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)

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

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

1. Stay cool! The test is manageable.
2. It is pretty CAT and did not incline towards GRE or GMAT.
3. All basic topics in Quant are important to be covered viz. Algebra, Arithmetic, Geometry etc.
4. Practice more on Logical reasoning questions with long statements and only one question per set.
5. Practice a lot of past CAT questions will help you gain confidence in handling the test!

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.

The K-12 students in this country never had it so good. Thanks to an initiative by TCYonline.com, the leaders in one-on-one Online Live Math tutoring in North America, the students can take a test and evaluate their performance by taking a scientifically designed 40-minute assessment test at home.

These multiple-choice (comprising 20 questions) tests are available for Grade 3 through Grade 12. All a student has to do is register on the website www.tcyonline.com, choose her State and grade. And, there you go. These assessment tests, conforming to different State standards, are presently available for ten States.

“The real barometer of success today is to assess yourself once in a while. It is all the more pertinent for a student to benchmark himself or herself with other students to know about his/her grey areas,” according to the CEO of TCYonline.com, Kamal Wadhera.

Interestingly enough, these tests help students to know their actual grade level learning. These will determine if a student learning at a certain grade level actually ‘belongs to’ that grade or not. If a student fares below par then it will inform him/her to fill in the gaps by studying lower grade concepts.

On the other hand, if he performs ‘exceptionally well’, it will guide him/her to go for the next level of learning. Whatever the outcome, it is all a win-win situation for the student. The gains are tremendous.

It is noteworthy that these self-assessment tests are ideal for preparing for State exams like ISAT and FCAT, CAHSEE, ISTEP etc. too.

Some Salient features:
1. Scientifically-designed tests
2. Thread-bare top-wise analyses
3. Useful strategies for improvement
4. Great way to benchmark yourself
5. Big morale-booster for next grade

Just take the case of a California Grade 5 child. She can assess herself evenly in number sense, geometry, statistics, data analysis and probability; algebra and functions. The following screen-shot of the website will give a fair idea as to how a student can take the help of different strategies suggested by our experts.

Following this 40-minute cerebral exercise, the students will have an access to question and topic -wise analysis, graphical and bar-chart reports.

“These tests are designed in such a way by our math experts that the students can get a fair assessment of their real rankings. The results give them a chance to work on their grey areas before they actually go for their next grade after vacations,” Wadhera added.

The students can benefit from suggested strategies and start the new academic year on a balanced and positive note.

It is worth mentioning that one-on-one math Live help is available on the website not only for K-12 but GRE students too apart from some other competitive exams. As an added bonus, thousands of free worksheets are also available on the web-portal. The company has been training K-12 students for close to three years now maintaining an excellent track record.

This North India’s premier chain of test preparation has always been the first to provide such ‘threadbare’ analysis for the students across the nation. This year an estimated 2.3 lakh students will be vying for 1500 IIM seats in the country. The students can checkout CAT solutions on the website at 2.30 p.m. on November 18, 2007.

“This solo exercise would be in maintaining our rich symbiotic relationship with CAT for the last five years in providing a deep analysis of the test”, commented Rakesh Kumar, IT Manager.

Benefits to the IIM aspirants are immense, with CAT analysts providing:
* answer keys or solutions for all the questions
* comparative CAT 07 analysis with previous years question papers
* an overview of the difficulty level
* estimation on the expected cut-offs for IIMs & other premier B-Schools
* topic wise graphical analysis of all the sections

“Every year thousands of aspirants take our online help to assess their performance in the CAT exam. The students can come on live chat or e-mail their queries to our experts to seek admission guidance for various B-schools in the country”, added Mr. Rakesh.

The website www.tcyonline.com is the fastest growing education portal. The company distributes FREE online practice test for MBA and other standardized tests.

The web portal has essentially been the reference site on test preparation, admission notifications, practice tests, B-School updates, etc. Its focus lies in preparing the students interested for a career in MBA, MCA, GRE, GMAT and SAT.

For those dreaming of studying in America, there are few exams as important as the GRE. However, recent changes to the formats of the TOEFL and GRE have introduced an element of doubt and difficulty into the admission process. Performing well on these exams is seen as a pre-requisite for procuring admission to top US universities.

The Graduate Record Exam is offered domestically and internationally, administered by the American company ETS. Last month, it announced the most significant changes to the exam in its 57 years history. The design has been altered to:

• Make the GRE more test-taker friendly.
• Reduce the security risk arising from too much exposure to test questions.
• Make the Verbal section easier and Quantitative section challenging in order to balance their levels of difficulty.
• Ensure better and more accurate measurement of graduate skills.

Hence, the focus should shift towards gradually acquiring skills and away from cramming and memorisation. However, preparation for the exam may be fruitless unless one understands the evaluation parameters and, most importantly, the evaluation scale. The new scoring scales are as follows:

~ 3-digit scores

The overall GRE score will be in 3 digits. It will no longer be out of a possible 1600 (800 each in Quantitative and Verbal Sections).

~ New score range

The new sectional scores range between 130* and 170*. The purpose of this is to bring the average score per section near 150*. The older scale suffered from clustering of the Verbal score around 470* and of the Quantitative score near 593*. (* Taken from the ETS web site)

~ Score increments

The score will increase with 1-point increments compared to the 10-point increments of the existing format.

~ Score validity

There has been no change in the validity of scores. The score will still be valid for 5 years. In order to protect the validity of the existing GRE score, a concordance table will be available in November 2007 at the ETS Web site.

~ Percentiles

In addition to the individual score, the GRE now offers percentile scores for initial administrations. This will aid both students and destination institutions interpret the score. Additionally, score equivalents will be offered in order to demonstrate the difference between the current and new scoring system.

~ AW score scale remains unchanged

The Analytical writing score scale is left unchanged, but written responses will now be available to universities so they are able to compare a candidate’s written answers with his or her personal information. This will constrain candidates from outsourcing admission information (SOP) through private professional bodies.

~ Availability of score scale

The new scale will be available to students in fall 2007 after the first three administrations of the test.

A format of the new score report (format adopted from ETS web site) IS as under:

**Hypothetical test dates

Though the TOEFL is primarily structured for students seeking admission in USA and Canada, the TOEFL is also the most widely accepted score for measuring proficiency in English worldwide. Over 5000 colleges and accredited educational institutions across 90 countries, including: UK, other European countries, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore accept TOEFL scores.

TOEFL is administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS), the testing organisation that also conducts GRE, SAT and other standardised tests.

The new Internet Based TOEFL Test (TOEFL iBT) has been designed to better prepare the students for academic study in an English speaking environment. TOEFL iBT measures both the receptive (reading and listening) and expressive (speaking and writing) skills of university aspirants. The TOEFL score is equally divided between receptive skills and expressive skills, and therefore, a student must do well in all sections.

Test Overview

* TOEFL iBT measures receptive and expressive skills equally. The student is tested for all the four English language communication skills: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing.
* The exam has no grammar or sentence structure section. The student’s knowledge of English grammar is tested through actual usage in speaking and writing sections.
* TOEFL iBT replaces the structure section with a speaking section in which students wear headphones and speak into a microphone. The digital recording is transmitted to ETS Online Scoring Network where human scorers rate the speaking.
* The exam also allows note-taking. The students can now take notes while they listen and/or read and they can jot down points before they start to speak or write. Students can use these notes while giving their responses, but they will not be allowed to carry them outside the examination center.
* The Writing section has been expanded to include one integrated writing task in addition to the independent writing task.
* The Reading section usually consists of 3 passages (sometimes 5), each of around 700 words. This section includes categorisation of information and/or filling in a chart or completion of a summary.
* Lectures and conversations in the listening section are a little longer than earlier, but speech is more natural. Although the focus of the listening tasks remains American, there is likely to be at least one lecture in British /Australian accent. There may be questions that measure understanding of a speaker’s attitude, degree of certainty and purpose.
* There will be fixed dates for TOEFL iBT and the students have to make their choice out of the same. Depending upon the number of test takers and the capacity, a test center will normally have 30 to 40 test dates in a year.
* TOEFL iBT scores are reported online. Students can view their scores within 15 working days of the test and will also receive their score-sheet by mail.
* TOEFL iBT is not computer adaptive as was the case with TOEFL CBT (computer based test). Here all the test takers receive the same set of questions. There is also no computer tutorial.

How to register

~ The fee for the exam is $150 (about Rs 6,500).

~ There are three ways by which one can register for the exam: online, by phone and by mail.

~ For the fastest and most convenient service, register online. One can get the online form by visiting the learners and test takers section of the TOEFL web site. A valid credit card is required (American Express, Discover, JCB, MasterCard, or Visa card), or an electronic check (e-check) if one has a bank account in the United States or its territories.

~ To register by phone, call the Regional Registration Centre. Same payment options as online registration.

~ To register by mail, obtain a form through the TOEFL bulletin. Fill in all information on the Registration Form and mail it to the Regional Registration Centre. Mailing instructions are on the form. Registration forms must be received by ETS or your Regional Registration Center at least four weeks before your requested first-choice test date.

~ The Regional Registration Centre address is as follows:

Thomas Testing Private Limited
2nd Floor
DFL Infinity Tower-A, Sector 25, Phase II
DFL City Gurgaon, Haryana -122002
India
Tel: (011) 26511649
Fax: (011) 26529741
Tel: (011) 26511649
Fax: (011) 26529741