More Emotionally Healthy at Work - Introvert Whisperer Tips for Introverts on How to Be More Emotionally Healthy at Work Emotional health is all about feeling happy, fulfilled, and confident at work. It takes into account your duties, the people you work with, and your standing within your company. While each person has their own vision of emotional health, for introverts, emotional health involves different needs and coping tools than their extroverted counterparts. If you’re looking to be more emotionally healthy in your workplace, there are a few things you can do to increase your happiness. Be Transparent About Your Needs There are a lot of things about the average office that can negatively impact an introvert’s emotional health. A distracting open office setting, bosses who are combative, and meetings with no warning can be irritating and frustrating for someone who isn’t introverted, but someone who is introverted may have their emotional health impacted greatly by these things. If there’s something in your office that’s affecting you, be transparent with your boss about what’s negatively impacting you and how you would like it to change. Afterward, if you can pinpoint some changes in your work life that indicate you’re in an emotionally healthy place, you know those changes are making a big difference in your happiness. Don’t Be Afraid to Take a Mental Health Day If you’re struggling with your mental and emotional health, it’s good to allow yourself to take mental health days in order to recharge. Taking a sick day allows your body to recover by resting and relaxing, while also not infecting anyone at work â€" and the same applies to your mental health. Allow your mind to rest and relax while not taking any frustrations out on your colleagues or your duties. Introverts should take a mental health day any time they are feeling overwhelmed at work so that they don’t drive themselves to depression or anxiety, which is something some introverts experience. Take an impromptu day off, or plan it out in advance. Either way, it can help with your work-life balance. Be on the Lookout for Burnout Burnout is not specific to introverts. In fact, it’s a big issue in small businesses that often need all hands on deck, which is why many small business owners, employees, and individuals work to be aware of burnout symptoms and treat their employees as valuable resources. Those symptoms include anxiety, depression, anger, insomnia, and illness. These symptoms can be the same for introverts, but there are often more causes. Burnout can be caused by working long hours, taking limited breaks, and taking on stressful projects. For introverts, burnout can also be caused by too much collaboration, excessive meetings, stressful client interactions, and management stresses as well. If you’re an introvert, you might experience burnout even if you’re not overworked, so be on the lookout for symptoms so you can work on your self-care. Take Breaks During the Workday Sometimes it’s not about coping with emotional health issues, it’s about maintaining good emotional health. Fortunately, breaks can do both. For introverts, breaks aren’t just about recharging your brain to complete more work. It’s also about recharging your mental health in order to spend more time with colleagues, managers, and clients. Taking a mental health day can do that, but so can taking small breaks in each workday to be alone and in a quiet place. This is one way to set a realistic limit that can work to improve your work-life balance. Find a quiet bench outside, take a walk around your building, or put your headphones in and go to a quiet breakroom a few times a day and allow yourself to recharge. Find Stress Relief Tactics that Work for You It can feel like stress is just a normal part of life at work. However, stress can cause big problems for your emotional health. One myth about stress at work is that it affects everyone in the same way. That is not true, and neither are the stress-relief tactics you can use. One person may react to stress by getting angry, but an introvert might react to stress by disconnecting and shutting down. One person might vent to a friend as a way to relieve stress, but an introvert might need time alone to cope. Help your emotional health at work by finding a tactic that can help when you feel stressed. Try a few things until you find something that works, like breathing techniques or going to the gym, instead of drowning in the stress. Good emotional health is a vital part of feeling happy at work. No one wants to go to a job every day that leaves them feeling overwhelmed, burnt out, stressed, and unhappy. For introverts, it’s as much about being misunderstood is it is about being overworked. This is why it’s important to take a look at your working situation and check in with yourself. Just like physical health, good mental health is all about being mindful and taking care of yourself. Image Source: Pexels   By: Frankie Wallace Frankie Wallace  is a blogger from Boise, Idaho and a recent graduate from the University of Montana. Wallace contributes to a variety of different blogs online and focuses on writing about career advice. Go to top Power-Influence-Office Politics: it comes down to your Strategic Relationships and understanding of how you build each one of these elements. I want to help you accelerate your career by connecting you with your Free Instant Access to my video that outlines all of this and meaningful actions you can take today!  Start watching now by clicking here! Brought to you by Dorothy Tannahill-Moran â€" dedicated to unleashing your professional potential. Introvert Whisperer

The Life and Discoveries of Euclid

The Life and Discoveries of Euclid How did Euclid Revolutionize Mathematics? ChaptersThe Life of Euclid the MathematicianEuclid's Seminal Text  ElementsWhat is Euclidean Division?Euclid's Mathematical AxiomsWhat You Should Know About the Greatest Common DivisorOver the centuries, the history of mathematics has witnessed the rise of many greats: Pythagoras, Thales, Newton, Archimedes. Here, we will be discussing the infamous Euclid. A great mathematician from antiquity, Euclid managed to revolutionize all of the established body of knowledge of his era in one sole work: Elements. In this way, Euclid forms the basis of mathematics as we learn it today.Trigonometry, algebraic reasoning, equation, fraction, logarithm â€" all of these aspects of math are still marked by the mathematicians of antiquity.Euclid’s axiom, Euclidean division, Euclidean geometry, Euclid’s algorithm - keep reading to find out about the history of math throughout its various scientific discoveries. MyriamMaths Teacher 5.00 (13) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MarkMaths T eacher 5.00 (5) £200/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Dr parikhMaths Teacher 5.00 (8) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KamalMaths Teacher 5.00 (9) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PetarMaths Teacher 5.00 (8) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors GowsikaMaths Teacher 5.00 (5) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RubenMaths Teacher 5.00 (1) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors ConorMaths Teacher 4.75 (4) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsThe Life of Euclid the MathematicianSimilar to his predecessors Pythagoras and Thales, the history of Euclid is not well documented. Only some written texts dating many years after Euclid’s death have been found, and it is only from these that we have managed to capture historical fragments of the career of the now famous mathematician, Euclid.There is no other mathematician from antiquity that is more celebrated Euclid. Born in Athens around 330 BCE, Euclid’s studies w ere formed in the beautiful Egyptian city of Alexandria, then under the reign of king Ptolemy I. There, Euclid frequented the notorious Museum of Alexandria, the hub of intellectual life in the city.Unlike his predecessors, Euclid did not create his own school for mathematics. However, the scientist certainly had many students and disciples that formed his own personal entourage, to whom he passed down all of his knowledge and wisdom. This entourage also took part in developing many of his experiments.One legend has it that Euclid had given an insignificant amount of change to one of his students while he had asked him what Euclid was getting out of his mathematical research. In other words, Euclid was not in search of money. Instead of big fortunes, the mathematician preferred to nourish his brain with mathematical formulas and numbers of all types.Euclidean thought inspired antiquity and contemporary philosophers alikeEuclid is known most for his work entitled Elements that was wr itten around 300 BCE. Both a success in his times and in today’s world, this work was the second most printed book, after the bible, at time of the invention of the printer of the 15th century.Elements, divided into thirteen books, is dedicated essentially to plane geometry and arithmetic. Triangles, parallel lines, circles â€" Euclid proved many theorems in his book (including the Pythagoras theorem), introduced notions of GCD (greatest common divisor) and introduced repeated, successive subtractions which are now known as Euclidean divisions. These could be seen as the predecessor to what Isaac Newton would later create: calculus!Euclid’s knowledge was based on knowledge that had long been acquired from the greatest mathematicians of antiquity.In this epoque, sciences were making their way around Greece and influenced a great number of budding scientists. Euclid and his contemporaries’ discoveries continued to inspire the sciences a long time after his death, estimated at ar ound 265 BCE in Alexandria.For more famous mathematicians from antiquity, check out the great Archimedes!Euclid's Seminal Text  ElementsEven though he wrote some other influential works, Elements is considered to be Euclid’s main work. A great scientific success, the mathematician catalogues in this work all of the proofs of geometric knowledge that were ever known until then.The first six books in Elements deal with the geometric plane. Here, we find information about triangles, parallel lines, the Pythagorean theorem, planes, the properties of a circle (in the presence of figures in a circle), the construction of the Pentagon and the proportions between its sizes.These first books are widely recognized as one of the first moments in which the basics of geometry are detailed with the characteristics of figures and their applications. This later formed the basis of the creation of analytic geometry by Rene Descartes!The three books that follow don’t deal with geometry but with a rithmetic. In this section, Euclid discusses prime numbers, the construction of the GCD of two or more integers, numbers in geometric progression, and the construction of perfect numbers. This first section of chapters in Elements is also known for its introduction of a repeated, successive subtraction process now called Euclidean division.Fragments left over from the original publication of ElementsThe second book is dedicated to irrational quantities. It is comprised of the three last books, which are devoted to geometry in space. Here, we see the construction of objects like the sphere, regular solids, the pyramid, the cube, the octahedron, the dodecahedron, the icosahedron, etc.Other books have been grafted onto Elements during the course of its centuries long. These were written by new mathematicians that wanted to develop and add onto the chapters therein.All of the books of the body of work Elements form the basis of the curriculum of mathematics that are taught today. The ge ometric plane, geometry in space, arithmetic â€" these all form part of the mathematical courses given from primary school to higher education, which is the reason why Elements is considered the Bible for mathematics.The seminal work was long considered as the reference material for the mathematical world before being re-discussed centuries later. All of the information given by Elements can be seen as a photograph of the representation of the physical world in Euclid’s time. MyriamMaths Teacher 5.00 (13) £20/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors MarkMaths Teacher 5.00 (5) £200/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors Dr parikhMaths Teacher 5.00 (8) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors KamalMaths Teacher 5.00 (9) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors PetarMaths Teacher 5.00 (8) £40/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors GowsikaMaths Teacher 5.00 (5) £15/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutors RubenMaths Teacher 5.00 (1) £15/h1st lesson free!Disco ver all our tutors ConorMaths Teacher 4.75 (4) £30/h1st lesson free!Discover all our tutorsWhat is Euclidean Division?In the section of coursework and curriculum dedicated to arithmetic, Euclidean division is certainly one of the mathematical skills that is still taught from antiquity. It is nothing more than the division that one learns in elementary school.Also called whole division, it is composed of an operation between two whole numbers called a dividend and a divisor, which gives the results called the quotient and the remainder.Making a Euclidean division of one number A (the dividend) by one number B (the divisor), permits us to try to find a whole quotient. That is to say, the whole integer found at the end of the division is called the remainder, which is the part of the dividend that we cannot divide further.To better understand, here’s an example:With the dividend of 25, we divide by 4 (the divisor). The quotient turns out to be 6 because 6 X 4 =24. What is left over is 1. The number 1, then, is the remainder.The common way to write this type of division is to place the dividend on the left side and the divisor on the right. The remainder is found under the dividend while the quotient is found under the divisor.To verify that you have finished the operation, make sure that the remainder cannot be divided further. It will be necessarily smaller than the divisor. It could be that the remainder is zero. In this case, we say that A is a multiple of B.Euclidean division is an integral part of our elementary courses, although this division can and does get more complicated with the addition of decimals, etc.Euclid includes in his works an explanation on conic sectionsEuclid's Mathematical AxiomsIn his work Elements Euclid wrote many axioms, which are mathematical propositions that are held as evident. It was at this moment in history that the mathematical world decided to designate name “axiom” to all mathematical rules that were at once elementa ry and logical.Euclid gave 5 in his work:“A straight  line segment can be drawn joining any two points.“Any straight  line segment can be extended indefinitely in a straight  line.“Given any straight  line segment, a  circle can be drawn having the segment as  radius  and one endpoint as center.“All  right angles are  congruent.What You Should Know About the Greatest Common DivisorThe Euclidean algorithm is also an important concept taught in mathematics courses and deals with the highest common factor. Also called the greatest common denominator, the GCD is the biggest common divisor between two integers. Just like Euclidean division, it is also considered to be a part of simple arithmetic.To find the GCD, it is necessary to make a list of all the divisors that two numbers possess. For example, take 10 and 26:10: 1,2,5,1026: 1,2,4,9,13In this case, the greatest common divisor would be the number 2.In order to avoid having to make a list of all the possible divisors for each number, the Euclidean algorithm consists of making a series of Euclidean divisions. Applying this concept, it suffices to simply divide the biggest number by the smallest one and proceed to divide until the remainder is equal to 0.The Euclidean algorithm is explained in book seven of Elements. Euclid first presents his research in the form of a geometric problem. He then searches to find the unit of measure for two segments. To do this, he decides to subtract the smallest segment by the biggest and to continue until he finds the ideal measure. This method is now the base of all division and the cause of many headaches in primary school!Check for maths tutors with proven record of achievements here.

The Only Way to Boost Your GMAT Verbal Score

The Only Way to Boost Your GMAT Verbal Score GMAT MBA Admissions Blog Simply put, the only want to boost your GMAT verbal score is to read more (of basically anything, including novels), read more intentionally and actively, and then practice lots of GMAT reading comprehension, sentence correction, and critical reasoning questions. Of course, there are some specific strategies to employ for each of the GMAT verbal question types, but simply engaging in more reading is most of the battle. Students who start out with very low levels of confidence with math, i.e., students who “aren’t math people,” tend to be particularly stressed and frustrated with standardized tests like the GMAT. But paradoxically, improving your quantitative skills is in many ways much easier than your verbal or reading comprehension skills. Here’s how John Easter, senior MyGuru GMAT tutor and founder of Jedi Prep, puts it â€" “Reading and comprehending are as fundamental as it gets. Math is a skill that you acquired through education. Someone taught you to count, add, subtract, multiply, divide, and solve quadratic equations by ‘completing the square.’ Verbal skills, on the other hand, just appeared out of thin air between 12 and 18 months after you were born. Of course, you had to learn to read, but that can and does happen incredibly fast. Soon after you learn basic phonics you can “sound-out” new words and build your vocabulary without any assistance. By the time you were 4, you probably knew about 5,000 words, at 8 around 10,000 words, and now you probably know 20,000 to 35,000 words. In all probability you were reading books with extended, complex plots and multiple characters at the same time you were struggling to learn a 12 by 12 multiplication table. Think about that for a while, and if you’re not amazed think about it some more. We can teach you how to solve quadratic equations by “completing the square” if you’ve forgotten most of the algebra you learned in high school. We can teach you any math that you once learned and have now forgotten. We can even teach you a lot of math that you never learned in the first place. Unfortunately, we cannot re-teach you how to read and comprehend.” So if it’s particularly difficult to improve reading comprehension skills, what can a student preparing for the GMAT and struggling to improve their GMAT verbal scores do? Well, in our new (free) eBook The 7 Rules for Improving Academic Performance, rule #5 is simply to read more (i.e., books, magazines, newspaper, anything, really), and to do so intentionally. To read intentionally, or to read actively (vs. passively) simply means to go slow, ensure you understand everything you’re reading, and to stop and ask yourself questions like: What was the main point/theme/argument I just read about… …and how would I summarize it in 1-2 sentences? What logic was used to piece the narrative together? What facts/evidence were employed to support the key assertions? When you do this, you will slowly build skills related to comprehending complex arguments, making logical connections, and employing complex English grammar and vocabulary. Building these skills will boost your GMAT verbal score in the long run, without question. At MyGuru, we’d argue that literally any type of reading, done consistently over time, will improve your performance on verbal, reading comprehension, or English portions of standardized tests. However Magoosh offers a specific recommendation, tailored to what is tested on the GMAT, in their “Complete Guide to the GMAT” eBook. “Not surprisingly, one of the best ways to prepare for GMAT Reading Comprehension is simply to read…one of the best sources of reading as you prepare for business school is a weekly news magazine called The Economist. The Economist is one of the most intelligent weekly journals in print, and it brings a highly sophisticated perspective to all issues affecting micro- and macroeconomics. Its articles explore economics, politics, demographics, technology, etc. It targets the highly intelligent. If you can understand tone and implication in Economist articles, you will have absolutely no problem with these tasks on GMAT Reading Comprehension…if you make a habit of reading it, that will give you an edge in business school, and after that, and edge in the business world.” When it comes to improving your GMAT verbal score, as it relates to reading comprehension specifically, John puts it like this â€" “Improving your RC skills takes time, persistence, and focused practice, focused practice, focused practice! Did I mention focused practice? In our next blog article, we’ll review John’s specific “recipe” for improving your GMAT-reading comprehension score through focused practice. hbspt.cta._relativeUrls=true;hbspt.cta.load(215486, 'ec7de4d5-7dbc-47df-88fd-67e762d72f81', {});

Healthy Food at Your Fingertips

Healthy Food at Your Fingertips pexels.com 1. Hello Fresh Hello Fresh is an amazing way to have healthy meals delivered right to you without needing to sign up for an entire month of meals. There is no commitment necessary you can pause or cancel whenever you would like. With Hello Fresh, you can skip meals if one night you are really just craving a burger and fries. There’s also options you can choose from to fit your eating preferences. Plus, your first box is 50 percent off which is always helpful for students on a budget. 2. GoPuff GoPuff is one of the best delivery services for college students around. You can order just about anything and get it delivered in 30 minutes or less. The only thing is that GoPuff won’t force you to be healthy you have to muster up your own willpower not to order five bags of Doritos. If you can force yourself to make good choices about what you order, GoPuff is the way to go because of the sheer amount of options that you have at your fingertips. GoPuff is available in most major U.S. cities. 3. UberEATS UberEATS is Uber’s fairly new food delivery service that has been rolling out in cities across America over the past few months. It’s extremely accessible and efficient all you need is an Uber account, which many college students already have. Since Uber is already a popular service among college students, the brand recognition is sure to keep Uber benefiting from that demographic. Again, like GoPuff, UberEATS isn’t inherently healthy; the healthy options are there, you just have to make them. No one else is going to make them for you. What UberEATS can do is make those healthy options more accessible. 4. Grocery Store Delivery This option is less known as it is just starting to gain traction. If you are in need of some healthy groceries, but can’t find the time to go on a grocery trip, check with your local grocery stores about delivery options. Many health-oriented grocery stores, like bfresh, offer grocery delivery options. You make a list and someone shops and delivers all of the food requested to you. It’s a great option for if the grocery store is far away or hard to get to with a busy schedule. Not all grocery stores offer a delivery service, but it’s definitely worth researching options that your local stores may offer. pexels.com This list is in no way exhaustive. There are so many local food delivery organizations in every city that offer their own unique take on the service. Make sure to check out your local food delivery companies for any money-saving deals they may offer. The beauty of food delivery services is that healthy foods are so much more accessible now because of them. Health-oriented restaurants and grocery stores are much less common than pizza and burger joints, which means they are more difficult to get to. Unless you’re lucky, healthy places are often far away from where you live and just aren’t worth the time it takes to get there. Food delivery services eliminate the logistical difficulties that may be involved with physically getting yourself to a healthy restaurant. Calculating up the cost of transportation, the cost of food delivery could even end up being less than if you were to travel to these restaurants on your own. When it comes down to it, healthy eating is more of a choice than anything else. There are companies like the ones listed that will hand deliver healthy food to you, but you still have to make the choice to order that healthy food and then actually eat it instead of dining hall mozz sticks. It might be tough sometimes, but with so many delivery options, there really is no excuse. Anything can be a healthy food delivery service if you want it to be you just have to take the right steps!

The Essential Guide to Skype Language Exchange

The Essential Guide to Skype Language Exchange The Top 10 Sites for Skype Language Exchange and 10 Tips for Success By the end of this post, youll  have done 3 huge things.1. Youll  have saved yourself $1,200.2. Youll  be able to meet someone wholl drastically change the trajectory of your linguistic journey.3. Youll look at Skype in a whole new way.What’s $1,200? It’s the average price of a ticket from Seattle, USA to Madrid, Spain.  Its also the price of your typical Japanese  language immersion class.Bottom line, thats the price  you pay when you want to have an immersive language  experience  and be surrounded by native speakers, regardless of the language youre learning.Not anymore.Enter language exchange websites. These are places online where people who want to learn a new language go to meet the native speakers of their target languages.The magic of language exchange happens as follows. Let’s say you, an English speaker, want to learn how to speak German. You go to a language exchange site and look for a native German speaker who wants to learn English. (Maybe he’s planning to go t o the States soon and wanted to practice English beforehand.)So, anyway, it’s a match. You want what he’s got and he wants what you got. Then you help each other out. 3 Simple Steps for Starting a Language Exchange1.  Go to a language exchange site and  answer the  two crucial questions.  These questions are, of course, “what language you do want to  learn?” and “whats your native language?”  The site will find matches for you in a matter of seconds.2.  Make the move and message a  partner-of-interest. Say, “Hello there. I’m”  3. Boot up Skype. Once youve made initial contact and have exchanged messages back and forth, export that “friendship” to Skype and engage in video chats. This takes the connection to another level and puts a face behind those Hi’s and Hello’s.For those whove been living under a rock, Skype is the coolest thing. Unlike the old rotary phone, it lets you see the person youre talking to.  This gives you access to language partners all over the worldâ€"for  free.Even Benny Lewis, the well-known  polyglot  behind the Fluent in 3 Months blog, says  that you can learn a whole new language through Skype.The question on your mind right now is probably, “where do I find these language exchange sites?” Well, you don’t need to look for them. Ive narrowed the numerous possibilities down to the 10 very best language exchange sites.The Top 10 Sites for Skype Language Exchange and 10 Tips for Success10 Places Where You Can Trade Languages1.  italki“Become Fluent in Any Language”This a popular language exchange site that’s gaining tons of new sign-ups by the hour. You have the choice  of getting lessons from (1) professional language teachers, (2) native speakers who love to tutor and (3) language exchange with another language learner. You’re looking for number 3. It’s completely free and youll gain a new friend in the process.2.  Livemocha“Real Conversations with Real People”Livemocha is a community of p eople who function as both teachers and learners. Its language exchange section allows you to incorporate all those vocabulary,  grammar language usage lessons into guided conversations. Livemocha pre-empts the “so, what do you wanna talk about?” question with its unique guided conversations feature outlining how the session will go. Thanks to this, there will be no awkward pauses. Only thoughtful ones.3.  Busuu“Which language would you like to learn?”Busuu is a language spoken in Cameroon. Busuu, the web site, is the world’s largest language learning network. It has won numerous accolades over the years including the European Language Label Award for 2009 and the Best Education Startup Award from Tech Crunch in 2011.Busuu offers free learning modules for 12 major languages. Its language exchange section houses a great number of language enthusiasts and native speakers who can give you infinite number of practice hours of your target language.4.  Lingua Swap“Love Langua ge, Live Life.”This one’s a real treat for students learning a foreign language. The site is for students to have the chance to practice the language theyre learning in school with native speakers who are their own age. So if youd prefer to interact with people your own age for language exchange, Lingua Swap connects you with fellows in the right age bracket. Winner of the European Language Label Award for 2013, the site is still in Beta.5.  Coeffee“Learn Languages as a game”As the above tagline explains, Coeffee is a game-oriented language learning resource. What’s quite unique about Coeffee’s games is that theyre played in teams. So in games like “Word Explainer” you might be playing with a learner from the Middle East against a team composed of an Australian fellow and a Chinese genius.The game spirit fosters not only friendly competition but community as well. Because of the bonds forged in the games, the next natural step is to export that bond to Skype and get the language dirt that only native speakers can give.6.  My Language Exchange“Your Language Exchange Online Community”This is a no-fuss language exchange site boasting over a million members from 133 countries studying 115 languages.If you don’t find language partners on other sites because youre trying to learn something esoteric, you might have better chances here. Dan Yuen, one of the site’s founders, says that My Language Exchange tends to attract the serious language learners, who, by extension, turn out to be great language exchange partners.7.  Conversation Exchange“Over a cup of coffee?”This is one of the earlier language exchange sites and has a very basic interface. Just by typing in the appropriate boxes, you can use it to find native speakers of your target language and engage them in 3 different ways. One, you can set up a face-to-face meeting if that route is practical. Two, practice your written and grammar chops with text-based correspondence. Finally, an d the most recommended route, go to Skype and video chat your way to second language fluency.8.  InterpalsThis one’s not just a simple language exchange site. People here expect you to be more than a language partner. They actually want to be pals. So exchanges here arent so much, how do you conjugate the Spanish verb estar?” but more like “what are your hobbies?” or “what did you have for lunch?”If your idea of language exchange is leaning a bit on the friendly or romantic side, then Interpals is a good place to look.9.  CouchSurfingSurprised? You shouldn’t be. Travel is the cousin of language learning. CouchSurfing is a hospitality-exchange concept where a host takes care of you when you visit his or her home country. And when she visits your city in turn, you return the favor and show them  a good time. Of course, returning the favor isnt an obligationâ€"its just fun!The site is full of fun and outgoing personalities who can teach you a thing or two about their nati ve languages. If people on this site are willing to open their homes to strangers through hospitality-exchange, don’t you think theyd be ecstatic to help you with languages?Sign up, get involved in the online community, chat with people and start making friends. You might end up planning an international excursion in the process!10.  FacebookThink about it. Everybodys on Facebook. And not only that, you can learn  so much about your future language partner. Not just because of her hundred pictures, she also lets you in on her likes, dislikes, hobbies, favorite movies, books and more just by friending you. Just looking at her profile, you already know so much about her.Try this: type “language exchange” into the Facebook search bar. See what it gets you.  For starters, there’s a group called Language Exchange Through Skype. Theres plenty more out there just like that, and many are specific to certain languages.Okay, now that you know where to find these people, let’s see ho w youre going to approach, interact and develop relationships with all of these wonderful fellow language learners.The 10  Commandments of Language Exchange1. Manage expectations and start off on the right foot.Tandem learning is an art and not a science.  There are no codified rules for language exchange.In short, you and your partner will make up the rules for your specific situation. So even before you relocate the exchange to Skype, make sure you’ve got the ground rules covered. In your text chats, for example, determine details like: How long will each session be? What will happen during the session? What are your expectations?Communicate them early for a smoother experience later. But this doesnt mean theyre etched in stone. When you feel, for example, that the time allotted is too long or too short, by all means change it into something more agreeable for both of you.2. Don’t be lateBe considerate. Your partner might be sipping coffee because it’s 2AM where he’s locat ed. At least have the courtesy to be on time.3. Watch your backRemember, this is a video feed. People can see the wall behind you. Please tidy up the mess in your room and bring down posters that are in poor taste. Theyll be very distracting and send the wrong message. Have you seen the interviews done via Skype on major  news channels? Ugh! Make yourself presentable on screen.You may not think it makes much of a difference, but you should also clean yourself up before you  meet your language partner. The eyes can smell. Yes, even if youre on  the other side of the world.4. Give!This is called a language exchange  for a reason. Your partner is giving you the time of day because hes expecting to learn something from you as well. Don’t be so obsessed with your target language and your personal goals that you forget your obligation to impart something of value to your partner.If all you do is take and take, your partner will feel like he’s wasting his time. Remember, this is give-a nd-take. Divide the time equally between the two of you and your respective target languages.5. Dont be a boreYour partner probably went to one of the sites above because he got comatose-bored by teachers in the classroom setting. Are you gonna serve him the same experience?The solution to many of your concerns, like “what do I say next?”, “how do I avoid the awkward pauses?” and how can I be an interesting language partner?” is preparation.Believe it or not, you have to prepare a bit for your Skype sessions. Itll make a world of difference. It’s good to at least have an idea of what the session will be about, so a slightly structured approach is advisable.Have a cheat sheet of topics youd like to discuss. Be ready when the conversation hits a brick wall and segue into other topics. Prepare especially for those times when youll be talking in your partner’s native tongue. Prepare so that you can say what it is you really want to say.6. Consider yourself free to make mis takesYoure there to learn, not to prove to your partner that you know how to speak his language. Liberate yourself from the need to be grammatically perfect. Dont  be embarrassed when you make mistakes, and dont stop when you make a booboo. Continue, get into the rhythm and then later ask your partner about the most common, repeated mistakes you made.7. Dont overwhelm your partnerThis is the other side of the coin. When it’s your partner’s turn to speak or practice, dont correct him every 3 seconds. Instead, listen patiently and take note of his most common mistakes. Let him finish. And when he’s done, give your comments in as constructive a manner as possible.When you teach him about your native tongue, dont be a showoff and overwhelm him with too much material. Trust me, he won’t get any of it. Give him tidbits of info instead. It’s not your job to upload your knowledge of a language that took you years to master.8. Let it be more than language exchangeParadoxically, suc cessful language exchanges don’t involve partners who obsess about each other’s grammar rules and vocabulary. Instead, it’s really a conversation between friends who correct each other’s usage from time to time.It’s not so much about “How do you conjugate this verb?” It’s more like “You did that on vacation? Amazing! Oh, by the way, you should conjugate “saltar” (jump) this way because it’s in the past tense. So tell me more about your vacation.”You really have to be interested in your partner as a person, not just as a language resource. Ask interesting questions. Get to know as much about him as possible. Share info about yourself also. Tell him your hobbies, your dreams and things that friends talk over a cup of coffee. Of course itll be a bit awkward and difficult at first. But as long as youre having fun, language acquisition will only be a matter of time.  9. Have a reliable internet connectionThis might seem obvious, but a bad connection is very comm on for native speakers whose countries are playing technological catch-up. If this is the case, you might have to settle for times when internet traffic is lowest, at odds time of the day.You have no idea how troublesome a lag can be. It’s irritating and disorienting for anyone Skype conversationâ€"how much more frustrating would it be to have lag when youre trying to listen to a foreign language? Make sure that when you hear that ubiquitous Skype ringing tone, you can have smooth and interruption-free conversation.10. Have more than oneYou should only have one girlfriend. Good thing to remember. But that rule doesnt necessarily apply to language partners. In fact, get as many as you can manage.This is so you can get as much practice as possible. And not only that, language exchange is an art. Some of your language partners will be better than others. Some partners will be less dedicated and not show up to Skype dates. You have to play the numbers game so you can land language par tners wholl do you loads of good.So there you go. 10 sites that lead to language partners and 10 commandments that tell you how to deal with them.Now, take deep breaths. Listen very closely.Can you hear the reverberations of the Skype ringtone?It’s your language partner calling from the other side of the world.What are you gonna do about it? And One More ThingNeed some inspiration for your language exchange? FluentU has authentic content thatll give you plenty to talk about.  FluentU makes it possible to learn languages  from music videos, commercials, news and inspiring talks.With FluentU, you learn real languagesâ€"the same way that real people speak them. FluentU has a wide variety of videos, like movie trailers, funny commercials and web series, as you can see here:FluentU App Browse ScreenFluentU has interactive captions that let you tap on any word to see an image, definition, audio and useful examples. Now native language content is within reach with interactive transcripts .Didnt catch something? Go back and listen again. Missed a word? Hover over or tap on the subtitles to instantly view definitions.FluentU Interactive TranscriptsYou can learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentUs quiz mode. Swipe left or right to see  more examples for the word you’re learning.FluentU Has Quizzes for Every VideoAnd FluentU always keeps track of vocabulary that you’re learning. It uses that vocab to give you a 100% personalized experience by recommending videos and examples.

2014 Feminism Are We Done With the Bra-Burning Perception

2014 Feminism Are We Done With the Bra-Burning Perception If this is what you considered as feminism in 2013, you may need to rethink what you consider feminism.Photo via okmagazine.com I was a first semester freshman at Radford University when I signed up for a Women in the World: Introduction to Women Studies class, a class typically devoted to the upperclassman due to its allegedly mature and difficult-to-comprehend material (a ridiculous concept Ill later dissect). My male friend smirked when I told him I was taking it, and of course the shameful phrase, where is the mens studies class? was actually uttered from the mouth of a middle-aged man. Because yes, men like this have managed to surpass Darwins theory of survival of the fittest without swallowing their own foot. Its 2014its time for the men, and most certainly the women, to accurately understand the fundamentals of feminism and not the cartoonish lies spread by bromantic comedies and decrepit white men with cheap dentures. 1. Its 2014, the bra-burning thing never happened. As much as youd like it to, it didnt. This lie points back to a 1968 radical feminist rally picketing a Miss America beauty pageant. In an attempt to objectify the absurdity of beauty pageants, the crowd dumped various cosmetics, high heels, girdles, and of course, bras, into a freedom trash can to exhibit a physical rejection of Hollywood-ized beauty and submissiveness. While the event was fueled by outrage and revulsion, it was not by gasoline and a match. 2. Its called feminism and not equalism for a reason. Because, did you know, feminism is about women? Thats right, men. Feminism is about empowering the female voice and experience, men excluded. Although many issues pertain to ones that victimize men (rape, pedophilia, gender roles) these issues are defined by patriarchal values and traditional mindsets, all of which stem from a male-dominated society that stresses emotionless men trained to think with their phallic regions and not their brains. 3. Some women shave, others dont. Get over it. If youre so concerned with whether or not a woman shaves, try dragging a blade across your ape-like legs for a change and count the days it takes for you not keep up with the practice. Feminism praises body positivity, and for some reason that elicits a negative response from the men that demand shaven armpits but leave their own looking like Tarzans. That is a double standard, my friend.  Some feminists shave, some dont. Some people like broccoli, others dont. Shocking how people have their own personal perspectives and values, huh? In 2013, Rush Limbaugh stated The purpose of a kid is to occupy a woman so that the husband can run around and do whatever he wants, a phrase ancient enough to live in Beaver Cleavers household.Photo via Queerty.com 4. Sexism doesnt exist in America though, right? Only in underprivileged countries where the dominate race is non-white and female mutilations are prominent? Wrong. In a country where men control the uteruses of women and complain about how they cant beat their wives to a bloody pulp I would venture to say that theres something very wrong with the perception of females in this society. Continuously marketed as pieces of meat for the male gaze, women are degraded to objects in fast food commercials and PETA campaigns and then are harassed and raped on streets and in their own homes. Boys will be boys is an excuse, not a cute phrase to excuse misbehavior and violence. The 2013 popularity of Tatyana Fazlalizadehs street art addressed gender harassment issues by speaking directly to male offenders.Photo via ihollaback.org 5. Feminists do not ignore the cries of male abuse victims. Domestic violence is an issue that does not discriminate based on gender, but there is an overwhelmingly large number of women subjected to violence more so than men with over 84% of spouse abuse victims being female. While that leaves a chunk of men being abused  by their  wives, this poses another  important issue in feminism that raises the question of what this society is teaching males regarding dominance and subservience. Because females are more apt to report domestic abuse as opposed to men, this points toward another issue in which men are taught to  be the dominant gender; thus, when a woman abuses them they are either too afraid or embarrassed to report the crime. So no, feminism does not exclude men from domestic abuse, but it does shine a light on the patriarchal values it teaches men and how it impacts the way they view their egos and emotions. And heres the thing: feminism is not too mature of a subject for ANY age level and its concepts are far from difficult to comprehend. To the conservative and bigoted mind, feminism is an intricate web of misandrist  ideals and unshaven armpits. In reality, it is female empowerment in a patriarchal world defined by aesthetics and traditional gender roles. If your college happens to offer a women studies or feminism class, I suggest taking it and producing your own opinions based off of factual ideas and events. In a society glazed with subtle misogyny and blatant sexism, its important to explore the vast ideologies of liberal and radical feminism and how they apply to your life as a college student and human being.  After being force-fed the same wrong material for years and years, its hard to shove away the hand thats feeding you and question the beliefs youre eating up, and thats why 2014 is a turning point in correctly understanding feminism and its differentiation from Rush Limbaugh-esque remarks and Robin Thickes rape-justifying lyrics to the heroism of  Malala Yousafzai and the morality of Wendy Davis. So, to bring in the new year thats sure to come with misogynist movies and ridiculous remarks, know what the word feminism means before you crack another hilarious kitchen joke. But since youre already telling jokes as old as your 1960s-style kitchen, why dont you go ahead and make me a sandwich while youre at it.