Monarch Migration

Monarch Migration The phenomenon of monarch migration in North America is well known, and quite extraordinary in the insect world. There are no other insects in the world that migrate twice each year for close to 3,000 miles. Monarchs living east of the Rocky Mountains in North America fly south each fall, gathering in central Mexicos Oyamel fir forest for the winter. Millions of monarchs gather in the this forest area, covering the trees so densely that branches break from their weight. Scientists aren’t sure how the butterflies navigate to a place they have never been. No other population of monarchs migrates this far. The Migrant Generation: The monarch butterflies that emerge from chrysalides in late summer and early fall differ from the previous generations. These migrant butterflies appear the same but behave quite differently. They will not mate or lay eggs. They feed on nectar, and cluster together during the cool evenings to stay warm. Their only purpose is to prepare for and make the flight south successfully. You can see a monarch emerge from its chrysalis in the photo gallery. Environmental factors trigger the migration. Fewer hours of daylight, cooler temperatures, and diminishing food supplies tell the monarchs it is time to move south. In March, the same butterflies that made the journey south will begin the return trip. The migrants fly to the southern U.S., where they mate and lay eggs. Their descendants will continue the migration north. In the northernmost part of the monarchs range, it may be the great grandchildren of the migrants that finish the trip. How Scientists Study Monarch Migration: In 1937, Frederick Urquhart was the first scientist to tag monarch butterflies in a quest to learn about their migration. In the 1950’s, he recruited a handful of volunteers to help in the tagging and monitoring efforts. Monarch tagging and research is now conducted by several universities with the help of thousands of volunteers, including school children and their teachers. The tags used today are small adhesive stickers, each printed with a unique ID number and contact information for the research project. A tag is placed on the butterfly’s hindwing, and does not impede flight. A person who finds a tagged monarch can report the date and location of the sighting to the researcher. The data collected from each season’s tags provides scientists with information about the migration path and timing. In 1975, Frederick Urquhart is also credited with finding the monarch’s wintering grounds in Mexico, which were unknown until that time. The site was actually discovered by Ken Brugger, a naturalist volunteering to help with the research. Read more about Urquhart and his lifelong study of monarchs. Energy-Saving Strategies: Remarkably, scientists discovered that migrating butterflies actually gain weight during their long journey. They store fat in their abdomens, and use air currents to glide as much as possible. These energy-saving strategies, together with feeding on nectar throughout the trip, help the migrants survive the arduous travel. The Day of the Dead: The monarchs arrive at their Mexico wintering grounds en masse in the final days of October. Their arrival coincides with el Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the Dead, a Mexican traditional holiday that honors the deceased. The indigenous people of Mexico believe the butterflies are the returning souls of children and warriors. Sources: Monarch WatchLongest Regularly Repeated Migration, University of Florida

Whats a Good ACT Score for Your College

What's a Good ACT Score for Your College SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Hopefully at this point in your college application process you have thought about your dream schools. Whether you took the ACT once and are debating taking it again or if you are just beginning the ACT preparation process, you are probably wondering what ACT will get you accepted. While there is no one exact ACT score that will be considered â€Å"good† for your college or guarantee you a spot, there is a particular ACT score that will you give you the best chance of being accepted. What is it? I will answer that and more by guiding you through 4 easy steps. College ACT Score Ranges and What They Mean for You Before figuring out your target score, you should look at colleges’ ACT score range.The score range will show the scores that admitted freshmen received.Usually, schools provide you with scores from the most recent applicant pool. The scores will be written in one of two ways: as a 25th/75th percentile range or as an average ACT score.The 25th percentile score indicates 25% of admits received an ACT score at or below that number (and 75% of admits scored higher).The 75th percentile score means 75% of admits received an ACT score at or below that number (and 25% of admits scored higher).The average ACT scoreis simply the average of all admitted students’ ACT scores. Looking at the score ranges will help you understand what ACT score you need to be a competitive applicant to that universitysince you'll know what ACT scores admitted students received.Before figuring out your target ACT score, you need to figure out what your list of target schools. Step #1: Create Your List of Target Schools You may have some schools in mind, but take the time to write down a list of the schools you hope to attend. Do not include your safety schools on this list.A safety school is a schoolthat you're almost certain you'll be accepted to with the ACTscore and GPA you have now. This target school list should include the more selective colleges. You should exclude the safety schools because you want to plan your target ACT score for the colleges with the most difficult admissions criteria. If you meet the admissions criteria for the selective colleges, you'll very likely be accepted to your safety schools.Once you have identified your target schools, draw a table with 3 columns with the following titles: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score Fill in your target colleges under school name as I did below: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan UC Berkeley Under the 2nd column for 25th percentile or average ACT, you should write either the 25th percentile or average SAT score for that college. As I said before, universities will only give you one or the other; whichever they give you, writethat number in that column. Under the last column for 75th percentile / target score, write the school’s 75th percentile score (if you can find it). For colleges that give average ACT, you will be calculating a unique target score later on in this article. Step #2: Find Out the ACT Scores of Admitted Students. Now that you have your list finding the admitted students’ ACT score range is very easy. Simply search â€Å"[College Name] ACT† or â€Å"[College Name] ACT 25th/75th percentile† in Google.That will lead you to what is known as the Freshman Admission Profile for your target school.If you can't locatea Freshman Admit Profile for your target college, check out our database of college admission requirements. There you'll find the admissions requirementsfor almost every schoolin the US. Use the Command + F function on your keyboard to search for your target college. Here is a screenshot of University of Michigan’s Freshman Admit Profile: Colleges will usually provide you with the 25th/75th percentile ACT score for freshmen. Some colleges call it the mid 50% range (as UMich does above), but the 2 numbers they provide are the 25th and 75th percentile scores.For UMich, the 25th percentile ACT score is 30, and the 75th percentile ACT score is 34. Add the 25th percentile / 75th percentile composite ACT score to your chart in the appropriate columns: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley While most colleges tell you the 25th/75th percentile ACT scores, other colleges will only give you one number, the average ACT score for admits (which UC Berkeley does on their admissions site).The average ACT score is just the average of all of the ACT scores for admits. Since the score is an average, you cannot determine exactly how many applicants scored above and below it, but we will assume about 50% of admits scored above and 50% of admits scored below. For Berkeley, the average ACT is 31. Knowing this information, we'll writeit in the column for 25th Percentile or Average SAT, leave the 75th Percentile / Target Score blank for now for the schools that only provide average ACT. I'll explain what to fill in for those schools later on: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley 31 Step #3: Determine Your Target Score for Those Schools. Based on each school’s 25th/75th percentile ACT or average ACT, we'll determine what your target score should be.For schools that provide the 25th/75th percentile ACT, you should aim for a score at or above the 75th percentile. (Which is exactly why I had you list the 75th percentile in the same column as target score. The 75th percentile is your target score!) For those schools that just give you an average composite ACT (such as UC Berkeley), I would aim for a score 2 points above that average score.For the best shot of admission to UC Berkeley, I would aim for a 33. You should writein that number (the average ACT plus 2 points) on your chart under 75th percentile / Target score: School Name 25th Percentile or Average ACT 75th Percentile / Target Score University of Michigan 31 34 UC Berkeley 31 33 You may wonder why you shouldn’t aim a score closer to the 25th percentile or the average since many applicants are accepted with that score. I wrote this article assuming that you are a â€Å"normal† applicant and not a â€Å"special† applicant. To qualify as a special applicant, you need to be an athlete, legacy, child of significant donors, or a unique talent (such as world-class opera singers or famous actors). These special applicants are typically admitted with the lower scores (25th percentile score). If you're a â€Å"normal† applicant, you'll want a higher ACT score to set you apart and give yourself the best chance of being accepted. The higher your score, the better your chance of admission. As an example, check out Brown University’s breakdown of admission; below is a screenshot: If you look at the highest score (36), 23.8% of applicants who scored a 36 were accepted to Brown, which is significantly higher than the overall Brown admissions rate 8.7%. You can see that as your score begins to decline (you get between 33 and 35) your chance of admission drops by 11.1%, from 23.8% to 12.7%.The lesson to take away from this data is the higher you score, the better your chance of being accepted. In my chart above, the two â€Å"Target Scores† vary by 1 point, so which should you aim for?Aim for the highest target score on your list. That way, when you reach the highest target score, you have the best chance of admission at all of the universities on your list. If you got a 34 and applied to UC Berkeley and University of Michigan, you would have a great chance of being accepted to both. However, if you aimed for the lower target score and got a 33 and applied to University of Michigan, you would now fall short of the 75th percentile score and be in the middle 50% of admits scores. You still have a decent chance of being accepted, but your chances are not quite as good. Step #4: Create a Plan to Achieve Your Target ACT Score. To achieve your target score, you need to have a clearplan of attack. If you need significant improvement to meet your target score, you should think about taking an ACT prep class, hiring an ACT tutor, or using an online ACT program such as PrepScholar. Our program figures out your strengths and weaknesses and personalizes your ACT preparation to your needs. For more information about our program, read How to Ensure Online Tutoring from PrepScholarTutors is Right for You? If your family can’t afford one of those options and/or you want to prepare on your own, check out our ACT study plan guides: 5 Step SAT/ACT Test Dates Study Plan for Summer before Senior Year SAT/ACT Test Dates Study Plan for Sophomores and Juniors SAT / ACT Study Guide: Schedule and Plan for One Year or More Don't forget that your target score is in reach if you put in the time and effort. What’s Next? Learn more about preparing for the ACT: How Many Questions Can You Skip for a Good ACT Score? Systems of Equations on ACT Math: Algebra Strategies and Practice Problems The Ultimate Study Guide for ACT English: Tips, Rules, Practice, and Strategies The Ultimate Study Guide for ACT Science: Tips, Practice, and Strategies Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically.