By moiramuldoon
Because.
That’s it — the most important word. You are more persuasive if you provide a reason for something. You will earn a better score on your essay if you are more persuasive.
A Harvard behavioural psychologist (Ellen Langer) did a study to determine how important the word “because” is. The gist of it is that when a person asked to cut in line to make five copies, 60% of people said OK.
When the same person asked to cut in line to make five copies because she was in a rush, 94% of people said OK. When that same person asked to cut in line to make five copies because she needed to make copies, 93% of people said OK.
So, even though that second reason isn’t compelling, the person was vastly more persuasive when she had a reason than when she didn’t. 33% more people said OK, even when the reason was bad. 33%.
I’ve been telling students for years that the two most crucial elements of thesis writing are to answer the question asked and use the word “because” before giving a reason. Explaining WHY you think what you think is critical to success.
Even Harvard psychologists say so.
I haven’t read the whole study yet –and I sure would like to — but I found the information about the study here, among other places.
By moiramuldoon
This story in the NYTimes offers a thoughtful comparison backed up by research.
Filed under:
ACT,
SAT on Wednesday, November 19th, 2008
By moiramuldoon
Want to know which test you should take?
The answer is easy: both.
The tests are really different. Some students do better or one than the other. There is no good way to predict who will do well on the ACT vs. the SAT, so take them both. If you don’t want to sign up for the official tests, no problem. Buy a practice book (get the ACT book from the ACT test makers and whichever SAT book you prefer) and take the test. Here are a couple things you need to do when you take the practice tests:
1. 1. Get sleep for two nights running before the taking the tests.
2. 2. Get up by 6 or 6:30 the morning you plan to take the test.
3. 3. Eat a good breakfast.
4. 4. Read something to wake up your brain.
5. 5. Go somewhere incredibly quiet to take the practice test –perhaps one of your parents’ offices on a Saturday morning. I hear the engineering library at UT is really quiet too. It is imperative that the place you take the practice test be quiet, just like the room for the real test will be.
Time yourself meticulously, or ask someone to do it for you. When your time is up, stop. If you finish a section early, wait until the full section time has elapsed. Do not go on to the next section until the the entire time for that section has elapsed.
In other words, take a practice test just exactly as if it is a real test. Exactly. That will give you a much better sense of how well you’re doing on the test than if you take a section here and there.
With the SAT, you can grade the vast majority of the practice test yourself — and I can grade your essay quickly. With the ACT, you can grade the whole thing yourself and get your score.
By moiramuldoon
I’ll be adding to this as I come across more helpful links, but here are some good ones for getting started…
PSAT: College Board’s website
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/psat/about.html
SAT: College Board’s website
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/about.html
ACT: Official website
http://www.act.org/
Comparing ACT and SAT scores
http://professionals.collegeboard.com/research/pdf/concordance_between_s_10502.pdf
SparkNotes – 1000 SAT words
http://img.sparknotes.com/content/testprep/pdf/sat.vocab.pdf
SAT essay prompts June 2007
http://www.boston.com/news/education/k_12/articles/2007/09/20/sample_essay_questions_on_the_sat/
SAT essay prompts October 2008
http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/after/essay_prompts.html