How to Pass the ACT Expert Guide

How to Pass the ACT Expert Guide SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips There’s so much info out there about doing well on the ACT - a lot of it is really helpful when it comes to preparing for the test! But this onslaught of information can get pretty overwhelming, especially when you just want a simple answer to a simple question: how do you pass the ACT? What Does It Mean to â€Å"Pass† the ACT? On this test, there’s only a range of possible scores - what constitutes an excellent, poor, or average score will depend heavily on your frame of reference. Ultimately, what defines a passing ACT score is thatit’s high enough to get you into the colleges you’re applying to. This obviously varies widely by student. Your ACT score doesn’t have to be perfect for you to â€Å"pass† (although it never, ever hurts to bring up your score) - it just has to be good enough. Now, this gets a bit complicated because your ACT score is not the only part of your college applications. If your ACT score is particularly low, however, college admissions officers may have higher expectations for other parts of your app (e.g. GPA, extracurriculars). If your score is low enough, your application may get tossed out even if the rest of your app is strong. For the sake of this post, then, I’m going to define a â€Å"passing† ACT score as one that won’t get your application tossed out. Ideally, however, your ACT score will be one that helps (instead of hurts) your college applications. Keep reading to learn more about how to figure out these score benchmarks for yourself. How to Set an ACT Goal Score Before you learnhow to pass the ACT, you have to figure out what passing means for you. This requiresa bit of legwork: namely, researching what ACT scores are correlated with acceptance at the schools you’re interested in. Here’s how you do it: Make a Preliminary List of Schools This doesn’t have to be a final, polished list, but 8-10 schools you’re interested in is a good place to start. Try to select mostly â€Å"target† schools - colleges where you think you’d have a fairly good chance of getting in. You can include 2-3 â€Å"safety† schools and 2-3 â€Å"reach† schools as well, as long as you maintain balance here. Too many safety schools and you might set a target score that’s too low. Too many reach schools and you might set a target score that’s unreasonably, and discouragingly, high. The first time you do this, you may not have a good idea of what schools you’d identify as reach, target, and safety. That’s ok! In fact, it’s kind of the point of this exercise. You can repeat it as many times as necessary throughout the college process, adjusting your list of schools as you go. Look Up Each School’s ACT Info Start by Googling â€Å"PrepScholar [name of school] ACT score.† The first non-ad link that comes up should be the one you want - see below for an example. The first search result here is the one you want. The page will have the average ACT score and the 25th/75th percentile scores for students accepted to that particular school. Take down these numbers for each school. 25th percentile score = 25% of students at the school have an ACT score at or below that number 75th percentile score = 75% of students at the school have an ACT score at or below that number Students with 75th percentile scores or above for a particular school usually have a good shot at getting in, barring any weaknesses or issues with other parts of their application. Students with 25th percentile scores or below usually have other strong application components (e.g. high GPA, great essays) to boost their chances. Set Your Benchmark â€Å"Passing† Score This step is perhaps a bit more subjective, so I’ll be as transparent here as possible. If you want to come to a passing ACT score, you’ll want to look at a school’s 25th percentile ACT scores. This is far from a safe bet, however - your chances of getting in will heavily depend on the strength of the rest of your application if your ACT score is at or around the 25th percentile. If your GPA is lower than average for a particular school, for example, your ACT score would have to be higher in order to make up for it. I think that the best target (read: ideal) ACT score lies at a school’s 75th percentile score. The 75th percentile is a sweet spot because you’d be more competitive (in terms of ACT scores) than  ¾ of students who are accepted to the school. If your typical ACT score is higher than the 75th percentile score, you might want to consider looking at more competitive schools - you want to aim as high as you reasonably can here (more competitive schools often mean better reputations, which tend to lead to better outcomes). Here’s how to set both ideal and â€Å"passing† ACT score benchmarks for yourself: Take the averages of the scores you collected for each school. First the average of the 25th percentile scores, then the average of the 75th percentile scores. The 25th percentile average is your â€Å"passing† goal score - the minimum you should be aiming for. The 75th percentile score is your target score - the score that has a great chance of getting you accepted to the colleges on your list. What If You’re Worried About Reaching Your Target Score, or Even Your Passing Score? Perhaps these scores you’ve calculated seem higher than you would have expected. If your passing score in particular seems intimidatingly high, there are a few things to keep in mind: Remember that your target score (75th percentile average) is an ideal goal. It’s supposed to be higher than what you’re scoring now (or maybe even what you think you can score). If the 25th percentile benchmark seems too high, consider re-evaluating your list of schools. You might want to look at colleges that are slightly less competitive. Conversely, if you’re already at or above that 75th percentile mark, consider looking at more competitive colleges. Strategies for Passing the ACT I’m going to split this section up into two parts meant for two different types of students: low-scorers and high-scorers. Here, I’m defining score parameters by the national performance standards: high scorers are at about 24 and above (75th percentile nationally), whereas low scorers are at about 16 and below (25th percentile nationally). If your performance is closer to the average (20), check out both sections and follow steps that you find most useful. Your best plan from here will depend on both where you are and where you want to be. How to Pass the ACT: Guidance for Low Scorers One problem that a lot of low-scorers have is that they’re unsure of how to focus their time and energy when studying. Understanding your weaknesses is the first and most important step to tackling ACT prep. The biggest issue for low scorers is often significant gaps in content knowledge, so identifying and filling these gaps is typically a priority for ACT prep. Other mistakes may be due to: Running out of time Misunderstanding the question Running out of time Careless errors So how do you go about identifying where your issues are before taking steps to improve on them? First, you’ll have to invest some time in some serious self-analysis involving a baseline score. You can’t focus on improving before figuring out where you need to improve. Here are best practices for getting a solid baseline and gaining info on your weaknesses: Take a full, timed, diagnostic practice test Take note of which questions you got incorrect Tally the reasons for each incorrect question: Content Gap: Did you not have the information you needed to answer correctly? Timing Issue: Would you have gotten the question correct if you hadn’t run out of time? Question Misunderstanding: Would you have gotten the question correct if the question had been more clear? Careless Error: Would you have gotten the question correct if you had spent an extra couple of seconds checking your work? If you find that content knowledge is your biggest problem, you’ll want to turn to your class notes, textbooks, and ACT prep books for review - not just ACT practice materials. We also have a bunch of ACT content guides to get you started: Ultimate ACT English Study Guide Ultimate ACT Science Study Guide Ultimate ACT Math Study Guide Complete Guide to ACT Writing Once you’ve conquered major content problems, you can hone in on specific content areas and work on careless errors and timing issues. You’ll find tips for addressing those problems in the next section. How to Pass the ACT: Guidance for High Scorers If you’re a relatively high scorer, you probably have a general idea of where your major strengths and weaknesses are on the ACT. You’re likely pretty strong on content overall, unlike the typical low scorer. High scorers usually lose points due to three issues: Carelessness: loss of focus leading to silly mistakes Timing problems: you simply run out of time to give each question its due Content gaps: small areas of knowledge that you haven’t mastered 100% If you want to get close to that ideal score, you’ll want to attack each of these potential issues. I’ll address each of these problems in this section, but you may want to check out our detailed guide for high scorers for more info. Carelessness It’s pretty easy to identify a question you’ve missed due to carelessness. You get that horrible feeling when you recognize that you would have gotten the question right, if only you’d paid a tiny bit more attention. Careless mistakes often occur when students aren’t actively reading. Start focusing your attention with these tips: Double-read each question and underline important words. Take notes on passages. In the math section, mark up diagrams with important info and write out your arithmetic. Double- check your answer before marking it down. Timing Issues Running out of time at the end of sections? First, spend less time on easy questions - just keep an eye out for those careless errors. Next, skip tough questions and come back to them later. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t guess if you’re out of time (there’s no guessing penalty, so you should definitely guess). If you’ve still got plenty of time to work through the section, though, mark the problem question and come back to it later. Timing issues can stress out pretty much everyone, but with practice, you can learn to overcome them. Filling in Content Gaps Your first task here is identifying which questions you get wrong in your practice, and more importantly, why you get them wrong. This means going over all your mistakes after each practice session. Keep a careful tally of each content area every time you identify an error (hint: most content errors happen on the math section). Use your class notes, textbooks, or reliable ACT prep book to review this content. Come back and do more practice problems in this area until you’re confident in your understanding. What You Must Remember About How to Pass the ACT There might not be an official ACT passing score, but that somehow seems to make things more complicated. What you might consider passing will depend on the sorts of schools you hope to get into, but I hope you think more in terms of target or goal scores than just â€Å"good enough† scores. If you’re worried that your ACT scores aren’t up to par, don’t worry just yet - there are tons of things you can do to bring them up, no matter where you might be on the percentile charts. What matters most when setting a passing score are the goals you set for yourself. What’s Next? There are a lot of helpful materials available if you’re worried about â€Å"passing† the ACT. For an overview, read our guide with the four best tips for studying for the test. If you need a fun, refreshing way to study, learn about the five best ACT prep games. Maybe you’re looking for more detailed information. If that’s the case, check out our 10-step ACT study plan. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes your prep program to your strengths and weaknesses. We also have expert instructors who can grade every one of your practice ACT essays, giving feedback on how to improve your score. Check out our 5-day free trial:

Organisation Management System Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Organisation Management System - Research Paper Example Gazprom uses a variety of techniques in order to measure, control and monitor the different environmental impacts of the activities of the organization. The company has recognized the increasing importance of investing sufficient capital in the clean energy projects that are incorporated across the globe. The company has started to become engaged in the different CDM projects being launched with an aim to improve the environmental conditions in the least developed regions of the world. The company has started to work on various programmatic projects in the perspective of measuring and controlling the various environmental impacts of its operations. One of the measures taken to control and monitor the environmental impacts has been the active partnerships created by the company with the local NGOs in the different regions of the world. The company has introduced the Comprehensive Environment program which has been implemented with the objective of meeting the key provisions specified in the Russian ecological doctrine and the Energy Strategy of Russia for 2040. The environmental policies of the company are based on the present environmental scenario in Russia and the different international corporate activities done in managing the environmental impacts of the companies in the oil and gas sector.This environmental program ensures the use of proper approaches in the domains of production, storage, transmission and storage of the different energy sources like oil, gas condensate and natural gas.

Organizational Philosophies and Technology paper Essay

Organizational Philosophies and Technology paper - Essay Example But with the more recent technological developments as well as reduced trade blockades, growth in trade is definitely on the rise. Developing counties have also stepped on this bandwagon, extracting the best out of their own respective economies through trade internationally as well as locally - within the country. The integration of trade into the world economy has really proved helpful for the developing countries as they can promote economic growth, development as well as poverty reduction within themselves. Companies which are ready to use technology are thus the ones who have found success in all relevant quarters of their business. With this technological incorporation, they have been able to look at the ethical side of things as well since the moral grounds have been set in a proper manner and there are as such no apprehensions to state the least in the present times. A business can move from a position of stability to one of a complete unstable stance as it acquires different means of gathering the market and its driving factors that come along with it. The firm has to change its position with the changing times otherwise it will literally vanish away from its competitors and more so the customers, for which it actually exists. It must bring about technological innovations so as to meet the ethical guidelines and best practices which are geared up to make it sound, look and eventually feel different from the rest of the lot and in the long run, have a selling proposition in it and in its products that help it in winning the customers time and time again. The work culture can be developed in a manner which suits the interests of the organization in the best form possible. For this to happen, it is necessary to understand that technology has got an immense role to play in the related equation. We must understand that we live in a global world where technology has of late been instrumental at dramatically changing the way we perceive the events

Colombia population Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Colombia population - Assignment Example The researches also explore the existence of Asian and Chinese ancestry in Colombian population, though its percentage is almost negligible. Consequently, combination of indigenous and Asian population makes less than 2% of total present population of the country. Somehow, it is estimated that European Amerindians, called Mestizo, make up three fifth of the Colombian population followed by Whites, and the European-Africans called Mulatto, percentage of which is one fifth and one seventh of total population respectively. (essortment.com). It is therefore Colombian culture is viewed as the amalgamation of several sub-cultures on the basis of origin, race, ethnicity, region and religion. An overwhelming majority (i.e. 90%) is Roman Catholic, while Protestants, Jews and Muslims are also the part of the population of the country. Urbanization had been in vogue in Colombia by the last decade of twentieth century; consequently over three fourth population lives in cities now. Nearly 5% population consists of elderly citizens (i.e. over 65 years), while one third of Colombians are under 15 years of age. Hence, nearly two fifth of the total population consists of non-productive individuals, while Almost 91% population consists of literate individuals. (Encyclopedia of Nations) Life expectancy is estimated to be 70 and 77 years for males and females respectively, where approximately one sixth of the total population is leading life below the poverty line determined by the UN experts. Though Colombia had won freedom from Spain in July 1810, yet Spanish Laws are followed at political and social forums by the executive, legislature and judiciary. Colombia is a peaceful state, though it undergoes two international disputes; one with the neighboring country Venezuela on the Venezuela Gulf, and the other with Nicaragua over Archipelago de San Andres y Providencia and Quita Sueno

Immortality Of The Soul In Phaedo Philosophy Essay

Immortality Of The Soul In Phaedo Philosophy Essay Phaedo is one of the dialogues that were created by plato, the phaedo tried to depict the death of Socrates who was a great philosopher. It was the last dialogue of the seven that he wrote in the middle period of Socrates final days the others included Theaetetus, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Statesman and Sophist. Plato was a pupil of Socrates, after the death of Socrates he went on to rebuild his dialogues, these dialogues recounted the beliefs Socrates had in regards to immortality of the soul. Phaedo, Apology, Euthyphro and Crito are known as tetralogy as they deal with the trial and eventual death of Socrates. Phaedo, of the tetralogy is the longest and also considered the richest dialogue and is also important philosophically. The Phaedo took place in the morning that Socrates was to die and primarily deals with the immortality of the soul. Phaedo began the story with Echecrates a Pythagorean as he asks Phaedo to tell him what he knows of the death of Socrates. Phaedo is willing to give the story of how Socrates decided to take hemlock poison. Socrates was in prison for not believing in the Athenian gods and was also accused of corrupting the youth of the city of Athens. Socrates was sentenced to death by the political leader of the city of Athens. Phaedo of Elis was present when Socrates was to die. Socrates explored of the various theories of immortality of the soul and tries to show that there is life after death in which the soul will live after death. In the dialogue is also narrated by Cebes and Simmias. They had all come to assist Socrates to escape prison. In the dialogue Socrates, puts forward four theories of the immortality of the soul. Among the four, the first three though they convince someone, they are insubstantial. The three are valuable to the readers and they are also reffered to affinity, cyclical and re-collective form of arguments. The fourth argument is well accepted and is considered to be well made argument and logically sound. The four arguments that are put forward are; the opposite argument or the cyclical argument, this theory tries to explain that the forms we have are eternal and cannot change and the soul can never perish and it always brings life. The body is believed to be mortal and has to undergo the physical death but the soul is not destroyed in the process. Plato tries to make clear of the argument by comparing cold and fire. The second argument is also known as the theory of recollection, this theory tries to explain that human posses some knowledge that is non empirical example of this knowledge is the knowledge at birth. This is used to show or imply that maybe at one time that the soul existed before birth for it to have that knowledge. The third theory is also known as the affinity argument, this theory tries to explain that what is immortal and invincible things are very different from what is visible and mortal. Our soul is immortal and our body is mortal and therefore when our bodies die, our soul will still continue to live. The fourth argument of the Phaedo is the argument from the form of life and it explains that, what is immortal and incorporeal is caused by the things of the world and all that participate in the forms. Beauty participates in the form of beauty, the soul participates in the forms of life and thus the soul can never die. Socrates proved the immortality of the soul by arguing that the cause of the life which is the soul can never die as the life comes from it. He argues that the probability of a dead soul is imposible and thus the soul can be considered to be immortal. The immortality of the soul is a valid argument but it can be questioned as it is based upon a premise that has not been shown to be true. Socrates believes that after he dies he will be treated blessedly by the gods and he will be able to converse with other men who had died. Socrates tried to explain of what the afterlife will be like. Thus the question is the connection of the afterlife and the living soul after the death of the mortal body. Socrates before he died believed that he will not be distracted by the death of the body. He believed that the body was a carrier of the soul ass the soul cannot live on its own and need the body while in the earth for it to survive. Socrates believed that he had to live a full live and he had to hope for death. He believed for a life well lived, death was ideal and important as in death the soul maybe has a probability of gaining true knowledge. Socrates believed that man should never commit suicide. He believed that man should never kill himself since he has no ownership of himself. He believed that men were a property of the gods Socrates said, I too believe that the gods are our guardians, and that we men are a chattel of theirs (Phaedo, 62b). Cebes was in agreement with Socrates on this argument. They believed that a man who kills himself or destroy something will be punished. Therefore if man tries to kill himself he will be killed by the gods who own him. Therefore man should be ready for death since the mortal body will one die, and should never act in a way to hasten death. Socrates said that for quite some time he had been waiting for body death and it is not okay for onr to bring on to himself an earlier death. In the arguments, the body and that soul are held as two separate entities that can be separated and this separation is achieved through death. Also in one being warned against destroying the property of gods else the gods will seek for retribution and will surely punish the offender thus he believes the afterlife reward will be based on the acts one committed before he died. Before he died Socrates believed he had to fulfill certain things which were an obligation to the gods. He believed that certain things had to be dealt with so as to help him in the movement from the life to afterlife. To do this he decided to compose music and he later reminded Crito that he had to sacrifice a cock to Asclepius who was the god in charge of medicine and also the healing. Socrates had a belief that even though the soul was immortal, one had an obligation of performing certain actions and living his life in the world in a certain manner. He believed the actions one did and the entire acts one comm itted while living in the earth contributed to how the gods will treat him after death; whether favorably or unfavorably. Therefore even though mans soul is immortal it can still be punished by the gods after its separation from the body. Socrates believed death to be a state where the body is separated from the soul and the soul becomes separate from the body he also defines death to be the complete dissolution of the sole. The others in the dialogue believed that the death is the complete annihilation of the soul, they fear that when she (the soul) has left the body her place may be nowhere, and that on the very day of death she may perish and come to an end immediately on her release from the bodydispersing and vanishing away into nothingness in her flight. (Phaedo, 70) Soc rates believed that people should people should have very little with all that is bodily, therefore humans should pay little attention in making the body happy and comfortable. He believes that we should be independent of the body since it is only then that individuals will be able to achieve a true state of understanding. The state of being independent of the body, Socrates believed is death and therefore individuals will be well prepared for it when it occurs if they have been independent of the body all through. Thus when death comes the individuals will be more than willing to welcome it. He believed that the body presented to individuals a lot of distractions because of what it demands or necessities of taking care of it. He believed that if illness strikes the human body, they stop an individual from pursuing truth. The body also causes us to have emotions such as fear, love, desire and other emotions. These emotions do no good to one as they cause one to be a slave of hims elf and have no time for the soul. The Phaedo is a great piece of information and combines philosophy in an interesting narrative. Socrates death show us of how a man who is detached from the cares and worries of the body and takes more time of enriching his soul can easily go away with not much problem. Human beings are in constant worries of very many bodily desires, this desires have led to great suffering and problems to themselves and others around them. The bodily desires have led to unnecessary completion and rivalry which has bled to conflicts, greed, war and untold suffering. Socrates clearly put it that what we should try and live for is trying to achieve the appeasement of the soul as the soul is immortal and trying to please the body is just for a time and makes on to never be prepared for death. Men must learn that good acts to each other and the environment will mean that one will have a better life after death.

stock market crash Essay -- essays research papers

The Stock Market crash of 1929 has been looked at as the greatest symbol of depression is our countries history. Although the Stock Market crashing had a huge effect on the beginning of the Great Depression, there are still factors to consider when looking for a source to blame. It’s hard to put responsibility on the stock market for something so huge and disheartening. The Great Depression is seen as a slippery road downward, not a sudden jolt into hopelessness.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Stock Market in the 1920’s had consistently seen prices climb over the last few years. By the fall of 1929 the prices of stock were severely overpriced and unaffordable. When stockholders saw the severity in the prices they all panicked and began to sell all the stock that they owned. This is what caused the Stock Market to crash. Other causes for the Great Depression are there just not obvious.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Tax system in the United States in this period was struggling. Income Tax on the middle class was way too high. The middle class would end up paying the vast majority of the tax. Rich and well off people, seemed to find loopholes in the system to get around paying the taxes that they should. This led to the rich getting richer and the poor got poorer. Unemployment rose to a high of 25%.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Due to the lack of money in the middle class Americans pocket, there was a great problem with overproduction. The products were being made, but...

Children and young people’s development Institutions Essay

Institutions that effect children and young people’s development: Some institutions that affect a children’s development are: †¢Children in need †¢NSPCC †¢Banardo’s †¢Sure Start †¢Bereavement councillor †¢NSPCC NSPCC stands for The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. The NSPCC was designed to protect children from cruelty. Their aim is to end cruelty to children in the UK. They have 4 main principles, there priority is to protect the children who are most at risk, they learn what is best for the children, the create a leverage for change and they also focus on the areas that are going to make the biggest change. The NSPCC’s local services will concentrate on 7 groups of children; these are the ones that they think are most at risk. These are the children that have experienced neglect before; they are the children that have a high risk of being exposed to physical abuse (these families are the ones that have violet adults, drug and alcohol abuse and mental health issues.) Another group is children that have experienced sexual abuse, children under the age of one, disabled children, children that are black and that come from minority ethnic communities, and look ed after children. The NSPCC affect the children in variety of different ways, they make sure the children are safe and looked after. They could affect the children in a major way because it could be the difference of the being looked after or being neglected. It could also be the difference of the child being having a safe and secure future, the future that every child deserves. †¢Sure start Sure start is government led and its aims are to give the children in the UK the best possible start. It focuses on Early Years Care, Family Care and Education. They promote high quality childcare to children aged 0-12 and  their families. They are a helping hand to the professionals, families and parents of children. This institution can affect a child’s development because there aim is to protect the children; they ensure that they children are looked after. This means the children that they help get the best care, which can affect their emotional and other types of development. Agencies Some agencies that can affect a child’s development are: †¢Council †¢PCSO †¢Children centre †¢Youth officer †¢SENCO †¢Welfare officer †¢Children centre Children centres offer the chance for children to take part in activities outside of school, they also offer children the chance to meet new people and make new friends. They get children off of the streets and give them somewhere safe to play, chill and be away from home. These children centres can have a major affect on a child’s because they allow children to affect the development areas. Emotional because it can make them happy, social because it gives them the chance to meet new people and make new friends, intellectual because they can play logical and thinking games, and physical because they can play sports. †¢SENCO SENCO stands for Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator. They are responsible for day to day operation of the settings policies. The SENCO will co-ordinate additional support for the children that need it, they will liaise with the parents, teachers and the professional that are involved with them. The SENCO’s job is to get in contact with outside services to come in and help the children they think may need it. The SENCO helps the child’s development by requesting additional help for the children that they think need it. Services Services that affect a child’s development: †¢Health visitor †¢Doctors †¢Social worker †¢MAISY – Multi Agency Integrated Services for Early Years Physio therapist Paediatrician Speech therapist All intervention people †¢Health professionals †¢Health Visitors A health visitor’s job is to support new parents and preschool children with assessing the children’s health ensuring that they are healthy. And helping the parents give the right quality of care to the children. They also development appropriate programmes to help give the child the best possible start in life. They offer parents advice on all subjects, and they also look and asses the child’s physical development and do development checks on those children. The health visitor can effect a child’s development because if anything is wrong with the child, they may be the first people to spot it, and give the children the best possible start, so that if doesn’t affect them as much later on in life. †¢Health professional Health professionals are people such as doctors, GP’s, nurses and so on. They are the people we turn to when we are ill, or need assistance. These health professionals can effect a child’s development in many ways, by assessing the children and giving them the right medicine to make them feel better. If a child becomes seriously ill, doctors are the people that know what to do to ensure that they get the right treatment so the illness does persist and become worse. A health professional can affect a child’s development in every way possible, because if they get something wrong then the child come suffer in every area of development.

A Farewell to Sexism and The Female Also Rises Essay

Ernest Hemingway has a reputation of being a complete misogynist. People have analyzed his books, specifically A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, and attacked him for being sexist towards the main female roles, Catherine Barkley and Lady Brett Ashley. Other analysts argue that Catherine and Brett are strong female lead roles. Through these two characters, Hemingway disproves the misogynist and sexist analysts and presents readers with independent female roles. A characteristic of sexism towards women include showing their dependence, including the inability to think by themselves. In A Farewell to Arms, Frederic asks Catherine to kiss her and she replies no. If Catherine was so dependent and couldn’t think on her own, she wouldn’t have refused Frederic’s affection. Catherine also asks Frederic if he loves her and she calls him out for lying and goes on to say â€Å"You don’t have to pretend to love me† (Hemingway, 31). This shows that she thinks and is not blinded by her emotions and is able to realize that he is lying to her. In The Sun Also Rises, Lady Brett Ashley does whatever she wants. She is incredibly promiscuous and parties all the time with the guys. Most women during the World War I time sat home in the kitchen and took care of the kiddos rather than having a drink with the guys. Instead, after she hooked up with Romero and Cohn got jealous and beat him up, she scolded Cohn. Not many women would yell at a guy during the World War I period. This just further shows her independence and her ability to think by herself. Critics argue that Catherine is â€Å"merely a male fantasy† (Shmoop Editorial Team). They have good evidence in saying that and they argue that Catherine â€Å"gives up her own identity to get Frederic to love her. † They use her quote about religion, â€Å"You’re my religion. You’re all I’ve got† (Hemingway), and her quote about herself, â€Å"There isn’t any me. I’m you. Don’t make up a separate me† (Hemingway). But what those critics aren’t seeing is that Catherine is just a romantic woman. She is very lonely and desperately wants a deep, beautiful love after seeing all the deaths and wounded soldiers around her. Her wanting to be one with Frederic is completely justified. According to the Shmoop Editorial Team, critic Sandra Whipple Spanier says â€Å"that her willingness to love Frederic entirely is heroic because it saves her from going crazy with grief. When everything is exploding all around you, everything takes on more urgency. It’s normal that she feels so intensely for Frederic and that she thinks of unusual and even poetic ways to express this love. † It’s not Hemingway’s misogyny that is making him portray Catherine this way; it’s just the toll that the war has on her. More proof of independence in Catherine is that when she and Frederic are apart, she just keeps working and getting through the days without him. She does not need him to get through the day and that just proves her to be a strong, independent woman. Another thing that sets her apart from sexist characteristics is her complex thoughts on marriage. This complexity is shown through â€Å"her conflict between not following the social norms she doesn’t care about and conforming to such norms because doing so makes life easier† (Shmoop Editorial Team). She tells Frederic that her and her Fiance, that has died, were engaged for eight years because if they got married she thought he’d be trapped. When Frederic brings up getting married, she just plays it off like they’re already practically married and why fix something that’s not broken? She only begins to change her mind after her pregnancy. Hemingway also disproves the critics when he aligns the significance of rain during the war to Catherine. Even though rain can be seen as a symbol of spring and rebirth, Catherine sees it differently and associates it with death and gloom (Shmoop Editorial Team). When Frederic asks her why she is afraid of the rain she states that â€Å"It’s very hard on loving† (Hemingway), â€Å"I’m afraid of the rain because sometimes I see me dead in it† (Hemingway), and â€Å"And sometimes I see you dead in it† (Hemingway). According to Shmoop, the rain makes soldiers more prone to injury and they did research to find out why Catherine would say that rain is â€Å"hard on loving†. They found that her fiance died during the Battle of Somme, which was rainy so she associated the rain with death. By her thinking this way and being able to associate the rain with death and gloom, it proves that Hemingway made Catherine out to be a complex character. Hemingway also makes Catherine and Lady Brett Ashley strong and totally throws away the â€Å"females are weak and emotionally unstable† stereotype. First and foremost, Catherine is a World War I nurse at an overseas hospital. She takes care of soldiers that are, most of the time, fatally wounded. The reason she does this is because her fiance was killed in battle. Instead of crumbling after his death, she pulls through and does something that will benefit more people after a tragic event in her life. If Hemingway was so sexist, he would have made her kill herself like Shakespeare does to his weak female characters after tragedy strikes their lives. According to the Shmoop Editorial Team, Hemingway parallels the death of the soldiers during battle to Catherine’s death, stating that â€Å"Like the soldiers who stood brave in the face of battle, Catherine stood brave in the face of a battle with her own body. † Hemingway also showed some strength in Lady Brett Ashley from The Sun Also Rises, when she was not sickened by the bull fighting like â€Å"the typical woman†. In A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, Hemingway provides readers with two strong, independent female characters that are incredibly admirable for women. By Hemingway showing Catherine’s strength and diverse way of thinking throughout World War I and Lady Brett Ashley’s ability to â€Å"be one of the guys† and speak out for herself, he challenges his critics and proves that he is not the misogynist that people claim him to be. Works Cited Hemingway, Ernest. A Farewell to Arms. New York: Scribner, 1957. Print. 16 Feb. 2014. Shmoop Editorial Team. â€Å"Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms. † Shmoop. com. Shmoop University, Inc. , 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2014.