Alternative Investment Fund for Senior Life Insurance Settlements †Business (600 Level Course)

Alternative Investment Fund for Senior Life Insurance Settlements – Business (600 Level Course) Free Online Research Papers Alternative Investment Fund for Senior Life Insurance Settlements Business (600 Level Course) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Alternative Investments Fund, LLC (â€Å"The Company†) is seeking to secure funding for the purpose of purchasing life insurance policies. The purpose of this document is to provide potentially interested parties with sufficient information to submit non-binding indications of interest to provide such funding commitments, but does not purport to be all-inclusive or contain all of the information that an interested party may require. Interested parties should conduct their own independent analysis. The information contained herein has been provided by the Company, their respective officers, employees, agents or representatives, or derived from publicly available sources. The Company does not make any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of this document or the information contained herein – and no legal liability is assumed or implied. Any estimates and opinions have been prepared by the Company’s management and involve subjective judgment and analysis. This document shall not constitute or be construed as an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities of the Company. The Business The Company was founded to originate and finance the purchase of life insurance settlements in the secondary market. A life insurance settlement involves the transfer of ownership and the change of beneficiary of a life insurance policy in exchange for a lump sum cash payment from the purchaser. Life insurance settlements provide individuals who no longer want or need an existing life insurance policy with the opportunity to sell the policy and receive a cash settlement greater than the policy’s cash surrender value (amount insurance company will pay to cash out the policy). In the case of settlements involving term insurance policies, policy owners receive funds that they never expected to receive during their lifetimes. The policy owner may be planning to surrender the policy for any number of reasons including (i) corporate-owned key-man policies may no longer be needed due to the key-man leaving the business or the business being sold, (ii) insurance policies purchased for estate planning objectives are no longer relevant, (iii) the need for life insurance protection no longer exists du e to beneficiaries being taken care of by other investments or are financially independent or simply that there are no living heirs, (iv) continuing premium payments is no longer desirable, (v) cash from the settlement can be used to purchase new, more appropriate coverage (i.e., Second to Die or Long Term Care), and (vi) personal financial reasons. Senior Life Insurance Settlements are distinguishable from Viatical Settlements that were primarily focused on AIDS victims. Many viewed the viatical business negatively because of the perception that unscrupulous parties were preying on very vulnerable individuals. On the other hand, the Senior Life Insurance Settlement market has been viewed very positively. Typically, the policy size with a Senior Settlement is large and the seller of the policy is affluent and represented by a professional financial advisor. For these reasons, it is generally viewed as business that provides a valuable service – the opportunity to access values previously believed to be inaccessible. For the investor, the value proposition is driven by a few factors. First, the seller of the policy wants liquidity from the policy during his or her lifetime. Another motivation to sell is to eliminate the premiums that must be paid to keep the policy in force. In the process of evaluating the purchase of a life insurance policy, the life expectancy of the seller is a key determinant of the return to the investor. For this reason, every seller must have an evaluation of his or her health. Based on the evaluation (medical underwriting), a life expectancy (ex) is established, which determines the price at which the policy is purchased. In cases where the insured survives longer than the projected life span, the rate of return to an investor decreases. On average, these Senior Settlements are priced to produce a yield in excess of 15% per annum. The quality of the medical underwriting is the critical factor in developing appropriate pricing. Even with perfect underwriting, it is critical for an investor to have a sufficient distribution of lives in the investment pool. The pool should also possess a distribution of medical issues, in order to avoid concentration risk. For investors, life insurance settlements are unique. The returns have no correlation to the stock market or interest rates. Returns are purely a function of the factors discussed above. The Market Life insurance settlements began in the United States only in the last decade. They are now emerging as an asset class based on shear volume potential. The total potential size of the life insurance settlement market is estimated to include approximately $108 billion1 of life insurance in force. Most life insurance settlements have life expectancies ranging from 5 to 13 years, although some may be as short as one year. Demand for the Life Insurance Senior Settlements is already strong and can only grow as knowledge of this financial alternative becomes more mainstream. Currently, there are 23 million1 people in the United States age 65 or older who have life insurance policies in force. Nearly 8% of these policies lapse or are surrendered each year. LIMRA estimates that 97% of all term life insurance products sold in the United States will be lapsed before any death benefits are realized. As more individuals begin to learn that their policies have a value in the secondary marketplace that exceeds the cash surrender value (essentially that there is a better alternative to lapsing or surrendering the policy) – demand is certain to grow. Because the Life Insurance Senior Settlements are still relatively new and unknown (industry estimates suggest approximately 90% of financial planners and an even larger percentage of consumers are not yet aware of the availability of life insurance settlements), it is fair to assume that this market is poised to experience phenomenal growth over the next several years. Recently, the option to sell an unwanted life insurance policy, for a broad variety of financial planning reasons in addition to financial need, has dramatically increased the number of people considering this option. As a result, capital resources available to acquire those policies have been overwhelmed, creating a large backlog of policies in the market. Marketing The potential for a Senior Settlement occurs when the health of an insured has deteriorated to the point that the expected value of the future death benefit, which can be realized under a life insurance policy, significantly exceeds the expected value of the future anticipated premium payments. Historically, most policyholders did not realize that their life insurance policies represented â€Å"hidden assets† which could be used to better achieve their living goals. Transactions generally occur, when the life insurance policy owner works with an insurance agent, financial planner, or other financial advisor (â€Å"settlement broker†) who makes the owner aware that there are options available other than lapsing or surrendering an unneeded life insurance policy. These settlement brokers find the buyers for the life insurance policy and secure the settlement. It is estimated that of the 192,000 life insurance agents and approximately 34,000 certified financial planners in the United States today, only ten percent have working knowledge of Senior Settlements. Therefore, as the population ages and knowledge of Senior Settlements spreads, the potential exists for substantial future growth. Senior Settlements are a new and rapidly growing asset class. While Investment Bankers have viewed Senior Settlements as ideal for candidates for securitizations, the recent genesis of this asset class, taken together with the esoteric nature of the risks associated with projected cash flows and the inherit complexities of any securitization, have made the securitization of Senior Settlements mostly a theoretical exercise. As a result, capital allocations to this market have tended to be lumpy at best. The Company intends to source Senior Life Insurance Settlements in the secondary market from Life Insurance Settlements Companies, which have existing relationships with managing general agents and life insurance agents/brokers active in this market. Management Although the Company will use third parties to perform many functions associated with the evaluation and purchase of the life insurance policies, it will provide oversight of many functions including the following: Insurance Policy Underwriting Medical Underwriting Purchasing Policies Tracking/Servicing Purchased Policies The management team of the Company has substantial expertise in life insurance, actuarial pricing, accounting, taxation, capital markets, and life insurance settlements. Investment Returns A sample of 500 Insured lives was used to determine the expected rates of return for investors, and the volatility of the returns. The Insured lives modeled ranged in ages from 65 to 89, with an average age of 75. The net face amount of policies to be purchased was $453.1 million, and the assumed purchase price was $115.9 million. Under the â€Å"base case† or â€Å"assumed case†, the return to investors was determined to be 19.0%. This anticipated rate of return is consistent with current pricing in the Senior Settlement market. In the assumed case scenario, an investor would recover 100% of the amount invested in 7.46 years. The average ex for the group of Insureds, at the time of the assumed purchase, was 8.428 years. The most significant issue with Senior Settlements is not the return of principal, but instead the duration over which returns will be earned. Therefore, the expected rates of return were calculated using variations in the assumed mortality of the pool of insured lives. Projected cash flows were calculated assuming future premium payments, death benefits and expenses, using mortality rates that vary from the assumed case. Assuming that the actual mortality in all years is 10% less than the expected, the rate of return would decrease to 17.66%, compared to 19.0% in the assumed case. Conversely, if mortality is 10% higher than the assumed case, the rate of return will increase to 20.28%. Extreme cases were also tested. Assuming actual mortality is 33% lower than pricing results in the rate of return decreasing to 14.37%, while the break point is 21.01 years. Assuming mortality is 33% higher than anticipated results in a return of 23.11% and a breakeven period of 5.72 years. The rates of return under these assumptions are reflected in the table below: The extreme mortality variation used a 33% lower mortality rate than assumed and represents two standard deviations in a sample comprised of 500 lives. The probability of the actual mortality rate being less than 33% is therefore approximately 2.5%. Conversely, the probability that mortality would ever exceed 33% above the expected would also equal 2.5%. Industry Regulation As with any insurance transaction, some state Departments of Insurance regulate life insurance settlements. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) adopted model regulation in 1993 when the industry focus was limited to individuals with catastrophic or life threatening illnesses. The Model developed contract, license requirements, and other consumer protections to protect these specific policy sellers. This Model was adopted by only about half the states. As the business has evolved and expanded well beyond the scope of the early regulations, the NAIC and the individual states have modified and expanded statutes and regulations to include a broader definition of the policy seller provide protections to investors in the transactions and formalize the regulatory filing and reporting requirements. Regulatory activity by the NAIC and the states, especially those states that took no action on the original Model, is expected to accelerate as the industry grows. Principals Steven W. Fickes, F.S.A., M.A.A.A Steven is an actuary and has been involved in the insurance industry his entire career. Early in his career, he joined Tillinghast, the largest actuarial consulting firm, where he focused on reinsurance, mergers and acquisitions and taxation. He ultimately was made a Principal and headed the firm’s International Reinsurance and Life and Health Insurance Practices. He later formed his own actuarial practice specializing in innovative, highly structured reinsurance transactions and mergers and acquisitions. His involvement as a consultant on mergers and acquisitions led him to become a partner in a leveraged buyout firm that was involved in the acquisition of 15 insurance companies, with an aggregate value in excess of $1 billion. Steve has also been involved in several successful start-ups including the formation of a life insurance settlements firm. During 1995, he formed a $100 million private equity fund, which ultimately completed two major acquisitions. Prior to starting his own firm, Raedel in 2001, Steve was a partner at Deloitte Touche, where he led the firm’s international actuarial practice. During his tenure at Deloitte he worked with the American Cancer Society in developing a lending program for terminally ill cancer patients collateralized by their life insurance policies. Since resigning from Deloitte Touche, Steve has developed an extremely sophisticated insurance information database that has as its subscribers some the largest insurance companies in the US, major investment banks and mutual funds. At the same time, he has pursued various other entrepreneurial opportunities in the insurance sector. Ransom Jones, C.P.A. Ransom has over 30 years of experience working in the insurance industry with major multi-national companies in various areas including accounting and income tax consulting, asset/liability management, product development, asset securitization, mergers and acquisitions, financing, general management, consulting for troubled insurance companies and developing strategic direction. He has worked at American International Group, Citicorp, Goldman, Sachs Co., and was a partner at KPMG Peat Marwick. He has served as chief financial officer at two publicly traded companies and was president of a group of property and casualty insurance companies. For two years, Ransom worked with a start-up senior settlements company in developing its business plan and identifying financing opportunities. During his career, Mr. Jones has been very active in insurance industry affairs. For three years, he served on the NAIC’s Working Group on Emerging Issues which promulgates insurance regulatory accounting standards. He has served on various other NAIC committees. For three years, he was on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Life Companies Over many years, he has been a frequent speaker and author of articles related to the insurance industry. Research Papers on Alternative Investment Fund for Senior Life Insurance Settlements - Business (600 Level Course)Lifes What IfsMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesTwilight of the UAWAppeasement Policy Towards the Outbreak of World War 2Incorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalOpen Architechture a white paperAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into AsiaPETSTEL analysis of IndiaBook Review on The Autobiography of Malcolm XRiordan Manufacturing Production Plan

Cars and Carriages

Cars and Carriages Cars and Carriages Cars and Carriages By Mark Nichol Car and carriage, and many other words containing the element car, derive from the Latin word carrus, meaning â€Å"two-wheeled wagon.† This post lists and defines many of the words descended from carrus. A car is a passenger vehicle designed to be driven on roads; autocar and motorcar are outdated terms used in the early days of automotive travel to describe cars so as not to have them be confused with train cars and streetcars, which were dominant modes of travel at the time. A streetcar is a public passenger vehicle, running on a network of rails within a city, that can be drawn by horses (this type was sometimes called a horsecar) or propelled by electricity; one drawn by cables is sometimes called a cable car. Car also describes a segment of a railroad train, and terms for specialized cars include boxcar, denoting an enclosed car for carrying freight, flatcar, which refers to a platform freight car, and â€Å"stock car,† meaning â€Å"a ventilated boxcar for hauling livestock.† (â€Å"Stock car† also describes a racing car with a stock, or mass-produced, chassis and a customized car body.) A car wash is a public facility for cleaning cars, either staffed or self-service with coin-operated equipment. A carpool is an arrangement in which two or more people share a car driven by one of them to reach a common destination. A carport is an area, like a garage but generally with only a roof on posts and no walls, for storing vehicles. (â€Å"Car park† is a British English term for a parking garage or parking lot.) To be carsick is to become nauseated by the motion of a car; the ailment is called carsickness. Carriage originally denoted the act of carrying but came to apply to a vehicle that carries people, including a train car; the meaning was extended to refer to one’s posture as well as specialized senses pertaining to a moveable part of a machine, such as a typewriter’s carriage, or to having a pathogen in one’s body. Carry also derives from carrus; among the most versatile of verbs, it has numerous senses pertaining to bearing, moving, or directing something from one place to another or to associated actions. But it is also employed as a noun, as in the case of a method of bearing something, as in describing the advance of a football player with the ball. A carrier is an entity that carries something, and a carryall is a vehicle or a large bag; the latter word stems by folk etymology from the French term carriole. Chariot, denoting an ancient two-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle, is, with charioteer, derived from the Old French verb charrier, meaning â€Å"transport,† by way of Middle French and Middle English. The word, as well as chariotee, a diminutive of chariot, and â€Å"post chariot,† pertain to types of carriage used before the automotive age. Charabanc is a British English word for a sightseeing bus; the term is derived from the French phrase char bancs, meaning â€Å"wagon with benches.† Carousel, originally describing a jousting match and later pertaining to an amusement ride in which people mount statues of horses or other animals set on a revolving platform, is from the Italian word carusiello, possibly descended from carrus. Cart and its compound variations (from cartwheel to â€Å"shopping cart†) are unrelated, stemming from an Old English word, related to the Dutch word for basket, that likely alluded to the fact that early carts often included a body made of wickerwork. However, charette (also spelled charrette), a word originally pertaining to a cart used to carry drawings- by extension, it now describes a meeting involving architectural plans- is French for â€Å"little cart† and is from carrus. (The modern sense might derive from the notion of viewing and discussing architectural drawings spread out on a cart at a building site.) However, a few words that may not be easily recognized as belonging to the same family do stem from carrus, including career, which means â€Å"course† or â€Å"passage† and by extension came to denote a field or profession one pursues. As a verb, it describes speeding along a road or other course. (However, careen, denoting turning something over or a side-to-side movement, is unrelated.) Carrack, the word for a sailing vessel common during the 1400s and 1500s, derives from an Arabic word for â€Å"merchant ship† that may have been borrowed from the Latin term carricare, meaning â€Å"load a car.† Cargo, meaning â€Å"goods conveyed by a vehicle or vessel,† stems from the same word by way of Spanish, and that language is also the source of supercargo, denoting a ship’s officer responsible for freight and related matters. Carricare is also the source of cark, an obscure word used as a noun or a verb to refer to trouble or worry, from the notion of a burden. It is also the origin of charge, which originally referred to a load or a weight carried but now has a variety of meanings, including â€Å"command† or â€Å"supervision,† â€Å"obligation,† â€Å"expense,† or â€Å"complaint,† â€Å"criticism,† or â€Å"assertion of guilt.† It also describes a rush, especially of attacking mounted soldiers, and still refers to a load of in the sense of a quantity of electricity or explosives. In addition, it serves as a verb pertaining to these senses. A charger is something used in charging, such as a warhorse or a device for holding or reinforcing a weapon or an energy source. and something that can be charged is chargeable. Recharge means â€Å"charge again,† and something that can be charged again is rechargeable. A countercharge is a response to a charge, and overcharge and undercharge denote excessive or insufficient charging, while supercharge refers to applying energy, pressure, or tension and a surcharge is an extra charge, usually in the financial sense of an additional fee. The noun chargà © d’affaires, borrowed directly from the French phrase meaning â€Å"charged with affairs† (and pronounced the same), denotes a deputy of an ambassador or other senior diplomat. Carpenter, meaning â€Å"worker who builds and repairs wood structures† (from a Latin word denoting a wagon maker), and carpentry, referring to the practice, are related to carrus. Although caricature is in a sense a synonym of character, in that both pertain to a representation of a person, and the terms are pronounced similarly and appear as if they might share a root, they are unrelated: Character, by way of Latin, is from the Greek word kharacter, meaning â€Å"engraved mark†; it retains its original sense of â€Å"symbol† but also developed the meaning of â€Å"person in a work of fiction,† then simply â€Å"person† (and later â€Å"eccentric person†) as well as â€Å"the sum of one’s defining qualities,† or â€Å"integrity.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Vocabulary category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Cost-Effective vs. Cost-Efficient36 Poetry TermsEach vs. Both

Electronic Health Records Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Electronic Health Records - Research Paper Example EHRs, Pros, Cons In a document from the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the benefits of adopting the use of HIT in both public and private institutions were presented, as well as the goals, vision, and changes in the system once health care delivery would integrate the use of such innovations. In 2004, former US president Bush â€Å"called for a widespread adoption of interoperable EHRs within 10 years,† and the established position of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology was tasked to develop and implement a â€Å"strategic plan† that would guide the implementation of HIT nationally in both public and private sectors (HSS 1). From here we see that such advancements in technology are supported by the federal government, and imply that they may have more advantages than disadvantages. In a publication by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), they adopt the Health Informati on Management Systems Society’s (HIMSS) definition of EHR where, â€Å"The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician’s workflow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.† (1) The pen and paper system adopted in health care institutions have been blamed more than many times in errors that occur in health care delivery. In the development of EHRs, these mistakes are perceived to lessen because they say that electronic records are legible and consistent, not encouraging other members of the health care team to assume or guess medications, dosages, and other physician orders written on the patients’ charts once they get hard to read. Fragmentation of information that may be caused by paper records have the risk of increasing health care cost to manage adverse effects the patient could experience in the event that something undesirable happens when information on paper are misinterpreted. Another advantage of an EHR is its increased capabilities to store information for longer periods of time, and it is accessible, allowing immediate retrieval of information (Gurley). The system is also designed to detect abnormal results, in laboratory and diagnostic procedures, for instance, and reminds and alerts providers when such are found in the records. This feature thus enhances patient safety in the deliverance of care. One disadvantage with an EHR is its startup costs, which ma y be too much (Gurley). Although the system is seen to reduce health care costs, there is a need for financial capital to be invested during its initial adoption that may be a huge amount. Also, to users who are not technically knowledgeable, EHRs may become difficult, instead of convenient, to them. The issues considered when EHRs are

Critically assess, using examples, the extent to which practice Essay

Critically assess, using examples, the extent to which practice perspectives give a coherent and complete account of the challenges involved with introducing new technologies into organisational settings - Essay Example pective approaches, leaders and managers within an organization can objectively evaluate and understand the depth and breadth of challenges associated with change within a workplace. According to practice perspective, social and cultural contexts play a significant role in influencing actionable practices demonstrated by individuals within a professional environment. Zachary (2012) mentioned that practice perspectives offer an insight into the intricate relationship between individual’s performance patterns, and the individual’s social attributes. For example, introduction of new technologies within an organization invariably presents specific challenges that can be accounted for through practice perspective techniques. In practice perspective, social elements of race, class, age, and gender among other relevant parameters are used to account for observable changes in actionable behaviors. Today, inclusion of social networking applications like Facebook and Twitter in an organization’s computers is helpful in facilitating online interactions between a company’s staff, customers, and other stakeholders. However, new technological tools like social network platforms can cause considerable challenges like distraction of employees at work. Actually, time spent by employees on friendly chats through social network sites can substantially compromise on productivity. According to Zachary (2012), young employees below 30 years are highly likely to spend more time on social networks compared to old workers above 35 years. On the other hand, productivity of female employees is minimally affected because they can easily multitask; hence they can still perform their duties effectively while at the same time using social network sites compared to their male counterparts. As aforementioned, practice perspective offers insight into the influential role of social parame ters like age and gender on individuals’ actionable performances. In this regard, challenges

Sustainable development-Ethanol fuel in Brazil Essay Example for Free

Sustainable development-Ethanol fuel in Brazil Essay Brazil has one of the largest programs on bio-fuel world wide which involves the production of ethanol fuel from the sugarcanes. The ethanol provides an approximated 18% in the automotive fuel of the country. This has then resulted into the country being self sufficient in oil which it had to import several years ago because of the exploitation of the domestic deep water oil resources. (Steen 1994) The nature and value of global management for sustainable development The sustainable development of the ethanol fuel in Brazil involves a social ecological process that is characterized by the fulfillment of the needs of human beings while at the same time indefinitely maintaining the same quality of the natural environment. This link between the development and the environment was recognized globally in the international union for conservation of nature book that was published by the world conservation strategy. In Brazil the sustainable development of the ethanol fuel does not only focus on the environmental issues but it also encompasses various policies in the economic and social areas. In Brazil the government should ensure that there is environmental sustainability in the production of the ethanol fuel so as to ensure that the environment further continues to function properly and also indefinitely. (Steen 1994) This will further involve meeting the needs of the Brazilians without endangering the future generation’s welfare. If the country of Brazil purposes to maintain the environmental sustainability in the production of the ethanol fuel then this will eliminate the environmental degradation of ethanol sources in the country. On the other hand sustainability of the ethanol fuel in Brazil requires that the human activities use only the natural resources at a rate at which they can naturally be replenished. If the consumption and the renewable resources are less than the nature’s ability to replenish then there will be environmental renewal which will further lead to a sustainable development. But if on the other hand the consumption of the renewable resources is more than the natures’ ability to replenish then there will be environmental degradation and the development will not be sustainable. The key stakeholders and partners of the sustainable development of ethanol in brazil includes the Brazilian government, the consumers and sugar farmers, the Brazilian citizens, the producers of ethanol and also the car manufacturers and retailers of the bio-ethanol fuelled cars. The relevant issues in the sustainability of the ethanol development in Brazil involve the control measures which have been derived from the Montreal protocol and also the phasing out of the leaded gasoline in the country. The bio-ethanol in the country of Brazil has been used as a liquid fuel in the commercial sector for a long time and the Brazilian government has taken the initiative of promoting the bio-ethanol through a program known as pro alcohol in the 1970s. The Brazilian federal government also gave subsidies to the farmers and also maintained low price and this was aimed at absorbing the energy production constant surplus while at the same time preventing the country from being dependent on the foreighn oil imports. (Steen 1994) In the recent past brazil there has been escalating oil prices and the government of brazil has refocused on the bio-ethanol fuel and also the flexi fuel cars in search for the cleaner and also renewable energies. The consumers can fuel their vehicles by ethanol. In maintaining a sustainable development of ethanol in Brazil the government has laid down some policy options which include; 1. By promoting the use of the bio-ethanol and fuel flex cars which are more environmental friendly than the petroleum products. 2. y ensuring that the fuel flexi cars are affordable to most people in brazil 3. by ensuring that the bio-ethanol and bio-fuels are readily available at the regular filling stations 4. by subsidizing the bio-ethanol price and making it more attractive to the consumers 5. by promoting the sugar production through the subsidies 6. By promoting the production of the bio-ethanol through the industry’s incentives and also subsidies. The ethanol alternative in Brazil is ready to create jobs and also contribute to the sustainable rural development. Globalization of the economic activities on the other hand eliminates the employment opportunities especially in the countryside and this marginalizes the poor Brazilians from the productive resources. (Daly and Amana 1981) In Brazil ethanol highly relies on the bio-mass cultivation such as sugarcane and it is coupled with a system of processing facilities that is decentralized providing more human sustainable development opportunities. The increase 0f ethanol production in Brazil promises to alleviate partially the neo-liberal economic reform outcome. Humphrey and Buttel 1982) The Brazilian government however needs to realize the economic and social economic development goals in sustaining the affordable and sustainable forms of energy such as ethanol since it is the most important key driver for the modern economic development. Based on the sustainable development concept, the reliance of Brazil on the petroleum fuel imports as a major commercial fuel in the country is unsustainable both in the long and short term. However the use of ethanol could be a sustainable solution in the long run with the potential to create an economic growth as well improve the living standards of the Brazilians and also reduce the environmental degradation. The use of ethanol in Brazil could however lead to the decline of the environmental quality and this will reduce its sustainability but with better control measures and also technological improvement such problems could be prevented. The influence of global sustainable development research on the future managerial decision making The research on the global sustainable development would highly influence the managerial decision making process in the following ways. First and foremost most decisions which will be made will significantly be based on protecting the environment as well as requiring lower inputs. (Costanza 1980) Secondly the decisions made will be based on strategies that will help in dealing with the emerging food fuel battles. Similarly the major decisions made will focus on the carbon dioxide emissions and its positive effects in reducing the global warming. The consumption of the fossil fuels as a major source of carbon dioxide loading in the atmosphere and also the development of any other fuel source greatly reduces this loading and this is a very desirable effect. The decision makers will also implement policies that are environmentally conscious on ethanol’s environmental drawbacks. The decisions will also focus on the strategic co-operation which can then make ethanol a pragmatic and partial solution to the many energy security related problems as well as the climate and the rural; development control world wide. The research on the global sustainable development will help the managers make informed decisions on the use of ethanol as a fuel source and the economical impacts encountered from its dependence. The decision makers will also be able to comprehend the impact of ethanol based on the three sustainable development spheres that comprise of the economic, social and also environmental dimensions. Similarly the research will enable the decision makers understand the role that is played by ethanol as a very useful tool in reducing the emissions on the greenhouse emissions and also in lessening the human and the environmental costs on petroleum dependency. (Capello and Naskapi 1999) Conclusion In conclusion since ethanol has been classified as a renewable form of energy it has made its production and its use sustainable in both the short and long term effects and this will further help its use meet the needs of both the future and the present generations.

Parkinsons Disease Essay -- essays research papers

James Parkinson first discovered Parkinson's Disease in 1817. Parkinson's Disease is a common neurologic disorder for the elderly. It is a disorder of the brain characterized by shaking and difficulty with walking, movement, and coordination. This disease is associated with damage to a part of the brain that controls muscle movement. Parkinson's Disease is a chronic illness that is still being extensively studied. Parkinson's Disease has caused problems for many people in this world and plagued the elderly all over the world.Parkinson's disease still puzzles doctors and the causes are unknown. It is known that it is a non-communicable disease and may even be hereditary. Parkinson's disease is thought to be caused by external factors. Most of the cases of this disease are caused by progressive deterioration of the nerve cells, which control muscle movement. Dopamine, one of the substances used in the brain to transmit impulses, is produced in the area of deterioration. Without this vital dopamine nerve cells cannot properly transmit messages resulting in a loss of muscle function.Parkinson's Disease is a non-communicable disease and doctors have not yet found out whether or not it is a hereditary disease. Parkinson's Disease has many distinct symptoms. The symptoms are:Muscle Rigiditystiffness difficulty bending arms or legsunstable, stooped, or slumped-over posture loss of balancewalking pattern changesslow movements difficulty beginning to walk difficulty initiating any...

5 Core Operational Strategies

Unit 3 PowerPoint ProjectIn chapter 6 you learned about the 5 core operational strategies (preventive patrol, routine incident response, emergency response, criminal investigation, problem solving) and 1 ancillary operational strategy (support services) that are employed by law enforcement agencies to fight and reduce crime. This week you are required to create a PowerPoint presentation that meets the following criteria:Summarize the five core operational strategies and the one ancillary operational strategy of law enforcement.Explain how these strategies are used by law enforcement agencies to achieve their crime fighting goals.Your PowerPoint presentation must consist of no fewer than six (6) slides (at least one slide per strategy). The title slide and references slide are not included in this total, and are also required.Please use the PowerPoint Template provided for you as a guide.One reason for this assignment is to help you become familiar with the PowerPoint program itself. If you have never used Microsoft PowerPoint don’t let it worry you.The PowerPoint Resources accessible below, will ease your mind and give you a head start on this project.You will have until the end of Unit 4 to complete your project. Submit your completed PowerPoint project to the dropbox by the end of Unit 4 in the basket titled Unit 3: PowerPoint Project Checklist for Unit 3 Assignment: PowerPoint PresentationCriteria: Ask yourself the following questions.Did you identify and describe the five core operational strategies and the one ancillary operational strategy of law enforcement?Did you explain how law enforcement agencies use these strategies to achieve their crime fighting goals?Is your content complete enough to address the topic and questions?Is there a logical flow to your ideas?Did you present the material in a clear and concise manner to provide easy readability?Did you prepare your project as a PowerPoint document?Did you label your file correctly?Did you check your document for grammar and spelling?Did your meet the presentation’s length requirement (6 slides minimum)?

El Filibusterismo Essay

Thirteen years after leaving the Philippines, Crisostomo Ibarra returns as Simoun, a rich jeweler sporting a beard and blue-tinted glasses, and a confidant of the Captain-General. He cynically sides with the upper classes, encouraging them to commit abuses against the masses to encourage the latter to revolt against the oppressive Spanish colonial regime. His two reasons for instigating a revolution are at first, to rescue Marà ­a Clara from the convent and second, to get rid of ills and evils of Philippine society. His true identity is discovered by a now grown-up Basilio while visiting the grave of his mother, Sisa, as Simoun was digging near the grave site for his buried treasures. Simoun spares Basilio’s life and asks him to join in his planned revolution against the government, egging him on by bringing up the tragic misfortunes of the latter’s family. Basilio declines the offer as he still hopes that the country’s condition will improve. Basilio, at this p oint, is a graduating medical student at the Ateneo Municipal. After the death of his mother, Sisa, and the disappearance of his younger brother, Crispà ­n, Basilio heeded the advice of the dying boatman, Elà ­as, and traveled to Manila to study. Basilio was adopted by Captain Tiago after Marà ­a Clara entered the convent. Simoun, for his part, keeps in close contact with the bandit group of Kabesang Tales, a former cabeza de barangay who suffered misfortunes at the hands of the friars. He was forced to give everything he had owned to the greedy, unscrupulous Spanish friars and the Church. Before joining the bandits, Tales took Simoun’s revolver while Simoun was staying at his house for the night. As payment, Tales leaves a locket that once belonged to Marà ­a Clara. To further strengthen the revolution, Simoun has Quiroga, a Chinese man hoping to be appointed consul to the Philippines, smuggle weapons into the country using Quiroga’s bazaar as a front. Simoun wishes to attack during a stage play with all of his enemies in attendance. He, however, abruptly aborts the attack when he learns from Basilio that Marà ­a Clara had died earlier that day in the convent. A few days after the mock celebration by the stu dents, the people are agitated when disturbing posters are found displayed around the city. The authorities accuse the students present at the panciterà ­a of agitation and disturbing peace and has them arrested. Basilio, although not present at the mock celebration, is  also arrested. Captain Tiago dies after learning of the incident. But before he dies he signs a will. His will originally states that Basilio should inherit all his property but due to this forgery his property is given in parts, one to Santa Clara, one for the archbishop, one for the Pope, and one for the religious orders leaving nothing for Basilio to be inherited. Basilio is left in prison as the other students are released. Basilio is soon released with the help of Simoun. Basilio, now a changed man, and after hearing about Julà ®Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s suicide, finally joins Simoun’s revolution. Simoun then tells Basilio his plan at the wedding of Paulita Gà ³mez and Juanito, Basilio’s hunch-backed classmate. His plan was to conceal an explosive which contains nitroglycerin inside a pomegranate-st yled Kerosene lamp that Simoun will give to the newlyweds as a gift during the wedding reception. According to Simoun, the lamp will stay lighted for only 20 minutes before it flickers; if someone attempts to turn the wick, it will explode and kill everyone—important members of civil society and the Church hierarchy—inside the house. Basilio has a change of heart and attempts to warn Isagani, his friend and the former boyfriend of Paulita. Simoun leaves the reception early as planned and leaves a note behind: Initially thinking that it was simply a bad joke, Father Salvà ­ recognizes the handwriting and confirms that it was indeed Ibarra’s. As people begin to panic, the lamp flickers. Father Irene tries to turn the wick up when Isagani, due to his undying love for Paulita, bursts in the room and throws the lamp into the river, sabotaging Simoun’s plans. He escapes by diving into the river as guards chase after him. He later regrets his impulsive action because he had contradicted his own belief that he loved his nation more than Paulita and that the explosion and revolution could have fulfilled his ideals for Filipino society. Simoun, now unmasked as the perpetrator of the attempted arson and failed revolution, becomes a fugitive. Wounded and exhausted after he was shot by the pursuing Guardia Civil, he seeks shelter at the home of Father Florentino, Isagani’s uncle, and comes under the care of doctor Tiburcio de Espadaà ±a, Doà ±a Victorina’s husband, who was also hiding at the house. Simoun takes poison in order for him not to be captured alive. Before he dies, he reveals his real identity to Florentino while they exchange thoughts about the failure of his revolution and why God forsook him, when all he wanted was to avenge the people important to him that were wronged, such as Elias,  Maria Clara and his father, Don Rafael. Florentino opines that God did not forsake him and that his plans were not for the greater good but for personal gain. Simoun, finally accepting Florentino’s explanation, squeezes his hand and dies. Florentino then takes Simoun’s remaining jewels and throws them into the Pacific Ocean with the corals hoping that they would not be used by the greedy, and th at when the time came that it would be used for the greater good.

How to Get 36 on ACT Science 13 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 36 on ACT Science 13 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring between 26-34 on ACT Science? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 36? Getting to a 36 ACT Sciencescore isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on Scienceon my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or very close. Brief note: This article is suited for students already scoring a 26 on ACT Scienceor above. If you're below this range, my "How to Improve Your ACT Science Score" articleis more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 26. Overview For somereason, there aren't very many ACT Science guides out there. There's a lot of material for ACT Math and ACT Reading, but people just seem to shy away from the science section. In contrast, at PrepScholar we've written what we believe are the best guides to ACT Science available anywhere, and we've published them online for free. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring a 36 in ACT Science is a good idea, what it takes to score a 36, and then go into the 13 key ACT Sciencestrategies so you know how to get a 36 on ACT Science. Stick with me - as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why a 36 Sciencescore is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. Then we'll get into the meat of the article. Finally, in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 36. But if your goal is a 32, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why a 36 ACT Science? Let's make something clear: for most college applications, a 34 composite on an ACT is equivalent to a perfect 36. Almost no college is going to give you more credit for a 36 than a 34. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 34, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 36 unless you're applying to a STEM program at a top tier school (which we discuss more in a few paragraphs). For most schools, you're already set, and it's time to work on strengthening your extracurriculars, coursework, and overall application. But if you're scoring a 33 or below AND you want to go to a top college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 34 or above. There's a big difference between a 32 and a 34, largely because it's easy for top students to get a 32but a lot harder to get a 34. A 33 places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. A 36 in ACT Science can also help you compensate for weaknesses in other sections like Reading or English.By and large, schools consider your ACT composite score moreso than your individual section scores. If you can get a 36 in ACT Science, that gives you more flexibility in your English, Math, and Reading scores. It can compensate for a 32 in one other section, for example, to bring your average back up to 34. MIT expects a 36 in ACT Math. There are only two scenarios where a 36 in ACT Scienceis really important beyond just raising your composite score. The first is if you're planning for a science or quantitative major (like biology, physics, statistics, chemistry). The second is if you're applying to a highly selective technical school like MIT or Caltech. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a math/science major, you're competing against other math/science folks: people for whom ACT Scienceis easy. Really easy. Even though schools don't typically release their ACT scores by section, they do release SAT section scores. As a proxy for ACT Science, we can take a look at SAT Math scores at top schools. (I know ACT Science and SAT Math are different, but I'm going to bet that people who are good at math are also going to score high on ACT Science). Here are a few real examples. For Harvard, Princeton, MIT, Caltech, and even less selective schools like Harvey Mudd, the 75th percentile SAT Math score is an 800 (or equivalent to an ACT 36). That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Math, or a 36 on ACT Math. Even more surprising: the 25th percentile score for SAT Math at MIT and Caltech are 750 and 770, respectively, or a 34 on the ACT!This means if you score a 34 on your ACT Math, you'rewell below average for these schools! That's how competitive these top-tier colleges are. I'm not going to lie. ACT Science was easy for me. I got 36 on pretty much every practice test and official ACT I ever took. This was largely because I was a science nerd in high school, competing in the academic olympiadsand doing a ton of science research as an extracurricular. I also practiced hard and applied the strategies below to achieve perfection. So reading science passages was like reading English to me. You're competing against people like me. And if you apply as a science major with a 34 or below on Science, schools like MIT, Harvard, and Princeton are going to doubt your ability. Because ACT Scienceis supposed to be easyfor you. But if you can work your way to a 36, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a 36 on ACT Science. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if you don't consider yourself a science geek, or you got a B in Biology, you're capable of this. More than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how strategically you study. Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that many questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? It's purposely designed this way. The ACT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who never took AP Physics.The ACT Science sectioncan't ask you to solve cold fusionor build a rocket to get to Mars. The ACT is a national test, which means it needs to be a level playing field for ALL students around the country. So it HAS to test scientific concepts that every high school student will cover: how to interpret data graphs, what the scientific method is, how scientific theories disagree from each other. You've learned all of this already in high school. But if all the questions were easy and straightforward, then everyone would score too high. So the ACT needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students whocan predict exactly how the test is going to work. Here's an example graph from a real ACT test: This is one of the most complex graphs I've seen in ACT Science. I can guarantee you've never seen something like this graph before in school. But there's good news - every other high school student in America hasn't seen this graph before either! This means that the ACT expects you to be able to understand this graph using basic science skills. Skills like looking at the twoaxes, understanding how a plot works, and how to get data values from this graph. Just to prove this to you, further down we're going to understand this graph and go through a sample question. On ACT Science, there will alwaysbeweird scenarios you've never seen before, from composition of sediment to dinosaur claw sizes. But more than anything, ACT Science isn't actually about science - it's a lot more about reading comprehension and logic. The key to improving your ACT Science score is to: Master the types of passages the ACT tests Draw on the basic skills you already know to solve the questions Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes and know the test inside and out. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to answer correctly to score a 36. What It Takes to Get a 36 in ACT Science If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. I compiled the raw score to ACT Science Score conversion tables from four official ACT tests. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Raw Score Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 40 (miss 0) 36 36 36 36 39 (miss 1) 34 34 35 35 38(miss 2) 32 32 33 34 37(miss 3) 30 30 32 33 36(miss 4) 29 29 30 31 35(miss 5) 28 28 29 30 34(miss 6) 27 27 28 29 Source: ACT On all 4 of these tests, if you get a perfect raw score and miss 0 questions, you get a perfect 36 score. No surprise there. But if you miss just ONE question, you immediately drop down to a 34 or a 35. Miss another, and you drop to a 32, 33, or 34. This goes to show that the stakes are high. The more difficult the test is, the more leeway you have, but the grading scale istough. The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for a 36. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 36. For example, if you're scoring a 30 now, you need to answer 3-4 more questions right to get to a 36. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report: 13 Strategies to Get a 36 on ACTScience OK - so we've covered why getting a higher ACT Science score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll actually get into actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High-Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Knowing your weaknesses in ACT prep is SUPERimportant. When you know your weaknesses, you can surgically focus your time on what will improve your score most.When you don't, it'll feel like pounding your head against the wall. Every student has different flaws in ACT Science. Some aren't comfortable with underlying skills, like reading data graphs. Others get bogged down in the minutiae of science passages and can't solve questions in time. (As we'll discuss, the ACT Sciencesection applies pretty heavy time pressure. So you likely do suffer from some time pressure - we're trying to figure out how much) Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Take only the sciencesection of a practice test. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For that section, use a timer for 35 minutes. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out and you're not done yet, keep working for as long as you need. But starting now, for every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." Grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, and 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Seewhat we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you'd get if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of skills, or a deep weakness in only a few skills. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with ACT Science question types and passages. If YES (Extra Time score 32), then: Was your Realistic score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32, Realistic 32), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than two points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you getting bogged down reading the science passages? Or did specific types of problems slow you down? If you practice a lot and learn more efficient ways to tackle science passages, you'll be able to reduce your time significantly. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 32), then you have a really good shot at getting a 36. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score - if they differed by more than one point, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues in ACT Science, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a 36 with extra time, but score a 32 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 36. This perfect ACT Science guide covers both time management and content issues, so you're in luck. If you learn that time management is a big problem for you, here's one of the most likely problems with the way you approach ACT Science... Strategy 2: Don't Waste Time onthe Passage and Figures ACT Science passages are full of scientific details that don’t actually matter to answering the questions. This is especially true of charts. The ACT does this on purpose to confuse you and to mimic what real scientific research looks like. But you aren’t reading a science journal – you’re answering ACT Science questions. A common mistake people make is to try too hard to understand the passage in its entirety. They want to understand every detail in every chart. This can happen regardless of how strong a scientist you think you are. If you’re a science geek, you’re tempted to understand all the details since you want to flex your science muscles. If you’re not a science geek, it’s harder to distinguish what’s useful or not, since it all looks the same. Trying to understand the entire passage is a HUGE waste of time because most of the passage isn’t going to have a question asked about it. This is true in ACT Reading, and it’s even more true in ACT Science. So what should you do instead? Skim the passage and understand the passage at a very high level. Answer these two questions only: What’s the main point here? What’s the figure showing? That’s it. When I read ACT Science passages, I don’t understand the deep details of what’s happening. I get the gist and I move on to the questions. Let’s try an example from a real ACT Science passage. I’m going to show you how useless most of the passage is and how little you need to understand to answer the questions. My skimming: There is an old lake. The lake sediment tells us about the climate in the past. They mention average temperature for figure 3, so that’s probably what the main point is. There’s a weird oxygen symbol 18O, but all I need to know is that SMALLER values mean COLDER. This is a map showing three sites. We’ll probably be looking at samples from these three sites. This shows us a cutaway section of the lake, with the three sites from Figure 1. The y-axis is elevation. The key shows that each colored section is a different layer. Lake clay, glacial till, bedrock. The layers change as you move across the graph. How they change I’m not going to care about until I get asked about it. I have no idea what the hell â€Å"glacial till† is but I’m not going to worry about that, since I’ll bet the ACT isn’t going to ask me to define it. Oh lord, a bunch of graphs designed to be confusing. OK. Well they all look about the same. We’ll just look at Site 1. The y-axis shows depth, so the further down the deeper we go. The x-axis shows the 18O thing. From left to right, this value gets larger. From the passage we know that the SMALLER 18O is, the COLDER it is. So the LARGER 18O is, the HOTTER it is. What Site 1 shows is as you go UP in depth, you get a LARGER 18O value, which means it’s getting HOTTER. Now look at the other 2 Sites. Site 2 looks about the same, except for a glacial till boundary. Site 3 looks the same as Site 1. And now there’s this formula. I’m not even going to bother with this crap until they ask me a question about it. Notice from my notes that I really understand the passage only at a high level. I’m not getting bogged down in details, and I’m not understanding every detail of every graph. Doing that would be a waste of time. Just to convince you this high level of understanding works, we’re actually going to answer all five questions for thispassage. Lake clay is gray. Where is it thinnest? Winnipeg, F. You actually didn't even have to read the passage to solve this! You could solve it just by looking at the picture. We want to find the SMALLEST 18O value, which means it’s more on the LEFTside of the graph. From the dots we see that’s going to be at the BOTTOM LEFTof the figure. Choice C. Once again, you barely had to read the passage to solve this! It's just figuring out where the dots are. OK, so figure 2. We start from Grand Forks on the right, then move to Site 3. Lake clay, the gray piece, gets THICKER. They say this in the question, and we see it in the figure. The question asked about glacial till, the striped layer under it. It gets THINNER as you go from Grand Forks to Site 3. So thickness DECREASES, choice J. Yet once again, you barely had to know the passage to solve this! OK, we want the elevation of the TOPof GLACIAL TILL at each of three sites. Glacial till is the STRIPED layer. At Site 1, the top is 200. At Site 2, the top is 205ish. At site 3, it’s 180 ish. Answer choice C is the only one that fits these values. YET AGAIN you barely had to know the passage! To rephrase: it rains. Water gets to 3m deep. What is the 18O 3m deep? Look at figure 3 at a depth of 3m. In each figure, it’s around -15. Answer J. Finally, surprise surprise, you didn't have to know the passage at all to answer this question. EASY PEASY. Notice all the crap we didn’t have to care about: In the passage, we didn’t have to care about how old the lake was or how it formed. Against my expectation, we didn’t even have to care about what 18O means about temperature, so I actually over-read the passage and wasted my time! We didn’t use Figure 1 at all. Stupid map. In figure 2, we didn’t care at all about bedrock. Also, we only needed to care about how the layers changed when we were asked about it. In figure 3, we didn’t have to care at all about how Site 2 had a glacial till layer. We sure as hell didn’t have to know what the formula meant. I hope you get the point. So much of each passage is USELESSto getting the questions right. The ACT knows this, and they WANT you to get bogged down. â€Å"Oh gee, I wonder what bedrock is? How might they ask questions about this?† â€Å"Boy this formula looks real tough. What is 18O, and what is 16O? What’s groundwater and what’s standard water? Why multiply by 1,000?† You can waste so many minutes trying to make sense of the entire passage. If you have time management problems, skimming the passage can be a huge time savings for you! Again, when you read the passage focus on only two questions: What is the MAIN POINT of the passage? What is the MAIN POINT of each figure? I’ve started yelling more just because of how angry this test makes me. So let me take a deep breath. Moving on†¦ Disappointed with your ACT scores? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Strategy 3: Understand EVERY Type of ACT Science Passage and Question ACT Science stands out as the most structured and predictable section on the ACT. What I mean by that is ACT Science has three passage types, and each passage type has specific question types associated with it. This is unlike ACT English, where all five passages have all sorts of random question types associated with it. The great thing about predictability is that it's really easy to diagnose where your problems are and then get focused practice on your weaknesses. Below are the passage types and question types associated with them.I've linked to our guides for every question type, butfirst I suggest you finish reading this 36 guide to get the high-level picture, then come back to the detailed guides. 3 Data Representation Passages - describes a study, heavy on graphs and charts Read-the-GraphQuestions Interpreting Trends Calculating Values 3 Research Summaries Passages - describes an experiment with multiple parts Experimental Design Hypothetical Experimental Changes Interpreting Experiments 1 Conflicting Viewpoints Passage - two or more scientists disagree Understanding Viewpoints Comparing Viewpoints Here's a helpful writeup of the three types of ACT Science passages and an overview of question types. Understanding the content on ACT Science is critical because you next have to understand precisely where you make your mistakes. Our PrepScholar ACT program does the hard work for you by dividing up the entire test into specific skills you need to master. For every skill in ACT Science and every other section, you'll get a focused lesson and a quiz customized to your skill level. This is how I studied for the ACT and got a perfect score, so that's how I designed our prep program to work. If you could use help breaking down the ACT like this, definitely check out our PrepScholar ACT program. Strategy 4:Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on ACT Science will knock you down from a 36. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 ACT questions customized to each skill. The second step - and the more important part - is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who have completed ten official ACT practice tests. They've solved over 400 sciencequestions, but they're still nowhere near a 36 on ACT Science. Why? They never truly understood their mistakes. They just pounded their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one - and find the source of each one - or else the infestation is going to continue and your restaurant's going to be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect answer. This way even if you guessed an answer correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by passage type and skill(like data representation - calculations, or conflicting viewpoint). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. It's not even enough to understand how to get the right answer. You have to think HARDabout why you SPECIFICALLYfailed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a ScienceQuestion? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further - what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss an ACT Science question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't have the science knowledge to understand what was being described in the passage. Example: "I forgot how forces work in physics." One step further:What specific content do I learn, and how will I learn this? How could I have done better, even without understanding the passage? Incorrect Approach:I understood the passage, but I didn't know how to solve this question. Example: "I didn't know how to extrapolate the line in the graph." One step further:How do I solve the question? Where have I seen other questions like this? How will I similarquestions in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or solved for the wrong thing. Example: "I confused Scientist 2's perspective with Scientist 1's." One step further:WHYdid I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're making every single mistake. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills, including the ACT Science skills above. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. We also explain the ways every question tries to trick you so you won't get fooled again. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 5:If You Miss a Question, Re-Solve It When you're doing ACT Science practice questions, the first thing you probably do when reviewing is read the answer explanation and think about it a little. This is too easy. I consider thispassive learning - you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different - find the correct answer choice (A-D or F-J), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to resolve the question and get the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new strategy, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information FARbetter than if you just passively absorbed the information. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to ten minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Then, log your mistakes in your notebook, like I recommended in Strategy 3. Strategy 6: If You Miss a Question, Generate New Questions Missed questions are such important learning opportunities that I have yet another strategy for them. After you fully review the question and understand exactly why you missed it, create two more questions yourself in the very same style. Then solve them. These questions are meant to be close replicas of the original question, so they test the same skill with the same passage but use slightly different scenarios. If it's a graph-related question, change the numbers so you're looking at a different part of the graph. If it's about conflicting viewpoints, changewhich scientist you're talking about. This is perfect for ACT Science because the questions are so stylistically formulaic, it's a lot easier to generate realistic questions. (Contrast this to ACT Reading, where it's tougher to come up with your own questions because of how passage-dependent the reading questions are.) What do you gain from doing this? First, you have a few more chances to practice the very question you just missed. This gives you instant reinforcement of your weakness. Think about it this way - if you're learning how to throw footballs with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, and he gives you some advice, do you drop your football right at that moment and refuse to throw another one? No! You instantly use his advice to correct your next few throws! The same is true of the ACT, and especially ACT Science. If you instantly practice right after noticing a weakness, you'll get rid of your weakness far more quickly. The other thing you get out of doing this is you put yourself in the mind of the question maker - the ACT - which helps you understand how the test is constructed. Here are a few examples: 1) Change the question so instead you look at the LARGEST 18O value in lake clay. 2) Change the question so you look at the smallest 18O value inGLACIAL TILL. 1) Change the question so it's about 15 m below the surface. 2) Change the question so it's about 30 m below the surface. If youmake a mistake on a question and you review it well, you'll be able to answer your two variants 100%. When I was taking tests for high school and college, I used this strategy all the time. It gave me a lot more practice in areas I already knew I was weak in. Strategy 7:Get Used to Weird ACT Science Graphs On every single test, there will be a weird way to present data that you’ve never seen before. Like this graph of rock types at different temperatures and pressures: or this graph of sediment types and their characteristics: or this masterpiece on hearing: This last one is the craziestfigure I’ve ever seen on an ACT science test. Don’t be alarmed by these complex graphs. Remember what I said in the beginning? To make the test difficult, the ACT has to test SIMPLE concepts in COMPLICATED ways. In this case, that means using the same simple graph reading skills, you can understand EVERY graph the ACT throws at you. Don’t panic – just remember the same basic rules: What does each axis represent? What does the graph show? We're going to tackle, step by step, the last graph about hearing. So scroll up, skim the passage and graph (remember Strategy 2), and then work on this question: ... Ready? Did you give it a good try? It's really easy to get tripped up by a problem like this without knowing where to start. There are all these squiggly lines and even a curve that loops back on itself. But remember the fundamental principles that apply to every single graph. First, let's start by understanding what the graph is even showing. As the text says, "the figure below displays, for sounds in water and in air, the human thresholds of hearing and of pain." And in the paragraph above, it says that "the human threshold of hearing is the minimum intensity at each sound frequency required for a sound to be heard by humans." The critical first step for every graph is to look at the two axes - what's being shown here? On the x-axis is the intensity of the sound (in decibels, or db). As we move left, we lower the intensity. As we move right, we raise the intensity. On the y-axis is the frequency of the sound (in hertz, or Hz). As we move up, we increase the frequency. As we move down, we decrease the frequency. Both axes, intensity and frequency,relate to the definition of "human threshold of hearing" above. Next, on the graph we locate the curved line called "threshold of hearing." Again, this is a weird line, but remember the threshold is the MINIMUM intensity at a specific frequency to be heard by humans. Below that intensity, humans can't hear the sound. Above that intensity, we can. For example, let's pick a frequency: 1 x 102 (or 100) Hz. The threshold of hearing line is an intensity of roughly 40 db. Above 40db, humans can hear a sound at 100 Hz. Below 40db, humans can't hear a sound at 100 Hz. But the threshold of hearing intensity isn't the same at other frequencies! Let's pick103(or 1000) Hz. The line is much lower in intensity - around 0db. So at this frequency, the threshold of hearing is lower than at 100 Hz. As you follow the "threshold of hearing" line up and down, you'll see the intensity increase and decrease. At each frequency, there is a minimum intensity required to be heard by humans. Great - so now we understand the graph. We don't really care WHY this is actually true in real life. For this test, we just need to be able to read the graph. Now, the question - "which of the following is closest to the lowest frequency that can be heard by a human being?" We know that the "threshold of hearing" line defines what can be heard by humans. "Lowest frequency" suggests that we need to look downward on the y-axis. Here's the graph again: Look at the threshold of hearing line and follow it downward in frequency until....wait. It disappears. What does this mean? It must mean that humans can't hear the sound, no matter what the intensity is! Now, the question asks, at what frequency does this happen? To figure this out, you need to look at the y-axis. I draw a line from the point where the line disappears to the left: So we see the frequency is 2 x 101 Hz, or 20 Hz. That's answer G, which is correct. Whew - that was a handful, and one of the most difficult graphs I've seen on ACT Science. You're going to see crazy graphs like this, and possibly even more complicated graphs, on your ACT Science test. DON'T BE INTIMIDATED. Remember Strategy 2? You're not going to need most of the figure anyway! Break every figure down: What does each axis represent? What does the graph show? I guarantee that if you can answer these questions for each graph, you'll be able to answer every question relating to the graph. Strategy 8: Eliminate Careless Mistakes In your quest to get a perfect ACT Science score, you need absolute perfection. Probably the most frustrating type of mistake is a careless mistake. You understand the question, you know the answer, but you get excited and slip up. Oops - they were asking about Scientist 2, but you answered for Scientist 1 instead.There goes your 36. These types of errors are the most costly and frustrating. You've already put in a ton of work to master the underlying material, and here a question has tricked you into losing a point. ACT Science has a few especially tricky question types that are purpose built to trick you. If you understand this beforehand and know how to defeat them, you’ll be in a much more secure position. The first type is the Interpreting Experiments Question. The answer choices for these are almost always in this form: No, because A No, because B Yes, because A Yes, because B Here's a real example question: (The answer to this question is A.) The tricky part to these questions is that you can focus on getting one half right (especially the A/B part which has more words), and then miss the other half. For example, you might focus so much on verifying whether the solution was blue or yellow that you pick answer choice C, which has the same second half as A, but is Yes instead of No. To combat this, answer each half independently. â€Å"Do the results of Experiment 2 support this claim?† No – because the pH is higher at 1.8 mL.â€Å"If no, why not?† Because the solution was yellowat 0.2 and blue at 1.8mL.OK - then it's answer A. This way, you're less likely to make a careless mistake by misinterpreting the question. Make sure BOTH parts of the answer are correct! The other type of question that breeds careless mistakes is the Understanding Viewpoints questions. The passages will give you the perspectives of two or three scientists, and the questions will ask you about how each one behaves. Here's an example: So here you're tasked with finding the perspective of Student 2. But notice how they bury "Student 2" in the mess of the rest of the question. No doubt the ACT wants you to get distracted and forget which Student you should be thinking about. The correct answer is G. But if you had accidentally identified Student 1, you would have incorrectly answered J! One way to solve this is to circle the "Student 2" in the question text. Then, when you answer the question, think explicitly in your head, "Student 2 believes that..." Avoid considering the wrong perspective at all costs! Strategy 9: Drill Your Weaknesses Until They Disappear When your dentist inspects your mouth and finds a cavity, does she just ignore it and move on to looking at your other teeth? No! She cleans out the entire cavity with a drill so that the rotting doesn't continue. Then she fills in the hole with a filling. This completely solves the problem and preventsfuture cavities in the same location. You should treat every mistake you make like a cavity. Every question you miss on ACT Science points to an infection - a weakness that you have with ACT Science. To clear out the infection, you need to practice on the same type of question repeatedly until you COMPLETELYget rid of your weakness. Again, to get a perfect 36, you can't afford to make any mistakes. Fill in the potholes of your understanding. Remember the listingof every passage and question type in Strategy 3? When you grade your practice test, you MUST keep track of how many questions you are missing in which categories. Be scientific about this - you put in a lot of hard work in the practice test, now get the most out of it! Then, find a LOT of practice questions to keep drilling that specific weakness. Do you keep getting thrown offby complicated figures and charts? Find those charts and practice with them! Do you keep making careless mistakes on Viewpoints questions? Then keep practicing them until you don't anymore! In our ACT prep program PrepScholar, we do that work for you by splitting up our 1,500+ practice questions by skill and difficulty. If you're weak in graph reading, we're going to give you a ton of questions on graphs of all kinds. If you don't know how to interpret experiments, you'll get 20+ questions in a quiz dealing specifically with that skill. This repetitive practice fills up your content gap far better than any other method I know. Want to learn more about ACT Science? Check out our new ACT Science prep book. If you liked this lesson, you'll love our book. It includes everything you need to know to ace ACT Science, including deep analysis of the logic behind ACT Science questions, a full breakdown of the different passage and question types, and tons of expert test-taking and study tips. Download our full-length prep book now: Strategy 10: Be Fluent WithBasicScientific Concepts By and large, ACT Science is far more a reading and logic test than it is a science test. You can get a good score without understanding much science at all. But if you want a PERFECT score, you will have to understand the most important scientific concepts. The ACT DOESexpect you to know these by heart, even if the information isn't included in the passage. Here's a notable example: (there's more to this passage, but this is all that's relevant for the next two questions) This question asks about the function of organelles. This info isn't provided in the passage! You have to know that photosynthesis occurs in chloroplasts. Another question: Once again, you have to know that C6H12O6 represents glucose in the photosynthesis equation. It's not in the passage - otherwise this would be trivial to answer. Luckily, we've gathered every scientific concept you have to know in our guide, "The Only Actual Science You Have to Know for ACT Science. We scoured dozens of official ACT tests to collect the scientific concepts you need that won't show up in the passage text. This includes concepts like: pH, acids and bases how charges attract and repel the scientific method natural selection and more. To get a perfect 36, you HAVE to know some science - here's what you need. Strategy : Pace Your TimeSection by Section, Question by Question In my experience, ACT Science has the second-most intense time pressure on the ACT (first is ACT Math). For ACT Science, you have to answer 40 questions across seven passages in 35 minutes. And if you want a perfect 36, you'll need to finish the section with time to spare so you can go back and check your work. This is why I recommend aiming to finish the entire ACT science section in 25 minutes. This gives you 10 minutes to spare to go back to questions you weren't sure about and make sure you're not making any careless mistakes. What this also means is that you should try to finish each passage and all associated questions within four minutes. Some passages are easier than others, but this should be your average. This is hard. Even though I'm pretty good at science, I still need 25 minutes or so to finish the section, because some passages really are pretty tricky. But this is what you should aim for. If you can accomplish this regularly, not only do you have extra time to perfect your answers, you've also reached a level of mastery that puts you on the path to a 36 score. It's important to pace yourself section by section and question by question because you do NOT want to obsess over a passage and waste time. The trouble with trying to get a perfect 36 is that you KNOW you have to miss zero questions, so you're more likely to fret about a single hard question. Before you know it, you've sunk three minutes on a single question. So if you spend over 30 seconds on a question, just skip it. You can always come back to it later, and right now it's most important to rack up as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you five minutes, automatically. If you've read my other ACT 36 guides, then you'll already know this. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just five seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on the 40 questions. This is huge. Note: Be careful that you don't run out of time before bubbling in answer choices! If the instructor calls time and you haven't bubbled anything, you're screwed. Strategy 12: DON'T Study With Actual Science Journals If you actually like science, you may be tempted to pick up an academic journal like Science or Natureto study for ACT Science. "If the testis about science research, then why wouldn't reading science research help?" Don't do it. ACT Science is superficially about science research, but it is VERY simplified for high schoolers. Remember that the ACT needs to be appropriate for high school students around the country, not for leadingscientists with PhDs. The time you spend trying to understand what in the world is going on in a study like thisis far better spent actually doing ACT Science questions. Furthermore, ACT Science asks questions in a very specific way about their passages. You don't do this when you read research journals, so you don't get to practice the actual skills you need to perfect. Now, if you get a kick out of science research, then by all means do read science journals - for fun. Since I did a lot of science research in high school, I tried to read some academic literature too. Just don't expect it to improve your ACT Science score. Strategy13: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection on ACT Science. You know that to get a 36, you have to aim for ZERO missed questions. Otherwise, you might get a 35. This makes a lot of high-achieving students nervousduring the test. "I don't get this passage...I can't solve this question...my 36 is gone...I'm getting more nervous and I have to skip the next question too...oh dear...I don't think I know how to read anymore..." You can see how quickly you can fall into a vicious cycle because you have really high goals. Before you know it, your anxiety leads to a worse score than you would have ever expected. You need to learn to be mentally strong, like an athlete on game day. You have to roll with the punches. Yes, you might have to skip a question on the first pass through. Maybe even two in a row. But you've practiced hard up to this point. You know this stuff, and you'll come back to those questions and get it later (especially if you've been using the time-saving strategies above). You need to keep up a positive mindset during the test, or you'll crumble. And in the worst case, maybe you won't get a 36. But if you've consistently been getting 36's on the practice tests, you likely won't go much lower than 34 - and that's still an awesome score, even for the best colleges in the United States. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT Sciencescore to a 36. If you're scoring above a 26 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect ACT Sciencescore. Notice how much I talked about reviewing your mistakes, understanding your weaknesses, and drilling them with good practice. I don't tell you that there's a magic solution to getting a 36 that works for everyone. That's because one-size-fits-all, guaranteed strategies don't really exist. (And anyone who tells you this is deceiving you.) Every student is different. Instead, you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You also need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. If you want to go back and review any of the strategies above, here's a list of all the strategies: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Content or Time Management Strategy 2: Don't Waste Time In the Passage and Figures Strategy 3: Understand EVERY Type of ACT Science Passage and Question Strategy 4: Do a Ton of Practice, and Understand Every Single Mistake Strategy 5: If You Miss a Question, Re-Solve It Strategy 6: If You Miss a Question, Generate New Questions Strategy 7: Get Used to Weird ACT Science Graphs Strategy 8: Eliminate Careless Mistakes Strategy 9: Drill Your Weaknesses Until They Disappear Strategy 10: Be Fluent with Basic Scientific Concepts Strategy : Pace Your Time Section by Section, Question by Question Strategy 12: Don't Study with Actual Science Journals Strategy 13: Keep a Calm Mind During the Test, No Matter What Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your ACT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read our complete guide to a perfect 36, written by me, a perfect scorer. Also check out our 36 Math, 36 Reading, and 36 English guides. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 ACT essay, step by step. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Obvious Marketing Moves I was Totally Missing on LinkedIn and Mobile!

Obvious Marketing Moves I was Totally Missing on LinkedIn and Mobile! Squeeze Pack Solutions While eating out of a nut butter squeeze pack a few weeks ago, I reached the point where I could not squeeze out any more- but I knew there was still plenty of almond butter stuck to the inside walls of the package. It didn’t take me long to figure out that I could cut the package open to extract the remaining goo. It was messy, but it worked. Shortly thereafter, I reached the end of a toothpaste tube and thought, â€Å"I wonder if there’s toothpaste stuck to the insides of this packaging too?† I cut open the tube and retrieved three brushings worth of paste. It took me what†¦ 40 years? to even notice this problem. The solution was easy. Blinding Flashes of the Obvious We all have moments where something happens, or someone makes a suggestion to us, and a light bulb goes off. Wow! That makes total sense! How did I not think of that? It was right in front of my face. How have I not done that already? My ActionCOACH coaches call these sudden revelations â€Å"Blinding Flashes of the Obvious.† When one of these ideas arises, I am surprised by it because I probably knew somewhere deep inside that I needed to do this thing, but it hadn’t risen to the surface as a priority. After an initial, â€Å"What have I been thinking?!† I get into action. This past week, I attended The National Resume Writers’ Association annual conference, where I garnered several â€Å"blinding flashes of the obvious† from conversations I had with my colleagues. Here are my top two: 1. Create more than one LinkedIn profile Experience entry for my â€Å"job† at The Essay Expert. You’d think that as a LinkedIn expert I would have maximized my LinkedIn SEO already. I tell other people all the time that if they held more than one position at a company, they should create more than one entry in order to include more keywords. But was I following this advice myself? Nope. I was like the proverbial overweight, cigarette-smoking doctor. Yikes. At The NRWA conference, a fellow resume writer showed me her LinkedIn profile to ask my opinion. She had eight (eight!!) entries for her current business, and she had stuffed keywords into every one. While I did not recommend that she use this tactic, and while I believe that â€Å"keyword stuffing† can backfire, I realized that with only one entry for my role in my business, I was missing out on a big opportunity to put more keywords into my own LinkedIn profile. As of Sunday night, I have created separate sections in my profile for my position as an Executive Resume Writer, Executive LinkedIn Profile Writer, and College Admissions Essay Consultant. I am in disbelief that for the past eight years, I had been cramming all these roles into one LinkedIn Experience entry. I am curious to see what happens with my profile views and inquiries for business now that I have followed my own advice! 2. Get texting capabilities to and from my business phone line. For at least two years, texting has been the most popular form of communication used in this country. It would seem obvious that people would want to send texts to my business number. In fact, I’m sure many people have sent texts to my business number, thinking they were reaching me. Until yesterday, those texts were going directly to nowhere. Not only that, but when I wanted to send a text to a client, I had to do it through my personal cell phone. I did not like texting clients because then they would call me on my personal cell phone number, and I much prefer to keep that number, well, personal. I was avoiding texting because of this issue, despite the fact that my clients probably would have loved to text me. Was I thinking of the most obvious solution to this problem? No. I was not prioritizing the issue, despite the fact that 95% of texts are read within 3 minutes, while only 12% of emails are opened. Enabling text was a no-brainer, and I apparently had no brain. It took me until last week’s conference, at the suggestion of my brilliant colleague Robin Schlinger, to bite the bullet and enable texting capabilities on my business line. She mentioned that several executive clients had texted her with inquiries for her services, and that was enough to convince me to get on the texting bandwagon! Now clients will be able to reach out to me via their preferred mode of communication, whether that is phone, email, or †¦ text!! And I can easily send texts without revealing my personal number. On a related note, I needed a better way to make calls from my cell phone that appeared to be coming from my business number. Purchasing texting capabilities led me to download the eVoice app, which solved that problem too. I had been wanting that kind of solution for years- getting the app was another blinding flash of the obvious! In order to have the types of revelations I’ve been describing, we have to be paying attention, listening for good ideas (they could appear at any moment), and willing to take new action. Are you ready? Are there nagging problems in your life that you have been ignoring, not even giving them the time of day? Maybe they are more important than you think, and easier to fix than you think. I challenge you to have a â€Å"blinding flash of the obvious† this week, and share below what it is!