English

English is not an easy language. There are words which may sound easy to pronounce, but are not! Mispronouncing English words is quite common among various people (even fluent native speakers!). This is quite a problem, which is enough to create a crease in your forehead.

Gather Information Regarding Basic English Skills and become proficient in the language and speak fluently with confidence. Try the Tips over here and Improve your English Writing and Speaking Skills.

The Most Commonly Mispronounced Words in English

From common words to specific brand names, we have been repeating mistakes over and over again. Words do not sound as we expect them to in this language. Do you know why? This is because English has its roots in multiple languages!

Some mistakes are quite evident and tiny, but others are tricky. But before we immediately jump to correcting the mistakes that we do, let’s go through some key terms associated with the correct pronunciation.

Non-Phonetic Words In English

There are numerous words in English, which have a different pronunciation from its spelling. These words are called non-phonetic words. The trick to grasp the pronunciation of such words is to memorize them simply.

Let us take an example so that it becomes easy to understand. One classic example of a non-phonetic word is the word said. This word, as the spelling indicates, should be pronounced as “Righted”. This word should also rhyme with the word paid. But it doesn’t. It rhymes with the word bed, although the spellings are entirely different! English is undoubtedly a funny language, right?

Here we present to you, the most commonly mispronounced words of this funny language. A few words have been highlighted in red. These words indicate the wrong pronunciation. This will make sure that you will remember the mistakes!

1. Dilate
Right: di-late

2. Status
Right: Stay-tus or Stah-tus

3. Colleague
Right: Koh-leeg

4. February
Right: Feb-roo-a-ree

5. Drowned
Right: Drownd

6. Bomb
Right: Bom

7. Prelude
Right: Pray-lood or Prel-yood

8. Valet
Right: Val-ay

9. Library
Right: Li-bra-ri

10. Crocodile
Right: Krok–uh-dahyl

11. Forte
Right: For-tay

12. Athlete
Right: Ath-leet

13. Buffet
Right: Buh-fey

14. Wednesday
Right: Wenz-day

15. Nuclear
Right: Nu-cle-ar

16. Accessory
Right: Ak-sess-or-y

Wrong: Ass-ess-or-y

17. Pronunciation
Right:Pro-nun-si-ay-shun

18. Kilometre
Right: Kill-ah-meh-tur or Kill-oh-mee-tur

19. Gala
Right: Gay-lah

20. Cucumber
Right: Kyoo-kuhm-ber

21. Applicable
Right: A-plic-able

22. Spherical
Right: Sferr-i-kal

Wrong: Sfeer-i-kal

23. Caramel
Right: Kah-ruh-mull or Kar-mull

24. Regime
Right: Ray-gime

Wrong: Ree-gee-mey

25. Joust
Right: J-oust

Wrong: Just

26. Either
Right: Ee-thur or Aye-thur

27. Drought
Right: Drout

28. Neither
Right: Nee-thur

Wrong: Ni-thur

29. Quasi
Right: Kway-zi or Kwah-zee

30. Hypocrisy
Right: Hi–pok-ruh-see

31. Lip– sync
Right: Lip- singk

32. Itinerary
Right: Ahy- tin- uh- rer- ee

33. Faux Pas
Right: Fohpah

34. Gauge
Right: Geyj

35. Cache
Right: Kash

36. Maniac
Right: Mey- nee- ak

37. Victual
Right: Vittle

38. Paradigm
Right: Par- uh- dahym

39. Scone
Right: Skoon

40. Pseudonym
Right: Sood- n- im

41. Genre
Right: Zhahn- ruh

42. Niche
Right: Nee-shey

Wrong: Ni-tche

43. Zebra
Right: Zeb-ra or Zee-bra

44. Hyperbole
Right: Hy- per- ba- lee

45. Minuscule
Right: Min-uh-skyool

46. Ingenuity
Right: In- juh- noo- i- tee

47. Clique
Right: Click

48. Quote
Right: Kwoht

49. Lingerie
Right: Law-jh’ree

50. Antarctic
Right: Ant-arc-tic

Wrong: Ant-ar-tic

51. Marijuana
Right: Mar-uh-wah-nuh

52. Sauna
Right: Saw-na or Sow-na

53. Clothes
Right: Klothz

54. Women
Right: Wih-men

55. Cavalry
Right: Kav-ul-ry

56. Et cetera
Right: Et-set-er-a

57. Heart
Right: Haa-rt

Wrong: Hurt

58. Federal
Right: Fed-er-al

59. Alzheimer’s
Right: Ahlts-hahy-merz

60. Foliage
Right: Fo-li-uj

61. Prescription
Right: Pre-cip-i-ta-shun

62. Refrigerator
Right: Ri-frij-uh-rey-ter’

63. Kayak
Right: Kye-yak

64. Provolone
Right: Pro-vo-lo-nay

65. April
Right: Ey-pruhl

66. Boutique
Right: Boo-teek

67. Suite
Right: Sweet

68. Halloween
Right: Hal-o-ween

Wrong: Hol-lo-ween

69. Echelon
Right: Esh–uh-lon

70. Heinous
Right: Hey-nuh-s

71. Horizon
Right: Huh–rahy-zuhn

72. Entrepreneur
Right: Ahn-truh-pruh-nur

73. Insouciant
Right: In-soo-see-ant

74. Impropriety
Right: Im-pruh–prahy-i-tee

75. Divorce
Right: Dih- vawrs

76. Perspire
Right: per-spire

77. Tuition
Right: Too-ish-uh-n

78. Asterisk
Right: Ass-ter-isk

79. Turquoise
Right: Tur-koiz

80. Tortillas
Right: Tohr-tee-yahs

81. Bury
Right: Ber-ee

82. Mayonnaise
Right: May-on-naise

83. Nazi
Right: Naht-see

84. Sponge
Right: Spuhnj

85. Ticket
Right: Tik-it

86. Salmon
Right: Sam-uh-n

87. Chenille
Right: Shuh-neel

88. Develop
Right: Dih-vel-up

89. Attaché
Right: Uh-tash-ey

90. Position
Right: Puh-zish-uhn

91. Synonymous
Right: Si-non–uh-muh s

92. Salon
Right: Sa-lawn

93. Flour
Right: Flou- er

94. Cocoa
Right: Koh-koh

95. Arctic
Right: Arc-tic

96. Percolate
Right: Perc-o-late

97. Especially
Right: I-spesh-uh-lee

98. Parole
Right: Puh–rohl

99. Nominee
Right: Nom-uh–nee

100. Poem
Right: Poe-um

101. Debris
Right: De-bree

102. Epitome
Right: Ih- pit- uh- mee

103. Coupon
Right: Koo-pon

104. Debut
Right: Dey-byoo

105. Estate
Right: I-steyt

106. Silicon
Right: Sil-i-kuh n

107. Monk
Right: Munk

108. Bass
Right: Base

109. Data
Right: Day-ta

110. Nuptial
Right: Nup-shul

111. Often
Right: off-en

112. Social
Right: Soh-shuhl

113. Plenitude
Right: Plen-i-tude

114. Ticklish
Right: Tik-lish

115. Triathlon
Right: tri-ath-lon

116. Abalone
Right: Ab-uh-loh-nee

Wrong: Ah-boh-lohn

117. Albeit
Right: Awl-bee-it

118. Almond
Right: Ah-mund

119. Meme
Right: Meem

120. Dengue
Right: Deng-ee

121. Tomb
Right: Toom

122. Asthma
Right: Az-ma

123. Bowl
Right: bol

124. Repetitive
Right: ri–pet-i-tiv

125. Police
Right: Puh-leece

126. Vineyard
Right: Vin-yard

127. Coup
Right: Koo

128. Miniature
Right: Min-ee-uh-cher

129. Calendar
Right: Kal-uhn-duh

130. Complete
Right: Kuhm-pleet

131. Menstruation
Right: Men-stroo-a-shun

132. Pathetic
Right: Puh–thet-ik

133. Rendezvous
Right: Rahn-duh-vooa

134. Renaissance
Right: ren-uh–sahns

135. Menu
Right: Men-yu

136. Periphery
Right: Puh–rif–uh-ree

137. Syllable
Right: Sil–uh-buhl

138. Gnaw
Right: naw

139. Sour
Right: Sower

140. Yolk
Right: yohk

141. Vegetable
Right: Vej-tuh-buhl

142. Extempore
Right: Ekstem-pere

143. Resume
Right: Reh-zu-may

144. Poignant
Right: Poi-nyant

145. Mojito
Right: Mo-hee-toh

146. Violin
Right: Va-yuh-lin

147. Japanese
Right: Jap-uh-neez

148. Technology
Right: Tek-nol–uh-jee

149. Schizophrenia
Right: Skit-suh–free-nee-uh

150. Pyramid
Right: Pir–uh-mid

151. Pharmacy
Right: Fahr-muh-see

152. Sword
Right: Sawrd

153. Answer
Right: Anser
154. Committee
Right: Kuh-mit-ee

155. Plumber
Right: Plum-er

156. Height
Right: Hite

Wrong: Hith

157. Mischievous
Right: Mis-chuh-vuhs

158. Picture
Right: Pic-shur

159. Precipitation
Right: Pre-cip-i-ta-shun

160. Triathlon
Right: Tri-ath-lon

161. Vehicle
Right: Vi-ekle

162. Monotony
Right: Muh–not-n-ee

163. Wintry
Right: Win-try

164. Monotony
Right: Muh–not-n-ee

Place Names:

175. Worcester (England)
Right: Woos-ter

Wrong: Wor-ches-ter

176. Bangkok (Thailand)
Right: Bahng-gawk

Wrong: Bang-kok

177. Budapest
Right: Boo-da-pesht

Wrong: Boo-da-pest

178. Melbourne (Australia)
Right: Melb’n’

Wrong: Mel-Born

179. Brisbane (Australia)
Right: Bris’bn’

Wrong: Bris-bayne

180. Lafayetter (USA)
Right: Laff-ee-yet

Wrong: Lah-fey-et

181. Beijing (China)
Right: Bey-jing

Wrong: Bay-zhhing

182. Phuket (Thailand)
Right: Poo-get

Wrong: Ffoo-kit or Fuh-ket

183. Colombia
Right: Co-lohm-bee-a

Wrong: Co-lum-bee-a

184. Reykjavik (Iceland)
Right: Rey-kya-vik

Wrong: Rake-ja-vik

185. Dubai (UAE)
Right: Du-bay

Wrong: Doo-bye

186. Qatar
Right: Kuh-ter

Wrong: Kah-tar

187. Norfolk
Right: Naw-fock

188. Appalachian
Right: Appa-latchan

189. Yosemite Park (USA)
Right: Yoh-sem-it-ee

Wrong: Yo-se-might

190. Versailles (France)
Right: Ver-sye

Wrong: Ver-Rightlz

191. Morocco
Right: Muh–rok-oh

192. Iraq
Right: Ee-rock

Wrong: Eye-rack

193. Niger
Right: Nee-zhair

Wrong: Nye-jer

194. Boise
Right: Boy-see

195. Montreal (Canada)
Right: Mun-tree-all

Wrong: Mon-tree-all

196. Toronto
Right: Tuh–ron-toh

197. Kissimmee (USA)
Right: Ka-sim-mee

Wrong: Kiss-a-mee

198. Worcestershire, UK
Right: Wusta-sheer

Wrong: Wor-chester-shyr

199. Thames, UK
Right: Tems

Wrong: Thay-mes

Food Names:
200. Bruschetta
Right: Brus-sket-a

201. Croissant
Right: Kwa-sahn

202. Liqueur
Right: Lick-Err

203. Espresso
Right: Es-press-o

Wrong: Ex-pres-so

204. Bouillon
Right: Bool-yen or Bool-yon

205. Mascarpone
Right: Mas-car-Poh-neh or Mas-car-Poh-nay

206. Gnocchi
Right: Nyak-kee

Wrong: Gno-chi

207. Chipotle
Right: Chi-poht-ley

208. Fillet
Right: Fih-lay

209. Jalapeño
Right: Hah-luh-peyn-yoh

210. Cumin
Right: Coo-min, Kyoo-min or Cuh-min

211. Moussaka
Right: Moo-sah-Kah

212. Quinoa
Right: Keen-wah

213. Gyro
Right: Yee-roh

214. Caipirinha
Right: Kai-pee-reen-ya

215. Guanciale
Right: Wahn-chall-eh

216. Quesadilla
Right: Key-suh-dee-uh

217. Hummus
Right: hoom-us

218. Foie gras
Right: Fwahgrah

219. Bouillabaisse
Right: Boo-ya-bes

220. Sherbet
Right: sher-bet

221. Pizza
Right: Peet-zuh

222. Parmesan
Right: Pahr-muh-zahn

223. Pasta
Right: Pah-stuh

224. Caramel
Right: Kar-ah-mehl

Brands And Companies:

225. IKEA
Right: Ih-key-yah

226. Hyundai
Right: Hun-day

Wrong: hi-un-dye

227. Nike
Right: Ni-key

Wrong: Nyke

228. Givenchy
Right: Zhee-von-she

229. Volkswagen
Right: Vo-ksvar-gun

230. Lamborghini
Right: Lam-bor-gee-nee

231. Porsche
Right: Por-shaa

232. Del Monte
Right: Del-mon-tay

233. Huawei
Right: Wah-way

234. Xiaomi
Right: Shio-me

235. Asus
Right: A-seuss

Wrong: A-soos

236. Samsung
Right: Sam-song

237. Amazon
Right: Ama-zun

Wrong: Ama-zohn

238. Avon
Right: A-one

239. VanHeusen
Right: Van-hew-son

240. Schwarzkopf
Right: Shwartz-kof

241. Gucci
Right: Goo-chee

242. Christian Dior
Right: Kris-cheen Dee-or

243. Louis Vuitton
Right: Loo-ee We-taahn

244. Adobe
Right: Ah-doh-bee

Do you have a knack of forgetting things after an interval of time? Do you forget things you learn? Well, I know the answer will be yes. So, this happens with almost all of us that we sometimes forget the things we learn or memorize after a certain while. In today’s world with a busy schedule, we have to remember a lot of things, and at times it becomes difficult for us to keep them in our memory for a relatively long time. This forgetfulness has become a habit of many people. What if I say that I have a way to solve the problem of Forgetfulness. So, here in this article, we will provide you with the best method to solve the problem of forgetfulness.

Gather Information Regarding Basic English Skills and become proficient in the language and speak fluently with confidence. Try the Tips over here and Improve your English Writing and Speaking Skills.

What Is Spaced Repetition?

Suppose we learn something new, and we only remember a fraction of it and the rest is forgotten. Studies show that a student forgets 90% of what he/she studies in a class of 30 days. This forgetfulness generally starts within a few hours of the first class. The only way to sharpen your memory to retain things for a more extended period is through spaced repetition. Spaced repetition is a process where when you learn certain new things, and you repeat the memorizing of those things after an interval of time. Suppose you learn a new chapter, you again repeat it the next day and then after a long duration say one week and then again you repeat the memorizing after an even longer duration, say one month. And this Process of recalling what you learnt after a time gap is called spaced repetition.

When you try to learn or review something after a day, then after a week and again after a more extended period, you remember more of it. This spaced repetition can help you increase your power of remembrance. If you want the spaced repetition to work, you have to recall what you have learnt before not just open the book and start learning again.

Spaced repetition is an advanced learning technique which is used to when a learner has to remember many things at a time. Spaced repetition uses flashcards to help a person learn and memorize faster.

If you think repeated learning of the same stuff is a waste of time, then you are wrong. If repeatedly recall what you have learnt at an increased interval of time, you may retain more of what you have learnt. It will also help you increase your retaining power.

Spaced repetition works when you recall at an increased interval. Suppose if you learn something new, recall after one day then after one week and then after one month. But if you recall after one day but I don’t recall again after one week then you will forget everything that you have learnt. The repeated recalling and the long intervals may seem quite unsettling. But you need not worry because you can decide how many times you want to recall. And you can even change the interval between the recalls as suitable for you.

Spaced Repetition In Daily Life

We use spaced repetition in our day to day works such as we remember the phone numbers of the people we call regularly. We remember our bank account number, which is almost ten to eleven digits. We remember our grocery list easily. We remember the password of our phones. This all is because of spaced repetition.

Have you ever thought about how some people, including yourself, can recall certain numbers such as bank account numbers or mobile phone numbers very easily and quickly even though you haven’t used them for a long while. This is because of spaced repetition. We might be unaware of it, but we use spaced repetition when we login into our social media accounts or call someone. Even though we don’t use them for a longer duration still, our brain retains those passwords and numbers because of spaced repetition.

How Spaced Repetition Works

No one till date exactly knows how spaced repetition works, but there are certain factors that prove that spaced repetition is useful, and those factors are:

• Learning and Forgetting are Linked Together: When we learn something new and recall it just when we are at the verge of forgetting it, our brain forces our memory to recall the things again and add new details to it. This is the reason why practice papers and teaching others help the students in remembering more what they have learnt.

• Our Brains Give More Importance To Repeated Information: This is a very general thing, If we recall something on a regular basis we will remember it for a longer duration than things which we learn or see only once. Despite the fact that any information be it easy or difficult, we always recall the information that we need on a regular basis. This is because of spaced repetition, and our brains give importance to that information which we recall almost daily.

Steps Involved In Spaced Repetition

An effective spaced repetition has the following steps involved in it:

• Review The Notes: Make sure you review your notes within 20-24 hours of the initial learning. During this recall process, try not to look into the notes. Instead, try to recall what you have learnt. Always keep in mind that you have to recall the notes and not re-read them.
• Recall For The First Time: After you have successfully reviewed the notes, try recalling them for the first time. During this recall process, try not to look to the notes. Try recalling the notes while walking, sitting or before going to sleep.
• Recall The Notes Again: After the first recall, keep on recalling the notes again and again at an interval of 24-36 hours. This time the recalls won’t have to be lengthy ones a short and brief recall will do.
• Study The Notes All Over Again: Once you are done with the above steps, wait for time to pass. Again after a week or two, take the notes out and study them entirely all over again. During this, try to observe how much of the notes you can recall.

So, these are the steps that once can follow for an effective spaced repetition.

Uses of Spaced Repetition

Spaced Repetitio can be used in our day to day life. We can use spaced repetition in studies, or while practising pronunciation, we can also use spaced repetition in increasing our vocabulary. Here I have mentioned some of the most important applications of spaced repetition;

• Pronunciation Practice: One can use spaced repetition while practising to correct his/her pronunciation. While practising pronunciation, one can add words to his/her list and try recalling them at increased intervals. When you practise the words in your list for 2-3 times at irregular intervals, you will observe that you can pronounce almost 90% of the words in your list and that too with 95% accuracy.

• Vocabulary: Increasing vocabulary in English is challenging. It is considered more difficult than correcting pronunciation. But with the help of effective spaced repetition, one can easily increase his/her vocabulary.

• Reading: We can also adopt spaced repetition while reading novels or storybooks. I adopt spaced repetition while reading books. What I usually do is when I read a book, I highlight stuff that I like. Then next, I would go through the lines that I have highlighted for 2-3 times at an interval of 2-3 days. This helps me retain my favourite lines more quickly.

If used correctly, spaced repetition can be of great help. An effective spaced repetition can help you retain your favourite lines from a book or your study materials and much other stuff.

Conclusion

As we read in the above article, how spaced repetition can be beneficial in our daily life. Spaced repetition technique is a boon for humankind. It helps us to increase our memorizing power, and it also helps us in retaining most of the stuff that we read. At last, I would like to say that with the help of spaced repetition, we can do many things such as increase our vocabulary, correct our pronunciation and most importantly increase our remembering power.

Ever got stuck on multiple-choice questions in an exam where you were not sure regarding the answer? Or, you had to dash through the last few questions due to lack of time time.

When faced with such circumstances, the best you can do is eliminate as many options as possible and make a knowledgeable guess.

Gather Information Regarding Basic English Skills and become proficient in the language and speak fluently with confidence. Try the Tips over here and Improve your English Writing and Speaking Skills.

Secrets to Taking Multiple Choice Tests

An educated guess!

Yes, that’s one of the striking multiple-choice test-taking strategies top students follow.

But, are you making knowledgeable guesses?

Or, are you just randomly selecting one of the remaining after eliminating the other options you can?

Here are the given hacks, or you may call them test-taking strategies, for multiple-choice tests – some of them used by myself over the years of experience– you can use it to smart-guess. These strategies are supported by global data, too, which has been drawn by William Poundstone. (He munched statistics on a sample of 100 tests – 34 from schools and colleges and 66 from other vivid sources, consisting of 2,456 multiple-choice questions. These tests comprise middle school, high school, college, professional school exams, driver’s practice tests, US Naturalization Self Test, newspaper quizzes, and many more.)

Without further fuss, here are six hacks you can use when taking multiple-choice tests:

1. How to Guess Answers to true-false Questions?

In true-false tests, accurate (T) answers are more common than false (F): according to Poundstone’s analysis, on average, 56% of answers are T and 44% F.

It’s not hard to see why. Factual statements come to our mind naturally, and hence with less effort, but we need to make up false statements, which needs more effort? No wonder more T answers seep into question papers, as test makers unwittingly take the path of least reluctance.

Another design in true-false tests: two same responses (TT or FF) in a row are less likely than two different responses (TF or FT).

To give an instance from Poundstone’s book, the answer key to 21 questions from textbooks like Plummer, McGeary, Carlson’s Physical Geology, ninth edition)

has:

F T F F T T F T T F T T F T T T F T T F

At first glance, the answers seem to be randomly distributed.

But they aren’t.

In this sequence, two successive responses are the same seven times out of nineteen (the twentieth answer has no successor). The chance that the immediate next answer will be different from the present one is 63% (12/ 19), which is higher than the expected 50% if it was completely random.

Check it out for any test. You’ll find it to be confirmed on most events.

Example

Let’s understand how to work on these two hacks through a hypothetical test with few true-false statements.

Step 1: As always said, first mark the answers you already know. Let’s say you are aware of the answers to questions 3, 5, 6, 8, and 10.

Step 2: Now, let’s come to the questions where you’re clueless. First, pick those whose both the immediate responses are the same (either both are T or F) and choose the opposite of that as the answer. Here, question 7 has its immediate answers T, so pick F as the answer for 7.

Step 3: When preceding and conquering answers are different, pick T as your next response because T is preferable to F. So, we choose T for both 4 and 9.

Step 4: You are now left with the first two questions. Here, True-False will be the best answer, as it’ll form a non-repeating pattern.

2. How to guess answers to multiple-choice questions?

Through his data, Poundstone found the following statistics in case of the multiple-choice questions:

• On tests with the other three choices (say, A, B, and C), all the options were likely to be alright.
• On tests with the other four choices (say, A, B, C, and D), B was slightly more likely to be accurate (28%). Remember, the expected likelihood of every option being correct is 35%.
• And on tests with five distinct choices (say, A, B, C, D, and E), E was the most commonly accurate answer (23%). C was the least (17%). In this case, the expected preference for each option being correct is 20%.

As the number of options increases, the bias toward a particular answer hikes up. To cite Poundstone, “This is in line with experimental findings that the standard of randomizing declines as the number of options hikes up.”

So, B and E are preferred guesses in a 4-option and 5-option multiple-choice tests, respectively, than choosing the middle answer, a typical guess hack, or a random guess.

Like in the case of true-false, here too, Poundstone’s analysis showed that the answers in multiple-choice tests are less likely (than a completely random one) to repeat the previous answer.

He found that the accurate choice repeated the previous answer only on 29% occasions against an expected 33% for three-choice tests. For four-option, 19% (against an expected 25%). And for five-option, 18% (against an expected 20%).

I was wondering how to answer multiple-choice questions using these two hacks?

Here is an example.

Example

Consider the listed three questions (28-30) in a test in which you are aware of answers to questions 28 and 30: B and D, respectively. But the last thing you know about #29 is that option C can’t be the answer.

How can you go about answering question no. 29?

First, strike out any option that you know for sure is not correct. Here, it’s C. Of the enduring three options A, B, and D, you assert one preference to B because B is most likely to be correct (maybe by a little %) in a four-choice exam.

Also, as answers are less likely to repeat, assert one vote to A and hence, none to B and D.

Now, you have one vote each for A and B, and as they get equal votes, choose any of the two as the answer to 29.

Let’s take a further example.

Here, the answers given to both 28 and 30 are A, and you have to guess on 29.

Repeating the procedure we just followed in the previous example, B gets two votes and D.

So, the guess is B, the one with the highest vote.

3. Outlier options are less likely to be accurate

When you have 100 and -10 in your answer likeability, both of them might not be the correct answer. Sometimes when answering the problem seems to be time-consuming, try substituting or reverse calculation. When answer choices are a bit confusing, like 1114 and 1141, students, despite getting the correct answer to mark the wrong answer, regret committing such silly mistakes. In the case of vocabulary, when two words have opposite meanings, one of them is the answer or sometimes might not be. For that, you need to study the of the previous papers and try to answer smartly.

4. General qualifiers are more likely to be accurate

Contrary to popular guess-practice of striking out answers which have universal qualifiers such

Ever got stuck on multiple-choice questions in an exam where you were not sure about the answer? Or, you had to hurry through the last few questions due to lack of time.

When faced with such circumstances, the best you can do is strike out as many options as possible and make an educated guess.

An educated guess!

Yes, that’s one of the clear multiple-choice test-taking strategies top students follow.

But, are you making knowledgeable guesses?

Or, are you just randomly choosing one of the remaining after striking out the options you can?

Here are the hacks, or you may know them as test-taking strategies, for multiple-choice tests – some of them are used by me over the years of experience – you can use to smart-guess. These aforementioned strategies are supported by data, too, which has been drawn by William Poundstone. (He munched statistics on a sample of 100 tests – 34 from schools and colleges and 66 from other sources, comprising of 2,456 multiple-choice questions. These tests also include middle school, high school, college, professional school exams, driver’s practice tests, US Naturalization Self Test, newspaper quizzes, and many more.)

Without further fuss, here are six hacks you can use when taking multiple-choice tests:

5. These hacks are not a replacement for knowing your own subject

No doubt, these hacks are better than blind guesswork. But they can’t replace specific knowledge on a topic.

Moreover, their effectiveness increases when combined with the certainty that eliminates few options or gets neighboring questions right.

6. Longest response is more likely to be

accurate

The most extended response (of course, in non-quant answers) has a greater chance of being the correct one because test makers tend to load the correct response with qualifying language to make it unambiguously correct.

Be Alert:

Be alert when the paper is trying to fool you like the agenda behind these exams is to test your conceptual clarity, smart work, and alertness. For that, you require to be familiar with the kind of questions and act accordingly. So spare time to understand the pattern of the examiner along with the specific learning concepts. So when you are in a dilemma between your logic and knowledge, always go for knowledge.

Time Management:

The most important factor to crack these competitive exams is time management. Sometimes lengthy but easy questions appear in your question paper only because the examiner wants to test whether you are wise enough to sacrifice that question. Maximization of marks is prima facie, and you can satisfy your ego by cracking that typical question at home. Any paper has easy, moderate, and difficult questions; you should be smart enough to answer the difficult and time taking questions at the end.  Read the paper thoroughly, prioritize, and then answer the questions.

Conclusion

Smart-guessing is always appreciated than random-guessing, and it can get you those extra, defining marks. Some of the guess-hacks you can apply are:

• In true-false questions, first, T is preferred than F and, second, a TT or FF is preferred than a TF or FT.
• In multiple-choice statements, first, B and E are the most preferred answers in 4- and 5-option questions, respectively and, second, the same answer is least likely to be repeated in the next question.
• Outlier answers are less likely to be accurate answers.
• Multiple-choice questions with general qualifiers such as always, none, never, and all are likely to be correct than other options.
• Grammatical errors such as correct article, subject-verb agreement, or a better overall sentence can sometimes lead you to the correct answer
• The most extended response is more likely to be the correct answer.

All most all competitive exams have multiple-choice questions as a pattern to test the candidates. To be successful in this pattern and be familiar with concepts, one needs to be aware of the time. It is all about time management. Solving this type of examination with a few techniques will unlock doors for your desired college. Besides good preparation, what you need to know is below. If you’re the interested type, you can test these rules on the sample or real tests you plan to take, and you never know, you may unearth a new hack.

It mainly refers to the practice of improvement in anything. It is a purposeful and systematic practice. Regular exercise includes mindless repetition without any aim, but the deliberate practice requires focus attention on which specific goal.

When we fix a goal on the first day, we are more conscious about every Error, but with time, we either learn better, or that Error becomes our property. The Error can not help you get Our success, so delivering it practising anything will allow us to get something better in practising the same thing repeatedly.

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Deliberate Practice Some Examples

Proper strategy in anything can lead you to get your success. Here are some examples.

Basketball

Aubrey Daniels has the following strategy. Consider player A and player B. Player B after every shot takes a break and talks to his friends and Player A has a colleague who retrieved the ball after each attempt.

The colleague keeps recording every shot if one shot missed the Record whether the Miss shot was short, long, left, right, and the shooter reviews the Record after every 10 minutes of practice. Both players practising hours are equal and practising time is identical, but player A is with proper strategy and should do more than B.

Music

A musician always recommends repeating the challenging session until you master them. But virtuoso violinist Nath said practice with concentration is better than a long hour. Once he Asked his professor how many hours he should practice and the professor advised that if you practice with your finger then an hour, not enough for you and if you practice with your head two hours is enough.

Chess

Magnus Carlsen is one of the highest-rated chess players. Distinguish features of a great player are recognising a chunk that is to know the board’s arrangement by playing computer chess, which helped him play several at once. This strategy enabled him to play faster and to find out his mistakes and to correct his weaknesses.

Martial Arts

Josh Waitzkin is a martial artist and won several US national medals and 2004 world championships. In one of the final competitions, an opponent illegally hit his nose, so he lost his control and forgot his strategy. After that, he appointed a partner who fights in this manner, and he practices himself to keep calm and follow his strategy .he wrote Dirty players were my best teacher after that incident.

Cooking

Jiro Ono is a chef and owner of an award-winning sushi restaurant in Tokyo. Jiro focused on every little thing in making sushi, and he trained his apprentice the same. Ono taught the apprentice about every little thing, such as cutting fish, bringing a towel, using a knife and many more. One of his apprentices trained under his guidance for ten years and allowed him to cook eggs.

Memorising String of Numbers

In 1970 Anders Ericsson told one of his students to memorise random strings of numbers. In each practice, Ericsson started with five-digit strings loudly, and his student repeated it. If getting it right then, Ericsson goes to 6 digits and so on and after that goes repeatedly with a higher number. If his student got wrong, then Ericsson drops the string’s length by two and goes again repeating this process for the fourth one-hour session his student recites back string 7 to 8 digits.

In the 5th session, he remembers ten-digit and eight-digit strings, and by 60 sessions he can remember 20 string numbers 200 sessions he remembers 82 random digits. The power of deliberate practice makes him able to improve his skill. his student always try to learn from his mistake and pushing self from his limits would result in expanding in the limit

Playing Online Games

Demigods use a strategy in online games. He noticed that the playtime and skill of the player do not match. Some people played more time than him but not killed at me he always prefers to play against his comfort zone and ever played with the highly skilled player to learn from them rather than people play against an inferior player just for their happiness.

Another strategy followed that he was always interested in most skilled players about what item they buy, where they go on the map and what skill to upgrade. His approach was very organised and used deliberate practice to increase his skills.

Writing

The best example of using a deliberate practice for writing came from Benjamin Franklin’s most favourite strategies. He intensely studied a passage in a book and tried to reproduce its content and structure then he compared his passage and content with the original one and identified the difference. Please help him to discover his mistake and to rectify them.

When Franklin realised he was not right in the vocabulary used another technique, he considered a good writing technique and transferred into rhyming verses, and it changed his vocabulary skill. And after that, he took the poem and moved into prose. This habit enabled him to use the right word and to increase his word power.

Learning a New Language

One of Andreas Ericsson students wanted to improve her English.sHe went to a mall and asked the shopper the same question. Everyone answered the same one after hearing a similar answer, again and again, enabling her to understand the word by the speaker at full speed. If he acts on different questions each time, then his skill would not improve as much.

Watching English movies with subtitles repeatedly and trying to comprehend what was being said to check their understanding will enable them to learn a language virtually rather than watching so many English movies at a time.

Learning with Simulation

Pilots and astronauts using simulators as their deliberate practice simulator allow you to get rid of your comfort zone struggle and learn from them. Going to the past leads to serious injury while simulators enable people to practice on their weakness. A fighter pilot practices a lot about takeoff and landing.

Growth of a Business

Toyota middle-size car company 30 years ago, but now it is the largest automaker the company follows a strategy of continuous improvement that finds and approves small problems. It focuses on every employee for their little progress every year that fixes a target and tries to fulfil it within that year.

Conclusion

Practice makes a man perfect, but deliberate practise can make you successful and get your goals. It helps you to reach your target in less time. It makes you an expert in your desired field.

Imagine yourself walking down a road when a stranger comes up to and says, “that is an amazing sweatshirt” or imagine that a loved one brought you food because you helped them with something. In such situations, people always look for phrases to say in English that can accurately and effectively express your feeling of thankfulness.

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Importance of Thanking

It can be considered quite rational to state that you might be considered to be rude to someone if you don’t thank them when it might be needed. Thanking someone does not take any effort whatsoever and is perceived to be exceedingly courteous, and an everyday etiquette. In addition to thanking strangers for random acts of kindness, this phrase is also utilized as one of the most significant tools while conversing with friends as well as loved ones. Although using a phrase to thank someone might be ubiquitous, it can still mean a lot to the receiver and is always welcome.

There may come numerous instances where you either might be feeling bad after realising that you could have said thank you to someone or feel resentment or conviction against another who might ought to but did not say thank you to you. In modern life, there are often subconscious inhibitions of judgment towards the wrongdoing of someone. This can especially regard the despair that a lot of people feel when they expect someone to thank them and don’t receive the same. This creates resentment after the fact or happening which only attributes to how a person is perceived, which in this case, would be ‘rude’.

Both the aforementioned perspectives provide high motivation towards building a habit or a reflex action of saying thank you to another.

The conveyance of gratitude towards someone through a couple of words can always have a positive effect. This can help you better your relationships with friends, family, acquaintances, or in a formal setting. In addition to this, thanking someone always conveys the fact that you consider them and their advice/help, etc. important and acknowledge that it matters to you thereof.

Hindrances Involved and how to Overcome them

In any situation, where a person may not thank you when they ought to, there may be three issues that could have been given regard to. These are briefly explained as follows:

• The first instance involves a person not being able to express their gratitude by not knowing how to say thank you. This can further refer to not being able to use the phrases that would be appropriate with the situation and help them express themselves.

Now, although it may be better to be specific while showing gratitude, it can suddenly become overwhelming for a person to choose amongst the plethora of phrases adapted by the English language while expressing gratitude to a person.

Therefore, the focus may be given on developing a habit of thanking people when required rather than using the appropriate words. Still, words like ‘Thank You’, ‘Thanks a lot’ and ‘Thank You So Much’ are some of the popular phrases that are used while displaying gratitude.

As you can see above, the intensity of expression increases phrase by phrase. At times, you may require yourself to express a higher level of gratitude towards say a significant other. Here, you may utilize phrases such as ‘I appreciate you’, and ‘I am grateful to have you’, etc. The types of phrases for each of these settings are explained in detail under the following sections.

• The Second instance concerns a specific situation scheme. This means that the person not saying thank you might not know ‘when’ to say it. Overcoming this can be an easy task and entails the requirement of displaying appreciation for someone whenever you may receive the benefits of any act done by another.

Through conscious and daily usage, one may become exceedingly fluent with the use of ‘thank you’ or other phrases of the like at appropriate timings. Some of the instances that might involve thanking can be,

(1) When someone helps you with carrying your stuff for you;

(2) When someone offers you a food article or a drink even if you may/may not have it;

(3) When you get hired as an employer by the interviewer and many others.

Example: Y asks Z, “How have you been doing?”

Response: “Good, thank you for asking. How are you?”.

• The third instance is fairly much simpler. It refers to people simply not thanking others. Such actions may originate from regional capacities of the usage of language. This means that certain people might not have a habit of thanking others due to the reason that very less people use such phrases while conversing in their local region. However, it may also be true that certain people who do not actively use words to say thank you, maybe utilizing other methods of displaying gratitude or appreciation such as facial expressions (a smile and a nod).

Another issue that many people have is how to reply when someone says thank you. Phrases such as ‘You’re welcome’ or ‘My pleasure’ or ‘No worries/problems’ it ‘It’s alright’ can be used at such instances.

Consideration may be given to the previous two points in regards to the betterment of the third issue.

How To Say Thank You:-

In a Casual Setting

Casual settings can relate to day to day conversations with family, friends, and loved ones. There are numerous ways in which a person may informally express gratitude. Words and phrases like Thanks!, Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it, I owe you one, I cannot thank you enough, etc. can be used in such situations. Some of the examples of a casual setting are as follows:

• Your friend helped you in finishing your homework on time.

Response:- Thank you so much. I appreciate the help!

• Your significant other made you dinner.

Response:- That is so thoughtful. I don’t know what I would do without you!

In a Formal Setting

Formal setting involves the use of a formal/ professional language that might be at the work office, a networking event, a wedding, a lecture, etc. This can involve both oral and written phrases displaying appreciation. Therefore, in such settings, there is a need to use more formal words such as ‘I’m grateful for your help’, ‘It is very kind of you to aid me’, ‘Thank you for going through the trouble’, etc. Following are some of the examples of a formal setting.

• A superior helps you with competing work before the deadline.

Response: It is very kind of you to help me with finishing my work. Thank you!

• When a person helped you through the passing away of a loved one.

Response:- I am extremely grateful for your help at the time of need. Thank you for taking the time to help me go through the grief.

How Saying Thank You will reward You

Frequent display of appreciation or gratitude can always lead to better service. People who receive appreciation for some act that they did for you will certainly motivate them to go through the extra mile for you. Proven facts also provide that this can lead to a happier and more successful life. In addition to being the correct thing to do, a thankful person is also construed to be rather savvy.

Conclusion

Eileen Caddy, an author, spiritual leader, and an MBE had once mentioned that gratitude helps you grow, expand, get happier and bring happiness and laughter to everyone around you. This statement stays true to date and even more so with the ever-changing social phenomena and human perceptions.