The Clever Apprentice

One of the biggest challenges for GED students is finding time to study, or developing a daily study routine, especially if the student is managing their own self-guided program to get ready for the GED test.

For adult students who attend GED classes regularly, studying is often easier. Classes help create a routine, and involve learning and applying the material candidates need to know to earn the General Education Development credential. Or, students in class find it easier to get into a study routine because they’re preparing for classes or completing homework assignments. But sometimes, even GED students who attend classes need help developing study habits and a study routine. Often students who haven’t succeeded in classrooms find class learning boring or tedious.

The best study routine involves daily study, especially if the knowledge learned is new. Using new knowledge every day is the key to owning it; and this learning method is completely different from memorization. Whether students are in a classroom, using an online GED program or managing their own GED preparation, daily study works.

So how do busy adults with lots of job and family obligations find time to study? Here are some 10-minute study tips that have proven successful for PassGED students:

1. Study a problem or read a book, newspaper or magazine first thing in the morning, even if you only have 10 minutes. You can use a problem from a GED practice test or a short section from your GED test prep materials. Or, you might choose a short passage such as a newspaper article, editorial or a magazine insight piece. Don’t worry about finishing the problem or passage; just concentrating on something for 10 minutes is the trick.

2. During the day, spend 10 minutes thinking about what you read or studied in the morning. If it’s something you read, think about the words and the feelings those words create. Consider how the passage or words apply to something else, or another situation. If it’s a math problem, try writing it down and working on it in different ways. Don’t worry if you can’t remember the problem or words exactly. The key is to use the new knowledge; just get into the mind of the problem or the words for 10 minutes.

3. Late in the day, spend 5 minutes really thinking about what you read or studied again, and you’ll suddenly see and understand the knowledge more clearly. Make sure you spend a minute or two thinking about why it’s clear — this is key!

4. At the end of the day, spend 5 minutes reviewing or reworking the problem, and determine what you learned from the study activity. Then tell yourself how smart you are, how much you accomplished and give yourself a reward.

At day’s end, you’ve managed to study for 30 minutes, despite a busy schedule and life’s demands. But more important, the time spent isn’t just about studying — it’s about learning. Students learn since using knowledge means owning knowledge. And that’s what it takes to pass the GED test. For additional GED study tips and free resources on the GED test, official testing sites, financial aid and student support, visit http://www.passGED.com. The website also provides links to agencies and nonprofits that serve GED students, instructors and workforce development programs. Testing site information is available at http://www.passged.com/test_state.php#1.

Established in 1976, the University of Phoenix is the oldest and arguably the most successful online university. While going online has propelled the University to the popularity that it enjoys today, it still retains its brick and mortar roots. Describing a University of Phoenix campus is a bit of a misnomer, because there is no single campus.

The University operates on three educational platforms, ground, FlexNet, and Online. Students studying through the ground or FlexNet mode take a number of their classes at one of the many University of Phoenix classrooms located throughout the US and even the world.

As the largest private university, Phoenix has 170 brick and mortar campuses located throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. While over half of the school’s 230,000 strong student body studies purely online, over 100,000 attend at least some of their classes at the brick and mortar campuses.

These campuses are in many cities located in industrial parks. While this image doesn’t conjure up the grassy quads many envision when they think of the college life, their location is normally based on population density and accessibility. As a consequence, Phoenix campuses, although not always beautiful, are certainly accessible.

While the University of Phoenix is famed for its wide variety of courses and degree options, it is less widely known that only certain campuses offer specific degrees. This is especially true of those degrees which contain elements which simply cannot be translated online.

That is to say, while e-Business, a part of the College of Undergraduate Business and Management can be accessed from every campus because of its technological basis, other programs like Nursing which may require some hands-on learning are simply unavailable at certain locations.

When you consider a primarily Online University like that of Phoenix, students often fail to consider the relative strengths of programs at different campuses. While Phoenix employs a sophisticated oversight system to ensure that the level of teaching is relatively constant throughout its 170 campuses, that does not eliminate all dispersion. For example, students have stated that its Texas campuses offer a very high quality education in health, due to the strength of teachers and administrators at that campus. Similarly, students attending the University of Phoenix in New York have remarked that the quality of their education degrees was quite strong relative to the experiences of other Phoenix students located throughout the country.

Hal McIver is a proponent of higher education, especially at online universities. See www.universityreviewsonline.com/2005/10/the_university__4.html for more information on The University of Phoenix campus.

Ian Lancaster Fleming (1908-1964), the author of the James Bond 007 novels, was the grandson of a Scottish banker and the son of a Conservative MP (Member of Parliament). His father died in the first world war. In his will, he bequeathed his property to his widow on condition she never remarries.

Ian’s youth was inauspicious. He was expelled from Eton following a sexual liaison with a girl. He left Sandhurst without obtaining an officer’s rank, having been caught violating the curfew. He continued his education in Kitzbuhel, Austria, in Munich and in Geneva where he studied languages. But the chain of disappointments continued apace. He failed in a Foreign Service exam and had to join Reuters as a journalist. There he successfully covered a spy trial in Russia (1929-32).

He then joined a British investment bank as a stockbroker and moved to live in a converted temple in Belgravia, a fashionable district of London, where he entertained the members of the Le Cercle Gastronomique et des Jeux de Hasard.

In 1939, Fleming took on an assignment for The Times in Moscow - in effect a cover. He was spying for the Foreign Office and later for Naval Intelligence where he attained the rank of Commander.

During the second world war, he worked from room number 39 in the Admiralty building in Whitehall as assistant to Admiral John Godfrey. He was involved in the evacuation of Dieppe in 1940, in the smuggling of King Zog out of Albania and in setting up the Office for Special Services, the precursor of the CIA.

As commander of the 30th Assault Unit, he sometimes operated behind the German lines, trying to secure important documents and files from destruction. But, mostly, he directed the Unit’s operations from London.

When the war was over, he built a house - Goldeneye - in Jamaica. He worked for the Kemsley group of papers and vacationed every winter in the island.

While awaiting the divorce of one of his numerous paramours - the pregnant Lady Anne Rothermere - the 44 years old Fleming wrote “Casino Royale” published in 1953. It was the first of 12 James Bond thrillers, translated to 11 languages and with total sales of 18 million copies. James Bond novels are now being authored by a new generation of writers.

In 1961, John F, Kennedy, the newly elected president, listed a James Bond title as one of his favorite books. Many movie plots were loosely based on Fleming’s novels and have grossed, in total, more than $1 billion. The 007 trademark was merchandised and attached to everything, from toys and games to clothes and toiletries.

But Fleming was also renowned for his non-fiction: tomes like “The Diamond Smugglers” and his “Atticus” column in The Sunday Times where he served as foreign manager (1945-9). He successfully branched into children’s literature with “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (1964), also made into a movie.

Ironically, his mother died and left him a fortune in 1964 - when Fleming was already wealthy and dying. The trip to her service may have done him in. His son committed suicide in 1975 and his wife died in 1981. He left behind one heir: James Bond.

Sam Vaknin ( samvak.tripod.com ) is the author of Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited and After the Rain - How the West Lost the East. He served as a columnist for Global Politician, Central Europe Review, PopMatters, Bellaonline, and eBookWeb, a United Press International (UPI) Senior Business Correspondent, and the editor of mental health and Central East Europe categories in The Open Directory and Suite101.

Until recently, he served as the Economic Advisor to the Government of Macedonia.

Visit Sam’s Web site at samvak.tripod.com

Amanda Vessel, “The Making of a Landmark: St. Anthony’s Cathedral, Beaumont, Texas,” Touchstone, vol. XIX (2000), 48-58.

This article explores the history and symbolic and cultural significance of St. Anthony’s Cathedral in Beaumont, Texas. Amanda Vessel asserts that this Catholic Church has special meanings for their parishioners. St. Anthony’s physical appearance is very symbolic. The floor plan is shaped like a cross and the statues and other works of art represent many tenets of the Catholic faith.

Before 1897, and the coming of Father William Lee, the Catholic Church in Beaumont, St. Louis, was very small and Spartan. In 1901, the discovery of oil led to an influx of people and oil-related businesses. As a result, St. Louis became too small to accommodate the increasing Catholic population, and Father Lee proposed building a new church. This church was built according to Father Lee’s design, and it was dedicated in January 1907, in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. Next Father Lee started a new grammar school and the former school was moved to be a convent for the nuns who taught at the schools. Father Lee did not live to see the completion of the grammar school in September 1918; he died in July of that year and was buried in St. Anthony’s at the foot of the altar.

Father E. A. Kelly, Father Lee’s successor, arrived in Beaumont while the city was still experiencing the economic prosperity from the oil boom. He decided to build a new convent for the nuns at a cost of $25,000. More building projects included a brick rectory in 1922, a high school in 1926, and an outdoor recreation area in 1928. In 1937, Father Kelly began restoring and decorating the interior of St. Anthony’s. Father Kelly added oil paintings and stained glass windows at a cost of $32,000. In 1953, a new grammar school was constructed to accommodate an increasing student enrollment. This school cost $400,000 and is still in use today.

Monsignor Kelly retired from his position as pastor of St. Anthony’s in August 1954, and he passed away six months later. His successor, Reverend George Black, constructed a new high school and a new convent in 1961. In 1972, Father Marvin Enderle began restoration of the church’s interior, and he added a parking lot for the church in 1979. In 1995, under Father Beenie Patillo, St. Anthony’s had developed a parish center.

The evolution of St. Anthony’s from a Spartan church to the beautiful structure that is an historical landmark in Beaumont involved many different pastors and generations of the Catholic parishioners. St. Anthony’s is more than a place of worship; the church is involved in numerous aspects of its parishioners’ lives. Thus, St. Anthony’s is very important to the Catholics in Beaumont.

A lot of gamblers will have read the slogan “offshore sports betting” recently, but a few aren’t wholly clear on what that actually means. An offshore gaming site essentially acts extrinsically to the sphere of any distinct country or alternatively it could also be an on-line gambling website that has all of their host servers in a country in which world wide web based wagering isn’t currently outlawed. Concisely then, it’s a wagering establishment operating independently of the laws of the state of the bettor. Live gambling sites are in the main governed via three structures. These are called the OSGA (the Offshore Gaming Association), the IGC (Interactive Gaming Council) and finally the Fidelity Trust Gaming Association FTGA.

The OSGA is in fact an independent “watch-dog” authority which regulates the modern overseas sports gambling trade, they are trying to provide gamers the capacity to determine honorable companies to play gambling games on, without stress. The authority endeavors to protect consumer’s rights, also they don’t charge any membership expenses.

The agency is a competent not to mention non-biased third party organisation that reveals non-biased points of view, founded on your feedback, impartial investigation, telephone calls, insider prompts and also dispenses industry information.

The Interactive Gaming Council is a not-for-profit agency. The organization has been created to supply an arena for worried participants to address problems and also to further collective worries in the global web-based gaming trade, in an effort to establish sincere and also sensible commercial precepts and forms that heighten buyer certainty in net based gaming merchandise and utilities, and also to work as the sports gambling industry’s universal strategy guardian furthermore it provides an info hub.

The IGC have built up a reputation for safety, integrity also plausibility by virtue of the high standards of integrity it demands, also its appeal to legitimate commercial enterprises. The Interactive Gaming Council governs offshore sports betting by means of promoting a distinctive ten-point code of conduct and in addition charges gaming business enterprises fees to feature their logo. Frustrated gamers may, if they demand to, report any of their disagreements to the Interactive Gaming Council.

The FTGA has been established in an effort to present a benchmark to improve the actions of machine-accessible sports betting commercial enterprises. The agency understand that by conducting business with businesses of good reputation, they can fabricate a membership of the most honest and professional offshore betting operations worldwide.

So, these are agencies which survey the conduct of networked sports gambling and which should work to relieve a lot of the concerns held by betters. Machine-accessible sports betting sites are consistently secure, since private data aren’t a requirement and the returns not to mention the odds are generally equivalent to a normal Vegas-style wager. They do away with travel outlay, but nevertheless retain the character of a Vegas gambling internet site, but today you are enabled to wager at your computer.

Love to return next week at Pebble Beach

Some students spend too much time studying because they did not take the time to learn what was being taught in class the first time. If you follow these four tips, you will learn how to understand each lesson being taught in class so you will not have to put in extra time studying. This does not mean you will not have to study, but this will become a guide so you can use your time wisely. While you are in class, sit back and learn as much as you can and you will almost certainly get better grades and have more free time.

1. If possible, try to sit near the front to eliminate distractions. Teachers will probably not have a problem accommodating you if you ask them to sit you in a specific location in order to help you focus.

2. Avoid distractions such as chatting with friends, looking around the room, doodling, dozing, and daydreaming. Keep busy by participating in the discussion, asking or answering questions, and taking notes.

3. Contribute to classroom discussions. Raising your hand and offering your thoughts or ideas will help the discussion progress, make the teacher notice that you are actively taking a role in your education, and finally, help you sort out what you do and don’t know or fully understand. Try not to feel intimidated about raising your hand and answering questions. Start offering answers to questions or topics that you feel comfortable with and eventually this will become a habit. Eventually you will build enough confidence to contribute on a regular basis.

4. Listen not only to what the teacher is saying but to what your classmates are contributing to the discussing. You can learn a lot by listening to your peers.

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In this article we’re going to discuss how a kid can conquer the inevitable homesickness that hits him once he begins his life on campus.

It’s the dream of every kid. Go to college and live on campus. The chance to get away from Mom and Dad. No more, “Do your chores,” “Eat your veggies,” and all the other things that come with living at home. Then the kid finally leaves, sets up housekeeping and then…BAM! He’s calling home to Mommy because he’s homesick. Happens to everyone. Fortunately, there are some things you can do as a student to keep from wanting to run back home to your parents.

For starters, get involved! There are plenty of school activities you can do. Most colleges have fraternities and other social groups that are the core of on campus life. Just look at the campus calendar or newspaper and you’re bound to find a ton of things covering a number of interests. Go to a concert. Attend a sporting event. Just don’t sit around in your dorm room.

Outside of campus activities, there are also those things that you yourself enjoy doing. Got a hobby? Bring it with you to the campus. Maybe it’s even something that your roommate and you can share together. Bring some books if you like to read. That’s always a great way to kill time, especially if you’re reading something like “Lord Of The Rings”.

Another thing that will keep you busy and also be quite beneficial is to get organized. Don’t just let your college experience happen. Plan as many things as you can. Keep a datebook. Make sure you keep track of all homework assignments, tests and papers that are due and when. The last thing you want is to walk into class and realize that you had a test scheduled for that day and you forgot all about it. Don’t trust your memory.

Make friends and make time to go out with them. Most campuses have local ice cream shops or other retail places where you can hang out and have a good time. Making friends will also make you realize that these kids are going through the same things that you’re going through and they probably miss their parents as well.

Need something else to keep your mind off your problems? Volunteer. There has to be a student who could use some help with a tough course. Maybe they have a local radio station or some other activity you can volunteer your time to. Nobody will turn down help if you offer it for free.

And of course the number one thing on your list is to keep in touch with your family. All of a sudden, that little sister who used to drive you crazy isn’t such a terrible person any more. Give her and your parents a call or write them a long letter. Let them know what you’re doing at school and how things are going. If you miss them, tell them you do.

This is a great time to realize just how much you really love your family and at the same time embark on a part of your life that you’ll look back on someday with a great big smile.

Matches Fashion is currently a very high ended clothes fashion store with loads of great success. 17 years & Matches has seen themselves inflate from 1 clothes fashion store to a string of fashion stores in great and attractive Notting Hill, wealthy Richmond and delightful Wimbledon along with their astonishing webpage now as well. Each and every single Matches Shop has an assorted character and style. This has resulted in Matches Stores that are also as distinct & appreciated as their purchasing public. The Matches philosophy places huge significance on expression & creative classic style For expert style advice and top designers including Chloe go to Matches Fashion.

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Perhaps you were the student who waited until the last minute to cram for finals or routinely rolled out of bed five minutes before morning classes began. Procrastination is a common part of many students’ college experience. However, putting off consolidating your student loans and locking in the current interest rate won’t harm your grade point average, but it will affect your financial future. If you are thinking about student loan consolidation, you have until the deadline of June 30, 2006 to take advantage of the current low interest rates.

With interest rates expected to increase from 4.7% to 6.8% on July 1st, not consolidating your student loans could be a big mistake that will cost you thousands of dollars. For example, if you currently owe $30,000 in Federal Stafford Loans, monthly payments are $314. This amount can drop to $217 if you do a loan consolidation with the current interest rate. If you don’t meet the deadline, you will soon be paying $345 a month. Wouldn’t you prefer to be doing something else with $128 every month? As well, parents who are currently paying on PLUS loans should expect a hefty increase to what they are paying in interest if they don’t lock in the current rate before the deadline.

Besides the annual adjustment to the student loan interest rates, sweeping changes to the terms of financial aid are due to take affect on July 1st as part of the U.S. Congress’ Budget Reconciliation Act, and most of these changes will not benefit borrowers. Among the changes, students in school will not be able to consolidate their loans. As well, loan origination fees for students will be doubling, and the “in school” interest rate that currently gives students attending classes or in their grace period a discount of .6% will be discontinued.

Another reason not to delay in consolidating student loans is that there may not be an amnesty period for borrowers who fill out applications that aren’t processed by the deadline. Last year, a flood of applications were received the day before the rate hike went into affect, and the U.S. Department of Education generously offered amnesty for those who had submitted completed applications prior to the deadline. This year the Department of Education might not be so kind, and applicants who haven’t completed their consolidations before July 1st could be faced with having to pay the higher interest rate. Because student loan applications can take anywhere from one to 4 months to be processed, the time to submit an application is now.

The good news is that if you are considering a student loan consolidation, you still have enough time to complete the process and take advantage of the current interest rates and terms. It only takes a matter of minutes to fill out an application, and there is lots of help available. So, go ahead and get started, and pat yourself on the back for taking charge of your financial future.