About the ged writing exam6 doc

the beginning of each section or take a practice GED to get an idea of how you would do on the exam. How did you score? What do you seem to know well? What do you need to review? What do you need to study in detail? 3. Set a time frame. Once you have a good sense of how much studying is ahead, create a detailed study schedule. Use a calendar to set specific deadlines. If deadlines make you nervous, give yourself plenty of time for each task. Otherwise, you might have trouble keeping calm and staying on track. To create a good schedule, break your study- ing into small tasks that will get you to your learning goals. A study plan that says “Learn everything by May 1” isn’t going to be helpful. However, a study plan that sets dates for learning specific material in March and April will enable you to learn everything by May 1. For example, take a look at the following five-month study plan created by a GED candidate who needs to focus on both Language Arts exams: Week 1 Study math. Focus: geometry and number operations. Week 2 Study math. Focus: algebra and data analysis. Week 3 Take practice math GED. Review errors. Week 4 Study science. Focus: life sciences, start physical sciences. Week 5 Study science. Focus: physical sci- ences, and Earth and space sciences. Week 6 Take practice science GED. Review errors. Review math. Week 7 Study social studies. Focus: national history. Week 8 Study social studies. Focus: world history. Week 9 Study social studies. Focus: geography and economics. Take practice social studies GED. Week 10 Review errors. Review math and science. Week 11 Study grammar/writing. Focus: sen- tence structure, usage. Week 12 Study grammar/writing. Focus: mechanics, organization. Week 13 Study grammar/writing. Focus: essay writing strategies. Week 14 Take practice writing test. Review errors. Week 15 Review social studies, math, and science. Week 16 Study reading/literature. Focus: literary vs. nonfiction texts. Week 17 Study reading/literature. Focus: comprehension and application. Week 18 Study reading/literature. Focus: analysis and synthesis. Week 19 Take practice reading exam. Review errors. Week 20 Review all subjects. Notice how this schedule builds in time to review each subject and establishes different top- ics to focus on each week. As you set your deadlines, think carefully about your day-to-day schedule. How much time can you spend on studying each week? Exactly when can you fit in the time to study? Be sure to be realistic about how much time you have and how much you can accomplish. Give yourself the study time you need to succeed. 4. Stick to your plan. Make sure you have your plan written on paper and post your plan where you can see it. (Don’t just keep it in your head!) Look at it regularly so you can remember what and when to study. Checking your plan regularly can also help you see how much progress you have made along the way. It’s very important that you don’t give up if you fall behind. Unexpected events may inter- rupt your plans. You may have to put in extra time at work, you may have to deal with a – STUDY SKILLS– 15 problem at home, or you may even come down with the flu. Or, it might just take you longer to get through a task than you planned. That’s okay. Stick to your schedule as much as possible, but remember that sometimes, “life gets in the way.” For example, if you have a family problem that’s keeping you from concentrating, you may need to postpone your studies to resolve that problem. And that’s okay—as long as you reschedule your study time. Better to study later when you can concentrate than to waste time “studying” when you are unable to focus. So if you miss one of your deadlines, don’t despair. Instead, just pick up where you left off. Try to squeeze in a little extra time in the next few weeks to catch up. If that doesn’t seem possi- ble, simply adjust your schedule. Change your deadlines so that they are more realistic. Just be sure you still have enough time to finish every- thing before the exams.  How Do You Know What You Know? One of the keys to successful studying is knowing what you know, and knowing what you don’t know. Practice tests are one good way to measure this, but there are also other ways. One of the best ways to measure how well you know something is to see how well you can explain it to some- one else. If you really know the material, you should be able to help someone else understand it. Use your learn- ing style to explain it. For example, if you are an auditory learner, talk it out. If you are a visual learner, create dia- grams and tables to demonstrate your knowledge. Rewrite your notes or make up your own quizzes with questions and answers like those on the exam. Provide an explanation along with the correct answer. How do you know what you don’t know? If you feel uncertain or uncomfortable during a practice test or when you have difficulty explaining it to someone else, you probably need to study more. Write down all of your questions and uncertainties. If you write down what you don’t know, you can focus on searching for answers. When you get the answers, you can write them out next to the question and review them periodically. Notice how many questions you answer along the way—you will be able to see yourself making steady progress. If you are avoiding certain topics, it’s a good sign that you don’t know those topics well enough for the exams. Make up your mind to tackle these areas at your next study session. Don’t procrastinate! – STUDY SKILLS– 16 Stay Away from Cramming! By creating a study plan, you can avoid cramming—trying to learn everything at the last minute. Cram- ming can make you very nervous, and for good reason. If you wait until a few days before the tests, chances are, you won’t be able to learn everything. And if you stay up all night trying to get everything done, you will be too tired to study effectively. Create a study plan that spaces out your learning goals. Give yourself plenty of time to learn and time to review. Learn at a pace that is comfortable for you. Trouble Getting Started? Sometimes, it’s just plain hard to get started on a big project. If you are having trouble getting going, start with an easy task, such as creating flash cards for review. That way, you will be able to accomplish something quickly and easily. And that will motivate you to move on to harder tasks. Or, try starting your study session by reviewing or copying your notes from last session. This way, you will better remember what you have already learned while you ease into study mode. H ow successful you are at studying usually has less to do with how much you know and how much you study than with how you study. That’s because some study techniques are much more effective than others. You can spend hours and hours doing practice tests, but if you don’t carefully review your answers, much of your time will be wasted. You need to learn from your mistakes and study what you don’t know. The best method is to use several of the following proven study techniques. They can help you make the most of your learning style and store information in your long-term memory.  Asking Questions Asking questions is a powerful study strategy because it forces you to get actively involved in the material you want to learn. That, in turn, will help you better understand and remember the material. And there’s another important benefit—asking and answering your own questions will help you be comfortable with the format of the exam. For example, when you are reading a short story, you can ask yourself questions like those you might see on the GED, such as: 1. What is the theme of the story? 2. What is the narrator’s attitude toward her mother? 17 CHAPTER 3 Learning Strategies ONCE YOU have created an effective learning environment and a detailed study plan, you can begin to review the material that will be tested on the GED. But how can you remember all that you need to know? This chapter reviews several key learning strategies, including effective note-taking, outlining, and memory techniques. 3. Why is the setting important? 4. Which adjective best describes the narrator? 5. What is the narrator’s main motivation for her actions? 6. What is the significance of the empty basket? 7. What is the narrator’s relationship to the woman in the window? Similarly, if you are analyzing a diagram of the human ear, you can ask: 1. What is immediately below the auditory tube? 2. What is the scientific name of the ear drum? 3. Where is the incus located? 4. What parts of the ear must a sound wave travel through to get to the pharynx? 5. How many bones are in the middle ear cavity? Of course, you may not be able to answer all of your questions right away. You may need to do some extra work to find the answer.  Highlighting and Underlining Here’s a good habit to get into: Whenever you read, have a pen, pencil, or highlighter in your hand. That way, as you read, you can mark the words and ideas that are most important to learn or remember. Highlighting and underlining help make key ideas stand out. Important information is then easy to find when you need to take notes or review. The key to effective highlighting or underlining is to be selective. Don’t highlight or underline everything. If you highlight every other sentence, nothing will stand out for you on the page. Highlight only the key words and ideas. But how do you know what you should highlight or underline? As you study for the GED, you should high- light or underline: ■ words that are defined in the text ■ main ideas ■ key details that support or explain main ideas ■ words, grammar rules, and other items that you need to remember ■ ideas or concepts that are new to you ■ unfamiliar vocabulary words and idiomatic expressions (so that you can look them up and learn their meaning)  Taking Notes Taking notes is a terrific study strategy. It helps you understand, organize, and remember information. The secret to taking good notes is knowing what you should write down. As with highlighting, the key is to be selec- tive. Take notes about the same things you would under- line, especially main ideas, rules, and other items you need to learn. Whenever possible, include examples so that you can see the concept clearly. For example, below are some notes on the structure of an animal cell: Animal Cell Structure Three parts: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus. Plasma membrane: Isolates cell from the envi- ronment, regulates movement of materials in and out of cell, communicates with other cells. Cytoplasm: Includes water, salts, and enzymes that catalyze reactions. Contains organelles such as mitochondrion, which capture energy from food molecules. Nucleus: Includes nuclear envelope (isolates nucleus), nuclear pores (regulate the passage of materials, including water, ions, proteins, and RNA; controls flow of information to and from DNA), chromatin (DNA and associated pro- teins) and, at innermost core, nucleolus (site of ribosome assembly).  Making Notes Making notes is often as important as taking notes. Mak- ing notes means that you respond to what you read. There are several ways you can respond (“talk back to”) the text: ■ Write questions. If you come across something you don’t understand, write a question. What does this mean? Why did the author choose this word? Why is this the best title? How is this differ- ent from previous examples? Why is the informa- – LEARNING STRATEGIES– 18 tion in this chart important? What was the impact of this discovery? Then, answer all your questions. ■ Make connections. Anytime you make connec- tions between ideas, you improve your chances of remembering that material. For example, if you are studying the Industrial Revolution, you might make connections between a number of key inventions by imagining how cotton might move from a farm in Georgia to a shirt in a British store: cotton gin, steamboat, steam engine. Similarly, when you are reviewing the Consti- tution, you might make a connection between the Nineteenth Amendment (granting women the right to vote) and your only female cousin’s age (she’s 19). (If you then picture your 19-year-old cousin in a 1920s flapper outfit in a voting booth, you’ll have a much better chance of remembering which amendment granted women the right to vote.) ■ Write your reactions. Your reactions work much like connections, and they can help you remem- ber information. For example, if you are review- ing the Constitution, you might note the following: Why did it take 50 years after the Fifteenth Amendment, granting people of all races the right to vote, for the Nineteenth Amendment, granting both genders the right to vote, to be passed?  Outlining and Mapping Information Outlines are great tools, especially for sequential learners. They help you focus on what’s most important by mak- ing it easier to review key ideas and see relationships among those ideas. With an outline, you can see how supporting information is related to main ideas. The basic outline structure is this: I. Topic A. Main idea 1. Major supporting idea a. Minor supporting idea i. Additional supportive information Outlines can have many layers and variations, but this is the general form. Here are the notes for animal cell structure presented in outline format: Animal Cell Structure I. Three parts: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus A. Plasma membrane 1. Isolates cell from the environment 2. Regulates movement of materials in and out of cell 3. Communicates with other cells B. Cytoplasm 1. Includes water, salts, and enzymes that catalyze reactions 2. Contains organelles a. Example: mitochondrion, which captures energy from food molecules C. Nucleus 1. Nuclear Envelope a. Isolates nucleus (like plasma membrane) 2. Nuclear Pores a. Regulate the passage of materials into the nucleus i. Water, ions, proteins, and RNA b. Controls flow of information to and from DNA 3. Chromatin a. Clusters of DNA and associated proteins 4. Nucleolus a. Site of ribosome assembly Mapping information is similar to making an outline. The difference is that maps are less structured. You don’t have to organize ideas from top to bottom. Instead, with a map, the ideas can go all over the page. The key is that you still show how the ideas are related. The next page shows the same example in a map instead of an outline. – LEARNING STRATEGIES– 19  Making Flash Cards – LEARNING STRATEGIES– 20 Animal Cell Structure Plasma membrane Cytoplasm Nucleus Isolates cell from the environment Communicates with other cells Regulates movement of materials in and out of cell Includes water, salts, and enzymes that catalyze reactions Contains organelles Example: mitochondrion, which captures energy from food molecules Nuclear envelope Nuclear pores Isolates nucleus (like plasma membrane) Regulate the passage of materials into the nucleus Water, ions, proteins, and RNA Controls flow of information to and from DNA Chromatin Clusters of DNA and asso- ciated proteins Nucleolus Site of ribo- some assembly F RONT OF CARD Precambrian Age BACK OF CARD 4,600–590 million years ago 3,500 million years ago: origin of first living cells Paleozoic Age 590–248 million years ago Algae, invertebrates, fish, fungi, plants, insects, first amphibians and reptiles, conifers Flash cards are a simple but very effective study tool. First, buy or cut out small pieces of paper (3 × 5 index cards work well). On one side, put a question or word you need to learn. On the back, put the answer. You can use different colors and pictures, especially if you are a visual learner. For example, if you are studying the history of life on Earth, you could make flash cards like the following: . comfortable with the format of the exam. For example, when you are reading a short story, you can ask yourself questions like those you might see on the GED, such as: 1. What is the theme of the story? 2 is the setting important? 4. Which adjective best describes the narrator? 5. What is the narrator’s main motivation for her actions? 6. What is the significance of the empty basket? 7. What is the. relationship to the woman in the window? Similarly, if you are analyzing a diagram of the human ear, you can ask: 1. What is immediately below the auditory tube? 2. What is the scientific name of the ear