Chapter 8: Powerful Writing

C. S. Lewis wrote 7 books on a fantasy world called Narnia.  In his 3rd book, The Horse and His Boy, there's a point where Shasta, who is the main character, got split from his friends and had to spend the night among some tombs called The Tombs of the Kings.  Here he met a cat who lived at the tombs.  Here is a price from the the book: "The cat stared at him harder than ever.  Then it started walking away, and of course Shasta followed it.  It led him right through the tombs and out on the desert side of them.  There it sat down bolt upright with its tail curled round its feet and its face set toward the desert and toward Narnia and the North, as still as if it were watching for some enemy.  Shasta lay down beside it with his back against the cat and his face toward the Tombs, because if one is nervous there's nothing like having your face toward the danger and having something warm and solid at your back."  I really liked how C. S. Lewis used the personal felling of having someone near you when you are scared.  It was so well written that I felt like I was Shasta.  At least for this part, making a personal connection with the reader is a good tip for me to improve my writing skills.      

Chapter 7: Test Anxiety

Do I experience test anxiety?  Yes I do, but I suppress those feelings because that would hinder my thinking during the test.  I usually get freaked out by the announcement of a test, but once I have a week of so of studying, I loosen up.  I'm wanting to major in Computer Engineering and that requires lots of higher level math courses.  Even when I dual enrolled, I took Pre-Calculus and the tests were very challenging.  But I got through them because I took a deep breath and tried my best.  I'm not a good test taker, when I feel that I did well on a test or quiz, I would get lower than I expected and vise-versa.  So I'm always afraid that I would get a low score no matter how hard I studied.  I don't really know any strategy to over come this, because I study really hard for the test.  I guess just study harder.           

Chapter 6: How People Retain Information Thoughs

1. We retain 10% of what we read.

2. We retain 20% of what we hear.  

3. We retain 30% of what we see.

4. We retain 50% of what we hear and see.

5. We retain 70% of what we say

6. We retain 90% of what we say and do.  

My reaction to these statistics is wow.  I didn't know the exact percentage, but I can see why it's so.  I'm thinking that these stats are for an average person, so some people have more retention when they read while others have more retention when they hear .  So how will this help me?  I know that I can improve my reading comprehension if I just focus and don't let myself get sidetracked.  And that goes for all the other things as well.  So what I'm saying is that if I focus on what I'm doing, like reading listening, and seeing, I can increase my percentage by 30 or 50 percent.  

Chapter 5: Reading for a Hard Course

For my Calculus class, my professor wants us to read the chapters that we review in class.  This might not sound hard, but it is, because the book is still in the editing phase.  So I'm suppose to read a book that contains wording problems,  not getting the idea across problems, the equations not written correctly, and last of all, there is no answers to the problems.  Luckily I have a tutor to help me get what it all means.  The way I tackle this book is when there is an example to a problem, I first read the example and explanation, then I try to work out the problem my self.  If I come across a problem that doesn't work out even though I test it 2 or 3 times, then I make a note to ask my professor if that the equation is written correctly.  Most of the time that works, but if doesn't, I make a note in the margin of the book to ask my tutor.        

Chapter 4: If only...

A decision that I regret doing now is not wanting to do things with my family.  I dont' know what was the mater with me durring that time, but when ever my family wanted to do something, I would make a big fuss about it and either didn't participate in it or made it really miserable for the rest of family when I was forced to go.  This went on for about 6 months, and finally, my mom sat me down and said that if I kept this up, I would have to move out into an apartment.  Luckily that woke up from my trend and now I'm ok with whatever the family wants to do.  What if I was given a change to change that, how would I fix it?  First of all, try to find something fun in the activity that the family was doing.  Second, stop thinking about myself but instead think about the family and that they need me to be with them.      

Chapter 3: Personality Analysis

For my multiple intelligence test, I scored really high in the Interpersonal, Logical-Mathematical, and Intrapersonal field.   As for the Personality Spectrum test, I scored high in the Organizer and Giver.  How do these relate?  It seems like Interpersonal and Giver goes together great, because Interpersonal deals with being social and the aspects of the Giver are pretty much the same thing.  The Logical-Mathematical and the Organizer is another great pair.  Logical-Mathematical refer to the problem solving side of my personality, and I use Organization to solve the problem.  Even though I did say that the Interpersonal and the Giver are alike, there are some differences.  Like the Interpersonal deals with socializing with people around me, while the Giver deals with am I having enough lone time and such.  Same with the differences with the Logical-Mathematical and the Organizer.  Logical-Mathematical recognizing abstract patterns, the Organizer deals with personal calendars.  With all these different aspects of my personality, how do these play in my studying.  I mainly use the Logical-Mathematical and Organizer side to do that, and I'm pretty sure that the other parts help me as well, but not as much.          

Chapter 2: Time Management

This assignment was an eye opener for me.  I haven't really though how I spent my time over the week.  Here are my results.

Class-16 hours

Work- 0 hours

Studying-12 hours

Sleeping-35 hours

Eating-12 hours and 15 minutes

Family time-6 hours

Chores/ personal business-1.5 hours

Friends-depends on the week

Communication (Phone, Computer)-6 hours

Leisure/entertainment-10 hours

Spiritual life- 3 hours

Total - 96 hours and 45 minutes

I haven't quite gotten a time when I could work, so that's why my work hours is 0.  So this list is subject to change.  I think it's quite interesting that the most hours that I use up is when I'm sleeping....that so weird.  As for decreasing my time in certain areas and adding more hours to others, I don't think I need to change anything.  It seems pretty balanced out.