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How to Plan a Trip to the Grocery Store

You can save time and money when grocery shopping if you just follow a few simple steps. The first step is to purchase a subscription to the Sunday newspaper. The Sunday newspaper contains hundreds of grocery coupons, and a subscription costs only one dollar a week. Even if you don’t read the newspaper, it’s worth the money to subscribe just for the coupons. Pull the coupons from the newspaper and save them for when you plan your shopping trip. The next step is to check your mail on Tuesday and save the weekly ads to the various grocery stores, like Safeway, Albertson’s, and Fry’s. Then, before you go to the store, the next step is to plan menus for the entire week. Outline what you plan to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner between now and the next time you plan to shop. Once you have your menus planned, then you should come up with a shopping list. List all of the ingredients you will need in order to make the planned menu items, and cross of all of the ingredients that you already have. Everything left over is what you need to buy this week. Now it is time to really study the coupons and the weekly ads that you have saved. Search the coupons and ads for the items you are planning to buy. For example, if you plan to make several meals with chicken, look at the ads to determine which store has the best deal on chicken. (This week, Albertson’s has the best deal on chicken: $1.67 per pound.) Be sure to clip coupons for any items that you plan to buy, and be sure to take them with you. The last step is just to be sure to stick to your grocery list. Don’t make impulsive buys at the store, just because something looks good. That can end up costing you a lot of money! If you simply follow these steps, you can save hundreds—even thousands—of dollars on groceries every year.

Process Paragraph: How to Flirt

There are several steps that you should follow when flirting. First, you need to pick a target--it should be someone that you're interested in. Don't flirt with someone you're not attracted to, because they could get the wrong idea and develop a crush on you, and that can be messy. Next, smile a big, open smile and greet him with a big, "Hey! How are you?" Keep in mind that you want to make eye contact while talking, but be careful not to overdo it and make them feel uncomfortable. The next step is to talk about something lighthearted, like the football game or something funny that happened in class. Whatever you do, don't talk about something boring or serious. Finally, the most important step is to laugh a lot (at appropriate times, of course) and lightly touch the guy's arm while laughing. The physical contact will help clue him in that you're interested if the laughing doesn't do the trick. If you follow these steps, you'll send a message to the guy that you like him, and if he flirts back there's a good chance that he's interested in you too.

Exemplification Paragraph: Rachel the Musician

                   My sister Rachel is a very talented musician. First of all, she is very involved in Mesa High’s music department, as both a pianist and a vocalist. After a highly selective audition process, Rachel was placed in Mesa High’s top two choirs: Chamber’s and A Cappella. Only twenty students on campus make it into both choirs, and Rachel has been a member of both for two years now.  And not only does she sing in the choirs, she accompanies Chamber’s on a regular basis. She has even been paid to play for the school musical for the last two years in a row. Rachel receives high marks at Arizona State University adjudications. Each spring for the last nine years, Rachel goes before a judge at ASU and plays technical exercises as well as four challenging piano pieces, from memory, and takes a theory test. Over the last nine years she has received eight “superior with honors” scores (the highest possible score) and one “excellent with honors” score. Finally, Rachel has received regional recognition for her talents. During this year’s regional auditions, Rachel accompanied more than fifteen other students’ vocal solos. She also auditioned herself (which involved sight reading and performing a learned piece), and was named “first alto” in the regional choir, meaning that she was the best alto to try out from this region (made up of several different high schools). Rachel is so good that she has been offered a music scholarship to Northern Arizona University!

Is the United States a Health Conscious Nation?

I am of the opinion that, overall, the United States is not a health conscious nation. I believe this for three reasons. First, Americans eat way too much junk food. One especially dangerous category of junk food is fast food. Americans spend $148.6 billion a year on fast food, which comes out to almost $500 per person on average. While fast food chains are coming out with more healthy options, the majority of fast food is not good for you. Fast food staples include french fries, sugar-sweetened drinks, red meats and processed meats, sweets and desserts, refined grains, and fried foods--all of which have been found to contribute to weight gain. As long as Americans are such huge consumers of fast food, I don't believe they can be considered health conscious.  The second reason Americans as a whole cannot be considered health conscious is because they consume huge quantities of soda and other beverages that are high in calories and low in nutritional content. The American Heart Association recommends no more than 450 calories a week from sugar-sweetened drinks (the equivalent of three cans of soda per week), but the CDC found that the average male consumes 175 calories per day from these drinks--which adds up to 1,225 calories per week, or almost three times the maximum limit. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the average American drinks 526 twelve-ounce sodas per year. If he or she were to cut the soda and drink water instead, that would lead to a reduction of 6,000 calories per month, or twenty-one pounds of weight loss a year! Americans really need to cut back on soda and other sugary drinks in order to improve their health. Finally, in order to be considered healthy, Americans needs to put a greater emphasis on exercise. Most Americans do not get enough exercise. This can be evidenced by the fact that schools are cutting physical education programs due to budget cuts and reducing recess time to improve academic performance. Add to that the fact that many children would rather watch TV and play video games than play outside, and it becomes apparent that we are grooming a generation of couch potatoes. For these reasons, I think that the United States cannot be considered a health-conscious nation.

How to Study for an Exam

There are four steps that I follow when I study for an exam. First, I attend every class lecture and take notes on what the teachers says in class For me, a helpful technique is to make an outline of the most important information presented. Next, I complete all assigned readings. While I read, I highlight the most important points and write notes in the margins of the book. I try to do my readings on time so that I don't have to cram the day before the test. Then, I complete the study guide or attend a study session if the teacher provides them. This usually helps me zero in on the most important points that will be covered on the exam. Finally, I will review all of my notes, the highlighted textbook, and my completed study guide shortly before the exam. For me, it's important to find a quiet place without distractions as I compplete this last step. When I follow these steps I usually do really well on the test.