Question 6 Template and Tips Flashcards
Question
Using the points and examples given by the professor, explain the two types of thermoregulation that mammals use.
1st: general topic
2nd: transition
3rd: first subtopic
4th: example
5th: second subtopic
6th: example
7th: conclusion
1st: The professor discusses. . , which he/she defines as . . .
2nd: He/She describes two kinds.
3rd: First, . . .
4th: The professor provides an example of . . . to illustrate this.
5th: Second, . . .
6th: The professor provides an example of. . . to illustrate this.
7th: And that’s how the professor describes . . .
Finish 2nd by 44s
Finish 4th by 22s
Finish 6th by 3s
Finish 7th by 0s
(step 1) The professor discusses thermoregulation, which she defines as the process that animals use to keep their internal temperature constant.
(step 2) She explains two types.
(step 3) The first is the insulating power of fat. An animal uses this to counteract heat loss.
(step 4) The professor discussed whales to illustrate this. Whales have insulating fat called blubber under their skin. When the surrounding water is much colder, this blubber helps keep the whales warm.
(step 5) The second is evaporative cooling. An uses this to avoid absorbing too much heat. The professor explains that when water evaporates, it cools the surface.
(step 6) She discussed rodents to illustrate this. Rodents want an internal temperature of 40 degrees, and their environment can reach 50 degrees. To keep cool, rodents spread saliva across their bodies. As the saliva evaporates, it cools the rodents, which helps keep their internal temperatures’ constant.
(step 7) And that’s how the professor describes thermoregulation.
First;
First, don’t repeat yourself when you get stuck. When you get stuck in the middle of a sentence, you have a tendency to start the sentence over and over again, hoping that your brain will complete it the second, third, or fourth time you try saying it. It doesn’t work and it hurts your score A LOT. The best way to get past this is by taking a short pause and a deep breadth. Then relax and just move on. In other words, when you don’t know how to explain something, skip it. Your time is limited; you do not have the option of taking your time on one point. Again, move on.
Second;
Second, when you don’t know how to describe a word in your notes, just say that the professor mentions it. For example, I see xyz in my notes. I know it’s important. I can’t explain it. What do I do? Simply say: “the professor also mentions xyz.” Easy right? Don’t lose the entire point. Gain partial credit by mentioning it but don’t try to explain it if you can’t.
Third;
Third, don’t get lost in the details. This goes back to time management and deleting some of the unnecessary words in your notes. If you have too much to say, say less. Cut out the information that isn’t important.
Fourth;
Fourth, don’t change the order of your notes. The professor delivers the speech in a logical way. You must follow this. I often hear students jump around their notes, changing the order of explanation, which confuses them and me. Avoid this by going down your notes the way they were written. The best tool to do this is to use your finger to guide yourself through your notes. Don’t use your eyes to guide you; when you look at the timer, it’ll be easy for you to get lost. Also, your mind controls your eyes, so it won’t stop you from accidentally skipping around your notes. Even though some students use their pencil with success, I find your finger to be the best way to be clear and smooth. It’s fatter than your pencil so it blocks out other notes around your focus, so you won’t have the urge to jump ahead or around. Remember, I’m teaching you how to be a test-taking machine, so be like a machine in following a very systematic method of delivery.
Five;
The tips for this question parallel those for question 4. This means that what you do for question 4 applies to question 6. The only points that I find important to mention for this question that weren’t mentioned earlier are the following:
1) verbs are important
2) not all points in the example are important
The 1st point relates to your notes. You want to make sure that you take down not only nouns but verbs. What often happens when students don’t do this is that they choose inaccurate verbs that change the meaning of what they’re saying. It’s very hard to notice, but it can keep you earning lower ratings on this question forever. All you need to do is make sure that you repeat the verbs in the lecture to stay accurate. For example, most students will hear this in a lecture:
the birds stayed in their nest on the tree.
This is what they usually say when they don’t have the verb stayed in their notes:
the birds. . . uh . . they . . . keep their nests on the tree.
Not everyone does this, but some do. To make it as easy as possible for you to succeed, do your best to get the verbs as well as the nouns. (By the way, if you don’t see what’s wrong with the 2nd sentence, you really need to focus on getting verbs down because “keep” and “stay” are 100% not the same thing.)
The 2nd point is important too. Remember that the example illustrates the explanation of the subtopic. For example, let’s talk about a common situation that students run into. Time is running out and the student doesn’t have enough time to finish the second example. What do we do? Let’s first go back in time ane hear the original lecture’s discussion on the 2nd topic. Here’s what we hear.
Today we’re going to talk about investing. This is when you put money into a stock to make more money. For example, my friend John went to the bank and received a loan for 20,000. He then went to a stock broker. They spoke for hours and decided on the best stock for John to invest in. He invested his 20,000 into a stock called ABC and made 30,000 within a week.
Now, let’s say that you took perfect notes on this and find yourself explaining this point and are running out of time (the situation we described earlier). Here’s the tutoring situation that I run into all of the time. Yes, just about every single day of my entire tutoring life, this is what I hear. I heard this today and I will likely hear this tomorrow. I hope this paragraph will put an end to it and stop you from earning a lower score.
Student: The second type is investing, which is defined as putting money into a stock to make more money.
The student then checks the timer. Oh no! 10 seconds left. Better hurry up and get to the important point. This is what we hear.
(10 seconds left) Student: Uh . . . The professor talks about his friend John. He (stress building) . . . uh, went to the bank and . . . BUZZ! (timer goes off and the student sighs)
Now, I want to ask you, yes you, the person reading, my student: what should the student have said? Clearly, this is not the most important information. When time is running out, get to the point that illustrates the explanation of the subtopic. What’s that? Let’s review. Here’s the description of the subtopic:
when you put money into a stock to make more money.
One sentence illustrates this perfectly from the example. Everything else is just extra details.
He invested his 20,000 into a stock called ABC and made 30,000 within a week.
When you’re running out of time, get to the point and that’s it. What happens if you don’t know what the key sentence is? You need to study and review more: do more homework, listen more carefully, review this step 2 to 3 more times, and then you’ll be able to find it more easily. Below is what our student should have said.
(a confident well trained TOEFL-test-taking machine with 10 seconds left) Student: Uh. . . John. . . invested his 20,000 into a stock called ABC and made 30,000 within a week.
Perfect, right? This ensures that you earn the highest rating possible. Remember, be patient. You’re climbing a ladder. Take your time and review, review, review. I’m teaching you in one step what I teach students in hours of tutoring. This is really what helps all my students master this section and succeed, so take your time with it and practice and review step 1 often (often means at least 5 times). If you haven’t reviewed this step 5 times and aren’t improving, that’s why. If you have reviewed 5 times and aren’t improving, call us, email us, find a way to tell us, we’re here to help. Good luck and great work! This is an intense and challenging program. I respect your effort and hope that you do too: step by step.
