Ethical Issues of companies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Ethical Issues of companies - Essay Example In simple words, there is more harm than gain from whistle-blowing in the current setting. As a result, this action is wrong under the utilitarianism framework. This framework states that only those actions should be taken which gives greater good to the society than the costs. In this case, there are more costs associated with the action than the benefits and hence I should be passive and let how things move on until I decide to whistle blow, which is not an option at the moment. If we look at the risks associated with whistle blowing, they are loss of jobs for employees, company's reputation at stake, my job in jeopardy and the chance that the company may lose market share against the major competitor. The gains from the action will be people would be aware about Delectable's nonexistent quality control and this can lead them into making a better choice. However, weighing the two options, one feels that there are greater risks than gains and hence I should not whistle blow. A2) the attitude of workers is purely materialistic at the moment. They are paid on piece rate and hence they want to produce as much goods as possible while ignoring the quality of what they manufacture. The policy of quality control won't be effective in the current company's culture as workers are just trying to make more goods as they are paid on the basis of how much they produce and because quality control may hinder the speed of their work, the policy won't be as effective as it will be in other settings. There are a lot of issues that the management needs to readdress looking at the attitudes of workers and supervisors on the factory floor. First of all, the management needs to incorporate in people that the workers should respect the people from higher level of hierarchy instead of blocking their work. This can be done by the management by showing them their authority and by firing those people who do not cooperate with the top brass. The main pressure is that the workers a re not willing to cooperate and the situation can only improve if either the authority is delegated to the quality control department or the management itself fires or threaten people who are hindering the efforts of the quality control department. PART B B1) The government and state faced a major challenge in the form of underfunding to deal with the health and safety issue. There is hardly any possibility that the current staff of 60 can see 16000 food businesses in Georgia. Similarly, Delectable employs thousands of people and government will be threatened to take any action against the company as it would mean loss of jobs and unemployment. However, government can counter the problem by staffing more people in order to keep check and balance on most of the businesses in the state. The government should try to encourage people and organizations to fund FDA by telling them it would improve the general condition of the food businesses in the country and ensure that their offerings are hygienic and comply with quality and control standards. Government can also encourage the businesses to act in a socially responsible way. This can be done by giving tax holidays to company where there is no quality cases recorded reported against the compa ny. The government can also levy stricter rules on food businesses which could levy harsh penalties on these business and can ask them disclose the quality and contr

Christian University Essay Example for Free

Christian University Essay This essay is a review of the book Shiloh- In Hell Before Night written by James Lee McDonough. James Lee McDonough was born on June 17, 1934 in Nashville, Tennessee. It is here that he spent his childhood. Regarding his education, the author attended Lipscomb High School. He received his higher education at David Lipscomb College where he attained a BA degree in 1956. He later went to M. A Abilene Christian University where he attained an M. A degree in 1961. The author received his PhD from the Florida State University in 1966. He was to be appointed as a Professor of History, a post he held in Lipscomb, Pepperdine and Auburn universities. Currently, he is a retired professor of history at Auburn University. The author was lauded by the Army for his role in furthering knowledge in military history and has received many accolades for his efforts in military history scholarship . Besides Shiloh- in Hell before Night, the author has written many other books. These include Chattanooga – Death Grip on the Confederacy, Five Tragic Hours; Stones River- Bloody Winter in Tennessee, Nashville; The Western Confederacy’s Final Gamble and War in Kentucky: from Shiloh to Perryville. His other books which are still in print include Sky Riders; History of the 327/401 Glider Infantry, ‘War so terrible’: Sherman and Atlanta and The Battle of Franklin. Moreover, he has written more than 30 articles, and reviewed close to seventy books . Shiloh- in Hell before Night was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 1977. At the time of writing the book, the author was a scholar at the David Lipscomb College in Nashville, Tennessee where he was a history professor. Having attained all the academic qualifications mentioned, he was well qualified to write the book. In this book, the author has used both primary and secondary sources. He makes great use of primary sources when he lets the participants in the war narrate their experiences. Among the primary sources which the author has utilized include recollections, letters and personal diaries of the combatants. For instance, the personal diaries of Thomas Lovemore, Samuel Watkins, Clarence Buell, William Tecumseh Sherman, R. F Learned and Braxton Bragg are utilized. Regarding secondary sources, the author cites writers who have made contributions on related subjects such as D. W. Reed, Shellby Footes, Lloyd Lewis and John Duke. He also cites magazine articles such as the Richmond enquirer, Chicago Times, and New Orleans Daily Picayune. Other secondary sources which the author has made use of include personal diaries, letters and official records. This book is an attempt by the author to provide an overview of the battle of Shiloh. This battle took place in 1862 at Shiloh near the border between Tennessee and Mississippi and was a defining moment in America’s Civil War. The action begun in February 1862 when the Union Army pushed the Confederate Army, which was led by General Albert Johnston at that time, compelling them to surrender most of Tennessee. Major General Ulysses Grant was the commander of the Union Army and come spring, he assembled a 40,000 strong force close to Pittsburg Landing just next to the Tennessee River. The intention of the Union Army was to attack the rail intersection of Corinth, Mississippi, which was an important infrastructural facility. Before they could attack however, they were ambushed by the Confederates who attacked them when they were close to the Shiloh Church. This event occurred on April 6th, 1862. The total number of Confederate troops who made the march were no less than 44, 000 and were led by Johnston and General P. G. T Beauregard. As the author writes, the element of surprise worked well for the Confederates as they were able to repulse the Union Army’s right flank by one and a half kilometer after battling for three hours. However, the Union Army withstood the assault and its left flank remained largely unmoved. The area of action where the Union forces withstood the confederate attack was called the ‘Hornet’s Nest’. By late evening, Johnston lay dead, having been injured on the leg. Beauregard assumed control of the Confederate Army upon the death of Johnston and called off the action later in the day. The Union Army got reinforcements later during the night. The reinforcements were led by Major General Don Carlos Buell and Lew Wallace. Beauregard turned down pleas by General Nathan Bedford Forrest that the Confederates attack when he saw the arrival of the reinforcement. With the reinforcements, the Union Army was able to repulse the Confederates and Beauregard surrendered before evening and retreated to Corinth. The battle of Shiloh was costly as it led to the deaths of more than 23,000 people. This book is important as it was the first scholarly attempt at describing the battle of Shiloh. It redefined the way people viewed the battle, what with its treatment of aspects deemed to be controversial. In a major departure from the prevailing thoughts, the author asserted that the death of Johnston did not in any way influence the outcomes of the battle. Additionally, he avers that there was no respite whatsoever following this death. Another major assertion which the author makes is that Beauregard’s decision to halt the attack was the right one and that, contrary to the dominant thought; the Confederates did not have any real opportunity on the evening of April 6th. What’s more, the author posits that the arrival of the reinforcements led by Buell did not have any noticeable impact on the outcome of battle on the first day. The author also asserts that the main activity of the entire battle was the conflict at Hornet’s Nest. He avers that Grant was able to erect the last line of defense at Pittsburg Landing primarily because the Sunken Road was able to withstand the Confederate offensive. The author does not stop there as he holds Braxton Bragg responsible for the Confederates’ inability to pry open the Hornet’s Nest. This, as he explains, was occasioned by Bragg’s inability to assemble the 18,000 troops required to mount the offensive. The purpose of the author is to provide an accurate, irrefutable and personalized rendition of the battle of Shiloh. Through this book, he hopes to give the reader an overview of the events preceding and occurring during, and immediately after the 48 hour battle. By and large, it can be said that the author achieved this purpose. He wades through the occurrences, giving reasonable explanations which rationalize such controversial questions as what made the Union Army to be ambushed in surprise. The author also provides judgment on whether Beauregard exercised judicial restraint when he halted the battle on the first day. He gives us sneak previews on what went into the preparations of both sides, discuses the personalities and experiences of the generals and shows us what was done wrong. The author also delves into the role of the Confederate and Union generals, assessing the various command decisions and returning judgment on the leadership ability. Through all these, he achieves his purpose as the reader is able to understand what happened, why it happened, when it happened, where it happened and most importantly, how it happened.

Drug Use in Sports Essay -- Steroids Baseball Athletes

Substance Use in Sports Illegal substance use in sports is something that is a very new, recent, and controversial. In the last couple years many football players of all ages and other athletes have died due to use of certain substances, mainly ephedrine. Another issue that arises from this topic is the use of steroids in the major league baseball association. Players in the MLBA may not all admit to using steroids but since the league doesn’t test for any substances many players use the drug. These players also use many other supplements that are not looked upon as illegal but do alter and help how they play. This brings upon the question of how the MLBA should deal with their stance on drug testing. Many recent articles have also shown how players in sports that do test for drugs are able to get a steroid or muscle enhancement that doesn’t show up on steroid tests. This then raises the question to if technology is surpassing these drug tests then should they even be given. Steroids a nd other supplements are ruining the game of baseball. When looking at the issue more in depth one is able to find that these players are almost required to take these supplements to fit in to their lifestyles. An expectation from fans, coaches, and other players almost puts a demand to perform at the same level of everyone else. Once a majority of players begin gaining an edge then others feel obligated to attempt to keep up. Throughout this article I will further ones education on how these drugs have ruined the game of baseball and its past, what these drugs are and how they are used, and also how it is all tied together and expected in these player’s lifestyles. In May of 2002 a very controversial edition of Sports Illustrate... ... teams with more money to basically purchase all the good players. Once someone rich enough comes along they will be able to buy all the biggest and best players and cut the competition to a minimum. Whereas an end to steroids would allow for a more diversion of very good players opposed to the same players (steroid users) being on top all the time. This would bring about more fans, more excitement to the game of baseball, and a whole new look for the sport that true baseball fans would love to see. Being able to go to the ballpark again and watch down to the wire games between any teams is something that every fan wants to see. Baseball is America’s Sport and needs to be rekindled with the spirit of America as a whole, this is simply done by eliminating steroids that allow for players and the sport as a whole to misrepresent its true skill and meaning.

Activity Analysis

Cost: The price depends on what kind of computer is bought and what type of internet is purchased. A computer can range anywhere from $400. 00 to $1000. 00 and high speed internet usually costs around $20. 00 a month. For this activity an HP computer is being used which costs $429. 99 and high speed internet for $20. 00 a month. Overall cost for one year: $669. 99. Preparation: Must have an email account, know the email address of the person the email is going to, and buy a computer and the internet. Time: 35 min-10 minutes to find email address of the friend and 25 minutes for composing an email. Space Needs or setting required: Indoor, computer desk with computer equipment, well lit area, and an the size of the area does not matter as long as a computer desk and chair can fit. Activity Qualities: Teens, young adults, and adults may find this task meaningful. This task would also be meaningful to businessmen. This activity may not be not enjoyable for the late baby boomers. Occupation: Social participation such as engaging in communication with friends and family. Leisure interest such as relaxation and feeling of involvement by communicating with others. Supervision: None  Precautions: Those with visual impairments, cognitive delays, and proper fine motor control may experience difficulty when performing this task and will need supervision to provide verbal step by step procedures. Contradictions: Not appropriate for those with complete blindness and a major cognitive delay. May not be appropriate for those with profound deficits of gross and fine motor control. Motor Skills: Sensory awareness required. Sensory processing including visual acuity, visual stability, vestibular functions, proprioceptive functions, touch functions, and pressure awareness. Neuromusculoskeletal related functions include joint mobility, joint stability, muscle power, muscle tone, muscle endurance, motor reflexes, and control of voluntary and involuntary movements. Motor skills that are needed for this task are gross, fine, crossing the midline, bilateral integration, and praxis. Also postural control and alignment are important for this task. Process Skills: For this task, attention span, memory, and perception are needed. Also, thought, sequencing, prioritizing, creating, multitasking, and judging are used for this activity. Communication/interaction skills: Interests, self-concept, role performance, social contact, perceive, influence, and relation to others are important to this task. Displaying and perceiving emotions are important to relate to others. Self-control, interpersonal skills, and self-expression are also needed. ADL/IADL Performance Areas: The fine motor skills of sending an email can be helpful in feeding, eating, dressing, bathing, personal device care, and personal hygiene. The cognitive skills of this activity can also help with personal device care and personal hygiene. This activity can also help with communication management by using the communication skills needed to send an email. Work/education performance areas: This activity can be helpful for those seeking employment and job performance. Being able to send an email will enable a person to better their career by sending professional emails. It will also help with job performance by using cognitive, gross, and fine motor control needed to send an email. Leisure/play/social participation areas: This activity can be continued as a leisure activity and can enhance play exploration and participation. It can enhance play by meeting new people and exploring new interests. It can also better social participation by exchanging information with friends and family. Continuous communication with people will improve social skills. Adaptation: Potential for adaptation is very good. May use raised or enlarged keys on the keyboard for those with a visual impairment and low sensory integration. May also increase the zoom on internet pages so a person can see a larger image. With someone who has limited ROM, a wireless keyboard would work best. This way the person can set the keyboard on lap. The mouse can be adapted by enlarging it and adding different texture for the right and left click. This way, the person is aware of the different sides. Grading: Adding wrist weights to hands will improve arm strength. Placing the keyboard and mouse further from the person will encourage reach while sitting. Using a therapy ball instead of a chair will encourage concentration and attention span. Making the keys on the keyboard smaller and the mouse smaller will enhance fine motor control. Disabilities: Those with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and personality disorder would benefit from this activity by improving social skills and having someone they can talk to. Those with strokes, MS, autism, and rheumatoid arthritis would benefit from this activity which would improve social, cognitive, and fine motor control skills. Goal: Within the OT treatment session, the patient will be able to type 100 words within 10 minutes. Habits: This activity can influence habits by  Environmental Aspects: Sending an E-mail can influence cultural context because for most it is common to use the computer and is the America is beginning to use the internet for sending mail instead of the post office. For personal context, this activity is mainly used by teens, adults, and middle adulthood. For Temporal context, this activity influences it because cards such as, holiday cards, sympathy cards, wedding invitations, and birthday cards are being sent through email. This activity influences virtual context because it is using the internet. It influences social context because it is a quick and easy way to exchange information.

Supervise Children and Young People on Journeys

Supervise children and young people on Journeys, visits and activities outside of the setting 1 . Understand the policy and procedures for supervising children and young people on Journeys, visits and activities outside of the setting. There are various organisational and legal requirements for supervising children on journeys, visits and activities outside of the school setting. These include policies and procedures which should be carried out by the school including risk assessments of areas that will be visited (New2teaching, 2013).Risks assessments will identify any hazards and/or dangers and who might be armed and how this may happen, allow the risks to be evaluated and check if the precautions are sufficient. They also allow staff to record their findings and review and revise assessments if necessary. Prior to the trip, the school will have to inform parents or guardians of all the necessary details in good time and obtain their consent for their child to go on the school trip . This should be in writing and include at least the location, date and time of departure and arrival, purpose, price and what is required on the trip by the children.The school should have other necessary information of each child going on the trip, ncluding dietary information, allergies, any other medical conditions and also if they suffer from travel sickness. Also, the school should ensure that there is a suitable adult-child ratio and that all Moreover, there must be sufficient insurance cover for all participants of the trip as well as accidents and emergency policies and procedures, which should be in place for off-site visits. There should be a budget in place for the school trip, including expenditure and contingency costs and all money should be accounted.A record should be made showing all payments made by pupils and receipts should be issued to each of hem. It is important that children, young people and adults have complete and accurate information about travel arrange ments in good time. This is to ensure that everyone arrives on time, prepared with any necessary resources. This is to avoid delay of departure or even not going on the visit if there is something missing or another difficult situation arises where someone or all of those who are involved may not be able to go on the trip as planned.It is necessary to ensure that vehicles used on trips are in good condition and safe for all passengers (New2teaching, 2013). Also, if the Journey is long, then it will be necessary to make sure there are snacks and check that there is a toilet on the coach or the relevant transport. If this is not possible then there should be an arranged stop for toilet breaks. It should be checked that drivers are competent and have the correct licence and if necessary whether to have more than one driver in case of fatigue.The preparations which need to be made by all those going on Journeys, visits and off-site activities would be to ensure that all individuals have appropriate clothing and sufficient food and drink should be taken where necessary. There should be a list of all those attending the visit and registers made for supervisors in order to account for all children on the trip. There should be someone who is in charge of funds in case of an emergency or break down of vehicle during a trip. should be ensured that there is a first aider on the trip, along with a first aid box.Also, at least one member of the group should carry a mobile phone with them in case of emergency and they should have emergency contact numbers. There should also be a point of contact belonging to the area visited on the school trip and the staff ember should be familiar of this. In case someone on the trip goes missing, staff should be aware of where to go in the area visited and should be made aware of the procedures. Any medication, for example, inhalers should be taken for those who may fall ill during the visit.In the case of late departure and arrival, the school should be informed by the relevant staff on the trip and parents should be notified for security reasons. The following is an account of the Oakwood Primary School trip for Nursery and Reception class to Gulliver's Land, in Milton Keynes, which took place on 27th June 013. Prior to the trip, I made sure what time I had to be in school for and what time the bus would be leaving. This was well after my normal start time for work so I didn't need to leave the house any earlier. As the Journey was about 45 minutes, it was a direct route.Therefore, no stops were needed. All staff that were attending were given a list with the names of the group of children for which they would be responsible. It was made sure that there were no more than 6 children in each group. My group was a group of 6 from the Reception class. The bus was due to leave at gam. As soon as the children arrived at 8. 30am and ushered into the class, they were settled down and the register was taken, ensuring all t he children that were going on the trip were present. Before departing, we bag and that it was labelled with their name.We also asked the children if they needed to go to the toilet so nobody needed to go during the Journey. The children were told to stay with their group at all times and were put into pairs. We then went to board the bus. I sat at the front of the bus and helped the children near me to put on their seatbelts. All of their packed lunches were placed at the front f the bus, in the designated area for luggage. The register was taken by the Early Years Manager and a headcount was carried out. I ensured all the children in my group were present.During the Journey, I made sure the children did not remove their seatbelts or move out of their seat. Some of the children had accessories like hats and sunglasses, so I told them to look after them. There were no issues during the Journey and the children were fine on the bus. When we arrived, the children were told to get thei r belongings and the bus was checked thoroughly to prevent anything being left ehind. The children were told to get into their groups and reminded of which staff member they would have to stay with throughout the trip.The register was taken to check that all the children were off the bus. I made my group stay in their pairs, hold hands with each other and to stay with me at all times. We arrived in good time, Just before the park opened. This ensured we had as much time as possible in the park. We were all given a map and details of attractions that were available throughout the day. When the park was open, we were allowed in and it was snack time for the children. So we went to a sheltered bench area and sat the children down and made sure they had their fruit or other snack. I made sure my group was sat down and in my sight.When they had finished their snack, I told them to throw their waste in the bins provided by the bench area and not litter the ground. They were told to give t heir pack lunches to their group leader and any belongings they did not require until later. These were all placed in secure lockers, which were next to the bench area. We were told to meet up again at this area at lunch time. We then decided to stay with other group and go on the same rides, so any children ho did not want to go on a particular ride could be supervised by another adult, while another group leader went on the ride with the rest of the children.The rides on which I escorted the children, I ensured they were sat securely, making sure any safety harnesses were attached and that they held on to the bars provided, so that they were comfortable. When it was almost time for lunch, we made our way back to the lunch area and gave into their carrier bag and put back in the locker, along with any other belongings. Occasionally the children some of the children would try to leave their partner or the roup as they were drawn to an attraction or something else and I was constantl y reminding them to stay together and not wander off.After going on a ride, one child in my group was not feeling well because the ride was a shock for her. We made sure she did not go on anymore rides that would not be appropriate and made her for a while until she felt better to go on other rides. In between rides, some children need to go to the toilet, so I accompanied them and left the other children in my group with another staff member. I counted how many children were with me and when they were finished, I ensured the same number of hildren came out of the toilet.It was nearing the time of departure from the park and we were waiting to get on a ride. My group was waiting with another group. We wanted the children to ride but we knew that there was a shortage of time. The other group leader made a call to the Early Years Manager to see if we would be able to go on the ride and she said that we did not have enough time. Therefore, we had to leave the waiting area for the ride and gather our groups. I went with the Early Years Manager to get the bags from the lockers, after leaving my roup supervised with another staff member.After we retrieved the bags and checked there was nothing left, we tended to our groups and ensured every child was there. When we exited the park, the children were in their pairs and we boarded the bus. The register was taken again and the headcount was repeated. On the way back a child sitting in front of me fell asleep, so I put her head in a comfortable position for her. When we reached school, I gently woke her before we got off the bus. As we got off the bus, we checked detached the children's seatbelt for hem and ensured that they were getting off safely and not leaving anything behind.

How to Guess Strategically on ACT Math

How to Guess Strategically on ACT Math SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The ACT allows for guessing without penalty (no negative points here!), but how can you turn guessing into the best strategy to maximize your ACT math score? The more you can increase your guessing odds, the better off you’ll be. And we’re here to show you how. We’ll go through when and how to guess strategically on the ACT math section as well as show you examples of how to guess most effectively in action. Refresher on ACT Math Scoring The ACT is a standardized test and is issued multiple times per year to hundreds of thousands of students, all of whom are scored on the same grading structure. What this means is that each ACT must look and feel like every other ACT as much as possible so that the scoring system is evenly balanced. The individual questions may vary, but the patterns in how the test-makers design both the questions and the answer choices will be as similar as possible. With time and practice, you can learn to not only recognize the structural patterns of the ACT math section when you see them, but also use the clues in both the question and the answer choices to help you find theright answer (or at least narrow down your options!). After all, why take a 20% shot of guessing the right answer when you can bump those odds up to 33% or even 50%? In terms of structure, the ACT math section is 60 math questions in 60 minutes. Each and every question will be a multiple choice question with 5 answer choices. Because the test is presented as multiple choice, the right answer will always be there amongst the answer choices, while incorrect answers are usually generated by common student errors. As for how the test is scored, for each multiple choice question, you will get: +1 point for every correct answer and 0 points for every incorrect or blank answer. There is no negative penalty for an incorrect answer. Developing a Target Score Though you will not be penalized for answering a question incorrectly, your overall test-taking strategy is still going to be tremendously influenced by your target score. And these strategies will change as your score goals change. Why does your target score matter if you aren’t penalized for wrong answers? The ACT math section puts the pressure on by putting you on a strict time crunch, which means that many students cannot take as much time per question as they would like to. You may find you cannot even finish the whole test in the time allotted, or that you couldn’t take the time to be as careful on each problem as you had hoped. Because of this, you will have to develop a plan of attack in terms of questions you can answer thoroughly and questions you have to take a guess on. But before you develop your attack plan, you must first figure out your baseline. Take a practice test andcome up with different ways to mark your questionsone mark for questions you don't know how to do, and another mark for questions you're only somewhat confident about. You may even want to create a third marker for questions that youknowhow to do, but will take a long time or will require multiple steps, so must be done carefully to avoid error. This way, you can save them for last (though this is optional). For now, use your best judgment on how to guess the questions you've marked, but do make sure that you can identify which problems were which later. These marks will help you when you go to analyze your answers (and your guessing strategy) in the next section. Lastly, once you're done with the test,check out our guide to developing your ideal target score, based on your current score and your future goals. Remember too that progress doesn't happen all at once. Let yourself celebrate milestones as you improve towards your target, or even adapt your target score based on your trajectory. Guessing Based on Target Score After you find your target curved score, see how that translates to your raw score. How many questions must you answer correctly to get that target score? Keep that number in your head and then focus the majority of your attention on a few more questions than that target. Why? You're leaving yourself room to get a few questions wrong. So if you need a raw score of 40 to reach your goal, focus the majority of your attention on the first 45-48 questions. The questions are grouped in order of ascending difficulty, so your best bet is to concentrate your hardest on this area. Do note that you should answer each and every question on the ACT math section, even if you have to make a random guess. The reason we said that you should â€Å"focus the majority of your attention† on the questions in your target range is because your time and your focus are precious commodities on the ACT. You’re trying to get as many points possible across the board, so your maximum focus should be on your target score range. Once you’ve dedicated your time to the first 35, 40, or 50 questions (whatever your score range may be), you can feel free to guess on the rest of your questions without fear of reprisal. The odds are that you’ll get a few of them right and there are absolutely no consequences. (For more on this, check out our guide on how to stop running out of time on the ACT math section.) So when should you guess and when should you try to answer the problem? Even if a question is in your prime scoring range, the time to guess is when: You have absolutely no idea how to solve the problem You think the question will take too long to go through properly (make a guess now and come back to it later if you have time) You’re running out of time and need to answer several more questions You’re in your â€Å"bonus scoring† zone (aka, not your prime scoring range) Again, remember to mark these different question types. Once you’ve scored your test, look back on the questions you marked. How accurate is your guessing right now? Is there a pattern in your missed guesses? Odds are that you've gotten some of the questions right that you guessed on, but we're looking to increase that accuracy as much as possible. So let’s talk about themost effective guessing strategies for ACT math. Think of your test-taking like a science experimentyou will have your own unique score goals and ways of thinking. As you get more used to working with ACT questions, you'll get better at refining the methods that work best for your unique skill set. ACT Math Guessing Strategies The ACT math section is designed to test how well you’ve learned your math topics and principles and whether you can recognize and figure out how to apply these mathematical concepts to new situations. Most ACT math questions will be fairly straightforward (meaning they are not designed to trick you, even if they are difficult), and each and every math topicon the test is one that you are likely familiar with and have studied for a number of years. This is all to say that you likely have a better understanding of the questions than you may think, even if you don’t know how to actually solve the problem. Often (though not always), a little strategy will allow you to eliminate at least one or two answer choices and make an educated guess. Note: this may seem obvious, but only use your guessing strategies when you don't know how to solve a problem or are not confident about your answer. Guessing often takes a little more time than a straight-solve, so if you know the answer, great! Move on to the next problem. Only stop and take the time to guess if you're stuck. We’ve laid out three of the most important rules of thumb that go into making an educated guess on an ACT math problem. Most of the time you will use a combination of these three techniques on any given problem, so they are less individual strategy than they are a combination of thought processes that you should go through every time you make a guess. So let’s look at all three techniques needed to best make guesses (and when to do so!) on the ACT math section. Guessing Strategy 1: Process of Elimination Being able to eliminate answers onACT questions is arguably a more important skill than even being able to solve questions (or at least equally as important). The entire ACT math section is multiple choice, which is great news for guessing. For every multiple choice question, the right answer is there somewhere. The more you can narrow down your options, the better off you’ll be when you go to make your selection. You don’t even need to know the right answer so long as you know that four of the answers are wrong. If you can eliminate four wrong answers, whatever remains must be correct. Do you know the answer must be a line that slopes up and to the right, even if you don't know where it's supposed to be positioned horizontally? Do you know that the answer must be negative? Even knowing just a tiny bit about the problem or its possible answer will often be enough to eliminate a few answer options. But what if can't eliminate four answer choices and find the final, correct answer? Not to worry! Even if you can only eliminate one answer choice, you’re still better off doing so than taking a shot completely in the dark. Let’s break it down. Eliminating 0 Answer Choices So you’ve come to a question and you can’t eliminate any answer choices at allshould you still guess? Always! There are two scenarios for when you can’t eliminate any answer choicesquestions you’ve looked at but don’t know how to solve, and questions that you haven’t even gotten a chance to look at. For the second scenario, imagine that you’ve just answered question 45 and you’ve got one minute left on the clock. You have no time to even look at the next 15 questions, so you’ve got to just fill in your bubbles and hope that the odds will be in your favor. But no matter what the scenario, if you truly cannot eliminate any answer choice, your best plan of attack will be the same. DON’T pick the most â€Å"tempting† answer or an answer at â€Å"random.† Instead, when guessing without elimination, choose your favorite letterA, B, C, D, or Eand always choose the same letter every time you have to make a blind guess. (Note: A is the same as F, B is the same as G, etc.) Wait, what? There are always five answer options for any given multiple choice question, so the odds of choosing the right answer at random is one-in-five, or 20%. But the catch is that human beings are NOT random. No matter how we try, our attempts at creating randomness will inevitably fail. If you try to make your best attempt at â€Å"randomness,† and guess wildly across the board, you’re more likely to get less than 20% of your guesses right. The best way to achieve randomness is to go in the complete opposite directionpick one letter and stick with it every time. When in doubt, pick your same favorite letter for every question you have to answer blindly, and move on. Eliminating 1 Answer Choice All right, but let’s say you can eliminate one answer choice. How should you guess now? Again, you will always have five total answer options for each question. Now, with one option removed, the odds of us guessing the right answer will be one-in-four, or 25%. And yet, this is still a time to stick with your â€Å"favorite letter† strategy. There are still too many options at play to start jumping around in your guessing strategy, so your best bet is to stick with your previous strategy and guess your same, favorite letter. Unless your designated letter is the answer choice that has been eliminated (in which case, go ahead and pick a backup letter), your best shot of succeeding at the random odds are to guess your same consistent answer choice. Eliminating 2 Answer Choices (Now We’re Getting Somewhere!) You’ve eliminated two answer choices that you know have to be wrong and are down to three possibilities. This is the time to change up your guessing strategy. If you can eliminate two answer choices, the odds are that you know at least a little bit about this kind of math problem. Maybe you’ve only got enough knowledge about exponentsto know that the answer can’t possibly be negative, or enough of an understanding of probabilitiesand fractions to know that the denominator must be even. If you’re familiar enough with the type of math problem that you can eliminate two answer choices, you’re likely to be familiar enough with the problem to make your best guess. A random shot at the answer will get you a one-in-three chance of getting it right, or 33%, and your best guess should put you at those same odds, if not a little higher. But the best way to test your mathematical instincts on problems like these is to look back through your practice test. For any questions where you were down to three, how many times did you guess the correct answer? How many times did you get it wrong? Take a look at your previous patterns. If your odds were less than 33%, it might be time to go back to your â€Å"favorite letter† strategy. Eliminating 3 Answer Choices If you can eliminate three answer choices, you’re in a great place! This will give you a one-in-two shot of choosing the correct answer, or 50%. Go with your gut, do eenie-meenie-miny-mo, or choose the letter you like best. And again, look over your previous guesses of this nature. How often were you right or wrong? Did you guess at 50% odds every time you were able to eliminate three answer choices? Your strategies for guessing and elimination should always be informed by your past performance. When something is working, refine it as best you can. When something isn’t working, alter your approach. Eliminating 4 Answer Choices If you can confidently eliminate four answer options, then celebrate! No need for guessing hereyou’ve found the correct answer. We’ve talked about guessing after you’ve eliminated answers, but how exactly do you go about eliminating answer choices? Let’s take a look. Always adjust your strategies based on how well they're working. If your guesses are netting lower than chance percentage, take a step back and try to find the patterns in how you're working to see what might be going wrong. Guessing Strategy 2: Approximating If you have even a general idea of what the right answer might be (even a ballpark figure will do), you will often be able to eliminate one or two of the most blatant outliers. Though the answer choices are most often generated based on common student errors, there will still generally be answer choices that are way far afield. Do you know that the answer must be positive? Discard anything negative right away. If you’re given the hypotenuse of a triangle, you know that each leg must be less than that given hypotenuse. Discard anything equal to or greater than the hypotenuse. Let’s take a look at this in action. Don’t worry about actually solving the problem, just give yourself enough of a ballpark to see if you can eliminate one or two (or three or four!) answer choices. Our two triangles are in a ratio of 2:5 for all their sides. Now we are looking to compare both their hypotenuses. The smaller triangle has a hypotenuse of 5, which means that the larger triangle must have a hypotenuse that is larger than 5. Already, we can eliminate answer choices F and G, since they are less than 5. Now that leaves us with three answer choices, H, J, and K, which aren't bad odds for guessing, but we can go a little further than this. We know that the ratio is 2:5, which if we know anything about ratios, we know means that the larger side is a little more than double the smaller side. If the smaller hypotenuse is 5, the larger hypotenuse must be a little more than double this. This means that the hypotenuse of the larger triangle must be larger than 10. The only answer choice that is larger than 10 is answer choice K, 12. 5. Though we haven't officially done the work to solve the problem, this is a very good guess, just based on approximation and process of elimination. [Note: the correct answer is, indeed, K, 12.5.] You can also approximate answers on geometric figures on the test. Although the instructions state that "illustrative figures are NOT necessarily drawn to scale," they essentially alwaysare. (The exception is those inquestions that ask about what MUST be true, i.e. what you can prove.)If you're attempting a question that asks about side lengths, angle measures, or ratios, you can use the figure to make a ballpark guess about these values. This question is asking about specific values, so we can assume it's toscale. We can, therefore, make our guesses based on the given measurements. In addition, as a general rule of thumb, the correct answer will be "cannot be determined" less than 20% of the time. So it's a good idea to eliminate this answer choice if you don't know how to solve this kind of problem. Always guess one of the values if you are forced to make a guess. So, based on the given hypotenuse measure of 6, and the fact that our drawing is to scale, we can estimate that the measure of CD appears to be about half of that. This means that CD probably measures about 3. Maybe it's little more, maybe a little less, but we can most certainly eliminate answer choices F and G. And, since we already eliminated answer choice K, that leaves us with answer choices H and J. We've got a 50-50 chance, so it's a good time to make a guess. And an educated guess between the two choices would better favor answer choice H rather than answer choice J because it's close to our initial estimate of 3. [Note: the correct answer is, indeed,H, 3.6.] Guessing Strategy 3: Finding the Round Answers and Shortcuts If we remember that the ACT math section is designed so that a student without a calculator can solve every problem, this can inform how we go about both solving our problems and eliminating our answer choices. Not being able to use a calculator limits one’s mathematical possibilities, especially when a time-crunch is involved. For this reason, the ACT tends to favor shortcuts (like triangle shortcuts) and round numbers. If you can eliminate answer choices that would not produce nice, round numbers, you can often find your right answer. Let’s look at this principle in action, We are told that a bag originally contains 18 marbles, and we must find the additional number of marbles to get a 3 5 ratio. Well, a 3 5 ratio of marbles (an object that CANNOT be broken into pieces) means that our new total number of marbles must be divisible by 5 (since 5 is our denominator). This, in turn, means that our total number of marbles must have a units digit of either 0 or 5. For 18 + x to equal a number ending in 0 or 5, x MUST end in either 2 or 7. (e.g., 18 + 2 = 20, or 18 + 17 = 35). We can, therefore, eliminate every answer choice that does NOT end in 2 or 7. In this case, we can eliminate every answer choice except for F. We didn’t even have to know how to solve the problem or walk through the steps. We just knew to look for a round and easy number to work with and found it through process of elimination. [Note: the correct answer is, indeed, F, 12.] Guessing Strategy 4: Avoiding Temptation The test is designed around the statistically average student, and many of the answer choices are generated based on common student errors. Though the ACT is not designed to "trick" you, people have a tendency to fall into predictable thinking patterns, and it’s easy to select wrong answers that the average student falls for again and again if you’re not paying close attention. If you look at a question in the medium or difficult range that you can solve in a second or two, it may just be too good to be true. If an answer choice seems immediately appealing, especially on a difficult question, it might just be a trap. Think about how many other students would have felt the same way on trial tests. Take a moment to really examine the question. Even if you don’t know how to solve it, you might still be able to spot a trap when you see it if you take a second to breathe. Let’s say this is a problem that you have no idea how to go about solving, but you do know a little about averages. If you’re going quickly through the test or you are only thinking about the bare principles of averages, you might think that answer choice C looks awfully tempting. After all, Tom’s starting with a score of 78 and he needs an 80. If he gets an 82, that seems like it will balance out about right...right? Except that this question is number 47 out of 60, which means it is in the "medium-high difficulty" range. 82 is way too tempting of an answer to be correct for this level of difficulty. Even if we don’t know how to solve the question, we can pretty safely eliminate answer choice C. Based off of our basic understanding of averages, we can also safely eliminate answer choices D and E. We might not know how to do weighted averages, but these answer choices seem way too small to raise up our current average of 78 to 80. Without knowing how to solve the problem, we have narrowed down our options to answer choices A and B, which gives us a 50-50 chance of guessing correctly. Not bad at all! [Note: the correct answer is A, 90.] Go you and your awesome, ACT-guessing self! The Take-Aways Though it is very useful to know how to actually solve your ACT math problems, we’ve seen that it is not always necessary. Though you shouldn’t guess on every ACT math question, it can help your scores to guess strategically when you have to do so. Just remember to always use your guessing strategies when you have the chance to look at the problem, and stick with your favorite letter whenever you must make a blind guess. And take a deep breath. You probably know more than you think, and you probably know enough to at least eliminate an answer choice or two, even if you’re feeling overwhelmed. Practice and focus will have you beating the odds and boosting your scores in no time. What’s Next? Still not satisfied with your ACT math scores?Improve your individual ACT math topicskills by working through ourindividual math topic guides. In each guide, we willwalk you through the definitions of each math topic, the formulas you'll need, and how you'll see the questions on the ACT math section. We'll also give you real ACT math problems (and answer explanations) for you to practice your skills on. Been procrastinating on your ACT prep?If you've found yourself in a procrastination rut, check out our guide onhow to stop procrastinatingso you can get back to studying. Aiming for a perfect score? If you're looking to score a perfect 36 on your ACT math section, then look no further than ourguide to getting an 36 on the ACT math, written by a perfect-scorer. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Math lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Discussion Question Help Example

Discussion Question Help Example Discussion Question Help – Coursework Example Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, and Correlational Research Experimental, Quasi-Experimental, and Correlational Research Scientific research involves asking questions about a test subject and coming up with conclusion from the answers given. Considering the diversity in questions asked during a scientific research, there has been need to come up with standards procedure in doing research. These include quasi-experimental, experimental, and correlation research (Raulin and Graziano, 1993). However, these procedures differ in various ways. The difference is usually in the area each method focuses on.Experimental research generally focus on the impact one variable has over the other in an experiment, often, the effect of independent over dependent variable. The independent variable is controlled by presenting it to a test group which is assumed to be equivalent at the beginning of the research. Quasi-experimental research, unlike experimental research, goes further and considers the fa ct that, it is not a must for all the groups involved in an experiment to be equivalent at the start of the study. According to Raulin and Graziano (1993), for credible result, it is important to conduct a pre-test on the subject before the test, so as, to have a rough idea on what to expect. This will also help in ruling out or avoiding any contradicting variables that may rise during the experiment. In the case of correlation research, the key focus is usually on the bond between the variables themselves. It indicates the status of the variables, positive or negative, and the magnitude of the variables which may be strong or weak (Oswald et al, 2008). In conclusion, it is clear that experiment research focus on the questions about the variables, quasi-experiment on the differences among the test groups and finally, correlation focuses on the direction and strength of the variables. Therefore, it is clear there are different research methods with different approaches. It is also cl ear that clarity in scientific research is well tested and all possible contradiction considered. ReferencesRaulin, L. and Graziano, M. (1993). Quasi-Experiments and Correlational Studies. (pp.1122-1137). New York, NY: State University of New YorkOswald, Price And Triona. 2008. Retrieved from April 7 2014