Month: November 2024

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AP Courses – Gateways to College for Lifelong Learners

A growing trend in high schools across America and globally is the endorsement of Advanced Placement (AP) courses as integral to student success at the collegiate level and beyond. Available in 33 different content areas, AP courses aim to provide ambitious and intellectually capable students with a more rigorous and uniform curriculum than a typical high school course-load.

AP courses feature large quantities of reading and writing, with a focus on critical thinking. They seek to mimic the type of assessments and higher-order skills students will encounter in college. They require significantly more work, independent learning, organization and dedication than regular courses. The payoff for a student’s hard work is two-fold: a chance to earn college credits with a high score on the final AP Exam, and the prestige of listing their enrollment in such courses on résumés and college applications. Striking a balance between these two aspects is essential to all students, especially those applying to American universities from abroad.

Approximately 1.8 million American students were enrolled in AP courses in 2010. If the former members of the AP European History classes I taught were any indication, then many of those 1.8 million enroll in AP courses for one of two reasons. Firstly, a number of students I have taught genuinely relished the rigors of the AP curriculum. Students like these thrive upon the challenging atmosphere and expect that the skills they acquire will pay dividends throughout their life. Frankly, many former students from this group seemed indifferent to their final test scores and college credit.

Second, another faction of students concentrates on a much more concrete objective: AP courses as a springboard to college admissions and credit. These students do still value the educational experience itself, but as secondary to how their AP performance will improve their value in the eyes of college admissions boards. This parallels the mentality of many secondary schools. The more students enrolled in AP courses, the greater the reputation of the school. Further, high test scores and high percentages of college acceptances (especially to elite universities) are additional feathers in the cap. The danger here is a “quantity over quality” approach. An open-door policy to students into AP-level courses may be in the best interest of a school, but can result in a student struggling with work far above his or her abilities.

It is a reality that college admissions boards look favorably upon a demanding high school course-load. Students who have proven their ability to succeed in the most challenging of academic environments — whether AP, International Baccalaureate or actual college courses — are prized by the most elite of universities. However, this “ability to succeed” should be weighed when determining how many AP courses one should undertake. A student who has received A’s and scored “5’s” on a handful of AP courses and exams will have a much more impressive transcript than one who has completed a plethora of AP courses but with merely mediocre grades. Students should strive for the most rigorous curriculum they can successfully complete. By enrolling in AP courses in subjects of strength and interest, students can ensure this.

From my experiences as both a former AP student and instructor, this requires the attention of secondary school administrators and teachers, students and parents, and the educational community at large. Whatever the particular vision schools embrace for their students, a common element should be balance: balance on the part of students in viewing AP courses as privileged learning opportunities with inherent long-term benefits that should not be overlooked for the short-term rewards they might find on applications. School administrators need balance in making these opportunities readily available to those students who exhibit both a zeal and aptitude for the subject. A precarious balancing act is needed from teachers, to prepare their students above adequately for the AP Exam while also promoting a forward-thinking and progressive learning environment. Yes, AP courses can ease a student’s transition into the college of their choice and yes, they should be catalysts for lifelong learning. What all interested parties should consider is the best way to synthesize these concepts.

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Top 3 Tricks for Improving Your Writing Skills

Regardless of your goal, to quickly attain it you will want guidelines, pointers and helpful advice to attain it. If you happen to know what to do and what to keep away from, it is much easier to achieve your goal. You will find 3 essential tips to help you shown in this article. When you use these pointers you can enhance your prospects for getting improved results.

When you want to be a writer you will need to improve your writing skills, you’ll find it’s important that you do things correctly. If you don’t, the effects may be disastrous. Chances are you’ll wind up picking up very bad habits, and even writing in a way that nobody will like. Listed below are three tips for obtaining the best results..

1. keep writing, everyday you goal should be to write continuously for a certain period of time for example one hour a day without interruption.

You must keep writing, everyday you goal should be to write continuously for a certain period of time for example one hour a day without interruption. as it puts a stop to you feeling lazy, and with practice you are going to find your own voice in your writing. Failing to accomplish this may and will result in your never improving your own writing and finding your own voice. Therefore do not make the error of overlooking this specific all-important step!

2. Keep your sentences to the point and as simple as possible

Virtually as important as keep writing, everyday you goal should be to write continuously for a certain period of time for example one hour a day without interruption. when dealing with you want to be a writer you will need to improve your writing skills is keep your sentences to the point and as simple as possible. I am telling you, this is not something to overlook. It contributes greatly to the clarity of your writing, which is something everyone involved in improving their writing skills wants.

3. Keep the words that you use as simple as possible so that anyone from any age group or social background will be able to understand what you are saying

Finally, when you want to be a writer you will need to improve your writing skills you need to be sure and keep the words that you use as simple as possible so that anyone from any age group or social background will be able to understand what you are saying. This can encourage people from all backgrounds to read your work with ease, and that’s a very important component of improving your writing skills. Should you not, you will fail to capture your audience — and I do think we are able to agree this will not be a good thing!

As I said at the beginning, when it comes to you want to be a writer you will need to improve your writing skills, you really want to make certain you never make errors which will turn out picking up very bad habits, or even writing in a way that nobody will like. What you need is to make sure that you are persistent with your efforts and continue to practice on a day to day basis, and you will make that happen by taking note of the recommendations previously mentioned.

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Flight School Resources

Flying an aircraft is a dream many people have but very few get to realize it. Those who have a real zest and passion for this field need to go ahead and fulfill their dreams. A lot of flight schools provide suitable courses to prospective students, who wish to make a career in the aviation industry.

The resources depend on whether the school is big or small. Reputed flight schools have a number of planes and flight simulators, to provide proper training to their students. The flight schools have programs for people, who want to learn flying for personal reasons and also Accelerated Flight Training programs. It is important for students to check, if the schools have the equipment for providing basic and advanced aerobatic training, helicopter training, and a flying club.

The flight school also needs to have a fleet of gliders, new training aircraft, advanced aircraft, multi engine aircraft and advanced flight simulators. Some schools also have a training airport. In addition to all this the schools also need radars and radio equipment to provide training to the students doing the air traffic controller course. Each student is also given a computer based instruction kit, a pilot logbook and the gear worn by the pilot when flying. Some schools also have hostels for the students.

The Internet is the best place to find abundant information about various flight schools in America. Many websites list the names, addresses, contact telephone numbers, voicemail numbers, IVR [interactive voice response] numbers, the email addresses, and website URLs of the various flight schools offering specific courses. This Internet information is available free of charge. In certain cases, students may have to register before they access their database. This is usually a simple registration process of two to three minutes, and gives them a username and password for accessing their website. This websites also have links to various other useful websites, which could be of help and relevance to these students.