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Guess Who’s Back! by beautifulchance featuring women's plus size jackets

Halter top / Doublju women s plus size jacket / J Brand jeans, $140 / Schutz lace-up ankle booties, $290 / Michael Kors tote purse / Marc Jacobs eyeshadow / Yves Saint Laurent mascara, $34

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I've found my style by beautifulchance featuring triangle swimwear

Wet Seal boho style top / Daytrip crochet sweater vest / Dorothy Perkins boho shorts / Topshop triangle swimwear, $26 / Short brown boots / Yellow gold hoop earrings / Bling Jewelry imitation jewellery / Bead jewellery, $4.06 / Ray-Ban mirrored sunglasses, $190 / Tildon floppy straw hat / Bird Metallic Temporary Tattoos

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Bleeding Out by beautifulchance featuring colorful home decor

Benson Cobb Studios colorful home decor / Leftbank Art canvas home decor / Leftbank Art black and white home decor / Outside wall art, $215 / PBteen silhouette wall art / Graham Brown photography wall art, $59 / Grey home decor / Forest home decor

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Dream to Reach by beautifulchance featuring star wall art

Star wall art, $75

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Earth's Elegant Baby by beautifulchance on Polyvore

Overnight Snow in Edgemont Park / Autumn Trees In Park / Arrow / 自信を持ってお届けするＥＤＭ 2013 OCT クリシュナANTHEM のブログ / MODELS.com Portfolio | Kristin L. / Edita Vilkeviciute by Erik Torstensson for Porter Magazine #6 Winter...

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Questions from a French Girl by beautifulchance featuring aviator style sunglasses

Topshop crop shirt, $37 / A line mini skirt, $14 / Suede leather shoes, $47 / Hand crafted jewelry / Lacoste dial watch, $220 / The Row aviator style sunglasses, $195

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Outside the Average Box by beautifulchance featuring silk blouses

Matthew Williamson white party dress, $5,165 / FAUSTO PUGLISI silk blouse / Boutique Moschino short shorts, $160 / Commando sexy stocking / Michael Antonio platform shoes / Lips makeup

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(Source: Rymax)

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How I Got an 800 on SAT Critical Reading

The SAT is, for the most part, a necessary evil. Bubbling in Scantrons for nearly four hours on a Saturday morning isn’t anybody’s idea of fun, but every year, millions of high school students take it, and it’s here to stay.

The Critical Reading section is the only one that is purely multiple choice. It consists of sentence completion and passage comprehension. Here are my methods of attack:

1. Read. Read everything. Okay, this isn’t very helpful if you’ve only got a week or so left before your SAT, but if you still have a good chunk of time left, read.  Read the classics on your high school’s recommended reading list; read mystery bestsellers; read memoirs and science research and travel brochures. To truly sharpen your critical reading skills, you must read. 

2. Play vocabulary games. I never used the flashcards method or crammed long strings of words, since I found them mind-numbingly boring. Instead, I played the Synonym Matching game in the SATup app. Other good options include Freerice.com and the free Quizzitive app. 

3. Annotate. When reading longer passages, look at the questions first and underline/bracket all lines and phrases mentioned. Then skim the entire passage and focus on only the marked-up portions. 

4. Don’t answer questions in order. Answer the questions about specific sentences and words as soon as you reach the section being mentioned. Answer the questions about the entire passage after you finish reading the entire thing. 

5. Do full tests. Sure, just doing three Critical Reading sections seems like it would be just as effective, but a huge factor in your performance on the actual test is your endurance. Being able to focus after an hour and being able to focus after three hours require completely difference levels of stamina.

Anyhow, that’s it for now. I hope this was useful, and best of luck on your tests!

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How I Studied/to Study for the SAT

I’ve written a guide on how to study for the SATs before and much of this is derived from that guide. I know that the old SAT will soon be obsolete, however I think that these study methods and materials can be adopted for the new test to an extent. I even have the schedule I followed. So this is just what worked for me and what I did during my 11 day long winter break of junior year. I pretty much only had busy work assigned by my AP teachers and I decided to complete that the last day of my break. The first 10 days of break had this schedule to it, and though it was brutal I was honestly able to complete my SAT studying in 10 days and get a satisfying score. If you send an ask, I might tell you my score but for now I’ll just say it was in the 99th percentile in all 3 sections and overall. (I started with a 1990 on my first practice test of the first day of my SAT studying.) I still have my schedule so here it is:

7:30-8:30: Wake Up, Workout, Shower 8:30-9:15: Breakfast 9:15-12:30: Practice Test 1 12:30-1:15: Go over mistakes 1:15-2:00: Lunch 2:00-5:15: Practice Test 2 5:15-6:00: Go over mistakes 6:00-6:30: Calisthenics Time! (my favorite part of the day lol) 6:30-7:00: Dinner 7:00-10:15: Practice Test 3 10:15-11:00: Go over mistakes 11:00-11:30: Stretch, Relax 11:30: Bedtime

Eventually, I just stopped taking breaks between sections and I could finish a practice test without the variable section in about 2.5 hours. So I actually would have much more time left in the day. So by the end of the 4th day I would finish everything between 9 and 9:30. If I wanted I would do another test or I would go to bed, because I was so mentally drained. This might make it seem like I didn’t have a life, but I sacrificed my social life for 10 days and significantly raised my SAT score. So I think it was definitely worth it. I didn’t spend months and months studying like other students. I just gave up my social life, killed the battery in my phone and laptop and I went to work. Whenever I didn’t want to go any further I would always remind myself of how great it would be for me to enjoy junior year while others are wallowing in despair with APs and SATs. It was enough to keep me going.

Critical Reading- I had so much trouble concentrating on the passages. So one day, I randomly started reading the passages in a Australian man’s voice. I kid you not; it did the trick. I was attentive during the whole passage and I had no trouble remembering even tiny details. So basically find what works for you. I told my friends this trick and they all raised their CR score by at least 80 points instantly (from like 630s). Every time I didn’t know a vocab word, I would write it down on a piece of looseleaf whether it was from the passages or the fill ins. I wrote down every little word I was unsure of, bc I didn’t want to miss a single one. I didn’t use a vocab book until 2 weeks before the test. I also used GRE practice problems. GET HOT WORDS FOR THE SAT ($2.53 for a used copy on Amazon). ALL OF THE WORDS ON MY TEST WERE IN THAT BOOK. It is the best book for SAT vocab imo. Once I learned a word, that was it. I could remember it forever. What I did was reduce the definition to 2-3 words. And then I would make a mnemonic (a silly story or another word) that helped me remember the vocab word. I think notecards get cumbersome, but if they work then by all means use them. But I think mnemonics are the way to go. I know it can be hard sometimes, but it’s definitely worth it to come up with a mnemonic. It is the best way to learn vocab, once you get used to it. You just have to give it a try and keep with it. If you want even more words 1000 Words for the SAT by Sparknotes is another good resource and there is a free PDF of it that an organization put up online. You can just use the aforementioned methods including but not limited to mnemonics to learn the vocab words faster and more effectively and efficiently.

Math- I was good with math to begin with. It has always been my best subject. I think math is all about practice, so just do as much as you can. And do not give up on the hard questions! Even when going over your mistakes, make sure you understand how to do every single problem. Also, I have a TI Nspire CX CAS and it helped immensely in checking my answers at the end of a section. They’re also really useful for college, especially if you want to pursue a STEM major. A new one goes for around $150 on Amazon with a student software that emulates the handheld device on your computer. Whatever you do, make sure you buy the CAS (Computer Algebra System) version and not just the plain non-CAS version. It’s the CAS capability (it only cost a few dollars more) that allows for you to create and use programs to solve equations and the likes. This device is allowed on the test, because the test only prohibits QWERTY keyboards. Well guess what. This handheld device has an ABCD keyboard. In the math section I would just type in an equation after I solved a problem to check it, but beware: you need practice with the handheld device and you need to understand the programs to use it effectively. Send me an ask if you would like more info.

Writing- I just looked up around 15 writing rules (see links below) and I memorized them. Eventually around day 6 I was becoming so good that I could name the rule that every question corresponded to. So that helped me to easily figure out what was wrong and how to fix it. It’s all about identifying the rule, so learn some rules (I’ll paste links down below) and try to figure out what rule EVERY question corresponds to regardless of whether or not you got the question right or wrong. For the essay, I had a general format. I would give two examples. One from literature/film and one from my personal life. I would write a thesis I agree/disagree….. bc example 1 and example 2. That was simple enough to get me a 10 on the real exam. I didn’t really focus on the essay. I just made sure I did at least 3 essay prompts everyday for practice. The Critical Reader The College Panda PrepScholar Grockit Student Tutor

I did as many practice tests as I could. I printed out every test I found on the internet and I copied all of the practice tests of the GRE and SAT from the prep books I found in a couple of libraries in my area. In total, just to give you an idea, all of my tests fit perfectly in a cardboard box. Idk how many practice tests (if I had to estimate I’d say about 35 excluding the blue book), but it took my a whole day (like 8 hours) to find them all.

I didn’t have specific books in mind. I just got as many tests as I could off the internet. But I did take the same tests over and over, bc you’re ALWAYS going to make mistakes. If you take the same practice test twice, you’re not going to get 2400, so there’s no harm in taking the same test multiple times. Sure you might remember answers, but trust me. You’ll still get a significant number of questions wrong. After about 4-5 days I could understand SAT questions. Like I could look at a question and say if it was good enough or the right format to even appear on the SAT. If there was test with non-SAT-like questions I immediately threw it away. So a good place to start to become familiar with the right questions would be Princeton Review and the CB Blue Book. I mentioned before that I used GRE, but that was only for CR. I did several GRE sections which I did horrendous on, but after the 3 GRE sections I got over my fears of the SAT CR, bc it made the CR on the SAT seem soooooo incredibly uncomplicated and easy.

Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with online prep bc I haven’t looked into it. But I would think that any renowned company is good enough. In my opinion, I think that studying on your own is the best way to go. Bc you’re the only person that knows yourself and the whole experience is individual. There are no classmates or bad teachers involved. You’re the only teacher and you cater to your needs.

For going over my mistakes (THIS IS LITERALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF STUDYING FOR SATS - PROPERLY GOING OVER YOUR MISTAKES!) what I did was I would take out looseleaf and write down: 1. Why my answer was wrong 2. Why I picked that answer 3. What the correct answer is 4. Why that answer is correct I did that for every question I got wrong. I am the type of person that needs to write things down to understand them. So once I wrote down these 4 sentences I would completely understand a question and I would know what to pick the next time I saw it. For math I just did the same problem over and over again until I knew I had it. Idk about you, but I can’t go over a test for 3 hours! I could do another test in that time. But I definitely agree that most of your learning comes from review. So in my opinion, take as long as you need to, but don’t overdo it. The SAT isn’t about deep thinking, so you shouldn’t dwell on a question way too long. I think that anywhere from 30 min to 60 min is reasonable (for ME). But once again, it all depends on how YOU review and what you need to do to understand a question.

Wow that was a lot. Don’t forget to ask if you have any questions at all. If you want, I can create a study schedule for you with details. Just send me an ask with your info, and I’ll do it for you. Also I just found my schedule I used after winter break, bc I had about 2.5 weeks before the test. So it’s down below:

Mon-Thurs: 6:30-7:30: Wake Up, Workout, Shower 7:30-7:45: Eat Oatmeal while walking to school 8:00-2:45: School 3:00-3:45: ECs, clubs, etc. 3:45-4:30: Walk home, Shower 4:30-6:00: Practice Test 1 6:15-7:00: Karate 7:00-7:30: Dinner 7:30-8:30: Finish Practice Test 1 8:30-9:15: Go over mistakes 9:15-9:45: Calisthenics, Power Nap, or Skip Break depending on workload for the day 9:45-12:30: Do school homework **These 4 days were awful sleepwise and working out in the morning was also difficult bc I felt like my muscles weren’t ready for activity. I did my homework right when I got it so it didn’t just pile up. Taking AP classes increased my workload, but I kind of made it okay with myself to slack a little for only two weeks. But I also had the weekends to recover so I didn’t really slack much in my classes.

Fri: 6:30-7:30: Wake Up, Workout, Shower 7:30-7:45: Eat Oatmeal while walking to school 8:00-2:45: School 3:00-3:45: ECs, clubs, etc. 3:45-4:30: Walk home, Shower 4:30-7:00: Practice Test 1 7:00-7:45: Go over mistakes 7:45-9:00: Dinner, Family Time (PlayStation Tournament!) 9:00-11:30: Practice Test 2 11:30-12:15: Go over mistakes 12:30: Time for bed!

Sat: 9:00-10:30: Wake Up, Workout, Shower 10:30-11:30: Brunch 11:30-3:00: Movies, Hang Out, Whatever 3:00-5:30: Practice Test 1 5:30-6:15 Go over mistakes 6:15-8:45: Practice Test 2 8:45-9:30: Go over mistakes 9:30-11:00: Vocab 11:00-1:30: Skype, Netflix, or PlayStation 1:30: Bedtime (I actually fell asleep during movies and Skype at like 12 from exhaustion)

Sun: 7:30-8:00: Wake Up, Breakfast 8:00-10:00: Hang out with peeps 10:00-12:30: Vocab 12:30-1:30: Lunch 1:30-6:00: Regular School Homework 6:00-8:30: Practice Test 1 8:30-9:15: Go over mistakes + Dinner in my room. 9:15-11:30: Practice Test 2 11:30-12:15: Go over mistakes 12:30: Time for bed

As you can see I tried to balance everything out and I really did stick with this schedule. It worked great. I spent a half hour digging through my desk to find this so you better get something out of it! :P

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Three Tips for Writing a Great SAT Essay

Although the SAT is due to undergo a major change in 2016, one of which is that the essay will resemble an AP Language exam writing prompt, every test until then will continue to require a persuasive essay.

If you need help on writing a stellar essay on the SAT, you’re just three clicks away:

How to Turn a Crappy SAT Essay Example into an Amazing One (Part 1 of 3)

How to Take an SAT Essay Example from “Good” to “Great” (Part 2 of 3)

How to Take an SAT Essay Example from “Great” to “Amazing” (Part 3 of 3)

Good luck!

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How to achieve the SAT score you want

BASICS

Create a study plan. What days of the week will you be studying? For how long? And what topics? Set aside the time so you don’t run out of it.

Take a practice test and grade it. In what sections are you lacking? Review the questions you missed. Is it the harder math questions? Do you need to review your geometric shapes?

Time yourself when you practice. There’s no use knowing everything on the test if you aren’t able to do it in the time allotted.

Work out how many questions you can omit to get the score you want. You won’t lose points for omitted answers, but you’re obviously not gaining any either.

If you take enough practice tests and check your answers to understand your mistakes, you will crack the SAT.

MATH

The SAT math questions are arranged in order of difficulty. You should aim to get all the beginning questions (the easy ones) right. Spend most of your time on the majority of questions, which will be the medium ones in the middle. At the end there will be a few difficult questions. There’s no use wasting all your time on these and missing out on points from answering three medium questions. Regardless of difficulty, every question is worth the same amount of points. Leave about five minutes of time to check your answers.

Figure out which sections you need to focus on from your practice test.

The SAT math tests mainly numbers and operations, algebra and functions, geometry and measurement, data analysis, statistics, and probability.

Plug the numbers into your calculator and test the answers until you find one that works. A lot of problems can be solved this way alone.

Don’t be afraid to backsolve.

When testing out answers that don’t involve finding the highest or lowest number for a problem, start from the middle answer choice. The choices usually tend to go in numerical order, so you will then know whether you need a choice with a higher number or a lower number and this will save time because you won’t have to check the choices you don’t need.

Make sure you time yourself while practicing! It’s especially easy to lose track of time when it comes to math!

I like the Kaplan SAT Math Workbook Fifth Edition. I found it super helpful and useful. However, the official Collegeboard bluebook is an important resource as well- especially if you are self studying.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help- stuck on a problem and online or in-book solutions aren’t cutting it? Bring it to a math teacher!

Consider investing in a tutor or class if possible.

Khan Academy is super helpful!

For math, the best thing you can do is practice, practice, practice. Eventually the problems will start to feel similar. 

CRITICAL READING

SAT critical reading tests sentence completion as well as questions based on both short and long passages of reading.

Sentence completion and short passage based questions will be arranged in order of difficulty. The easiest will appear first. Like in the math section, regardless of difficulty, all the questions are worth the same amount of points.

Questions based on the long passage of reading are NOT arranged in order of difficulty. 

Latin roots can be extremely helpful for the sentence completion portion of this test. You are not going to know what every word means, but knowing what part of the word means could get you some points.

Hot Words for the SAT is a great resource for vocabulary. This book helped me a lot.

The SAT blue book has practice tests and plenty of resources for critical reading.

When it comes to vocabulary, flash card studying works best for me.

Time yourself while practicing. 

Don’t waste all your time on the sentence completion questions in the beginning. There may be some easy long passage questions right at the end of the section that you may miss out on.

If there’s a little blurb of information before the passage begins, read the blurb. Seriously. Read the blurb. It’ll expand your understanding which could help you score some points.

Leave yourself five minutes at the end of the section to check your work.

If you don’t understand a question, don’t be afraid to ask an educator!

Consider investing in a tutor/SAT class.

Practice reading in general. Read articles online, pick up a science magazine, start going to the library every other week. Make an effort to read. This will seriously help.

WRITING

The SAT essay is always the first section of the test.

SAT writing consists of the 25 minute essay, and two multiple choice sections testing mainly grammar and punctuation.

Off-topic essays will get a 0 so make sure you stick to the topic. The more you can write on it, the better.

Aim for 2-3 examples to support your opinion on the essay topic and provide 2-3 minimum pieces of proof as to why your examples are valid.

Make sure you write within the lines, otherwise your essay will be cut off and the grade won’t be able to read it.

Write neatly and use your best spelling and punctuation.

Save a few minutes to proofread your work.

Grammar questions are not arranged in order of difficulty.

One section will cover questions revolving around identifying sentence errors, improving sentences, and improving paragraphs.

The other section will contain only improving sentences questions.

Review: verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, correct pronouns, adverbs, comma splices, run-ons, sentence fragments, parallel structure, diction, and double negatives.

Time yourself and leave time to check the section.

Ask an educator if you get stuck on a problem while studying.

Consider a tutor/SAT class.

Have specific examples you can twist to almost any essay topic, such as classic books with a ton of themes.

You can use personal examples, examples from media/culture, and history. Pretty much anything is game so choose a strong example and provide support.

This is a masterpost for the current SAT. If you have any further questions, my inbox is always open! :)

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Lady of the Lake, the ruler of Avalon in the Arthurian legend. Old version.

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Reblog if you think your Mother is a blessing to You.

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I am the ’70s child of a health nut. I wasn’t vaccinated. I was brought up on an incredibly healthy diet: no sugar till I was 1, breastfed for over a year, organic homegrown vegetables, raw milk, no MSG, no additives, no aspartame. My mother used homeopathy, aromatherapy, osteopathy; we took daily supplements of vitamin C, echinacea, cod liver oil.I had an outdoor lifestyle; I grew up next to a farm in England’s Lake District, walked everywhere, did sports and danced twice a week, drank plenty of water. I wasn’t even allowed pop; even my fresh juice was watered down to protect my teeth, and I would’ve killed for white, shop-bought bread in my lunchbox once in a while and biscuits instead of fruit, like all the other kids.We ate (organic local) meat maybe once or twice a week, and my mother and father cooked everything from scratch—I have yet to taste a Findus crispy pancake, and oven chips (“fries,” to Americans) were reserved for those nights when Mum and Dad had friends over and we got a “treat.”As healthy as my lifestyle seemed, I contracted measles, mumps, rubella, a type of viral meningitis, scarlatina, whooping cough, yearly tonsillitis, and chickenpox. In my 20s I got precancerous HPV and spent six months of my life wondering how I was going to tell my two children under the age of 7 that Mummy might have cancer before it was safely removed.So the anti-vaccine advocates’ fears of having the “natural immunity sterilized out of us” just doesn’t cut it for me. How could I, with my idyllic childhood and my amazing health food, get so freaking ill all the time? … My two vaccinated children, on the other hand, have rarely been ill, have had antibiotics maybe twice in their lives, if that. Not like their mum. I got many illnesses requiring treatment with antibiotics. I developed penicillin-resistant quinsy at age 21—you know, that old-fashioned disease that supposedly killed Queen Elizabeth I and that was almost wiped out through use of antibiotics.*

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ALL ABOUT GROUPWORK

1 Effective group work

Working in groups is increasingly popular as a form of assessment. However, it can be stressful: not everyone works in the same way or at the same pace, and you may need to find ways to negotiate these issues.

Getting organised                        

When you start any group assignment or project it is a good idea to agree on some basic organisation and how the group will work and communicate together.

Think about:

When to meet - pick times that everyone can make

Where to meet - again, pick a place that is accessible to all group members. You     may need to book rooms in advance

How best to keep in touch - share emails and phone numbers and agree the easiest way to communicate. You might use a blog or wiki on Blackboard

A realistic schedule to complete your task

The importance of being committed to the group, and turning up and     participating

A key aspect of good group organisation is starting and finishing with everyone knowing what they are expected to do.

Start by agreeing on the objectives for the group - what do you want to achieve in this session?

Keep focussed by having a list of tasks or issues to cover

Perhaps select someone to take notes and keep track of what was agreed

End by summarising what was agreed on in the meeting

Ensure all group members understand what they have to do for the next meeting

Agree on a time and place to meet again if necessary

Developing your speaking and listening skills

Good group work depends on good listening skills. Do you take in what others are saying? Do you pay attention to their feelings? Do you switch off when you are bored or dislike the speaker?

Try these effective listening strategies:

Concentrate on what the speaker is saying, not on what you want to say next

Wait until the speaker has finished their point - don’t interrupt

Focus on the content of what they are saying and link it to other ideas - how might it be useful?

Consider the speaker’s feelings

Top tip: Let the  speaker know you are listening and understanding - give encouraging signals  like smiling or nodding

Speak in the group - not at them.

People who speak at a group leave no space for response and tend to dominate. People who speak in a group consider the other members. So:

Make contributions, but don’t dominate

Ask questions, but not too many

Speak to the whole group - not just to your friends

Acknowledge your errors and apologise, “Oh I see, I’m sorry I     misunderstood…”

Keep the discussion flowing

Encourage the group to keep to the subject by steering the discussion back to the topic, “We were talking about…”

Build on other people’s ideas, “That’s an important point you made     because…”

Suggest ideas that the whole group can comment on, “Why don’t we…” or  "What do people think about…"

Summarise  for the group, “We agreed that…”

Most communication is non-verbal: Pay attention to people’s body language as this can reveal a lot about how they feel about the group. Are they looking distracted? Have they crossed their arms and are they looking defensive? Do they look upset or confused? Why might this be?

Give constructive feedback

It doesn’t take much to stop people engaging in a group - if they suggest something and get knocked back, they may just withdraw. Think about how you would feel if someone criticised your ideas, and keep this in mind when giving feedback.

Find something positive to say, “That was very interesting. I never     thought about it like that before…”

Let people know when you agree with their point and why, “So do I…”, “Yes, that’s true…”

If  you disagree with something, instead of rejecting the other person’s ideas, explore them, “What makes you think that…?” Have you     thought about…?“

Be constructive and specific. If you don’t agree, explain why and give evidence or examples rather than just saying no.

  Managing conflict in groups

Disagreement and differing views isn’t always bad - it can lead to creative ideas - but conflict is harmful to the group when it becomes personal and aggressive.

· Stay as objective as possible - focus on the issue that you disagree on, not on the personal qualities of people in the group.

·  If everyone starts shouting at once, introduce a system of going round the group asking each person their ideas or opinion in turn.

Try to use language which doesn’t single out people and blame them, but instead makes it clear that you are offering your own feelings and thoughts. Rather than, “You’re annoying and always speaking…” instead, “I am hurt because I don’t think the group listens to my ideas.”

If the group really can’t agree on something, discuss the pros and cons of the idea, then have a vote and go with the majority decision.

Being a good group member

Taking part in a group doesn’t just mean speaking a lot or always offering suggestions. Being a good group member is about being committed to the group and making a contribution that plays to your strengths. For a group to work well it takes a variety of people each playing different roles. Play to your strengths - find something you can contribute. For example, if you don’t feel confident doing presentations, instead volunteer to produce the handouts.

What can you do to help the group succeed?

Be encouraging

We indicate to other people how well we are listening through our verbal and non-verbal communication. We can use these responses to encourage other members of the group when they are speaking. For example, through:

Smiling

Eye contact

Reassuring nods and gestures

Letting them know that you found what they said interesting

Saying something positive about their contribution

Help the discussion to flow

Encourage the group to keep to the subject

Make suggestions and share your ideas: ‘Why don’t we…?’

Build on other people’s ideas: ‘That’s an important point you made because…’

Sum up for the group: ‘We have agreed on these points so far..’

Avoid sabotaging

It is quite easy to sabotage a group, often unintentionally, through any of the following:

Being late for the session

Not preparing

Whispering or chatting while someone is addressing the group

Be inclusive 

Help all group members to feel involved. If someone is not participating, try asking their opinion or seeing if there is a role they’d like to take on. Try making them feel welcome by chatting before or after the group meets. This will benefit you as well as them - they might be really good at doing a task you hate!

2.Surviving Group Assignments

Define tasks & set up deadlines.

The very first thing you should do when you meet with your group is to come up with a list of tasks and divide them up evenly amongst the group members.

This will ensure that each member is responsible for contributing something concrete to the group’s assignment, as oftentimes problems arise when multiple people are tasked with completing one scarily large goal (which lets members believe that it’s someone else’s responsibility, not their own).

Setting deadlines—especially quick deadlines (e.g., weekly), as to ward off procrastination—will also aide in getting tasks completed on time so that the group can remain on track.

Meet in Person.

In today’s world of text messaging, email, and Facebook, it is tempting to try to complete an entire group assignment via Google docs.

However, meeting in person will put greater responsibility on all members—they will have to show up to the meeting, they will have to dedicate time to this project, they will have to prove that they’ve been contributing to the overall work load. It’s much easier and much more tempting to slack off when you don’t have to meet with your group members face-to-face.

Be firm.

Nobody likes to be the bad guy, which of course is how you feel you come off when you nudge or pester your group to stay on track. But it has to be done.

Be friendly but firm when reminding group members of upcoming deadlines, and if somebody in your group is slacking, talk to them directly. It helps nobody if you sit around and brood over the fact that your group members aren’t pulling their own weight. Never do their work for them without talking to them first.

Evaluate your teammates fairly.

Oftentimes at the completion of the assignment, a professor will ask that you evaluate your group mates in terms of how much they contributed to the overall project.

Be honest and fair in your evaluation, whether you were the person who put forth the most effort or the least. The members who slacked obviously deserve lower grades than the members who put forth the effort, but your professor won’t know this unless your evaluation is accurate.

If the professor doesn’t ask for a group evaluation yet you feel that your group should have one, you should meet with your professor outside of class to discuss. It is also a good idea to give feedback to your professor in terms of how well the assignment lent itself to a group-project format.

Group projects are all about teamwork. If you’re putting forth your best effort, it’s fair to expect your group mates to do so as well.

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