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How to Improve your Reading Speed?

By
Syskool
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38
improve reading speed

To become a better reader means getting faster and more efficient at reading, and understanding what you’re reading. Increasing reading speed is a process of controlling fine motor movement period. Have an idea that what you’re reading about, not just reading and forgetting or failing to grasp the contents.

Reading involves a pre-conscious level of awareness that naturally stimulates creativity, rapid information assimilation while opening the doors to non-judgmental learning. While reading, we are essentially shutting-off the conscious critical mind from the learning cycle. Even though the conscious mind is essential for stimulating your short and long-term memory, its due to the habitual preconceived ideas and notions about the information you are learning.

In the modern age of information, reading truly is a fundamental survival skill. Here are tips that anyone can use to improve their reading skills:

Must Read: How to Prepare General Studies for Preliminary Exam?

Only Move Eyes while Reading

Using this method you can effectively accelerate your reading speed anywhere from 20% to 30%. Your vision will allow you to see more of the page in one glance without having to move your eyes across the page left to right. the most proficient speed readers actually only move their eyes down the center of a page to capture words and phrases that lie off-center.

Focus

Remember, you’re reading with a purpose, so focus on that purpose and the material. When you start getting bored or need a break, take one. Reading should be fun and enjoyable, don’t force it. After your break, return to where you were, and continue. Be choosy and select the chapters and articles that are important. This simple technique helps you focus and increase your concentration.

Skimming

Skimming is the process of speedy reading for general meaning. Let your eyes skip over sentences or phrases which contain detail. Concentrate on identifying the central or main points. This technique is used to pre-view a section of text prior to detailed reading and refresh your understanding of a section of text following detailed reading. Using this method, you can effectively accelerate your reading speed anywhere from 10% to 20%.

Also Read: How to Perform Your Best on Exam Day

Reduce Amount of Skip-backs

We naturally slowdown our speed of reading because of simple skip-backs, which involves re-reading words and sentences over and over again. Many of us take part in this time wasting habit, because as children we were told by our teachers that we must go back and re-read words that were mispronounced. Using this method you can effectively accelerate your reading speed anywhere from 25% to 50%.

Don’t Move Lips or Make Noises while Reading

Our eyes can recognize words and sentence structures far more quickly then we can articulate them aloud. Hence, if you are verbalizing the words you are reading inside your head or through the process of just moving your lips, then you are dramatically slowing down your speed of reading. Using this method you can effectively accelerate your reading speed.

Form Mental Visual Mind Maps while Reading

In order to improve your comprehension of the information you are reading, it is important to form ongoing visual mind map images of each sentence, paragraph, topic and chapter throughout the reading process.

You don’t have to be a great reader to get the point.

Some people read fast and remember everything. Others read slowly and take a couple of times to get all the information. It doesn’t matter, really, so long as when you read, you get the information you’re seeking. Don’t need to read everything doing this will double the amount of time you have available to read.

Must Know: How to Crack IAS Exam? 10 Tips for IAS Preparation 

Know WHY you’re reading.

Decide why you’re reading before you start and you’ll greatly improve your comprehension and your enjoyment.

Optimize your reading environment.

You’ll read faster and comprehend more if you read in an environment that’s comfortable for you.

Practice, Practice and Practice Some More

Finally, you will not improve your reading speed by thinking about these techniques and strategies. The key is to practice, practice and practice each and everyday. Through consistent practice over time you will progressively accelerate your reading speed beyond its present capabilities and limitations. The more you read, the better reader you’ll become (and smarter, too)! So, feed your mind: read!

Don’t Miss: Subject Strategy – How to Choose your subjects for the Mains exam

IAS vs IRS – Make Informed Decision While you Choose

By
Syskool
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13
ias-vs-irs

Each and every service offered under the head of Union Public Service Commission – Civil Service Examination is unique and self contained in itself. IAS as a service offers immense role for action and is very general in nature to which most of the aspirants can relate- incorrect social structure, corruption, medical issues in their locality, poverty alleviation.

Each candidate who prepares for the coveted Civil Services Examination has a certain motivator in mind which drives him/her through the innumerable tough times that await during the journey. This motivator is the primary catalyst for influencing a service choice.

IAS is a preferred choice by 99% of the candidates as compared to Indian Revenue Service. This is not without basis.

Must Read: Indian Forest Service – All You Need to Know

The reasons why people choose IAS as the first choice are as following:

  • IAS heads almost all the departments in Central and State Governments. Even revenue department is headed by Revenue Secretary, who is an IAS officer.
  • IAS provides the fastest promotions among all Civil Services in India. For example an IAS officer will become a Commissioner in 16 years as compared to 20-22 years taken by an IRS officer.
  • The perks and facilities of an IAS officer is far superior than IRS
  • The social recognition and prestige of an IAS officer, particularly as DM, is far more than the IRS officers of any rank
  • Indian Administrative Service officer work closely with the common people, hence they have better opportunity to help them directly
  • IAS officers play far more important role in policy formation of the Central and State Governments than IRS officers
  • IAS officers have far more variety of job as compared to IRS who spend almost their entire career in revenue department

No doubt overall IAS is rated as better service than IRS by most people and rightly so. However, there is always a price to pay for everything that you get in your life.

IRS are more specific in nature with a very targeted approach and need a different field of interest. If IRS is your first preference and you have passion for taxation,do join that service only . After all this is the service which gives you a perfect balance of work, power and family life along with almost NIL political interference.

IRS can be a preferred for people who knows their mind and have the courage to follow their conviction even against the popular public opinion.

You May Also Love to Read: Indian Revenue Service (IRS) – Income Tax, Customs & Central Excise

You may prefer IRS for following reasons

  • If you are brought up in Metros, you may prefer IRS as almost 80-90% of IRS postings are in Metros or big cities
  • If your spouse is working, IRS may be preferred because you can stay together almost all the time
  • If you are a family man, IRS may be preferred due to our transfer policy which provides you stability of tenure
  • If you wish to work only during office hours and spend rest of the time for yourself, IRS can be preferred.
  • If you wish to follow the rules and shun political interference, IRS may be opted
  • If you wish to pursue literary and intellectual activities, IRS may be better as you can take lighter assignment and focus on your passion
  • If you wish to serve India indirectly by collecting the revenue which would be used for the development of the country by others, IRS may be your choice.

You May Also Read: Role of Civil Servants (IPS, IRS, IFS and IES)

To be honest, IRS is the best choice if you are innovative in nature and you want to do good. You are helping the nation accumulate resources to develop the society. You are actually making the Indian dream come true. You come up with innovative ways to ensure that people are paying taxes.

Also, your job doesn’t require you to be under the leash of any politicians. You respond to your boss, who responds to his, and they are all under Centre’s Finance Minister, no other intermediary in between, so no possibility of corruption.

You have an easy life, you don’t have unnecessary headaches and late night calls, you are not under pressure from someone, you could develop your personality as well as at the same time do your job with the highest level of satisfaction. You don’t get death threats, you don’t get requests for favours. Literally, so many people are choosing IRS as first choice over other elite services(heard one of the topper few years back chose the same too). With recent de-centralisation and re-organisation of the process of good governance in India, IRS is destined to become the most powerful and elitist service in upcoming years.

Don’t Miss: Role and Career of IRS Officers in the Government of India

Top 10 World’s Toughest Exams – IAS Exams ranks 3 in list

By
Syskool
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112
world's toughest exams

World’s toughest exams list is going to make you insane on a new level. From the very beginning we are introduced to pattern of exams and they do not leave us for a very long time as we carry on with our studies. First school exams, then high school, college, university exams, entrances, and interviews and by the time we fetch a job, we are planning to leave it and switch to a better job. Another exam to face again! This is the bitter truth of our lives and we have to accept it!

When you start reading and collecting facts about the world’s toughest exams, you know it is not an easy deal. So brace yourselves and let your imagination run in full swing!

Following is list of Top 10 World’s Toughest Exams

Master Sommelier Diploma Exam

There are only 229 Master Sommeliers in the world.

The Court of Master Sommeliers was established in England in 1977. The first exam was held in the US was in 1987. The Master Sommelier Diploma is open to candidates whoever have passed the Court of Master Sommeliers Advanced Sommelier Certificate. This incredibly difficult exam consists of three sections: a verbal theory examination, a blind tasting of six kind of wines in 25 minutes, and a practical restaurant service. The pass mark for each of the three sections is 75%.

A master sommelier must know how to serve or recommend wines to go with a meal. This level of sommeliers needs to be an expert in wine history, wine-making and salesmanship, be able to identify wine vintages, qualities or flaws by taste, and be knowledgeable about other alcoholic beverages, spirits, and even cigar production. All this makes this exam rank one in the list of world’s toughest exams.

All Souls Prize Fellowship Exam

The All Souls College entrance exam at Oxford University has been called the world’s second toughest exam. The test comes up in September. The College normally elects two fellows from all the students appearing in the exam. Until 2010, students were to write a long essay about only one single word given in one of the papers in envelope. The questions were in abstract and there were no right or wrong answers. The prize was a 7-year fellowship at Oxford University, which goes to two students each year.

Also Read: Role of Civil Servants (IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS and IES)

Civil Services Exam by UPSC (IAS Exam)

Union Public Service Commission is the important examinations agency of India that recruit top government officials in the country. It conducts the Civil Services Exam, Combined Defence Services Exam and many more. The exam is held in three phase: first at a preliminary phase where candidates answer objective question and second the main phase where they appear for a subjective questions and finally an interview round. Approximately 3 lakh students are appearing and hardly hundreds of them are actually selected. Success ratio of becoming IAS very low as only 50-80 students get chance to become IAS. It is considered as third among world’s toughest exams  to crack.

CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Exam

The CFA exams are considered to be difficult, with historical pass rates as low as 32%. Pass rates sometimes below 50% for each of the three levels in the same given year. The CFA Program includes a series of three exams; Levels I, II, and III. The exams are held annually around the world — on the first Saturday in June. The Level I exam is also offered in December.

The CFA Program makes current practice, investment theory, ethical and professional standards to provide investment analysis and portfolio management skills. Four years of qualifying work experience is must to be obtained to hold this prestigious office. This comes on fourth position among world’s toughest exams.

Charter Accountancy program held by ICAI is also one of the toughest courses to complete, there are numerous papers held in various stages during the program. Getting into course (program) is easy but successful completion requires huge efforts.

IIT JEE (Indian Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination)

IIT is the best engineering institute in the country. Students spend years preparing for this entrance, because getting into IITs in India are not just about studies but status too. Out of every 5, 00, 000 students appearing, only a handful of 10,000 get selected every year. Such is the toughness and standard of the IIT-JEE. The exam is conducted into two papers of three hours each, both of which are objective. Students who do not get through the exam in the first attempt make repeated attempts dropping years; and in the course of time many of them even get admitted to prestigious colleges like Harvard, MIT and many more. IIT-JEE is listed as seventh among world’s toughest exams.

Also Read: Tea seller’s sons make it to IIT, again (A Must Read Story)

GRE (Graduate Record Examinations)

GRE is the entrance test for most schools in the States. It is held both online and on paper. The online exams are computer based, there are six different sections having analytical sections, verbal reasoning sections, quantitative reasoning sections and research sections. The paper-based exam is available where conducting online tests is not possible in some areas. Graduate schools in the USA require the GRE score for their prerequisite score admission. This exam is on fifth position among world’s toughest exams.

Mensa

Mensa is the well-known and most prestigious and oldest IQ level society on the planet. It is the organization which accept only those who score 98 percentile on an average IQ test or higher level. The Mensa puzzles are designed to stimulate memory of candidates, concentration, perception and reasoning ability, all of which contribute to a high IQ level. In an IQ test, the average score is taken to be 100, and a score below 100 means your intelligence is below average. The youngest member joined at the age of two and a half, and the oldest was of 103. This exam is considered among world’s toughest at sixth position.

Gaokao

China’s National Higher Education Entrance Examination is the ninth world’s toughest exam. To get admission in undergraduate course every student of China has appear for this exam, as it is the main requirement to get into higher studies. The Exam is conducted every year and millions of students appear in this exam. The mental stress that students take through exams has been subject of interests to many documentary makers across the globe.

IES (Indian Engineering Services)

IES is the civil services exam to take care of the technical and managerial services of the Indian Government. Government becomes choosy during the highly competitive IES exams and picking its top officials on the basis of the merit of the appearing candidates. For IES exam, a four stage competitive exam is held across the country, which comprises of six tests. The two part of written tests last for a period of 12 hours after which there is a personality test. Every year lakhs of candidates appear for this examination, as this is the most prestigious post for every engineer in India. The President of India himself appoints the selected candidates to the Group A category. Last but not the least IES comes on tenth position in world’s toughest exams.

GATE (Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering)

Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering popularly known as GATE is an all-India examination that tests comprehensive understanding of undergraduate candidates in engineering and science. GATE is conducted by the Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institutes of Technology. The GATE score of a candidate reflects his or her performance level. To get admission in various post-graduate education programs like M.Tech, M.E courses at the IITs, NITs, students need the GATE Score, it is also used for same in many private universities and institutes across India. This comes on eighth position among world’s toughest exams.

Also Read: All About Civil Services Exam

Bali and Copenhagen Summits of UNFCCC (CoP 13 and 15)

By
Syskool
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2
Copenhagen summit cop 15

Bali and Copenhagen summits of UNFCCC COP 13, the meeting, which was held in December 2007, of 190 countries that are party to a UN treaty on climate change is known as Bali Meet.

Objectives:

  • The treaty aim was to urge the world for taking action that decreases the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere which cause climate change.
  • In Bali the member countries has assemble there to discuss what they were expected to do after the first phase of Kyoto Protocol that was to end in 2012.
  • In Bali developed countries were expecting that after 2012, the developing countries like India and China – which were increasing their emissions as they greenhouse economically – would also undertake some sort of mission cuts. This indicated a complete overhand of the then existing UN treaty.

In case you have missed earlier article – Climate Change, Technology and Energy Sustainability

Bali Roadmap

The participating parties approved the Bali Roadmap as a two-year process for finalizing a binding agreement in 2009 in Copenhagen.

The Bali Road Map Included:

  • The Bali Action Plan (BAP)
  • The formation of the AD Hoc Working Group on further commitments for Annex I parties under KP negotiation and their 2009 dealings,
  • Launch of the Adaptation Fund,
  • Decisions on technology transfer and
  • On reducing emission from deforestation

Bali conference cop 13Bali Action Plan

Bali Action Plan included:

  • Enhanced national and international action on mitigation of climate change.
  • Advanced action on adaptation.
  • A shared vision for long- term cooperative action that has to include a long-term global aim for emission reducing.
  • Advanced action on the provision of financial resources and investment to support action on mitigation and adaptation and technology cooperation.

Also Read: UNFCCC CoP at Cancun and Durban (CoP16 and Cop17)

Copenhagen Summit COP 15

– Due to some serious disagreement between developing and developed countries, a legally binding agreement could not be finalized in COP 15 Copenhagen.

– Copenhagen accord is a non- binding agreement because the summit concluded with COP taking a note of Copenhagen agreement (a five nation accord- BASIC and US).

– The accord stressed that deep international cuts were needed to check the increase in global temperature to under two degrees Celsius.

– The accord stated that the developed nations (Annex 1) had agreed to set targets for reductions in their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.

– Developing nations agreed to pursue nationally appropriate reduction strategy to slow the growth or their emission, but refused to commit on the reduction of their carbon output.

– Agreed a “goal” for the world to raise $100 billion per year by 2020. New multilateral funding for adaptation would be delivered with a governance structure.

Must Read: Analysis of 13th EU-India Summit

National Testing Agency – NEET, JEE, NET, CMAT Twice A Year

By
Syskool
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0
nta neet jee exam dates
nta neet jee exam dates

The Government has announced that National Testing Agency will conduct NEET, JEE, UGC NET and CMAT exams from now on, the exams will be computer-based. The exams to be conducted on multiple dates. NEET & JEE exams to be conducted 2 times in a year, JEE in Jan & Apr & NEET in Feb and May.

Benefits of ‘Twice in Year’ exam model

  • Students won’t lose one year to get another chance to bring out their best
  • Reduce stress among students as there will be two exams before admission
  • Students may use either of their scores out of both exams during the selection procedure

Why National Testing Agency?

  1. To give relief to CBSE, AICTE, UGC etc. from the burden of conducting these exams, so they can utilize their time and resource in their primary functions.
  2. To set up a fully accountable organization which can function in this domain with all the required expertise.
  3. To bring in standard credibility and transparency along with a scope of methodological improvement and technological advancement in the field of testing and evaluation.
  4. To unify the organizing efforts and save the much wasted time of various government agencies while they organize these tests independently.
  5. To boost security and sanctity of question paper and online exam practices.

What is National Testing Agency?

NTA is an autonomous and financially self-sustainable organization mandated to take various competitive professional career exams across India. It is registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860.

It’s mandated:

  • To conduct entrance tests entrusted to it by any department or ministry
  • To put in place a robust system for conducting of examinations
  • To bring high reliability and standardized difficulty level for assessing aptitude, intelligence and problem-solving abilities of students

NEET 2019 Dates:

NEET 2019 will be conducted twice in online mode. All these exams will be conducted in eight different settings during the period mentioned below and candidates can choose anyone.  Check NEET 2019 complete schedule here:

NEET 2019 February Exam

Online submission of application forms: October 1, 2018 to October 31, 2018
Dates of examination: Between February 3, 2019 to February 17, 2019
Declaration of results: First week of March 2019

NEET 2019 May Exam

Online submission of application forms: Second week of March 2019
Dates of examination: Between May 12, 2019 to May 26, 2019

JEE Main 2019

JEE Main 2019 will be held twice and check the complete schedule here:

First Phase of JEE Mains 2019

Online submission of application forms: September 1 and be on till September 30.
Dates of examination: Between January 6, 2019 to January 20, 2019
Result declaration: First week of February 2019

Second Phase of JEE Mains 2019

Online submission of application forms: Second week of February 2019
Dates of examinations: April 7, 2019 to April 21, 2019
Result declaration: First week of May 2019

 

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