Chris Pirillo » test

How to Improve Reading Comprehension

Chris — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:51:25 +0000

How to Improve Reading Comprehension is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I enjoy reading the chat room that we have. I tried to record this video several times, and had trouble. I’m a perfectionist, whether it’s when I’m recording a video or read something. I enjoy reading, and love enhancing my knowledge as much as possible. To this end, I have a top five list here that was submitted by Dallas. This list is full of tips to help you improve the way you read and comprehend things!

When reading a book, you must be completely focused on the book. Quite often, people will complain that they cannot comprehend/retain what they are reading (or have already read several times). Take a look around – the television is on, the radio is playing, your computer is pulling you in and teasing you to take a peek every two minutes. There are constant distractions. You need to focus in order to properly absorb what you’re reading. To do so, you have to remove those distractions.
Take your time. Unless you’re in the middle of a test where you only have a set amount of time… slow down. What’s the rush? You need to take your time – it’s not a race!
Take a lot of breaks. Even if you love what you’re reading, taking a short break is necessary to keep your comprehension at its maximum level.
After a certain amount of pages or chapters, take some time to pause and reflect on the main points of what you just read. Let your mind digest the information you have taken in. The more you reflect on something, the more likely it is you’ll remember the things you need.
Use highlighters often. Highlight or underline something that may be useful to you, or if you have a question about it. This allows you to come back and revisit when your mind is fresh.

These are excellent tips that should help you when you’re reading, and attempting to remember what you’ve just done. These will be especially helpful to those of you in college or school! Thanks to Dallas for putting these together, and sharing them with us.

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How to Taste Wine

Chris — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 04:46:16 +0000

How to Taste Wine is a post from Chris Pirillo

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Wine tasting is an art for some people. They have very specific routines they go through prior to even sipping the wine. Once they take that sip, there are even more routines to follow before they actually swallow the wine. I don’t follow such a rigorous method… I just want to taste the wine already! Do you drink wine? Do you just open the bottle and drink it… or do you have to go through a routine to taste it?

There are four stages to wine tasting:

The appearance of the wine – how it looks.
How does it smell in the glass?
What sensations does it produce when held in your mouth?
What finish – or aftertaste – does it have?

These four things combine to establish the properties of a wine, such as the complexity, character and suitability for drinking.

I still don’t think I need to go through all of that. My method works just fine.

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Tips for Taking Timed Essay Exams

Chris — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 13:31:42 +0000

Tips for Taking Timed Essay Exams is a post from Chris Pirillo

A large number of people in our community are High School or College Students. Here is a list of tips to help you get good grades during a “timed essay” test, sent in by one of our own.

Plan your time wisely. This first tip may not sound all that useful. But procrastination is probably the biggest reason why bright students sometimes get poor grades. Start early. You can also plan your time during the test itself. Your professor knows which paragraphs are harder to write, and will evaluate them accordingly. Does the question ask you to “evaluate”? If so, don’t fill your page with a summary. Likewise, if the question asks for “evidence,” don’t spend all your time giving your own personal opinions.
- Start with the larger essay questions, so that you answer them before you burn out or run out of time.
- If one essay question is worth 50% of the test score, spend 50% of your time on it.
- If you finish early, you can always go back and add more detail. (As long as your additions and changes are legible, your instructor will probably be happy to see signs of revision.)
Answer the right question. Before you begin your answer, you should be sure what the question is asking. I often grade a university composition competency test, and sometimes have to fail well-written papers that fail to address the topic the student has been given.
Collect your thoughts. Resist the urge to start churning out words immediately. If you are going to get anywhere in an essay, you need to know where you are going.
Leave time to revise. Too often, the only revision students do is crossing out their false starts, or explaining their way out of a corner by adding to the end of their essay. Sometimes, in the middle of a difficult paragraph, students will glance back at the question, and get a new idea. They will then hastily back out of their current paragraph, and provide a rough transition like: “But an even more important aspect is…”. They continue in this manner, like a builder who keeps breaking down walls to add new wings onto a house.
- To handle this problem when it occurs, don’t automatically add to the end of an essay — write in the margins, or draw a line to indicate where you want to insert a new paragraph.
- Leave space to revise too — write on every other line and leave the backs of pages blank, so you will have room to make legible insertions if you need to.
- Obviously, if you are writing your test on a computer, you should just insert and rearrange text as you would normally.
Revise your thesis statement If inspiration strikes while you are in the middle of an essay, and your conclusion turns out to be nothing like you thought it would be, change your thesis statement to match your conclusion. (Assuming, of course, that your unexpected conclusion still addresses the assigned topic.)

Take Notes at School

Chris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:29:20 +0000

Take Notes at School is a post from Chris Pirillo

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High school and college aren’t easy for most people to fly through. Here are some tips sent in by regular community member Snakeyes. He is a college student, and wants to share his tips for study and information retention.

Go to class and be prepared, don’t show up with nothing to write with. What I see a lot, is students go to class with no paper or pen/pencil. It may also help to bring more than one writing utensil. You may want to bring a highlighter and some extra pens. If you use a laptop to take notes make sure the battery is fully charged, or find the closet outlet. Be sure to save previous notes and study them every day. You never know when there be a pop quiz or a test. Don’t save your homework till the last minute. Read your assignment and do your work before it’s due.
Have a conscious effort to listen and be attentive. Sometimes students will ask off topic questions and you get bored and you fall off topic. So always be prepared and stay attentive. Be prepared to be Adapt to whatever direction a lecture takes. When a lecture takes an unexpected detour, say a student asks a question you aren’t particularly interested in, students have a tendency to “zone out.” Before you know it, the lecture got back on track five minutes ago, and you missed crucial information that should have been noted. It’s very easy to get off topic, If YOU do miss anything that day in class ask a friend or someone else for notes. If you were sick one day are you come back to class to then realize your having a test, don’t blame the instructor for planning the test on that day, always ask someone for notes when you were sick so you can write them down.
Use a method that works for you. If you are a big fan of two column notes than use that method. Be sure to also start each lecture on a different page and make sure you date and label all your notes. Don’t use the same notebook for each class. Use a different notebook for each one. You don’t want to be writing notes for your history class in your math binder. Make sure you always keep your notes dated and put them in order, this will help you study for tests and final exams. It’s always important to Develop a system of abbreviations and symbols you can use wherever possible.
Pay close attention to content. if something is written down on the overhead or the chalkboard write down, even if you think it’s not important. Write down definitions to words that are listed. Make sure you write down anything that is repeated or spelled out, Usually when my teacher writes something down multiple times I know it’s going to be on a test later on.
Last step, Review your notes. Re-read/study at least 24 hours later to make sure it’s still fresh in your mind. Be sure to Edit for words and phrases that are illegible or don’t make sense. Write out abbreviated words that might be unclear, so that you have a better meaning of the word. If you need to make corrections or would like to edit your notes, choose another color to determine what u actually wrote in class and what you just edited. If key words and questions are still unclear to you look go back and re-read the chapter and fill in the definition in the left column. If you are still unclear circle it or underline it and ask the professor or teacher. Fill in anything you may have left from the textbook as well make sure the textbook and your notes match.

Kat was on the Ventrilo server with me during this video, and wanted to add a tip she used in college.

When taking notes, I wrote absolutely everything down. I began college at the age of 29, as a single mom who worked full time. Since I had been out of school so long, I was concerned about information retention and studying. After class, I would then go through all of my notes, and highlight the important areas. Then, I would get fresh paper, and make myself an outline for that day’s class. Once I found how easy this made it for me to remember things, I made it a practice for every course through my entire college career. It certainly helped me to graduate Summa Cum Laude, with dual degrees.

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

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VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

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