Long rant, sorry. I am so fed up with my mentor teacher. I am 2 weeks from the finish line and feel like it’s never going to end. I wake up daily wishing I didn’t have to go or that I could have a different mentor.
She also talks over me. CONSTANTLY. I’ll be doing a lesson and she will teach over me in the middle of my sentences so I’ll just stand there and be frustrated because half the time she’ll say things I was literally already in the middle of saying. Or even when we’re having a regular convo she will interrupt me. It annoys me so much I have just stopped talking unless I have to to avoid looking like I’m ignoring her. When I teach lessons, it’s never anything I plan. I HAVE to use her slides and her worksheets and do only what she has planned and teach the way she would do it so the only actual practice I’ve gotten planning lessons is for my observations and edTPA. So instead of me having control of the classroom to practice being a teacher, I’m just basically reciting exactly what she wants even when it’s the wrong thing or I feel like an activity is a time waster. I also never get to do new things. Like if a new math topic is being done or she’s using different materials, she teaches it.
The thing that’s actually infuriating though, is how she treats the students. She has clear favorites, and for the rest of the class she yells and makes a huge deal over everything. Like one student wore crocs without socks to school. In front of the whole class she told this student it’s gross and was talking about how she’d never let her child wear crocs and his mom shouldn’t have let him leave the house without socks. She talked down to a student because he wore the same “dirty” hoodie to school every day. One student brought a snack and she kept making faces and telling everyone how the snack was gross and she’d never try something like that. When they’re doing arts &crafts she’ll yell at students for using different colors instead of the exact colors she chose on the master. A couple weeks back 2 students were bickering. They both drew on each others paper and Student A tried to take his paper back and accidentally got stuck in the stomach with a sharp pencil by Student B. Student A was crying because it hurt. Across the classroom she YELLED at student A that he shouldn’t be crying and needs to get over it, if he has an issue he needs to tell a teacher instead of crying, we don’t cry, etc. and she just kept going on and on in front of the whole class. Then, she talked to Student B (one of her favorites) about what happened and Student B started crying, she was saying oh no don’t cry, you’re not in trouble buddy, do you need to take a minute to yourself outside, etc. Then she yelled at Student A for drawing on papers but did not care Student B did the exact same thing AND hurt another student. Another time, and student walked in coughing and holding his throat. I asked him what happened and he told me an older kid choked him right before recess ended. In the middle of my convo with this student she INTERRUPTED to say “He already told me in line and it’s his own fault if he didn’t tell hard duty.” And then told him to quit going around telling people and that he needs to drop it. I told her that I am the one who asked and he did not bring anything up to me. And still she kept going on in front of the class about how he’s dramatic, he doesn’t get help if he doesn’t tell yard duty, and it’s not her problem.
I really hate that I can’t say or do anything and I hate leaving this class knowing how students in here get treated but I’m so ready to be done dealing with host teacher. If you read to the end, thanks for listening to my vent!

I've been researching since December and I'm leaning towards Hebrew pod, but I really want to make sure I haven't overlooked any better options, and would appreciate input from anyone with more knowledge than me.
My son (9) will be attending a school next year that is giving him the leeway to choose to learn Hebrew as opposed to the typical Spanish class. This was my son's request and I agree with it, as he is worried he can't learn 3 languages at once, and learning Hebrew is much more important to him.
He knows the aleph-bet and can read most words as long as there are diacritics, but he has a very small vocabulary because most resources I've found for his age are all about learning letters, a very select few words, and not how to form even small sentences, and he's ready to move on from that.
We've been doing DuoLingo and the school will even give him a premium account, but I've seen many posts about how bad the translations are, and I'm worried this makes it a poor resource.
Any resource--online or book, isn't an issue--that comes with vocabulary lists or worksheets, things that he can study or be tested on, or short videos/podcasts...the only preference is ones that still use diacritics as he struggles immensely without. I have to build the curriculum myself since the school only has a Spanish teacher, and I have to be able to present them with the work he is doing for him to get the language credit.
I hope I'm not asking for too much, and I appreciate all help I can get.

I am trying to make a Zynq 7020 read data from an LTC2385-16 ADC. Here's the ADC datasheet. This chip has an LVDS interface with an echoed clock, and I haven't worked with an echoed clock ADC before. The datasheet says, on p. 19:
A conversion is started by the rising edge of CNV+. When the conversion is complete, the most-significant data bit is output on DA±. Data is then ready to be shifted out by applying a burst of eight clock pulses to the CLK± input. The data on DA± is updated by every edge of CLK±. An echoed version of CLK± is output on DCO±. The edges of DA± and DCO± are aligned, so DCO± can be used to latch DA± in the FPGA.
What I don't understand is the last sentence. The timing diagrams make it look like, indeed, the transitions on DA occur more or less simultaneously with the transitions on DCO (+/- 200ps according to the definition of t_SKEW on p. 5). So if I were to use DCO as the clock on a flip-flop in the FPGA to capture the value of DA, with the signals aligned in this way, this seems maximally bad in terms of setup/hold time. The FF might capture the new value, the old value, or something in between. I guess it's up to me to delay DCO somehow relative to DA, so that by the time the FF sees the DCO transition, DA has settled to its new value? Is this what the IDELAY primitive in the Zynq is for? Or are you supposed to bake that delay into the PCB? I feel like I'm missing something pretty basic here...
Thanks!

TL;DR class descriptions/info to help underclassmen know about classes thru personal experiences. Add to it with extra info or questions!
To all the incoming freshmen or other underclassmen - you’ll prolly hear it a lot, but the time really does go by so fast. Enjoy it, soak it in, and step out of your comfort zone. Someone posted their classes thru Purdue to let other students know how those classes were (in case it was a niche/high-level class or it wasn’t on RateMyProfessor). That was pretty helpful to me so Imma do it too. I’ll let u kno how the courses went and what I can remember. I’m graduating from the College of Ag with a B.S. in Animal Sciences with a concentration in Biosciences and minors in Biotechnology and Real Estate. I came into Purdue with AP and Dual Credits, so some things I didn’t take. Anyway, here are the classes I took.
Anyone who’s taken any of these, please add on/say smth else if it has changed! Underclassmen, feel free to ask about them!
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FRESHMAN YEAR
AGR 101: Intro to Ag & Purdue (Multiple lecturers)
This course was THE intro course to Purdue and Ag (duh). It was a 1/2 semester course so I was done with it by week 8 and there was only a quiz. We were told the purpose of Purdue being land-grant and were just intro’d to the different parts/departments of the college of Ag + different success tips. This was also the class where u begin (already) thinking about your 4-year plan and create a LinkedIn. Easy A, just show up and learn about the college of Ag
AGR 114: Intro to ANSC Programs (Ashley York)
Also a 1/2 semester course that was done by Oct. This class just went into depth on what to expect as a student in the department. You may start work on a resumé, continue with planning or LinkedIn. Again, easy A, just show up. Also, Ashley was a saint helping me each year to make sure I was on track, even tho she wasn’t my advisor.
ANSC 102: Intro to Animal Ag (Elizabeth Karcher)
This class was the first “real” class of college. It was just an intro to different domestic species and the operations tht are part of animal ag. I think there was also a lab with the class where u were introduced to animals. Dr. Karcher also was a pretty good professor. Just pay attention - it’s sort of memorization for random facts about animals/common sense depending on what u took in high school/home life in a rural area. Should be easy A.
CHM 115: Gen Chem (Multiple lecturers)
Was never a fan of chemistry, so this class I went into with dread. I didn’t want to take AP Chem, and just dealt with it in college. Honestly, if u took honors/were a good student in hs chemistry, there should be no problem - was basically just like a high school class. There was a lab that went with this course, but because of COVID, I just had an online worksheet to do every week for pre-, in-, and post-lab so I can’t speak on it. If u aren’t inclined to chem, it might take a bit of extra studying, but I was never worried.
PHIL 110: Intro to Philosophy (Taylor Davis)
To be fair, I never exactly wanted to take this exact class. I came from a small town in the Midwest, so I wanted to be sure I wasn’t dumb or anything to the people, cultures, etc. around me. Told my advisor I wanted to take a class to give me more of a “world” perspective, so she suggested the class. It honestly was not bad at all. The professor knew what he was talking abt and very accepting of questions. We learned how to tear down an argument and build it up in several ways and talked about cool things like if we have free will, does God exist, etc. The only assignments that counted for the sem were a midterm and 2 papers - 1 small and 1 large philosophical essay over any topic from the class. Definitely changed my outlook, would recommend taking it. The first part of class was harder - making sure u understand why/how an argument does or doesn’t work - but the rest was fun/easy as the topics were just presented and talked about.
AGEC 217: Economics (Larry Deboer)
I found Econ as a topic in and of itself to be quite boring. Supply and demand, money, etc. The class kind of turned out that way. Its presented as basically supply/demand and reasons for changes to the them were slowly added throughout the semester. We had several assignments, but they were nothing terrible. Gotta give props to the professor, tho. He knew the class wasn’t great but made it fun. Also, the class is flexible for schedules as in some situations it can count for credit in place of ECON251.
POL 223: Intro to Environmental Policy (Tara Grillos)
When I first started, I thought the route I wanted was ANSC with some focus in environmental issues. That’s why I took this class. I don’t understand the “intro” part, really. The whole class was presented as just case studies for things that have happened that impacted policies from the late 1800s/early 1900s until recently. Some of the info was cool. I don’t remember much for assignments, but there was a group project/paper where u had to decide on an environmental issue, state how u plan to fix it, on what level of government, etc. It wasn’t a crazy class to be in as a freshman, but it was not what I was expecting for a POL class.
ANSC 181: Orientation to ANSC (Elizabeth Byers)
Another 1/2 semester course. This class, as far as I can remember, was just for showing u the possibilities available to u in ANSC. This was specifically ANSC. It went over every concentration and what jobs/salaries there were. This was also a class where we were assigned to create our resumés (professionally) and start networking. Just as, if not easier than the other 1/2 semester classes so far.
ANSC 221: Principles of Animal Nutrition (Dale Forsyth)
Sorry but not sorry for anyone in ANSC. The class is boring, but Dr. Dale Forsyth is such a sweet old man. This class is the intro for nutrition in ANSC. U will learn the different required nutrients, food stuffs (supplements and stuff too) that have these nutrients, what happens when animals are given too little of these, and how to balance/create rations for animals (ruminant and non-ruminant). As long as u are okay/good with algebra, there shouldn’t be a problem. U just need to solve systems of equations in Excel to get the right weight of a food stuff. Homework was balancing rations. Exams looked at that + nutrients and their deficiencies. Dr. Forsyth also talks fast and doesn’t slow down because he has a lot to get thru. Come into the class knowing it prolly isn’t going to be very fun, but u need to know it. Try to find something interesting in the whole.
BIOL 111: Fundamentals of Bio II (Sean Humphrey)
Not sure how this class really is. I came into college loving biology and being (not to sound like an ass) great at it. To me, it was easy and relearning biology from high school for a bit. To others it may be a bit more difficult. There is just a lot of memorization. The professor was nice and answered my questions when I had them and explained in great detail if I was confused. I can’t remember any assignments I turned in, or anything about exams. Overall, I thought it was an easy class, but be the judge urself.
CHM 116: Gen Chem (Multiple lecturers)
Just a continuation of CHM 115. It picked up where it left off. Got a little harder, but it was nowhere as hard as TV or anything makes it. There are definitely topics that show up from hs again, but a lot is new. Wasn’t fun for this class switching lecturers every few weeks since they each had their own lecture style. Again, there was a lab section, but because of COVID, it was a worksheet. Not the worst class, but a meh class.
MA 16020: Applied Calc II (Alexandros Kafkas)
The first and only time I had to take math here. In hs I took MA 165 and thought it was a breeze (prolly bc it was hs). To anyone wondering, MA 165 SHOULD count in place of MA 16010 in college of ag. With that in mind, I went into the course knowing what Purdue math is known for, but still keepin an open mind with my abilities. I’m really proud of the grade I got, too. I think a lot of the course depends on the lecturer - mine was good at teaching us new concepts. Learn all you can about the lecturer beforehand, find out if they are good, and see it for yourself. We had quizzes in class every week (MWF) over the previous lecture and homework thru LON-CAPA that was usually due the day aftebefore (Tues, Thurs, Sun, I think). The quizzes and homework were good starting problems. The exams were tough and harder than quizzes/hw. If u’ve done well in math, but aren’t a prodigy or someone who can put in hrs of work, don’t expect to get likely higher than mid-70s on exams. It was common to get around a 50-60%. They do curve “if it’s necessary” but it is ALWAYS necessary.
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SOPHOMORE YEAR
AGR 201: Communicating Across Cultures (Pamala Morris)
To start…BOO. Was not a fan of this class. Felt like it was a money grab and busy work. It was required for some international understanding credits. The content wasnt interesting but for sure important. We were taught to basically be good ppl and about the different types of hardships that groups of ppl could go thru (ageism, sexism, racism, classism, etc.). We were required to buy the book, which was $50, but written by the prof and from what I assume was her website. I don’t recall ever using it unless it was necessary for an assignment. The class helps u relate and think critically, but is done in a piss-poor way. It could hv been the COVID aftermath where lecture was done virtually but we had a class later on with other students for a “lab”. Quizzes were easy, and overall easy, but so bad too.
SPAN 201: Spanish III (Nancy Reyes)
I know I’ve said this already abt other courses, but this still applies. This course was 100% a high school class. I did a placement test into this course (after 3 years in HS Spanish - Fr. to Jr. - with a 2 year gap of not learning) and got all credit for Spanish 1 and 2. Took it for international understanding credits. This course made sure u knew the basics again, spent a lot of time in past tense, then ended w maybe a month in subjective and future tense. There were a few speaking assignments and cultural readings/lectures. Was encouraged to speak Spanish for class, but the prof knew that couldn’t happen but still helped us all. Exams included MC, writing, and listening. Not sure if this is the same for other languages, but hopefully it is.
CHM 255 + 25501: Orgo + Lab (Elizabeth Parkinson)
Dreaded this class, but went in confidently. The class sucks, no other way abt it. It was a lot of memorization and practice. A lot of the “basic” stuff started sticking about halfway thru the semester. It doesn’t help that I stopped going to lecture about 3/4 thru the sem. It wasn’t as hard as expected, but it was still quite hard. The prof was amazing at making the content interesting. Labs were ran by GTAs. Depending on the section your GTA may not kno anything. The labs also did not go along with the lecture - they are 2 separate courses that can individually be passed or failed. Exams were as you would expect with the course - a few high spots among a crowd of C’s and D’s. The lab had multiple things due every week w the semester started. It was expected to do ur pre-lab at start of week, turn in ur in-lab immediately after finishing lab, then the previous week’s post-lab/final lab was due. The lab also holds the policy that if u don’t show up dressed right or sleep late, if you don’t show up within 10/15min of start that u can’t show up and will receive a 0 for the lab.
ANSC 230: Physiology of Domestic Animals (Rod Allrich)
This class taught me a lot. Each week was a different body system and learning info regarding animals individually. Things were taught in general as overarching concepts, but then things were applied as necessary for individual species of animals. Everything was brought up from the digestive system to the endocrine system. The class met 4 days a week and had a quiz once a week. There was no lab when I took the course. The specific professor I had was also interesting to say the least. Dr. Allrich is a funny, good man, but he does not use or create slides. Instead he uses his own website to post info (usually from Merck veterinary) abt whatever it is he wanted u to learn. In class he would just ramble on about what he thought was important. ANYTHING he said could be test material - no matter what (I was told by an upperclassman to remember that his favorite pie was sour cream and raisin pie bc it was a quiz question they had). Now, there is a lab that goes with the course. Also, if u hv Cabot the course material and class are much harder than with Rod. There are expectations, lectures, and more. Regardless of the professor, the information that was taught was useful, remembered, and interesting. In any class, Rod typically will have this structure but will grade easily. Quizzes will be to write statements of fact and exams won’t exist or will be take-home with only having 5 paragraphs to write using a word bank
ABE 226: Biotech Lab I (Kari Clase)
This was the first course I took for my minor in Biotechnology. I did not know what to expect going in as I didn’t grasp the scope of biotech. The course was ran well. The whole class is a wet lab where u are in the scientific process trying to find a new species of bacteriophage. U dig in dirt, do some pipetting, use beakers, make plates, isolate DNA, and send it off. Any research u do/finding a phage gets put into a national database for phage research. U do hv lab notebooks that get checked, but hv an outline to go off. There were several quizzes and deliverables that had us learn about phage more, or aseptic technique. It was a good class. U do have to buy a lab coat (which is kinda cool). Easy class that kickstarted my interest.
CHM 256 + 25601: Orgo II + Lab (David Thompson)
This class was disastrous. It was me, the content AND the professor as to why that was the case. This was just a continuation of course and lab. The new content was harder to wrap my head around, + I stopped going to the lectures about halfway thru the sem. To make matters worse, the class was early and the prof was speaking in mach turtle. I would listen to the lectures a day later so I could 2x speed thru them and the man was sounding like a normal person talked. This class was harder than the previous course. If u didn’t like CHM 255, sorry this is worse. The lab was just the same as the previous sem, but the GTAs changed. Again, labs didn’t go with the lecture and are 2 individual courses to be passed or failed separately. I passed but the class made me rethink my life once or twice and was potentially the worst class I ever took.
STAT 301: Elementary Stat Methods (Spencer Hamrick)
I did not enjoy this course a single bit - besides the professor. The course throws, what I felt like, was the entire concept, terms, rules, designs of statistics at u. It was a lot at once for me. I felt like there was a disconnect between what I was learning and in what ways it applied to me. It wasn’t too difficult, but the class was boring. There was also a lab section that was not great either. We were forced to use SRSS. There were homework assignments on a different software/website that equally were boring. The exams were harder than expected - there were some sections with questions with such small disparities that the answer came down to a difference of 1 word in a sentence. Overall, there’s a lot to learn and it’s all pretty basic to give a general understanding, but it was done poorly. If it was done better, it likely would have been an easy course. This course tho is also one of the worst classes I took.
AGRY 320: Genetics (Joseph Anderson)
There’s not much to say about this course. It was genetics. It felt like another continuation from the end of BIOL 111. It built a foundation for DNA, chromosomes, and went from there. There was a lot of higher thinking and content that was build upon thru the semester. It was a bit of memorization, but the content was fun. There were hotseat/iclicker questions for each lecture. Prof. Anderson was also really good at presenting the info.
AGRY 321: Genetics Lab (Aneesha Kulkarni)
This was the lab that went with AGRY 320. It was separate from the lecture. I do not believe it ever followed along with the lecture. The semester was spent with Arabidopsis. From the plant, we extracted DNA, did PCR, did mutant analysis, etc. The whole semester led up to a final lab report for what had been done that semester. There were also some small lab assignments that needed done. The class was also serious about attendance which could have made a major impact on grades. It is also typically ran by a GTA. It was fun and I enjoyed it. There was never really any work that needed to be done outside of class and at times it let out early.
ANSC 333: Physiology of Reproduction (Jonathan Pasternak)
This was a good class. The content focused on female anatomy/physiology first, then male anatomy/physiology, then on interactions and changes to the body through hormones and development. I found the class to be interesting as there is a lot more that goes into reproduction that u think. It’s a lot of cool info thrown out, but in a manageable way. Notes can go fast n there is a lot of terms and items to pay attention to. There was also a lab portion to this class. The lab went with what we learned in lectures. It was hands-on learning and doing things. It might sound gross but we had a lab where we took fetuses from a pig uterus to weigh and look at. We also looked at pig semen under a microscope. The professor was obsessed with histology. Expect to look at many slides of different tissues and know how/why they differ, where they are from, etc. I don’t remember assignments, but there was a lab practical that involved many things. Overall, it was a fun class.
ABE 227: Biotech Lab II (Kari Clase)
This class was busy. There were lots of things that needed to be done often (oddly no true deadlines it felt like). This was the dry lab portion. After ABE 226, any DNA that was collected sufficiently was sequenced and the data came back. That’s essentially what the semester was for. With the DNA from a phage, u must make entries to find out the start/stop site of genes, gene function; BLAST the genes, gather evidence there is truly a gene, and more. There were some small assignments with deliverables. There was also a larger project that was put into the undergrad research symposium. From the DNA, a small group chose a gene and researched. A lot of busy work and nights up, but there was a final genome announcement and research went into real life.
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JUNIOR YEAR
HIST 33805: History of Human Rights (Rebekah Klein-Pejsova)
This class was a requirement for an upper level humanities course. This class was easy and interactive. There were some readings that had to be done outside of class, but not much else was required. U would read, then come to class, fill out a discussion, and talk. The content started back in history and moved all the way to just beyond the Holocaust. There were a couple writing assignments that were like a paragraph. The final was to write a paragraph on when u thought the history of human rights began. Again, easy and almost no work required.
BCHM 307: Biochem (Barbara Golden)
I loved this course. Dr. Golden was soft spoken but she made sure u got the info u needed. The content felt like a mix of genetics and chem. The course was biology-sided for those that hate chem. This course went back to the central dogma and such, but then included a lot of metabolism and inner workings of cells. There were parts involving the Citric acid cycle and other “basic” biology concepts that went into further explanation from a different perspective. I believe there were also hotseat/iclicker questions. If u liked biology or genetics, u should like this course, too.
BCHM 309: Biochem Lab (Orla Hart)
Just like the genetics lab, this lab did content that led up to something big at the end. The lab was spent learning basic lab technique, then focused on isolating and purifying LDH from a Bradford assay. There were lab reports/assignments, but they all help and lead to the big lab report. It was a fun time. Dr. Hart was a fantastic prof for the course as she fully knew the topic, always helped out, and had high expectations. She would also joke and talk with us. She shared about her family (she’s Irish), her cats, n more. + she would talk with you in her office, where she had Ghirardelli chocolates to eat. There was a written midterm + u are required to wear a lab coat and goggles during lab.
ANSC 311: Animal Breeding & Genetics (Donna Lofgren)
This was another class that I liked a lot. For anyone interested in this topic, it is not what u expect. The class is not punnet squares and seeing what traits u can see. This class was a lot of math. You had to find the allelic/gene frequencies, var, covariance, selection intensity, generation interval, EBV, etc. I cannot stress that this class is a lot of math (prolly 75/25 to 85/15 for math/concepts). It is, however, one of the few genetics restrictive selectives for ANSC (if I remember right). There is other content too, learning about how to breed animals, components of breeding and genetics, etc. There is a lecture and lab. The lab is when homework was intro’d and we were given time to ask questions/complete it. The lab lasted 2 hours, and usually there would be several homework problems left. There was also a large project that used a sim (mine was beef, other years used lamb/sheep). I would have to cull and breed to get better genetics, get rid of disease, etc. The better the offspring the better. This sim was paired with an arrow chart and written report. Lot of work, but a lot of fun.
ANSC 326: Applied Non-Ruminant Nutrition (John Radcliffe)
This class was boring. Unless u love animal nutrition, it’s hard for it not to be. This was like a continuation of ANSC 221, but only focused on (essentially) pigs. Once again, just learning the background/basic info for feeding animals, providing nutrients, and balancing/creating rations. Also, this class also uses a lot of Excel - more than ANSC 221. There was a final for the course, but it was only a 1/2 semester course. There may have also been a lab section, but the work typically finished quickly.
ANSC 446: Companion Animal Mgmt (Rod Allrich)
Another course with Rod. It was basically nonsense. U learned what it took to keep companion animals healthy and managed. Specific diseases/interests were looked at for animals during class + issues/problems with animal clinics, shelters, etc. There wasnt much to learn. Since it was Rod, there were no slides. Anything written could be tested. Students had to present some issue with companion animals for points twice in the semester. There was also an animal business plan due at the end of the semester. It was required to describe the location, services, employees, their benefits, etc. There were no exams, but there were his quizzes - u were provided movies to watch and write a 1-page summary/reflection on what u saw. Once u get used to Rod, his classes are some of the easiest to ever take.
MGMT 200: Intro Accounting (Terra Maienbrook)
This was my first class for my Real Estate minor. If u have taken any math class at college u should be fine. This course is an intro. U learn the accounting equation, debits, credits, depreciation, and interpreting it through balance sheets. It can get a little confusing when things are broken down further, but as long as u pay attention there shouldn’t be trouble. Just remember what debits and credits do and u should pass the course. There were assignments that helped understand what needed to be done and how the content u are learning works, but it turns into busy work later on. If u get 1 small error as ur doing ur balance sheet, then the whole problem will be wrong and it probably won’t tell u what the error is. The professor also used hotseat/iclicker for attendance, so make sure to show up. She did let u come to any section at any time and still do the attendance. Exams weren’t difficult if u pay attention and do well in lecture and homework. If u do well, the prof would even email saying that u did well.
MGMT 304: Intro to Financial Mgmt (Phil Baeza)
This class was okay. Part of it could have been it was the prof’s 2nd semester teaching here. The class was a lot of basic info for management/econ and was also a requirement for the Real Estate minor. U are taught corporate finance + the goals of it, cash flows and a bunch of math with related terms (NPV, PV, NWC, NOI, etc.) None of it was exactly difficult to figure out. The class itself wasn’t bad content-wise. Once u learned the information, it was there. There was a lot of Excel for solving problems. If u aren’t good with Excel - make that a priority. The course also had exams, but you were allowed a typed cheat sheet for each. Besides the exams, there was also a case competition (so many of these in MGMT classes). Info was gathered about a company and with a group had to decide to approve or disapprove of their loan request. Overall, not terrible, but hard to sit thru.
ANSC 303: Animal Behavior (Marisa Erasmus)
This was an interesting class to take. It was pretty fun (and I ended up as a TA, my last semester). The course is essentially psychology in animals. You learn conditioning, scientists who contributed to the study, types of interactions, and types of behaviors (maintenance, maternal, social, play, sickness, etc.) and how they are in animals. The course also has a lab section with it. The lab section is essentially to allow for time for the zoo project, although there were some labs that went to the ASREC to observe those animals. For the project u are provided an animal at the zoo to research, go to the local zoo, and observe them. When ur back you create a presentation for the research you did involving the animal and enrichment provided by the zoo. In class, there were several quizzes over lecture content plus a midterm. There were also assignments, but many of them had some involvement with the zoo. The class also had no final, but there was a final quiz. The professor did talk fast sometimes, but as long as you typed or rewrote notes later, there was no issue.
STAT 503: Stat Methods for Biology (Yan Xing)
Unsure of why, but I loved my grad level stats courses. They were much easier and fun to learn than STAT 301 (so if u hate STAT301, give 503 a try). This course basically started at the beginning. The content started with learning sample vs population, statistic vs parameter, plus sample unit, size, variables, and variable types. The course became harder as time went on, but nothing was super difficult. The topics included basic stats (mean, stdev, var, types of distributions, unions/intersection), marginal probability, tree diagrams, binomial distributions, chi-square, ANOVA, hypothesis testing, and multiple comparisons (like bonferonni). The information was always presented in a way catered to life sciences (crazy). The lectures not presented in class, but expected to be watched beforehand. I did not go to lecture, but watched the lecture videos on my own. That was enough understanding to easily pass. There were homework assignments that were due every other week. Start them sooner than later, you’ll need the time! This class was also my introduction to coding in R. I had no experience in any coding beforehand but easily got the hang of it, especially since the professor provided tutorials. It was used for every homework, basically. There were also quizzes that weren’t too difficult. The class was not easy, but it was fun.
ABE 512: Good Regulatory Practices (Keri Clase/Stephen Byrn)
This was the final class I needed to get my Biotechnology minor. It was terrible. The professors were nice, but there was no structure. The lectures were about regulatory science and dealt a lot with information from the FDA. The course went over the good and required practices required for the creation, testing, passing, and distribution of medical equipment and/or drugs. Every small detail and information that was not in lectures was required to be known. There were quizzes and assignments that all got turned in through Gradescope. The quizzes are where random information was expected to be known. The assignments were deliverables which asked some question or inquired about a part of the process and write about them. The final was a final deliverable that had to effectively be a conglomeration of the other deliverables (but not just copying and pasting). The class wasn’t hard, but very poorly set up.
————————————————————————
SENIOR YEAR
CSR 103: Intro to Personal Finance (Wookjae Heo)
I just needed a filler class in my schedule. I figured it could help learn some “real world” stuff that maybe I wasn’t sure about. The class was completely online with provided lecture videos. It was very easy and what would be expected. Topics went from how to manage debt and make sure you can get loans, to being informed about credit cards and insurance. All the information was easy to get through. There were writing assignments to be done basically every week. The professor would have you read a paper that 50/50 he had a part in writing, and answer questions. Some things were interactives that just needed to be completed (regardless of how well). Not a bad class. It will definitely pad your GPA - everything taught should be common knowledge.
MGMT 370: Real Estate Fundamentals (Lindsay Relihan)
This course was quite informative. It was an average level of difficulty. There was a lot of information that went into it - I mean it is a fundamentals class. Topics that were talked about included foundations of real estate, what is real estate, valuation of property, lending, time value of money, multiple financial ratios, and taxation. There were multiple assignments - some writing and others math. The writing was for discussions (5 of them) about certain papers provided or certain book chapters. The math assignments were problem sets to get done for what we had learned. They gave plenty of time to finish them. Beyond that, there was also another case study/competition. For this a company was selected and given potential locations to move to. You had to decide if it was worth it for the company to move locations.
ANSC 345: Animal Health Management (Rod Allrich)
For this class, I just needed to take another ANSC course. This class was practically the same as any other Rod Allrich course. We learned how to keep animals healthy and basically many different common diseases of animals. From his website, we would get brought to a page talking about some disease or medical problem that could potentially happen and have to write a 1-page summary/reflection. This happened each week. He still did in person quizzes with statements of fact. Once again, students had to make videos/presentations for the class to present on some problem. There was no final exam. Did not learn too much from this one, but it was a great space filler and GPA booster.
ANSC 481: Contemporary Issues in ANSC (Barry Delks)
This is essentially the final push for ANSC students. As seniors, you take this course to prepare you for the real world. Lectures were given by guests who the professor brought in. They would talk about their specific company, career, or niche and any issues they were seeing there plus how to stop them. The professor would then have groups get together to discuss ways to fix the problems and have the guest comment on what was said. There were also assignments to be done, but they were very easy. They were just things to make sure you were on track for a job and/or graduation (having a 30-sec intro, making a cover letter, redoing your resumé). Part of the class was also just attending the career fair.
STAT 512: Applied Regression Analysis (Tiantian Qin)
Like my other grad level stat course, I absolutely loved this one, too. This class was a DIST course. This class solely focused on regressions (simple linear and multiple linear regressions). Topics for the course started with the basics (terms of regression like betas, Xs, SSE, SSR, SST, and diagnostics) and moved to more difficult content (lack-of-fit-testing, global f-testing, transformations, ANOVA, marginal effect, coefficient of partial determination, multicollinearity, and more). I found the content interesting and it was fun to learn about. Nothing was too difficult and could always be asked about through office hours. There were homework assignments that corresponded with the lectures that were due every other week. Again, take the time. The course also used R coding for everything that was done. The course also had a couple exams to do. But the biggest thing was the regression project. This required a group of students to get together, find a set of data, and use it to form a regression analysis. There was a lot of coding involved, but it was fun parsing through and wrangling data.
MGMT 375: Real Estate Law (Cecelia Harper)
This course has been super personal and fun to take. This is one of my last courses for the Real Estate minor and I am glad to have taken it. The course goes over any and all laws that relate to real estate in some way. The course talked about property rights, subsurface rights, common laws, easements on land, financing/lending, prenuptial agreements and other contracts. Most grades come from exams, though. There were 3 during the semester plus the final. All exams (except the final) were open note and book. The final we were allowed a 1-page cheat sheet that was front and back. The only grades that did not come from exams were from the contracts we drafted. You create your own lease agreement and purchase agreement, then pair with someone to mesh them together for a new one of each. I think the course is particularly made tho by the professor. She is a practicing real estate lawyer who knows what she is talking about. She would set it up so the class was very personal and we each asked her questions. It was interesting because she could have stories about clients to connect things from class. She would always entertain questions. There was no extra credit, except for when she would randomly do attendance. The course structure could be changing quite a bit now, tho.
MGMT 43901: Real Estate Investment & Development (Michael Eriksen)
The other last course for my real estate minor. This class was a step away from what I thought it was going to be. This course is geared toward commercial development and the business side, as I felt. There was nothing really said about personal/residential property. The course topics included an overview of real estate, ways/types of investment, estimation of cash flows for commercial real estate and finance terms associated, providing loans/financing, the roles of a developer, and taxes. The course didn’t have many plain assignments. These were Excel files with attached questions and instructions. If you could follow the instructions you did well, plus the assignments built on each other, except the last one - this one used ARGUS software. The majority of the work was spent on a case competition (go figure lol). Students were put into groups to select a plot of land to develop for some commercial purpose and provide the financials, timeline, and reasoning for the decision. There were several required tasks to be done for this assignment, plus a presentation at the end. There was no final exam, but there were 2 midterms. You could use an excel sheet with notes throughout, tho. The professor was good. He catered to his students and asked questions about how we thought the class was going. A good class to take.
BCHM 421: R For Molecular Biosciences (Pete Pascuzzi)
I took this class because my previous classes had made me really like working in R. I took the class to continue on with that. If you do not have a basic understanding of R, it may be a slight learning curve. The class only met on Wednesday and Friday for 2 hours. There wasn’t a lecture every class, but there was usually some work to be done. All assignments were done through R and could typically be finished in the class period. If this wasn’t possible, it could usually be finished the next class. The class just showed different things in R, from graphics and data wrangling to how to process gene ontology. There were homeworks and labs, with labs being more involved. There was a midterm that was open resource and a project. The project was done at the very end with groups who put together code from previous lectures/labs to create an RShiny document. The class did have a final, again open resource, but any graduating seniors did not have to take the final. There was an opportunity for extra credit by creating an R notebook for all your notes for functions and lines of code. The professor was also nice, helpful, and willing to put in effort to match you.
ANSC 351: Meat Science (Yuan Kim)
This class is basically just biology plus some extra info for meat processing. If you have taken muscle biology (or just bio) you will do well. The class does have some busy work, tho. The first part of the class was solely muscle biology. After this, the class went into meat quality (including analysis, factors affecting quality, etc.), parts of production (packaging, freezing, heating), slaughter and that process, then into meat safety. The content was interesting to learn and easy to take in. The class did have several assignments. After every class was a lecture quiz, each week there was a reflection, and every so often there was a case study. Case studies involved reading a case and providing a response to address the cause of a problem and fix it. The whole semester, there was a project involving some topic in meat science (novel tech, meat in diet, lab-grown meat, alternatives, etc.). Groups got together at the beginning of the semester to make a decision on the topic. Then, throughout the semester, groups met with TAs, wrote drafts of a paper, critiqued other student papers, and made a presentation to show the class. Throughout the semester, you have to work 2 shifts at the butcher block or write a giant essay on a book, too. The class also required 4 exams and a final. If you showed up to every class, you were able to skip the final. Dr. Kim loves the topic and wants you to learn, but most of the grading will be done by TAs.

I'm totally not procrastinating from my work... anyways, I'm a junior with a 36 superscore (35 math, 35 science, 36 reading, 36 English) and I'm going to compile all my best ACT tips. Lmk if y'all have any questions!
General info about me: I got a 33 on my first ever practice test (30 math, 32 science, 34 English, 36 reading) so I won't have as many tips for English/reading but I got plenty for math/science because of how much I grinded lol.
Anyways, I'm going to split this up into a few sections: English, Math, Reading, Science, General Tips, Studying Tips, and Useful ACT Facts. Feel free to skip to any section you want!

English (75 questions, 45 minutes, 5 passages)

This was one of my stronger sections, so I don't have many studying tips, but here are the tips that personally worked for me:

1. Grammar! Here's a small list of stuff you need to know (just google them and brush up on the rules. They're the single best thing you can do to get a high score because of how many questions focus on them):

• Comma placement
• Semicolons
• Em dashes
• Make sure the subjects and verbs agree (ex. singulaplural, tenses, etc.)
• Parallel structure
• Also knowing the difference between similar words like compliment/complement

1. For questions about word choices, in general, the most concise answer is the correct one. For example (this is question 35 from the A10 test):

Rock climbers are comfortable in high places and capable, equipped with rope and other simple gear, of scaling almost anything.
Answers:
A. NO CHANGE
B. climbing nearly anything--something they're able to do.
C. ascending just about anything by climbing it.
D. using rope to climb almost anything.
In this case, the answer would be A, because it's the most concise one that still contains all the information. In B, the "something they're able to do" is redundant (as you already know that they are able to climb from the first part of the answer), same with C with the "by climbing it" (if you ascend something, you're already climbing it). D is a bit trickier, but the first half of the sentence in the text mentions that rock climbers are "equipped with rope", so it's redundant to repeat "using rope" in the answer. Hence, A is the best answer choice.

1. Make sure transition sentences include both the topic of both the current paragraph and the one it's switching to.
   
2. If you're a fast reader, make sure to read the entire passage. It'll help you SO MUCH in the questions at the end asking about the passage as a whole. Otherwise, try to at least skim.
   

Math (60 questions, 60 minutes)

By far my weakest section so I got plenty of tips lol. Gonna list out the tips + all the concepts you should know, as well as a few common questions:

1. Basic knowledge from Algebra II and Geometry. Some topics include:

• Quadratic rule
• Factoring
• Finding x intercepts (also learn how to do it on your calc)
• Basic geometry, ex. area of basic shapes (mostly triangles, rectangles, rectangular prisms, perimeters
• Angles (ex. triangle's angles add up to 180, angles in parallel lines, the 180(n-2) rule, etc. Just google "angle rules")
• A common question is "The average of five numbers is 30, and the average of the first five numbers and a 6th number is 35, what's the 6th number?"

1. Trig. Just know the unit circle and SOHCAHTOA, and make sure your calc is set to the appropriate radian/degree mode. The law of sins and law of cosines are good to know too.
   
2. Matrices. On the ACT it's mostly adding matrices, but knowing how to multiply is good just in case. Worst case scenario, just use your calc.
   
3. I've seen adding/subtracting vectors come up a few times but it's not common. It's easy to learn though so you might as well.
   
4. Stats. There's soooooo much so I'll just list out some examples questions you might see:
   

• "There are 5 red marbles in a bag of 30 marbles, how many more red marbles do you need to add to make the probability of red marbles in the bag to be 4/5?"
• "There are 50 students who like math, 38 who like English, and 20 who like both. What are the number of students who like math OR like English OR like both?" (draw a Venn diagram. Trust me)
• "Scientists captured 50 deer and tagged them. A few weeks later, they recaptured 40 deer and 5 of them were tagged. What's the proportion (p hat) of tagged deer in that forest?"
• They give you a two-way table and ask "Out of the people who like math, who also like English?"
• Basic graphs (ex. box and whisker plots, stem and leaf plot, bar graphs, etc.)
• The empirical rule
• Means, medians, ranges, standard deviations, and z-score
• One time I saw them do binomials... not common but if you want, feel free to brush up on it. Use your calculator for it lol.

1. Some random vocab like what kind of numbers are rational, integers, etc., types of triangles, types of shapes like rhombuses.
   
2. Another common question: "Clock A beeps every 5 seconds, and Clock B beeps every 6 seconds. Assuming you start them at the same time, after how many seconds will they beep at the same time?"
   
3. Basic parent functions (and transformations). Also know the formulas for circles and eclipses (the other day I found a question asking for the foci of an ellipse... first time I've encountered that question but the answer choices were set up so that as long as you know what focis are, you're good)
   
4. Do NOT be ashamed of skipping questions. Mark them down and come back to them later. I like to make really light marks on the answer key, with different marks for questions that I completely skipped, ones that I'm mostly unsure on, and ones that I'm mostly sure on but want to double check if I have time. It'll be faster than flipping through all the pages when you start double-checking your work. Make sure to erase them after you finish though!
   
5. Use your calculator! It's your best friend.
   
6. No shame in working backwards! Sometimes it's the fastest way to solve questions.
   

Reading (40 questions, 35 minutes, 4 passages [literary narrative, social studies, humanities, natural sciences])

In general, there are a few strategies, and it's up to you to decide which will work best for you:

1. Reading the entire passage before answering the questions.
   
2. Skimming the entire passage.
   
3. Reading the questions, going back to the passage to find the right answer (so by the time you answer most of the questions, you'll know approximately what the passage is about)
   
4. Skimming the first/last sentence of each paragraph to get the main idea.
   

Personally, I read the entire passage slowly and annotate (mostly just circling/underlining names, dates, or main ideas) before moving on to the questions. You'll have to try out each strategy to see what works best for you.
In general, the answers are almost always stated clearly in the passage somewhere, and it's up to you to find where it is. If you go with strategy 3 or 4, start with the questions that clearly state where you need to go look (ex. line 3).
There's always a passage where there are two articles, and you compare and contrast them. Personally, I recommend reading Article A, answering questions about Article A, then reading Article B, answering those questions, before answering the questions about both. That way, it's less likely that you'll confuse them with each other.

Science (40 questions, 35 minutes, 6 passages)

1. Don't read the passage if you can help it! You need to save your time, and it's better to skip directly to skimming the graphs/tables and the questions. Of course, while this strategy works for most people, try out different ones if you need to, but I'm willing to bet that this one will work best.
   
2. Don't be scared by the large scientific words! They assume that you have little to no science knowledge, and everything you need can be found in the passage/tables/graphs, with few exceptions. The only things you really need to know:
   

• pH!! A lot of questions regarding this. Just know that it's on a scale from 1-14, 7 is neutral (water), and 1 is acidic, 14 is basic.
• Electron are negative, protons are positive, neutrons are neutral. Protons are also the chemical's atomic number.
• And this doesn't come up as often but it could be useful: difference between animal and plant cells, and different types of macromolecules and their uses (carbs, proteins, nucleic acids, lipids)

1. Make sure you're looking at the right y axis; there could be one on the left and on the right. Trust me, it sounds simple but when you're rushing, it's easy to get tripped up. Similarly, make sure you're using the right units!
   
2. There's a section with student hypothesis, where you compare and contrast them. They usually have some sort of parallel structure (ex. the claim A is always the first sentence, claim B is always the third sentence, things like that). It'll make it a lot easier if you recognize the parallel structures, trust me.
   

General Tips

1. Trust your gut! If you don't know the answer, choose whatever feels right and don't change it unless you have solid reason to do so. Your gut is often right.
   
2. For math/science, don't be afraid to draw things out! If you can save your brainpower by doing a quick sketch, it WILL make it less likely for you to make a stupid mistake. Even things like number lines can help.
   
3. Know approximately how many questions you need to get right for your ideal score, along with some tips:
   

English:

• About 45/75 to get a 20
• About 65/75 to get a 30

Math:

• About 30/60 to get a 20
• About 50/60 to get a 30

If you're aiming for a perfect score (or close to it), do the first 30-40 questions QUICK and save at least 20-30 minutes for the last 10-20 questions. Trust me, you'll need it. Speed is everything.
Reading:

• About 20/40 to get a 20
• About 30/40 to get a 30

Science:

• About 20/40 to get a 20
• About 33/40 to get a 30

For reading and science, the harder questions are typically at the end of each passage's questions. For English, the difficulty imo is pretty much the same, except for maybe the last 1-2 of each passage that asks about the passage as a whole. Math just uniformly gets harder.
For all sections, if you're not aiming for a perfect score, feel free to skim the harder questions if you have time (as occasionally there are a few freebies amongst the "hard" questions), but focus your energy on the easier ones.
No matter what, ALWAYS answer all questions. You have a 25% chance of getting the right answer even if you randomly guess (or 20% in math lol)!

1. Bring water and snacks! And if you want, bring coffee. Personally, coffee helps me (especially with how early I have to get up for the test lol), and I like to drink half of it before the test, and either sip on the other half throughout the test if the proctor allows me or drink it during the break. Make sure you know your caffeine tolerance though. Also, ask the proctor about their rules regarding watecoffee drinking during the test. It sucks that every proctor is different, but it is what it is.
   
2. If you finish a section early, double check!
   
3. Stretch whenever you have time. Before the test, during the test, during breaks, etc. For me personally, my neck always gets sore so sometimes I get some ibuprofen before the test to relieve the tension, and stretching always helps.
   
4. Get accommodations if you need them.
   
5. Make sure your calculator is charged (and bring a backup if you want) and get a watch. Many testing centers will have a clock, but it's good to have a watch just in case. It can't beep, even when you set the time. They should give you a 5-minute warning for every section so you can use that too.
   

Studying Tips

1. Just grind out practice tests. No fancy tutors needed. I haven't used this myself, but I heard the official ACT prep book is pretty good.
   
2. When you first start studying, sit down for 3 hours do one official practice test (timing and all) so you can get a sense of where you stand. Then, study one section at a time, and focus on it until you get your desired score. In the beginning, I recommend you time yourself, but finish the entire section even if you run out of time (and mark where you run out). As you get better at pacing yourself, slowly become stricter with the time limit until you can finish all of them. Personally, I did about 4-5 SECTIONS of a test per week, and the weeks before the test, I made sure to sit down and do a full test at least 1-2 times to make sure my stamina was good (do more full tests if you find yourself getting really tired by the end).
   
3. If you've already taken an official ACT, you can click on "view score details" to find out which particular subjects you didn't do well on, and study those for the next test.
   
4. I recommend you assume that you'll take at least 2-3 tests before you get your desired score, so give yourself about half a year. Ex. If you want a good score by June, start studying by January. Sounds like a lot, but after your first test, you won't have to study as much for the following ones.
   
5. Try and finish your score by the end of junior year. Trust me, you DON'T want to be studying for the ACT in the summer or during your senior year when you're writing essays, and if you don't get a good enough score, you're screwed.
   

Useful ACT Facts

1. Scores usually come as soon as 10 days after the test, but they can take up to 8 weeks. Don't worry if yours is taking longer! If you took writing, you'll get your normal test scores first, and then the writing scores a bit afterwards.
   
2. I don't think the short/long message matters that much (basically there's a shorter or longer version of the message that says "your scores are coming soon" after you take the test) cause I got my scores when I had the long message lol.
   
3. Yes, you CAN delete scores! So while you can technically cancel your scores before you see them, I don't see why you would, cause you can just delete them if you don't like them if you're applying to schools like Georgetown that require all of your scores, and there'll be no record that you ever took the test on that date.
   
4. Yes, you CAN superscore! The ACT will send the unis the full composites of each test that you superscored using, along with the superscore. Ex. If your superscore comprised of scores from the April and December test, the ACT will send the FULL test from both April and December, as long as the superscore.
   
5. As a general rule, submit your score if it's in the 25th percentile of your dream school, or if it's 30 or higher.
   
6. And yes, colleges will prefer that you have test scores even if they're test optional. Plus with colleges slowly going back to test required, you should DEFINITELY have a score.
   
7. And no, you don't HAVE to take the ACT. You can take the SAT too! Here's a good guide for the differences between the tests. I would recommend you take a full-length practice test of both and see which you like better. The website also has a score conversion from SAT -> ACT or vise versa for you to choose which to submit. If they're similar, then feel free to submit both!
   

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Good luck! And feel free to ask any questions, or drop any other ACT tips you have and I'll add it to the post.

I want to provide a snapshot of my experience, and I hope it is helpful:
1 - I graduated in 2021 with my MS; I opted to wait until the end of my residency to take the test (today).
2 - I used CounselingExam based off this reddit thread and from others have said at my clinic. Thought on CE:

• When I logged into to CE, I won't lie, I was like "How the hell am I supposed navigate this."
• Using reddit as a guide, here is what I did with CE: I clicked on the DSM section, reviewed and studied all the "trees", if there was anything that I felt rusty on I watched the examples or review part of that disorder, and then took the questions at the end of that DSM section.
• Narratives on the ACTUAL TEST were mostly adolescents, but a few adults. I saw ODD, CD, MDD, BPD, Antisocial, Prolonged Grief, Hoarding, Excoriation.
  • On the ACTUAL TEST, one of the things that I noticed was asking question that asked why you thought the original diagnosis was correct or what in the narrative showed why another diagnosis was not the best fit i.e. why conduct disorder was better than ADHD (easy answer - violence)
• Theories Study on CE: I did the same thing, I looked here on reddit, I clicked the Trees, if I felt rusty on a theory, I clicked on the review, then took the questions on each of the theories to review.
  • On the actual test, there was SFBT, Narrative, CBT (lots of it), REBT, DBT, Psydynamic, ACT, MI.
  • Most questions would ask how you would respond to the client if you were using one of these theories, or what homework you would give, or how you would focus on a treatment goal or what homework you give for therapy i.e. REBT = ABC worksheet.
  • Most of the time these answers can be figure out because they have to use a major verb or noun from the technique i.e. DBT & Mindfulness or REBT & Activating, Solution Focus & Magic Wand
• CE - I never looked at anything else other than what was above because it was too overwhelming or just odd. The narrative and the exams are way harder on CE than the actual test. What do I mean by that. The CE exams / Narratives, are bloated with information, seem a bit disjointed, and the questions just seem to open ended. For Example, CE would say read all this, now what is the most helpful therapeutic skill in the situation (and I am like how the hell should I know). But ON THE TEST, they are way more specific, like "if you were to to use reflection of meaning with this client you would say...." So I stopped using CE Narratives/Exams after week 1 of studying. It just made me feel like a giant dumb dumb, and my scores were all over the place 80, 45, 77, 66. So I did what I did above.

3 - Test Day:

• I took from home.
• The check in is a bit wonky. The instruction don't match. If you sign in, you have to wait until exactly 30 minutes before test time before the button is even visible.
• You can use your phone to take pictures of room. I saw on reddit that some poor soul had to pick up their monitor and spin it around. I actually reached out to Pearson like 3 weeks ago about and NEVER got an answer, lol - and that is because the support team at pearson is divorced from the specific test you take. It is weird, but once you start the check in phase - the instructions are pretty easy to understand and much better than all of the instructions than they actually send you.
• I felt like I passed the test when I was done, but wasn't sure. My biggest takeaway is that the NCMHCE is not trying to trick you, and I felt like the CE questions were. For the most part, you can kind of deduce what the answer is - and if you are clever, certain sections actually give you the answers in later questions, so you during the review section you can make sure your answers are streamlined. Biggest example I saw of this was how they asked which of the following Diagnosis you could exclude...then 3 questions later they were like, since you excluded this diagnosis...

4 - Overall thoughts,

• I got a one month subscription of CE. I probably studied 4-5 days at max of 1.5 hours.
• I have a 5 month old who hasn't sleep at night in 5 months, lol and a two year old. So I had to fit it in, which is why i really only utilized my strat above.
• I got a 77 with a passing score of 66.
• I took this on a big MAC - so to my MAC family, you have to turn on off the dock bar at the bottom or it will hover over the test. It's not a big deal because I obviously did not do this, lol, but in hindsight I would have.
• I did not feel rushed - I had about an hour of extra time.
• It was easier than I thought but still required a ton of read.
• I haven't seen anyone say this but the Narratives are hilarious. I had a antiper narrative where the client constantly called co-works "weak-bitches" so KUDOZ for not making the test boring.
• **HERE IS MY MAIN INSIGHT**: In the narratives, you will see the narratives say something like "You responded or you assigned homework and then the sentence ends. I deduced that this is where they would ask a question and they did. Many of the questions will have you insert reponses or skills at that moment in the narrative, so IF YOU ARE IN session 3 don't select an answer that reflects something at the initial. In other words, be Gestaltian and stay in the moment, but realize there might be a bit of unfinished business.

I really hope this help someone prepare, but also be more relaxed.

Choose as many as you wish of the following quotations to diagram.
I’ll be back. (The Terminator)
A boy’s best friend is his mother. (Psycho)
The gods envy us because we are mortal. (Troy)
There’s no crying in baseball! (A League of Their Own)
Come and see me sometime when you don’t have any class. (Back to School)
To live would be an awfully big adventure. (Peter Pan)
The first rule of Fight Club is you do not talk about Fight Club. (Fight Club)
If they ever tell my story, let them say I walked with giants; men rise and fall like the winter wheat, but these names shall never die; let them say I lived in the time of Hector, tamer of horses. (Troy
I am your father. (The Empire Strikes Back)
Nobody puts Baby in the corner. (Dirty Dancing)
I’m the king of the world! (Titanic)

I was doing a worksheet from the national geographic website and I cant find the answer to the following question in the text:
Which statement is true?
a) Babies’ brains can’t recognise different sound patterns. b) The pattern ‘A-B-B’ is easier to understand than A-B-C’. c) The pattern ‘A-B-C’ is easier to understand than A-B-B’.
The answer key shows B) as the correct answer but I don't understand why and from which sentence in the text we understood B) is correct. Can someone please explain.
​
The first year of life
A newborn baby can see, hear and feel. By the age of five, a child can talk and ride a bike. How does this development happen? We don’t really understand the way language and thinking develop in the brain. Now scientists are using new technology to help them in their studies. They are discovering new information about the way a baby’s brain develops.
A study in 2010 showed that the experiences a child has in their first few years are important. These experiences affect the development of the brain. The study showed when children receive more attention, they often have higher IQs. Babies receive information when they see, hear and feel things. This information makes connections between different parts of the brain. There are a hundred trillion connections in the brain of a three-year-old child.
One experiment studied how newborn babies’ brains react to different sounds. The sounds were in different patterns. For example, the sounds mu-ba-ba make the pattern ‘A-B-B’. And the sounds mu-ba-ge make the pattern ‘A-B-C’. The results of the study showed that babies know the two patterns are different. Patterns are important in language. The order of words is important to grammar and meaning. For example, ‘John killed the bear’ doesn’t mean the same as ‘The bear killed John.’ Both sentences have the same words, but they are in a different order. The experiment shows that babies start to learn grammar rules from the beginning of their life.
Language is important for child development. Babies can hear language in various ways: listening to television, audio books or the Internet and interacting with people. A scientist, Patricia Kuhl, compared two groups of nine-month-old American babies. Both groups heard Mandarin Chinese sounds. The first group watched videos. In the second group, people spoke the same sounds to the babies. Then they tested the babies. The second group recognised the different sounds. The first group learned nothing. Patricia Kuhl said this result was very surprising. It shows that social interaction is important to successful brain development in babies.
​
The text and exercises are taken from: https://www.ngllife.com/first-year-life

Math of any kind has pretty much never been my strong suit, but my statistics course in college is fucking with me in ways that make me feel like a moron.
First of all, there's just so much shit to remember. I'm not good at remembering complex things, preferring things to be told to me in very understandable sentences, but apparently whoever wrote my textbooks didn't get that goddamn memo. Nothing in this book is clear to me, everything is told to you in a goddamn riddle and it's surrounded by literal filler that has no reason to be written there.
I've never written a book before, let alone a textbook, but I feel the natural progression for a chapter of a textbook should be introducing a concept to you as if you've never heard it before, comparing it to things that you have learned before in very understandable sentences, utilizing a lot of pictures and diagrams so people who learn through different mediums can understand this idea.
No, fuck you, have 10 pages of nothing and about three sentences of substance in all. The book feels like it was meant to cater to one specific type of learner, when literally everyone on this planet learns things differently. I feel like we, as a society should have learned that by now, yet we're still being educated like this, leading to massive amounts of stress and anxiety on young minds.
"Oh, but I passed the class when I was your age, You can too!"
Well, I'm not you, am I? I'm a person who struggles to learn complicated things and needed boil down to me in a simple way. You're just better at this whole "thinking" thing than I am, I guess.
And the classes don't help either. It's literally just the text from the textbook, but for an whole hour with a few problems sprinkled in. It's the most boring thing. And I listened. I didn't tune out and play angry birds or some shit, I took notes and tried to remember everything I could.
Homework is just tests but without the penalty of losing points because you can retry an infinite number of times. I learned more from these homework assignments than I did from the actual teacher, because It actually tells you what you did wrong, unlike the teachers.
I think the biggest problem with the class is that the answer isn't just as simple as a number, you usually need to answer in the form of a sentence with various important words. Like, If the p-value is lower than significance value, then you must reject the null hypothesis. Or something, again, I'm bad at this.
I'm awful at remembering these things. Formulas are at least shorten and compact, but the explanations these sentence answers are just fucking essays.
I don't think I've got ever gotten to higher than a 75 on one of the summitive quizzes in this class, because every single one likes to fuck with you. Every alternative answer to those qs where you have to answer the form of a sentence are like this.
"No, we must reject the null hypothesis."
"Yes, we must reject the null hypothesis."
"No, We must support the null hypothesis."
"Yes, We must support the null hypothesis."
That just messes with my goddamn brain. And every single one about a different facet of whatever piece of statistics is the focus of the unit.
Is this the state of education? Did our parents get anxious and lose sleep because of school like us, or is that because education itself is getting harder?
I honestly used to feel very uncomfortable when someone praised me for doing such a good job in school, because, like, all I'm doing is following what I'm told to do and studying when there's a big test coming up.
Now, I'm only two semesters into college, and I fucking GET why they're so proud of me. College has been probably the most difficult part of my life so far.
I just can't wait to get home and not have to deal with this ever again. This is the last math I'll ever have to take in my life. No more after this.

A while back we were contacted by a company called Centauri (sp?) regarding our daughter. Apparently, some of her medical claims had flagged something to get them to contact us on behalf of her insurance to see about signing up for social security.
Our daughter is 7. She has had a speech delay since she could talk. It is not terrible, either. It is just that sometimes strangers cannot understand what she is saying. I understand her 99% of the time. She is in first grade now and at the 1st percentile on reading. She cannot read a sentence, and we think she may have dyslexia. She cannot spell. She gets very upset when we try to get her to study spelling or if she cannot read a word.
She is brilliant in math and can do her math worksheets faster than I can do them. She also scored above average on her IQ.
But they had us to apply for the social security and we are having to answer a lot of pages they send. We fill those out and then come more. About four times already. It is fine, but what chance does a child have to qualify if they are delayed in reading, spelling, speech, and also has some behavioral issues (things such as not wanting to put seatbelt on, not listening when we ask her to stop doing dangerous things like sticking pencils in her ears). We think she may have autism, but it has not been properly diagnosed with her PCP.
​

Looking for tips. I just completed a the Vanderbilt assessment for adhd for my 8 y/o son in 2nd grade. He’s been disruptive in class but he’s not malicious when he does. Just really excited to see friends. His teachers have always mentioned something attention span in previous years but we thought it was time to have him assessed because of his current teacher.
This year especially has been difficult with his teacher she marks him off on worksheets for the littlest things m. For example, he completed on an assignment on a photocopied template that was gray and minuscule black dots because of the bad copy quality. She marked him off because she couldn’t see the period at the end of a sentence but it was there if she took an extra moment.
We submitted the evaluations and since his scores weren’t high enough in performance and other areas they don’t believe he has adhd. I think otherwise and want to pursue further testing. Are there any options that can be supported by the Vanderbilt test? Just need some help because this is my first time going through this.

When I was in school I made multiple “worksheets” of numbers until I reach some thousands, 1,2,3…12,456; 12,457; etc and I know that I didn’t make any mistake, because I checked the series two or three times! ☺️. Also through my life (M46) I’ve found myself giving value to words: counting in my mind the vowels and consonants of words in a sentence, the vowels would have a value of one point and the consonants two points, the capital letters 2 points, and the small ones, 1 point, even accents (1 point) (in Spanish they are very common) and I sum it all and give a total final value to the word, then compare words, and I would repeat it in loop even in the same words. I also count, sometimes and without being a burden in my life, the squares or triangles or any pattern I find in the floors but not in my home, I do it in airports, or sidewalks in the streets, etc. or while I’m with a friend, I count whatever pattern calls my attention in their blouse or purse, etc.
Never put attention seriously in this. When I told my psychiatrist last month he just asked me how many minutes I did this and he didn’t show any further interest in giving me feedback.
Is this common in ADHD or is it something else and is not ADHD? I think it sounds OCD, but this doesn’t complicate my life or relationships, I move on when is necessary, it happens when my mind is free, bored or distracted, I do not think it or decide when to do it, it just happens.
Do someone find this relatable?

Given most of the big customer support live chat providers (Zendesk included) are adding AI chatbots to their products, I thought it would help to share a few tips on how you can optimize your help documentation/center to ensure your AI gives users the best answers.
(generally speaking, it will also mean it is easier to access for people too!)
AI isn't a magic pill, it really is a case of garbage in, garbage out, so it's worth spending the time to think about how to address these points in your docs if you want to get the best bang for your buck when working with AI.
(For context, I have been working every day on this kind of thing for the last 18 months so have gotten to learn quite a few ins and outs over that time that I thought might be worth sharing!)
On with the tips:

1. Be clear, concise and unambiguous

Each article or question you answer should be short, to the point, and use language specific to the issue being addressed.
Think overly specific rather than general. Spell things out as if you are writing to someone who has never seen or heard of your product or business or understands what it does. Don’t worry too much about repetition across articles.
It is worth pointing out here too that having less “personality” or “brand” to your help content will likely be a good thing for the AI’s understanding (you have lots of other opportunities across your product to get this across!).
2. Think about formatting
You can’t go overboard when formatting for AI.
Think of it as ‘sign-posting’. Use lots of headings and subheadings to identify each section of the content or guide and use bullets or numbering to show the steps of a process.
This type of formatting helps the AI to ‘read’ and interpret what each piece of help content is about without it having to ‘read’ more information around it.
Also, make sure you use full stops at the end of sentences and bullet points, as otherwise when the text is extracted it will be harder for the AI to determine where sentences and phrases begin and end.
3. Drop the jargon, but think about keywords
AI won’t understand your company jargon or acronyms, but a lot of the time, your users won’t either.
So limit the use of it to improve the likelihood that your AI will understand what you are talking about.
Use a plain English explanation with jargon in brackets afterwards (if you want to educate your users), rather than the other way around.
Think about the words you can use to make it clear what the help article is about for the AI. Think about what a user might search for if they were asking the question.
If you had to summarize the help article in 2-3 words, what would they be and are they mentioned several times throughout the article?
4. Take care when using tables and images
Most of the time, the AI won’t read a table as a table, it will just take all the text from it, without knowing which text comes from which column.
So the fewer tables you use, the better, or, if you have to use them, keep them smaller, with 2-3 rows maximum.
The same goes for images, most AI chatbots won’t be able to interpret them, so don’t use them to explain core concepts or show diagrams or screenshots without explaining them in text format in the body of the article.
(Added bonus here - it will only help make your articles more accessible for those with visual impairments).
5. One help article, one topic
The less ‘overlap’ between help articles, the easier it will be for the AI to identify which article it should use to answer the user’s question.
Try not to put articles that cover different parts of the product or business in one article, but do make sure that anything about a specific topic is in one place as it gives the AI more contextual understanding for answering questions.
6. Answer in full, using context
When writing out help articles and FAQs, they are often framed as questions with a “yes” or “no” response. AI needs more context than this, so instead of just saying “yes” update answers to be “yes, it can ”.
This will make it far easier for the AI to find these answers when searching.
In addition, if an answer or help article is a little longer, it helps if you can provide some more context or background to the problem the article solves or question it is answering. This will help the AI discover it, but also give it more background when it comes to actually answering the question.
7. Avoid conflicting or contradictory information
You shouldn’t have outdated information in your help content. This is especially important if you use AI as the chatbot finds it nearly impossible to distinguish between the old and the new content and therefore can give outdated responses.
The same principle applies if your business has multiple versions or products.
Unless each article specifically calls out which version or product it relates to, the AI will have no broader knowledge to draw from to determine the correct answer.
So make sure, when giving context, if there are product or version-specific differences, that you call these out explicitly in your help content.
If you find these useful let me know and I can share a blog post with examples and a bit more background with you too.
Feel free to ask any questions too, no AI questions are too dumb, we're all learning right now!

Hi been following this forum for a while. My 11 year old stepdaughter who is in 4th grade has been in Kumon math for almost 3 months now.
She has a history of dyslexia diagnosed since three years ago. Her reading is vastly improved due to continuous Orton Gillingham tutoring, however we had to recently stop it due to cost and I feel more comfortable with her reading level (as far as decoding) at this point (of course there is still room to improve).
She still struggles with reading comprehension. Per the school, it's more at a 2nd grade level. And spelling and writing, it's definitely been a journey as far as teaching her grammar basics like proper sentence structure and spelling. I feel the repetition of basics may help like I see with the math program.
She's already gotten accustomed to the repetition of the math worksheets. I'm curious if anyone has tried the reading program. For us, math and reading together through kumon is much cheaper than traditional tutoring.

I am thrilled to share that I passed with AT/T/T and an overall score of AT. I wanted to pay it forward to future PMP aspirants with tips, resources, and my overall PMP exam day experience. I would not have passed the PMP exam on my first try (April 21, 2024) without this community and this is my way of showing gratitude.
I received my provisional pass within minutes of completing the exam and received the breakdown with the domains within 24 hours.
I spent about 6 weeks studying: 2 hours each weekday and about 5 to 6 hours on the weekends both days. I booked the exam as soon as my application was approved.
TLDR:

• Project Methodologies: Predictive / Waterfall vs. Agile
• Exam Pace: 80 / 75 / 75 min split for the 230 mins exam.
• PM Mindset: Always assess the situation then take action by solving the issue at hand using the PM Mindset / servant leadership and do not be distracted by detractors.
• PM Concepts: See list below.
• Study Hall (SH) Essentials: https://studyhall.pmi.org/app/pmi-study-hall-essentials: Actual exam is noticeably HARDER than the SH practice questions / exams. The single best resource I can recommend.
• Third Rock Notes: https://third3rockpmp.com Worth the Coffee!
• PM Aspirant Processing Game: https://pmaspirant.com/project-management-process-group-and-knowledge-area-mapping-game: Play often!
• Watch on YouTube:
  • David McLachlan (DM) 150 PMBOK 7 150 Questions: https://youtu.be/Zht0-j03NfQ?si=Jovpv65OBNQ5Zgot
  • DM 200 Agile Questions: https://youtu.be/tNIHysh2ZW4?si=36-xAFBUTyXe7Ybj
  • DM 100 Waterfall Questions: https://youtu.be/xIH-u81XCxM?si=ZLox0dHaKDZIdek5
  • Ricardo Vargas (RV) PMBOK 6th Edition Processes: https://youtu.be/GC7pN8Mjot8?si=6k_3r4mgSxGREM6j
  • RV PMBOK 7th Edition: https://youtu.be/HVlrxOQoSUw?si=n53h2cFBRMpLV_Kc

Detailed Post: There are so many great reddit posts and I implore you to research and find the posts that suit your study style, work/life situation, and PM knowledge. Here are some of the tips I would like to share from my experience:

• Project Methodologies: It is imperative that you know which project methodology is being used in the question. My exam was pretty evenly split between Predictive and Agile methodologies and there are certain context clues to look out for to determine the correct methodology.
  • Predictive / Waterfall: Projects that have strictly defined scope but variable cost and duration. Examples include construction projects, government work, and industries with strict regulations.
  • Agile: Projects are adaptable to change with flexible scope but fixed cost and duration. Examples include software implementations. Agile projects are BOTH ITERATIVE AND INCREMENTAL.
• Exam Pace: Some quick stats from practice exams and actual exam experience.
  • 180 questions for 230 mins for actual exam = 1 min and 17 secs per question. I focused on dividing up my exam time based on the following splits:
    • Section 1 60 questions: 80 mins total (150 mins left - test clock counts down to 0)
    • Section 2 60 questions: 75 mins total (75 mins left)
    • Section 3 60 questions: 75 mins total (0 mins left)
  • The first section for many test takers was typically harder hence the longer allocated time. I found that my exam was the opposite i.e. the questions got harder as the exam progressed. DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED with the increasing difficulty.
  • When I wrote my practice exams, if I took longer than 1 min there was a HIGH chance that I was going to get the questions wrong. If I answered the question in less than 30 secs, there was a HIGH chance that I was going to get it right. Long story short if I spent more than 30 secs on a questions, I would focus on the last sentence of the question, determine the issue at hand, and select the answer that best exemplifies the PM Mindset.
  • With my exam pace, I had about 63 mins left when I finished the 180 questions for my actual exam. I suggest solidifying the PM Mindset then go with your intuition by selecting the answer that best solves the problem at hand and with the help of process of elimination and acting as a servant leader.
• PM Mindset: Situational questions are incredibly common in the actual exam so it is imperative that you follow the PM Mindset when tackling these questions.
  • Always assess the situation: What is the root problem? Who are the responsible parties? Can this be solved without escalating? Is a change request required? Does an employee need training? Is there a conflict? Are the PM processes being followed?
  • Then take action: Facilitate face-to-face conversation / Submit a change order as appropriate / Organize training based on the employees training needs / Mediate to fix conflicts / Exemplify emotional intelligence and good ethics
  • One of the tricks I came across frequently is the choices would boil down to two very good ethical options but at this point the question is testing your knowledge on which action should occur first within the respective PM process. Typically, if the answer has the words “collaborate”, “facilitate”, “coach”, “mentor” it’s probably the correct answer.
  • Remember to exemplify servant leadership when you answer questions and you will be on the right track to solving the issue at hand.
  • Study the PM Mindset, do not be distracted by the question detractors, and take action accordingly. The questions were very tricky in layering multiple concepts into one question. For example, a question occurs in a multi-national environment for a government project and a third-party vendor is unable to deliver a procurement requirement. What should the PM do?
    • The question touches on culturally distinct location, potential for procurement contract review, in a heavily regulated environment (government).
    • Focus on solving the issue at hand (in this example the procurement requirement) while taking into account all the factors that will be impacted by your action.
• PM Concepts:
  • Major Project Roles: Project Manager, Project Sponsor, Steering Committee, Functional Manager
  • Stakeholder Power / Interest Grid
  • Know how to read burnup / burndown chart
  • Resource Smoothing / Resource Levelling / Crashing / Fast Tracking / Lead / Lag
  • Estimation methods: Analogous / Bottom-Up / Parametric / PERT Formula
  • Risk vs. Issue (when to update the risk register or the issue log)
  • Risk Responses (Mitigate / Escalate / Avoid / Accept / Transfer)
  • MBTI (Acronym: EIghty SeveN Tax Free Japanese Products)
    • Extroverted / Introverted
    • Sensing / iNtuitive
    • Thinker / Feeler
    • Judger / Perceiver
  • Tuckman Ladder
  • Contingency Reserve vs. Management Reserve
  • EVM Formula

General Resources:

• Study Hall (SH) Essentials: https://studyhall.pmi.org/app/pmi-study-hall-essentials
  • Practice Exams 85% overall: Full Length Practice Exams:
    • Exam 1 - First attempt 75%, Second attempt 77%
    • Exam 2 - First attempt 71%, Second attempt 74%
  • Practice Questions 69%: Completed all questions once only

I did the 15 question mini exams about 2-3 times each prior to taking the full length practice exams. Then about a month later, I took each mini exam 2 more times before retaking the full length practice exams. I completed my second attempt for the full length practice exams during the week prior to my actual exam so as to not remember the questions and practice the PM Mindset.
I found that SH practice exams typically would ask about 4 to 5 questions that were Difficult / Expert then revert to an Easy or Moderate question. Again, DO NOT BE DISCOURAGED and power through the question with the PM Mindset.
I found that the SH Practice Questions were oddly specific and really just killed my confidence as it was unlikely that they would ask these questions in the exam. I would still recommend doing them but don't focus too much on specific concepts but more on the PM mindset to answer the questions.
IMO, if you study nothing else but the SH questions and full practice exams, you will pass the PMP. The verbiage and the style of questions are similar to the actual PMP exam but the actual exam is noticeably HARDER than the SH practice questions / exams. It is the single best resource I can recommend out of all of the material I studied. The questions in the actual exam are all unique and are closer to the Difficult / Expert / a few Moderate level questions so keep that in mind when you practice.

• Third Rock Notes: https://third3rockpmp.com/
  • I bought a coffee and can gladly say that it was worth more than that! I bought the version with a Cheat Sheet and searchable Full Version. Third Rock does a great job of breaking down concepts that may seem vague and has a lot of great tables / diagrams / charts to help readers visualize PM concepts.
  • They also have various topics that SH Essentials did not discuss but are good to know for the exams:
    • PM Mindset tips and concepts
    • How to answer what should a project manager "do", "do next? / do first", "should have done" etc.
    • Clear differentiations of project methodologies between Waterfall / Predictive, Agile, Iterative, and Incremental
    • MBTI descriptions
    • Various definitions that are not in the PMBOK but are PM concepts that can be questions in the exam
  • I reviewed the Third Rock Notes about a month after studying and it really helped clarify PM concepts and it was well worth the coffee for me. I highly recommend it if you want to have another reliable reference for PM concepts / study material.
• PM Aspirant Processing Game: https://pmaspirant.com/project-management-process-group-and-knowledge-area-mapping-game
  • I played the processing game frequently to familiarize myself with the various stages of the project lifecycle. I found that if I knew where I was in the project lifecycle, I would be able to apply the PM Mindset and determine the best option to fix the underlying issue.

YouTube Resources:

• David McLachlan (DM) 150 PMBOK 7 150 Questions: https://youtu.be/Zht0-j03NfQ?si=Jovpv65OBNQ5Zgot
• DM 200 Agile Questions: https://youtu.be/tNIHysh2ZW4?si=36-xAFBUTyXe7Ybj
• DM 100 Waterfall Questions: https://youtu.be/xIH-u81XCxM?si=ZLox0dHaKDZIdek5
  • Due to time constraints, I only watched about half of each video at 2x speed. DM does a great job of breaking down PM concepts with his small annotations and clear and concise explanations. I found that the best video was the PMBOK 7 150 Questions as they contain the most situational questions similar to the actual exam. He provides you the PM mindset on how to tackle questions and his process of eliminating.
• Ricardo Vargas (RV) PMBOK 6th Edition Processes: https://youtu.be/GC7pN8Mjot8?si=6k_3r4mgSxGREM6j
• RV PMBOK 7th Edition: https://youtu.be/HVlrxOQoSUw?si=n53h2cFBRMpLV\_Kc
  • RV is very passionate and you can feel it through the screen. I highly recommend watching these videos if you want to have someone thoroughly explain the general overview of the processes and domains that make up the PMBOK guidelines. I watched it at 2x speed and I recommend watching it more than once to solidify the information.

Exam Day Experience:
I took the exam at a Pearson Vue centre as my apartment building is notorious for having fire alarms so I did not want it to interfere with my exam. I arrived about 40 mins prior to my exam time but due to the centre only having one attendant, I wasn't seated for about 40 mins. The exam didn't start until I was seated so I wasn't too stressed about starting at the prescribed time.
The centre has lockers and a separate room where you can keep your snacks for the two prescribed exam breaks. They provided me with ear plugs too which was helpful as there were some noises during the exam. Overall, it was a good exam centre and the temperature wasn't too hot or too cold during the exam.
Sorry for the long read and again - thank you to this community for helping me pass. I hope this post helps you future PMP aspirants, good luck et bonne chance!

I (29M) am not sure how I feel about being married to my wife (31F) anymore. We've been together for at least 6 years and I'm not sure if I want to do this anymore. Here are some of the things that I've been going through:
I started my first year as a special education teacher this year. I knew based on student teaching that I was going to be very busy with work. I tried to facilitate a discussion with my wife about her taking on a fair share of the cooking or that if we could consider a meal service of some kind to cut down on the time it would take for me to make dinner. I make dinner every night and I anticipated it being hard to balance work, a 1 hour commute, and all the other take-home work I would need to do. I even had my therapist help me discuss this with her. When we were in her office she seemed open to the idea of at least looking into a meal service. Then we walked out and she basically said "we're not doing that". I remember thinking about how I'll do all the cooking and planning for dinner like always on top of all this extra work I'd be starting.
My wife has cooked me one meal that wasn't a frozen pizza in the time we've lived together. On top of this, my wife has had to go through two very specific diets for medical reasons. Both times I had more knowledge on what she could or couldn't have and I had to cook to accommodate her. She's going through one of these diets currently, and she seems to just let me worry about the cooking. There are days where she is home hours before me and she has no idea what she wants to eat or nothing cooking despite the fact that I won't be able to start cooking until about 6pm.
My wife has gotten to the point where are assumes I'm making every meal for her. She expected me to make her lunch and her dinner tonight and prep vegetables for her lunches later this week. I made her dinner and these vegetables for her tonight. She came home to dinner and food prepared for the next day. I asked if she could grab me a drink from the fridge right as I say down on our couch. She said "you should've thought about that before you sat down". I had to go get it myself after that.
My wife is a backseat driver and it drives be crazy. She drives all day at work so if we go out anywhere I have to drive. I just wait until she makes some kind of remark or tells me to slow down because a car is braking while I've been braking before she said anything. If any of my friends drives us and she doesn't like the way they drove I get to hear the play by play of what they did wrong on our way back home. It will likely not be the only time she will harp on it either. Which leads me to the next thing.
My wife constantly repeats things over and over and over again. She'll gladly give me the whole run down on why she's mad at someone every time they're mentioned in a conversation. Most of the time it's done with my family. My brother had a bad breakup with an ex where he cheated because their relationship was falling apart. Not the best move on his part and I felt bad for his ex. However, for months after we learned about what he did my wife could not resist mentioning how she was mad at him for what he did at the mention of my brother's name. She would go off on this tangent even when he was brought up in a way that wasn't related to the breakup.
My wife also has a lot of words that I just find as filler that make listening to her speak challenging. I find myself wincing every time I hear her overused words or phrases such as "like", "you know", "granted sure", and "not for nothing". If I had to guess, her average "likes" per sentence must be at least 6.
I feel like she's always saying I'm being "mean" to her when I give the impression I may not want to do something she's asked. She asked me to do all these things in our kitchen she could've had done for herself before I got home and I just stared at her. She didn't understand why I gave her the look I did but I was apparently being mean to her. Any time I'm frustrated with her I'm somehow being mean to the point where I feel like I'm not allowed to feel any sense of frustration with her without her claiming "you're mean". It almost feels manipulative that I'm mean because I don't want to do something for her. Meanwhile, it's ok that she can say "fuck you, you're mean. I'm not talking to you".
I'll admit I get short with her sometimes. I feel like I'm losing my patience with her more because she gets to sit at home all day and do nothing. She gets to relax on the couch for hours while I'm cooking, grading, planning, etc after work. I'll be lesson planning and my mental break from working on them is making her dinner.
She also wants to go on this expensive vacation that I feel isn't being budgeted well in terms of our time. We have a short window to finish paying off a lot of money to a travel agency and I'm not sure how that's going to all turn out. This isn't the first time we went on a poorly planned vacation where I was basically told to just go with it and had a hard time paying off my credit cards after the trip and bookings. I get the feeling this will continue to be a stressor in my life and this relationship
The last big thing is that I feel I no longer want to have kids with my wife. I still want to have kids, but I'm leaning towards not wanting to have them with her. A lot of that is because of what I've described above.
I've discussed my feelings about this with my therapist. I've also told them that if I was to separate from my wife I'd basically have no where to go. Rent is too high by myself, I can't move in with family as they all live out of state, none of my friends have space for a roommates, and so on. So I'm not really sure what's the best thing to do. I'm fortunate to have a home and my job. I just don't know what to do. I don't really think my wife will change since I've tried to get in front of an issue and nothing was done about it. I just know that I may get moved into a different grade to teach which means all the planning, prepping, creating worksheets, slideshows, etc of the first year will be repeated all over again. I'm really not sure if I could do another year of this relationship if next school year goes the same way this one has.
TLDR: I feel my wife isn't feeling me mitigate stress by contributing to our relationship, among other things, and I feel my options are limited

Hi everyone,
I'm a lover of English grammar and especially traditional sentence diagramming. I'm a graphic designer by trade and I'm super interested in re-learning to diagram interesting sentences, scripture verses, music lyrics, etc. and designing them in a nice way for posters/prints.
I need to brush up on parts of the sentence and learn how to diagram them (predicate nominatives, appositives, conjunctions, etc.)
Can anyone share advice on what might be the best place to start? Would a diagramming book do the trick or should I study a grammar book then specifically a diagramming book? Anything that will do both well?
Thanks!

Given most of the big customer support live chat providers are adding AI chatbots to their products, I thought it would help to share a few tips on how you can optimize your help documentation/center to ensure your AI gives users the best answers.
(generally speaking, it will also mean it is easier to access for people too!)
AI isn't a magic pill, it really is a case of garbage in, garbage out, so it's worth spending the time to think about how to address these points in your docs if you want to get the best bang for your buck when working with AI.
(For context, I have been working every day on this kind of thing for the last 18 months so have gotten to learn quite a few ins and outs over that time that I thought might be worth sharing!)
On with the tips:

1. Be clear, concise and unambiguous

Each article or question you answer should be short, to the point, and use language specific to the issue being addressed.
Think overly specific rather than general. Spell things out as if you are writing to someone who has never seen or heard of your product or business or understands what it does. Don’t worry too much about repetition across articles.
It is worth pointing out here too that having less “personality” or “brand” to your help content will likely be a good thing for the AI’s understanding (you have lots of other opportunities across your product to get this across!).

1. Think about formatting

You can’t go overboard when formatting for AI.
Think of it as ‘sign-posting’. Use lots of headings and subheadings to identify each section of the content or guide and use bullets or numbering to show the steps of a process.
This type of formatting helps the AI to ‘read’ and interpret what each piece of help content is about without it having to ‘read’ more information around it.
Also, make sure you use full stops at the end of sentences and bullet points, as otherwise when the text is extracted it will be harder for the AI to determine where sentences and phrases begin and end.

1. Drop the jargon, but think about keywords

AI won’t understand your company jargon or acronyms, but a lot of the time, your users won’t either.
So limit the use of it to improve the likelihood that your AI will understand what you are talking about.
Use a plain English explanation with jargon in brackets afterwards (if you want to educate your users), rather than the other way around.
Think about the words you can use to make it clear what the help article is about for the AI. Think about what a user might search for if they were asking the question.
If you had to summarize the help article in 2-3 words, what would they be and are they mentioned several times throughout the article?

1. Take care when using tables and images

Most of the time, the AI won’t read a table as a table, it will just take all the text from it, without knowing which text comes from which column.
So the fewer tables you use, the better, or, if you have to use them, keep them smaller, with 2-3 rows maximum.
The same goes for images, most AI chatbots won’t be able to interpret them, so don’t use them to explain core concepts or show diagrams or screenshots without explaining them in text format in the body of the article.
(Added bonus here - it will only help make your articles more accessible for those with visual impairments).

1. One help article, one topic

The less ‘overlap’ between help articles, the easier it will be for the AI to identify which article it should use to answer the user’s question.
Try not to put articles that cover different parts of the product or business in one article, but do make sure that anything about a specific topic is in one place as it gives the AI more contextual understanding for answering questions.

1. Answer in full, using context

When writing out help articles and FAQs, they are often framed as questions with a “yes” or “no” response. AI needs more context than this, so instead of just saying “yes” update answers to be “yes, it can ”.
This will make it far easier for the AI to find these answers when searching.
In addition, if an answer or help article is a little longer, it helps if you can provide some more context or background to the problem the article solves or question it is answering. This will help the AI discover it, but also give it more background when it comes to actually answering the question.

1. Avoid conflicting or contradictory information

You shouldn’t have outdated information in your help content. This is especially important if you use AI as the chatbot finds it nearly impossible to distinguish between the old and the new content and therefore can give outdated responses.
The same principle applies if your business has multiple versions or products.
Unless each article specifically calls out which version or product it relates to, the AI will have no broader knowledge to draw from to determine the correct answer.
So make sure, when giving context, if there are product or version-specific differences, that you call these out explicitly in your help content.
If you find these useful let me know and I can share a blog post with examples and a bit more background with you too.
Feel free to ask any questions too, no AI questions are too dumb, we're all learning right now!

Ok so as the title says, I'm absolutely shit at studying 😭😭 Olevels are like 6?? months away now that April is almost over and I haven't even started revising... people all around me are telling me to start ASAP but
The Problem is I don't really know how to study for such a major exam LOL... for PSLE it was alright since there were only 4 subjects... but Olevels have double that 💀
I got some suggestions like to "make notes/use the Holy Grail (my saviour🙏)" and "mug TYS and other school's papers" but I don't even have the foundation down so kinda cooked ngl
Also idk if i want to go consultations with my tescher cos rn its more of forgetting keywords for content heavy stuff like the Pure Sciences and E.Geog... so not much point since rn I just need to memorise ✨️
And also me being dumb so I don't get which formula to use/how to answer the questions for E and A Math (even if I remember them) so everytime during lessons I'm constantly raising my hands asking how stuff works and why things are written like that so now I think my teacher's starting to get annoyed with my constant questions abt stuff I should already know from lower sec LMAO
Plus I'm kinda scared of my Higher Chinese teacher cos she's kinda stern and last time I went for a 口试 consultation she got frustrated because I missed all the points from the 旁白 and she spent an hour explaining the 口头报告 to me yet I couldn't articulate my sentences properly when we tried again 🙃 (and we couldn't even get to the 会话 part so she just gave up lol)
So after analysing why I suck at ALMOST ALL of my subjects I concluded I need a better studying/memorising method because I've been failing/barely passing all my topical tests so far 🤡
Some of my teachers say that I should use mindmaps to summarise points but then the process of making them is so frustrating when I'm trying to write down all the points for one part then one side gets crammed into the corner while the other has a whole lot of blank space 😡😡😡 its so annoying because when I plan the mindmaps first it takes double the time for 1 chapter and I don't have the time/patience for that right now 😃
Also my current study method is 1. Pull out whatever notes I have on the topic 2. Read textbook if I have none 3. Recite keywords/important info in my head (immediately forgotten after exams) 4. Try and attempt questions from old worksheets 5. Fail miserably (or give up halfway)
Anyway thank you for reading all my yapping and I would really appreciate advice on study methods that could be useful for a forgetful person like me TYSM 🙏🙏🙏