There are many factors to consider when choosing the right school for you. Location, quality of faculty, diversity, range of courses, class size, test score requirements and so on. Cost is also an important consideration for most people, as studying for 2 - 4 years with no income can amount to a serious amount of money - not to mention the missed potential earnings from time taken off work. In real terms, this can be measured as a large deposit on a property or paying off a significant amount of your mortgage. This is clearly a risk and should be analysed carefully as part of your criteria for choosing a school.


Nobody wants to graduate laden with a large amount of debt, although many students do - especially those attending law, medical and business schools. Minimising this debt burden on graduation means you can hold off a little and focus on the best opportunity for you, rather than being tempted by the first option to come your way.


With the JPY currently so strong against currencies like the USD and GBP it is an excellent opportunity for people earning JPY (or with yen savings) to take advantage of courses being offered at a considerable discount in JPY terms compared to just 12 months ago. Likewise, if you are currently considering studying at a Japanese institution, take the time to consider the foreign alternatives as the current exchange rate doesn't only mean the courses themselves are cheaper, but the cost of living too.


However, just before you slip your rose tinted glasses back on, don't forget the risks involved, although you can hedge against exchange rate fluctuations to some extent, you can still lose out. Moreover, the weak USD and GBP is a double edged sword as many other international students will be thinking the same thing. More international applicants at prestigious schools means admissions departments can afford to be more selective, which brings us back to test scores again. Higher test scores, although not the be all and end all, can add value to your application and make you stand out from the crowd.


As some of you may know I will be leaving Kaplan on Sunday and Amberly will be taking over the blog.
Best wishes with your studies and I hope you have a prosperous New Year!
Paul




▼▽▼▼Paulの過去の記事を読む━━━━━━━━━━━
・【The Pareto Principle】2008.10.15 (Wed)
・【There's more than one way to skin a cat】2008.11.05 (Wed)
・【Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today】2008.11.26 (Wed)

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One of the most important aspects of test preparation is practice. Regular classroom attendance, while essential, is not enough for most people; to really understand and internalize all the material, students need to practice their test-taking skills again and again until they become natural.


When practicing test questions, we should try to make our environment as realistic as possible. For example, when writing, we should avoid pencil and paper, and use a computer to simulate the computer-based test environment. A timer should be used so that we get to know the rhythm of timed answers, and so that we don't waste too much time on other questions.


For speaking questions, it's a good idea to use a recording device or get a microphone for the computer. If we record ourselves when responding to questions, we can better understand our weaknesses and take action to improve ourselves. It isn't easy to improve without feedback!


At Kaplan, you will get plenty of extra study material in our textbooks and in our computer centers, and you will also have access to extensive online resources. If you use them diligently , you can't help but improve your test scores.




▼▽▼▼【講師】Kurt先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【How much will I improve?】2008.10.08 (Wed)
・【The Importance of Writing】2008.10.29 (Wed)
・【Bias in the News】2008.11.19 (Wed)

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Although this blog is about standardized test-prep in general, today I want to concentrate on my LSAT students, specifically those having trouble with the logic games section of their test. For a substantial majority of native English speaking students, the games are the toughest part of the LSAT, and many spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for that section. For my non-native speakers, although the reading comprehension section tends to be the toughest, the games still often present a special problem.


The reason that the games are (for most students) so tough is that they're not the kind of thing we're accustomed to being tested on. Even though the reading comprehension and logical reasoning sections are difficult, at least the tasks in those sections are somewhat familiar; we've all taken tests which require us to comprehend and answer questions about written material. But the logic games--with their strange, often intentionally vague and confusing rules--present a challenge unfamiliar to most test-takers.


For some students, however, the games are easy. Having taught the LSAT for several years, and having become good at the games myself through practice rather than inborn talent, I've observed several habits in my naturally-talented students. There are certain characteristics that those "naturals" tend to share, and which (lucky for me) can be learned.


Here are a few of the habits and tactics of effective logic-game solvers:


1) Think about the rules in the order that is most helpful, and not necessarily in the order that the testmakers list them! If, for instance, you have a sequencing game in which the first rule is "E is not first unless F is last," and the last rule is "B is second," put B in his place before you start worrying about E and F.

Another way of stating this tip is "Every rule is equally important, and equally valid." Use the rules that are simple to implement in order to help you implement the tougher ones.


2) Know the rules of logic! Sometimes, the LSAT says "If A is first, B is second." But other times (more often), you get rules like "If B is not second, A is not first." These, of course, are the exact same rule (write them out and do the contrapositives if you don't believe me), but the latter is tougher to visualize than the former.


If you aren't comfortable with the rules of logic and cause and effect, you will get flustered and lose confidence when confronted with vaguely-worded rules.


3) Know how to recognize game types, and how to shorthand common rules and their variations. Each game type has one or two sketch types that--if you know how to implement them--will make it much easier to assess the evidence and make deductions. Practice by first setting up your sketch in 6 or 8 minutes, and then peeking at Kaplan's explanation. If Kaplan's sketch arranges the information more cogently, modify your sketch accordingly and then proceed to the questions on your own.


4) Make your sketch, and then trust it. The LSAT beats us with humiliation and self-doubt. If you are constantly asking yourself "How did I know that? Am I sure I'm right?" you'll waste time by re-checking the rules over and over (re-re-re-re-checking, as it were).


5) Think proactively, not reactively. In other words, try to think like the testmakers. If you're asked "Which of the following must be true?" look at your deductions and see if you can anticipate the answer. This not only helps you to "vet" your sketch, but increases your confidence. When you're right, you feel like a superhero. And even when you don't anticipate the correct answer, thinking proactively can often at least allow you to narrow down answer choices, or key in on a "likely suspect" entity in the answer choices.


Like everything on the LSAT, these games are tough. However, more than the other sections, the games test shorthand, sketching, and formal logic skills that you can learn and develop.




▼▽▼▼Douglasの過去の記事を読む━━━━━━━━━━━
・【Smoke and Makuuchi】2008.10.01 (Wed)
･【It's Always Something】2008.10.22 (Wed)
・【Working the Corners】2008.11.12 (Wed)

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Procrastination is a habit which involves putting things off until the future and is a common culprit for many of our productivity problems. Everybody procrastinates, but the degree to which you do it can have a significant effect on your performance.


As students, there are many things you have to do in order to achieve your goals, taking tests. Unfortunately,things like work, social arrangements and other distractions often get in the way. Obviously doing something pleasurable in the short-term can can be a very tempting distraction and people often choose the path of least resistance. However, there are many other reasons why people simply put off doing something until later: fear of the unknown, low risk tolerance, lack of ideas and so on.


Sometimes its difficult to see a direct relationship between your ultimate goal and the steps you need to take to get there, so take the time to sit down and see how these stages link together. For example, if you want a degree from your dream school but you are constantly procrastinating and suffering from a lack of motivation to study, try and weigh up the future consequences of this in tangible terms and break down the steps into SMART goals to motivate you to take action now. If you need more convincing, check out the movie 'The Butterfly Effect' (1 and 2!)


Probably the most important step is to begin to notice when you are procrastinating and to snap out of it as soon as you can.




▼▽▼▼Paulの過去の記事を読む━━━━━━━━━━━
・【The Pareto Principle】2008.10.15 (Wed)
・【There's more than one way to skin a cat】2008.11.05 (Wed)

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At Kaplan, we often use newspapers and magazines in ourcourses. These are useful not only for vocabularybuilding, but also as analytical tools to help studentsbetter understand ways to approach questions on varioustests.


Naturally, a side benefit of reading these materials is that one can learn more about attitudes regarding various issues in foreign countries; however, we must always keep
in mind the interests and biases of the writers and their employers. Their articles may not always reflect attitudes in their countries as a whole, and "facts" may even be distorted to conform to the author's point of view.


We associate this phenomenon most often with articles about politics and economics, but bias is common in every subject from space exploration to fashion.


Reading a variety of sources with different viewpoints about a given subject goes a long way toward developing our critical reading skills, which are essential for future academic success.




▼▽▼▼【講師】Kurt先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【How much will I improve?】2008.10.08 (Wed)
・【The Importance of Writing】2008.10.29 (Wed)

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下記の3つをクリックして、応援していただけると嬉しいです。
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