Performance of the Leader as Affected by Followers Essay

Performance of the Leader as Affected by Followers - Essay Example However, as observed, leadership does not necessarily imply laudable, good conduct as it is entirely possible to induce destructive behavior through crooked ways (Hock, 2001). In Hock's description, the true leaders are those who typify the general sense of the community, "enabling its conscious, shared values and beliefs to emerge and be transmitted from generation to generation" (Hock, 2001). From here comes the belief that a community is eventually directed by the conscious, shared values and beliefs of the individuals of which it is composed (Hock, 2001). This may be exemplified by two leaders that had different types of followers: the non-violent Dr. Martin Luther King and the cruel Adolf Hitler (Warren, 2001). A much better way to understand leader performance as affected by the follower is Hollander's (1997) explanation about the dynamics of leadership. He said that the follower role is expected as one of low power and passive but this is misleading, he believed, because followership is an active accompaniment to leadership. Leaders may be more active, especially in directing, but followers can affect a leader as an "attentive strategic audience," he said. There exists in fact a two-way support and influence that are essential to the leader-follower bond (Hollander, 2007). Such are understood as credit that followers can accord or withhold from their leaders, reflecting their loyalty and trust (Hollander, 1997). This ties up with what Barbara Kellerman (2004) warned as bad followership existing in our systems. In a very real sense, followers lead by choosing where to be led (Hock, 2001), affirming the belief that followers have a way of affecting leader performance. This line of reasoning is maintained throughout this paper. From definitions of leadership and how it occurs, to leadership characteristics, the discussion leads to the leader-follower relationship, also called Inclusive Leadership (CCL, 2007) and particularly describes the "Idiosyncrasy Credit" (IC) Model of Holland (1968) as a cogent explanation of the dynamics of this relationship. The discussion further delves into followership and goes finally to the topic of leadership performance. This is made distinct from optimum organizational performance where ideally the former is made subject to the latter. The paper includes specific examples of bad leaders and follower influence on the topic of idiosyncratic credits (IC) model propounded by Hollander (1964). It finally concludes with the recommendation that followership as a subject of research should be given importance. Leader-follower relationship How relationship develops. Leadership is a field of interaction or a relationship between leaders and followers (Warren, 2001). Such leader-follower relationship ideally evokes the essence of a clear, meaningful purpose and compelling ethical principles (Hock, 2001), where the relationship develops with the leader and the follower connecting to create one, undivided whole. This means there is no leader who can exist without gaining the support of others (Warren, 2001). Conflicts may come at times between leader and follower, partly on account of leaders and followers processing information from their own subjective, internal frame of reference (Warren, 2001). However, an alignment may come between the two when followers identify with a leader because the leader fits the followers' image of

An Inspector Calls Play Essay Example for Free

An Inspector Calls Play Essay ‘An Inspector Calls’ has been called ‘a play of contrasts’. Write about how Priestley presents some of the contrasts in the play. In the play there are wide differences in not only the treatment of Sheila Birling and Eva Smith but also large contrasts in the girls themselves- with Eva being a poor uncared for girl and Sheila being a privileged upper-middle class girl. This not only separates them as they would be unable to fully empathise with each other as they experience widely contrasting lives. This is shown as Mr Birling says â€Å"but I see no point in mentioning the subject – especially -(indicating Sheila.)† The quote paired with the stage direction highlights Mr Birling’s attempts to prevent Sheila from being exposed to the situation. This is done as they feel that Sheila should be protected from merely hearing the awful situations that some girls have to endure. This concern is in contrast with how they view Eva Smith as both parents have minimal concern for the fact that they are partly responsible for Eva having to live on the streets. ‘Theres nothing I can tell him. I told the girl to clear out, and she went.’ The use of ‘nothing’ indicates how Mr Birling views the situation of Eva, as if it was ‘nothing’ that he was at fault for Eva being on the streets and out of a job- a contrast to the sheltered life he creates for Sheila. At both ends of the play there is contrast in the language used by Inspector and Birling in their speeches. The early speech by Mr Birling is one with a much happier and self-supporting view of society compared to the later one by the Inspector which holds a tone of finality and encompasses the idea of being responsible for everyone around you. Both speeches talk of the responsibility we have however; where the Inspector talks of responsibility for all- ‘We dont live alone.’ Mr Birling means to say that we are responsible for ourselves and no more- ‘. We employers at last are coming together to see that our interests’ These speeches indicate the attitudes held by the speaker clearly, with Mr Birling showing concern for ‘we employers’ highlights the socialist view held by Mr Birling as he views they employers as one while entity that need to protect and look after each other with minimal concern for the rest of society.

Fantasy Or Reality :: essays research papers

Fantasy or Reality?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Society has branded fantacy gaming as evil and possably satanic. There is no link what so ever in between the two things. Role playing games are not evil. There are a few things that make it dangerous in the hands of stupid people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This fall at the Iowa State Fair Grounds there was a rennisaunce fair held. People from all over the state came and dressed up in costumes of olden days. People brought their children and looked around. There wer perfume shops and weapons shops along with food and drink shops. People haggled with shop keepers and through the day there wer plays and other things all the wile people pretending to be back then. People spoke in a brouge accent and carried swords around in the street. the fair was a friendly place and no one was hurt. These are the kinds of pretending that make role playing fun.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A role playing game is where you pretend to be someone your not. If compared to annything it would be compared to an impromptue play. However role playing is not typically acted out. Role playing games that you buy in stores such as Star Wars, Vampire and Dungeons and Dragons are all games that people play from pieces of paper. Someone assumes the role of one of the charictors on the paper and trys to talk and declare what it is his charictor would be doing in certain situations. In most of these game people are the heroes of the world they play in saving people for hidious monsters and slaying dragons and vanquishing evil. Some people prefer to play evil charictors. This is alright and there choice and most of the time other players kill them. (not in real life).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There have been times in the past when people have gotten drunk and killed others imitatiing the game that they play, but this does not make the game evil. Annything in this world is potentialy harmful. If people do not exercise good judgemant and controll then they are at fault.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some good things that have been done with role playing games in the past and cintinue to happen to this day. Psycologists use role playing games on depressed people

The Roles of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (Namis)

THE ROLES OF NIGERIAN ASSOCIATION OF MODEL ISLAMIC SCHOOLS (NAMIS) IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN OYO STATE: A CASE STUDY OF NAMIS, EGBEDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA CHAPTER. BY SHITTU, AFUSAT OMOBONIKE (MRS) (MATRICULATION NUMBER 04/060854) BEING A PROJECT REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ARTS & SOCIAL SCIENCES, EMMANUEL ALAYANDE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, OYO. IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF NIGERIA CERTIFICATE IN EDUCATION (N. C. E) JANUARY, 2009. CERTIFICATION This is to certify that this study was carried out by Shittu, Afusat Omobonike (Matriculation number 04/060854) in the Directorate of Sandwich Programmes of Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, Oyo State. ______________________ _____________________ Alhaji S. L. Akano Date Project Supervisor ___________________ ___________________ H. O. D Date DEDICATION This project is dedicated to Almighty Allah for sparing my life from the inception of this N. C. E programme till the end of it. ACKNOWLEDGMENT All praise and adoration is due to Almighty Allah (S. W. T), the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, Omniscience, and the Fountain of knowledge for making it possible for me to complete this NCE programme. He made it a successful one despite all odds. May his infinite peace and blessing be upon our noble prophet Muhammed (S. A. W), his households, his companions, and those who follow his footstep till the day of accountablity. My profound gratitude goes to my able and dynamic supervisor in person of Alhaji S. L. Akano who made necessary corrections, constructive citicism and useful suggestion during the course of writing this project, may Allah assists him in all his endeavours (amen). I equally tender my sincere appreciation to other lecturers in the department for great task done in imparting knowledge on me while in the college, may Allah continue to guide them in all their undertakings. My sincere appreciation goes to my husband, Mr. Abdul Akeem Shittu for his encouragement and support morally, financially and his love during my course of study, may Almighty Allah be with him in all his undertakings and countinue to shower his blessing on him. I also appreciate the effort of the member of executive of NAMIS such as Mrs F. D. Ali, the Chairperson of Oyo State chapter; Mrs S. B. Ogundiran (the proprietress of Al-Hayyu group of schools) and Mr. S. K. Animasahun for their moral support and precious contributions given to me while writing this project, may Almighty Allah reward them in this world and hereafter â€Å"Jazakum Lahu khaeran† I would not forget the contributions of Mr. Abdul Wasiu Ibitoye and Mr Uthman K. Afolayan to the success of this project report, may Almighty Allah be with them in all their undertakings and reward them abundantly. Finally, my unreserved appreciation goes to my course mates and friends for their contributions in one way or the other, people like Tanimowo Baliqis, Ganiy Mariam, Adeyemo Oluwaseun, Ajani Margaret, Ojetola Nike. and others in Emmanuel Alayande College of Education (Urban Day Center) are all my nice colleagues in the college. ABSTRACT This study investigates the roles play by the Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) in the development of education in our immediate society. The study is a case study of NAMIS, Egbeda local government area chapter. The research work is subdivided into five chapters. It starts by focussing on education as a tool for development; the need, activities and organisation of NAMIS are also discussed. Review of relevant past literatures from some established authorities was subsequently carried out. Responses from respondents were captured using questionnaire; data analysis was carried out using descriptive technique, frequency counts and simple percentage. The study rounded up with summary, conclusion and recommendation for all concerned skakeholders. TABLE OF CONTENT Title page Certification ii Dedication iii Acknowledgement iv Abstract vi CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1. Background to the study 1 2. Statement of the problem 3 3. Purpose of the study 5 4. Significance of the study 6 5. Scope and limitation of the study 6 6. Operational definition of terms 7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEEW . 1 Meaning, goal and important of education 9 2. 2 The need for Islamic schools 10 2. 3 Roles of private schools in education 12 2. 4 NAMIS Objectives and Activities 14 2. 4. 1 NAMIS Aims and Objectives 14 2. 4. 2 Educational contributions of NAMIS 15 2. 4. 3 Religious contributions of NAMIS 16 2. 4. 4 Socio-cultural contributions of NAMIS 18 CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. 1 Population 2 0 3. 2 Sampling procedure and sampling technique 20 3. 3 Research instrument 21 3. 4 Validity and reliability of instrument 21 3. 5 Administration of instument 22 3. Method of data analysis. 22 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS OF RESULT AND DISCUSSION. 4. 1 Analysis of demographic data 23 4. 2 Analysis of resesrch data 24 4. 2. 1 The need for Islamic schools 24 4. 2. 2 NAMIS as an organised body 26 4. 2. 3 NAMIS and Islamic schools’management relationship. 28 4. 2. 4 Roles of NAMIS to educational development. 30 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. 1 Summary 33 5. 2 Conclusion 34 5. 3 Recommendations 34 References 36 Appendix I: Questionnaire 38 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1. BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Education is generally accepted as a major source of development of any civilised society. Francis Bacon in his words said â€Å"Crafty men condemn studies; simple men admire them, and wise men use them†. The importance of education to the development of the society has made all concerned stakeholders to be interested in its administration, planning and dissemination to the entire populace. Religious missionaries, most especially Christian missionaries were the fore-runners of western education in Nigeria. Education was used by those organisations as tool for grassroot evangelism as well as public enlightenment. Muslim communities were faced with challenges of getting their children educated in western way without getting them converted into Christianity. Various Muslim organisations rose up to this challenge lately by establishing formal western oriented schools. Muslims are enjoined by Prophet Muhammed to â€Å"seek for knowledge from the cradle to the grave†; and even â€Å"go in quest of knowledge even unto china (edge of the earth) Various Muslim organisations realized this call to tackle the challenges facing Muslim children in the path of obtaining western (formal) education. For instance, Ansar Ud Deen Society of Nigeria, Ahmadiyya Muslim Society of Nigeria, and hosts of other Muslim organisations were early enough to tackle the challenges. Most recently, another Muslim organisation established to contribute to solution of these challenges is Nigerian Association of Model Islamic schools (NAMIS). Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) is a body comprising owners of Islamic Schools, both primary and secondary. The objective of the association is to provide qualitative education to Muslim children in accordance with the requirements of the Islamic religion. NAMIS is a voluntary non-political organisation which aims at constituting a forum of exchange of ideas and instill co-operation among private Islamically-oriented nursery, primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. NAMIS also engages in the formulation and implementation of programmes and policies aimed at assisting the regulation, growth and improvement of standards in member-schools. NAMIS serves as a mouth piece for member-schools in relation to government. Nigerian Association for Model Islamic Schools was established in 1995. The initiative originated from Hajia Aisha Lemu. It held its first national seminar in Minna, Niger state in 1997. NAMIS operates states chapters at state level and local government chapters. Oyo state chapter of NAMIS was established in 1995, while the Egbeda Local Government Area chapter was inaugurated in year 2002. The elected state coordinators are members of the National executive officers of the association. NAMIS also form committees such as monitoring committee to standardise operations of member schools; other committees are disciplinary, annual conference, teachers’ workshop, welfare and international relation. 1. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Islam offers man a complete code of life in the Quran and the sunnah (teachings of the Prophet), which if, followed wholeheartedly, will lead man towards the realization of the greatest glory that Allah has reserved for him as His vicegerent. Man needs training from his childhood both at home and in the society in order to adequately follow the code of life and attain consciousne ss of himself as Allah’s vicegerent on earth. Education should aim at a balanced growth of the personality through training of the spirit, intellect, rational, self feelings, and bodily senses of man. The training imparted to a Muslim must be such that faith is infused in the whole personality and creates in him an emotional attachment to Islam and enables him follow the complete code of life (Niaz, 1995. ) People keep historical accounts of their heritages, culture and religions through the educational system they establish for their children; they transmit their value and belief system through such institutions as schools. Keeping up with religious duties during the school days establishes a strong connection between students and their faith, and enhances possibility of practicing their religion as they grow older. In history of education in Nigeria, early schools in the southern part of the country were founded by Christian missionaries whom were allowed by the British colonial power to set up mission schools, government schools also were generally Christian-oriented. Lemu (2002) writes that any Muslim student in these schools would be forces to study Bible knowledge and in most cases attend church. Conversion was frequently a condition for admission. No teacher was provided for Islamic studies. All the aforementioned problems gave rise to the establishment of private Islamic schools for Muslims in the South-Western part of Nigeria. These Muslim schools faced initial challenges like getting government approval through registration, fashioning out of competent educational-curriculum and syllabi that will infuse their belief in the regular curriculum. Other challenges being faced by these schools are infrastructural inadequacies, administrative bottlenecks and general acceptability. NAMIS was established as controlling and collaborating body for all Muslim-oriented schools. This study focuses on the ability, capability and competence of this organisation in performing her primary assignment. 1. 3PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The main purpose of this study is to investigate and examine the contributions of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic schools (NAMIS) to the development of education in Egbeda Local Government of Oyo State. The research work, precisely, has the following objectives: a) To evaluate the contributions of NAMIS in upgrading standard of education of Muslim schools in Egbeda Local Government. ) To assess the commitment of founders of these Muslim schools towards funding of the established schools. c) To compare the existing Muslim schools with other conventional (and non-Islamic missionary) schools with respect to infrastructural resources, man power and academic performance. d) To examine problems confronting NAMIS as a body. e) To establish constraints affecting Muslim schools towards discharge of high and quality academic standard. f) To sugg est possible solutions for future success and remedy for prevention of existing problems in the future. . 4SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The findings from this study will provide statistical assessment on the roles of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) in the development of education. The outcome of this work will enlighten the general public of the activities and focus of NAMIS towards quality academic standards. The research will also enable founders of Muslim schools to further understand the importance of their unrelenting contributions towards better control and funding of their schools. The work is expected to enlighten NAMIS leadership of the problems confronting the association and suggest possible solutions to the issues. In addition, the research will arouse the interest of wealthy Muslims towards the establishment of more schools to serve the needs of numerous Muslim populace. The output of the research will be of usage to the generalities of Muslims in particular and Nigerians in general. It will be useful for all stakeholders in education such as parents, teachers, students, educational policy makers, school administrators and the likes. 1. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY Due to limited time constraints and financial incapability of the researcher, all schools cannot be consulted with respect to the research study and collection of data. The scope of the study shall be some selected NAMIS member-schools in Egbeda Local Government. Some of these selected schools are: a) Al-Hayyu Nursery and Primary school, Olaogun, Ibadan. b) Ar-Rosheed Nursery and Primary school, Gbagi, Ibadan. c) Noble Foundation School, Gbelu, off Olode/Adekola, New Ife road, Ibadan. d) Assalam Nursery and Primary school, Alarere, Ibadan. ) Pillars of Islam Comprehensive school (PICOS), Oloya, Monatan. Eighty (80) respondents shall be contacted for data collection from these selected schools comprising of forty (40) teachers, twenty (20) parents (or guardians) and twenty (20) members of schools management boards. The study shall be limited to the roles of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) to the development of education in Egbeda Local Governemtn Area of Oyo State. 6. OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS Association: A society of people joined together for a particular purpose. Model: A person or thing that can serve as a perfect example or pattern, worthy to be followed or copied. Education: Systematic procedure for the transfer and transformation of culture, through formal or informal training of people in a society. It deals with the mental, physical, psychological and social development of the citizens in a given society. Development: Growth integrated with economic, scientific, political and home based technological expansion. Islam: The religion of peace which means the way of achieving total submission of ourselves to God. Muslim: Adherent of Islam. Literally, Muslim means one who submits himself or herself to the commandment and will of Almighty God (Allah). School: An institution for the instruction (and education) of children or other people. Egbeda Local Government: This is one of the thirty-three local governments of Oyo State. Its headquarter is located in Egbeda. There are eleven wards in the local government and it is geographically surrounded by Lagelu, Ona-Ara, and Ibadan North-East Local Governments of Oyo State on one part and Osun State on another part. CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 1. MEANING, GOAL AND IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION Kellerman (1980) defines education as the process of teaching and training of the child. It is the imparting or acquisition of skills for a particular trade or profession in which applicable methods are used. Fafunwa (1983) views education as all positive efforts, conscious and direct, incidental and indirect, made by a given society to accomplish certain objectives that are considered desirable in terms of the individual’s needs as well as the needs of the society where the programme is based. Education is therefore, a systematic procedure for the transfer and transformation of culture, through formal or informal training of people in a society. It deals with mental, physical, psychological and social development of the citizens in a given society. The goal of education is manpower development, aimed at national growth integrated with economic, scientific, political and home based technological expansion. However, development may be difficult in poor countries without qualitative and quantitative education. In her desire to achieve meaningful educational development of the country, the Federal Government of Nigeria through her National Policy on education (2004) prescribes two major goals for formal education. The first goal is to civilize and enlighten every individual to lead the good life in society as a citizen of Nigeria while harmonizing with and sharing in the world’s cultural heritage. The second goal is to equip every individual with the skills and job competencies for gainful employment. Education has enabled man to conquer the nature around him and invent certain gadgets for his convenient use. Man has been able to improve his quality of food, clothing and shelter through education. The improved quality of life can be seen in area of transportation, health care delivery, industrialisation, etc. 2. THE NEED FOR ISLAMIC SCHOOLS A fundamental function of formal education advocated by National Policy on Education (2004) is to produce a knowledge based work force for national development. However, this function was not addressed in totality by the system of education introduced by the missionary during the pre-independence period of Nigeria. Oghuvbu (2007) affirmed that Muslim education came into Nigeria by over 300 years before the arrival of Christian education around the 1840’s. However, Muslim education was retarded because education in the middle of the 19th century in Nigeria tended to mean Bible Knowledge, Christian ethics, Christian moral instructions, Christian literature, some arithmetic, language and crafts; directed towards the production of good Christians (Fafunwa, 1975) The goals of Christian missions Education was to produce teachers to assist in the teaching of the gospel and commercial activities. According to Boyd (1975:418), â€Å"the Church undertook the business of education not because it regarded education as good in itself, but because it found that it could not do its own proper work without giving its adherents, and especially its clergy, as much of the formal learning as was required for the study of the sacred writings and for the performance of their religious duties†. Furthermore, Bowen (1857:17) an early missionary, in Ejiogu (1988:3) stated that â€Å"we desire to establish the Gospel in the hearts and minds and social life of the people, so that truth and righteousness may remain and flourish among them. This cannot be done without civilization. To establish the Gospel among any people, they must have Bible†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ they must read the Bible and this implies formal instruction (i. e. education)†. The early system of formal western education in Nigeria was, hence, aimed at achieving selfish ends in religion and trade. Lemu (2006) positioned that â€Å"the western education system had then negative effects of the secularization and de-Islamization of young Muslim generations, as most of the graduates of this educational system became the potential victims of secular culture. The Muslim community was faced with the challenge of getting their children educated (in western system) without getting them converted into Christianity. Muslims also wanted their children to be taught Islamic education alongside the western system of education. Some Muslim organisations rose up to this challenge, one of such is Ansar-Ud-Deen. The Muslim organisation was established in 1923 for t he purpose of educational development of Muslims and also as a body to enhance the moral and social development of the Muslim community. (Wikipedia, 2008). 3. ROLES OF PRIVATE SCHOOLS IN EDUCATION. Government has been largely responsible for the provision of education in Nigeria. There has been a tremendous public sector participation in educational provision in the country (Emunemu, 2008). Public funding of education includes direct government expenditure (for buildings, teachers’ salaries and instructional materials) as well as indirect expenditures in form of subsides to households such as tax reductions, scholarships, loans and grants. There have been many cases of increase in active demand for education pioneered by an increasing number of children, youths’ and adults’ need. Government alone cannot meet these demands; there is need, therefore, for a greater community and civil society participation in providing, managing and funding education. The issue of quality of educational output has been a matter of serious concern not only to the public but also the private sector. The private sector for primary and secondary education has been growing for the past two decades. The proliferation of private schools has been attributed by Emunemu (2008) to the widespread loss of public confidence in public primary and secondary education. The success recorded by private participation at primary and econdary schools levels inspired the Federal Government of Nigeria to lift ban on the establishment of private universities in 1993. Private schools provide helping hand for government in its effort to achieve education for all. Private schools provide qualitative education by employing competent teachers through the fees parents are being charged. They provide adequate amenities needed for effective discharge of educational services such as libraries, laboratories, classrooms. In rounding up, private participation in education improves effectiveness in a cost effective manner and without compromising equity. Private participation encourages the public sector to improve the quality and efficiency of public schools. Competition among providers of services can lower costs and improve responsiveness to the needs of consumers. However, there is a need for a coordinated and focused response particularly as regards partnerships and collaborations in the private sector. The Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) is the coordinating body to institute partnerships and collaborations among private Islamic Schools in Nigeria. 2. 4NAMIS OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES NAMIS as an association of many Islamic Schools is guided by a constituted mission and vision which encompasses its aims and objectives. The association also shoulders some activities and responsibilities towards educational, religious and socio-cultural engagements in pursuit of its vision and mission. 2. 4. 1NAMIS AIMS AND OBJECTIVES According to NAMIS Constitution, the following are the aims and objectives of the association: (a)To propagate Islam in our schools (b)To constitute a form for the exchange of ideas and to steer cooperation among private Islamic Schools. c)To engage in the formulation and implementation of programmes and policies aimed at assisting the regulation, growth and improvement of standards in member schools. (d)To serve as a mouth piece for member schools in relation to government. (e)To establish peaceful co-existence between both Muslim and Non-Muslim schools. (f)To encourage achievement of a world accepted standard for Islamically oriented schools. (g)To c onnect (and inspire) owners of model Islamic schools in Nigeria in order to place so much premium on the education and spiritual development. (h)To prepare young Muslims for future challenges. i)To fulfill Muslims first objective in life which is to fruitfully serve the creator (Allah) in our schools. (j)NAMIS is committed to the achievement peace and harmony towards the development of our community and Nigeria. 2. 4. 2EDUCATIONAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF NAMIS In order to impart knowledge to the young generation, NAMIS focuses its attention most on education. Some of its educational activities are discussed here. 2. 4. 2. 1 Workshops and Seminars NAMIS organises workshops and seminars on various aspects of school administration for teachers and owners of schools. Regular workshops and seminars are held to update knowledge of participants. NAMIS also recommends textbooks and teaching methods to Islamic Schools to meet the required standard in the society. 2. 4. 2. 2 Aisha Lemu Quiz Competition NAMIS conducts an annual inter school quiz competition among NAMIS registered schools. The competition which starts at local government chapters to state chapters and finally to national level features subjects like English Language, Mathematics, Sciences and Islamic Studies. 2. 4. 2. 3 NAMIS Joint Mock Examination NAMIS at local government levels organise an annual joint mock examination to prepare their final-year primary school pupils for entrance examinations into secondary schools. Egbeda local government chapter held its last 2007/2008 session join mock examination at Al-Hayyu Nursery and Primary School Olaogun where many member schools participated. 2. 4. 2. 4 Inspection and Visitation to Schools An inspection committee is set up at local government chapter level by NAMIS to inspect and monitor the academic operations of member schools. During the visitation, the committee identifies lapses and recommends solutions to the problems in order to ensure the upliftment of the standard of the school being visited. The monitoring committee also serves as an agent of awareness among member schools. 2. 4. 3RELIGIOUS CONTRIBUTION OF NAMIS NAMIS inculcates the teaching of Islamic knowledge into the curricula of its member schools. Prominent among religious activities (and roles) of NAMIS are as follow: 2. 4. 3. 1Teaching of Islamic Studies, Arabic, Quran and Dawah as Subjects in Schools. NAMIS schools’ managements are enjoined to include these subjects separately on their time table. This will enable students to gain more knowledge on Islamic education along with the Western education. 2. 4. 3. 2. Annual Quran Competition NAMIS organises annual Quran quiz competition to test their students’ knowledge about Quran recitation and memorization. The Competition is held at local government level, State level and national level. The winners are awarded prizes to motivate other students. 2. 4. 3. 3. Observation of Daily Prayers at School In accordance to the commandment of Almighty Allah which stipulates that Muslims (believers) should observe their respective prayers at the appointed time (Quran, Chapter 4 verse 103); NAMIS schools provide period for observation of prayers (solat). The two afternoon prayers (Zuhr and Asr) are to be offered in the schools by students and their teachers. 2. 4. 3. 4. Islamic Moral Teachings in Schools. NAMIS enjoins its members to lay emphasis on Dawah (moral and religious propagation) teaching. The teacher will be teaching Dawah as a subject. Lectures and Sermons are given to students during the school assembly period. 2. 4. 4SOCIO CULTURAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF NAMIS Some of the activities of NAMIS in area of Socio cultural contributions are as follow: 2. 4. 4. 1 Art Exhibition, Cultural and Drama Display. NAMIS organises competition on art exhibition, drama and cultural display whereby various art works of schools are displayed. Song and rhymes are also performed during the competition which comes up along with Aisha Lemu Competition. The winner and the best actor or actresses are awarded prizes. 2. 4. 4. NAMIS Eid-el-Kabir and Hijrah get-together A get-together forum is organised annually by NAMIS to bring all Muslim children together to celebrate Muslim sacrificial festival (eid-el-kabir) and the Muslim new year (Hijrah). The get-together features events like match past, Islamic songs, rhyme and drama. Lecture is also delivered by notable Islamic scholar. 3. Children Day Celebration Nigeria government declares holiday annu ally on 27th of May for children day. NAMIS gathers school pupils together to celebrate the event on the particular day whereby match past, sing songs and lectures take place. . NAMIS Youth Camp Muslim students are invited into camp by NAMIS during the Yuletide (Christmas) period to educate them on Islamic teachings and develop them spiritually. The camp imbibes in the participants the spirit of living together with other pupils from other schools. The youth camp features lectures, quiz, video shows and other Islamic teachings. CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3. 1POPULATION The study focuses on the roles of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) in the development of education in Oyo State of Nigeria, it ses NAMIS Egbada Local Government Area chapter as the case study. The population of the study comprises of privately owned Islamic schools in Egbeda Local Government. In order to adequately evaluate the roles of NAMIS, some of such schools were selected for the pur pose of data collection. 2. SAMPLING PROCEDURE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE The study selected the following schools which are under the umbrella of NAMIS in the course of data collection: a. Al-Hayyu Nursery and Primary School, Olaogun b. Ar-Rasheed Nursery And Primary Schools, Gbagi c. Noble Foundation School, Gbelu, Off Olode/Adekola d. Assalam Nursery and Primary School, Alarere e. Pillars of Islam Comprehensive School (PICOS) Oloya, Monatan. Eighty (80) respondents were selected from these schools comprising of forty (40) teachers, twenty (20) parents or guardians, and twenty (20) members of schools management boards. The simple random sampling technique was used to select the needed respondents from the chosen schools. 3. 3RESEARCH INSTRUMENT Structured questionnaire was the research instrument used to gather reliable information from the sample drawn. The questionnaire was made up of two sections A and B. Section A captures the respondent’s personal data information. Section B comprises of eighteen (18) instrumental questions carefully designed to ascertain the roles of NAMIS in the educational development of Oyo State taking Egbeda Local Government area as a case study. Section B was designed on two point like scale, seeking the respondent’s feeling to each particular items which was either agree (true) or disagree (false). Respondents were simply required to tick the appropriate column indicating their feelings. . 4VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF INSTRUMENT Some steps were carried out in order to ensure that the research data collection instrument (that is, the questionnaire) adequately measure what it is meant to measure and make it reliable and relevant to the research work at hand. The questionnaire was exposed to the thorough scrutiny and constructive criticisms by the project supervisor and other research experts. Necessary corrections and amendments were done before the final authentication and approval of the instrument by the supervisor. 3. 5ADMINISTRATION OF INSTRUMENT Visitations were made to the selected schools in the local government area of study to administer the questionnaire and to carry out other relevant investigations. The questionnaire were distributed and collected back immediately after their completion by respondents. The researcher was assisted by the teachers of the visiting schools in the course of administration of the questionnaire. 3. 6METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS The analysis of the data obtained from the questionnaire was carried out using descriptive analysis technique, frequency counts and simple percentage. These statistical methods were employed to reflect the respondents’ opinions in the questionnaire (shown in the appendix). CHAPTER FOUR DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS OF RESULT AND DISCUSSION This chapter focuses on presentation and analysis of data collected and discussion of the major findings of the study. The findings are presented in tabular form; sample percentage format coupled with discussion are made. 4. 1ANALYSIS OF DEMOGRAPHIC DATA Table 1: Distribution of respondents by relationship to the school. RELATIONSHIP |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Teacher |40 |50 | |Parent (or guardian) |20 |25 | |Management |20 |25 | |Total |80 |100 | The table shows that majority of respondents (50%) are teachers. A quarter 25% of category of respondents are parents (or guardians), and same proportion of respondents are management. This frequency distribution shows that teachers were more available than other categories of respondents in the course of research instrument administration. Furthermore, teachers are in best position to judge the roles of NAMIS in the education development in the educational system. 4. 2ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH DATA The findings of this study are grouped into four sections representing the need for Islamic schools; impact of NAMIS as an organised body; impact of school management; and effects of NAMIS to educational development. 4. 2. 1THE NEED FOR ISLAMIC SCHOOLS This point shall be determined by considering responses to questions 1,2,14, and 15 of section B of the questionnaire. Table 2: Frequency distribution table of response on conversion of Muslims in the course of acquiring western education in colonial missionary schools. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |78 |97. 5 | |Disagree |2 |2. 5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 3: Frequency distribution table of response on the need for the establishment of Islamic schools by Muslim community. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |80 |100 | |Disagree |0 |0 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 4: Frequency distribution table of response on the adequacy of Islamic schools now. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |13 |16. 25 | |Disagree |67 |83. 75 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 5: Frequency distribution table of response on NAMIS encouragement of Muslim philanthropies and associations to establish more Islamic schools. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |70 |87. 5 | |Disagree |10 |12. | |Total |80 |100 | Tables 2 to 5 reveal that majority of respondents agreed that Muslims were converted to other religions in the course of acquiring western education in colonial missionary schools. There is hence, the need for the establishing of Islamic schools by Muslim community as there is insufficient of those schools now. NAMIS is noted by majority for her effort in encouraging Muslim philanthropies and associations to establish more Islamic schools. 4. 2. 2NAMIS AS AN ORGANISED BODY This point shall be judged by considering responses to questions 3, 11, 16 and 18 of section B of the questionnaire. Table 6: Frequency distribution table of response on awareness of NAMIS existence |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |True |74 |92. | |False | 6 |7. 5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 7: Frequency distribution table of response on NAMIS laying of emphasis on teaching of only Islamic related subjects in their member schools. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |36 |45 | |Disagree |44 |55 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 8: Frequency distribution table of response on sufficiency of funding of NAMIS to carry out its required activities. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |37 |46. 25 | |Disagree |43 |53. 75 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 9: Frequency distribution table of response on necessity of all Islamic s chools to be members of NAMIS. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |77 |96. 25 | |Disagree |3 |3. 75 | |Total |80 |100 | All tables in this section expose the awareness, operation and relationship of NAMIS with respect to coordination of activities of Islamic schools. Majority of respondents are aware of NAMIS, they do not agree that NAMIS emphasises the teaching of only Islamic related subjects in their members schools. NAMIS is not adequately funded to carry out its required activities as opined by majority of respondents. The greater number of respondents (77) agreed that all Islamic schools should be members of NAMIS. 4. 2. 3NAMIS AND ISLAMIC SCHOOLS MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP Responses to questions 5, 13, and 17 of section B of the questionnaire will be used to decide on the level of relationship between NAMIS and management of Islamic schools. Table 10: Frequency distributions table of response on full implementation of NAMIS regulative guidelines in Islamic school. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |72 |90 | |Disagree |8 |10 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 11: Frequency distribution table of response on adequate funding of Islamic schools by the management to ensure better performance of pupils. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |75 |93. 75 | |Disagree |5 |6. 5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 12: Frequency distribution table of response on membership of NAMIS by Islamic schools. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE (%) | |Agree |77 |96. 25 | |Disagree |3 |3. 5 | |Total |80 |100 | The tables in this section illustrate the relationship between management of Islamic schools and NAMIS. Greater number of respondents agreed that these schools are executing NAMIS regulative guidelines fully. Also, majority agrees that there is adequate financial commitment on these schools by their managements to enhance pupils’ performance. A lot of existing Muslim schools are members of NAMIS. . 2. 4ROLES OF NAMIS TO EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Respondents examined the specific roles of National Association of Model Islamic schools (NAMIS) in their answers to questions 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 12. Table 13: Frequency Distribution table of response on NAMIS increasing the religious awareness of pupils and personnel of Islamic schools. |OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |77 |96. 5 | |Disagree | 3 | 3. 75 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 14: Frequency Distribution table of response on contribution of NAMIS to the elevation of educational standards of Islamic schools. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |76 |95 | |Disagree | 4 | 5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 15: Frequency Distribution table of response on relevancy of NAMIS organised events to the upliftment of academic standard and socio-cultural understanding of pupils. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |76 |95 | |Disagree |4 |5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 16: Frequency Distribution table of response on effective coordination of religious activities of Muslim schools by NAMIS. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |74 |92. 5 | |Disagree |6 |7. 5 | |Total |80 |100 | Table 17: Frequency Distribution table of response on enhancement of performance of Islamic schools with NAMIS coordination. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |69 |86. 25 | |Disagree |11 |13. 75 | |Total |80 |100 | Table18: Frequency Distribution table of response on achievement of required level of academic standard obtainable at non-Islamic schools by Islamic schools. OPINION |FREQUENCY |PERCENTAGE | |Agree |68 |85 | |Disagree |12 |15 | |Total |80 |100 | Tables analysed in this section illustrate the contribution of NAMIS to educational development of the society through its coordination of Islamic schools. Majority of respondents agreed as follow: i) NAMIS increases the religious awareness of the pupils and personnel of Islamic schools. ii) NAMIS contributes to the upliftment of educational standards of its member schools iii) Events organised by NAMIS are relevant to the elevation of academic standard and socio-cultural understanding of pupils. v) NAMIS coordinates religious activities of Muslim schools effectively. This and other activities make performance of these schools enhanced to the extent that academic standard obtainable at non-Islamic schools are now achievable at NAMIS schools. CHAPTER FIVE SUMMARY, CONCLUSION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS 5. 1 SUMMARY This study aimed at investigating the contribution of Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) to the development of education in Egbeda local government area of Oyo state in particular and Nigeria in general. In the course of the study, issues relating to the need for Islamic schools, activities of NAMIS relating to coordination of these schools and upliftment of academic standard and socio-cultural understanding of pupils were examined. The result of the data analysed earlier specifically reveals the following salient points. i) There is need for establishment of more Islamic schools as the existing number now is insufficient to cater for academic and socio-cultural education of Muslim children. ii) While NAMIS is trying a lot to uplift academic standard of Muslim schools, it is still being confronted with funding problem. ii) NAMIS ensures that Islamic schools are adequately funded by their owners and that pupils have sound academic and religious understanding. iv) NAMIS facilitates the achievement of required level of academic standard by Islamic schools obtainable in any good non-Islamic school. 5. 2 CONCLUSION The researcher, basing her opinion on findings in the course of this resea rch, concludes that Nigerian Association of Model Islamic schools (NAMIS) plays crucial roles to the development of education in Egbeda local government area of Oyo State in particular and Nigeria as a country. Development of education involves growth integrated with scientific, political and technological expansion encompassed in the process of teaching and training of children. This is unachievable without contribution of well focused private bodies such as NAMIS. The body immensely contributes to the development of education in the society through the coordination and indirect management of Islamic schools. 5. 3. RECOMMENDATIONS In view of the findings derived from this research work, the under listed recommendations are proffered by the researcher. ) NAMIS should ensure that there is wider publicity and awareness about the association among Muslim schools in each local government and get them involved in the participation of her activities. b) Private schools should be viewed as participating partner in the course of educational development by the government. There should, hence, be a reduction or cancellation of registration and annual renewal fees and other levies collected from them by the government. ) Muslim parents should be informed about the gain and benefit awaiting their children by registering them in Muslim schools whereby Islamic education can be combined with western education. d) There should be call for mutual cooperation among the management, teachers and parents for the progress of our Islamic schools. e) There should be more call and encouragement for the establishment of Muslim schools due to the inadequate number of operating ones now to cater for the large population of Muslim children. ) The researcher finally suggests that related studies should be carried out on a wider population and society. REFERENCES 1. Akanbi, G. O. et al (2005), â€Å"History of Education†, Foundational Courses in Education I. Oyo: B&K Publishers. 2. Alli Faozeyah (2007, January 18th), â€Å"NAMIS at a Glance†. Address of the Oyo State president of NAMIS at the Annual Ileya Children Get-together at BCOS, Ibadan. 3. Boyd, W. and E. J. King (1989), The Hi story of Western Education. London: Black. 4. Ejiogu, A. M. (1988), Landmarks in Educational Development in Nigeria. Lagos: Joja Educational Research and Publishers Ltd. . Emunemu, Benedict O. (2008), â€Å"Private Sector Participation In Education And Skills Development In Nigeria†. Online reference paper on internet. 6. Fafunwa, A. B. (1975), History of Education in Nigeria. London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd. 7. Fafunwa, A. B. (1983), Development of Education in Nigeria, Trends and Issues in Nigerian Education. Ife: University of Ife Press Ltd. 8. Hornby, A. S. (2003), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary Of Current English. New York: Oxford University Press. 9. IBERR, International Board of Education Research and Resources (2004), Vision For Muslim Schools. Cape Town: IBERR Publishers. 10. IBERR (2004), The Concept of Islamisation. Cape Town: IBERR Publishers. 11. Ibitoye, Q. A. (2008), â€Å"The Status Of Students’ Motivation In Teaching And Learning Of Islamic Studies In Some Selected Secondary Schools: A Case Study Of Ibadan S. E. Local Government†. Unpublished NCE thesis at Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo. 12. Kellerman, D. F. (1980), The Lexicon Webster Dictionary. U. S. A: Delair Pub. Company Inc. 13. NAMIS (2000), â€Å"Nigerian Association of Model Islamic Schools (NAMIS) Constitutions†. Ibadan: Peace Compuprint. 14. Ogbuvbu, Enamiroro (2007), â€Å"Education, Poverty And Development In Nigeria: The Way Forward In The 21st Century† in European Journal of Social Sciences. Online reference paper on internet. 15. Raimi S. O, et al (2003), Education, Healthy Living and National Development. Lagos: SIBIS Ventures. 16. Wikipedia (2008), â€Å"Ansar Ud Deen Society of Nigeria†. Online reference paper on internet. Appendix I: Questionnaire ROLES OF NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MODEL ISLAMIC SCHOOLS (NAMIS) IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF EDUCATION IN OYO STATE: A CASE STUDY OF NAMIS, EGBEDA LOCAL GOVERNMENT CHAPTER. QUESTIONNAIRE Dear Respondent, The questionnaire is designed to identify the roles of NAMIS in the development of education in Oyo state taking Egbeda Local Government as the case study. Please give correct and accurate responses, your responses shall be treated with confidentiality. Briefly state or tick your view where appropriate. Thank you. SECTION A 1. Name of your school (of your child or where you teach or manage): †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. .. .. †¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 2. The local government where the school is located: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. . Your relationship with the school: Teacher Parent (or guardian) Management. SECTION B Instruction : Tick agree (true) or disagree (false) as appropriate to your view. |S/No. |Question |Agree (True) |Disagree (False) | |1. |A lot of Muslims were converted to other religions in the course of acquiring western | | | | |education during the pre-colonial era in missionary schools. | | | |2. Muslim community needs the establishment of Islamic schools. | | | |3. |Are you aware of NAMIS existence? | | | |4. |NAMIS encourages Islamic schools to provide adequate teaching facilities and personnel | | | | |in their schools | | | |5. |My school management implements NAMIS regulative guidelines fully in the school | | | |6. NAMIS increases religious awareness of pupils and personnel of Islamic schools | | | |7. |NAMIS contributes to the elevation of standards of education of Islamic schools | | | |8. |Events organized by NAMIS are very relevant to the upliftment of academic standard and | | | | |socio-cultural understanding of pupils | | | |9. |NAMIS coordinates religious activities of Muslim schools effectively | | | |10. Islamic schools perform better under NAMIS coordination than before the association | | | | |came into existence | | | |11. |NAMIS lays emphasis on teaching of Islamic related subjects only in their member | | | | |schools | | | |12. Islamic schools achieve required level of academic standard obtainable at other | | | | |non-Islamic schools | | | |13. |The management of my school fund it adequately to ensure better performances of pupils | | | |14. |There is enough number of Islamic schools now | | | |15. NAMIS encourages Muslim philanthropies and associations to establish more Islamic | | | | |schools | | | |16. |NAMIS is adequately funded to carry out its required activities | | | |17. |Is your school a member of NAMIS? | | | |18. |All Islamic schools should be members of NAMIS. | | |

How Man Is Changing the Environment and Biomes

How is man changing environment or biomes? Man is drastically changing the environment with all the needs he has. Humans cut down entire forests in the course of a month. Then we build buildings in its place making it impossible for anything to grow there. Those trees were a crucial part to the ecosystem and environment, which are now changed forever. We also drive cars, which emit exhaust, which in turn hurts our ozone layer and heats up the Earth. Once the ozone layer is damaged the ice caps melt a little and now the entire environment is changed, all thanks to man.Not to mention that biomes are changed as well due to global warming; the ice caps melt a little and the world gets hotter, thus the biomes near the sea are changed because the water level rises and the weather there is hotter. Another way man is changing biomes and the environment around the world is by building cities. Humans build new buildings every day and those buildings take up space, space that was once a tree, a bit of grassland, or maybe a little pond.The cities we build are all around the world and some of the places where those cities are used to be entire ecosystems. For example the Thames and the area surrounding it in London, England; they were once their own environment and we built over the land surrounding the river and dumped a bunch of garbage into the Thames. The same goes for Denver; it lies on a mountain, the area it lies on used to have creeks and trees, but now it just has buildings and roads. Another part of the environment changed forever due to us humans.

The Baroque Style in English Prose and Poetry

The Baroque Style in English Prose and Poetry In literary studies and rhetoric, a style of writing that is extravagant, heavily ornamented, and/or bizarre. A term more commonly used to characterize the visual arts and music, baroque (sometimes capitalized) can also refer to a highly ornate style of prose or poetry. Etymology From the  Portuguese  barroco  imperfect pearl Examples and Observations: Today the word [baroque] is applied to any creation that is exceedingly ornate, intricate, or elaborate. Saying a politician delivered a baroque speech wouldnt necessarily be a compliment.   (Elizabeth Webber and Mike Feinsilber, Merriam-Websters Dictionary of Allusions. Merriam-Webster, 1999) Characteristics of Baroque Literary Style Baroque literary style is generally marked by rhetorical sophistication, excess, and play. Self-consciously remaking and thus critiquing the rhetoric and poetics of the Petrarchan, pastoral, Senecan, and epic traditions, baroque writers challenge conventional notions of decorum by using and abusing such tropes and figures as metaphor, hyperbole, paradox, anaphora, hyperbaton, hypotaxis and parataxis, paronomasia, and oxymoron. Producing copia and variety (varietas) is valued, as is the cultivation of concordia discors and antithesisstrategies often culminating in allegory or the conceit.(The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed., ed. by Roland Green et al. Princeton University Press, 2012) Cautionary Notes to Writers Very skilled writers will sometimes use baroque prose to good effect, but even among successful literary authors, the vast majority avoid flowery writing. Writing is not like figure skating, where flashier tricks are required to move up in competition. Ornate prose is an idiosyncrasy of certain writers rather than a pinnacle all writers are working toward. (Howard Mittelmark and Sandra Newman, How Not to Write a Novel. HarperCollins, 2008)[B]aroque prose demands tremendous rigor from the writer. If you stuff a sentence, you must know how to do so with complementary ingredientsideas that do not compete but play off one another. Above all, as you edit, concentrate on determining when enough is enough. (Susan Bell, The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself. W.W. Norton, 2007) Baroque Journalism When Walter Brookins flew a Wright plane from Chicago to Spingfield in 1910, a writer for the Chicago Record Herald reported that the plane drew out great crowds at every town along the way ... In baroque prose that captured the excitement of an era, he wrote: The sky-gazers looked on in astonishment as the great artificial bird bore down the heavens. . .   Wonderment, surprise, absorption were written on every visage . . . a machine of travel that combined the speed of the locomotive with the comfort of the automobile, and in addition, sped through an element until now navigated only by the feathered kind. It was, in truth, the poetry of motion, and its appeal to the imagination was evident in every upturned face. (Roger E. Bilstein, Flight in America: From the Wrights to the Astronauts, 3rd ed. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) The Baroque Period Students of literature may encounter the term [baroque] (in its older English sense) applied unfavorably to a writers literary style; or they may read of the baroque period or Age of Baroque (late 16th, 17th, and early 18th centuries); or they may find it applied descriptively and respectfully to certain stylistic features of the baroque period. Thus, the broken rhythms of [John] Donnes verse and the verbal subtleties of the English metaphysical poets have been called baroque elements. . . . Baroque Age is often used to designate the period between 1580 and 1680 in the literature of Western Europe, between the decline of the Renaissance and the rise of the Enlightenment.​  (William Harmon and Hugh Holman, A Handbook to Literature, 10th ed. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006) Ren Wellek on Baroque Clichs One must, at least, admit that stylistic devices can be imitated very successfully and that their possible original expressive function can disappear. They can become, as they did frequently in the Baroque, mere empty husks, decorative tricks, craftsmans clichà ©s...If I seem to end on a negative note, unconvinced that we can define Baroque either in terms of stylistic devices or a particular worldview or even a peculiar relationship of style and belief, I would not like to be understood as offering a parallel to Arthur Lovejoys paper on the Discrimination of Romanticisms. I hope that baroque is not quite in the position of romantic and that we do not have to conclude that it has come to mean so many things, that by itself, it means nothing...Whatever the defects of the term baroque, it is a term which prepares for synthesis, draws our minds away from the mere accumulation of observations and facts, and paves the way for a future history of literature as a fine art.(Renà © Wellek, The Concept of Baroque in Literary Scholarship, 1946, rev. 1963; rpt. in Baroque New Worlds: Representation, Transculturation, Counterconquest, ed. by Lois Parkinson Zamora and Monika Kaup. Duke University Press, 2010) The Lighter Side of Baroque Mr. Schidtler: Now can anyone give me an example of a Baroque writer?Justin Cammy: Oh, sir.​​Mr. Schidtler: Mm-hm?Justin Cammy: I thought all writers were broke.(Literature. You Cant Do That on Television, 1985)

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading 11 Strategies by a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 800 on SAT Reading Strategies by a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 600-750 range on SAT Reading + Writing? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible - to a perfect 800? Getting to a perfect SAT Reading test score isn't easy. It'll require perfection. But with hard work and my strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 800 on Reading on my real SATs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score - or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for advanced students already scoring a 600 on SAT Reading or above (this equates to a Reading Test Score of 30+ out of 40 on the New SAT). If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your SAT Reading Score to a 600" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the SAT Reading tips in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 600. Also, the New 2016 SAT now has a single 800 Reading + Writing score, combining the individual Reading and Writing test scores. Technically, when I mention a perfect Reading test score, I'm referring to a perfect 40/40 test score, which is essential to getting an 800 Reading and Writing score. In this guide, I'll use800 and 40 interchangeably to mean a perfect Reading score. We won't talk about Writing here, but if you want to improve your Writing score too, check out my Perfect SAT Writing score guide. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to score an 800 are pretty low quality. They're often written by people who never scored an 800 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. It's not enough to be reminded of simple Reading tips like "don't forget to guess on every question!" In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting an 800 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score 800 on SAT Reading consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring an 800 is a good idea, what it takes to score an 800, and then go into the key SAT Critical Reading strategies so you know how to get a perfectSAT Reading score. Stick with me - as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why an 800 Reading and Writing score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. This guide has been updated for the New 2016 SAT, so you can be sure my advice works for the test you're about to take. Final note: in this guide, I talk mainly about getting to an 800. But if your goal is a 700, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why an 800 SAT Reading + Writing? Let's make something clear: a 1550+ on an SAT is equivalent to a perfect 1600. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 1590than a 1550. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 1550, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 1600.You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 1540 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 1550 or above. There's a big difference between a 1450and a 1550, largely because it's easier to get a 1450(and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 1550. A 1540places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of Ivy League-level admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get an 800 on SAT Reading+Writing? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your composite score more sothan your individual section scores. If you can get a perfect 40 in SAT Reading, you can get a 39 in SAT Writing (for a total of 790 in Reading + Writing) and a 760 in SAT Math and still be confident about your test scores. This gives you a lot more flexibility. Harvard's 75th percentile Reading score is 800. There's another scenario where an 800 in SAT Reading is really important. If you're planning to apply as a humanities or social science major (like English, political science, communications) to a top school. Here's the reason: college admissions is all about comparisons between applicants. The school wants to admit the best, and you're competing with other people in the same "bucket" as you. By applying as a humanities/social science major, you're competing against other humanities/social science folks: people for whom SAT Reading is easy. Really easy. Here are a few examples from schools. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and U Chicago, the 75th percentile SAT Reading score is an 800. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have an 800 in SAT Reading. But if you can work your way to an 800, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. I'll be honest - SAT Reading wasn't my strong suit in high school. When I started studying, I was scoring around the 700 range. I was always stronger in math and science. But I learned the tricks of the test, and I developed the strategies below to raise my score to an 800. Now I'm sharing them with you. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a Starbucks cup. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a perfectSAT Reading score. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your SAT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. SAT Reading is Designed to Trick You. You Need to Learn How Here's why: the SAT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? I bet you've had this problem: in SAT Reading passages, you often miss questions because of an 'unlucky guess.' You'll try to eliminate a few answer choices, and the remaining answer choices will all sound equally good to you. Well, you throw up your hands and randomly guess. This was one of the major issues for myself when I was studying SAT Reading, and I know it affects thousands of my students at PrepScholar. The SAT is purposely designed this way to confuse you. Literally millions of other students have the exact same problem you do. And the SAT knows this. Normally in your school's English class, the teacher tells you that all interpretations of the text are valid. You can write an essay about anything you want, and English teachers aren't (usually) allowed to tell you that your opinion is wrong. This is because they can get in trouble for telling you what to think, especially for complex issues like slavery or poverty. But the SAT has an entirely different problem. It's a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. It needs a solid test to compare students with each other. Every question needs a single, unambiguously, 100% correct answer. There's only ever one correct answer. Find a way to eliminate three incorrect answers. Imagine if this weren't the case. Imagine that each reading answer had two answer choices that might each be plausibly correct. When the scores came out, every single student who got the question wrong would complain to the College Board about the test being wrong. If this were true, the College Board would then have to invalidate the question, which weakens the power of the test. The College Board wants to avoid this nightmare scenario. Therefore, every single Reading passage question has only one, single correct answer. But the SAT disguises this fact. It asks questions like: The author would most likely agree with which of the following statements? The first paragraph primarily serves to: In line 20, 'dark' most nearly means: Notice a pattern here? The SAT always disguises the fact that there's always one unambiguous answer. It tries to MAKE you waver between two or three answer choices that are most likely. And then you guess randomly. And then you get it wrong. You can bet that students fall for this. Millions of times every year. Students who don't prepare for the SAT in the right way don't appreciate this. BUT if you prepare for the SAT in the right way, you'll learn the tricks the SAT plays on you. And you'll raise your score. The SAT Reading section is full of patterns like these. To improve your score, you just need to: Learn the types of questions that the SAT tests, like the one above Learn strategies to solve these questions, using skills you already know Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes The point is that you can learn these skills, even if you don't consider yourself a good reader or a great English student.I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. One last point: let's make sure we understand how many questions we can miss to score an 800. What It Takes to Get a Perfect 40 in Reading If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. There are 52 questions in the Reading section, and how many questions you miss determines your scaled score out of 40. From the Official SAT Practice Tests, I've taken the raw score to scaled score conversion tables from 4 tests.(If you could use a refresher on how the SAT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Raw Score Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 4 52 40 40 40 40 51 40 39 40 39 50 39 38 39 39 49 38 37 38 38 48 38 37 38 37 47 37 36 37 36 46 37 35 36 35 45 36 35 36 35 These grading scales are harsh. For tests 2 and 4, if you miss just ONE question, you get dropped down to a 39. This means your maximum Reading + Writing score is a 790. For tests 1 and 3, if you miss one question, you're still at a perfect 40, but miss another and you drop down to a 39. The scoring chart curvedepends on the difficulty of the test. The harder the test, the easier the curve. But you can't predict what kind of test you're going to get on test day. The safest thing to do is to aim for perfection. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for an 800. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 800. For example, if you're scoring a 35 raw score, you need to answer six to seven more questions right to get to a perfect 40 and an 800. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my exact score report from March 2014, showing that I missed one question and earned an 800. (This was from the previous 2400 version of the SAT, but it had a similar grading scale). OK - so we've covered why scoring a higher Reading score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies and reading tips that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get aPerfectSAT Reading Score What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness - Time Management or Passage Strategy? Every student has different flaws in SAT Reading. Some people don't have good strategies for tackling the passage questions. Others don't manage their time correctly and run out of time before getting through all the questions. Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Find an official SAT practice test, and take only the Reading section. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For each section, use a timer and have it count down the 65 minutes for the Reading section. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out for that section and you're 100% ready to move on, then move on. If you're not ready to move on, keep on working for as long as you need. For every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." When you're ready, grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 35or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35), then you have strategy and content weaknesses. All the extra time in the world couldn't get you above a 35, so your first angle of attack will be to find your weaknesses and attack them (We'll cover this later). If YES (Extra Time score 35), then: Was your Realistic score a 35 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 35, Realistic 35), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than 3points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you using the best passage reading strategy for you? Does it take you too much time to get the answer for each question? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient passage strategies will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 35), then you have a really good shot at getting an 800. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score - if they differed by more than 2 points, then you would benefit from learning how to solve questions more quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a40with extra time, but score a 35 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 40. This type of analysis is so important that it's a central part of my prep program, PrepScholar. When a new student joins, he or she gets a diagnostic that figures out specific strengths and weaknesses. The program then automatically customizes your learning so that you're always studying according to where you can make the most improvement. No matter what your weakness is, my following strategies will address all weaknesses comprehensively. Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers This strategy was by far the most effective for me in raising my Reading score. It completely changed the way I viewed passage questions. I spent some time talking above about how the SAT always has one unambiguous answer. This has a huge implication for the strategy you should use to find the right SAT Reading answer. Here's the other way to see it: Out of the four answer choices, three of them have something that is totally wrong about them. Only one answer is 100% correct, which means the other three are 100% wrong. You know how you try to eliminate answer choices, and then end up with a few at the end that all seem equally likely to be correct? "Well, this can work...but then again this could work as well..." STOP doing that. You're not doing a good enough job of eliminating answer choices. Remember - every single wrong choice can be crossed out for its own reasons. You need to do a 180 on your approach to Reading questions. Instead, find a reason to eliminate three answer choices. "Can I find a reason to eliminate this answer choice? How about this one?" You have to learn how to eliminate three answer choices for every single question. "Great, Allen. But this doesn't tell me anything about HOW to eliminate answer choices." Thanks for asking. One thing to remember is that even a single word can make an answer choice wrong. Every single word in each answer choice is put there by the SAT for a reason. If a single word in the answer choice isn't supported by the passage text, you need to eliminate it, even if the rest of the answer sounds good. There are a few classic wrong answer choices the SAT loves to use. Here's an example question. For example, let’s imagine you just read a passage talking about how human evolution shaped the environment. It gives a few examples. First, it talks about how the transition from earlier species like Homo habilus to neanderthals led to more tool usage like fire, which caused wildfires and shaped the ecology. It then talks about Homo sapiens 40,000 years ago and their overhunting of species like woolly mammoths to extinction. So then we run into a question asking, "Which of the following best describes the main subject of the passage?" Here are the answer choices: A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals B: The study of evolution C: How the environment shaped human evolution D: The plausibility of evolution E: The influence of human development on ecology (We're using five answers for purposes of illustration - the SAT will only have four choices). As you're reading these answer choices, a few of them probably started sounded really plausible to you. Surprise! Each of the answers from A-D has something seriously wrong about it. Each one is a classic example of a wrong answer type given by the SAT. Wrong Answer 1: Too Specific A: The transition between Homo habilus and neanderthals This type of wrong answer focuses on a smaller detail in the passage. It’s meant to trick you because you might think to yourself, "well, I see this mentioned in the passage, so it’s a plausible answer choice." Wrong! Think to yourself – can this answer choice really describe the entire passage? Can it basically function as the title of this passage? You’ll find that it’s just way too specific to convey the point of the overall passage. Wrong Answer 2: Too Broad B: The study of evolution This type of wrong answer has the opposite problem – it’s way too broad. Yes, theoretically the passage concerns the study of evolution, but only one aspect of it, and especially as it relates to the impact on the environment. To give another ludicrous example, if you talked to your friend about your cell phone, and he said your main point was about the universe. Yes, you were talking about the universe, but only a tiny fraction of it. This is way too broad. Wrong Answer 3: Reversed Relationship C: How the environment shaped human evolution This wrong answer choice can be tricky because it mentions all the right words. But of course the relationship between those words needs to be correct as well. Here, the relationship is flipped. Students who read too quickly make careless mistakes like these! Wrong Answer 4: Unrelated Concept D: The plausibility of evolution Finally, this kind of wrong answer preys on the tendency of students to overthink the question. If you’re passionate about arguing about evolution, this might be a trigger answer since ANY discussion of evolution becomes a chance to argue about the plausibility of evolution. Of course, this concept will appear nowhere in the passage, but some students just won’t be able to resist. Do you see the point? On the surface, each of the answer choices sounds possibly correct. A less prepared student would think that all of these were plausible answers. But plausible isn't good enough. The right answer needs to be 100%, totally right. Wrong answers might be off by even one word - you need to eliminate these. Carry this thought into every SAT Reading passage question you do and I guarantee you will start raising your score. Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices As we've discussed already, the SAT is designed to goad you into making mistakes by putting really similar answer choices next to each other. In Strategy 2, we covered the strategy of ruthless, unforgiving elimination of answer choices. Here's another Strategy that works well for me. Before reading the answer choices, come up with your own answer to the question. Gaze into your crystal ball and predict the right answer. This strategy is exactly designed to counteract the trickiness of the answer choices. If you DON'T apply this strategy, your thinking process likely meanderslike this: "OK, I just read the question. Answer A is definitely out. B can kind of work. C...it doesn't exactly fit, but I can see how it mightwork." and so on. By now, you've already fallen into the College Board's trap of muddling the answer choices. Take the opposite approach. While you're reading the question, come up with your own ideal answer to the question before reading the answer choices. This prevents you from getting biased by the SAT's answer choices, especially the incorrect ones. If it's a "Big Picture" type question asking about the main point of the passage, answer for yourself, "What would make a good title for this passage?" If it's an "Inference" question, answer for yourself, "What would the author think about the situation given in the question?" Even if you can't answer the question straight away - for example, if you have to refer back to the line number to remember what the passage was saying - try to solve the question before looking at the answer choices. The key here is that the passage must support your answer choice. Every correct answer on SAT passages needs to be justified by the passage - otherwise the answer would be ambiguous, which would cause problems of cancelling questions I referred to earlier. Warning: this only works if you can read and understand passages well, and if you have prior experience with SAT Reading questions! That's why I don't recommend this strategy yet before you hit a 600 level since you're more likely to come up with the wrong answer choice in your head. Strategy 4: Experiment With Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You In your prep for the SAT, you may have read different strategies for how to read a passage and answer questions. Some students read the questions before reading the passage. Others read the passage in detail first. At your high level, I can't predict which method will work best for you. We're going for perfection, which means that your strategy needs to line up with your strengths and weaknesses perfectly, or else you'll make mistakes or run out of time. What I will do, however, is go through the most effective methods. You'll then have to figure out through your test data which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Skim the Passage, Then Read the Questions This is the most common strategy I recommend to our students, and in my eyes the most effective. I prefer this one myself. Here it is: Skim the passage on the first read through. Don't try to understand every single line, or write notes predicting what the questions will be. Just get a general understanding of the passage. You want to try to finish reading the passage in 3 minutes, if possible. Next, go to the questions. If the question refers to a line number, then go back to that line number and understand the text around it. If you can't answer a question within 30 seconds, skip it. My preferred way to tackle a passage: skimming it on the first read-through. This strategy is a revelation for students who used to close-read a passage and run out of time. This skimming method works because the questions will ask about far fewer lines than the passage actually contains. For example, lines 5-20 of a reading passage might not be relevant to any question that follows. Therefore, if you spend time trying to deeply understand lines 5-20, you’ll be wasting time. By taking the opposite approach of going back to the passage when you need to refer to it, you guarantee reading efficiency. You're focusing only on the parts of the passage that are important to answering questions. Critical Skill: You must be able to skim effectively. This means being able to quickly digest a text without having to slowly read every word. If you're not quite good at this yet, practice it on newspaper articles and your homework reading. Passage Method 2: Read the Questions First and Mark the Passage This is the second most common strategy and, if used well, as effective as the first method. But it has some pitfalls if you don't do it correctly. Here's how it goes: Before you read the passage, go to the questions and read each one. If the question refers to a series of lines, mark those lines on the passage. Take a brief note about the gist of the question. Go back to the passage and skim it. When you reach one of your notes, slow down and take more notice of the question. Answer the questions. Here's an example passage that I marked up, with questions coming first. Notice that beyond underlining the phrase referenced in the question, I left clues for myself on what's important to get out of this phrase. (questions not relating to specific lines aren't shown above) In the hands of an SAT expert, this is a powerful strategy. Just like Method 1 above, you save time by skipping parts of the passage that aren't asked about. Furthermore, you get a head start on the questions by trying to answer them beforehand. But there are serious potential pitfalls to this method if you're not careful or prepared enough. Here's one: when you first read the questions before the passage, you won't have enough time to digest the actual answer choices (nor will they make sense to you). So you have to make your best guess for what the question is asking when you're writing a note along the passage. In some cases, this can lead you astray. Take this example from above: When I read the question, I saw that it asked me to find how Woolf characterized the questions I marked in lines 53-57. The problem is how broad the question is. How something can be characterized gives a wide range of options. Here are a number of plausible characterizations as I read the text: important, life-changing ("have to ask ourselves") communal ("we") detail-oriented ("on what terms?") urgent ("here and now") ambitious progressive and future-looking ("where is it leading us") There's a lot of flexibility in interpretation here, since the questions really do touch upon all these characterizations. It turns out "important" and "urgent" are the right interpretations, for answer choice C. But when I'm reading the passage and see my note, I can waste a lot of time coming up with potential options that aren't even correct answer choices. In the worst case, it can bias me toward the wrong answer. Critical Skill: You need to have so much experience with the SAT Reading section that you can anticipate what the question is going to ask you for your notes to be helpful. If you're not sure of this, you can easily be led down the wrong track and focus on the wrong aspect of the passage. Passage Method 3: Read the Passage in Detail, Then Answer Questions This method is what beginner students usually use by default, because it's what they've been trained to do in school. Some beginner books like Princeton Review and Kaplan also suggest this as a strategy. It's my least favorite method because there are so many ways for it to go wrong. But for the sake of completeness, I'm listing it here in case it works best for you. Here's how it goes: Read the passage in detail, line by line. Take notes to yourself about the main point of each paragraph. Answer the questions. As you might guess, I don't like this method for the following reasons: By reading the passage closely, you absorb a lot of details that aren't useful for answering questions. The notes you take aren't directed toward helping you answer the questions. By interpreting the passage ahead of time, you risk being led astray. But this might work especially well for you if you're very good at reading for understanding, and if you have so much expertise with the SAT that you can predict what the test is going to ask you about anyway. Choose Which Works Best for You, Based on Test Data Because I can't predict which one will work best for you, you need to figure this out yourself. To do this, you need cold, hard data from your test scores. Try each method on 2 sample test passages each, and tally up your percentage score for each. If one of them is a clear winner for you, then develop that method further. If there isn't a clear winner, choose the one that feels most comfortable for you. As part of our PrepScholar program, we give you advanced statistics on your score performance so that you can experiment with methods that work best for you. Next strategy:Understand your mistakes. Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even just one mistakewill knock you down from an 800, as we saw in the score charts above. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,500 SAT questions customized to each skill. The second step - and the more important part - is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who did 20 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a perfectSAT Reading score. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one - and find the source of each one - or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about. When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down 1) the gist of the question, 2) why you missed it, and 3) what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by question type (vocab questions, big picture questions, inference questions, etc). It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper - WHY Did You Miss a Reading Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further - what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Here are some examples of common reasons you miss a Reading question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Elimination: I couldn't eliminate enough incorrect answer choices, or I eliminated the correct answer. One step further: Why couldn't I eliminate the answer choice during the test? How can I eliminate answer choices like this in the future? Careless Error:I misread what the question was asking for or answered for the wrong thing. One step further:Why did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Vocab: I didn't know what the key word meant. One step further:What word was this? What is the definition? Are there other words in this question I didn't know? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. Many people don't know the right way to study. Of the people who do, very few will diligently apply the right methods, day in, and day out, with discipline. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Reviewing mistakes is so important that in PrepScholar, for every one of our 1,500+ practice questions, we explain in detail how to get the correct answer, and why incorrect answers are wrong. We also point out bait answers so that you can you can learn the tricks that the SAT plays on test takers like you. Bonus Tip: Re-Solve the Question Before Reading the Answer Explanation When you're reviewing practice questions, the first thing you probably do is read the answer explanation and at most reflect on it a little. This is a little too easy. I consider thispassive learning - you're not actively engaging with the mistake you made. Instead, try something different - find the correct answer choice (A-D), but don't look at the explanation. Instead, try to re-solve the question once over again and try to get to the correct answer. This will often be hard. You couldn't solve it the first time, so why could you solve it the second time around? But this time, with less time pressure, you might spot a new reason to eliminate the wrong answer choice, or something else will pop up. Something will just "click" for you. When this happens, what you learned will stick with you for 20 times longer than if you just read an answer explanation. I know this from personal experience. Because you've struggled with it and reached a breakthrough, you retain that information far better than if you just passively absorbed the information. This is perfect for SAT Reading because you'll often miss a question because of an incorrect interpretation of the text. By forcing yourself to get the right answer, you'll practice getting the CORRECT interpretation of the text. Even better, you'll be scrounging the passage for clues as to why the correct answer is correct, which is exactly what you need in your passage strategy to begin with. It's too easy to just read an answer explanation and have it go in one ear and out the other. You won't actually learn from your mistake, and you'll make that mistake over and over again. Treat each wrong question like a puzzle. Struggle with each wrong answer for up to 10 minutes. Only then if you don't get it should you read the answer explanation. Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Reading passage questions might look similar, but they actually test very different skills. At PrepScholar we believe the major passage skills to be: Big Picture/Main Point Little Picture/Detail Inference Words and Phrases inContext Citing Textual Evidence Perspective Analyzing Word Choice Analyzing Text Structure Analyzing Multiple Texts Analyzing Quantitative Info Whew - that's a lot of skills. That's a much more detailed breakdown than what appears at first glance, and what most books and courses offer. Each of these question types uses different skills in how you read and analyze a passage. They each require a different method of prep and focused practice. The SAT requires a lot of skills. Make sure you know which ones are your weaknesses. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in Reading than others. You might be better at getting the Big Picture of a passage, compared to the Inference. Or you might be really strong in vocabulary, but weak in understanding the function of sentences in a passage. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. This means for every hour you study for the SAT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're SHOCKED. I'm not. Studying effectively for the SAT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover all your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew, and they didn't spend enough time on their weaknesses. Instead, studying effectively for the SAT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to SAT Reading? You need to find the sub-skills that you're weakest in, and then drill those until you're no longer weak in them. Fix up the biggest holes. Within reading, you need to figure out whether you have patterns to your mistakes. Is it that you don't get Inference questions? Or maybe you're really weak at interpreting details? Or from strategy 1: is it that you're running out of time in reading passages? For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is. When you notice patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this subskill. Say you miss a lot of inference questions (this is typically the hardest type of question for students to get). You need to find a way to get focused practice questions for this skill so you can drill your mistakes. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our SAT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty SAT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: SAT Free Signup // Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction This is a quick tip that many students ignore. Each passage comes with an italicized introduction, like this for the passage shown above: This is a freebie. It gives you context for the entire passage. By knowing that the passage is about "the situation of women in English society," you hit the ground running when you read the very first sentence. This helps a lot. Sometimes, the introduction alone can giveyou the answer for the "Big Picture" question about what the main point of the passage is. Always always make sure that you read this introduction, no matter what passage method you use from Strategy 4. Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter The SAT has passages about a lot of weird topics. Victorian novels, underwater basket-weaving, and the evolution of gerbils are all fair game. It's unlikely that you're naturally thrilled about all the subjects you'll read about. This makes it easy to tune out when you're reading the passage. This makes it harder to answer the questions, which will make you more frustrated. Instead, adopt this mindset: For the next 10 minutes, I am the world's most passionate person about whatever subject this passage is about. This passage is the most frickin' exciting thing I could be reading right now. For every single passage, be as excited as she is. Force yourself to care about what the passage is telling you. Pretend that your LIFE depends on understanding this passage. Maybe you're about to give a lecture on this subject. Or someone's holding a puppy hostage if you don't answer enough questions correctly. Or your crush turns out to be a huge mid-18th century English literature fan, so you pay rapt attention to every single word. When I was preparing for the SAT in high school, I took this so far to the extremethat I ended up genuinely fascinated bywhatever the passage was telling me about. I remember reading a passage about volcanic activity and thinking, "Wow, I'm really glad I just learned this." (I know this sounds crazy.) If you stay engaged while reading, you'll understand the passage so much better, and you'll answer questions with way more accuracy. Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Vocab typically gets way too much attention from students. It feels good to study vocab flashcards, because it seems like you're making progress. "I studied 1,000 vocab words - this must mean I improved my score!" This is why other test prep programs love teaching you vocab - it feels like they're teaching you something useful worth your money, but it's not obvious that vocab actually isn't helping your score. Fortunately, vocab doesn't play a big role in your SAT Reading score anymore. This is especially true in the redesigned 2016 SAT. They've completely taken out Sentence Completion questions, and the words that you have to analyze in context are usually pretty common. Here are examples of words that you need to understand in context in the current SAT: ambivalent clashes convey plastic postulate These are somewhat advanced words, but they're nowhere near the level of the words you used to have to know, like "baroque," "diatribes," "platitudes," and "progenitor." College Board lowered the emphasis on vocab because of complaints that memorizing esoteric vocab was useless in college success and career success. Instead, it's now asking you to figure out the meaning of more common words the way the author intended. For example, "plastic" can mean "malleable," "artificial," or "sculptural." Only one of these is right in the context of the passage. This doesn't mean that vocab is totally useless. For one, SAT Writing still has a few vocab questions (read more about this in my Perfect SAT Writing guide). Furthermore, sometimes knowing the definition of the words in context is helpful. Here are a few tips on what to learn, and how to learn vocab effectively. First, I've written a super detailed guide on the best way to study SAT vocabulary. This method makes your studying much more efficient so you retain words longer and engage with the most difficult vocab most often. Second, you need to take notes on vocab words that you don't know that you see in your practice questions. Don't just focus on the right answers- understand the definition of wrong answers as well. Only take notes from official SAT tests. It's hard to predict what words the SAT will use, and the SAT doesn't often repeat words from previous tests. But the official free practice tests from the Official Study Guide that we integrate in our PrepScholar program are the best sources. Strategy 9B: Don't Spend Time Reading Books or Magazines Over the many years I've studied for tests or run a test prep company, I've heard this advice for SAT Reading: "Read great novels and well-written magazines, like in the New York Times or the Atlantic. This will help with reading comprehension." I hate this advice. A test like SAT Reading is very specific. It tests reading comprehension in very specific and formulaic ways, as I showed with all the question types in Strategy 3. Reading for general leisure does NOT train you effectively for the test. You're not exercising the same skills you need on the test, nor is it goal-driven enough to help you make progress. This terrible advice is like saying you can train for a swim meet by standing in the shower for longer. Yes, by being in the shower, you'll be in water, just like you will in the swimming pool. But you're not using the same skills. Yes, if you have a lifetime of strong reading, with thousands of hours of leisure reading experience, you will do better on SAT Reading. But right now, reading general material won't help you efficiently. Take your extra time and do SAT Reading practice questions instead. Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at SAT Reading that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school, I was able to finish a Reading section in about 60% of the time allotted. For SAT Reading, this means finishing all 5 passages and 52 questions in 40 minutes. This means I have a whopping 25minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. How did I get so fast? 1) I have an efficient reading strategy that works best for me. Namely, I skim the passage and work through the questions afterward. 2) Through a lot of hard work, I have a strong instinct for the test. I understand the test so well that when I read a question, I can predict the answer within a few seconds. I can rule out wrong answers instantly because they just feel wrong. I've surveyed thousands of questions and understood every single SAT skill deeply to design PrepScholar, so I can typically understand exactly what the College Board is asking. Kind of like Neo seeing code in The Matrix. Here are some time benchmarks that might help: You should finish skimming a long passage within three minutes. Each passage question should take you no more than 30 seconds. If you can do this well, you'll finish the entire section in 40 minutes, leaving a lot of time to double check. What's the best way to double checkyour work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate answer choices. If it's a reading passage question, make sure that the passage supports your answer. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double checkthat I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A D B C B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a near perfect raw score for an 800, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks - solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just ten seconds per question, you get back 200 seconds on a section that has 20 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Now you know what it takes to achieve perfection in SAT Reading. You know the best strategies to use for tackling the passage. You know how to identify your weaknesses and learn from them. You know how to save time, and you know to stay engaged while reading a passage. Even despite all this, sometimes a passage just won't click with you. Of all SAT sections, I find that Reading has the most volatile score. How you vibe with a passage has a big impact on your score. You might get a string of questions wrong just because you couldn't really understand what the passage was really about. This doesn't happen on Math or Writing. No matter what happens, you need to keep calm and keep working. You might swing from an 800 on one practice test to a 710 on another. Don't let that faze you. Don't start doubting all the hard work you've put in. Keep a calm head, and, like always, work hard on reviewing your mistakes. This might even happen on the real SAT. You might get below your target score and be crestfallen. Pick yourself up. This happens. If you've consistently been getting 800's on practice tests, you should take the test again and try to score higher. Very likely, you will. And because most schools nowadays Superscore the SAT, you can combine that new 800 with your other sections for an awesome SAT score. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your SAT Reading score to an 800. If you're scoring above a 600 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect SAT Reading score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. Here's a recap of all the strategies, in case you want to go back and review any: Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness: Time Management or Passage Strategy Strategy 2:Learn to Eliminate 3 Wrong Answers Strategy 3: Predict the Answer Before Reading the Answer Choices Strategy 4: Experiment with Passage Reading Strategies and Find the Best for You Strategy 5: Understand Every Single Mistake You Make Strategy 6:Find Your Reading Skill Weaknesses and Drill Them Strategy 7:Read the Italicized Passage Introduction Strategy 8: Be Interested in the Passage Subject Matter Strategy 9: DON'T Spend Time on Vocab Strategy 10: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Strategy : Be Ready for Turbulence in Scores Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your SAT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your SAT score. Read our complete guide to a perfect 1600, written by me, a perfect scorer. Read our accompanying guide to a 800 on SAT Math. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 SAT essay, step by step. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. I built the PrepScholar program based on the principles in this article - the principles that worked for me and thousands of our students. I'm confident they'll also work with you. Check out our 5-day free trial today: