Ah yes, the dreaded SAT – one of the most popular standardized tests out there. As a test taker, there are several things you can do in advance to increase your chances of scoring higher on test day. In addition to these 3 must know tips for the SAT, here are a few more things to keep in mind:

Know how the test is scored

Not all tests are created equal, and not all tests are scored the same way. Luckily for us, the current version of the SAT has a great scoring policy – your raw score is simply the number of questions answered correctly. That’s it! There are no deductions or penalties for incorrect answers. If you answer 40 questions correctly and 4 questions incorrectly, you’ll get the same raw score as if you answer 40 questions correctly and just leave 4 blank.

This means that you should answer every question (even if you are guessing) because an incorrect answer will not count against you, but guessing will at least give you a chance of getting the answer right. But wait…there’s more!

The SAT’s multiple choice questions have 4 answer choices (A, B, C, and D). Since each answer choice has an equal probability of being correct (1/4 or 25%), you can maximize your chances of being correct by guessing the same letter every time (unless, of course, you know it’s wrong). However, if you guess randomly, you’re just chasing a moving target. So, just pick a letter (A – D), and if you have no idea what the answer is, just bubble in that same letter every time.

Study using the official SAT materials first

Standardized tests, like the SAT, tend to be pretty tricky. The word problems are intentionally confusing and can throw off even the most experienced test takers. For this reason, it’s very important to see as many different types of questions as possible, so that you can be exposed to the variety of ways a question can be asked.

The best way to get used to SAT questions is by studying official SAT material published by the CollegeBoard. The more practice problems you will see, the more familiar you will become with the way they are structured, worded, and presented. So when it comes to taking the real SAT, you’ll be in a much better place to say “I’ve seen this type of question of before, and I know what they are looking for!”

There is a ton of third party material out there, but it may not look like the real thing. So it’s best to practice with official material right on the CollegeBoard website!

Look for shortcuts

The beauty of a standardized test where showing your work doesn’t count is….it doesn’t matter how you get to the correct answer! The only thing that matters is that you get the question right. This affords test takers the ability to solve problems in any way they choose!

The math section is a great place to take advantage of this luxury! Instead of solving the problem using the “high school Algebra II way,” is there a simpler way to get to the correct answer?

•  Can you just plug in the answers?
• Can you eliminate answer choices that are obviously too big or too small?
• Can you use your graphing calculator to find solutions or intercepts?

As you work through practice tests and sample problems, see if you can find faster ways of solving the problem. In a timed test, a few seconds here or there can really add up, so knowing shortcuts can help you out big time!

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Today’s guest post is from Leo Rusinov, the founder of TutoringBoston, an education company specializing in K-12 Academic and SAT tutoring in Newton, MA. TutoringBoston is focused on providing both content and strategy instruction, and is committed to helping students achieve their academic goals through customized lesson plans, tailored instruction, and content differentiation. Tutoring Boston serves students in the Greater Boston area, as well as all over the country through online lessons.

Do college admissions officers check prospective students’ social media feeds?

Yes, some do.

As a parent of a teenage boy or girl, should I panic?

No.

According to Kaplan Test Prep’s latest college admissions survey, about 35 percent of admissions officers check social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And of course, some report finding little nuggets of gold—the applicant who started a business with her mother—and some nuggets of less than gold—the applicant bragging about their partying exploits.

And with each Kaplan report, headlines scream the obvious while offering the obvious in terms of suggestions to parents for managing their child’s social media presence and brand. One writer, a corporate CEO, implores parents to undertake a sophisticated social media PR campaign complete with professional photography, oversite of all posts to assure alignment with strategic messaging and college application materials, website with weekly blog posts and videos, engage in search engine optimization practices, and use strategic social handles and email addresses.

No wonder parents and kids are so stressed out.

The fact is, there are ways to leverage social media that:

1. Reduces stress rather than increases anxiety
2. Demonstrates your child’s unique value to a college or university
3. Levels the playing field and gives him or her an edge

In the following, we will help defang stress, leverage social media as an ally, and offer suggestions for innovatively using social media to level the playing field and give your child an edge that extends well beyond college admissions.

Defanging Stress

There are already too many sources of stress if you are a parent of a teen or an actual teenager. Social media as it relates to college admissions shouldn’t be one of them.

First, let’s put things in perspective. Did you start a business with your child? Does your child post photos on Facebook of him or her drinking and bragging about skipping school?

If the answer to both is no, you fall somewhere within normal. Social media, as are smartphones, is ubiquitous in the culture, especially for teens. And most teens post silly, gossipy things, things they are proud of, and things they think make them look cool or funny to their friends. Therefore, admissions counselors that look through applicants’ social media feeds know what teenagers are like. They work with them all day long.

What they look for in social media is a fuller picture of who that kid is. Is there positive information that didn’t make it into the essay or onto the Common App? Is there a clear warning sign that this kid is not college ready? Or are they like every other teenager in the country?

Second, while 35 percent of admissions officers routinely check social media, 65 percent do not. For example, the University of Vermont does not check social media as a matter of policy. Further, the depth that the 35 percenters go to investigate social media is unclear.

Third, you and your teen can take a few simple steps to make his or her social media presence an ally that demonstrates his or her value rather than looking like every other teen in the country. Understanding this piece of the college admissions puzzle will go a long way toward easing stress because you go from I know social media is important to I can do something about it without too much effort.

Social Media as Ally

1. Be Generous, Authentic and Open

Think of applying to college as the convergence of a few different communication channels. There’s the application, essay, letters of recommendation, a letter from you the parent, test scores, and transcript. Social media and links to online content—awards, important life and educational experiences, what s/he is proud of, diversity of friends, etc.—can powerfully demonstrate your child’s unique value.

Make it easy for admissions to find this content.

Openness also helps establish authenticity, which helps establish trust. Visiting the college, doing an entrance interview, application materials, and your letter about your child helps establish a relationship, but creates a partial picture. Access to social media and other online content helps admissions see your child in a way that is authentic and holistic rather than scripted and prepared.

2. Do Some Pruning

The summer before filling out and sending applications, go through your child’s social media presence with him or her. If there are posts that are unflattering or run counter to the image you want to present to college admissions, remove it.

Teens love going through their social media with their parents and will see this as a bonding experience.

Just kidding.

They will resist. Show them how off-color posts can damage their ability to get into college (and move out of the house into a dorm) and always play to their aspirational nature. They may not show it, but they want to succeed and build a life of their own.

When evaluating questionable posts and content ask you and your teen:

• Would I say this to my entire family?
• Does it detract from making me look college ready?
• Does it attract negative attention or honest discussion?

Also, look for and add likes and references in the About You sections that show his or her interests, friendships, virtues, etc. Delete those that run counter to the image you want to project.

Last, did you tour the school? Did you post negative comments and photos? Delete.

One more thing. Don’t overdo it. Too much pruning will make the content look curated by mom and dad, which means inauthentic and untrue.

3. Plant a Few Flowers

While pruning, make sure the image of your child is complete. Is your son or daughter into painting, photography, music, acting, etc. If so, post these to Instagram or Facebook and provide links to the admissions staff.

Make sure you include organizations that your child belongs as well as any noteworthy roles in and outside of school.

Be careful not to add too much all at once. Tweets are a prime example because admissions will see that they your child posted them within a tight timeframe, and this undermines authenticity.

Think Differently to Gain an Edge

Most people—parents, social media advisors, etc.—only view social media, as it relates to college admissions, as a reputation management tool, or threat. However, some parents and students are finding unique, innovative ways to use social media as an opportunity to gather information and identify strategies to give their kids an edge.

We’ve heard numerous stories where a kid has leveraged their social media presence for valuable internships, specialized tutoring, and all manner of means to gain a competitive advantage. The best part, each of these kids was following a passion rather than forced to take on yet another unwanted responsibility.

For example, a Christmas Day 2017 New York Times piece told the story of Eli Reiter, a young man struggling with his academic future. While scrolling through Reddit, he noticed a post from a tutor near his home who helped the best and brightest prep school students prepare for the SAT and ACT. Through Reddit, Eli and the tutor could safely communicate through text, which led to informal help and then tutoring at a reduced cost.

The tutor helped Eli increase his SAT scores, which played a role in his acceptance by a well-respected college. There are two lessons here:

1. A social media platform gave Eli access to a mentor who helped change Eli’s life.
2. Access to this mentor leveled the playing field for Eli and gave him an advantage. For reduced cost, Eli received the same tutoring as elite prep school students, which leveled the playing field. And because he received help from a tutor of this quality, he gained an advantage most students do not have.

One other example is helpful. Social media are immensely powerful networking platforms with myriad college admissions possibilities. One of these is the opportunity for your child to seek out professionals working in your son or daughter’s prospective area of undergraduate and graduate study and career path. He or she can also find professionals with degrees from the colleges and universities they plan to apply to.

This then gives your child the ability to interview their future-self based on any pathway they are considering. This will help them find the right fit between institution, area of study, and career path before even sending out an application.

Your child can also include these relationships and learning in their application and essay. It may even lead to an internship opportunity or letter of recommendation.

Further, this information will help the college-bound thrive once they get to college and then enter the world of work. According to research by ACT (the organization that offers the ACT assessment tests), “The fit between a students’ interests and their college majors are important in understanding and predicting student outcomes.” And, according to Gallup, 36 percent of adults regret their field of study and 28 percent regret the college or university they attended.

Parent and student innovators are thinking differently about learning and the role social media can play. This is why we are writing our book, Gig Education: How to reduce stress, outsmart Harvard, and help your kids build amazing lives. We want to help kids and parents think different.

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Today’s guest post is co-authored by Jay Bakhru and James Buchanan. Jay and James are currently working on a book titled: Gig Education: How to reduce stress, outsmart Harvard, and help your kids build amazing lives.

Today’s article is from Beth Tofel, found and President of FootprintID. It helps parents easily store and keep track of their child’s medical records and share their health information with physicians, emergency responders, family members and friends—when they need it most.

For those of us who have sent children off to college we know the anxiety and stress that comes along with the excitement.  The oldest child is often the most challenging because of the unknowns and then when the youngest heads off it can leave the quiet in our homes sounding very loud.

One of the things I hear so often is “what if my child gets sick?”.  For the first time we are not right there to “diagnose” what is wrong, speak to the doctors or nurses, or immediately participate in decisions related to a child’s health.

Worse than that, because of HIPAA laws, the doctors are not allowed to speak to us without our child’s permission.  I suppose that works fine for a cold, cough, or strep throat.  But what happens when the unthinkable happens.  Your child can’t communicate to give the doctor permission to speak to you.  This is not something we want to think about, but as responsible parents we MUST.

I spoke to a lawyer friend recently, who shared some of the stories she has heard when needed documents are not available in a situation such as this.  Sometimes parents are simply told to come to the hospital, but what is going on with their child can’t be shared.  They don’t know if they are arriving to find a broken leg, or god forbid, their child in critical condition.

What happens if your child has an allergy, takes medication, or suffers from a condition that an emergency responder doesn’t know about.  Or there is a decision to be made as to how to treat your child.  All of this information can be critical to provide efficient, effective and timely care in an emergency.

What do parents need to do?

So what do we do?  Most importantly we need to have each of our children, upon turning 18, sign a Health Care Proxy and Power of Attorney giving permission for us to speak on their behalf and participate in care decisions with doctors.

The next challenge is to make sure that those documents are available if they are ever needed.

FootprintID can provide a solution to the challenges outlined above and assist in closing the gap that exists in the sharing of health information.

All of one’s medical information and health history, including documents such as POA and Health Care Proxies can be stored in one HIPAA compliant location.  It is then immediately accessible to parents, the child, health care providers and emergency personnel.  The information can be retrieved via web portal, smartphone app or our 24 hour call center.

Here is a link to a video that easily explains this service and how it can be beneficial to you, and your child as they head off to college.

Why FootprintID Video

The college experience is made up of many components.  Academics are primary, but also learning to manage one’s finances, health, social experiences, life is crucial to the maturation process that takes place during these years.  If we can keep our children safer by knowing their medical information is on hand and allowing us to participate in their care, at the same time that they learn to manage their own health experiences, everybody wins.  As parents it would certainly help us sleep better at night.

Essays are the mainstay of scholarship applications, and being able to write essays that stand out and woo the reader are key to winning scholarships. Scholarship essays aren’t the typical English class essay, though. You don’t get a grade based on your work, there are no good efforts in scholarship writing; you either get the scholarship or you don’t. So, to help you be more knowledgeable and more prepared for writing scholarship essays, we’ve composed some tips that you should know before writing your scholarship essays.

Use the Correct Format

Using the correct format for your essay is crucial to having a chance at getting accepted. If your format isn’t correct, your essay may simply be rejected without being read, so it is very important that you both know what format to use and that you follow it. By default, you should follow MLA format – that is, use 12 point font, double spaced, one inch margins, Times New Roman, etc. Only if a different format is required should you not follow MLA standards.   

Know Your Audience

Research the sponsor for every scholarship essay you are writing. If you know about the sponsor, you can tailor your essay, that way you look like a better candidate for their scholarship and are more likely to be accepted. Knowing nothing about the organization leads to a genericsounding essay, which will make the reader feel less connected to you and more like you don’t care that much. Research the sponsor, use that information when planning your essay, and make them feel like you’re the perfect candidate for their scholarship.   

Outline Your Essay

Outline your essay before you start writing! This is very important for writing a well-planned, concise essay, which is exactly what you want. What you don’t want is for the reader to think that your writing is all-over-the-place and unorganized. That doesn’t make for a good impression or a winning essay, so you need to plan out your essay beforehand. This includes writing a thesis – which is the topic sentence for your entire essay – and detailing each of the main points that you will be developing to support your thesis. Not only will this help you to organize your essay, but it will make writing the essay seem less daunting. Coming up with a thesis and supporting points is the hardest part about writing any essay, so get it done and the rest will come. 

Proofread Your Essay 

This one should be obvious, but is necessary to include nonetheless. It is absolutely necessary that you have no spelling mistakes whatsoever in your essay. It needs to sound fluent and be without grammatical errors as well. This will help demonstrate to the reader that you are a skilled writer and have some merit in your writing abilities. Luckily, there are software programs, like Write!, that help you not only write the essay but also count the words and spell check them in any chosen language. 

Make Your Writing Authentic

If you really want to connect with the reader – and you do – you need to make your writing sound authentic. The feeling of authenticity is created when you write your essay using real life experiences and by using emotional diction, that way you sound like a real person telling a story, not an emotionless robot. You should write a new essay for every scholarship application; do not write a single, generic essay and then turn that in to multiple organizations. This is a perfect way to sound unauthentic, which makes the reader feel like you don’t care. It also means that your writing won’t be tailored to the organization. 

Read Example Essays

This tip may seem less obvious, and like something you’re more likely to blow off, but you really should read other scholarship essays. This is like studying for a test, or watching plays in sports to try for yourself. Finding and reading good scholarship essays will show you what you need to do to impress the reader, and sound like you really know your stuff and are deserving. Just make sure that the essays you’re studying from are good essays – you wouldn’t want to study from losing essays.

The team at Diploma Frames have kindly shared their insights into how best to prepare for College, enjoy!

If you’re close to finishing your senior year, all sorts of questions will be running through your mind right now. One might be: ‘have I really made the most of my last year?’, while another could be: ‘have I put the right steps in place to be successful at college?’

Whatever your concerns, we have them wrapped up here in our blog. It’s important you enjoy your senior year and all the exciting times it might bring with it, but it’s also a time of realization: realization that you’re no longer a child and you must therefore step tentatively into adulthood. Are you ready for it? With our checklist, you will be…

Put Plans in Place

So you’ve planned what to wear on your graduation day, but have you thought even further ahead? What could you be doing now, for example, that will help you when college finishes and it’s time to get a job? Put some steps in place now; seek out a good mentor and discover what it takes to get your foot in the door regarding an exciting new internship. Alternatively, speak to the people who are doing the job you want. That way, you’ll have a clear plan of action in mind when college finishes and real life begins.

Order Your Essential Graduation Kit 

Graduation day takes a lot of planning, too; don’t leave it to the last minute. Have you ordered your cap and gown? And what about thank you cards and other essentials for the day? Maybe you’re thinking of throwing a post-graduation party? Get organized and buy everything you need now – you’ll give yourself a pat on the back later. Graduation’s one of the biggest days of your life, so allow for a little sentimentality to seep into the day itself. Have you thought about a fun way you can preserve your memories of the event, for example? Diploma frames are a great idea and can be cherished forever.

Don’t Forget Thank-Yous

Alongside ordering your cap and gown, have you considered what you might need later down the line? It might be a nice idea to thank tutors and course mentors or those who wrote recommendations with a nice card or gesture for their help getting you through the course. At the very least you’ll be ensuring they have a good day (everyone enjoys a little bit of praise), but who knows how it may help in the long-run; they may be able to connect you with a future employer, for example.

Work On Your Resume

You may already have put hours into perfecting your high school resume, but be aware that it’ll need tweaking when you apply for a new job or internship. A list of academics and accomplishments aren’t standard content on an employment resume. Instead, look at the job description carefully and consider what your prospective employer is looking for and tweak your resume to meet the requirements.

Clean Up Your Social Media Profiles

Did you know that most employers check candidates’ social media profiles before – or maybe even after – the interview process? One of the best things you can do before you close out your senior year, then, is take a good look through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Google+ and remove anything that’s not going to give the right impression to any company you hope to work for or apply for an internship. If you don’t want to do that, make your profile private – and keep it that way. It’s surprising how what you deemed were fairly harmless photos or status updates can actually hinder you in your job search. 

Do you have any tips of your own for ensuring your senior year is successful?

I am so excited to introduce Beyond Brilliance, a new book by four UC Berkeley students about how we learn and how we can do it better. You can get the ebook free or purchase a hard copy and receive a full refund if you read it and write an honest review proving you read the book. That’s a win/win for all students. Parents will love the book too! 

I sat down with Lucas Miller, the ambitious author behind the project, to learn more. Here’s a short excerpt from our conversation.

Q. Can you briefly explain the premise of Beyond Brilliance?

Lucas: Sure, the basic idea is that we were all lied to in school. We were taught harmful myths about intelligence and how our brains work that limit many of us from accessing our full potential. We were taught what to learn, but never how. The truth is, getting top grades and becoming an efficient learner is a skill that anyone can cultivate. You don’t need to be naturally “brilliant”, or pull all-nighters, or sacrifice your social life, or even give up the gym to do well in school. What you really need to do is learn how learning actually works. Then, you can use that skill to get better at anything you like.

Q. There are so many books out there. Why should someone read yours?

Lucas: Most books for students give you the same old advice: work hard, take detailed notes, use a planner, yadda yadda. Beyond Brilliance takes a brand-new approach. Chapters are 1-3 pages, illustrated, and filled with clear takeaways backed by neuroscience. In a weekend, you’ll be able to glean the main insights from about fifty books and even more papers and distill them into a body of knowledge that will change how you learn forever.

Q. Who do you want reading it?

Lucas: Engineering majors at MIT, C students, victims of tracking and standardized testing, graduate students who don’t want to starve anymore, workers taking online classes on the side, and parents whose children are either falling behind or trying to skyrocket to the top of the class. Really anyone who likes learning and wants to get better at it.

Q. What are five things students can do to immediately become better learners?

Lucas:

1. Ditch rereading in favor of self-testing (familiarity with the material is not the same as actual understanding)
2. Study concepts by explaining them out loud
3. Learn throughout the semester, not just when exams hit (spacing out your review builds a much stronger foundation)
4. Exercise a little every day (this is massively underemphasized)
5. Get nine hours of sleep (all the magic happens at night)

Q. What is the biggest difference you see between excellent learners and average ones?

Lucas: The best students stick to their word. When they say they are going to study, they actually study. When they show up to do a problem set, they actually do the problem set. And when they sit down with a cup of coffee to write, they actually write. No email, no Buzzfeed, just work. And then when they’re done, they’re done.

Q. What are some tools you recommend for studying and scheduling?

Lucas: Evernote for taking and storing notes. Google Docs for team projects. Google Calendar and Trello for planning appointments and tasks. The Pomodoro technique for building rewards into your study schedule.

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Lucas Miller is a Phi Beta Kappa, Leadership Scholar, and senior in the top 1.5% of students at the University of California, Berkeley. After spending three semesters in engineering, he now studies cognitive science and entrepreneurship and has served as a mentor for multiple undergraduate courses. He also conducts research in memory and performance psychology. Learning, teaching, and sharing ideas are by far his greatest passions. Check out the Beyond Brilliance website here.

We always use the word “ethical” if we want to describe something what is right, made or done according to rules and involves some moral values. Why then should we refer plagiarism to ethical issues too? Let us specify what plagiarism is. There are several activities that are referred to the notion: substantial copy-paste, intentional paraphrasing, use of one’s ideas representing them as your own ones, avoidance of crediting the source etc. All these actions are immoral and can be considered to be a violation of widely accepted ethical rules, consequently, plagiarism is one of the main ethical issues nowadays. At the same time, there are such cases that can’t be called unethical. Think only about self-plagiarism or accidental one: these issues can be hardly called intentional, so plagiarism remains a rather controversial term.

Gray areas or inability to give a definite answer

Is it always possible to answer the question: is it plagiarized? Despite the number of various software like Noplag.com Plagiarism Checker, for example, it is always difficult to give the only right answer to this question. The standards of plagiarism depend on many different points: this might be a genre of writing, the field of writing (lawyers are allowed to copy some pieces into their speeches, while politicians are not), a person, who has written the text (a school graduate or an experienced philologist) etc. Many people will admit that some of these cases can’t be called unethical, but in reality, everything must be decided only in the court. And if the situation is recognized to be a fraud or even a crime, the punishment will be rather severe. On the other side, plagiarism does not belong to the list of crimes and copyright does not cover all the misdeeds that are regarded to be this illegal activity. That is why it is extremely important to draw a line between what plagiarism is and where its ethical boundaries are located. Let us look at the gray areas of this notion that despite being extremely controversial are not considered to be plagiarized:

• Self-plagiarism: a situation, when a writer uses his thought or statement, which has already been published in the different source, in his next text. It is impossible to convict the writer as it is his own idea, but it is always advisable to recycle the content.

• Patchwriting: composing a text of passages from various sources. It can be called a unique style of writing, though it can’t be called an original piece of writing.

• Paraphrasing: rewriting some piece using your own words. Though this point has some connection with stealing ideas or viewpoints, all of us are taught to paraphrase at schools, so consequently, it might be called a criminal activity.

• Allusion: offering another source as an example is a very tricky thing, but it is also a good way to clear off the accusations of plagiarism.

• Ghostwriting: the process of creating some content under the another author’s name can’t be called plagiarism too as you still create something new even calling yourself a different person.

• Collaborative writing: if a book or article has several authors, it does not mean that all of them are credited the same and each of these representatives can pull a suitable part from other works.

All these issues can’t be evaluated only as completely right or completely wrong ones, so our relation to them is the only right answer for us personally.

How to spot plagiarizing

There are several indicators to help you to recognize a plagiarist:

• Intentional omission of citations and references;

• Figures of a completely different style than previous ones;

• Very old researches and information according to which there have been no other ones conducted recently;

• Sentences are not connected by content;

• Abrupt changes of writing style etc.

At the same time, the best thing that may help you to spot plagiarizing is a free online checker such as Noplag.com, for example. It will show you all the parts that were copied from other writers or intentionally paraphrased. By checking each your text your moral state will be always perfect and you will never suffer from self-reproach.

Plagiarism: ethics of stealing

In any case, if you make intentional efforts to use one’s work, idea or statement and avoid citing it, this action can be considered a literary theft. You commit an immoral illegal crime, which is known to everyone as a theft. Each original work is protected by copyright laws and violating intellectual property you commit a crime. As a result, if to speak about ethics, you must realize that plagiarism is the ethics of stealing and it may result in not very good consequences both for a plagiarist and the author of the original text.

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Today’s guest post is from Lesia Kovtun. Lesia is an ex English teacher who helps parents/students and organizations with educational planning. I am a tech savvy, who loves education and technology, that makes studying process more convenient and collaborative. Currently working with Noplag.com team as a consultant.

The average American student attends school 180 days each year. Multiply that by 12 years and, by the time you graduate, you get 2,160 compulsory school days. You would think after all that reading, writing, studying, test-taking, and amassing of extracurricular and civic engagements that writing a college admissions essay would be a breeze. For many, however, that could not be further from the truth.

Somewhere around seventh grade, American schools tend to shift from an emphasis on narrative and descriptive writing to expository and persuasive writing.   As the vast majority of college/university admissions departments favor narrative and descriptive essays, this creates an unfortunate situation for many college applicants.  Even advanced high school writers may find the college admissions essay difficult to write.

Here are the 10 most important writing tips I’ve gained from my years of experience helping students write admission-worthy essay. Follow them and you will be well on your way to writing the kind of essays that transport admissions officers to a time and place showered in such detail it is as if they have been personally invited into the past to experience your life first hand.

1. Write in the Right Style

The first writing tip I want to share is to select the right writing style for your admissions essay. The vast majority of college admissions essays are personal narrative and memoir. Both draw upon real-life experiences to tell true stories in a fictionalized style that includes characters, plot, conflict, setting, and theme.

Personal narrative relays the storyteller’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences on a certain event. Memoir focuses on one particular moment or series of moments, centered around a theme and usually drawing certain conclusions. In personal narrative and memoir, you are both the storyteller and the main character.

2. Know Your Voice, Use Your Voice

When we talk about voice as it relates to writing, we are talking about a combination of word choice, syntax, diction, character development, dialogue, etc. Given the importance of the college admissions essay, students tend to look for a different, more desirable voice. Don’t do this. Admissions essays are not about how smart, funny, or distinguished you sound. They are an invitation for you to authentically bear witness to who you used to be and to how you got to be who you are now.

Whatever voice you have been using up to this point is your authentic voice. Use it. Also be mindful that, unlike the spoken word, the written word is unable to convey inflection, body language, facial expressions, etc. This awareness is critical; for most of us, the college admissions essay is our first experience writing for someone completely unknown to us.

3. First Write How You Speak, Then Edit

Often our speaking, texting, and social media “voice” differs from our academic or traditional writing style. We use this voice more than we write, so this voice tends to be our dominate, authentic, more honest, and less censored representation of ourselves. The first step of personal narrative and memoir style writing is to get your thoughts –in your authentic voice– on paper without edits from your internal academic writer. In other words, let your speaking, texting, and social media voice share your story.

This is just the first step since, for most of us, this voice in written form often presents as scattered, repetitive, fragmentary, and long-winded, qualities which can easily tank an admissions essay, even one with a highly compelling subject. The best way to showcase your authentic voice while avoiding these pitfalls is to begin by writing at least two drafts long-hand with little emphasis on punctuation and grammar.

4. Make Every Word Count

Not all words have to make a reader’s hair stand on end. Each word should contribute, not distract. Words and phrases that rarely contribute include:  like, really, just, you know, and, actually, I guess, also, that, I mean, a lot, kind of. Not sure whether a word or phrase contributes or distracts?  Read the sentence aloud without the word. Avoid five-dollar words when a fifty cent one will do.

If admissions officers are reading your essays, you have already passed the smart enough test. Personal narrative and memoir style writing uses words to create images in the reader’s mind and to engage them. To achieve this, use descriptive words and sensory imagery when describing your characters and setting. Try replacing emotional qualifiers, such as angry, overjoyed, fearless, tender, devastated, etc., with brief action-reaction event descriptions that create the context for that emotion.

Remember, your goal here is to transport the admissions officers to a time and place showered in such vivid detail that it is as if you have personally invited them into your past to experience, to experience your life first hand.

5. Don’t Forget the Middle

Everyone knows strong openings and closings are critical when constructing admission-worthy essays. Far too many people forget the middle is just as important. Unlike your high school English teacher, admissions officers are under no obligation to finish reading your essay.

Considering admissions officers’ hectic travel schedules and the sheer volume of essays to be read, there is a good chance that, if read, your essay will be read piecemeal over multiple sittings. If you are writing a 650-word essay, something compelling enough to keep the reader’s attention –or to make them want to return– needs to happen between 250 and 320 words.

6. Backstory

To effectively craft a personal narrative admissions essay you will need to provide a back story. In addition to offering setting and context, the backstory plays a critical role in determining the degree to which the reader feels invested in you and your narrative.

The problem arises when the back story becomes the story. If you find yourself unable to tell the story you want to tell absent a significant and overtaking back story, then tell a different story. While not the easiest method, a seamless way to introduce a backstory is to weave it into the story you are trying to tell. It is worth noting some of the most informative and compelling backstories have been told in one sentence.

7. Stay On Topic, Be Specific   

Admissions essays are not autobiographies, streams of consciousness, resumes, or opportunities to further address and/or explain that which can be contained in your application. They are also not invitations to reimagine what is being asked of you.

Most admissions essays ask you to describe, recount, explain, identify, or discuss an event, experience, time, or life lesson. Whichever you choose, begin by focusing on the specific details surrounding your story. Look for the stories within the story. If you find one, consider telling that story. Be specific, not only in the story you tell but how you tell it. Readers expect you to be as specific as you can usefully be. Watch out for generalities.

8. Don’t Oversell, Don’t Undersell

While admissions essays are the perfect place to brag about your accomplishments, don’t oversell. Only brag if it’s worth bragging about. Nobody cares if you served Thanksgiving dinner to the homeless. They care if you started a take home food pantry at your school, so kids didn’t have to go hungry over the weekend.

Admissions essays are also not the place to undersell. If it took two years and a sit-in to start a Gay/Straight Alliance at your school, make sure that you include that detail, not simply that you started a GSA.

9. Tell on Yourself

One of the biggest mistakes students make is to try and craft essays which show only their best qualities. Colleges and universities are not looking for perfect people. They are looking for authentic people. Authentic people are flawed people. Some of our most compelling stories are the ones that open with showing us in less than favorable light.

Throw in your lessons learned or what you have done to repair past wrongs and redeem yourself, and you have the makings of a compelling redemption story. Admissions officers have read hundreds of stories from kids who were bullied. They are dying to read the reformed bully’s story.

10. Writing About Difficult Experiences

This last writing tip is a tough one. We’ve all had painful of experiences. Many of these experiences are difficult to talk about, let alone write about. However, sometimes, if there is time, distance, and healing between you and the experience, you can not only revisit the experience but also articulate it as an example of how even the most painful of experiences can be reclaimed, transformed, and accepted for what they are, the building blocks of our unique identities.

If you can do this, go for it. When done well, these types of narratives are the most impactful. Do remember you are seeking admission into a community for which the admissions officer is the gatekeeper. They need to know that, if admitted, not only will you be okay but your fellow students will be okay as well.

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Today’s guest post is from Chad Goller-Sojourner. Chad is a Seattle-based memoir and personal narrative essayist, solo-performer and founder of Bearing Witness: College Admissions Essay Writing Coaching he can be reached at www.bearingwitnessadmissions.com

This article is timely, considering all the discussion about Melania Trump’s speech at the Republican National Convention.

We always use the word “ethical” if we want to describe something that is right, made or done according to rules and involves some moral values. Why then should we refer plagiarism to ethical issues too? Let us specify what plagiarism is. There are several activities that are referred to the notion: substantial copy-paste, intentional paraphrasing, use of one’s ideas representing them as your own ones, avoidance of crediting the source etc. All these actions are immoral and can be considered to be a violation of widely accepted ethical rules, consequently, plagiarism is one of the main ethical issues nowadays. At the same time, there are such cases that can’t be called unethical. Think only about self-plagiarism or accidental one: these issues can be hardly called intentional, so plagiarism remains a rather controversial term.

Gray areas or inability to give a definite answer

Is it always possible to answer the question: is it plagiarized? Despite the number of various software like Noplag.com Plagiarism Checker, for example, it is always difficult to give the only right answer to this question. The standards of plagiarism depend on many different points: this might be a genre of writing, the field of writing (lawyers are allowed to copy some pieces into their speeches, while politicians are not), a person, who has written the text (a school graduate or an experienced philologist) etc. Many people will admit that some of these cases can’t be called unethical, but in reality, everything must be decided only in the court. And if the situation is recognized to be a fraud or even a crime, the punishment will be rather severe. On the other side, plagiarism does not belong to the list of crimes and copyright does not cover all the misdeeds that are regarded to be this illegal activity. That is why it is extremely important to draw a line between what plagiarism is and where its ethical boundaries are located. Let us look at the gray areas of this notion that despite being extremely controversial are not considered to be plagiarized:

1. Self-plagiarism: a situation, when a writer uses his thought or statement, which has already been published in the different source, in his next text. It is impossible to convict the writer as it is his own idea, but it is always advisable to recycle the content.
2. Patchwriting: composing a text of passages from various sources. It can be called a unique style of writing, though it can’t be called an original piece of writing.
3. Paraphrasing: rewriting some piece using your own words. Though this point has some connection with stealing ideas or viewpoints, all of us are taught to paraphrase at schools, so consequently, it might be called a criminal activity.
4. Allusion: offering another source as an example is a very tricky thing, but it is also a good way to clear off the accusations of plagiarism.
5. Ghostwriting: the process of creating some content under the another author’s name can’t be called plagiarism too as you still create something new even calling yourself a different person.
6. Collaborative writing: if a book or article has several authors, it does not mean that all of them are credited the same and each of these representatives can pull a suitable part from other works.

All these issues can’t be evaluated only as completely right or completely wrong ones, so our relation to them is the only right answer for us personally.

How to spot plagiarizing

There are several indicators to help you to recognize a plagiarist:

1. Intentional omission of citations and references;
2. Figures of a completely different style than previous ones;
3. Very old researches and information according to which there have been no other ones conducted recently;
4. Sentences are not connected by content;
5. Abrupt changes of writing style etc.

At the same time, the best thing that may help you to spot plagiarizing is a free online checker such as Noplag.com, for example. It will show you all the parts that were copied from other writers or intentionally paraphrased. By checking each your text your moral state will be always perfect and you will never suffer from self-reproach.

Plagiarism: ethics of stealing

In any case, if you make intentional efforts to use one’s work, idea or statement and avoid citing it, this action can be considered a literary theft. You commit an immoral illegal crime, which is known to everyone as a theft. Each original work is protected by copyright laws and violating intellectual property you commit a crime. As a result, if to speak about ethics, you must realize that plagiarism is the ethics of stealing and it may result in not very good consequences both for a plagiarist and the author of the original text.

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Lesia Kovtun is an ex English teacher who helps parents/students and organizations with educational planning. She is tech savvy, loves education and technology that makes studying process more convenient and collaborative. She currently works with Noplag.com team as a consultant.

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