How to Get 36 on ACT English 10 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer

How to Get 36 on ACT English 10 Strategies From a Perfect Scorer SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you scoring in the 26–34 range on ACT English? Do you want to raise that score as high as possible- to a perfect 36? Getting to a 36 ACT English score isn't easy. It'll require near perfection and mastery of both grammar rules and rhetorical skills. But with hard work and my ACT English strategies below, you'll be able to do it. I've consistently scored 36 on English on my real ACTs, and I know what it takes. Follow my advice, and you'll get a perfect score- or get very close. Brief note: This article is suited for students already scoring a 26 on ACT English or above. If you're below this range, my "How to Improve your ACT English Score to a 26" article is more appropriate for you. Follow the advice in that article, then come back to this one when you've reached a 26. Overview Most guides on the internet on how to get a 36 on ACT English are of pretty bad quality. They're often written by people who never scored a 36 themselves. You can tell because their advice is usually vague and not very pragmatic. In contrast, I've written what I believe to be the best guide on getting a 36 available anywhere. I have confidence that these strategies work because I used them myself to score a perfect ACT English score consistently. They've also worked for thousands of my students at PrepScholar. In this article, I'm going to discuss why scoring a 36 is a good idea and what it takes to score a 36. Then I'll go into the 10 critical ACT English strategies you need to get a perfect ACT English score. Stick with me- as an advanced student, you probably already know that scoring high is good. But it's important to know why a 36 English score is useful, since this will fuel your motivation to get a high score. In this guide, I'm going to talk about doing well on ACT English, rather than about raising your combined English/Language Arts score. The reason is that schools typically care much more about your ACT composite score rather than your subscores and ELA score. However, I'll still touch upon how to raise your essay score at the end. Final note: In this guide, I talk mainly about getting to a 36. But if your goal is a 34, these strategies still equally apply. Understand the Stakes: Why a 36 ACT English? Let's make something clear: for all intents and purposes, a 34 on an ACT is equivalent to a perfect 36. No top college is going to give you more credit for a 36 than a 34. You've already crossed their score threshold, and whether you get in now depends on the rest of your application. So if you're already scoring a 34, don't waste your time studying trying to get a 36. You're already set for the top colleges, and it's time to work on the rest of your application. But if you're scoring a 33 or below AND you want to go to a top 10 college, it's worth your time to push your score up to a 34 or above. There's a big difference between a 32 and a 34, largely because it's easy to get a 32 (and a lot more applicants do) and a lot harder to get a 34. A 33 places you right around average at Harvard and Princeton, and being average is bad in terms of admissions, since the admissions rate is typically below 10%. So why get a 36 on ACT English? Because it helps you compensate for weaknesses in other sections. By and large, schools consider your ACT composite score more than your individual section scores. If you can get a 36 in ACT English, that gives you more flexibility in your Math, Reading, and Science scores. It can compensate for a 32 in one other section, for example, and bring your average back up to 34. Princeton's 75th percentile score for ACT English is likely 36. Even though schools don't typically release their ACT scores by section, they do release SAT section scores. As a stand-in for ACT English, we can take a look at SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores at top schools. (I know ACT English and SAT EBRW don't totally overlap, but you do need to be good at reading and writing to score highly on ACT English.) Here are a few examples. For Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and Dartmouth, the 75th percentile SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing score is an 800 or 790. That means at least 25% of all students at these schools have a 790 in SAT EBRW, or a 36 on ACT English. But if you can work your way to a 36, you show that you're at an equal level (at least on this metric). Even if it takes you a ton of work, all that matters is the score you achieve at the end. Know That You Can Do It This isn't just some fuzzy feel-good message you see on the back of a milk carton. I mean, literally, you and every other reasonably intelligent student can score a 36 on ACT English. The reason most people don't is they don't try hard enough or they don't study the right way. Even if language isn't your strongest suit, or you got a B+ in AP English, you're capable of this. Because I know that more than anything else, your ACT score is a reflection ofhow hard you work and how smartly you study. ACT English Is Designed to Trick You - You Need to Learn How Here's why: the ACT is a weird test. When you take it, don't you get the sense that the questions are nothing like what you've seen in school? You've learned grammar before in school. You know some basic grammar rules. But the ACT questions just seem so much weirder. It's purposely designed this way. The ACT can't test difficult concepts, because this would be unfair for students who never took AP English. It can't ask you to decompose Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. The ACT is a national test, which means it needs a level playing field for all students around the country. So it has to test concepts that all high school students will cover, like subject-verb agreement, run-on sentences, pronoun choice, etc. You've learned all of this throughout school. But the ACT still has to make the test difficult, so it needs to test these concepts in strange ways. This trips up students who don't prepare, but it rewards students who understand the test well. Tricky ACT English Example Question Here's an example: find the grammar error in this sentence: The commissioner, along with his 20 staff members, run a tight campaign against the incumbent. This is a classic ACT English problem. The error is in subject/verb agreement. The subject of the sentence is commissioner, which is singular. The verb is "run," but because the subject is singular, it should really be "runs." At your level, you probably saw the error. But if you didn't, you fell for a classic ACT English trap. It purposely confused you with the interrupting phrase, "along with his 20 staff members." You're now picturing 20 people in a campaign- which suggests a plural verb! The ACT English section is full of examples like this, and they get trickier. Nearly every grammar rule is tested in specific ways, and if you don't prepare for these, you're going to do a lot worse than you should. Here's the good news: this might have been confusing the first time, but the next time you see a question like this, you'll know exactly what to do: find the subject and the verb, and get rid of the interrupting phrase. So to improve your ACT English score, you just need to: Learn the grammar rules that the ACT tests. Study how the ACT tests these grammar rules and learn how to detect which grammar rule you need in a question. Practice on a lot of questions so you learn from your mistakes. I'll go into more detail about exactly how to do this. First, let's see how many questions you need to get right to get a perfect score. What It Takes to Get a 36 in English If we have a target score in mind, it helps to understand what you need to get that score on the actual test. As you probably know, writing combines your raw score on the multiple choice section with your essay score to give your final English score out of 36. Here's a sample raw score to ACT English Score conversion table. (If you could use a refresher on how the ACT is scored and how raw scores are calculated, read this.) Scaled Score English Raw Score 36 75 35 72–74 34 71 33 70 32 68–69 31 67 30 66 29 65 28 63–64 27 62 Source: ACT In this grading scale, you can earn a 36 only if you get a perfect raw score of 75. In fact, I've never seen a grading scale where you can earn a 36 after missing one question. The curve is also typically quite unforgiving. If you miss one question, you drop down to a 35. Miss two, and sometimes you drop down to a 34. Thus, perfection is really important for ACT English. On every practice test, you need to aim for a perfect raw score for a 36. It's pretty clear then that you need to try to answer every question. You can't guess on too many questions and get a 36, which means you need to get to a level of mastery where you're confident answering each question. Whatever you're scoring now, take note of the difference you need to get to a 36. For example, if you're scoring a 30 now, you need to answer nine more questions right to get to a 36. As a final example, here's a screenshot from my ACT test, showing that I scored a perfect raw score and a 36 on ACT English. OK- so we've covered why scoring a higher English score is important, why you specifically are capable of improving your score, and the raw score you need to get to your target. Now we'll get into the meat of the article: actionable strategies that you should use in your own studying to maximize your score improvement. Strategies to Get a 36 on ACT English What's your greatest weakness? Strategy 1: Understand Your High Level Weakness - Content or Time Management? Every student has different flaws in ACT English. Some people aren't comfortable with the underlying grammarmaterial. Others know the grammar ruleswell, but can't solve questions quickly enough in the harsh time limit. (As we'll discuss, the ACT English section applies VERY heavy time pressure. So you likely do suffer from some time pressure- we're trying to figure out how much) Here's how you can figure out which one applies more to you: Take only the Englishsection of a practice test. We have the complete list of free practice tests here. For that section, use a timer for 45 minutes. Treat it like a real test. If time runs out and you're not done yet, keep working for as long as you need. But starting now, for every new answer or answer that you change, mark it with a special note as "Extra Time." Grade your test using the answer key and score chart, but we want two scores: 1) The Realistic score you got under normal timing conditions, 2) The Extra Time score. This is why you marked the questions you answered or changed during Extra Time. Get what we're doing here? By marking which questions you did under Extra Time, we can figure out what score you got if you were given all the time you needed. This will help us figure out where your weaknesses lie. If you didn't take any extra time, then your Extra Time score is the same as your Realistic score. Here's a flowchart to help you figure this out: Was your Extra Time score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32), then you have remaining content weaknesses. You might have weaknesses across a range of subjects, or a deep weakness in only a few subjects. (We'll cover this later). Your first plan of attack should be to develop more comfort with all ACT English subjects. If YES (Extra Time score 32), then: Was your Realistic score a 32 or above? If NO (Extra Time score 32, Realistic 32), then that means you have a difference between your Extra Time score and your Realistic score. If this difference is more than two points, then you have some big problems with time management. We need to figure out why this is. Are you generally slow at Englishacross most questions? Or did particular passages or types of questionsslow you down? Generally, doing a lot of practice questions and learning the most efficient solutions will help reduce your time. More on this later. If YES (both Extra Time and Realistic scores 32), then you have a really good shot at getting a 36. Compare your Extra Time and Realistic score- if they differed by more than one point, then you would benefit from learning how to answer questionsmore quickly. If not, then you likely can benefit from shoring up on your last content weaknesses and avoiding careless mistakes (more on this strategy later). Hopefully that makes sense. Typically I see that students have both timing and content issues, but you might find that one is much more dominant for you than the other. For example, if you can get a 36 with extra time, but score a 32 in regular time, you know exactly that you need to work on time management to get a 36. Strategy 2: Comprehensively Learn the Grammar Rules There's just no way around it. You need to know all the grammar rules tested on the test and how they work. In addition, you'll also need to know rhetorical skills that test you in your writing logic. You'll be asked to decide how to organize sentences and paragraphs together. Certain grammar rules, like punctuation, appear far more often than other rules. But because we're going for perfection, you'll need to know even the less common rules. In our PrepScholar program, we've identified the following as the grammar and rhetorical skills you need to know: Grammar Rules Punctuation: Commas, Apostrophes, Semicolons, Dashes Number Agreement: Subject/Verb Agreement, Pronoun Number Agreement Idioms and Wrong Word (Examples: affect/effect, neither...nor, there/their/they're) Parallel Construction Verb Forms: Tense, Conjugation Conciseness: Eliminating waste from sentence phrasings Sentence Fragments, Run-on Sentences Pronouns: Pronoun Choice, Pronoun Case Faulty Modifier Comparison/Description Rhetorical Skills Macro Logic: How sentences and paragraphs fit together Transitional Logic: How to connect different thoughts together Relevance: Determine whether a sentence is extraneous or fits in Author Intent: Understand the point of the author and writing techniques Formality and Tone There are a lot of rules, but they differ from each other in how commonly they appear on the test, and how hard they are to study. For example, Punctuation is the most common grammar rule on ACT English, but it only uses a few separate concepts. The Idioms skill is also very common, but it uses a wide range of idioms, such that each unique idiom appears no more than once on each test. It's therefore important for you to focus your time on studying the highest impact grammar rules. Our PrepScholar program, for example, quizzes you in relation to how common each grammar rule is, so that you focus your efforts on the rules that make the biggest difference to your score. Strategy 3: Do a Ton of Practice and Understand Every Single Mistake On the path to perfection, you need to make sure every single one of your weak points is covered. Even one mistake on all of ACT English will knock you down from a 36. The first step is simply to do a ton of practice. If you're studying from free materials or from books, you have access to a lot of practice questions in bulk. As part of our PrepScholar program, we have over 1,200 ACT questions customized to each skill. The second step- and the more important part- is to be ruthless about understanding your mistakes. Every mistake you make on a test happens for a reason.If you don't understand exactly why you missed that question, you will make that mistake over and over again. I've seen students who completed 15 practice tests. They've solved over 3,000 questions, but they're still nowhere near a 36 on ACT English. Why? They never understood their mistakes. They just hit their heads against the wall over and over again. Think of yourself as an exterminator, and your mistakes are cockroaches. You need to eliminate every single one- and find the source of each one- or else the restaurant you work for will be shut down. Here'swhat you need to do: On every practice test or question set that you take, mark every question that you're even 20% unsure about When you grade your test or quiz, review every single question that you marked, and every incorrect question. This way even if you guessed a question correctly, you'll make sure to review it. In a notebook, write down the gist of the question, why you missed it, and what you'll do to avoid that mistake in the future. Have separate sections by grammar skill (eg Number Agreement, Idioms, Sentence Fragments) It's not enough to just think about it and move on. It's not enough to just read the answer explanation. You have to think hard about why you specifically failed on this question. By taking this structured approach to your mistakes,you'll now have a running log of every question you missed, and your reflection on why. No excuses when it comes to your mistakes. Always Go Deeper- WHY Did You Miss an English Question? Now, what are some common reasons that you missed a question? Don't just say, "I didn't get this question right." That's a cop out. Always take it one step further- what specifically did you miss, and what do you have to improve in the future? Take the Subject/Verb Agreement example I gave above (with the Interrupting Phrase trick). You likely already know how Subject/Verb Agreement works. But if you missed that question, you'd need to think about why you missed it (because the interrupting phrase made you confuse the subject and verb). Then you need to write down a strategy for noticing this in the future. Here are some examples of common reasons you miss an English question, and how you take the analysis one step further: Content:I didn't learn the grammar rule needed to answer this question. One step further:What specific rule do I need to learn, and what resources will I use to learn this grammar rule? Overlooked Rule:I knew the grammar rule, but the ACT question was written in a way that made me miss it. One step further:How do I solve the question now? Is there a strategy I can use to notice this grammar rule in the future? Careless Error:I knew the grammar rule and normally would get this right, but I slipped up for some reason. One step further:Why did I make this careless mistake? Was I rushing? Did I misread the question? What should I do in the future to avoid this? Get the idea? You're really digging into understanding why you're missing questions. Yes, this is hard, and it's draining, and it takes work. That's why most students who study ineffectively don't improve. But you're different. Just by reading this guide, you're already proving that you care more than other students. And if you apply these principles and analyze your mistakes, you'll improve more than other students too. Bonus: If all of this is making sense to you, you'd love our ACT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work.When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty ACT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: Strategy 4: Justify Every Answer and Point Out Specific Grammar Errors Many top students take a "soft approach" to ACT English. They learn the grammar rules when studying, but on the test they go "by ear": if a sentence sounds off, they'll assume it's wrong without thinking too hard about why. When you've mastered grammar rules, this can serve you well. For example, if I said, "The bee fly to the hive," you'd know this was wrong instantly- it just feels wrong. You know simple subject/verb agreement so well that you can tell something is wrong before you can articulate what exactly it is. However, most students never get to this level of familiarity with all ACT grammar rules. This makes trusting your ear unreliable for many rules. This is especially true for wrong word choice, like "Its a good day to be an American." Because "its" sounds the same as "it's," your ear is of no help here! What's the strategy to counter this? Point out the specific error, and justify it to yourself. Let's run through an example. This is a grammar question that needs only one line from the passage to answer: Here's what I'm thinking as I read the question (a stream of consciousness): " 'The Sun sets gradually the images of a winged horse'...this doesn't seem right. I know 'sets' can take an object, like 'Tom sets the bowl down slowly,' but the Sun can't set anything down, and especially not images of a winged horse. This has got to be a run-on sentence, but let me keep reading. 'the images of a winged horse, a drinking gourd, a heartbroken hero appear in lights overhead.' Yep- the second part of this sentence is an independent clause, and it's a run-on because it's improperly connected to the first clause, 'The Sun sets gradually.' So I need an answer choice that fixes this:" F: no change, which is wrong G: this has a comma splice error- you can't connect two independent clauses with just a comma. H: this looks good. It joins two independent clauses properly- with a comma and a conjunction ('and'). J: 'The Sun setting gradually' is now a dependent clause, but to join a dependent clause with an independent clause, you need a comma that's missing here. For example, 'The Sun setting gradually, we drove down the highway.' would be correct. Thus answer J is wrong. Now, I'm not literally thinking all these words in my head, but it matches my thinking process as I go through the question and evaluate each answer choice. You can see how I first identified the run-on sentence error in the original sentence. That made it very clear to me how I could find an answer choice that fixed this error. As you learn the different grammar skills and how they appear on the test, you'll start evaluating answer choices for common ways that the ACT tries to trick you. Is a verb underlined? I'm going to check the subject to see if it follows subject/verb agreement. Then I'll check the verb tense. Is a pronoun underlined? I'm going to check the antecedent to see if it matches. Does an underline come right after a comma? I'm going to check if there's a faulty modifier error. I can justify every one of my answers because I know the grammar rules. This makes my answering more robust, not just based on whether something 'feels' right or wrong. Note as well that in these questions, the ACT often fixes the original error in an answer choice- but then introduces another error. You need to make sure the answer you choose is 100% correct, in terms of both grammar and logic. Don't be intimidated if you can't do this right now. With practice and reflection, you will get to this point. Once again, it's like "the bee fly to the hive." You want to get to a point where all ACT grammar rules automatically sound as wrong as that sentence. Find patterns to your mistakes, and make sense of the chaos. Strategy 5: Find Patterns to Your Weaknesses and Drill Them Remember Strategy 3 above about keeping a list of every mistake? You need to take this even one step further. If you're like most students, you're better at some areas in ACT English than others. You might know pronouns really well, but you'll be weak in sentence constructions and fragments. Or maybe you really like parallel construction, but have no idea what faulty modifiers are. This is especially true in grammar and ACT English, because some grammar mistakes likely sound obvious to you, but others are completely foreign. If you're like most students, you also don't have an unlimited amount of time to study. You have a lot of schoolwork, you might be an athlete or have intense extracurriculars, and you have friends to hang out with. This means for every hour you study for the ACT, it needs to be the most effective hour possible. In concrete terms,you need to find your greatest areas of improvement and work on those. Too many students study the 'dumb' way. They just buy a book and read it cover to cover. When they don't improve, they're shocked. I'm not. Studying effectively for the ACT isn't like painting a house. You're not trying to cover your bases with a very thin layer of understanding. What these students did wrong was they wasted time on subjects they already knew well, and they didn't spend enough time improving their weak spots. Instead, studying effectively for the ACT is like plugging up the holes of a leaky boat. You need to find the biggest hole, and fill it. Then you find the next biggest hole, and you fix that. Soon you'll find that your boat isn't sinking at all. How does this relate to ACT English? In this analogy, your knowledge of English grammar is the leaky boat, and the holes are the gaps in your knowledge. You need to find the grammar rules you're struggling with the most, then do enough practice questions until they're no longer a weakness. For every question that you miss, you need to identify the type of question it is and why you missed it. Once you discover patterns to the questions you miss, you then need to find extra practice for this grammar rule. Let's say you analyze your past practice tests and questions and find that you're missing a lot of misplaced modifier questions. After you identify this pattern, the next step is to find good lesson material to teach yourself the main concepts behind what misplaced modifiers are and how to fix or avoid them. You'll also need to find more practice questions that test you on misplaced modifiers and drill until you're making few, if any, mistakes. This is the best way for you to improve your English score. Once again, this is exactly how I designed our PrepScholar online ACT prep program to work. It automatically figures out your greatest weaknesses so you don't have to. We use advanced statistics with data from our thousands of students. With PrepScholar, you don't need to worry about what to study- you just need to focus on learning. Because it's worked for thousands of students, I'm pretty sure it'll work for you too. Click here to learn more. Strategy 6: Be Careful With "No Change" Answers In ACT English, most questions have a NO CHANGE option. The ACT loves tricking students using these answer choices, because it knows that students who don't know grammar rules won't see anything wrong with the sentence. No Change is a really easy answer to choose. No changes are one of the most common careless mistakes- make sure you don't fall for them. Be very careful whenever you choose one of these No Change answer choices. Typically, these are correct answers around 25% of the time- not much more. (We actually went through and counted this in real tests). If you find that you're choosing No Change 40% of the time, you're definitely not detecting grammar errors well enough. Every time you choose No Change, try to double-check the other answer choices to make sure you're not missing a grammar error. Especially take note of grammar rules that you tend to ignore mistakenly. Like I mentioned in Strategy 2 above, if you write down your mistakes and study your weaknesses, you'll be able to know which grammar rules you're weak at, and pay special attention to. Personally, this was my most common careless mistake on ACT English. When I could see the error, I got the question correct nearly 100% of the time. The only times I missed questions were when I accidentally ignored an error. I solved this by double-checking each of the answer choices to make sure I wasn't leaving any stone unturned. Strategy 7: Think About Grammar in Everyday Life Among all subjects, English on the ACT is special because it appears in your everyday life. For school, you have to read a lot and you have to write a lot. Use these experiences as opportunities to notice grammar rules and sentence constructions. This is unique to ACT English. ACT Math is so bizarre compared to everyday life that you won't just naturally find ways to apply the Pythagorean theorem at breakfast. ACT Reading and Science similarly require very specific skills when reading a passage or chart. But you can practice your grammar skills throughout the day. Here are some ideas: Proofread your friends' essays. Challenge yourself to uncover every grammatical error. Read high quality, formal publications, like the New York Times or the Economist. These articles go through editors, so they rarely have grammar errors. You'll develop that ear for language I mentioned. Notice common errors around you. A lot of people comma splice, for example. Hold yourself to a higher standard in texting and messaging. (I know this isn't that cool- you don't have to capitalize every sentence and use periods, but at least use its/it's and their/there/they're correctly.) The more you think about grammar as a fundamental skill rather than something specialized for ACT, the more natural it will feel to you. Strategy 8: Finish With Extra Time and Double Check Your goal at the end of all this work is to get so good at ACT English that you solve every question and have extra time left over at the end of the section to recheck your work. In high school and even now, I can finish a 45 minute English section in 30 minutes or less. I then have 15 minutes left over to recheck my answers two times over. As I've explained above, the best way to get faster is to get so fluent with ACT grammar that you rapidly zero in on the grammar mistakes without having to think hard about it. Try to aim for a target of spending 40 seconds on average for each question. This gives you enough time to double-check comfortably. What's the best way to double-check your work? I have a reliable method that I follow: Double-check any questions you marked that you're unsure of. Try hard to eliminate those answer choices. If it's a No Change question, double-check that you're not missing any grammar mistakes. If I'm 100% sure I'm right on a question, I mark it as such and never look at it again. If I'm not sure, I'll come back to it on the third pass. At least two minutes before time's up, I rapidly double-check that I bubbled the answers correctly. I try to do this all at once so as not to waste time looking back and forth between the test book and the answer sheet. Go five at a time ("A G C F B") for more speed. If you notice yourself spending more than 30 seconds on a problem and aren't clear how you'll get to the answer, skip and go to the next question. Even though you need a perfect raw score for a 36, don't be afraid to skip. You can come back to it later, and for now it's more important to get as many points as possible. Quick Tip: Bubbling Answers Here's a bubbling tip that will save you two minutes per section. When I first started test taking in high school, I did what many students do: after I finished one question, I went to the bubble sheet and filled it in. Then I solved the next question. Finish question 1, bubble in answer 1. Finish question 2, bubble in answer 2. And so forth. This actually wastes a lot of time. You're distracting yourself between two distinct tasks- solving questions, and bubbling in answers. This costs you time in both mental switching costs and in physically moving your hand and eyes to different areas of the test. Here's a better method: solve all your questions first in the book, then bubble all of them in at once. This has several huge advantages: you focus on each task one at a time, rather than switching between two different tasks. You also eliminate careless entry errors, like if you skip question 7 and bubble in question 8's answer into question 7's slot. By saving just four seconds per question, you get back 300 seconds on a section that has 75 questions. This is huge. Note: If you use this strategy, you should already be finishing the section with ample extra time to spare. Otherwise, you might run out of time before you have the chance to bubble in the answer choices all at once. Strategy 9: Read the Whole Sentence Most of the questions ACT English ask you the underlined part of a sentence should be changed. When you answer these questions, don't just read the underlined portion. To correctly answer the questions, you must read the whole sentence (or sentences, if the underlined section overlaps across two different sentences). Phrases not included in the underlined portion of the sentence often provide information that's essential for deciding whether or not the underlined portion should be changed. Let's go through another example from the ACT to see this strategy in action. If you only read the underlined word, you probably won't think there's anything wrong with it. "Consecutively" is an adverb modifying the verb "to speak"- nothing to change there. When you read the whole sentence, however, you're able to notice that because of the phrase "for twelve hours straight", "consecutively" is redundant. In the context of the full sentence, consecutively means "without stopping," and the phrase "for twelve hours straight" implies that she could speak that long without stopping. Therefore, the word "consecutively" is unnecessary and should be omitted. If you didn't read the whole sentence, you might not notice the redundancy error and would most likely select A. However, since the word "consecutively" is unnecessary, the correct answer is D. In addition, certain types of questions on the ACT require reading not just the sentence with the underlined section, but sentences before and after it as well. For example, you need the context provided by multiple sentences to answer some verb tense and paragraph order questions as well. Strategy 10: Experiment with Passage Strategies and Find the Best One for You The format of ACT English is unlike any high school English test most students have seen before. As a result, many students don't intuitively know which method of approaching the passages will be the most effective for them. Because you're already scoring at a high level, I can't say with 100% accuracy which approach will work best for you. You're aiming for a perfect English score, which means that if your strategy doesn't perfectly line up with your strengths and weaknesses, you'll make mistakes or run out of time. Rather than prescribing you one strategy that you must use for ACT English passages, then, I'll instead go through what ways of approaching the passage are the most effective. You can then try the different strategies out and see which one leads to the highest score for you. Passage Method 1: Graf-by-Graf Though every student is different, this is the one strategy that we recommend everyone at least tries. Here it is: Read through the passage one paragraph at a time. After each paragraph, answer the questions referring to that paragraph. Skip if you can't answer a question within 30 seconds. Repeat for each succeeding paragraph. The great part about this strategy is that it both gives you a clear sense of the passage and forces you to read through whole sentences before answering questions about them. The only drawback is that going graf-by-graf can be a little time-consuming, so if you struggle with running out of time on ACT English, you might want to consider one of the other passage methods. Definitely try going graf-by-graf first, though- you might be pleasantly surprised by how well it works for you! Passage Method 2: Answer as You Go Many students gravitate to this method by default because it's both straightforward and quick. We don't recommend it as our top method, however, because of its potential pitfalls. Here's the method: Start reading through the passage. When you come to an underlined word, phrase, or sentence, continue reading past it to the end of the sentence. Answer the question about the underlined word, phrase, or sentence, then move on. The answer-as-you-go method is great if you're using the graf-by-graf approach but keep running out of time with just a few questions left or if you find yourself distracted or overwhelmed by multiple hops back and forth between the same paragraph and different questions. Unfortunately, this method does have one major drawback: you won't get as thorough a perspective on a question's context, which makes answering questions about transitions or the paragraph as a whole more challenging. It can also fail completely if you don't always read to the end of the sentence (for the importance of this, see Strategy 9). Passage Method 3: Sentence-by-Sentence In this approach, you only read the sentences of the passage that include underlined words, phrases, or sentences. If you're running out of time with a lot of questions left over when you use the graf-by-graf method, this strategy might be a good option for you. The key to using this method is that you always have to read the entire sentence. Even if you do execute this method perfectly, however, it suffers from the same drawbacks as answering as you go: if you read through the passage a sentence at a time, you won't get as clear an understanding of the overall structure and context of the passage, which makes answering rhetorical skills questions more difficult. We don't recommend using this method if you're aiming for a score higher than a 25. Passage Method 4: Read the Passage First The final ACT English passage approach we recommend is skimming the entire passage first, then going back through sentence-by-sentence to answer the questions. Of all the approaches to the ACT English passage, this is the most thorough. If you find yourself missing most of the macro logic or big picture questions because you didn't really understand the passage as a whole, this strategy could be a good fit for you. For most students, however, this approach is more trouble (and time) than it's worth- the graf-by-graf method is usually sufficient for answering macro logic questions and is much more time effective. Choose Which Method Works Best for You While we do recommend the graf-by-graf method as a starting point for most students, we can't predict which method will be most effective for you. To figure this out for yourself, you need some cold, hard data about your ACT English performance. Try out each method on at least one (and preferably two) sample passages each, then compare your performance on each. If one method is a clear winner for you, go with it; if not, choose the method that's the most comfortable for you. Once you've tried out all the passage approach strategies and figured out which one works best for you, you must use it consistently with every ACT English practice passage and test. These strategies all depend on teaching you to approach passages methodically, which means that they will only be effective if you use them every single time. In Overview Those are the main strategies I have for you to improve your ACT English score to a 36. If you're scoring above a 26 right now, with hard work and smart studying, you can raise it to a perfect English score. Even though we covered a lot of strategies, the main point is still this: you need to understand where you're falling short, and drill those weaknesses continuously. You need to be thoughtful about your mistakes and leave no mistake ignored. One last tip: try to keep a steady head while you're taking the test. It's really easy to start doubting yourself because you know you need a near-perfect raw score. Even if you're unsure about two questions in a row, try to treat every question as its own independent test. If you start doubting yourself, you'll perform worse, and the worse you perform, the more you doubt yourself. Avoid this negative spiral of doubt and concentrate on being confident. You'll have studied a lot, and you'll do great on this test. Keep reading for more resources on how to boost your ACT score. What's Next? We have a lot more useful guides to raise your ACT score. Read our accompanying guides on how to get a 36 on ACT Math and how to get a 36 on ACT Reading. Better yet, read my high-level guide on how to score a perfect 36 on the entire test. Learn how to write a perfect-scoring 12 ACT essay, step by step. We also have a rough index to all ACT Prep info here. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Nitrogen or Azote Facts

Nitrogen or Azote Facts Nitrogen (Azote) is an important nonmetal and the most abundant gas in the Earths atmosphere. Nitrogen Facts Nitrogen Atomic Number: 7 Nitrogen Symbol: N (Az, French) Nitrogen Atomic Weight: 14.00674 Nitrogen Discovery: Daniel Rutherford 1772 (Scotland): Rutherford removed oxygen and carbon dioxide from the air and showed that the residual gas would not support combustion or living organisms. Electron Configuration: [He]2s22p3 Word Origin: Latin: nitrum, Greek: nitron and genes; native soda, forming. Nitrogen was sometimes referred to as burnt or dephlogisticated air. The French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier named nitrogen azote, meaning without life. Properties: Nitrogen gas is colorless, odorless, and relatively inert. Liquid nitrogen is also colorless and odorless and is similar in appearance to water. There are two allotropic forms of solid nitrogen, a and b, with a transition between the two forms at -237 ° C. Nitrogens melting point is -209.86 ° C, boiling point is -195.8 ° C, density is 1.2506 g/l, specific gravity is 0.0808 (-195.8 ° C) for the liquid and 1.026 (-252 ° C) for the solid. Nitrogen has a valence of 3 or 5. Uses: Nitrogen compounds are found in foods, fertilizers, poisons, and explosives. Nitrogen gas is used as a blanketing medium during the production of electronic components. Nitrogen is also used in annealing stainless steels and other steel products. Liquid nitrogen is used as a refrigerant. Although nitrogen gas is fairly inert, soil bacteria can fix nitrogen into a usable form, which plants and animals can then utilize. Nitrogen is a component of all proteins. Nitrogen is responsible for the orange-red, blue-green, blue-violet, and deep violet colors of the aurora. Sources: Nitrogen gas (N2) makes up 78.1% of the volume of the Earth’s air. Nitrogen gas is obtained by liquefaction and fractional distillation from the atmosphere. Nitrogen gas also can be prepared by heating a water solution of ammonium nitrite (NH4NO3). Nitrogen is found in all living organisms. Ammonia (NH3), an important commercial nitrogen compound, is often the starting compound for many other nitrogen compounds. Ammonia may be produced using the Haber process. Element Classification: Non-Metal Density (g/cc): 0.808 ( -195.8 °C) Isotopes: There are 16 known isotopes of nitrogen ranging from N-10 to N-25. There are two stable isotopes: N-14 and N-15. N-14 is the most common isotope accounting for 99.6% of natural nitrogen. Appearance: Colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mainly inert gas. Atomic Radius (pm): 92 Atomic Volume (cc/mol): 17.3 Covalent Radius (pm): 75 Ionic Radius: 13 (5e) 171 (-3e) Specific Heat (20 °C J/g mol): 1.042 (N-N) Pauling Negativity Number: 3.04 First Ionizing Energy (kJ/mol): 1401.5 Oxidation States: 5, 4, 3, 2, -3 Lattice Structure: Hexagonal Lattice Constant (Ã…): 4.039 Lattice C/A Ratio: 1.651 Magnetic Ordering: diamagnetic Thermal Conductivity (300 K): 25.83 m W ·m−1 ·K−1 Speed of Sound (gas, 27  °C): 353 m/s CAS Registry Number: 7727-37-9 References: Los Alamos National Laboratory (2001), Crescent Chemical Company (2001), Langes Handbook of Chemistry (1952) International Atomic Energy Agency ENSDF database (Oct 2010)Return to the Periodic Table  of the Elements.

Arguing to Convince Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Arguing to Convince - Assignment Example However, the continued extent of freedom has being transferred to the formal set-up whereby individuals believe that restricting them to certain norms in the formal set-up is anyway violating the extent to which they can express their rights and freedoms. Therefore, to maintain their guaranteed rights and freedoms as well as the level of openness, the American modern culture has slowly been promoting a relaxation of restrictions that are normally associated with the formal set-up such as workplaces or formal meetings. This present essay intends to persuade or convince the readers that informality is a positive move towards a more open and natural society. Secondly, the essay will present arguments favoring or agreeing to live in an informal atmosphere. Formalities in the formal set-up According to Clemente, formal practices or behaviors are part of the tradition and culture and therefore, they are things that are passed from one generation to another, with the expectation that those who adhere to these formal practices or behaviors in a formal set-up are showing a high level of discipline and diligence (78-82). Kinosian stated that these formal practices and behaviors are associated with a particular set-up, atmosphere or environment whereby individuals are expected to adopt a particularly different set of behaviors and practices that are totally different with how they interact at home or in informal set-ups (549-551). Rapp and Jackson on their part stated that the formal practices and behaviors are part of the bureaucracies that are associated with formal set-up, where in a great extent there is existence of some form of restrictions to the individuals’ rights and freedoms (103-109). According to Smith, some of the rights that are in a greater extent limited due to the requirement of formal practices and behaviors include the freedom of dressing and speech. The freedom of dressing is restricted in the sense that individuals are limited in the type of c lothes they wear or how they can dress when going to a formal place or attending a formal function. While freedom of speech is limited in the sense that certain words or body of language are restricted in used in the formal set-up (176-181). Kinosian stated that the insistence of adhering to these formal practices or behaviors stifles individuals from fully expressing themselves and fully enjoying their rights and freedom, and it encourages people to have two different sides of characters that may greatly differ, which means that they facilitate people not be open and fully understood by others (549-551). Informality as part of the culture Kinosian stated that formality is part of the traditions and culture, however, informality has become part of the culture because there have been a continued reform of most cultures especially those that were considered retrogressive (549-551). The reforms on most of the world’s culture have been initiated by the heightened extent of global ization, which has enabled people from different cultures to interact thereby refine their individual cultures in order to adopt a common culture that does not lay great emphasis on formalities. Moreover, formalities limits the extent to which two different strangers may get to know each other because formal practices do not encourage probing and there is a strict guideline on how formal communication should take place. Therefore, people should agree to live in an informal atmosphere because it

Organizational Strategy of Apple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words

Organizational Strategy of Apple - Essay Example According to the research findings, Apple represents one of the most successful technology companies in the world today since its launch in 1976 as a personal computer manufacturer. The organization which in 1997 was on the brink of bankruptcy has been able to transform and record profits in the following years due to the production of leading computer software and personal computers that are based on high standards of innovation, prestige, and quality. The cusses of Apple depends on the production of highly innovative hardware and software which have over the years established the company as the leader in an industry where every organization strives to gain a share of the market that readily embraces new technology. Due to the customer loyalty that Apple has been able to establish over the years, therefore, driving sales, the company has featured in several occasions as the first among Fortune magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies with latest financial results for second quarter ended March 29, 2014 indicating $45.6 billion in revenues and $10.2 billion quarterly net profits. The following sections present an analytical business report focused on different levels of organizational behavior and human resource. The multinational focuses on designing, developing, manufacturing and selling computer-based communication electronics, personal computers, and computer software. The market leader in Apple hardware was the Mac personal computers, but the company soon diversified into the world’s first media player device, iPod, a pioneering smartphone, iPhone and leafing tablet computers, the iPad. In addition, Apple introduced software such as operating systems like iOS and OS X, iTunes, the Safari browser in addition to productivity and creativity suites such as iWork and iLife. The history of Apple marks a dynamic transformation from a personal computer manufacturer to a leading manufacturer of consumer electronics, operating software and cons umer software.

Can Sri Lanka Apparel Industry Face Future Challenges?

Can Sri Lanka Apparel Industry Face Future Challenges? 1. Sri Lanka has traditionally been an agro-based economy from the ancient time. With the Industrial Revolution taking root in Europe and later spreading to the rest of the world, Sri Lanka too had to take its place in this scenario. Factory scale production of ready made garments in Sri Lanka had its beginnings in the early 1950s to become the largest industry in the Sri Lankan economy. During the pre-liberalization era (pre-1977), the domestic textile industry was essentially an import substitution industry confined to a few large-scale textile industries run by the government. The textile industry did not make much progress during this period. The garment industry has its origins in the mid- 1960s, but unlike the textile industry, the former was mainly run by the private sector. Initially, almost all of the garments produced were for the domestic market and there were hardly any exports during this period. A large share of the industry was in the hands of few companies. Since the importation of textiles was either banned or restricted, locally produced textiles mainly fed the garment industry. GARMENTS: All external and internal finished common clothing items such as shirts, T shirts, pants, dresses, sports clothing, fashion garments, under garments etc. APPAREL : finished clothing that can be considered as supporting clothing or accessories such as jackets, lingerie, leather clothing, knitted garments, shoes, hats, gloves, fashion accessories etc. 2. The period after the late 1970s saw a rapid expansion of the garment industry in Sri Lanka. The phenomenal growth during this period can be attributed to three major factors: a. The first is the market-oriented liberal economic policies introduced in 1977, which placed greater emphasis on the export-led industries. b. The second is the supportive measures taken by the government through the Board of Investment, such as duty free importation of industrial inputs, off-shore borrowing facilities, tax holidays or concessional taxation, etc. These measures together with the availability of labour- intensive industries such as garments. c. The next important factor which contributed to the Sri Lankan apparel industry is the Multi Fibre arrangement ( MFA ). AIM 4. The aim of this research is to discuss about the apparel industry in Sri Lanka and analyse the future challenges. CHAPTER TWO METHODOLOGY STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: 1. The apparel sector had grown tremendously after introducing the open economy. Now it has become the leading export industry replacing the traditional tea and rubber. It is the most significant and dynamic contributor of Sri Lankan economy. 2. The major drawback in the Sri Lankan apparel industry is that it has not upgraded with latest technologies and modern consumer demands to compete with the other countries, mostly the South East Asian countries. National economy will definitely be affected if the country fails to address the drawbacks in the industry. 3. The aim of my research is to identify the weaknesses in the apparel sector and to suggest favourable and appropriate solutions to secure the industry. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS 4. It is hypothesized that the reason for not upgrading with the latest technology and consumer demands is lack of capital, incompatible demands and high competition.    SCOPE OF THE STUDY 5. The scope of the study covers an assessment of the ready made garment industry in Sri Lanka taking three well known factories in to consideration. Factors that had been an impact to the industry will be identified through the research and the root causes of the problem will be then be identified. Recommendations will be made for the improvement. METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION 6. The required data for the research will be drawn from the following sources; a. Primary sources Primary sources will include information collected by interviewing resource personnel in the garment sector. b. Secondary sources Information will be gathered from relevant books, journals, the internet, treaties, conventions as well as international and local enactments of relevance. CHAPTER THREE OVERVIEW OF THE APPAREL INDUSTRY HISTORY   1. The textile and clothing industry had emerged from a modest beginning in the early 1950s A few pioneering industrialists who started out on an uncertain course at this time , confident their manufacture to only some popular items of garments and catered essentially to local demand. By the end of the 1950s there was a reversal in policies and the economy moved towards restrictions on imports and a policy of import substitution in industry began to be perused. While the major basic industries were reserved for the state; a wide range of consumer goods industries were opened to the private sector , which was provide with various investment incentives and a protected market. Over the decade of the 1960s as many as 300 categories of industrial products began to be manufactured locally. Among this range of products a major item was textiles and another ready made garments, though from the outset raw materials required for the garments industry were imported. 2. It was in the late1960s that Sri Lankas ready made garments began to break into export markets. Sri Lankas shirts had found acceptability in markets such as the UK and Soviet Union and a leading shirt manufacture began exporting up to Rs:2 million worth of product annually to the USSR, within the bilateral trade agreement between Sri Lanka and the USSR. 3. Around 1972 there was a change in outlook towards the industry as existing policy was altered to allow certain sectors to adapt an export oriented approach. Special foreign exchange allocations and other fiscal and tax incentives were offered to selected export oriented industries under this package. In the first six years of the 1970s over 2500 industrial units received approval from the Local Industries Approve Committee (LIAC) and of these nearly 2000 were in the product group of Textiles and Textile based industries. By the mid 1970s wage/ pries inflation and imposition of trade quotas on exports of traditional Asian Suppliers of made-up garments such as Hong Kong , Taiwan, South ,Korea and Singapore made Sri Lanka more attractive location for the industry. New units began to be established in collaboration with foreign capital/marketing, while production was being upgraded through import. 4. The period after the late 1970s saw a rapid expansion of the clothing industry in Sri Lanka. The impressive growth witnessed during this period can be attributed to two major factors. The first is the market-oriented liberal economic policies introduced in 1977. The market friendly economic reforms, which identified the private sector as the engine of growth, places greater emphasis on the export-led industries. 5. The second important factor which contributes to the remarkable expansion of the Sri Lanka textile and clothing industry is the Multi Fibre Arrangement ( MFA ). Sri Lanka is one of the countries that benefited from the quota hopping investments. The overseas manufactures of garment who relocated their production facilities in Sri Lanka include firms from both and Newly Industrialize Countries ( NICs) in East Asian and Europe. While the NIC firms moved their operations mainly as a means of quota hopping the motivation for producers of countries such as Germany and the UK to move into Sri Lanka was the rising production costs in their home countries. Given the ability to separate to different stages of the clothing industry, these overseas producers were able to disintegrate their production lines into low-cost countries like Sri Lanka without much difficulty. Investments by these two categories of foreign manufacturers fuelled the growth of the Sri Lankan clothing industry to a lar ge extent. In fact, the factories set up as joint ventures and wholly owned foreign companies account for almost half of the total exports earning from garments. MULTI FIBRE ARRANGEMENT 6. The Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) is a system of quotas designed to protect garment industries in first world countries by slowing down the pace of globalization. The MFA does not apply to the expanding garment trade between rich countries. 7. The MFA has had a complex but crucial impact on the development of the garment industry. In the Third World, by imposing limits on poor country exports, it encouraged investors to shop around for new countries. This because of the increase in volumes of ready made garment entering developed countries caused concern and eventually led the developed countries to seek the occurrence of The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ( GATT) to protect their markets. The reason for this concern was due to the fact that the industrialised countries never caused to be textile and garment manufactures because the industry employed a large number of women specially minorities and immigrants in the USA and Europe. GATT,s solution to the dilemma of the industrialised nations was the Multi Fibre Arrangements (MFA) which imposed quota restrictions on certain garment categories, there by limiting the quantity of apparels that could be exported to the developed countries by any single developing cou ntry. This curtailed the potential of countries like Hong Kong, South Korea, Mexico and Yugoslavia which were advanced textile manufactures. In turn it allowed countries like India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka to enter the industry with guaranteed markets. It was first introduced in 1974 and will end in 2005. As a result there was a world wide boom in the textile and apparel export industry in the mid 1980s. 200 GARMENT FACTORIES PROGRAMME (200 GFP)   8. In view of the infrastructure facilities and close proximity to the port and airport facilities etc. most textile and clothing manufacturers concentrated their operations in or around the Western province, where the countrys capital is located. As a result, unemployment one for the major problem faced by Sri Lanka continued to remain high in the other parts of the island. Growing unemployment resulted in youth unrest in most of the rural areas. Thus, in 1990,a Cabinet Sub-Committee recommended that garment factories should be opened in provincial areas other than the Western Province. Consequently, the 200 garment factories programme (200 GFP) was launched with the idea of opening at least one garment factory in each of the 200 Assistant Government Agent (AGA) divisions. The main incentive which encouraged the private sector to take part in this programme was quotas. For this purpose, the remote areas of the country were classified into three categories, namely non-difficult, difficult and most difficult. Quotas were allocated on the basis of the location for the industry. The more isolated and difficult the area, the higher was the quota allocated. While about 40 percent of the areas were identified as difficult, just over 40 percent fell within the most difficult category. The rest, just fewer than 20 percent, were classified as non difficult. In addition to quotas, the factories setup under the 200 GFP were also offered various other incentives such as tax holidays or lower corporate taxes, duty-free importation machinery and raw materials, loans from foreign currency banking units, etc. as the main thrust behind the 200 GFP was the high unemployment in the rural sector, each factory was intended to employ at least 500 workers. By the end of 1996, there were 154 factories in commercial operation under this programme, providing 76,821 employment opportunities.   CHAPTER FOUR THE ROLE OF TEXTILE AND CLOTHING INDUSTRY IN THE SRI LANKAN ECONOMY 1. The common features of developing countries are high rates of population growth, high rates of unemployment, low savings, insufficient capital formation, low investment, high capital output ratio, rudimentary technology and cheap skilled and unskilled labour. These countries are also mainly exporters of primary agriculture products. Further being too small to achieve economies of scale in their domestic markets, these countries have adopted export led growth policies which are designed to generate foreign exchange and expose the productive factors of the country to the stimulus of competitive influence. 2. The textile garment industry there for became the initial response of developing countries to this call for export led growth. Being a labour intensive industry requiring a small capital base. Production of textile and apparel shifted to developing countries in the 1960s. It provided employment for a large number of persons earned foreign exchange allowed for diversification of the export industry and paved the way for industrialization. Some countries attracted foreign investors by opening up free trade zones. Many critics called it textile led growth. 3. At the time Sri Lanka began to pursue liberal economic policies in 1977, the textile and clothing industry played only a minor role in the countrys economy. In the light of the broad based economic liberalisation and the benign impact of the MFA, the industry since then has recorded a remarkable growth and assumed a key role in the economy. While garments accounted for the largest share of all commodity exports (27 per cent) in 1986, it became the largest foreign exchange earner (US$ 0.4 billion) by 1992, by 1995; garments export exceeded US$ 1.5 billion, nearly half of all commodity exports. 4. Of the 21 percent contribution made by the manufacturing industries to the countrys economy in 1996, 40 per cent was from the textile and clothing sector. The growth of the garment industry was particularly rapid in 1992 and 1993 due to the attempts taken by the government under the 200 GFP decentralise the industry away from the Western Province. Although the textile and clothing sector registered a slow growth of 5.1 per cent against 14.8 per cent in 1995, it still accounted for 33.7 per cent of the growth witnessed in the private sector industrial output. (The slow growth in 1996 was primarily because of the continued power cuts due to prolong drought). According to the Ministry of industrial Development, there has been a total of 859 garment factories at the end of 2001 while the number of textile manufacturing firms stood over 140, with less than 10 companies accounting for most of the output. The largest garment factories (in terms of employment) were located within the free -trade-zones (FTZs) run by the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka (BOISL) the authority responsible for the promotion of foreign direct investment. 5. Today the textile and clothing sector has replaced the tea industry the traditional front line export industry as the leading foreign exchange earner. Specially, the growth of garment export has been highly impressive. For instance during the period 1980 to 1990 the value of apparel export increased from US $ 100 million to US $ 620 million. In terms of quantity, the exports grew from 52 million pieces to 212 million pieces during the same decade. Exports of garments, which were only 10 percent Sri Lankas total export in 1980, reached nearly half in 1993, registering in average annual increase of 30 percent. In 1996 the textile and clothing sector accounted for 46 percent of the countrys total export earning. Its share among the industrial exports reached as high as 63 percent. The highest growth, (21 percent) was in the woven fabric categories. 6. The textile and clothing sector has also been an outstanding source in generating employment opportunities. Being a highly labour intensive industry, this sector has been successful in absorbing a fairly large number of workers. By end of 2001, garment sector provided direct employment to approximately 391682 personal. The garment sector as whole represented about 14 percent of the 5.5 million of the countrys total employed work force. Approximately 40 percent of which was engaged in the textile and clothing sector. Of the total work force employed in the textile and clothing industry, more than 60 percent was with the clothing sector. CHAPTER FIVE PRESENT POSITION OF THE SRI LANKA APPAREL INDUSTRY MAJOR MARKETS OF SRI LANKA 1. Since more than 90 percent of exports from the Sri Lankas textile and clothing industries consist of ready made clothing, the focus here is on clothing. Sri Lanka currently maintains bilateral textile agreements in the context of the MFA with Canada, the EU and the USA. More than 90 percent of Sri Lankas exports of clothing are accounted by only two markets, the EU and the USA. The USA continues to account for about 60 percent of total clothing exports from Sri Lanka. About 90 percent of exports (by value) to the USA consist of quota items. The bilateral agreement between the US and Sri Lanka contains more than 30 quota categories, covering over 50 clothing items. While the quota performance against the US market is generally high, utilisation rate of certain quota categories such as knitted shirts and blouses, trousers, underwear, coveralls, and overall, terry and other pile towels etc. has reached almost 100 per cent during the recent years  [1]  . 2. The EU has been absorbing about 35 percent of Sri Lankas total exports of clothing every year. The largest buyer of Sri Lankan garments within the EU is the UK (about 45%) which is followed by Germany (about 20%), the Netherlands (about 9%), France (about 5.5%), Belgium- Luxembourg (about 5% ) and the rest Sri Lankas exports to the EU has been subject to quotas under four categories namely, trousers, blouses, shirts and jackets. The utilisation rate of quotas of the first three categories (most sensitive ones) during 1996 was 84 percent, 100 percent and 73 percent respectively, while the rate of the fourth category was nearly 30 percent. Canada continues to account for about 1.5 percent of Sri Lankas total exports of garments. While Sri Lankas bilateral textile agreement with Canada contains about 15 product categories under quotas. THE ABOLITION OF QUOTA SYSTEM 3. Sri Lankas apparel industry is now a major contributor to the countrys economy after its modest beginnings in the seventies. It represents 54% of our total exports and 71% of Sri Lankas total industrial exports. The garment exports make a direct contribution of 7% to the overall economy. The rapid growth of this industry could be attributed to the followings: a. A stable market because of the quota system. b. Low labour cost. c. Liberal economic and trade policies. d. Tax benefits and the concessions granted to the industry. 4. From its inception the quota system was a boom to Sri Lankas apparel industry. The availability of a stable market eliminated the danger of competition from established industrialists in the international field, and attracted direct foreign investment and helped Sri Lanka prosper in this industry. 5. Although the abolition of quota system in 2005 had a negative impact on the industry it also opened up an expanded free market. As such the future of the garment industry in Sri Lanka will depend on our ability to face competition. One third (1/3) of the total exports from Sri Lanka are done by 25 large scale manufacturers. These organizations are in a position to restructure and sustain themselves in a competitive market according to surveys. But the survival of the other small and medium scale industries is at stake, making the situation critical because these small and medium scale manufacturers are the biggest employers in the apparel industry  [2]  . SWOT FOR THE APPAREL INDUSTRY 8. Strengths.   The product quality level for the current market segments is considered high Reputation as a country which follows labour laws and good working conditions. The product price ranks second with large customers confirming that price quality relation of Sri Lanka is good On time delivery is the third best strength with effort towards reducing lead-times. Availability of skilled labour, educated and trainable work force and management of production capacity and ability to handle high volume orders are also considered strengths the Sri Lankan industry presently possesses. Apart from those the geographical size of the country facilitates easy movement with in the country serves a further advantage  [3]  . 9. Weaknesses. The weaknesses in the Sri Lankan industry can be listed down as follows; a. Lack of marketing skills with over dependence on buying officers, and allocation of quotas. b. Low level of marketing information, and knowledge about export marketing with hardly any marketing activities. c. Lack of fabric base and over dependence on input suppliers with long lead times d. Lack of a strong work ethic along with high absenteeism and labour turn over. e. Warm climatic condition of the country which reduces productivity f. Increasing cost of labour and availability of employment in other industries and foreign employment opportunities 10. Opportunities. To overcome the loss of orders due to the expiry of Multi Fibre Arrangement after year 2005, the position in the traditional export markets in the USA and UK by should be strengthened by establishing a strong relationship with distributors and buyers and developing an expansion strategy for the markets with good potential. Thereafter the opportunity exists to gain a higher market share by implementing an aggressive marketing strategy in the markets, where Sri Lanka has a weak positioning. Further there is a very good opportunity to capture a bigger market share in the EU: As at present Sri Lanka is not with in first 15 exporters to the EU. 11. Further opportunities exists in capturing the South Asian Market especially the High Price garments with designer wear and Intimate garments, a market where Sri Lankan Manufactures are now experts in producing and marketing. The available free trade agreements should be exploited in trade between India and Pakistan to export finished garments and to import fabric and accessories. It is also important to establish and identity for of Sri Lanka as a destination, which manufactures very high quality garments   12. Threats. The threats to the present Garment Industry are as follows; a. An intensification of the competition, especially from the sub Asian member countries, before and after the phasing out of the MFA. b. Improvement of the former socialist economies, who have a good textile industry and a large domestic Market which are highly potential and geared to meet the quality and delivery requirements especially from EU. c. The arrival of new competitors in the Asian sub continent such as Vietnam, Cambodia , Myanmar and Laos. d. Special advantages created for the USA market by the NAFTA, consolidation and other regional economic cooperation e. The increase in Sri Lankas labour costs at a faster pace than productivity f. The necessity to reduce lead time from the manufactures to the shop, and the distant suppliers inability to deliver the value added garments on time g. Successive government has not addressed the issue of low productivity, and even at this stage a government funded garment manufacturing and production management training institute has not been established and this posses a threat to the industrys future h. Geographical location of the country. Sri Lanka is located at the furthest end of the Indian Ocean, when compared with other competitive garment exporting countries, which export to the USA, EU and other wealthy nations. Almost all the countries, which are geographically located close to Sri Lanka are under developed and, low income countries struggling to survive. CHALLENGES FACED BY THE SRI LANKAN APPAREL INDUSTRY 13. In the recent past, the global garment industry has been subject to significant changes in terms of changes in consumer demands, changes in technology, and fierce competition. These changes have also filtered down to the Sri Lankan garment industry and there is now considerable pressure on the industry to each higher standard of production and service. 14. As the garment industry is a relatively low skilled and labour intensive operation, over time there has been a shifting of production from countries such as Hong Kong. South Korea and Taiwan to low wage countries such as Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. As this process of shifting (or shifting comparative advantage) has continued, Sri Lanka has gradually lost its low labour cost comparative advantage. 15. As the majority of Sri Lankan manufactures currently produce standard garments where competition is primarily based on price, Sri Lanka faces stiff competition from other developing countries of South and South East Asia where production cost is low (India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam). China has also emerged as a dominant force in the global apparel industry with its massive supply capability and low costs of production. These countries have a lower ranking in terms of cost of production in comparison to Sri Lanka. Given this situation, there may be a need for Sri Lanka to move some of its exports to the top end of the market as a reputable and dependable supplier of quality apparel in Asia. In the higher value clothing segment, countries such a Malaysia, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan are serious competitors  [4]  . 16. While Sri Lanka s global market share has been recorded at 1.5 percent, more recent estimates indicate that there has been a marginal increase, and stands at 2 percent of the global garment market. During the period 1995 to 2000, Sri Lanka maintained a 19 percent export earning growth in the garment industry. If there is a lifting of the US tariff barriers for Sri Lankas apparels, then according to some commentators there would be a significant increase of exports. As mentioned earlier, although over 90 percent of Sri Lankas garment exports are destined for the USA and the EU, Sri Lanka does not rank amongst the top exporting nations to the EU. Sri Lanka ranked 20th and 16th place among suppliers of apparel products to the EU and the USA market, respectively, in 1998. The positive feature is that the Sri Lankan garment manufacturers, in general, have built up a good rapport and sound reputation the world over. It is a great advantage when compared to her competing neighbours. 17. Buyers now have a range of sources from which to choose, and countries such as Mexico (supplying to the USA) and Turkey (supplying to the EU) have the added advantages of being in close proximity to their major markets, lower transport cost and shorter turn-around times. Moreover, Mexico and free of quota restrictions access to their major markets. 18. One factor contributing to this reduced level of price competitiveness is the increasing cost of labour in Sri Lanka compared to other garment producing nations. Labour costs have been steadily increasing and currently constitute between 15-30 percent of total production costs in the average Sri Lankan garment manufacturing firm, highlighted the hourly wage rates of a number of garment manufacturing nations and indicated that Sri Lankas competitors currently have relatively lower wage cost structures. For those competitors who gave higher wage cost structures (and higher global market shares), their strengths lie particularly in their high levels of productivity. HOW SHOULD WE FACE THE COMPETITION? 18. The researcher recommends the following changes to preserve the garment industry in Sri Lanka. Developing Skills Of Labour Force The skill level on high speed machines have been found to be in sufficient. This resulted in low efficiency levels and low Needle Down Time. Which are two important performance measurements in the garment industry. Intensive training to upgrade skill level, parallel to technological advancement is important to gain a competitive advantage in the garment industry. b. Establishment of a Government Administered Garment industry related training institute. It is recommended to the government, at least at this stage to focus on this issue, and establish a dedicated training institute for all levels of employees in the apparel industry, as the future of thee industry and employment of 350000 personnel will purely depend on countries competitiveness on productivity and cost of labour. e. Increasing Needle Down Time (1) Use of Modern Machinery Needle down time could be increased through training and use of modern advanced machinery. Introduction of modern machines as under bed trimmers and computerised machines will speed up the sewing process and assist the operator to use other advanced facilities of the machines. (2) Reduction of secondary activities Needle Down Time (NDT)could be further increased by following General Sewing Data Standards, which indicates the ideal movements by machine operators to reduced idle time and speed up the sawing process. f. Backward Integration. Due to lack of modernisation and technological advancement in the textile manufacturing sector the garment industry has to depend for its requirement on imported fabric. Therefore to be competitive backward integration is necessary, but it requires high capital expenditure- is around US $ 25-30 million. In Sri Lankan terms this is a huge investment. Therefore it is prudent for Sri Lankan to concentrate from processing stage onwards and import grey fabric from abroad. Given proximity to Asian producers fabric can be soured with minimal lead time. Joint ventures, strategic alliances, etc. will be ideal if can be so arranged. g. Export Alliance. A group of small / medium sized companies with not so unique products and only limited funds available for export market development can form an export alliance. This group of entrepreneurs exporting can exploit the market much more professionally than an individual. In addition they can benefit by sharing the very heavy marketing expenses and the orders received from buyers. h. Product Quality. As the cost of fabric constitutes a major share in the unit cost of garments, a great deal of attention has to be paid for quality controls at the fabric level. An integrated approach in quality assurance in the process from fabric to garments can be a powerful tool in using quality as a differentiation strategy for competitive advantage. i. Management of Lead Time. Lead-time taken by Sri Lankan exporters around 60-120 days is a

Disadvantages of computer Essay

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The Ideal Strategy for Process Essay Samples

The Ideal Strategy for Process Essay Samples The thesis statement also serves as the guide to the remainder of the paper since it's a formulated with a debatable strategy. Writing a process essay is extremely easy, but only once you know the step-by-step approach which allows for crafting a brilliant paper. Basically, a process analysis essay is a how-to paper which should inform readers about how to do something and teach them essential things to do to reach specific targets. It refers to the type of academic writing, which contains a detailed description of the particular process in the shape of the step-by-step guide. A reader is more inclined to finish directions that they are easily able to skim through. When it has to do with writing, it's never wrong to find some help. Therefore, the audience selection is essential to writing process essay. There are some suggestions for writing a process essay that ought to be considered before you get started writing it. Therefo re, process analyses can be quite detailed and at times quite long. The secret to a fantastic process essay is making sure the different phases of the processes are transitioned in a way that does not feel superficial. Potential risks or side effects which are very likely to generate from the procedure ought to be started so the reader remains informed. To begin with, find out more about the process you're likely to be explaining. The Basics of Process Essay Samples A methodical strategy is required to compose a process essay. Preparation is the secret to success and you shouldn't rush your creativity. A completion of a single task does not absolutely have to be the close of the procedure. Picking a topic for the informative essay isn't a tough matter to do, so long as you understand what you require. It's possible to write an essay that is more detailed by picking a more specific topic, like a breakdown of the way to win your favourite video game. You need to make sure you r essay isn't only interesting to read, but it's also thorough and actually informative for your reader. Therefore, so long as you follow our tips, you will have the ability to deliver a brilliant essay. Don't neglect to keep each one of your paragraphs and sentences short and make certain that your words are a breeze to comprehend. The process essay explains stages in a sequence, which is the reason why transitional words should be used too. Don't forget, you shouldn't repeat the precise words of your thesis in your conclusion, but you need to emphasize the principal point. The last stage is the conclusion, where you should restate the outcomes of your essay. Definitions of Process Essay Samples Writing a process essay is an intriguing undertaking, as you obtain an opportunity to enter the heart of a particular issue and get a lot of helpful data in the procedure. Practice makes it possible to avoid common mistakes. 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