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First and last LET.  One and only LET.  The time is NOW.  These statements marked Dorothy Anne Angco’s resolve to pass the LET and target for a top rank.  From the very start, when Dy-an took the diagnostic test at MindGym, I had the feeling that she would be one of our topnotcher bets for the September 2011 LET.  She asked very profound questions which made us rethink our answers.  She came early for review class and was attentive through the day.  Whenever I told her:  “kayang-kaya mo ‘yan Dy-an”, she would reply with a smile “ma’m nakaka-pressure ‘yan ma’m, pero gusto ko po talaga at pagsisikapan ko”. Little had I known about the extra-extra time she devoted outside our weekend reviews to achieve her “topping the LET” target till she wrote this article.  Gather strength from Dy-an’s personal sharing of the LET experience in her story below.

by Dorothy Anne Angco, Top 6, September 2011 LET

Great achievements rarely ever come in a single shot.

“Seize every moment, make the most out of your time to prepare for the examination. Make it a once in a lifetime experience, next time is too uncertain.”

March 2012 LET takers: are you passionate about passing or topping the LET?  Are you preparing just as Dy-an did?  Save yourself from the tears and heavy hearts experienced by those who have not braced themselves well enough for their LET challenge.  Forget the expressions of regret:  What if … and if only …

You have only 82 days left before the March 11, 2012 LET date.

Give yourself a bigger chance of passing or even topping the LET by preparing early:

• Retrieve your books, notes, reviewers, and other references.
• Start planning your review schedule this Christmas season.
• If you haven’t yet registered at PRC, it’s time you go there soonest to avoid the last day rush.

Also, if you are still canvassing for a LET review center that will help you succeed in LET, why not try MindGym Philippines?

To help prospective LET takers, MindGym gives FREE diagnostic or LET readiness tests to interested parties. Call 437-5880 or text 0927-8770800 (your name, school, major, and if first timer or retaker; date of visit).

Enjoy MindGym’s interactive, fun, and effective intensive coaching for the LET as MindGym coaches (LET topnotchers and high raters) lead you through LET competencies in a 17-day session every Saturday and Sunday, to start January 7 until the end of February.

Just in case, if studying at your own pace and time, whether by yourself and in the confines of your home or office, our online review at MyReviewCoach might be more viable for you.

Whether it’s self-review, live coaching, or online study — START NOW!

1. Which among the following is a mood disorder?

A. Bipolar disorder

B. Obsessive/compulsive disorder

C. Phobias

D. Selective mutism

2. It is the placement of a disabled child who is enrolled in a special class, in a regular school, where a student could participate in some activities with nondisabled peers.

A. Normalization

B. Mainstreaming

C. Integration

D. Inclusion

3. This is the inability or loss of ability to manipulate arithmetic symbols and do mathematical calculations

A. Congenital Arithmetic Disorder

B. Gerstman Syndrome

C. Dyscalculla

D. Acalculla

4. It states: “Where needs warrant, there shall be at least one special class in every province, and if possible, special schools for the physically handicapped, the mentally retarded, the emotionally disturbed and the specially gifted. The private sectors shall be given all the necessary inducement and encouragement.”

A. Declaration of the Rights of the Mentally Retarded

B. Education Act of 1982 (Batas Pambansa 232)

C. Child and Youth Welfare Code (PD 603)

D. Rights of the Disabled

5. This is defined as any restriction or lack of ability to perform an activity in the manner or within the range considered normal for a human being.

A. Abnormality

B. Disability

C. Handicap

D. Impairment

1. With the promotion of social justice in mind, which does NOT belong to the group?

A. Equitable access to education

B. Profit sharing

C. Diffusion of wealth

D. Absolute right over property

2. Which part of the Visayas receives the least precipitation?

A. Northern

B. Eastern

C. Western

D. Central

3. When the Filipino reformists asked for the assimilation of the Philippines by Spain, what did they ask for?  For the Philippines to ________.

A. become independent from Spain

B. become a province of Spain

C. be independent from Spain with certain conditions

D. be represented in the Spanish Cortes

4. How is the so-called colonial mentality manifested?

A. Cultural relativism

B. Cultural diversity

C. Xenocentrism

D. Ethnocentrism

5. The maximum price that can be legally changed for a good or service is called _____.

A. minimum wage

B. price floor

C. legal wage

D. price ceiling

1. He is the “Father of Pedagogy” and considered the first to teach young children of preschool age.

A. John Dewey

B. Howard Gardner

C. Burrhus Skinner

D. Johann Heinrich Peztalozzi

2. Learning disability is detected when the child:

A. has visual or hearing difficulty.

B. is a brain injured and has difficulty in talking.

C. is mentally retarded or has emotional disturbance.

D. does not achieve commensurate with his/her ability level.

3. What should the teacher apply when struggles between children emerge during play?

A. Conflict Management

B. Facilitation

C. Motivate

D. Observation

4. Which is the most essential consideration in making a schedule in the preschool?

A. Copy the schedule from your companions since the activities are the same.

B. Make a variety of activities in the schedule.

C. Plan a sequence of events that occur daily in the preschool program that would satisfy the needs of the pupils.

D. Wait for the need to arise, then make a schedule.

5. What mathematical skills can be integrated by counting?

A. Addition, measurement

B. Geometry, seriating

C. Temporal concept, comparing

D. Classifying, telling time

Answers to Day 15 drills on Physical Science

1. D. Butter melts

2. B. potassium chloride

3. B. Absolute humidity

4. B. The earth rotates from west to east.

5. D. 34 m

1. Which of the following illustrates a physical change?

A. Iron nail rusts

B. Milk turns sour

C. Fruits ripen

D. Butter melts

2. Which of the following solids is most likely to dissolve in CCI?

A. phosphorus pentachloride

B. potassium chloride

C. copper chloride

D. calcium chloride

3. What term is used to indicate the amount of water vapor actually present in the air at a given time?

A. Atmospheric humility

B. Absolute humidity

C. Atmospheric moisture

D. Relative humidity

4. Why do we see the sunrise in the east?

A. On the globe, we are located in the east.

B. The earth rotates from west to east.

C. The earth revolves eastward.

D. We are located in the 20^th meridian.

5. If you clap your hands and hear the echo from a distant wall 0.20s later, how far away is the wall?

A. 68 m

B. 70 m

C. 32 m

D. 34 m

Answers to DAY 14’s LET questions for Filipino specialization:

1. B. Jose Nepomuceno

2. A. Perpektibo

3. C. Sintaks

4. D. ang boses ng tao ay boses ng Diyos

5. B. Hapon

Para sa specialization sa Filipino, sasaklaw ang mga tanong sa panitikan, wika at mga pamamaraan sa pagtuturo ng Filipino, gaya ng saklaw ng pagsusulit para sa English. Subukang sagutin ang sumusunod na mga tanong upang magabayan ang inyong paghahanda:

1. Sino ang tinaguriang ama ng pelikulang Pilipino na nagtayo ng kauna-unahang kompanya ng pelikula sa bansa na tumatalakay sa kalagayaan ng mga tao?
A. Narcisa Reyes
B. Jose Nepomuceno
C. Jose Reyes
D. Jose Perez

2. Ibigay ang aspekto ng pandiwa ng pangungusap na ito: KASUSULAT LANG NIYA NG KUWENTO.
A. Perpektibo
B. Komtemplatibo
C. Pawatas
D. Imperpekto

3. Sa anong bahagi ng pag-aaral ng wika pinag-uukulan ng pansin ang kayarian ng panaguri at ng paksa?
A. Morpolohiya
B. Ponolohiya
C. Sintaks
D. Semantika

4. Mula sa Verdadero Decalogo:
“Huwag mong kilalanin sa iyong bayan ang kapangyarihan ninuman na hindi halal ng bayan mo at ng iyong mga kababayan, sapagkat ang kapangyarihan ay galing sa diyos at nagsasalita sa budhi ng bawat tao.” Ito ay nangangahulugang:
A. ang Diyos ay boses ng tao
B. makapangyarihan ang mga ito
C. ang Diyos ay makapangyarihan
D. ang boses ng tao ay boses ng Diyos

5. Sa aling panahon naging madalas na paksa ng mga manunulat ang buhay sa lalawigan?
A. Republika
B. Hapon

Answers to DAY 13’s LET questions for English specialization:

1. C. Classicism
2. A. Father and Sons
3. D. communicative writing approach
4. C. That she dances well surprises me.
5. B. editorial page

Content course majors among our future professional elementary teachers, you need not worry that much about the scope of the specialization module. Work on basic concepts in all the courses—English, Filipino, math, science, values education and edukasyong pantahanan at pangkabuhayan—and teaching applications and you should do well. Give these a try:

1. It is difficult to teach tense to Filipinos because ______.

A. tense cannot be translated to Filipino

B. English has many tenses

C. it is not present in the Philippine language

D. the Filipino tense is different from English

2. “Tumungo sa ibang bansa ang Pangulo at mga senador.” Ibigay ang kayarian ng pangungusap.

A. Tambalan

B. Langkapan

C. Hugnayan

D. Payak

3. How much larger is the supplement of a 57 degree angle than the complement of a 75 degree angle?

A. 108 degrees

B. 13 degrees

C. 123 degrees

D. 5 degrees

4. Which statement is FALSE?

A. Solid particles have the strongest attractive forces in between.

B. The gas phase has the least kinetic energy.

C. Molecules of solids and liquids are more closely packed than those in gasses.

D. Solids and liquids have more molecules per unit volume, hence their densities are higher.

5. Integrity means wholeness.  The bully lacks integrity in the sense that he/she looks at the world only in terms of _______.

A. popularity

B. power

C. material wealth

D. pleasure

It’s 91 days to go before the March 2012 LET and that’s just 3 months till your LET day.  Make the most of the Christmas holiday break.  You don’t have to sulk in a corner while others are enjoying but at the least: finish filing your LET application with the PRC, select a review center, or brush up your dusty reference books, and prepare your LET study nook.

For today, after having a taste of LET questions in the General Education and Professional Education modules in the past weeks, Biological science majors can take a peek into what they may expect on March 11:

1. Which of the following is referred to as the “suicidal bags” of the cell?

A. Chloroplasts

B. Vacuoles

C. Ribosomes

D. Lysosomes

2. If Albert and Kate have 5 children, all of which are boys, what is the probability that their next child will be a girl?

A. 25%

B. 50%

C. 75%

D. 100%

3. Joy planted 4 pots of gumamela plants in four different locations. What is her independent variable?

A. Location

B. Gumamela plant

C. Pot

D. Plant growth

4. Jason was awakened by his mother because there is fire in their kitchen. What division in his nervous system is most active during this time?

A. Central

B. Parasympathetic

C. Peripheral

D. Sympathetic

5. In which of the following organisms are tracheal systems for gas exchange found?

A. Earthworm

B. Jellyfish

C. Insect

D. Vertebrate

(P.S.  We still have some slots for our March 2012 LET coaching which starts January 7; visit MindGym for FREE diagnostics but call 437-5880 or text 09278770800 first to set an appointment if you plan to come on days other than Wednesdays or Saturdays which we’ve earmarked as diagnostics day.  Or, if you prefer an online LET review since you live or work far from Manila, get a taste of how it is to review online at our other site: www.myreviewcoach.com)

Assessment completes the teaching-learning process—and the Professional Education module of the LET as well. Have the following items for your diagnostic, formative or summative self-evaluation of your preparedness for this part of the test:

1. While she in the process of teaching, Teacher Arlie finds out if her students understand what she is teaching. What is Teacher Arlie engaged in?

A. Criterion-reference evaluation

B. Summative evaluation

C. Formative evaluation

D. Norm-reference evaluation

2. Which behavioral term describes a lesson outcome in the highest level of Bloom’s cognitive domain?

A. Create

B. Evaluate

C. Analyze

D. Design

3. Which is the most authentic way of measuring student’s ability to debate?

A. Let them watch debates on video and ask them to identify strong and weak points.

B. Ask them to outline the steps involved in a debate and list down do’s and don’ts.

C. Have the students witness a debate and ask them to evaluate the debate after.

D. Organize a debate in class and have them debate on a controversial issue.

4. Teacher Marielle constructed a matching type test. In her columns of items are combinations of events, people and circumstances. Which of the following guidelines in constructing matching type of test did she VIOLATE?

A. List options in an alphabetical order.

B. Make list of items homogeneous.

C. Make list of items heterogeneous.

D. Provide more options than stems.

5. Among the choices given, A, B, C, D, for an item, no student chose D. It means D is:

A. a defective distracter

B. a vague distracter

C. an effective distracter

D. a plausible distracter

LET reviewee, don’t be discouraged by the long list of psychologists-theorists that have contributed to our understanding of the learning process and child and adolescent development. Just aim for the mastery of theorist-theory association and the basic terms and principles and items such as these will be no problem for you:

1. A teacher rewards a child for doing things correctly. This technique is called:

A. Reinforcement

B. Fading

C. Chaining

D. Conditioning

2. Based on Piaget’s theory, what should a teacher provide in the formal operational stage?

A. Games and other physical activities to develop motor skills

B. Learning activities that involve problems of classification and ordering

C. Stimulating environment with ample objects to play with

D. Activities for hypothesis formulation

3. Contrary to Freud’s concept that the primary motivation of human behavior is sexual in nature, Erikson’s is _________ in nature.

A. Biological

B. Cultural

C. Physical

D. Social

4. If one is asked to develop himself to the fullest, what need is s/he trying to satisfy according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

A. Safety needs

B. Physiological needs

C. Self-actualization

D. Belongingness

5. Teacher Wendell gives his students opportunities to be creative because of his conviction that much learning results from the need to express creativity. On which theory is Teacher Wendell’s conviction anchored?

A. Behaviorist

B. Humanist

C. Cognitivist

D. Associationist

Answers to DAY 8’s LET questions for principles of teaching:

1. A. Establish routines for all daily needs and tasks.

2. D. Reject a student’s response at once.

3. C. Use a microscope properly

4. D. Brainstorming

5. B. The higher the level of the question the longer the wait time.

Do you find doing  our drills helpful?  For this post, we’ll start with Professional Education.  But, before we do that, you may check your answers yesterday.

Of all parts of the Professional Education module, questions on the principles of teaching should be the easiest—they are mostly situations which ask for your appropriate response as a teacher. Try out these questions to see how prepared you are for the LET and for teaching:

1. Which is a sound classroom management practice?

A. Establish routines for all daily needs and tasks.

B. Avoid establishing routines; routines make your student robots.

C. Apply reactive approach to discipline.

D. Apply rules and policies on a case to case basis.

2. To encourage class participation, which should the teacher NEVER do?

A. Call on non-volunteers to recite.

B. Ask non-directed questions.

C. Pose high-level questions.

D. Reject a student’s response at once.

3. For which may you use the direct instruction method?

A. Become aware of the pollutants around us

B. Appreciate Milton’s Paradise Lost

C. Use a microscope properly

D. Distinguish war from aggression

4. Which activity should I use when I want to generate possible topics for panel discussion?

A. Task group

B. Forum

C. Debate

D. Brainstorming

5. Which statement on “wait time” is CORRECT?

A. Wait time turns off slow thinking students.

B. The higher the level of the question the longer the wait time.

C. Wait time discourages the brighter group of students.

D. For quality response, “what and why” questions require equal wait time.

Answers to DAY 7’s LET questions for social dimensions of education:

1. C. Emphasis on religious instruction

2. B. Existentialism

3. A. Confucius

4. A. No, only elementary education is compulsory.

5. D. teachers in the tertiary level.

For Professional Education we start with the foundations of education and its social dimensions. This area takes up 10 percent of the whole test. Don’t be surprised to find items such as this in the LET in March:

1. Which feature was TRUE of Philippine education during the Spanish regime?

A. Separation of Church and State

B. Vernacular as a medium of instruction

C. Emphasis on religious instruction

D. Establishment of a normal school

2. If a teacher believes that the purpose of education is to foster self-discovery and consciousness of choice, as well as the responsibility for making choices, then the teacher adheres to the ideas of______.

A. Essentialism

B. Existentialism

C. Empiricism

D. Epicureanism

3. He was considered as the “first teacher” in ancient China.

A. Confucius

B. Mencius

C. Mo-Tzu

D. Lao Tzu

4. Are elementary and secondary education compulsory for all children of school age?

A. No, only elementary education is compulsory.

B. Yes, for all children regardless of age.

C. Yes, that is why they are free of charge.

D. No, this violates parents’ and children’s right to decide what is best for them and their children.

5. The Professional Teachers Code of Ethics does not cover:

A. teachers of academic, vocational, special, technical or non-formal institutions.

B. all full time or part time public and private school teachers and administrators.

C. teachers in all educational institutions at the pre-school, elementary and secondary levels.

D. teachers in the tertiary level.

Answers to DAY 6’s LET questions for IT:

1. B. Cursor

2. A. Spreadsheet

3. D. Modem

4. A. Software

5. C. Keyboard

Covering basic computer terms and communication tools, information technology questions in the LET should be giveaways for you. You’ll surely perfect these five:

1. On the computer screen, what indicates the position of the mouse?

A. Click

B. Cursor

C. Scroll

D. Start

2. You are tracking your household’s daily expenses and income through tables whose cells are set to compute for totals and other operations in your household finances. Which productivity tool are you using?

A. Spreadsheet

B. Word processing

C. Multimedia

D. Publisher

3. Which of the following devices serves as the intermediary between your computer and the phone system?

A. Hard disk

B. Monitor

C. Keyboard

D. Modem

4. It is a program that consists of instructions used to control hardware and accomplish tasks in a computer.

A. Software

B. Malware

C. Desktop

D. Input

5. It is the input device used to enter text into the computer.

A. Mouse

B. Scanner

C. Keyboard

D. Fax

Math is the easiest subject to master for the LET.  Yes!  If you learn how to solve Math problems in time for the LET, you’d have a handy source of no-miss points.  In Math, there will always be definite answers unlike other parts of the LET which are value-laden or sometimes very subjective.

Math comprises 20% of the General Education module. The following items may help you gauge how much preparation you need for it:

1. What are the next three terms in the progression 1, 4, 16 …?

A. 64, 256, 1024

B. 67, 259, 1027

C. 48, 198, 1026

D. 65, 257, 1025

2. A man is 3 times as old as his son now. Four years ago, the sum of their ages was 36. Find the man’s age now.

A. 33

B. 11

C. 29

D. 36

3. What is the least common multiple of 12, 24 and 72?

A. 12

B. 72

C. 144

D. 36

4. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 25 feet. If one leg is 24 feet, what is the length of the other leg?

A. 6 ft.

B. 5 ft.

C. 20 ft.

D. 7 ft.

5. If two variables X and Y are directly related, which of these is NOT true?

A. When X is low, Y is also low.

B. As X increases, Y also increases.

C. When X increases, Y decreases.

D. A high Y is associated with a high X.

Answers to Day 4’s LET questions for Filipino:

1. C. Pagdarasal

2. C. Payak

3. B. kartung pang-editoryal

4. D. Pagtutulad

5. A. Kaibigan

(P.S.  We still have some slots for our March 2012 LET coaching which starts January 7; visit MindGym for FREE diagnostics.  Or, if you prefer an online LET review since you live or work far from Manila, get a taste of how it is to review online at our other site: www.myreviewcoach.com