Thursday, March 19, 2020

Everyday Lessons From a Dad Essays

Everyday Lessons From a Dad Essays Everyday Lessons From a Dad Essay Everyday Lessons From a Dad Essay I may not know everything about a car, but I have learned quite a bit from my father. Everyday lessons from dad always help in any situation, especially when you are the girl that walks into the mechanics station, and your looked at like you know absolutely nothing, and sadly, most of the time, you get taking advantage of. The purpose of this essay is to share my experience of changing brake pads, by giving a step-by-step guide. â€Å"How to change Brake Pads on a car. † Step One: Park your car in a comfortable working area. You may be here for a little while depending on your previous experience with cars. Step Two: SAFETY FIRST! Make sure to block the back wheels to avoid the car from rolling after you have jacked it up. Also, make sure to place the car in park, set it firmly. Step Three: Grab you toolbox. Its time to go to work! You should start with the front wheels. Grab the tire iron (long metal rod with a socket on the end, some people may have one that looks like a cross). Okay, so first you want to simply loosen the lug nuts, using the tire iron, just enough to break them free. Now, you’ll want to jack up your car. Step Four: Now, you can proceed to take the lug nuts completely off and remove the wheel. As a safety precaution, you should place the under the front of the car. In an instance you have a faulty jack, the wheel will not only protect your car from bodily damage, but you as well. Step Five: As your looking at this contraction, wondering ‘Where do I even begin? ’, this process is actually very simple once you understand its components. So, you have 4 basic parts. You have the caliper, two brake pads, a rotor, and of course, some bolts and clips to hold everything in its place. What are these so-called basic parts? †, well I am glad you asked. I will give a brief breakdown. The Caliper- the job of this part is to squeeze the brake pads toward a centrally located metal plate -the rotor- this produces friction, which initially will slow the speed of your car. (The Caliper is the bright green section, shown in the picture below on the left. ) The Brake Pads- the job of t he brake pads are to move toward one another, gripping the rotor between them and slowing the wheels. They attached to the caliper and hover either side of the rotor. these are shown in the picture below, on the right. ) The Rotor- this is they shiny metal plate in the center. Want to know a secret? If you can’t see your reflection, your disc’s my need servicing or replacement. (the rotor is the shown in the picture below on the left. ) Step Six: Okay, now that you know what your working with. Time to get back to work. Remove the bolts or clips, depending on the make of your car, holding the caliper in place. Gently slide the caliper out and away from the rotor. See the brake pads? Remove the bolts or clips holding them in place and remove the pads. Step Seven: Next we need to move the piston back to it’s beginning location, to prepare it for the new brake pads. You can use the heel of your hand to push the piston back into it’s â€Å"full open† position. Step Eight: When you went shopping for your new brake pads, you should have also picked up a couple small packets of grease. You will use these to lubricate the brake pads. When lubricating the pads make sure not to grease the wrong side. Do not grease the front side, the side that comes into contact with the rotor. Okay, you’ve applied the grease. Now, you can attach the brake pad to the plate, using clips or bolts, and slide the whole thing in place. Step Nine: Your almost done! Put it in reverse and reassemble the system, just as you took it apart. Once you have your tire on and tightened in place. Continue on with your other tires, using the same process, if needed. Step Ten: Joy-Ride! Now take your car out to test your new brakes! You may hear a few scratching and screeching sounds at first but it will go away in just a couple of days. Make sure everything is in place before and after the test drive. Nothing is more important than your car’s ability to stop itself. Underestimating your brake system could have some very serious consequences. Below is a diagram of the whole brake system, this should help you get an idea of where everything is located. Next time you go in to have your brakes changed, look at what the mechanics charge. Then go to an auto parts store and see for yourself the affordability of brake pads. Lastly, ask yourself if you have an extra hour to spare to save quite a bit of money. I think you will find the time is definitely worth the extra money you will save. Cited Pictures: Picture #1: http://images. google. com/imgres? imgurl= uitti. net/stephen/who/cars/carhelp/s2400016_cross_bar. jpgimgrefurl= uitti. net/stephen/who/cars/carhelp/index. shtmlusg=__a4HjFHJud93vP1T8oiaxUBzTvPM=h=240w=320sz=17hl=enstart=9tbnid=py761tbs3IFWlM:tbnh=89tbnw=118prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtire%2Biron%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den Picture #2: uitti. net/stephen/who/cars/carhelp/s2400016_cross_bar. jpg Picture #3: http://media. photobucket. com/image/caliper%20of%20a%20car/idahotuner/IMG_4709.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Should I Take the SAT Essay How to Decide

Should I Take the SAT Essay How to Decide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips The SAT underwent some major revisions in 2016, and one of the biggest changes is that its previously required essay is now optional.This can be confusing for some students and parents. Should you take the essay? Will colleges require the essay or not? Will taking the essay make your application stronger? Read on for answers to all these questions.This guide will explain what the SAT essay is, what the pros and cons of taking it are, and how you can make the best choicefor you. What Is the SAT Essay? The SAT essay is one of the sectionsof the SAT. After being required since its inception, the College Board has now decided to make the essay optional. This is similar to the ACT, whose essay has always been optional. During this section, students will be given 50 minutes to write an essay.The essay for the new SAT is very different than it was for the previous version of the SAT. You can read all about the changes to the SAT here, but, as a brief overview, the essay will give you a passage by an author who is taking a stance on an issue. Your job will be to analyze how the author built that argument. If you choose to take the essay, it will be its own section of the SAT, and the score you get on the essay will be separate from your score on the rest of the exam. Your main SAT score will be out of 1600 while your essay will be graded across three different categories: Reading, Analysis, and Writing. For each area, your essay will be given a score from 2-8. Below isa sample prompt from one of the official practice tests released by the College Board. Here youcan read the entire prompt, including the passages you would need to analyze. Do Colleges Require the SAT Essay Now That It's Optional? So, the College Board has now made the essay an optional part of the SAT, but does that change how colleges view the essay (or if they even view it at all)?Kind of. Some schools that used the essays before no longer require them now that both the ACT and SAT have made the essays optional, but other schools continue to require the SAT essay. Each school makes this decision individually, so there are no patterns to follow to try and guess who will require the essay and who won’t. Even top schools like the Ivy League are divided on whether to require the essay or not. This can make things confusing if you’re applying to college soon and don’t know if you should take the SAT essay or not.The following sections of this guide will explain the benefits and drawbacks of taking the essay and walk you through different scenarios so you can make an informed decision. The #1 Consideration: Do Any of the Schools You're Interested in Require the Essay? The absolute most important factor, the factor that matters more than anything else in the rest of this guide, is if any of the schools you’re applying to or thinking of applying to require the SAT essay. The best way to get this information is to Googleâ€Å"[school name] SAT essay requirement,† look directly on each school’s admission webpage, orcheck out our list of the schools that require the SAT essay. Find this information for every school you plan on applying to, even schools you’re not sure you want toapply to, but are considering.If even one school you’re interested in requires the SAT essay, then you should take it, regardless of any other factors.There is no way to take just the SAT essay by itself, so if you take the SAT without the essay and then, later on, realize you need anessay score for a school you’re applying to, you will have to retake the entire test. So, if a school you’re interested in requires the SAT essay, your choice is clear: take the essay when you take the SAT. However, what if the schools you’re interested in don’t require the essay? If that’s the case, you have some other factors to consider. Read on! Benefits of Taking the SAT Essay If none of the schools you’re thinking of applying to require the SAT essay, why would you want to take it? The two main reasons are explained below. #1: You're Covered for All Schools Taking the SAT essay means that, no matter which schools you end up applying to, you will absolutely have all their SAT requirements met. If you decide to apply to a new school that requires the SAT essay, that won’t be a problem because you’ll already have taken it. If you already are absolutely certain about which schools you’re applying to and none of them require the essay, then this may not be a big deal to you. However, if you have a tentative list of schools, and you’ve been adding a school or removing a school from that list occasionally, you may want to be better safe than sorry and take the SAT essay, just in case. Taking the SAT essay means you have all your bases covered, no matter which schools you end up applying to. #2: A Good Score May Boost Your Application Slightly While it’s highly unlikely that your SAT essay will be the deciding factor of your college application, there are some cases where it can give you a small leg up on the competition. This is the case if a school recommends, but doesn’t require the essay, and that school is particularly competitive. Having a strong SAT essay score to submit may strengthen your application a bit, especially if you are trying to show strong English/writing skills. Want to learn more about the SAT but tired of reading blog articles? Then you'll love our free, SAT prep livestreams. Designed and led by PrepScholar SAT experts, these live video events are a great resource for students and parents looking to learn more about the SAT and SAT prep. Click on the button below to register for one of our livestreams today! Drawbacks to Taking the SAT Essay There are also costs to taking the SAT essay;here are three of the most common: #1: It's Another Section to Study For If you choose to take the essay, that means you have an entire extra SAT section to study and prepare for. If you already feel like you have a ton of SAT prep to do or have doubts about staying motivated, adding on more work can make you feel stressed and end up hurting your scores in the other SAT sections. #2: It Makes the Exam Longer Taking the essay will, obviously, increase the total time you spend taking the SAT. You’re given 50 minutes to write the essay, and, including time needed for students not taking the essay to leave and things to get settled, that will add about an hour to thetest, increasing your total SAT test time from about three hours to four hours. If you struggle with keeping focused or staying on your A game during long exams (and, let’s be honest, it’s not hard to lose concentration after several hours of answering SAT questions), adding an additional hour of test time can reduce your test-taking enduranceand make you feel tired and distracted during the essay, likely making it hard for you to get your best score. #3: The Essay Costs Extra Taking theSAT with the essay will also cost you a bit more money. Taking the SAT without the essay costs $46, but if you choose to take the essay, it costs $14 extra, raising the total cost of the SAT to $60. However, if you're eligible for an SAT fee waiver, the waiver also applies to this section of the exam, so you still won't have to pay anything if you choose to take the essay. Taking the essay likely means the cost of taking the SAT will be slightly higher for you. Should You Take the SAT Essay? Five Scenarios to Help You Decide Now you know what the SAT essay is and the pros and cons of taking it. So, what should you decide? Five scenarios are listed below; find the one that applies to your situation and follow the advice in order to make the best decision for you. Scenario 1: You're planning on applying to at least one school that requires the essay As mentioned above, if even one school you’re thinking about applying to requires the SAT essay, you should take it in order to avoid retaking the entire SAT again at a later date because you need an essay score. Scenario 2: None of the schools you're applying to look at essay scores If none of the schools you’re thinking about applying to even look at SAT essay scores, then you shouldn’t take it. Even if you get a perfect score, if the schools don’t consider essay scores, then taking it will have no benefits for you. Scenario 3: The schools you're applying to don't require the SAT essay and aren't highly competitive In this case, you don’t need to take the SAT essay, unless you’re trying to make up for weak writing skills in other parts of your application. Scenario 4: The schools you're applying to recommend the SAT essay and are more competitive For this scenario, you should take the SAT essay in order to give your application an extra boost, unless you really think you’d perform poorly or preparing for and taking the essay would cause your scores in other sections to decline. Scenario 5: You aren't sure where you're going to apply yet If you’re not sure which schools you want to apply to, then you should take the SAT essay, just to be safe. This way you’re covered no matter where you end up applying to college. If the thought of figuring out which colleges to apply to has you as confused as this blue panda, your safest option is to take the SAT essay. Conclusion Because of the College Board’s recent decision to make the SAT essay optional, students are now faced with the decision of whether they should take it or not.The best way to decide is to learn the essay policy for each of the collegesyou're interested in applying to.Some schools will still require the essay, some won’t even look at an applicant’s essay scores, and other schools don’t require the essay but will look at your score if you do take it. Use these school policies to help decide whether you should take the essay.Remember, if you end up needing to submit an essay score, you will have to retake the entire SAT, so make sure you have accurate and up-to-date information for each school you are thinking of applying to. What's Next? Have you decided to take the essay and want to know how to start studying? We have a step-by-step guide that explains how to write a great SAT essay. Want more examples of sample prompts? Here are all of thereal SAT essay prompts that have been released by the College Board. Are you aiming fora perfect SAT essay score?Check out our guide on how to get a perfect 8/8/8 on the SAT essay. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We've written a guide about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now: