The Benefits of Assisted SAT Preparation By Heather Eagar

There is often nothing scarier than having to take the SAT for the first time. You are faced with so many unanswered questions regarding the exam. How long will it take? What will I be tested on? How will I be scored? How in the world can I prepare for this thing?

Because there is so much that you don’t know about taking this important college entrance exam, it’s good to engage in some form of SAT preparation. There are a number of books that can help you study on your own, but there are also some benefits to getting assistance with your SAT preparation. Here are a few …

Help from an Instructor

One of the major benefits of seeking assistance for your SAT preparation is working with an instructor. You can utilize instructor-assisted preparation over the Internet or in a classroom setting, and both are uniquely helpful as they both place you in an interactive, group environment where other students are asked to participate while the certified teacher instructs.

Whether you choose the online/offline group environment vs. the one-on-one individual tutoring environment (which is also available online or offline), you benefit from someone else providing a unique and well-informed perspective on the ins and outs of the exam. So while your preference of online or offline and individualized or group tutoring is completely up to you, it’s good to know that any of them can likely guide you more poignantly than preparing alone, especially if this is your first time taking the exam.

Motivation from Other Students

Whether you’re getting SAT prep assistance in a classroom setting, or working in a group chatting environment, the competition you can receive from other students in prep courses may just be the motivator you need to dig in and excel. There’s often no better feeling than knowing that you understanding the work you’re studying. And a way to verify this knowing is through classroom participation. So for those students who are better motivated by participation and competition with other students then getting assisted SAT preparation through group prep courses can be very beneficial.

Confidence Building

If you’ve heard about the SAT exam and maybe have even thumbed through a test prep book but still feel extremely underconfident about the exam and what to expect then assisted SAT preparation can be very beneficial. While the SAT is similar to other standardized tests in that it is timed per section, the test material is likely to be vastly different. Because there aren’t other tests that take on its specific format, it’s good to get help from someone skilled with this exam. This way, you can go from being clueless to feeling completely confident that you’re going to be prepared on the big day.

If you’re self-disciplined and love preparing for any exam on your own, then you may benefit greatly from your own personal SAT prep sessions. But if you prefer the assistance of an instructor, like being motivated by others, or are simply too unsure to go at it alone, then assisted SAT preparation is probably the best route for you to take.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=373730&ca=Education

Taking Advantage of SAT Assistance Online By Heather Eagar

If you’ve recently signed up for the SAT exam then you may be biting your nails wondering how you’ll actually be able to prepare for it. Your school may offer preparation courses or workshops that can help you out a lot. But what if you don’t have time to stay after school, or can’t secure transportation home afterward?

In the past, this would mean spending time flipping through SAT prep books on your own in hopes of cramming in every detail. But now, with many online resources being available that offer similar benefits as afterschool courses, you can just as easily prepare for your test from the comfort of your home.

So what’s available? Let’s take a look at some options you might want to take advantage of …

Online Prep Courses

So you probably didn’t know that you can take advantage of online prep courses that are similar to those that are available at your school or local library. You definitely can. There are resources that offer live online sessions very similar to the face-to-face tutoring environment – however, they’re conducted through chat. This means you don’t have to make sure you’re at a specific place to take on the session. Instead, you can take your computer with you wherever you’re comfortable and simply log on to the session when it’s time.

Also, incorporated in many online prep courses are practice tests that allow you to take the SAT as you would on the actual exam day. This simulation allows you to work through the problems in a timely fashion so that you’re comfortable with each section.

Tutoring

In addition to online SAT preparation courses, you can take advantage of tutoring resources that help you work through sections that may be giving you more problems than others. For instance, if you make low scores on the critical reading section when you take the practice test, this raises a red flag that you may want to seek some type of tutoring assistance before taking the practice exam again. Luckily, there are live chats, as well as online tutorials, that can help you with each section. Even better, some resources give you access 24/7, allowing you to relieve those late-night jitters that would otherwise leave you yearning for more assistance.

Test-Taking Strategies

Did you know that there are specific strategies that you can take advantage of that can help you move effortlessly through the SAT exam? You’d be surprised by the tips out there that can leave you feeling much more confident on exam day. Some of these tips might include never spending more than 2 minutes on a question, or leaving questions blank if you don’t know the answer because doing so doesn’t cost you points. There are so many other great strategies out there that not seeking them out and utilizing them would be a crime.

Now that the secret’s out – there are great online SAT resources available – it’s time for you to take advantage of them. If you don’t, you may lose out on that edge that can get you the SAT score you’ve been dreaming of.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=371925&ca=Education

The History of the Cigar Lighter By Bryan Halverson

The lighter was invented in 1816. The first lighter was called 'Dobereiner's Lamp' (named after its creator, Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner). But his lighter did not use butane or oil as fuel, it used hydrogen. Another difference was that these lighters used platinum as the catalyst (used to start the chemical change of fuel to fire) instead of flint, or a Piezoelectric spark.

Common smokers mostly used matches until the flint lighter became more popular. By 1908, the flint lighter was refined enough and small enough to fit inside a pocket. Special flint made specifically for lighters went into mass production at this time. Obviously, flint is a fraction of the cost of platinum. Using platinum as a catalyst faded out and flint took its place. This lit the kindling which would light the fire that fueled rise of the lighter.

The development of lighters accelerated during World War I.

In the 1920s, lighters were still somewhat of a luxury for smokers. It would be a heavy setback for the average blue collar worker who smoked. But when the 1930s came along, a man named George G. Blaisdell noticed an awkward Austrian lighter that had room for improvement and acted on it.

He improved the ergonomics of the lighter's case, so it was not as awkward to hold. Then he designed a perforated hood for the wick, which kept the lighter's flame windproof ! Additionally, he modified the fuel chamber to be more efficient, and added a hinged flip-top lid. And voila ! Zippo entered the world of lighters.

After the emergence of Zippo, other lighter companies started popping up. All the competition caused prices to fall dramatically. Lighters then became a hot novelty and were very collectible. Ronson made their first automatic lighter in the late 1920s but did not gain in popularity, until the rise of Zippo. Dunhill became more aggressive in the production of their lighters. St. Dupont added lighters to their line of products. Also, Colibri began making their first automatic lighters.

The fuel used in most of the lighters in the 1930s was naphtha, an oily liquid that comes from petroleum. In the 1930s-40s, a ground-breaking innovation to the lighter emerged. It is hard to say exactly who conceived of the idea, but Ronson starting producing mass-producing lighters that used butane as a fuel, instead of naphtha.

A technology also started to rapidly develop after the first World War--Piezoelectricity. Like the lighter, Piezoelectricity was invented in the early 1800s, but the full potential of it was only first realized in 1917, by French scientists. Ronson used the same Piezoelectric effect used in this machine, to create an igniter for lighters that transforms energy into an electric spark.

Since the late 1950s, when the Piezoelectric spark was introduced, lighters have been used by almost all smokers. Now, there are more lighter manufacturers than ever. There are also many different flame types. Aside from a natural flame, there are now lighters that produce torch and jet flames and even multi-flames.

Today smokers might choose a different flame type as a matter of preference or because of what they are smoking (pipes or cigars). Cigar smokers usually use torch lighters and pipe smokers would probably prefer a natural flame lighter.

Resource: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=374892&ca=Education