Monday, May 18, 2015

Education All Around the World

Education All Around the World



Around the world over 75 million children do not have the opportunity to go get an education. Over half of that  amount is girls. Gender biases often stop parents from sending their daughters to school. Girls often stay home and learn from their mothers or are sent to work.  If the culture prefers boys, the greater the gender difference in schools. Wars and crises are also preventing many children from receiving an education.  In countries that have civil wars, most of the schools have been destroyed.  People have no choice but to get away from where the crisis is worse.

Most developing countries’ budget for education is way to low to meet basic education requirements. If the primary school system wants to keep up with the amount of children that need to learn, governments of developing countries have to invest more money into education system. In rural regions and urban districts often do not have safe transportation to go and to return from school. Children living in rural regions have to walk a very long distance everyday to get to their school, and are often tired to learn when they get there. Some parents do not allow their daughters to go to schools, fearing for their safety. Schools are  lacking teaching materials, such as textbooks. Usually the required books, are  outdated. These schools also have no funding to pay for water, electricity or transportation for students. The teachers are overworked. They are reqired to work multiple shifts everyday, with an extremely large amount of children in each class.

Many families in developing countries cannot afford to pay for school fees, learning materials, school uniforms and transportation to and from school. In countries that have ended school fees, the amount of children attending the school have risen.  Families rely on their children to help provide an income for the family, for this reason majority of students drop out of school. The International Labor Organization believes that about 166 million children between the age of 5 and 15 have to work to provide their families basic needs, such as water, food, clothing and a place to live..


Malala Yousafzai is a great example of a girl fighting for her education. Malala attended her father’s school in Pakistan, where the Taliban was forcing woman and girls out of their jobs and school. Malala and her father gave speeches about the importance of education.  One day while taking the bus home from school, a soldier pulled the bus over and asked for Malala. The soldier shot her for standing up for the girls in Pakistan.  One bullet hit the left side of her forehead, traveled under her skin of her face, into her shoulder.  She was rushed to the hospital. She was later transported to England to receive better health care. Malala continues to give speeches about the importance of education. She inspired many people to be brave and fight for what they believe.

Monday, April 27, 2015

What to do after 10th ?

What to do after 10th ?


After 10th a student’s life goes for a big change. While class 10th is an important milestone in a school student's life, it is also the starting point of one's career. It is now that he takes up subjects of his choice, prepares for courses after 12th and puts focused efforts for better career prospects in future. It is also seen that many a times students do not take the best decisions and get influenced by external factors. There are many decisions that are to be taken.


BIG question in life of a student is: Science, Commerce or Humanities?


At the outset, let us tell you that colleges and careers after that are now-a-days very accommodating and they let you change your stream any time. Only entering Science stream after you have studies commerce or humanities for 2 years is a little challenging.

Yet, choosing the right stream in Class 11 is best for your career.

How should you choose?

1.     Based on your personal choice of future career


Some people are gifted with a strong character and they know exactly what they want to do when they grow up. For them the choice is very clear. Some suggestions for streams based on career options are mentioned below.

·      Science Stream - For all types of Engineering, For all streams in Medicine.
·      Commerce Stream - For careers in accounting, finance, marketing, business and                  economics
·       Humanities Stream - economics, education, media, politics etc.

2.     Based on choices your friends group



This is not as funny as it sounds. If your friend is taking Science you may also want to take it. Friends can motivate and inspire you to study hard and do well. Friends are there with you in highs and low. You and your friends can go to the same college and help each other in making fine careers.
The only catch here is that you may or may not really like the subjects or may not perform superbly well.

3.     Based on your personality


This is ideally the best scenario. If you know what your real personality is and the career you will do well based that, you can choose the stream accordingly. You can take a personality test and then make your decision based on that. If you are an outgoing person and really like being around people, you may want to consider a career in sales or if you live in dreams and are artistic as well, a career in fine arts will be the best.

Monday, March 23, 2015

How to Prepare Well for your Exams

How to Prepare Well for your Exams

Preparing for the exams not only includes studying hard but also keeping a lot of other important things in mind.

Here are some important tips for doing well in the exams:

Relax:

It is very important to relax though our minds keep on fluctuating and small things can unsettle us. Listening to music, watching something funny or things which keep your tired mind relaxed are a must.

Healthy Diet: 

A healthy diet during the exams comes as another great help. The final exams are usually during the summer season in either March or April. Have things which will cool your system such as yoghourt or juice. They are rich in nutrients too.

Preparing Well in Advance: 

Preparing well in advance always keeps you relaxed before the exams. You don’t get the feeling of ‘so much to do, yet so little done’. If you haven’t studied throughout the year, at least start a month or two in advance. Leaving all for the last day is always stressful.

Revise:

If you are well-prepared, revising helps you in wrapping things up. It helps you to organise information in your mind and to recollect matter; both of which are helpful during the exams.

Study Smartly:

Studying smartly can save a lot of time and energy, and it can get the work done efficiently. Instead of going through all the pages of your book, divide the chapters into important parts and prepare accordingly.

Solve Previous Years Papers: 

Solving past year papers are very important as it gives you an insight of what is important and what is the pattern of the question paper in all the previous years. It is a smart technique of going about your exams. It helps you understand your weaknesses and strengths, and where you stand before the exams begin. At the same time, also focus on the question banks which are bound to help you preparing for your exams.

Take Small Breaks while Studying: 

It is impossible to keep going for few straight hours! It is important to give our minds necessary breaks before returning to study again. Planning the number of breaks and their duration is also important. You wouldn’t want to take three or four breaks when studying for an hour. Too many breaks can be distracting and will affect your concentration. Plan your breaks and proportionately spread them throughout your study hours.

Be Creative when it Comes to Memorising: 

There are a lot of creative ways when it comes to memorising important formulae and pointers. To start with, grasping and understanding the concept of what you are studying are most important as compared with mindlessly mugging up.
However, there are things which you have to memorise such as formulae and pointers in Math and Science, and important dates and events in History. Highlighting points of importance which will catch your attention while revising, using sticky notes to memorise formulae and creating a pattern out of the first letters of principles or points are three tried and tested techniques.

Stay Focused: 

Keep your phones off while studying and you will pass the exam with flying colors. Don't panic. It will make the situation worse. Revise your notes on the night before the exam and in the morning. Study well in advance and focus on whatever you are doing. If you invest in pure concentration, you can do amazing and miraculous things.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

10 tips to revise better

Board exams: 10 tips to revise better


Try out these cool new strategies and make the most of your revision time ahead of the exam.
Exam time. Maybe there is enough study done, maybe not.
The idea is to max the performance, and revision has a potent impact on the performance we register.
Here are ten proven tips that will give you ample time to prepare and revise before your board exams.

1. Start from scratch
Doing everything, from scratch easily takes 10-15 days.
You don't have that much time before an exam, esp. if you have 4-6 exams over 2-3 weeks.
So the only way is to refer to condensed notes.
Take an A3 sheet or a big chart, and compile all key formulae, terms etc on it.
Scan this chart many times in your run up to the exam.

2. Test your memory

Now that you've scanned your chart, why not make the whole chart again, from memory.
Writing, pressuring mind to come up with details, helps anchor all stuff deep and solid.
This may take 2-3 hours, but this exercise is extremely beneficial.

3. Speak

You know what, take any term or formula, and try speaking on that for a minute or even 30 seconds.
Do this speaking for 10 terms/ formulae -- what do you realise?
It exerts pressure, it makes you confront your depth of grasp on the issues.
In case any term is not clear, you can review it from your book.
Keep on trying this speaking on 10-15 items at a trot, many time in the day (waiting, watching TV, driving).

4. 100 items on your list

You shall discover that every exam has around 50-150 items that form the entire syllabi, so to say.
Your chart should have these 100 items listed.
You can go to Glossary of the subject to identify these 100 items.
You can go to index at back of a good book, to better identify this list of 100 items.
In fact this way, whichever word you aren't clear on, you can cross-reference the page of the book that item appears on and get it brushed up.

5. Sprint

This may sound crazy, but some guys out there have tried this.
Run 50 metres, return as fast, and then speak on 4-5 terms/ formulae someone throws at you.
No time to catch breath -- just rattle off as asked.
Maybe it is the unnaturalness of the setting or what, things begin to stay stuck in mind more easy.

6. Revisit the toughies

Over the period of preparation, always keep on recording the tough difficult questions you encounter.
Over revision, special time should be allocated to revising these.
This aces you up and allows facing the tough questions set on the exam you would sit through.

7. Warm-up

 On the day of the exam, it is useful to try a 10-15 minute not seen before mock exam, some 2-3 hours prior to the commencement of the actual exam.
This is just to loosen the mental muscles.
Do not, repeat, do not evaluate your right or wrong on this warm-up.
Take it in a fun mode.

8. Try a novel

 Distraction is probably the nicest way to get primed up for an exam.
Too much of exam based content makes life monotonous and brain cells tired.
It is always a good idea to pick a novel, a thriller preferably, 2-3 days before an exam, and looking at your mood, browse 2-5 pages at a time.
Never more. The idea is to keep the mind in a state of mild tease.
Enter the exam whence the novel had not been completed, you can always finish it over after the exam.
Magical things happen this way to your neural networks.

9. Form your own questions

This exercise is truly worth it, in case you are really focused on excelling on your exam.
It entails setting up your own version of a full exam paper.
You study the expected format/ pattern.
You choose most fitting questions from here and there, of course after adapting them with due changes.
You make your own creative questions.
In case you are short of time, making a small part of the full exam paper also helps immensely.

10. Exchange

You can swap the paper you set with a friend's and try each other's mock exams.
Great fun.
Maybe a few questions are wrongly designed, but that's ok.
After all you aren't a professional in exam framing.
Believe me, the happiness you get on cracking your friend's set is heavenly.
Naturally, you would be keyed up with all these initiatives, and surely score well on the exam you take.



Wednesday, February 4, 2015

The Best Time To Study

What is the Best Time to Study? Day vs Night



The Best Time To Study

What is the best time to study? It’s one of those endless debates among students; is it better to study at night or during the day? Each side has its own loyal advocates who will speak at length of the benefits of their preferred method to try and convince you of the benefits of their choice.
Everyone thinks they know what the best time to study is but the reality is that each person is different and there is no clear winner from a scientific point of view. There are some people who get more out of studying at night while others find the best time to study to be the morning or the afternoon. In terms of objective reasons for both sides, we’ve researched the following benefits to try and answer once and for all what is the best time to study?!

4 Benefits of Studying During the Day

1. After a good nights sleep, you’ll likely have more energy and a higher ability to concentrate the next day.
2. Society is structured around being active during the day and sleeping at night, so by sticking to this norm there are undeniable benefits such as being able to go to the library or book shop.
3. Most people are contactable during the day so it’s easier to communicate with your friends or teachers during the day if you have any questions.
4. Natural light is better for your eyes. Artificial light hurts our eyes and can affect our natural sleep rhythm.

4 Benefits of Studying at Night

1. People are more active, louder and intense during the day. At night it’s only you and the night owls so you can study in peace and quiet.
2. If you’re lucky enough to live near a library that’s open late, you will notice that thelibrary is near deserted when you want to study late.
3. At night there are fewer distractions than during the day. Most of your friends are asleep and your social networks will be less active.
4. It is true that things look different by night. The night can increase your creative efficacy and help you see concepts differently.
There are possibly more reasons why each of these options could be the best time to study. It’s important to note however that ultimately it all depends on your individual preferences. Sadly, there really is no objective ‘best time to study‘! It all depends on your personality, what you’re studying, your resources, time management and your natural sleep cycle.
There are bunch of study tips out there to help you improve the time your spend studying. You can even read our article “How to Study: 10 Tips to Improve your Learning“.
If you study at night, or are interested in starting, then read the tips below.

6 Tips for Night Time Studying

If you know that you study better at night, follow these tips to get the most out of your preferred time of study:
1. Establish a Routine: If you decide to study at night, don’t do it sporadically, establish a study routine. This way your body will get used to it and you can get the best study performance possible. If you study for a few days and a few nights, your body will go crazy! Pick one and stick with it.
2. Rest: If you study at night, this does not mean you should be sleeping less. A well rested mind is key to successful study so make sure you don’t neglect your sleep by catching a few zzz’s during the day.
3. Lighting: It can happen to us all; you start studying during the evening and next thing you know it’s night time and you’re studying in the dark! Make sure this doesn’t become a common occurrence. If you’re a night studier, work in a properly lit room as it will improve your study.
4. Time Management: It’s easy to lose track of time when studying at night. This makes it even more important to create a study timetable outlining when you will take breaks. It’s recommended that you take a 5 to 10 minute break every 50 minutes when studying. Also make sure you keep hydrated!
5. Music: As mentioned above, one of the benefits of studying at night is the increase in your creativity levels. Many believe that their creativity becomes more pronounced at night. That is why many artists work through the night. A good idea to induce your creativity is to study while listening to music that inspires and motivates you.
If you’re interested in studying with music, check out our article “Music for Studying: 10 Tips to Pick the Best Study Music“.
6. Organise a Study Group: Studying in the dead of night lacks a lot of the social aspects that daytime studying may have. With this in mind, it may be a good idea to organise a study group with other night studiers to help you keep motivated.

If you’re a night studier, why do you think this is the best time to study?