[08.06.18]

 via  Gridllr.com  —  find your first love!

how i got a 29 the first time i took the act

i just wanted to give you guys some tips! not all of these work for everyone though so keep that in mind. also, i am going to take the test again in april for those interestedin knowing

to preface: i took the test while pretty sick and it was the morning after the opening night for a Christmas dinner i do each year, so i got maybe 6 hours of sleep. not the best conditions

my scores

composite score of 29

english score of 31

mathematics score of 26

reading score of 31

science score of 29

science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) score of 28

understanding complex texts of “above proficient”

progress toward career readiness of “progress toward gold level NCRC”

some general tips

choose a test center close to you. you will not want to wake up for the test. you will not want to drive there. it doesnt matter if youre unfamiliar with the place, people will be there to help you. but bring your own pencils and an eraser, they probably wont help you with those.

try to get as much sleep as possible. i didnt get much so to force myself awake i took a cold shower, but no caffeine because i feared crashing.

my breakfast that day was just some poptarts while i drove to the testing center, but i started to get hungry during the break. for the next test, im going to plan better and eat some cereal or toast.

take advantage of all leftover time. for me this meant going back to the questions i was super unsure of and making sure im satisfied with my answer choice as well as making sure all bubbles on my answer sheet were filled in enough. it also meant taking 5 minute naps where i drooled on the test booklet a little. oops?

use your break wisely. the testing center i was at had vending machines so i borrow a dollar from my friend and ate some m&m’s as a pick me up. i also put a bunch of cough drops in my jacket pocket. after i did this in the span of like 3 minutes i went back to my room and took a nap.

take advantage of the fact that everything is multiple choice (except the essay portion, obviously) because it reallycomes in handy.

i didnt really struggle with nerves because i went into the test with the mindset “i get what i get”. i had done what i felt was necessary to prepare and i knew this wouldnt be my last time. realistically, my act or sat score could be the thing that keeps me from entering my dream college (a school with a 7% admission rate and average act score of 34) but i am happy with my other choices of colleges. i have done all that i can do (which in this case was like.. 3 days of studying).

my biggest overall tip: know what the test will be like. know the order of the tests, the number of questions, and the time limits. this will leave no surprises. i was really glad i did this because i always knew what was coming.

tips for individual portions

english portion

75 multiple choice questions with four possible answers in 45 minutes.

dont read the entirety of the passage! read the first paragraph and the last paragraph before you read the questions then for each question skim for the info you need to properly answer the question. this allows you to spend more time with each question and to focus only on whats necessary.

brush up on word groups like there/their/they’re, it’s/its, and two/too/to. a lot of these questions are about following grammatical rules.

math portion

60 multiple choice questions with five possible answers in 60 minutes.

do what you know first. i almost ran out of time because i couldnt remember some things and spent too long on them so when i got to questions i knew at the end i was rushing and panicking and probably got some wrong.

if youre not sure how to do a problem, guess and check to the best of your abilities. guess and check works wonders.

reading portion

40 multiple choice questions with four possible answers in 35 minutes.

tbh i thought this was really similar to the english part so similar tips. but if the passage is on the short side, just read the whole thing.

science portion

40 multiple choice questions with four possible answers in 35 minutes.

real talk, i thought i bombed this portion like i walked out thinkin it was the reason id do so badly.

do NOT treat this like the english and reading portions! read the entirety of everything! redraw, rewrite, and rename things if you need to!

this part really focuses on graph interpretation and they will try to screw you over so hard with names of things. make sure you know how to interpret graphs well.

this was the only section where i rechecked every single answer. i was so used to the sat that i didnt know how to handle a science portion. it freaked me out.

essay portion

1 essay based on a promot in 40 minutes.

i didnt actually take this part because the only college on my list that says anything about it just recommends it and that school happens is my safety college. if youre really confident it will help your composite score, then take it. i chose not to mainly because im lazy and i didnt want to take the risk of it hurting my score even though i thought it could help since i write pretty strong essays, even under time constraints like id experience on the test.

some final tips

the act company sells a book. buy the book. its genuinely super helpful and im so glad i chose to buy it. i know some people use ones from outside sources, but i dont trust those as much. the official book is actually where i got a lot of my tips from.

take the test multiple times. i took the test in december because i knew i was unfamiliar with the formatting and wanted to have a basis for comparing my april score too. if i still am not happy with my april score, i plan on retaking it during the summer.

pay the extra $20 dollars to get your answers sent to you. it is quite literally the easiest and fastest way to see what you need to focus and improve on.

if you know youre taking the test, sign up as soon as possible. at the very least, sign up before youd have to pay the late fee.

dont add your picture until its like almost the last day. im the kind of person who changes uo my appearance often, specifically my hair color. if i uploaded a picture for the april date now, id be blonde in the picture even though ill probably have brown hair when i take the test.

a reminder

dont peace your self worth on this test. could it impact what college you go to? sure. but whether or not you did student council could too. im very proud of my score, but its not my end all be all. im more proud of the way i fold clothes or how organized my closet is than my act score.

good luck on all your tests everyone ❤️💕

SpongeBob Moodboard v.2 baybeeeeee

The first one was kind of trash so shshshs

I don’t claim any of these photos!

Paris Boulevard 1939

Konstantin Korovin

(via Gridllr)

i would just like to say, this photograph is my favorite photo in the entire world. that’s not an exaggeration. i think the beauty within it is so pure, and it’s makes me feel all different emotions i can’t name. the relaxed stance that both of them have shows comfort and trust, and though it is a quite melancholy picture, you can still completely feel their emotions, the love and happiness and trust and contentment of the moment. the black and white and plain background creates a simplistic vibe that captures you and grabs your attention. i think that if love was in picture form, this would be it. it leaves so much up to the imagination: it could be evening in paris, or early morning in new york city, or straight out of a 1950′s silent film. it encapsulates romance, dark academia, love, art. not to mention, these two people are beautiful, i’m sure inside and out.

Essays

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) list of essays I like/find interesting/are food for thought; I’ve tried to sort them as much as possible. The starred (*) ones are those I especially love

also quick note: some of these links, especially the ones that are from books/anthologies redirect you to libgen or scihub, and if that doesn’t work for you, do message me; I’d be happy to send them across!

Literature + Writing

Godot Comes to Sarajevo - Susan Sontag

The Strangeness of Grief - V. S. Naipaul*

Memories of V. S. Naipaul - Paul Theroux*

A Rainy Day with Ruskin Bond - Mayank Austen Soofi

How Albert Camus Faced History - Adam Gopnik

Listen, Bro - Jo Livingstone

Rachel Cusk Gut-Renovates the Novel - Judith Thurman

Lost in Translation: What the First Line of “The Stranger” Should Be - Ryan Bloom

The Duke in His Domain - Truman Capote*

The Cult of Donna Tartt: Themes and Strategies in The Secret History - Ana Rita Catalão Guedes

Never Do That to a Book - Anne Fadiman*

Affecting Anger: Ideologies of Community Mobilisation in Early Hindi Novel - Rohan Chauhan*

Why I Write - George Orwell*

Rimbaud and Patti Smith: Style as Social Deviance - Carrie Jaurès Noland*

Art + Photography (+ Aesthetics)

Looking at War - Susan Sontag*

Love, sex, art, and death - Nan Goldin, David Wojnarowicz

Lyons, Szarkowski, and the Perception of Photography - Anne Wilkes Tucker

The Feminist Critique of Art History - Thalia Gouma-Peterson, Patricia Mathews

In Plato’s Cave - Susan Sontag*

On reproduction of art (Chapter 1, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

On nudity and women in art (Chapter 3, Ways of Seeing) - John Berger*

Kalighat Paintings  - Sharmishtha Chaudhuri

Daydreams and Fragments: On How We Retrieve Images From the Past -  Maël Renouard

Arthur Rimbaud: the Aesthetics of Intoxication - Enid Rhodes Peschel

Cities

Tragic Fable of Mumbai Mills - Gyan Prakash

Whose Bandra is it? - Dustin Silgardo*

Timur’s Registan: noblest public square in the world? - Srinath Perur

The first Starbucks coffee shop, Seattle - Colin Marshall*

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai’s iconic railway station - Srinath Perur

From London to Mumbai and Back Again: Gentrification and Public Policy in Comparative Perspective -  Andrew Harris

The Limits of “White Town” in Colonial Calcutta - Swati Chattopadhyay

The Metropolis and Mental Life - Georg Simmel

Colonial Policy and the Culture of Immigration: Citing the Social History of Varanasi - Vinod Kumar, Shiv Narayan

A Caribbean Creole Capital: Kingston, Jamaica - Coln G. Clarke (from Colonial Cities by Robert Ross, Gerard J. Telkamp

The Colonial City and the Post-Colonial World - G. A. de Bruijne

The Nowhere City - Amos Elon*

The Vertical Flâneur: Narratorial Tradecraft in the Colonial Metropolis - Paul K. Saint-Amour

Philosophy

The trolley problem problem - James Wilson

A Brief History of Death - Nir Baram

Justice as Fairness: Political not Metaphysical - John Rawls*

Should Marxists be Interested in Exploitation? - John E. Roemer

The Discomfort You’re Feeling is Grief - Scott Berinato*

The Pandemic and the Crisis of Faith - Makarand Paranjape

If God Is Dead, Your Time is Everything - James Wood

Giving Up on God - Ronald Inglehart

The Limits of Consensual Decision - Douglas Rae*

The Science of “Muddling Through” - Charles Lindblom*

History

The Gruesome History of Eating Corpses as Medicine - Maria Dolan

The History of Loneliness - Jill Lepore*

From Tuskegee to Togo: the Problem of Freedom in the Empire of Cotton - Sven Beckert*

Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism - E. P. Thompson*

All By Myself - Martha Bailey*

The Geographical Pivot of History - H. J. Mackinder

The sea/ocean

Rim of Life - Manu Pillai

Exploring the Indian Ocean as a rich archive of history – above and below the water line - Isabel Hofmeyr, Charne Lavery

‘Piracy’, connectivity and seaborne power in the Middle Ages - Nikolas Jaspert (from The Sea in History)*

The Vikings and their age - Nils Blomkvist (from The Sea in History)*

Mercantile Networks, Port Cities, and “Pirate” States - Roxani Eleni Margariti

Phantom Peril in the Arctic - Robert David English, Morgan Grant Gardner*

Assorted ones on India

A departure from history: Kashmiri Pandits, 1990-2001 - Alexander Evans *

Writing Post-Orientalist Histories of the Third World - Gyan Prakash

Empire: How Colonial India Made Modern Britain - Aditya Mukherjee

Feminism and Nationalism in India, 1917-1947 - Aparna Basu

The Epic Riddle of Dating Ramayana, Mahabharata - Sunaina Kumar*

Caste and Politics: Identity Over System - Dipankar Gupta

Our worldview is Delhi based*

Sports (you’ll have to excuse the fact that it’s only cricket but what can i say, i’m indian)

‘Massa Day Done:’ Cricket as a Catalyst for West Indian Independence: 1950-1962 - John Newman*

Playing for power? rugby, Afrikaner nationalism and masculinity in South Africa, c.1900–70 - Albert Grundlingh

When Cricket Was a Symbol, Not Just a Sport - Baz Dreisinger

Cricket, caste, community, colonialism: the politics of a great game - Ramachandra Guha*

Cricket and Politics in Colonial India - Ramchandra Guha

MS Dhoni: A quiet radical who did it his way*

Music

Brega: Music and Conflict in Urban Brazil - Samuel M. Araújo

Color, Music and Conflict: A Study of Aggression in Trinidad with Reference to the Role of Traditional Music - J. D. Elder

The 1975 - ‘Notes On a Conditional Form’ review - Dan Stubbs*

Life Without Live - Rob Sheffield*

How Britney Spears Changed Pop - Rob Sheffield

Concert for Bangladesh

From “Help!” to “Helping out a Friend”: Imagining South Asia through the Beatles and the Concert for Bangladesh - Samantha Christiansen 

Gender

Clothing Behaviour as Non-verbal Resistance - Diana Crane

The Normalisation of Queer Theory - David M. Halperin

Menstruation and the Holocaust - Jo-Ann Owusu*

Women’s Suffrage the Democratic Peace - Allan Dafoe

Pink and Blue: Coloring Inside the Lines of Gender - Catherine Zuckerman*

Women’s health concerns are dismissed more, studied less - Zoanne Clack

Food

How Food-Obsessed Millennials Shape the Future of Food - Rachel A. Becker (as a non-food obsessed somewhat-millennial, this was interesting)

Colonialism’s effect on how and what we eat - Coral Lee

Tracing Europe’s influence on India’s culinary heritage - Ruth Dsouza Prabhu

Chicken Kiev: the world’s most contested ready-meal*

From Russia with mayo: the story of a Soviet super-salad*

The Politics of Pancakes - Taylor Aucoin*

How Doughnuts Fuelled the American Dream*

Pav from the Nau

A Short History of the Vada Pav - Saira Menezes

Fantasy (mostly just harry potter and lord of the rings)

Purebloods and Mudbloods: Race, Species, and Power (from The Politics of Harry Potter)

Azkaban: Discipline, Punishment, and Human Rights (from The Politics of Harry Potter)*

Good and Evil in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Lengendarium - Jyrki Korpua

The Fairy Story: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis - Colin Duriez (from Tree of Tales)*

Tolkien’s Augustinian Understanding of Good and Evil: Why The Lord of the Rings Is Not Manichean - Ralph Wood (from Tree of Tales)*

Travel

The Hidden Cost of Wildlife Tourism

Chronicles of a Writer’s 1950s Road Trip Across France - Kathleen Phelan

On the Early Women Pioneers of Trail Hiking - Gwenyth Loose

On the Mythologies of the Himalaya Mountains - Ed Douglas*

More random assorted ones

The cosmos from the wheelchair (The Economist obituaries)*

In El Salvador - Joan Didion

Scientists are unravelling the mystery of pain - Yudhijit Banerjee

Notes on Nationalism - George Orwell

Politics and the English Language - George Orwell*

What Do the Humanities Do in a Crisis? - Agnes Callard*

The Politics of Joker - Kyle Smith

Sushant Singh Rajput: The outsider - Uday Bhatia*

Credibility and Mystery - John Berger

happy reading :)

(via Gridllr)

Hello! I am also in 11th grade and was wondering how to study for the ACT and more importantly the SAT...? I haven't started studying yet, but I need to ASAP. :)

hi! sadly, i don’t take the ACT or SAT in my country!! here are some links that might help:

1. act tips, tricks, and strategies 

2. free standardized test prep

3. how i self study for the act

have a nice day!!!

The Godfather   

The Godfather: Part II      

Pulp Fiction

Schindler’s List        

Goodfellas      

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly  

Apocalypse Now  

Casablanca      

The Shawshank Redemption        

Citizen Kane    

Taxi Driver     

Psycho  

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back  

Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Singin’ in the Rain     

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The Dark Knight

Chinatown       

Metropolis      

2001: A Space Odyssey   

It’s a Wonderful Life   

Raging Bull

North by Northwest      

The Silence of the Lambs        

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring       

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers   

Alien   

Toy Story       

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King   

Saving Private Ryan

Back to the Future

Pan’s Labyrinth

Annie Hall      

Some Like It Hot        

The Wizard of Oz

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless

Wall-E

 Aliens  

Amadeus

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Das Boot        

L.A. Confidential       

 Cinema Paradiso

Blade Runner    

 A Clockwork Orange      

The Shining     

Fargo   

Reservoir Dogs  

Unforgiven      

Memento

Brazil  

Solaris

The Lion King   

Jaws    

Gone with the Wind      

The Usual Suspects      

There Will Be Blood     

The Departed    

The Deer Hunter

Do the Right Thing

 Terminator 2: Judgment Day      

American Beauty

No Country for Old Men  

 Fight Club      

Full Metal Jacket

 Inception       

Dog Day Afternoon       

This Is Spinal Tap

 Se7en   

Rosemary’s Baby

The French Connection

Die Hard        

 Finding Nemo    

Let the Right One In    

Oldboy  

The Princess Bride      

Mad Max: Fury Road

 Young Frankenstein      

Blue Velvet    

Forrest Gump    

The Graduate    

Boyhood

The Terminator  

 Night of the Living Dead        

The Matrix      

The Right Stuff

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2  

 Indiana Jones and the Last

Good Will Hunting       

 King Kong

Toy Story 2     

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial      

Jurassic Park   

 American History X      

The Big Lebowski        

The Iron Giant  

Halloween       

Close Encounters of the Third Kind      

Stand by Me     

Monsters, Inc.  

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon  

The Thing       

The Avengers    

The Exorcist    

Gravity

The Truman Show

Inglourious Basterds    

Shaun of the Dead       

Her     

 Platoon

The Dark Knight Rises   

 Scarface        

The Nightmare Before Christmas  

The Bourne Ultimatum    

 Being John Malkovich    

Million Dollar Baby     

Groundhog Day   

Argo    

Boogie Nights   

Aladdin

Almost Famous   

Evil Dead II    

Mulholland Dr

Batman Begins   

Casino Royale   

The Prestige    

Star Trek       

 Invasion of the Body Snatchers  

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The Incredibles

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi      

Hot Fuzz        

Ghost Busters   

Fantasia        

Guardians of the Galaxy 2014    

Dazed and Confused      

Blazing Saddles 1974    

The Hurt Locker

The Green Mile  

Black Swan      

Dirty Harry     

Boyz n the Hood

The Sixth Sense

Iron Man        

The Fugitive    

 Casino  

 A Christmas Story       

Drive   

The Lego Movie  

Mad Max 2       

Rain Man        

The Birds       

The Breakfast Club      

Twelve Monkeys  

Catch Me If You Can     

Edward Scissorhands     

True Grit       

 Glory   

The Last Emperor        

 The Fighter     

Suspiria        

Little Miss Sunshine    

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and  2       

True Romance    

Battle

JFK     

Brokeback Mountain      

Silver Linings Playbook

Shrek   

Deliverance     

Planet of the Apes      

M.A.S.H.        

A Bronx Tale    

The Piano       

Juno    

Run Lola Run    

Doctor Zhivago  

Gone Girl       

Kramer vs. Kramer       

District 9      

Malcolm X       

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Donnie Darko    

The Magnificent Seven   

Dead Poets Society      

Traffic

West Side Story

Serenity        

Moneyball       

Say Anything…

American Graffiti       

X-Men: Days of Future Past

 Braveheart      

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban        

The Blues Brothers      

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off        

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

The Warriors    

Kung Fu Hustle  

127 Hours       

Breakfast at Tiffany’s  

Gran Torino     

United 93       

High Fidelity   

The Untouchables        

When Harry Met Sally…

Stanley Kubrick’s Lolita        

Kill Bill: Vol. 1       

The Fly

The Evil Dead   

Rocky   

Ip Man  

Ghost World     

Mystic River    

Scarface        

Nightcrawler    

Tangled

Mommy   

The Wolf of Wall Street

After Hours     

Apollo 13       

Orphan

Zero Dark Thirty        

Snatch

Prisoners       

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Hugo    

Dances with Wolves      

The Cell

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory     

A Beautiful Mind        

Clerks  

The Last of the Mohicans        

 Short Cuts      

A Fish Called Wanda     

American Splendor       

Easy Rider      

Animal House    

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre    

Gone Baby Gone  

The Vanishing   

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels     

Fruitvale Station       

Edge of Tomorrow        

Dead Man Walking        

Frost/Nixon     

The Royal Tenenbaums    

Birdman

Looper  

Misery  

Dangerous Liaisons      

The Ten Commandments    

Zodiac  

Captain America: The Winter Soldier     

3:10 to Yuma    

Leaving Las Vegas       

The Thin Red Line       

Boys Don’t Cry  

A Nightmare on Elm Street       

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  

The Little Mermaid      

Wreck-It Ralph  

The Purple Rose of Cairo        

Straw Dogs      

All That Jazz   

Tootsie

Superman  the Movie     

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang     

The Color Purple        

The Bourne Identity     

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl  

Superbad        

Walk the Line   

Carlito’s Way   

An American Werewolf in London  

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Best in Show    

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape     

Empire of the Sun       

The Town        

RoboCop

V for Vendetta  

[Rec]   

Planes, Trains & Automobiles    

X-Men: First Class      

Election        

Forbidden Planet        

Coraline        

Witness

Lincoln

Office Space    

Donnie Brasco   

Ex Machina      

The City of Lost Children       

The Help        

Star Trek Into Darkness

South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut       

 Interstellar    

Winter’s Bone   

Minority Report

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World     

Casshern

Frozen  

O Brother, Where Art Thou?      

Big Fish        

Heathers        

Scent of a Woman        

Spider-Man 2    

Big Hero 6      

Ordinary People

The Bourne Supremacy    

Raising Arizona

Carrie  

Cinderella Man  

Grindhouse      

Awakenings      

Avatar  

Heavenly Creatures      

28 Days Later…        

Star Trek: First Contact        

Terms of Endearment     

Mississippi Burning     

Thelma & Louise

Brick   

Billy Elliot    

Braindead       

The Bridges of Madison County   

Miracle on 34th Street  

The Hunt for Red October        

Big     

Jackie Brown    

Road to Perdition       

Zombieland      

Leviathan       

A Simple Plan   

End of Watch    

Ray     

The English Patient     

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street  

Three Kings     

Titanic

Cast Away       

Gattaca 1997    

The Crow        

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!  

As Good as It Gets      

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1    

Field of Dreams

The Aviator     

A History of Violence   

Collateral      

Manhunter       

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire     

First Blood     

Chicago

Out of Sight    

Hoosiers        

Mulan   

Sin City        

X2 : X-Men United    

Tombstone       

Videodrome      

Grosse Pointe Blank     

The Last Temptation of Christ   

Sex, Lies, and Videotape        

Inside Man      

Lethal Weapon   

Swingers        

Rise of the Planet of the Apes  

Bambi   

Predator        

Ringu    

The Jungle Book

Kung Fu Panda   

Garden State    

The Crying Game

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom    

21 Grams        

Borat    

Source Code     

The Fisher King

Speed       

Drugstore Cowboy        

Dark City       

Philadelphia    

The Philadelphia Experiment

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil        

Trading Places  

National Lampoon’s Vacation        

Menace II Society       

Gosford Park    

Precious        

The Taking of Pelham 123      

Munich  

Re-Animator     

A Few Good Men  

American Hustle

Moulin Rouge

Black Hawk Down

Dumbo   

Dawn of the Dead        

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World

The Abyss       

Big mood

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