4.30.2013

When preparing for exams....don't do these things!

One of the reasons why I love The Guardian newspaper is that it's a fabulous source of how-to information on a variety of topics. Today's edition is no different - there's a very good article on what not to do when you're taking an exam -- and I think that a LOT of this information is valid for TOEFL iBT and the writing part of the GMAT exam.

4.11.2013

Text 2 Mind Map: A great tool for vocabulary management

Are you one of those students who has a lot of notebooks from past courses? Are you one of those students who makes lots and lots of lists of words, but you don't know how to use them once the class is done? Trust me, you are not alone. You'd be surprised 

One way to solve this problem is to filter out the vocabulary and identify the words that you will actually use. (Just because you wrote a word down in your book a year ago doesn't mean that you will use it a year from now.)  

Once you've done that, group the words according to common concepts - things you find in the kitchen, verbs related to studying, verbs that use subjunctive.  

Why is it useful to do this? First, it helps you reduce and filter the old photocopies and notebooks: if you're not using your old class materials, cull them and get them out of the way. Second, it's a lot easier to remember words and ideas if you understand the context behind them. The more you understand the reason WHY a word is important, the easier it will be to remember it and use it again in the future.

This is a word map that I created for basic verbs for TOEFL iBT using a website called Text 2 Mind Map. I like this website because you can use it with both Macs and Windows, it's free to use (we like free! Free is good!) and you can download the word maps and share them. (I don't know if you can collaborate with other people to create a word map - I'm still waiting to hear on that.)

I'll probably update this word map over time: consult the latest version by clicking here.
This is definitely worth using - I'm going to think of ways to incorporate this into my classes.