Expository Writing Tutor The Literature SAT Subject Test

Hello, faithful readers! The Writing Wizard is back with more sound advice for your development as writers and thinkers. In today’s column, we are going to take a break from our usual discussions about papers, essays, and projects, and tackle a new and delightful part of writing competence: the SAT-II Literature exam! While you might bristle at that exclamation point, I use it in all seriousness—all aspects of writing are fun, even a standardized test. Now, you likely have two questions on your mind: 1) How is the SAT-II Lit test related to writing, since it’s just a multiple choice exam? And 2) What kind of a twisted individual are you, Writing Wizard, to call the SAT’s fun My answer to question 1 will help you make sense of my answer to question 2, so we’ll start with the basics: Any piece of writing, even in a format very far from the literary, still has to convey information to be effective, and the conveyance of information is, among other things, a kind of story. So whether you are writing a technical manual for a piece of machinery, a sixth-grade book report, or a graduate school admissions essay, you are still involved with a narrative that is being constructed from its component parts. When we think about writing, then, we have to think about construction—how pieces of information fit together in order to form a coherent narrative—and intention—why those pieces of information are assembled in the first place. All of the writing that we do takes these notions of construction and intention into consideration; sometimes we spend a lot of time working through them, and sometimes that thinking happens automatically. The SAT-II Literature exam is, if nothing else, a gigantic inquiry into these two notions. Time and again, the test asks students a series of questions more or less along the lines of â€Å"Why did the author of this text do x and y in the text?† â€Å"How does x connect to the objectives of this text?† â€Å"Where do you see y literary device in this text?† â€Å"Why did the author write this text?† and so on. Almost all of the questions involve a consideration of either construction or intention. In the heads of the test-makers, asking these sorts of questions to high school students is a way to get apprentice writers to think critically about how writing is created, organized, and assembled. The test-makers believe that this exercise, far from being a useless and elaborate torture device, will actually help young writers strengthen their writing practices while also expand their close-reading abilities. So, is it true? Will the SAT-II Lit exam make you a better writer and a better reader? I think so, but not completely straightforwardly. Here’s why: the tests are designed to deceive you. The test-makers work very hard to make simple questions look much trickier on the page, and they deliberately twist language to obfuscate what they are looking for. The result is that students have to work very hard to separate the content from the noise and get to the bottom of what the question is really asking. This process, of learning to discern among complex signs, definitely turns students into better writers. But that improvement comes at a price: you have to outsmart the test-makers at their own game. You have to learn their strategies of obfuscation in order to trump them; you have to get the better of them. For me, that’s the fun part—I’m a problem solver at heart, so I love spotting a trap and jumping right over it: â€Å"Take that, ETS!† followed by a maniacal laugh and a quick filling-in of the correct bubble. Hopefully, by now you believe me that the SAT-II Lit test is good for you and might even be fun. So you are probably terribly curious about when I’m going to start explaining what these traps and tricks are that the test-makers are spending countless hours refining to try and thwart your success. In the next few blog posts, we’ll be picking apart different types of SAT-II Lit questions to show you where the traps are and teach you how to avoid them. For now, though, I will share with you three fundamental rules to live by while completing your standardized test preparation, and taking, the SAT-II Literature exam: 1. The answer, my friend, is in the excerpted passage. When you are asked a series of questions about a passage taken from a longer work, the questions are always answerable just from the passage provided. At first glance it may seem like you need to have read more of the work, or have general literary knowledge to answer the question, but this is an illusion: the questions can always be answered with the material provided. 2. In a two-part question, make sure BOTH parts have evidence in the text. A question might ask you to describe the tone/mood/feel of a passage using two sets of adjectives. So you might have a list of multiple-choice answers that look like this: Dr. Smith’s admonishment of Maggie is ________ while her reply is _______________ : measured†¦anxious ecstatic†¦ironic comic†¦cynical And so on. Make sure that for whichever answer you choose, you can point to specific moments in the text for EACH of the two adjectives. This does not mean that they have to be simultaneously present, as in the same word, sentence, or paragraph, but make sure that you have evidence of both tones/moods/feels before you start filling in that bubble. Just because you find a sentence that sounds â€Å"measured† doesn’t mean that you’ll find another one a few lines later that is â€Å"anxious.† These questions usually throw in some opposing terms to confuse you. Be careful and locate BOTH emotions in the passage before making your selection. 3. Read the questions first. Before you plunge right in and read that 50-line passage about narwhal hunting in 1840’s Alaska, save yourself some time and energy by reading the questions first. Once you have a sense of which details are going to be important for answering the questions, and what kinds of things you’re going to be asked about later (literary devices, character elements, rhythm, vocabulary, mode and tone†¦), you can begin reading in a strategic way. Doing this will allow you to read faster and smarter, and by the time you get to the questions, you’ll already know what to expect. Stay tuned for more good counsel from the Writing Wizard and his brilliant associates here at the Cambridge Coaching blog, and remember: it’s FUN to outsmart the makers of this test, develop your study skills, and even more fun to grow as a writer! ;

INCOTERMS SELECTION - 275 Words

INCOTERMS SELECTION (Term Paper Sample) Content: INTRODUCTION The purpose of this assignment is to analyze effectiveness of the incoterms selection consideration, incoterms refer to set of rules or binding contracts that guide business globally, whenever goods and services are transferred from the seller to the buyer. Context in focus is transportation globally for the Procter Gamble Company, their carrier selection, what is the determining factor towards selection of a carrier of goods as the manager (Coyle et all 2016, p.347).ÂÂ   The paper focuses on maintaining relationship between the carrier and Proctor and Gamble company. It will also focus on the relationship management that is between the carrier and Procter Gamble Company, the factors to consider when staging and picking orders to avoid the carriers from being overcharged, thus making cost of transportation low (Myerson, 2015 p.150).ÂÂ   Headquartered in Cincinnati, United states founded in 1837 and incorporated on 5th May 1905, Procter Gamble Company is an organization that packages goods for consumers, it provides goods in several segments namely beauty product such as lotions, fabric care like the diapers, home care appliances and baby feminine as well as family care products, the company products are purchased in more than 180 countries globally, the company has subsidiaries in Asia, Africa. South America and North America. Procter Gamble Co (PG). (2016, August 01). Retrieved from /finance/stocks/companyProfile?symbol=PG The organization has a global market presence. It has offices in most of its business operation centers. Its main competitors include; Uniliver, Henkel and Beiersdorf and Johnson Johnson. The Procter Gamble Company Profile. (2016) Retrieved from /company-information/cs/company-profile.the_procter__gamble_company.89fae93ad9ab54d7.html. Procter Gamble develops an overall brand strategy, the information about the company is uniform globally, when competition arises, the company upgrades its products more so its marketing gimmicks. The products are purchased in supermarkets, drug stores, online via its websites and also the suppliers not forgetting the distributors of salon products. The company has existed for over 178 years since its managements believes in changing everything based on competition, the only thing that remain as it is are the company core values. Building a Better Company. (2016) Retrieved from /CompanyStrategy/Index?KeyGenPage=208821 Proctor Gamble Effectiveness transportation capability Proctor and Gamble has moved transportation of its goods from the roads to rail and an avenue of inland shipping, the company also analyzed instances whereby there was a wastage and it has worked to reduce wastage drastically. The system of waste reduction and using other avenues of transportation which cut mile deliveries, has enabled the company, to move ahead of competitors, in coming up with a cost effective logistics system. The project is named Tina, which is an environment friendly project, saving Europe from over 67000 tons of carbon emitted each year. Project Tina was launched in two countries in 2009, the project has been an adaptive model all over Europe for the Proctor Gamble. Since the project introduction, the company has redesigned its supply network too. Towards waste reduction in the transport network, the company has moved its distribution centers closer to the customers, the customers comprise of retailers, individual customers and also wholesale customers. The organization has changed its packet volumes by ensuring the products are compacted, the measure has reduced the volumes of packaged goods. Simon B. (2011, May 16). Procter Gamble - greening up logistics. Retrieved from /sustainable-business/procter-gamble-greens-logistics Appropriate incoterms to be used by the Proctor Gamble. The company should use incoterms that covers transport over water bodies and rail (Jaffeux Wieser, 2012 p. 146). The incoterm used should define aspect like the geographical location,ÂÂ  handling conditions and the destination. As a manager I would recommend incoterms to be used by the Proctor Gamble to include; FCA which is an incoterm under carriage, in this incoterm the company will deliver the products cleared for export to the carrier or the shipping company, that has been chosen by the buyer at the agreed place of delivery, in this incoterm if delivery happens at the Proctor Gamble selling point, then the organization is responsible for loading, if delivery doesn't happen at its selling premises, Proctor Gamble will not be responsible for the loading.( RodrÃÆ'Â ­guez Lam 2009, p27).ÂÂ   Incoterm FAS (Free alongside ship) in this incoterm, Proctor and Gamble will deliver upon goods delivered alongside the ship at the named port of shipping. After delivery the buyer will bear all costs and risks. In case the buyer wants to export the goods, he will clear the exporting costs. (RodrÃÆ'Â ­guez Lam 2009, p27).ÂÂ  Incoterm DES (Delivered by Ex Ship) The organization will deliver once goods are available to the buyers on board, in this incoterm the ship is normally not cleared for import at the port of the destination, the seller in this context is responsible for unloading goods. Incoterm CIF (Cost, insurance and Freight) in this incoterm Proctor Gamble will be responsible for transportation of the goods to the buyer and other issues such as loss that might result during transport. The company will be obliged to take insurance cover at a minimum cost, it will be an advantage to the company in case something unexpected happens, like ship sinking or the ship develops a mechanical problem, which will result to company loses, for other extra insurance charges the buyer is responsible.For rail transport Proctor Gamble can use the incoterm EXW, the company having embraced the idea of having the storehouses closer to the buyers, it will deliver products to its warehouses via the rail to the packing plants next to the buyers, in this incoterm the buyers are responsible for loading, formalities in place in exporting and importing all costs that Proctor Gamble will incur as it submits the goods to the buyers via the rail. (RodrÃÆ'Â ­guez Lam 2009, p27).ÂÂ   Transportation goals and needs of the proctor and gamble According to Annis Skoufalos, the product and supply officer Product Gamble globally, the main objective or need of the company as far as transport is concerned is to make their operation to be trackable or appealing to customers at 80%, he emphasizes the company business operations are justified and measured by the customers. The company's goal is to have the products transported to 80% percent of its retailers within one day, to make that a reality, Proctor Gamble saw the need to build up mega distribution centers which are strategically located not only in North America but also every country that it has a footprint in business. The distribution centers can receive goods from all the business units at the distribution centers, transportation will be done at very high speed and efficiency. To support the distribution centers and have a transportation goal of 80% to the retailers or the buyers, the company has also restructured its manufacturing base in North America to ensure the y are quick to respond to the needs of the distribution centers all over the world. Proctor Gamble has also campaigned for its suppliers to have their centers next to the distribution centers, this will ensure that suppliers have a continuous process of supply without running out of goods. Bob T. (2015, January 02). What does it take to remain a supply chain leader? Retrieved from /article/what_does_it_take_to_remain_a_supply_chain_leader Proctor Gamble has a goal by 2020 to reduce transportation of goods using trucks. The company's vehicles have an improved fill rate and it has also increased use of multi modal transport. Moving in the right direction (2015, May 2015) Retrieved from us.pg.com/sustainability/environmental-sustainability/focused-on/transportation Appropriate criteria to be considered when selecting the carrier When Proctor Gamble is selecting a carrier, it should consider factors like transit time, based on their need to supply 80% of retailers on a given day, speed is needed here. Since the company endeavors to use rail and water transport more than the road, it is highly recommended that the carrier selected should be in a position to carry the goods with facilities that are water resistant, the storage of the carrier, should deliver the goods at the desired temperatures to the buyers. Items such clothes or diapers which are sold by Proctor Gamble, if exposed to water might be a loss to the company, the carriers selected should have the packing facilities that ensure goods reach the desired destination in the most desirable state, to the buyers and customers. (Coyle et all 2016, p.428).ÂÂ   (Coyle et all 2016, p.429).ÂÂ   The company should also use a limited number of carriers, the carrier selected should not be serving many companies at the same time, limited number of carriers will enable it to have a good purchasing order of dollars at a lower or affordable rate and build relationships with the service providers who will in the end understand business operations of Proctor Gamble. The carrier selected should be a carrier that has accorded quality service and efficiency. Last but not least the carrier selected, should be in a position to handle volumes of the goods transported by the company especially by the rail transport, making the supply continuous. The major goal for the Proctor Gamble company by 2020 is reduction of transport using the trucks,...