TRATADOS DE LIBRE COMERCIO INTRODUCCIÓN

Vertebrata can be visualized as the backbone of any person.

Visualize that a doctor is demonstrating the vertebra (backbone) of a man to his students. He shows that it is vertically placed in the body and symmetrical on both sides. It is not connected with any chord, so one of the nerves is

connected to a door. Suddenly it blasts three times (triple blasts) and as a result fishes came out in pouches. These fishes are all college mates.

Q5. Explain how animals in Vertebrata are classified into further subgroups.

Vertebrates are grouped into five classes.

1. Pisces

These five classes can be summarized in an Acronym: PARAM.

Since a student already knows his subject matter, and is very well aware of these words, he only needs a clue to be able to recall it fast without missing any point, so this acronym will serve the purpose very well.

MEMORIZING DISEASES AND THEIR SYMPTOMS

Let’s say you have to memorize that ‘Hypothyroidism’ has the following signs and symptoms:

Since a student of the subject must know that hypothyroidism is a condition marked by low activity of the thyroid gland, which is present in the throat area, you can visualize a lady wearing a band around her neck, with ‘low activity’ written on it.

To link the signs and symptoms of the disease, visualize that the lady, who is very fat (weight gain) and has a puffy face, came to your house. You asked her ‘Why you are so fat?’ She said ‘I am fat because of constipation.’ Outside she was feeling very cold, so you invited her inside. As soon as she comes inside, she started dancing very fast. You asked her repeatedly to stop, but she couldn’t listen to what you were saying because of her poor hearing. Suddenly her hair started falling all around. Seeing that, she stopped but now her muscles were aching badly. They became very stiff;

she started feeling severe pain in her joints. She was feeling very tired and weak, so you asked her where her home is, but she couldn’t tell as she had lost her memory.

You can visualize all the above symptoms in this funny way on any person you may know who is suffering from hypothyroidism. Once you have visualized this clearly on someone, the moment you think about that person, all the

symptoms will come to your mind without any confusion and will bring a smile to your face.

In the same way you can make visualizations of different disease symptoms and memorize them easily.

Many Biology topics can be very well summarized in creative and colourful mind maps, discussed in the chapter of mind mapping and also in next chapter on study skills. These will help you to have a whole topic or chapter at a glance. These notes will also help you revise things very fast.

22 SMART STUDY SKILLS

Students generally study just for the night before an assignment is due or the night before an exam. It’s never too early or too late to develop good study habits. The sooner you get into a good study groove, the easier everything will be, and the better your chances of getting good marks.

Any skill which boosts a person’s ability to study and pass exams with excellent scores can be termed a study skill. Study skills are discrete techniques that can be learned, usually in a short time, and applied to all or most fields of study.

Now-a-days, the most limited resource for everyone is time, especially for students who not only have to perform well in academics in this highly competitive world, but also excel in other activities. Good time management is the key to

achieving academic success. We need to learn to effectively use our time so that we can achieve the best results in a limited period of time.

USEFUL STUDY SKILLS FOR OPTIMUM UTILIZATION OF TIME  

Goal setting is important to channelize your energy, time, resources, and ideas into achieving something that is useful and meaningful in life. Without a target or a goal in our mind, important resources can go waste.

Clearly written goals enhance success. Although your main goals right now are most likely related to education and career, you may also want to set personal and relationship goals. Goals can be of 2 types: long-term goals and short-term goals.

Long-term goals (1–5 years goals): Goals that you want to achieve in the future and that will take a few years’

time (roughly about 1 to 5 years) to accomplish.

Short-term goals: Tasks that help you work toward meeting one or more long-term goals or things you can accomplish today or this week or the next month). It can help you focus and work efficiently.

SET ‘SMART’ GOALS  

Specific: Goals should be defined in specific and clear terms.

Measurable: It should be measurable so that you will know when you have achieved it. ‘I will improve my vocabulary by end of this year’ is not a measurable goal as improvement means different things to different people. Rather the goal should be ‘I will learn 1000 new words in the next 12 months.’

Achievable: The goals should be achievable and realistic according to your resources and capabilities, otherwise non-fulfillment of goals becomes disheartening. For example, if you are getting 50 percent marks in an exam, don’t target to achieve 100 percent directly in upcoming exams which is just a month ahead. Keep a more realistic target keeping on mind your own capabilities and motivation. Though 100 percent will be your final target, you should try to reach it step by step.

Relevant: You should have a clear relevance of achieving that goal in your life. Don’t get affected by others people’s goals. Just because your friend decided to lose 5 kilos, it doesn’t mean you should also aim for it. See if you really want to do it or is it just because of peer pressure.

Timed: It should be time bound.

e.g., ‘I will finish my assignment by 4.00 pm Tuesday.’ is a SMART goal.

e.g., ’I want to spend more time with my family’ is not a SMART goal. It’s vague, immeasurable, and lacks a time

limit.

Record your (SMART) goals in a table where one column is for long-term goals and another is for short-term goals.

Some examples are given below:

 Long–term Goals   Short–term Goals 

 Graduate with first division   Completing assignment for this semester by next Sunday   Buy own house (2BHK, 700 sq. ft) in Gurgaon, by

January 2017 

 Finish revision of Chemistry in the next 10 days 

 Going to the US for work by March 2015   Limit my internet time to 2 hrs/day by next Saturday 

PQRST APPROACH

While reading any information or chapter and making notes out of it, one approach which is highly recommended to make the best use of the first learning time is PQRST method. This method prioritizes the information in a way that relates directly to how they will be asked to use that information in an exam.

PQRST is an acronym for Preview, Question, Read, Summarize, Test. PQRST stands for five steps that you should use when reading something that you want to remember. These five steps are:

1. PREVIEW:

The first step, preview, advises that one should resist the temptation to read the whole book or chapter and instead glance through it in order to identify headings, sub-headings, and other outstanding features in the text like graphics, boxed text, etc. This is in order to identify ideas and formulate questions about the content of the chapter. For example, when you take an overview of a chapter on‘Principles of management’, you will notice that it talks about Fayol’s 14 main principles. And by just going through the headings you will know the gist of the chapter.

2. QUESTION:

Formulate questions about the content of the reading. For example, convert headings and sub-headings into questions, and then look for answers in the content of the text. Other more general questions may also be formulated:

What is this chapter about?

What question is this chapter trying to answer?

How does this information help me?

What must I remember about it?

When you question the material, you engage your mind and prepare it for learning. You’re far more likely to retain information when you’re actively looking for it.

3. READ:

You should read through the related material, focusing on the information that best relates to the questions formulated earlier.

For example: If I am reading about a war, I will ask questions like When? Where? Why? Between whom?etc.

Now while reading the text, you must answer these questions before moving on. This way your complete concentration will be on the text that you are reading.

Do some underlining or highlighting of key words. Don’t overdo it! If you want to take notes, read the whole section first, and then summarize it later.

4. SUMMARIZE:

The student summarizes the topic, bringing his or her own understanding into the process. Using key word or phrases,

one is meant to identify major points and answers to questions from the questioning step. This may include written notes, spider diagrams, flow diagrams, mind maps®, labelled diagrams, mnemonics, or even voice recordings. Check back against the text, and note the things you missed out.

An example of summarizing a topic through a mind map is demonstrated in the next section of mind mapping your notes.

5. TEST:

So now you have finished the chapter (or a major section if the chapter contains large dissimilar sections). Test yourself and answer the questions drafted earlier, avoiding adding any questions that might distract or change the subject. Review all the material. If you made notes, read through these. Think about the relevance of what you learnt and how it all fits together. Reread any chapter summaries. Even though you have only just read the chapter, now is the best time to test yourself.

Researchers have tested this method and found it really helpful in improving readers understanding, and his/her ability to recall information. Summarizing is particularly effective if done properly, as is the questioning step. After all, this makes sense because it is putting your brain into gear and warming it up before you start.

MIND MAP YOUR NOTES

WHY SHOULD ONE TAKE NOTES?

Note-taking activity is one of the most crucial parts of learning. Taking effective notes during lectures or reading helps you to concentrate, stimulates your ability to recall, and helps you to be organized.

Students many a times think it is a boring and time-consuming activity and therefore revise directly from the textbook.

However, if we have quality notes, we can save our time in revision and can in fact revise more number of times in the same duration as revising directly from the book.

Note taking helps students in:

Extending their attention spans and keeps them focused.

Learning more effectively by using both listening and writing skills.

Selecting important material and discarding unimportant material.

Changing from passive learners to active learners.

Organizing the ideas they are learning.

Differences between note taking in lectures and when reading

The big difference between note taking in lectures and note taking from reading is that in lectures, you can’t slow down or pause the lecturer if you fall behind your note taking. So, for taking notes we need to follow some strategies:

TAKING NOTES IN LECTURES  

Think about the subject of the lecture beforehand so as to grasp the ideas quickly.

Concentrate on the ‘big picture’ in a lecture and do not try to write everything down.

Keep your notes brief—long notes do not help your understanding of the lecture at all.

Use your own abbreviations.

Make keywords stand out—underline, capitals.

TAKING NOTES FROM READING  

Before you start reading, identify the purpose of reading.

Use your own words, wherever possible, to help understanding.

Break down the note taking task by asking specific questions:

What questions you want to answer with this information?

Have you noted similar information already?

Any specific information? Names and dates?

Include references (page numbers, etc. for checking back) CREATING MAP OF NOTES – MIND MAPS

In this stage of creative note taking, we write notes in radiant format by using symbols and images, wherever possible, along with the keywords. This technique is popularly known as Mind Maps®, invented by Tony Buzan.

It is a graphical technique that mirrors the way the brain works. The subject of interest is crystallized in a central image and then the main themes radiate out from the central image on branches. Each branch holds a key image or key word printed on the line. Details are added to the main branches and radiate out.

Most people’s notes are on lined paper using blue or black ink which looks extremely boring. To make your notes more attractive to your brain, add colour, rhythm, and imagination and all of a sudden taking notes becomes much more fun.

Make creative notes for quick revision as explained in the chapter ‘ Mind Maps—Creative Note Taking

’. Here is an example of creating a mind map® step-by-step for a given long answer: