Posted by ankur on June 15, 2010
Having cleared competitive exams such as IIT-JEE and GRE, and currently training students for GRE, SAT and GMAT, one thing I have observed is that one of the most important aspects of doing well in studies and exams is to be FOCUSED but RELAXED. This balance between Focus and Relaxation is vital. In this discussion and exercise we will see how we can achieve this balance and improve Focus.
For improving focus in Studies and Achieving Success in Exams, use a powerful process called the SEGMENT INTENDING PROCESS.
Segment Intending
In today’s fast life we take on many roles in one day. If you are a student, you have to study, you are in some clubs, you play some sports, you go out with friends, you spend time at home with parents and maybe you have your boyfriend or girlfriend. If you are a working professional, you have your work day, in which you have to do lot of multi-tasking, get lot of things done; you have your family, recreation, etc.
So basically no matter who we are, we are constantly going in and out of different segments. So this process of segment intending becomes very important to achieve harmony and good results in each of our segments.
First let’s understand, what are intentions. Intentions are the underlying thoughts and desires behind our actions. For example: a doctor cuts a patient’s body and a thief may also cut someone’s body, but the intentions behind them are completely different. So now let’s see the segment intending process.
Before starting any segment, become aware what are your underlying intentions behind the actions you are going to do in that segment. Set forth clear thoughts consciously regarding two things
1. How you would like that segment to transpire and
2. What outcomes would you like to have out of that segment
Give your 100 % care and attention and positive vibrations to the segment you are entering. Ideally do this as a meditation after reaching alpha level of consciousness. Then start the actions of that segment. When you start a segment this way, you will increase the efficiency of the segment and bring much speed and clarity to the creation process going into the segment. Also the creation will be in tune with what you want as per the law of attraction and allowing.
So now lets apply the segment intending process to the segment of studies. What is the main challenge?
The challenge is mainly that of focus, isn’t it? The mind goes here and there, especially when you sit to study. The secret lies to be completely in the study SEGMENT. For example, when you enter into segment of studies, if you are thinking of going for a movie later, then you are not 100 % in the segment that you are in. Later you go for the segment of the movie but while watching the movie you remember that you have not finished your studies and you start worrying. Now you are not completely in the Segment of watching the movie either. What’s the result? You are divided. YOUR FOCUS is not there. You don’t do well in your studies, nor do you enjoy the movie completely. So be completely in whichever Segment you are in and make your intentions clear before going into the segment.
To be 100 % in the study segment make your study segments short, sweet and focused (SSF). Often what happens, we decide that we will sit for many hours to study and the result is that we are not too focused. Instead make the intention of sitting for shorter periods of time and make it short, sweet and focused (SSF). You will find that you accomplish much more. And of course take interest and make it fun. When you do that, you are bound to accomplish much more, understand much more, and remember much more, and automatically do well in exams as well.
You can and should use visualisation and meditation to enhance your study segments. Also you use some affirmations after the meditation. For e.g.,
- I am becoming better at studies
- I am enjoying learning new things
- I am enjoying the challenge of this subject
- I am remembering more and more everyday as I meditate everyday
- I am becoming more and more relaxed and focused
- I am able to study much faster having reached Alpha level of consciousness and getting much more time to play and recreation.
Doing well in Exams and handling exam anxiety
When you go for your exams, remember to carry lot of Positive Energy with you. As per the famous Law of Attraction, you will attract results to you, based on your thoughts and feelings. So when you go for exams, and are over anxious, worried, then you are going to attract the negative results. Little worry is good to keep you alert, but too much will spoil your recipe of success. Instead be positive, vibrant, and remember the Sutra
Do your Best and Leave the Rest
All you can do is give your best. After that leave the results to the divine with complete faith and trust that whatever happens will be good. Do the related meditation from my Empower CD which i have developed for students, before going for any exam. Some Affirmations that you can use, once you have reached alpha level of mind before your exams.
- I am doing well in Exams
- My mind is becoming very sharp and is all ready for the exam as I am in focused and relaxed state of mind
- I am giving my very best in the Test
- I am attracting —- % in this Test
You can make your own similar affirmations and repeat them several times in your mind especially when you have reached Alpha level (Alpha level of mind is the relaxed state of mind , the though vibrations are around 10 Hz at the Alpha Level)
Posted by TCYonline.com on June 9, 2010
Contributor: Tony Jiang
I feel like writing today, so I thought I would share my GRE experience. For those who didn’t know, the Graduate Record Examination is a standardized exam prepared that students have to take if they want to apply to certain grad school programs (mainly in the United States). This article is basically my experience taking the GRE general test, starting from when I started studying and ending with me getting my scores. Unfortunately, there won’t be much useful studying tips in here since I tend to study the “dumb” way, but hopefully this article will at least be an interesting read.
I started studying about three months before my exam date. Out of the three sections in the GRE general test, I was most concerned about the verbal section because it tests some pretty obscure vocabulary, and unfortunately I didn’t know many of the words. In my mind, the verbal section of the GRE was an annoying vocabulary test, and in order to get a high score, I really had to work on remembering those pesky words. In comparison to the verbal section, the quantitative and analytical sections were not nearly as intimidating. Being an engineering undergrad student, there’s no way I’d be scared of a quantitative section that tests only high school math. As for the analytical writing, the only issue that might come up is the time constraint, but otherwise I’m capable of writing coherent essays that, while probably not excellent, will do the job.
To build up my vocabulary and also just to practice for the GRE, I started out by borrowing a couple of books from the library. The three books I used throughout the duration of my studies were the Kaplan GRE book, the Kaplan Verbal workbook, and the Idiot’s Guide on Acing the GRE (the real titles might be slightly different). I didn’t have a particularly preference for the prep books; the three listed were the easiest to find, and they all the word lists that I so desperately needed to memorize. Between Kaplan and the Idiot’s guide, the former had more goodies such as practice tests on the CD, while the latter was better written and contains more useful strategies. In addition to the books, I also found a couple of GRE word lists and practice questions online.
With the material ready, I started building my vocabulary by reading through the word lists and try to memorize the words and definition. This is probably not the best strategy to learn words, but I was lazy (to a point) and was hoping that my memory wouldn’t fail me. So every day (or every other day) I would go through a section of the word list trying to memorize the definitions. I had a scrap piece of paper that I use to scribble the words and make sentences with them, but that was about it. No flashcards, no cool memory techniques, just straight-up cramming. In between going through the word lists I would do some practice questions just to see if I improved or not. Nearing my exam date, I started doing whole sections and then full length-practice tests, first the paper version and then the computer versions. As a last before-the-actual-exam evaluation, I downloaded ETS’ (the organization that prepares the GRE) PowerPrep software, which contains two full-length practice exams along with some question sets. PowerPrep is the closest thing to the computerized GRE without actually writing the exam, so it was pretty useful for gauging performance. On both of the practice exams I scored 800 on the quantitative and 660 on the verbal. 660 for the verbal is decent, but could be better. I also practiced the analytical writing as well. Since the essays can’t be marked by computers, I just wrote a few to see if I can finish in the allotted time.
After three months of studying, it was time for me to take the real GRE. I wasn’t nervous at all during the exam, since I know if I perform up to expectations then I’d be okay. The topics I received for the analytical writing sections were pretty straight forward, so I managed to get my essays done without too much difficulty. Up next was the quantitative section, which I plowed through without any problems. After that was the verbal section, and this verbal section seemed a bit harder than the ones from the PowerPrep software. There were quite a few answers that I wasn’t entirely sure of, so I just made educated guesses. The official exam was done after I completed the verbal, but I did the extra research quantitative section in hopes that GRE will give me back my exam fee (supposedly a number of participants will receive $250).
Three hours of grueling testing later, these are the scores I received:
Verbal – 720
Quantitative – 800
Analytical – 4.5 (out of 6)
Yes! Looks like my vocabulary cramming has paid off, although to be honest I didn’t really study all that hard. I merely spread the studying over a longer period time compared to my usual final exams. My actual exam performance was actually better than my practice results, and this could be the result of last-minute studying, dumb luck, or maybe I’m just clutch haha. My essay scores are pretty average, but they are not terrible. Overall, I think my GRE scores should be more than enough to meet the requirements of the grad programs that I’m interested in.
Looking back, the GRE was really just another hoop to jump through on the road to grad school. Now that I think about it, as annoying as the GRE was, it’s probably still one of the easier requirements to meet. The hardest part will be getting good references from my professors. Since I’ve been out on co-op for 8 months, I only really have two months to build up relationships with my fourth year profs before I have to ask them for references. Hopefully everything will go well and I’ll be in grad school somewhere in the fall of 2010.
Thanks for reading.
Source: www.tonyjiang.com
Posted by TCYonline.com on December 4, 2009
There was a XAT failure and there is this one in CAT. Many students all over India could not enjoy their first day first show with Prometric-NIIT-IIM led CAT 2009. Exam for more than 300 people will be rescheduled in the next 9 days as their test could not begin at all. The first day was certainly a flop show.
OVERALL
Overall, the common feeling among the test takers was that the test was of moderate level of difficulty. This was expected as this was IIMs first tryst with the computer based CAT. As most of the test takers fond it easier we can generalize that the first of the 20 tests was of moderate difficulty.
NAVIGATION
The navigation and test interface was very user friendly. The Highlights in case of RCs remained for all the questions answerable through that RC. It was possible only because all questions related to a RC appeared on one page (scrollable) and NOT as one question a page as it appears in GRE. This was good news considering the fact that the video by Prometric said that the highlights would go off as the screen changed.
The only exception was a button to quit the exam that was available on all pages and many takers clicked on that by mistake leading to sudden end of their test.
QUANT
As per the students’ opinion, Quant was of the level of CAT 2006. It was quite manageable. The cut-offs are expected to be higher. However, some well placed traps in Data Sufficiency questions may so the damage.
VERBAL
Verbal was much like that of past two years. Many students observed that RCs were shorter as compared to past years.
DI
Students found DI section the most time consuming mainly because of the few logical questions. Also, the questions that appeared in sets were presented the same way as RCs were – That is, all questions based on one set of data were on the same page. Here also, highlights were possible till the end of the set.
RECOMMENDATIONS
- Stay cool! The test is manageable.
- It is pretty CAT and did not incline towards GRE or GMAT.
- All basic topics in Quant are important to be covered viz. Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry etc.
- Practice more on Logical reasoning questions with long statements and only one question per set.
- Practice a lot of past CAT questions will help you gain confidence in handling the test!
Posted by TCYonline.com on November 26, 2008
NEW DELHI, Nov. 26 – Recession or no recession, the modern Indian student always aspires for more – more knowledge, more money and more challenge. The just concluded CAT and the very thought of fat MBA pay packages spur him on to perform better each passing day.
Be it upcoming SNAP, FMS and XAT, or for that matter any college/school or competitive exam, the student’s Net gains have made him more confident after he has learnt how to wriggle out of difficult situations. Online testing being his new success mantra, all he has to do is benchmark his performance against the best in India and abroad, and raise his bar.
Today, we see a study shift from chalk-and-board to computers with the greater impact of education websites like TCYonline.com which have brought a revolution of sorts in the test prep sector. A smart student is supplementing his classroom education with online practice tests, which are taking precedence over traditional ‘bookish’ learning.
It is worth noting that enjoying the privilege of being India’s Number One Testing Platform, www.tcyonline.com has today over 2.70 lakh students in the age group of 13–32 years on its portal taking advantage of its various free resources — online tests ranging from CBSE to MBA to GRE and Medical/Engineering exams.
Talking of the CBSE, scores of practice tests are available on the website for the benefit of the school students. As a gesture of goodwill, like previous years, TCYonline.com will also make available number of pre board tests for the February 2009 exam.
Student benchmarking being the hallmark of this web-portal, its recently launched two testing tools – the ‘Challenge Zone’ and the ‘Test Generator’ – are making good rounds among the academic community.
Being the free website for the students, the portal has also found great favour with some schools, colleges and universities in the country. Of late, some academic institutions have shown keen interest in TCYonline.com’s elite testing platform.
TCYonline.com’s exhaustive and free material catering to all the major national and international exams coupled with technology-enabled tools is not only becoming a rage amongst students but is also catching the eye of educational institutions and other companies.
A huge student base and separate exam categories on the website provide a perfect platform for educational institutions to showcase their offerings to prospective students. With continuous product innovation and technological upgradation taking place every second, this platform offers a host of opportunities to education institutions in India and abroad, virtually on a platter.
While it is heartening to note that TCYonline.com is crossing the five-lakh registration mark during the next few months, the web-portal gives education bodies an opportunity to describe their programs, organize mock tests and virtual education fairs. Moreover, the students can gain by asking questions and interacting with the university representatives through an online chat facility.
TCYonline.com has in a way squeezed the whole world to such an extent that a now a student sitting in any part of the world, say in the US or Canada, can prepare for any international entrance exam like GRE or GMAT or TOEFL. Practice tests for all these entrance exams are available on the website free of cost.
All said and done, TCYonline.com has become the ‘testopedia’ of the modern student today. He can’t think of his life without it.
Posted by TCYonline.com on August 8, 2008
CHARLOTTE (North Carolina), Aug. 8 - Math instruction has always been a big challenge for the kids in this part of America. No wonder, it remains a constant challenge for many a parent in this city.
Take the case of the Smiths. They did come across few ‘math commercials’ during their daily commute on their favorite FMs, but found nothing worth their ‘investment’ on their kids. Neither did this Guilford couple find local paper ads that appealing.
As parents of their tenth grader, John, neither the Smiths had the time or resources to drive him to a tutor’s place. But then their son’s falling grades had become apparent. They were in dire-straits, till one fine morning a colorful flier at their door came as a pleasant surprise to them.
Much to their relief, they learned about an education company, TCYonline.com, which is currently providing one-on-one live Math tutoring over the internet. Instantly, dad Smith had to call up John asking him change his vacation plans and return home.
John has always found Algebra difficult. But this online tutoring site has made a world of difference in his study plan. Thanks to scores of free worksheets and summer programs like ‘Speed Math’ available on the website, www.tcyonline.com, he is on cloud nine these days. In fact, he is recommending his class-mates too to enroll and get benefited by various sessions by TCYonline.com.
It is worth noting that TCYonline.com, through its math program called ‘STEPS’, is offering Math tutoring and test preparation at all levels and closely follows the Carolina state-aligned curriculum. ‘STEPS’ is designed to meet the students’ needs at their individual level. The live tutoring service uses the (state-of-the-art) virtual Whiteboard technology, with audio-text capability.
There is no complicated software to download to your computer and no extra equipment to purchase. The service is offered daily, throughout the year. This means that there is a minimal impact on other outside activities like music, dance lessons and sports.
TCYonline.com’s North Carolina affiliate, Jeff Baker is of the opinion that this company’s ability to provide in-home educational support services indicates a ‘growing trend’ among national /international on-line business.
“Research has indicated that there is a continued challenge for students in math and sciences which has led to a decline in college majors, research, and the profession as a whole,” he said expressing the hope that his association with TCYonline.com would help address the national educational challenge.
Recent statistics provided by NC Public Instruction, Union County student services and testing (The Charlotte Observer-unionneighbors.com), indicate that only 23% of Charlotte-Mecklenburgh schools have met the AYP requirements which include Math, Reading, and Science.
Union county schools met 51% of the AYP requirements, whose goal is 100% AYP in 2013-2014. Union county ranks among the first among the state’s largest school systems. Based on a preliminary report on 2008 results, union county public schools came in ahead of Wake county (24%), Charlotte-Mecklenburg(23%, Guilford (40%), Cumberland (34%), Forsyth (24%), Gaston (25%), Durham (17%) and Johnson (50%).
“In order for our students to be globally competitive, we must look for additional alternative instructional resources that will provide mathematical and scientific skills,” stressed this educator, a one-time teacher and later a Principal himself.
TCYonline.com has successfully tutored over 2000 students in the past three years. The best part is that there is a plan that fits every household budget. The company offers hourly, weekly and monthly rates. A monthly unlimited tutoring package costs only $149. Moreover, homework help for those really tough math problems is just a click away.
Parents can enroll their kids for any of ‘STEPS’ programs like SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, including State level exams either by visiting the website or calling up toll free 888-757- 8377 or (888) 75 STEPS for more information.
