How Hard Is the SAT Spanish Subject Test

How Hard Is the SAT Spanish Subject Test SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips  ¿Estudias espaà ±ol? ¿Hablas espaà ±ol en casa?Are you wondering if you should take the SAT Subject Test in Spanish? Let's review what it covers and how students usually score so you can decide if the SAT Subject Test in Spanish is right for you. First, you have to know what's on the test. Step 1: Familiarize Yourself With the Spanish Subject Test Before you can decide if your language skills are up to the challenge, you should know all about the SAT Subject Test in Spanish- when it's offered, how it's structured, and what's on it. When Is the Spanish Subject Test Offered? There are two options for taking the SAT Subject Test in Spanish: the Listening test and the non-Listening, or Reading-only, test. Spanish with Listening is offered only on one test date in November, while the Reading version is offered on all the other test dates- in May, June, August, October, and December. To see the exact dates and figure out when you should take the tests, check out this article.Besides when they're offered, what are the differences between the Listening and Reading options? How Is the Spanish Subject Test Structured? Both tests ask 85 multiple choice questions in 60 minutes. Here's the breakdown of the Reading Subject Test: 33% vocabulary and structure 33% paragraph completion 33% reading comprehension The Listening test, on the other hand, has this structure: 40% listening (e.g. describing a picture, continuing a short conversation, or answering comprehension questions) 60% reading (vocabulary and structure, paragraph completion, and reading comprehension). As you can see, if you choose the Spanish with Listening Subject Test, your listening skills are a significant portion of the test. However, your Listening subscore will count half as much as your reading subscore, which I'll explain more below in the section about how the test is scored. Both subscores will be reported on your score report, but the reading will count more towards your overall scaled score. The Listening portion is 20 minutes long. You are required to bring a CD player to listening to the Subject Test. Read more about the CD player guidelines here. While the skills being tested differ, between the two tests, both cover similar content. What Does the Spanish Subject Test Cover? The tests cover the following areas of understanding. Different parts of speech Basic idioms Ability to fill in words or expressions within the context of a sentence Understanding of vocabulary and structure questions within paragraphs Understanding of main points, supporting ideas, themes, style, tone, and setting of passages, which may be drawn from fiction, news articles, historical works, letters, and advertisements This practice question, for example, tests your ability to fill in a word in the correct part of speech in the context of a sentence. Difficulty level: easy. Here's a similar sample question that tests your understanding of the subjunctive form. Difficulty level: hard. Try some more sample questions from the Spanish Subject Test here, and determine whether they feel easy or hard to you. This is one important action you can take to determine your language level. Mike knows enough Spanish to ask where the bathroom is, but not enough to express all the love that's in his heart. BreakPresents/YouTube. Step 2: Know Your Spanish Language Level College Board suggests that you should have three to four years of studying Spanish or two or more years of intensive study to take the SAT Subject Test in Spanish. If you're nearing the end of AP Spanish and are getting an A, then you are likely in a strong position to score highly on the Subject Test. If you're in Spanish 3, and have not studied Spanish intensively, like in AP classes, then you might not be ready yet. Again, trying practice questions will help give you a sense of the test and whether you feel your language skills are ready. Your Spanish teachers might also have advice on whether your high school curriculum has sufficiently prepared you for the Subject Test. If you're a native speaker, you should still study for the test to make sure you know grammar and other rules of the language. Don't worry about expressions unique to one country- the test is not supposed to have any region-specific sayings. Research your college to learn their Subject Test requirements and expectations. Some might be impressed with your high score on a language test. Others might prefer you opt for another test, if they already know that you're a native speaker of Spanish. For more on this, check out our expert guide: Which SAT Subject Test Should You Take? It's also important to consider how strong your reading vs. listening comprehension in Spanish is. The Spanish with Listening gives that extra dimension of understanding and may help with placement into a more advanced language level in college. The grading curve is often more competitive for the Listening test, as students who opt for that one are typically fluent or have particularly strong Spanish skills. So if you're really not confident in your listening comprehension, you probably want to steer clear of the Listening test. Let's take a closer look at what I mean when I talk about a competitive grading curve. Step 3: Consider the Grading Curve Along with your Subject Test score out of 800, you'll also get a percentile. This percentile compares you to other students who took the test. If you score in the 75th percentile, for example, then you scored higher than 75% of other students and lower than 25%. This table shows how the Spanish Subject Test scores converted to percentiles last year. You can see that the Spanish Subject Test with Listening is slightly more competitive. The same score is a slightly lower percentile on the Listening test than the Reading test. Check out this table, based on data from the College Board, and then scroll down for a discussion of what this data means for how difficult the SAT Subject Test in Spanish is. Score Spanish with Listening Percentile Spanish with Reading Percentile 800 94 92 790 91 90 780 86 87 770 82 84 760 78 80 750 74 77 740 69 74 730 66 70 720 62 67 710 58 64 700 55 60 690 51 57 680 46 54 670 43 50 660 40 47 650 38 44 640 35 41 Average (50th percentile) scores on the tests are in the upper 600s. Let's take a look at what you need to score in the 70th, 80th, and 90th percentile. Good Scores for Spanish Listening 70th percentile:750+ 80th percentile:770+ 90th percentile:790+ Good Scores for Spanish Reading 70th percentile: 730+ 80th percentile: 760+ 90th percentile: 790+ To score in a high percentile compared to other test-takers, you have to score quite high, between 750 and 800, on the tests. While this might sound like a tall order, it's actually well within your reach if you have the requisite Spanish language skills and take time to prepare for the Subject Test. Read this article for more on the average scores of the SAT Subject Tests and what constitutes a good score on each test (it's different for each one). This data can help you set target scores and design your study plan. Let's take a look at how the scoring works, so you can keep this in mind as you study for the test. Step 4: Know How the Spanish Subject Test Is Scored Unlike the general SAT, for the Spanish Subject test (and all other Subject Tests), you lose points for incorrect answers.Spanish Subject Test gives you 1 point for every correct answer, 0 points for skipped answers, and -1/3 point for wrong answers. These points add up to your raw score, which is then converted to a scaled score between 200 and 800 through a process called equating. Equating takes everyone's scores into account. As you saw above, the grading curve on language tests like Spanish is competitive. Some years, you might be able to get away with one or two wrong answers and still score an 800. Otherwise, you will likely lose about 10 points for every two questions you get wrong. As I mentioned above, the reading subscore counts twice as much as the listening subscore toward your composite scaled score. However, both subscores will be reported and viewable on your score report. If you are adequately prepared with AP Spanish, years of study, or out of the classroom fluency, then you are in a great position to score highly on the Spanish Subject Test and demonstrate your multilingual abilities to admissions committees. Even if you're confident in your fluency, it's always important to do some serious test prep and back up your understanding with the necessary grammatical knowledge and reading comprehension. Step 5: KnowWhen to Guess and When to Leave Answers Blank Too many random guesses could bring down your score, so you have to be smart on when to guess on a question(and risk a point deduction) and when to leave a question blank (with no change of getting it right). Here are some strategies to follow: If You Can't Eliminate Any Answer Choices If you're really stumped on a question and can't eliminate any of the options, don’t guess yet.Skip the question and for now and go back to it afteryou've finished the rest of the exam.What if you stillcan’t eliminate anyof the options?It may make sense to guess, but it also may not gain you any points. Here's an example: If you guess on four questions without eliminating any answer choices, odds are you'll get one question right and three wrong. This leaves you with a net of zero points on those questions (1 - (.3333 x 3)=0). However, total randomness is rare, and the test makers often design the wrong answer choices to seem correct so that you're more likely to choose them. This means the choices you decide on may not be random, and you may end up guessing incorrectly on more than three-quarters of the questions, leaving you with a net negative of points. This leaves you with a choice. You can either leave questions you can't eliminate any answer choices on blank, or you can do you best to make your answer choices completely random. One way to do this is to pick a letter (say "A") and select that answer choice for all the questions you're guessing on to make your choices as random as possible. If You Can EliminateOne or MoreAnswer Choices Once you can eliminate at least one answer choice, the math is much more in your favor to guess.Say you have six questions where you've been able to eliminate one answer choice for each. That leaves you with three answer choices per question. Odds are you'll guess correctly on two of the questions, and answer four incorrectly. That leaves you with a net positive of 2/3 a point (2 - (.333 x 4). It's not huge, but it's definitely better than nothing. Just remember to keep your guesses on the remaining answer choices as random as possible. Additional Note:If you take a practice test, I highly recommendmarking all the questions you guessedon so that you can later evaluate the success of your guessing strategies. This will also prevent you from just ignoring questions you got right by chance, whichyou should always revisitanyway. To Sum Up... The Spanish Subject Test has a competitive grading curve. You'll have to score in the high 700s to make it into a high percentile, so set high target scores and prep to achieve them. Make sure you're confident in your comprehension of Spanish, have studied it for at least the recommended amount of time, and have a strong grasp of grammar and vocabulary. If you have all these language skills, then the test should not be overly difficult for you. Instead, it will be a great opportunity to showcase your language skills to admissions committees and add a strong Subject Test score to your college applications.  ¡Buena suerte!  ¿Quà © ms? Need to brush up on your ser conjugations? We've got you covered with our chart of ser conjugations for every tense. Looking for a good SAT Spanish study notes? We've put together the best SAT Spanish Subject Test guide here. What are the easiest SAT Subject Tests to take? This article answers that question from a few different angles, including the content of the test and how competitive the grading curves for each one are. Are you applying to Ivy League schoolsor wondering if your test scores are good enough to get in? Check out this post on Subject Test Scores for the Ivy League and other selective colleges. When are you taking the SAT or ACT? Check out this study plan that helps you schedule your prep a year or more in advance of the tests. Need a little extra help prepping for your Subject Tests? We have the industry's leading SAT Subject Test prep programs (for all non-language Subject Tests). Built by Harvard grads and SAT Subject Test full or 99th %ile scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so that you get the most effective prep possible. Learn more about our Subject Test products below:

Research problem and literature review Proposal

Problem and literature review - Research Proposal Example Majority of the school teachers do not pay proper attention to these students to teach them effective and correct English. Due to these reasons the students have to face problems in their higher classes as English is the only medium of teaching in higher studies. On the other hand, the students of UAE look towards their guides and teachers with great hope. According to these students, the teachers are most competent and they will help these students to learn good English within a short period of time. It doubles the responsibility of the English teachers. Therefore, majority of the English teachers become disappointed and fed up. As a result, the English teachers leave the institutions or schools before the completion of their contract. The teachers need to have little patience, significant competency level, intelligence and effective management and leadership skills to handle these kind of situations. It will help the teachers to achieve their personal career goals. Research Questio n Depending upon the above discussion the research question has been formulated as: â€Å"What are the problems and remedies of teaching English to the students of UAE†? Literature Review Teaching second language to the students is not an easy task for the teachers. Second language should be taught efficiently with patience, hard work and self invented methodologies. These will help the teachers to teach second language to the students in effective way. According to Ansari (2012), it is important for the teachers to find out the difficulties and problems faced by the students (Ansari, 2012, p.521). Once the difficulties and problems are found out, the task becomes easy for the teachers to implement appropriate methods, plans and strategies. An intelligent, competent, co-operative and hardworking teacher is necessary for the students in order to learn second language in an appropriate way. According to Rosenthal (2000), when the students start learning the second language or a ny foreign language, they can face several problems and difficulties due to the lack of language proficiency (Rosenthal, 2000, p.141). At this point of time, only the teachers can rescue them from this critical situation. It is the responsibility of the teacher to understand the problems of the students and solve those problems accordingly through effective processes and methodologies. The teachers frame the course curriculum in an appropriate way so that the students can learn the language effectively and appropriately. It is important for the teachers to select effective reading materials for the students and create a suitable English learning environment in the class room. The students also face several problems, such as socio-cultural problems, writing problems and subject related problems while learning the second language. They also face problems in recognizing the alphabets and pronouncing even simple words. The socio-cultural background of the students generally plays an imp ortant role in learning of second language as there are cultural differences among the students. This cultural unawareness confuses the students. At this critical stage, only the teachers can help the students to overcome the situation by effective

Role of Managers Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Role of Managers - Assignment Example In this organization, the planning role of managers involves the logical reasoning, through setting of targets and the relevant procedures to be followed to achieve these goals. Through this process, the managers plan into the unpredictable future, by foreseeing possible problems and giving distinctive blueprints on the actions necessary to avoid catastrophic events. At Wells Fargo, the management uses planning to counter the industry competition. It is critical to have an organized unit in order to fulfill the plans of the organization. The Wells Fargo management is tasked with aligning all the company’s resources to the major corporate strategy of the company. In many organizations, the corporate strategy fails to align with the organizational strategy, hence causing a myriad of problems due to misplaced priorities (Canals, 2011). However, the Wells Fargo management uses the organizational function to establish and maintain the relationships between the executive board and the human resource at the company. Through this duty, the managers are able to assign the technological and human resources to suit the corporate benchmarks of the company. In addition to organizing, the managers of Wells Fargo Company perform the staffing function as well. The human resource managers within the company play a critical role in the recruitment, selection, training, and development of talents within the organization. In the radical world of globalization, many companies struggle with retaining experienced employees within the company. Through establishing a reliable system to oversee the staffing process, the company accomplishes its plans in line with the available human resources. Given the competition levels that companies face in the business environment, it is important to give a clear insight on the direction that an organization must follow amidst the challenges it encounters (Mertzanis, 2013). Therefore, the directive role

Performance Enhancement in Manufacturing Facility Essay

Performance Enhancement in Manufacturing Facility - Essay Example While such programs are essentially characterized by the conventional monetary and non-monetary incentives to a greater extent, there are some novel elements such as de-structuring and delayering of certain positions in the hierarchy. Such efforts have produced some positive results though the extent of them is not known. XYZ Company was founded in 1899 by a group of investors includingGiovanni Agnelli. Apart from cars, it is also manufacturingrailroadvehicles,tanksandaircrafts. On 2009, XYZ Company became the world's sixth largest carmaker as well as Italy's largest carmaker. XYZ company-based cars are constructed all around the world, with the largest number produced outside Italy being built inBrazil, where they are best-sellers. It also has factories inArgentinaandPoland. XYZ Company has a long history of licensing its products to other countries regardless of local political or cultural persuasion (Robbins, 2009). Joint ventureoperations are found inItaly,France,Turkey,India,Serbiaand Russia. XYZ is a company that supplies good job opportunities to the employees. However the XYZ Company's operations are increasingly being affected by a lack of uniformity in work standards among its employees in different manufacturing plants. It's basically higher level of absenteeism, low morale, poor motivation and ultimately the work related stress of employees at some of the European factories have been reported. However those work related problems are

HEALTH AGENCY Essay -- essays research papers fc

This essay will focus upon a critical incident analysis in the context of multi-agency team work and inter-professional working. The details of the incident will be drawn from the authors recent experience with the Community Housing Support Team, in particular from Care Programme Approach meetings. The names of both clients and staff, as well as details pertaining to their locale have been changed or omitted to comply with the UKCC’s Code of Professional Conduct, Clause 10, (UKCC, 1992). The situation used within this assignment is based upon two clients who co-habit in a first floor maisonette as common law husband and wife. Mr Client has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia which is controlled with xenobiotics and is the main carer for Mrs Client who has a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia also controlled by xenobiotics that are administered by Mr Client. Mrs Client also has a prolapse of the uterus which causes her to suffer from double incontinence. Arrangements have been made for Mrs Client to have the required operation to repair the problem, however prior to admission Mrs Client becomes very anxious and has twice refused to have the operation. Both clients have a poor dietary intake, poor personal hygiene, high caffeine intake, and a heavy smoking habit. The conditions that the clients are now living in due to the above being ongoing for some time are now less than satisfactory, and to that end the present situation and what should be done about it, has become the primary focus of the various professionals and agencies involved in care of the clients. Each client has their own keyworker representative from the agencies and professionals involved in their care, these are a community psychiatric nurse (CPN), social worker, and a member of the housing support team (HST). Both the clients have home care workers visiting as part of the social work input, and they also share the same general practitioner (GP), and psychiatric consultant. Housing support team input was on a daily basis with both clients and their role was to assist the clients with shopping and encourage the clients to use leisure facilities and local transport. The housing support team although referred to separately within this essay are officially part of the social work team, as this is the source of their funding. The social work keyworkers roles were to visit the clients on a reg... ...989) The Nurse Executive and Interdisciplinary Team Building. Nursing Administration Quarterly. Volume 13, Number 2, Pages 24-30. HUBER.D, (1996), Leadership and Nursing Care Management. W.B. Saunders Company, USA. HUDSON.B, (1987), Collaboration in Social Welfare: A Framework for Analysis. Policy and Politics. Volume 19, Number 4, Page 243-256. JOHNSON.M, (1994), Conflict and Nursing Professionalization. Mosby, St Louis. ÆVRETVEIT.J, MATHIAS.P, & THOMPSON.T, (eds), (1997), Interprofessional Working for Health and Social Care. MacMillan Publishers LTD, Hong Kong. SMITH.R et al, (1993), Working Together for Better Community Care. SAUS Publications, Bristol. UKCC, (1992), Code of Professional Conduct. Clause 10. 3rd Edition. United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Visiting, London. WEBB.A, (1991), Co-ordination, A Problem in Public Sector Management. Policy and Politics. Volume 19, Number 4, Page 229-242. BIBLIOGRAPHY. ROPER.N, LOGAN.W, & TIERNEY.A.J, (1986). The Elements of Nursing. Churchill Livingstone, London. LYTTLE.J, (1994) Mental Disorder - Its Care & Treatment. Bailliere Tindall, London. SELIGMAN.M, (1991). Learned Optimism. New York. HEALTH AGENCY Essay -- essays research papers fc This essay will focus upon a critical incident analysis in the context of multi-agency team work and inter-professional working. The details of the incident will be drawn from the authors recent experience with the Community Housing Support Team, in particular from Care Programme Approach meetings. The names of both clients and staff, as well as details pertaining to their locale have been changed or omitted to comply with the UKCC’s Code of Professional Conduct, Clause 10, (UKCC, 1992). The situation used within this assignment is based upon two clients who co-habit in a first floor maisonette as common law husband and wife. Mr Client has a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia which is controlled with xenobiotics and is the main carer for Mrs Client who has a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia also controlled by xenobiotics that are administered by Mr Client. Mrs Client also has a prolapse of the uterus which causes her to suffer from double incontinence. Arrangements have been made for Mrs Client to have the required operation to repair the problem, however prior to admission Mrs Client becomes very anxious and has twice refused to have the operation. Both clients have a poor dietary intake, poor personal hygiene, high caffeine intake, and a heavy smoking habit. The conditions that the clients are now living in due to the above being ongoing for some time are now less than satisfactory, and to that end the present situation and what should be done about it, has become the primary focus of the various professionals and agencies involved in care of the clients. Each client has their own keyworker representative from the agencies and professionals involved in their care, these are a community psychiatric nurse (CPN), social worker, and a member of the housing support team (HST). Both the clients have home care workers visiting as part of the social work input, and they also share the same general practitioner (GP), and psychiatric consultant. Housing support team input was on a daily basis with both clients and their role was to assist the clients with shopping and encourage the clients to use leisure facilities and local transport. The housing support team although referred to separately within this essay are officially part of the social work team, as this is the source of their funding. The social work keyworkers roles were to visit the clients on a reg... ...989) The Nurse Executive and Interdisciplinary Team Building. Nursing Administration Quarterly. Volume 13, Number 2, Pages 24-30. HUBER.D, (1996), Leadership and Nursing Care Management. W.B. Saunders Company, USA. HUDSON.B, (1987), Collaboration in Social Welfare: A Framework for Analysis. Policy and Politics. Volume 19, Number 4, Page 243-256. JOHNSON.M, (1994), Conflict and Nursing Professionalization. Mosby, St Louis. ÆVRETVEIT.J, MATHIAS.P, & THOMPSON.T, (eds), (1997), Interprofessional Working for Health and Social Care. MacMillan Publishers LTD, Hong Kong. SMITH.R et al, (1993), Working Together for Better Community Care. SAUS Publications, Bristol. UKCC, (1992), Code of Professional Conduct. Clause 10. 3rd Edition. United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery, and Health Visiting, London. WEBB.A, (1991), Co-ordination, A Problem in Public Sector Management. Policy and Politics. Volume 19, Number 4, Page 229-242. BIBLIOGRAPHY. ROPER.N, LOGAN.W, & TIERNEY.A.J, (1986). The Elements of Nursing. Churchill Livingstone, London. LYTTLE.J, (1994) Mental Disorder - Its Care & Treatment. Bailliere Tindall, London. SELIGMAN.M, (1991). Learned Optimism. New York.

Investigating how Businesses work Essay

Introduction For this assignment I am investigating how Marks and Spencer plc works, and I will look at its aims and objectives, functional areas, employment law, communication methods and organisational structure of the company. Marks and Spencer is a publicly owned company in the retail sector. It is in the retail industry and is a large company. The company has been running for many years. Marks and Spencer is one of the UK’s leading retailers of clothing, foods, homeware and financial services. It serves 10 million customers a week over 300 UK stores. Aims and objectives All businesses have aims, this helps them achieve and reach their targets to make their business successful. Therefore Marks and Spencer’s aim is to attract the customers with appealing, superior quality products at attractive prices. They do this by creating exclusive products for the customers. The company aims to put the customer first in everything they do and offer the highest values of customer care in order to satisfy them. In order to achieve the aims, businesses need to decide what objectives to take to help them. According to Marks and Spencer’s objectives are to: 1. Deliver the agreed minimum customer service standards 2. Carry out and develop new systems 3. Reduce theft and loss 4. Create a visually exciting store 5. Permit people 6. Improve effectiveness through managing risk 7. Recruit the right people to provide service standards 8. Deliver customer focused training Functional Areas In large businesses people work as a team in order to help the business run smoothly and effectively, they work together in different functional areas which relate to them. Businesses have these functional areas to help them achieve their aims and objectives. I will be looking at four functional areas, which are: 1. Human Resources 2. Finance 3. Marketing and Sales 4. Administration Human Resources Human Resources are involved with the staffs that work for the company. The staffs in this area are important because they are partly responsible for keeping the business successful. The Human Resources staffs are involved in: * Recruitment * Working conditions * Health and safety * Training and development * Employee organisations and unions Recruitment Vacancies for Marks and Spencer are mainly advertised in recruitment agencies, local or national newspaper, local job centres and careers offices. Marks and Spencer has a company policy to reply to every application sent. These applications are filed for 3 months and then are destroyed so applicants will have to reapply every 12 weeks. There are three ways to apply for a position in store management. You must be either a graduate/undergraduate with a degree or HND and GCSE Maths and English grade C+. For school or college leavers, with A Levels and GCSE Maths and English C+. Marks and Spencer look for people with high standards, who will enjoy working in the retail environment and they look for people who are good with customers or at customer service and people who will work harmoniously in a team. Working Conditions Marks and Spencer has several of working conditions, these include holiday entitlement, hours of work, pay etc. All staff, including temporary and permanent, is entitled to a holiday each year. This holiday entitlement runs from April 1st to March 31st. You can take a holiday if you have a contract of 13 weeks or more. Marks and Spencer has a store policy that all staff should plan and book their holiday in advance because the store operates on a first come first serve basis. They need to book their holiday before to avoid any disappointments. Health and Safety Many health services at Marks and Spencer are provided for the staff such as the staff doctor, store dentist and smear tests for the female staff. The staff doctor attends the store regularly to help and give advice. All staff is entitled to make an appointment if they wish to see the doctor. Every 6 months the store dentist also attends the store for a routine check. He will recommend treatment to staff if needed. A private medical is available to all permanent staff. Cervical smears are available for the female staff and wives of male employees every 3 years. Training and Development Marks and Spencer provide staff with training opportunities. The NVQ programme was one of the largest training programmes they had. At Marks and Spencer, people skills are important whoever you come into contact with, such as customers, suppliers or members of the staff. Employee Organisations and Trade Unions The employees do not officially have union representation, but are entitled to join a union if they wish to. The company wishes all its contacts with unions to be conducted in a decent and co-operative manner. It is illegal for management to interfere with the right of an individual to belong to an independent union as defined in the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1976. The types of job roles in human resources are: Job Title Job Role Human resources Managing the HR department and staff, involved with Manager industrial relations and trade unions negotiations, Implementing the organisations HR policies. Training/staff Responsible for training and staff development. development Health and safety Overseeing all the health and safety matters and Officer monitoring Personnel/staffing Keeping staff records, monitoring staff welfare officer HR administrative Administrative work relating to the human resources Assistants function. Finance Businesses need to manage and control the money coming in and going out of the business. They also need to understand this information in order to plan what to do next and to see if they need to make any changes. All businesses deal with: * Preparing accounts * Paying wages and salaries * Obtaining capital and resources. The major sources of finance include back profits, shares, banking facilities, hire purchase/leasing and trade credits. Preparing accounts The finance staffs at Marks and Spencer have to deal with a range of activities related to checking and recording of all amounts of money received and paid. These are entered into an account each customer has. When money is being received it is banked as soon as possible and also is checked carefully and recorded against each item sold and against each customer’s account. Every Business including Marks and Spencer has to pay its own bills. They will owe money for raw materials used in the manufacture of a product and for the services it uses. Paying wages and salaries Wages and Salaries are done by a computerised procedure. Marks and Spencer pay their staff monthly direct into their bank account, using a system called credit transfer. The company’s bank transfers money to all the employee’s accounts. The bank keeps payroll records, which shows how much each staff earns and how much they are meant to be paid, this helps the bank to transfer the right amount of money into the staff account. Obtaining capital and resources Capital is the money the owner puts into Marks and Spencer. This will be needed when the business starts trading. The money buys all the requirements Marks and Spencer needs. When the business starts to trade and make a profit, the profit is used to buy new stock to sell and also saved incase the company wants to buy new equipment. The job roles in finance are: Job Title Job Role Finance Director Giving advice to senior managers on the overall financial Policy of the organisation. Financial Manager Managing the finance function and staff. Advising on financial resources. Management Producing continuous financial information for Accountant management Credit controller Advising on credit policies. Ensuring that money owing to the company is kept within agreed levels. Payroll Responsible for overseeing the company payroll and Administrator salary/wage section. Ledger Clerks Assist the chief accountant in the recording of all financial transactions. Marketing and Sales Businesses carry out a range of activities to identify the customer’s needs and then try to provide for them. These activities include: * Market research * Promotion * Sales promotion Market Research Marks and Spencer has a separate department, which is involved with market research. Market research deals with customer feedback and external agencies. Other types of market research that are used at Marks and Spencer are through credit card, database, direct mailing, and telephone and through the customer services department. Market research can be carried out through primary and secondary research. Promotion Marks and Spencer have to decide how to promote their products, this usually depends on the type of product or service they want to promote Marks and Spencer advertise its promotion through corporate advertising, for example with seasonal products like strawberries in the summer. The major markets are the consumer markets worldwide but Marks and Spencer find their main shoppers are middle aged, middle class and female. Sales Promotion Sales promotions are campaigns, which offer special discounts and attract customers to try a new a product. Sale promotions at Marks and Spencer include offering free samples of food, special discounts and offers. Marks and Spencer set up campaigns for a few reasons such as attracting more buyers but mainly if a new product is not selling as well as it should be then the campaign is set up. The major customers for the products are the general public. The job roles involved in Marketing and Sales are: Job Title Job Role Marketing director Responsible for the overall marketing function and its aims and objectives. Sales manager Responsible for sales staff and the achievement of sales targets, often within the UK. Advertising In charge with advertising and agency staff over Manager publicity campaign. Export manager Responsible for overseas agents and the achievement of sales targets overseas. Market Find out consumer opinions on current and proposal Researchers goods and services. Order clerks Accept and process sale orders Administration The administration function helps a business run smoothly from day to day and keeping things up to date. It covers a number of different tasks including: * Clerical work, collecting mail, keeping records, organising meetings, responding to enquiries * Cleaning, maintenance and security Clerical work Every day Marks and Spencer would receive telephone calls that need to be answered, mails that needs opening and replying, a list of tasks to do, visitors that arrive at the reception some without a appointment, Fax messages, documents to sort out and need to prepare and documents that need updating etc. Every morning Marks and Spencer receive a number of mails, these mails are then sorted correctly, date stamped then delivered to different departments and individual staff. Marks and Spencer also arrange for their mail to be collected to sent out at a certain time. Marks and Spencer receive enquiries from a variety of people, companies and also other people from inside the organisation departments. Marks and Spencer try to answer these enquiries quickly with correct information. Marks and Spencer has a large amount of documents produce by organisations such as forms, fax/telephone messages, letters and reports. These documents are then filed and some are stored in the computer. Cleaning and maintenance Marks and Spencer employ cleaners to do routine cleaning duties. Some employees do the basic cleaning and the others don’t. If a cleaner is off sick, the supplier has to replace them as part of their contract. Security Marks and Spencer security staff are not employed by the company but by a specialist security firm. The responsibility of the firm is training and supply. The security staffs are responsible for patrolling the premises. The job roles involved in Administration are: Job Title Job Role Administration Managing the administration operations of the Manager organisation. Company A senior executive responsible for all legal affairs of the secretary company, dealing with shareholders, insurance and organising meetings. IT manager Managing all the IT requirements of the company, including Equipment and advising on future needs. PA/secretarial Responsible for providing secretarial and administrative Staff support, usually to senior managers. Equal opportunities and employment legislation Recruiting and keeping the right employees is important to every business. Both employers and employees have rights and responsibilities. These are safeguarded by employment law, not only by employee organisations and unions. The 4 main Acts are: 1. The Employment Rights Act 1996 2. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 3. The Race Relations Act 1976 4. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 The Employment Rights Act 1996 This act establishes a wide range of rights that employees have when they are being employed, for example: * The right to a contract of employment must be given within two months of starting employment and must include details such as name of employee and employer, date when employment began, rate of pay and when its due, hours of work, sick pay etc. * All female employees have the right to maternity leave, this can be up to 29 weeks and also can return to work afterwards. * Employees have the right to take time off to look for a new job, attending interviews and still be paid. * Employees have the right not to be unfairly dismissed. * Employees have the right to redundancy payments if an employee is dismissed because the job is no longer available. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 This act makes it illegal for anyone to be discriminated against someone on the grounds of gender either directly or indirectly. In employment this applies to recruitment and selection for jobs and promotion, training the way you are treated in a job, dismissal and redundancy. The Race Relations Act 1976 This act makes it unlawful to discriminate against people of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin. In the track of employment it is unlawful to discriminate in the arrangements for employment, which are: * In the interview or advisement’s * In the terms of employment * By refusing employment because of colour, race, nationality or ethnic origin. * In promotion and training * By dismissing a person The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 This act is concerned with discrimination against people with disabilities in employment. The disability may be physical, sensory or mental but must be relatively long-term. Employers must not treat a disabled person less favourable than others. Employers must be prepared to make reasonable adjustments to the workplace to help the disabled person do the job. Disabled persons who suffer discrimination can complain to an employment tribunal. Below are some examples of how employees at Marks and Spencer are protected by these Acts: 1st example A female staff from Marks and Spencer was pregnant and she was due to a maternity leave as agreed on for 30 weeks, she carried on working for a couple of weeks before she was due to the leave. When she took that leave, it happened to be longer than she thought, she had to take an extra few weeks of and when she came back, the job was still there for her. 2nd example New black female staffs were starting work at Marks and Spencer. On her first day, she needed to be trained and taught about the health and safety matters, this had to be done by a health and safety officer from Marks and Spencer. When she met the officer, he wasn’t very welcoming and didn’t seem pleased. He showed her around but the woman thought he wasn’t explaining very clearly and she was worried because she wouldn’t know exactly what to do if there was a fire, so she reported this to the employer and it seemed that he didn’t give her the full instructions, so another officer had to be arranged to train her. 3rd example A man applied for a job at Marks and Spencer, he was unsure whether he would get the job because of his disability problem but when they called him in for an interview he was surprised. They discussed his disability problem and the arrangements for him to work, so in the end they gave him a part time job, which he was very pleased about. Communication People working in different functional areas have to communicate with each other as well as with people outside the business such as customers and suppliers. In order to keeps the business running smoothly and effectively they need to keep the other people in the business well informed, to do this they might use: Internal External Telephone Telephone E-mail E-mail Pager Advertisement Face to face Internet Advertisement Fax Interview Letter Memo Video conferencing Notice Intranet Meeting Marks and Spencer Internal methods of communication to different functional areas are the telephone, email, fax machine, verbal meetings and appointments and also video conferencing, which are used around the country to save time on travelling and costs. The management team spend a high amount of time on the sales floor visiting various sections to see supervisors and staff. Marks and Spencer external communications include letters received from the charities, they receive about 10,000 appeals for support every year. External communications also include project work, Equal opportunities and also the company support projects, which help the elderly and the young and also people with special needs and those who require help in the members of the community. Due to the rising number of communications throughout the company, the communication problems have been encountered and one of the biggest problems has been to ensure everyone is informed. Due to the speed of the business, Marks and Spencer have to ensure that all the staffs try to ensure professional communication by being prepared and organised. The developments Marks and Spencer now have in mind is to improve and make communications more better through e-mail, to improve the in store telephone and the bleep systems such as changing to mobile phones and a speed dial network system. Below is a diagram showing how the functional areas communicate with each other externally and internally. Functional Type of Reason why Area communication Human -Telephone Confidentiality Resources -face to face Urgent -Letter Fast and easy to use -Meeting Saves time to talk to individuals Finance -Letter Security -E-mail Confidentiality -Meeting Get feedback from people quick Administration -Fax can be kept for future reference -Letter evidence and can be copied. -Email convenient while on the computer Marketing and -Meeting Group discussion, more ideas to share Sales Different functional areas use different communicational methods to communicate with each other, this is because employers need to know which type of communication to use for each purpose. For example, human resources might use the telephone or letter to communicate with a different functional area because it might be confidential, this way no confidential information is being reached out of the organisation. And also if a letter is being used, this can be kept for future reference and hard evidence for any purpose. Another type of communication is a meeting; this can save a lot of time and can get feedback from the people at the meeting immediately. Meetings also save time on having to discuss things individually. These types of communication can help Marks and Spencer achieve their aims and objectives, one of the main aims of Marks and Spencer is to put the customers first and to offer the highest values in customer care to satisfy them. To achieve this aim, Marks and Spencer keep the flow of information within the company, they keep the right people informed with up to date information so that when customers ask for certain information it will be as accurate as possible. The Marketing and Sales functional area keep the staff informed about the current range and prices of products for the benefit of the customers. When an order is being received, they pass it on to be sorted in order. To meet the needs of the customers, the staff’s listens to what customers have to say whether it is a good or bad thing and take that into account. Staff at Marks and Spencer has meetings to discuss any problems whether concerning about the customers or other matters so they can solve the problem maybe for the benefit of the customers who shop at Marks and Spencer. Organisational Structure of Marks and Spencer To make the business run successfully without any chaos, they organise their employees in functional areas and section so they know what to do. This helps the business to make decisions and carry them out. Every business has its own way of structure. Hierarchy Structure Marks and Spencer organisational structure of the business is a hierarchy structure, which is tall and has a number of levels. This type of structure may be large but also has some disadvantages as well as advantages within this structure. Below are the advantages and disadvantages. Advantages * Clear job role and lines of responsibility * Each level will have different opinions so therefore more ideas * Clear pay structure * A large number of colleagues * A range of facilities * Good promotion Disadvantages * Slow communication flow. If any staffs require information, this could take time. * Slow reaction to changes and challenges because many people have to be informed whether decisions or changes were going to be made. * Staff at a lower level may feel the manager at the top has no idea what they think or do Flat Structure Here is an organisational structure of a small company. As you can see, this structure is small and does not have many levels. This type of structure is called a Flat structure. This is very much different to the Marks and Spencer structure because Marks and Spencer is a large company. From the diagram structure we can tell that the company is rather small and has fewer levels. But there are also some advantages as well as disadvantages within this structure. Below are a list of the advantages and disadvantages of a flat structure. Advantages * Communication is quicker and more accurate * Good at responding quickly to new ideas and customer needs * Operate quite easily * Less management cost * Flexible working hours Disadvantages * Business is small * No one to share ideas with * May experience problems with shortage of staff if business is expanding.

How Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition Works

In the quest for ever-improving fuel efficiency and emissions reduction, an old and very promising idea has found new life. HCCI (Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition) technology has been around for a long time but has recently received renewed attention and enthusiasm. While the early years saw many insurmountable (at the time) obstacles whose answers would only come as sophisticated computer controlled electronics were developed and matured into reliable technologies, progress stalled. Time has, as it always does, worked its magic and nearly every problem has been solved. HCCI is an idea whose time has come with nearly all of the parts and pieces of technology and know-how in place to make a real go of it. What is HCCI? An HCCI engine is a mix of both conventional spark-ignition and diesel compression ignition technology. The blending of these two designs offers diesel-like high efficiency without the difficult—and expensive—to deal with NOx and particulate matter emissions. In its most basic form, it simply means that fuel (gasoline or E85) is homogeneously (thoroughly and completely) mixed with air in the combustion chamber (very similar to a regular spark-ignited gasoline engine), but with a very high proportion of air to fuel (lean mixture). As the engines piston reaches its highest point (top dead center) on the compression stroke, the air/fuel mixture auto-ignites (spontaneously and completely combusts with no spark plug assist) from compression heat, much like a diesel engine. The result is the best of both worlds: low fuel usage and low emissions. How Does HCCI Work? In an HCCI engine (which is based on the four-stroke Otto cycle), fuel delivery control is of paramount importance in controlling the combustion process. On the intake stroke, fuel is injected into each cylinders combustion chamber via fuel injectors mounted directly in the cylinder head. This is achieved independently from air induction which takes place through the intake plenum. By the end of the intake stroke, fuel and air have been fully introduced and mixed in the cylinders combustion chamber. As the piston begins to move back up during the compression stroke, heat begins to build in the combustion chamber. When the piston reaches the end of this stroke, sufficient heat has accumulated to cause the fuel/air mixture to spontaneously combust (no spark is necessary) and force the piston down for the power stroke. Unlike conventional spark engines (and even diesels), the combustion process is a lean, low temperature and flameless release of energy across the entire combustion chamber. The entire fuel mixture is burned simultaneously producing equivalent power, but using much less fuel and releasing far fewer emissions in the process. At the end of the power stroke, the piston reverses direction again and initiates the exhaust stroke, but before all of the exhaust gases can be evacuated, the exhaust valves close early, trapping some of the latent combustion heat. This heat is preserved, and a small quantity of fuel is injected into the combustion chamber for a pre-charge (to help control combustion temperatures and emissions) before the next intake stroke begins. Challenges for HCCI An ongoing developmental problem with HCCI engines is controlling the combustion process. In traditional spark engines, combustion timing is easily adjusted by the engine management control module changing the spark event and perhaps fuel delivery. Its not nearly so easy with HCCIs flameless combustion. Combustion chamber temperature and mixture composition must be tightly controlled within quickly changing and very narrow thresholds that include parameters such as cylinder pressure, engine load and RPMs and throttle position, ambient air temperature extremes and atmospheric pressure changes. Most of these conditions are compensated for with sensors and automatic adjustments to otherwise normally fixed actions. Included are individual cylinder pressure sensors, variable hydraulic valve lift and electromechanical phasers for camshaft timing. The trick isnt so much as getting these systems to work as it is getting them to work together, very quickly, and over many thousands of miles an d years of wear and tear. Perhaps just as challenging though will be the problem of keeping these advanced control systems affordable. Advantages of HCCI Lean combustion returns 15 percent increase in fuel efficiency over a conventional spark ignition engine.Cleaner combustion and lower emissions (especially NOx) than a conventional spark ignition engine.Compatible with gasoline as well as E85 (ethanol) fuel.Fuel is burned quicker and at lower temperatures, reducing heat energy loss compared to a conventional spark engine.Throttleless induction system eliminates frictional pumping losses incurred in traditional (throttle body) spark engines. Disadvantages of HCCI High cylinder pressures require stronger (and more expensive) engine construction.More limited power range than a conventional spark engine.The many phases of combustion characteristics are difficult (and more expensive) to control. It is clear that HCCI technology offers superior fuel efficiency and emissions control compared to the conventional tried-and-true spark ignition gasoline engine. Whats not-so-certain yet is the ability of these engines to deliver these characteristics inexpensively, and, probably more importantly, reliably over the life of the vehicle. Continued advancements in electronic controls have brought HCCI to the precipice of workable reality, and further refinements will be necessary to push it over the edge into everyday production vehicles.