10.30.2017
The Top 3 Study Guides for CLEP Tests - Reviewed
1) Textbooks.
Textbooks for CLEP tests come in all shapes and sizes. While it is entirely possible to just pick up a random college textbook from a random year on the subject that you're going to be tested on and go on to pass the test - many people do just that - you'll have to learn a whole lot of extra stuff that isn't going to be on the test just to be safe. I don't know about you, but I work full time and most of my studying time is in evenings, mornings, and 3-a.m.-coffee-induced-frenzies, and honey, I ain't got time to learn stuff that isn't going to count towards my degree yet! (Pausing here to note that if you are a med student or whatever, please be more serious about your learning than I am. I'm going for a sort of arbitrary "starter degree" in business, so it's not that big a deal.) The books that I have found to be the most concise and clear and kinda sorta cheap are the REA CLEP prep books. Unless my next CLEP is something super easy like analyzing and interpreting literature or human growth and development, I've gotten to where I just order the REA book in advance and have it before I even set the test date, that way I can just dive in and get to work.
These books run from 15-30 dollars, and are available sometimes secondhand. Secondhand = Cheaper.
The main benefit that I found from the REA books, as opposed to the two others listed below, is the mental picture they give me of the people involved and the timeline of events in a given subject. For example, I took a sociology CLEP test after studying it only on InstantCert and I passed it but because flashcards were the only thing that I had for names of the many, many, many people involved in the history of sociology, I forgot some people and had a very vague timeline in my head of when different ideas were introduced or integrated into working systems. The REA books combat that, because I get the story, and they follow a basic timeline of events for everything except the more mathematical things where there really aren't many people involved.
2) SpeedyPrep.com
SpeedyPrep costs 20 dollars a year, making it relatively cheap, and it has sections for studying every CLEP test which currently exists. It's basically just flashcards, and it will tell you how many you got wrong vs. right and you're allowed to go back over sections as much as you want. The questions are almost like a fake test. If you read all the answers and retain the information in them, you will have enough information to pass a CLEP test. A lot of people like SpeedyPrep and it is easy to navigate.
3) InstantCert.com
InstantCert is 20 dollars a month and has everything SpeedyPrep has in addition to a students forum which I have found immensely helpful. It also has options to label flashcards not as right or wrong, but as "don't know," "kinda know," and "mastered." These questions are then marked with different colors and you can go back to them to figure it out. It also shows you the percentage of each tagged option that you have gone through so you can see that you have, according to yourself, "mastered" 30% of the information given or 50% or so forth. I like the questions on InstantCert better than on SpeedyPrep as well. They are geared more to teach, and less like a psuedo-test.
How I Study With Flashcards Vs. Books
I can read super fast which is cool but then sometimes while I'm reading I'll get on page number three before I realize that I didn't really listen to anything that the little voice of myself in my head was reading and I need to start all over. This is mildly annoying, usually, but it's not ok for studying.
For studying with books, I read with about five different colored highlighters on hand. I mark EVERYTHING and color code chunks of connected information so that when I glance at the page later I can go, "Oh, all this pink stuff is about such-and-such-a-subject and those four purple words are the key terms that I should read over again." I also keep a notebook on hand and write down key words, terms, people, and events that I want to remember. Later on, I highlight those notes. Then, I either make flashcards out of paper or on Quizlet (totally free and works on your phone, has matching games too. TRY IT OUT!) Sometimes I also print out a very, very abridged version of the wikipedia page for a prominent figure in the subject and stick a photo of him/her on it and something catchy that will help me remember. Like one figure in the subject that I'm studying now (CLEP Psychology) is named John Watson and so I put a picture of the fictional Sherlock Holmes on the page I printed out, because his sidekick was also named John Watson in the books. Then I study the flashcards, glance through the book once or twice before the test, and I'm good to go.
With Flashcards, it's a wee bit different. I like to read the flashcard, and if it is remotely unfamiliar or if I could have possibly gotten it wrong, I copy it all down by hand into a notebook. It helps, sometimes, to reword the flashcard and use more layman terminology or jazz it up with extra words. The point is that rephrasing in your own words will help to get the information into your mind.
Step 2, I highlight those notes, being especially careful to make whatever information is still not immediately obvious to me VERY VISIBLE!!
Step 3, I make as many of the notes that I am having trouble remembering as I can into flashcards on Quizlet. Then I study the new flashcards that I just made, in my own words, of the main information that I need to remember gleaned from the rest of the heap, and maybe watch some Crash Course YouTube videos on the subject or read up on some Wikipedia, etc. and when I feel confident enough in my knowledge, I take the test.
May the luck o' the Irish be with ye! Break a leg.
:)
8.27.2017
40 No-Spend Weekend Activities
1. Digitize old photos.
2. Yard work.
3. Go through your wardrobe, do all the laundry and match all your socks, etc.
4. Deep clean your house.
5. Deep clean your car.
6. Workout.
7. Walk for a few miles.
8. Go to the library.
9. Watch DVDs from the library.
10. Read books from the library.
11. Meditate.
12. Play board games.
13. Take one photo every hour for 24 hours.
14. Talk on the phone with someone you love.
15. Plan out all your meals for the next month.
16. Review your budget and finances.
17. Do a puzzle.
18. Organize your junk drawer.
19. Have a yard sale.
20. Calculate how much money you need to save for retirement.
21. Have a picnic.
22. Rearrange your furniture.
23. If it's hot enough outside, go camping in the yard/free state park, etc.
24. Dig out those old boxes of jello and cans of food and come up with a way to use them
25. If you have a bicycle, go for a ride.
26. Journal.
27. Get someone to give you a haircut or trim.
28. Work on learning a new language with supplies free online or from the library.
29. Work in the garden, if you have one. Weed, water, stake plants that are getting floppy, etc.
30. Write a letter.
31. If you have a musical instrument, practice it.
32. Plan what you'll wear for each consecutive work day until your next day off, save time later.
33. Catch up on sleep.
34. Drink eight cups of water.
35. If you have kids/can borrow kids for a day, make macaroni or cereal necklaces, read out loud, etc.
36. Visit your parents or grandparents and help them out with their honey-do lists.
37. Make some abstract art. (Everybody's good at abstract art!)
38. Look for free local events online or at the library or post office bulletin boards and attend one.
39. Take a free online beginners course in programming.
40. Write some fan mail.
2. Yard work.
3. Go through your wardrobe, do all the laundry and match all your socks, etc.
4. Deep clean your house.
5. Deep clean your car.
6. Workout.
7. Walk for a few miles.
8. Go to the library.
9. Watch DVDs from the library.
10. Read books from the library.
11. Meditate.
12. Play board games.
13. Take one photo every hour for 24 hours.
14. Talk on the phone with someone you love.
15. Plan out all your meals for the next month.
16. Review your budget and finances.
17. Do a puzzle.
18. Organize your junk drawer.
19. Have a yard sale.
20. Calculate how much money you need to save for retirement.
21. Have a picnic.
22. Rearrange your furniture.
23. If it's hot enough outside, go camping in the yard/free state park, etc.
24. Dig out those old boxes of jello and cans of food and come up with a way to use them
25. If you have a bicycle, go for a ride.
26. Journal.
27. Get someone to give you a haircut or trim.
28. Work on learning a new language with supplies free online or from the library.
29. Work in the garden, if you have one. Weed, water, stake plants that are getting floppy, etc.
30. Write a letter.
31. If you have a musical instrument, practice it.
32. Plan what you'll wear for each consecutive work day until your next day off, save time later.
33. Catch up on sleep.
34. Drink eight cups of water.
35. If you have kids/can borrow kids for a day, make macaroni or cereal necklaces, read out loud, etc.
36. Visit your parents or grandparents and help them out with their honey-do lists.
37. Make some abstract art. (Everybody's good at abstract art!)
38. Look for free local events online or at the library or post office bulletin boards and attend one.
39. Take a free online beginners course in programming.
40. Write some fan mail.
6.14.2017
Another 100 Favorite Things
1. Buying the half-dead plants from the discount shelf at Lowe's and babying them back to health.
2. Knight Rider marathons.
3. Finding strawberries on sale.
4. Cutting off the bottoms of grocery store veggies to put in cups of water on windowsills and regrow.
5. Board games.
6. Going through recipe boxes and copying favorite recipes for your own.
7. Spatchcocked turkey.
8. Enormous cups of coffee.
9. Geraniums.
10. Rain on a tin roof.
11. The busy sound of someone typing.
12. Laundry warm from the dryer.
13. Kids drawing on foggy windows.
14. Happy wrinkles, evidence of many smiles.
15. A good thunderstorm.
16. Mother's Day hydrangeas.
17. Billy Joel music.
18. Mug cakes.
19. Refrigerators right after a good deep clean.
20. The sound of strong wind in the trees.
21. Making bruschetta.
22. Hemming curtains.
23. Having a full gas tank in your car.
24. Planting apple trees in the back yard.
25. Sturdy shelves.
26. Mismatch silverware.
27. Really old windows that only stay open if you prop them with something.
28. Sunday afternoon cheesecake.
29. Nature documentaries.
30. Sun porches.
31. Lentil soup.
32. Game plans.
33. Reading with a highlighter.
34. Ordering books online.
35. Philippians.
36. Birch bark.
37. Chickadees.
38. Coleman camp stoves.
39. Taking the long way home.
40. Ice cream and midol.
41. The theme song to MacGyver.
42. Driving past a Christmas tree farm in summer.
43. Counting all the cars on a train.
44. Babies with really thick eyelashes.
45. Putting celery in water so it perks up before you serve it.
46. Kids on trampolines.
47. Ajax dish soap.
48. Keith Urban on the radio.
49. Sandpipers.
50. Spring dandelion greens with bacon.
51. Overtipping.
52. Saying "Hi" to cows while driving past.
53. Electric blankets.
54. Snoopy.
55. Apricots.
56. Deep windowsills.
57. Asking for the recipe.
58. Pizza with extra sauce.
59. Window fans.
60. Egg cartons.
61. Watching someone pursue something they're passionate about.
62. Porch lights.
63. Ice cream sandwiches.
64. Breaker boxes with labels on all the switches.
65. Bored mall kiosk salesman.
66. The sky before it rains.
67. Murphy's Oil Soap.
68. Eating peanut butter on a spoon for breakfast in a rush.
69. Turning on the lights after replacing burnt out bulbs.
70. Flowered sheets.
71. French press coffee.
72. Refrigerator pickles.
73. Landscape paintings.
74. Camping out in the yard.
75. Free books.
76. Trix cereal.
77. Swirl glass sundae dishes.
78. Barnswallows.
79. Getting off work early.
80. Cookbook shelves.
81. Olive Garden's house salad.
82. Morning fog burning off in the sun.
83. Opening stuck windows.
84. When old people call daffodils "Jonquils."
85. Potato Mashers.
86. Really hot water.
87. Traffic lights.
88. Ticket windows.
89. Those miniature corn cobs in Chinese restaurant food.
90. Free road maps.
91. Spring Peepers.
92. Newly paved parking lots.
93. Fluffy pillows.
94. Dimples.
95. Buckwheat cakes.
96. EMTs.
97. Paddington.
98. Bathrooms with heaters in them.
99. Hydroponics.
100. Textbooks.
2. Knight Rider marathons.
3. Finding strawberries on sale.
4. Cutting off the bottoms of grocery store veggies to put in cups of water on windowsills and regrow.
5. Board games.
6. Going through recipe boxes and copying favorite recipes for your own.
7. Spatchcocked turkey.
8. Enormous cups of coffee.
9. Geraniums.
10. Rain on a tin roof.
11. The busy sound of someone typing.
12. Laundry warm from the dryer.
13. Kids drawing on foggy windows.
14. Happy wrinkles, evidence of many smiles.
15. A good thunderstorm.
16. Mother's Day hydrangeas.
17. Billy Joel music.
18. Mug cakes.
19. Refrigerators right after a good deep clean.
20. The sound of strong wind in the trees.
21. Making bruschetta.
22. Hemming curtains.
23. Having a full gas tank in your car.
24. Planting apple trees in the back yard.
25. Sturdy shelves.
26. Mismatch silverware.
27. Really old windows that only stay open if you prop them with something.
28. Sunday afternoon cheesecake.
29. Nature documentaries.
30. Sun porches.
31. Lentil soup.
32. Game plans.
33. Reading with a highlighter.
34. Ordering books online.
35. Philippians.
36. Birch bark.
37. Chickadees.
38. Coleman camp stoves.
39. Taking the long way home.
40. Ice cream and midol.
41. The theme song to MacGyver.
42. Driving past a Christmas tree farm in summer.
43. Counting all the cars on a train.
44. Babies with really thick eyelashes.
45. Putting celery in water so it perks up before you serve it.
46. Kids on trampolines.
47. Ajax dish soap.
48. Keith Urban on the radio.
49. Sandpipers.
50. Spring dandelion greens with bacon.
51. Overtipping.
52. Saying "Hi" to cows while driving past.
53. Electric blankets.
54. Snoopy.
55. Apricots.
56. Deep windowsills.
57. Asking for the recipe.
58. Pizza with extra sauce.
59. Window fans.
60. Egg cartons.
61. Watching someone pursue something they're passionate about.
62. Porch lights.
63. Ice cream sandwiches.
64. Breaker boxes with labels on all the switches.
65. Bored mall kiosk salesman.
66. The sky before it rains.
67. Murphy's Oil Soap.
68. Eating peanut butter on a spoon for breakfast in a rush.
69. Turning on the lights after replacing burnt out bulbs.
70. Flowered sheets.
71. French press coffee.
72. Refrigerator pickles.
73. Landscape paintings.
74. Camping out in the yard.
75. Free books.
76. Trix cereal.
77. Swirl glass sundae dishes.
78. Barnswallows.
79. Getting off work early.
80. Cookbook shelves.
81. Olive Garden's house salad.
82. Morning fog burning off in the sun.
83. Opening stuck windows.
84. When old people call daffodils "Jonquils."
85. Potato Mashers.
86. Really hot water.
87. Traffic lights.
88. Ticket windows.
89. Those miniature corn cobs in Chinese restaurant food.
90. Free road maps.
91. Spring Peepers.
92. Newly paved parking lots.
93. Fluffy pillows.
94. Dimples.
95. Buckwheat cakes.
96. EMTs.
97. Paddington.
98. Bathrooms with heaters in them.
99. Hydroponics.
100. Textbooks.
105 Things To Do When You're Bored
- Read a book.
- Learn to juggle.
- Clean your closet.
- Learn a language online-sites like duolingo, and youtube.
- Go for a walk.
- Declutter and donate the results to charity.
- Create a Spotify account if you don't have one (free!) and find some new music you like.
- Write something. Poetry? Stories? A letter?
- Make some cards for use later.
- Paint your nails.
- Take a handwriting course.
- Listen to a podcast like the splendid table, marketplace, etc.
- Make your bed.
- Do laundry.
- Go for a long drive to nowhere in particular and turn the music up loud.
- Find someone to play a game with.
- Go on a short hike to a local outlook spot.
- Learn a new recipe.
- Make a how to video and upload it to youtube.
- Make a DIY face mask from eggs or something.
- Try to draw an elephant.
- Go geocaching.
- Learn a new musical instrument (tutorials free online, check craigslist for a cheap/free tuba.)
- Grow a plant.
- Make some abstract art-everybody's good at abstract art! Don't forget to sign it and frame it.
- Watch a TED talk on YouTube.
- Jump on your bed.
- Take a shower.
- Make meals for the coming week and freeze them.
- Drink a BIG glass of water.
- Take a nap.
- Digitize some old photos.
- Go on ancestry.com to find out if your great, great, great, great grandfather was a pirate or not.
- Make a blog.
- Buy flowers from the grocery store and give them to people.
- Write a letter or make a video to your future self.
- Take a picture of what you are doing every hour for the next twenty four hours.
- Learn how to make origami swans.
- Throw away all the receipts in your bag.
- Plan your next vacation.
- Start a jar to fill with change and label it with what you're going to spend it on.
- Prank call your mom and pretend to order pizzas.
- Do a puzzle.
- Do a five minute workout (look it up.)
- Make a cup of tea or coffee or lemonade and then just sit and enjoy it.
- Start a journal or an art journal if you hate writing.
- Start a memory jar.
- Wash your sheets and hang them on the clothesline if you have one.
- Clean out your fridge.
- Start some friendship bread starter.
- Write a letter to a kid you know.
- Call your grandma and ask for the recipe to that cranberry-liver-stuffing she makes every holiday.
- Use it to start your own recipe collection of heirlooms and personal favorites.
- Rearrange your bedroom furniture.
- Pick an artist and listen to ALL of their songs, one after the other.
- Find a new motto.
- Create a personal master plan.
- Make a mug cake.
- Look for coupons in the newspaper for stuff on your grocery list.
- Play a video game.
- Sign up for a free class on Coursera.
- Meditate.
- Make a bucket list.
- Buy a goldfish.
- Go to a library.
- Teach yourself how to juggle.
- Make some freezer meals for later.
- Go geocaching.
- If you have garden space, start a compost bin.
- Create your own filing system for bills, medical records, and other personal paperwork.
- Start making or buying Christmas gifts in advance, save yourself time and money later.
- Write a list of things you've accomplished in the past year.
- Make some jello.
- Memorize a poem.
- Make a list of 52 books to read in the next 52 weeks.
- Update your résumé.
- Spend a few minutes figuring out how to streamline your morning routine.
- Make a mix cd.
- Play solitaire.
- Watch a documentary.
- Donate 3 dollars to an organization you support.
- Do some push ups.
- Go for a 20 minute walk.
- Research how to invest money for the future (index stock investing is a good start.)
- Watch the sunrise or sunset.
- Clean out and wash your car.
- Go hiking.
- Visit a free museum.
- Take a typing class online.
- Do some basic yard work to spruce up the house.
- Go for a bike ride.
- Google your local community calendar and find free events like live music, tours, etc. to attend.
- Make a vision board.
- Review your favorite books on Goodreads.
- Listen to a new genre of music.
- Paint a wall in your house.
- Visit someone you know in a nursing home.
- Google historical houses in your area and visit one.
- Have a picnic.
- Have friends over.
- Devote 10 minutes to deep cleaning that thing in your house you hate cleaning.
- Do a crossword puzzle.
- Camp in your backyard.
- Fly a kite.
- Cut up old clothes and piece a quilt top from them.
4.23.2017
Taking Stock #4
Making: my way through April, metaphorically as a sloth might swim through molasses.
Cooking: nothing, as I wait for April and eat granola bars.
Drinking: extra coffee, to get through April.
Reading: my May calendar. So empty! Such great! Very wow! Super hard to get to!
Wanting: May to be here already!
Looking: for signs of May.
Playing: sad songs of birds, flying with tail feathers spread, as I wait for May.
Deciding: how to get through the rest of April.
Wishing: May was here already.
Enjoying: being melancholy and sad, as I wait for May.
Waiting: for the coffee to kick in, as I wait for May.
Liking: the idea of May being here now.
Wondering: when May will get here.
Loving: May.
Pondering: May.
Considering: May.
Watching: the digital calendar on my bosses' desk, waiting for it to flip to May.
Hoping: May comes faster than usual.
Marveling: at how slow time goes between today and May 1st.
Needing: May to be here now.
Smelling: May in the air. Much like a dog might smell donuts, but when he's on a leash and can't get to them.
Wearing: the soles off my shoes at work, which has concrete floors and no floor cushions.
Noticing: everything I didn't get done yet and should have because May is coming too fast/too slow.
Knowing: May has to get here someday.
Thinking: about May.
Feeling: like a sleep deprived zombie hopped up on caffeine and internet memes, slogging to work.
Admiring: the picture of a girl jumping in a field of flowers on the month of May on my wall calendar.
Sorting: lists of stuff I have to get done before May comes (*adding in a vaguely ominous tone*;) or else.
Buying: a fridge.
Getting: ready for May.
Bookmarking: stuff I want to read in May.
Disliking: April.
Opening: my laptop to write about May.
Giggling:............yeah, nope.
Feeling: like May can't get here fast enough!!!!!!!
3.01.2017
2.28.2017
3 Great Book Series For Kids That Aren't The Usuals
1. The Secret of The Ginger Mice
This book is part of a trilogy and, while I have not yet read the two that come after it, this book was an absolute favorite from the moment I first read it. It's one of those books where the kids can enjoy the adventure and the adults will be intrigued by the plot as well. The story follows the adventures of triplet mice, Allistair, Alice, and Alex and the new friend they meet named Tibby Rose. There are pirates, spies, and wandering gypsies. It's a simply charming read.
There are currently 68 books in the series, most of which have also been put into audio dramatization with readings by the author and they are awesome!!! They follow the humorous tales of a dog on a ranch in Texas and his doggie pal, Drover, and the ranch's owner, family, and ranch hand Slim. They're just plain funny for people of all ages, whether they've ever lived on a ranch or farm or not, and when you 3/4ths of the way through and the plot really gets to boiling it never fails to surprise everyone and get the whole room laughing! 10/10 highly recommend.
The author spent many years both as a doctor in Morocco and later as a kind house mistress for a boarding school for children of missionaries in the early 20th century. She wrote these books to read aloud to those children, and they stand on their own feet just as well. They talk to kids from the point of view of kids and adults without a speck of patronizing, and Patricia St. John has a way of putting complex life lessons into simple stories that are easy for everyone to comprehend. The books are captivating for an audience and make great read alouds. I recommend starting with my personal favorite, Rainbow Garden, which tells the story of a young girl from the city named Eileen who goes to live and learns to love with a large and rambunctious parson's family -and their interesting neighbors- in the country while her socialite mother goes abroad.
These are just some of my favorites and I'm always on the lookout for new ones for the kids in my life! :)
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)