Jessica Hagen Essays - Afrikaner People, White South African People

Jessica Hagen Ethno-Film Study The Boer War The Boer War was the struggle of the Boers, or Dutch descent farmers, to keep the power of their land away from the British. They wanted to control their own land, and they were not going to let the British have an easy take over. The Boer War is also known as the South African War, and was fought from 1899 to 1902 (World 435). The British learned of resources they could use in the African area and there was a major struggle over who would control the area. This war was known as a ?gentlemen's war', the ?last Colonial war', and the ?forgotten war' (1). This was a major bloodbath, yet it was overshadowed and forgotten because of World War I. This was the biggest war fought by Britain in Africa (2). The Boers were people of Dutch, German, or French ancestry that lived in South Africa (World 436). Many of these people were farmers; the word Boer is actually a Dutch word meaning farmer (World 436). They felt that the British should not be able to take supremacy in their colonies, and they refused to be under control of the British King. The British felt that they would easily take over they South African colonies. It is quoted that they felt this "colonial conflict" would be over and settled in time for them to be "home for Christmas" (2). The British were very wrong by entering the conflict with such an overwhelming confidence. They did not realize that the Boers cherished their land and independence, and they would fight with passion and strength to keep their freedom. The Britain government and army underestimate the Boers. The Boers had an unconventional way of fighting and their "guerilla warfare hit and run tactics" (2) were not easy for the British army to fight. The war that the British Empire felt would be an easy take over led to a four-year battle. The British began using "blockhouse lines," which is a "scorched earth" policy (2). They had to resort to desperate measures because they were not able to handle the "swift-moving, mounted farmers armed with deadly Mauser rifles and bitter determination" (1). A fter the British began destroying anything that they came into contact with the Boers decided it was in their best interest to sign the peace treaty of Vereeniging on May 31, 1902 (2). The Boers were not punished for participating in the war; however, they had to sign a contract of faithfulness to King Edward VII (World 436). Although this war is said to be forgotten, the determination of the Boers to keep their freedom can never be forgotten by the British that underestimated them.

The nature and the purpose if the quest

The nature and the purpose if the quest The Changing Nature of the Quest Endevour for Perfection Sir Gawain and The Green Knight is a description of a seeking that was taken by Sir Gawain, one of the knights of the Round Table. The quest itself has few major parts, where hero is being called, tested along the way, and at the end he returns. Indeed, Sir Gawain, the hero, is on the journey of adventure with the explicit purpose to uphold the code of chivalry. The violation of the code would mean a loss of honour. Still, while following the hero on his odyssey from Camelot to the Green Chapel, the real nature of the quest and some other implicit purposes, nonetheless important, are becoming visible. Apart from heroism and with evident human concerns, Sir Gawain is a hero, but also a human in strives for perfection. The standards of perfection are set by the Church and the King and, apparently, the highest one is set by Gawain himself. Under these influences the quest is being shaped and turned from heroic towards the spiritual type, with the clear purpose to maintain the! Surely, the main purpose of Sir Gawains journey is presented at the very same beginning, whereas he of all beardless children (240), accepts the challenge to exchange blows with the unexpected green guest in a year and the days time. Gawain modestly points out that My body, but for your blood, is barren of worth; -and for that this folly befits not a king, - And tis I that have asked it, it ought to be mine (241). Therefore, in order to obtain the code of chivalry exercising the courage and loyalty towards King, Gawain is set on the quest. But it is also important for Gawain to fulfil his oath for if he avoids it he shall be counted a recreant knight (243). At this point, the quest is heroic for Gawa

Family Tree and Ancestors of Alfred Sharpton, Jr.

Family Tree and Ancestors of Alfred Sharpton, Jr. The Reverend Alfred Al Sharpton is a well-known civil rights activist and Pentacostal minister. He was preaching in his hometown of Brooklyn, New York, by the age of four, and in 1964, at the age of 10, he was ordained as a minister. His parents divorced the same year, after Alfred Sr. began an affair with Al Sharptons half-sister, Tina - his mother Adas daughter from a previous marriage. In 2007, Ancestry.com discovered that Al Sharptons paternal great-grandfather Coleman Sharpton was a slave once owned by a relative of the late segragationist South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond. Tips for Reading This Family Tree First Generation: 1. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Jr. was born 3 October 1954 in Brooklyn, New York to Alfred Charles SHARPTON, Sr. and Ada RICHARDS. Rev. Al Sharpton married Kathy Jordan in 1983 and the couple has two daughters: Dominique and Ashley. Second Generation (Parents): 2. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Sr. was born about 1927 in Florida. 3. Ada RICHARDS was born about 1925 in Alabama. Alfred Charles SHARPTON Sr. and Ada RICHARDS were married and had the following children: i. Cheryl SHARPTON1 ii. Alfred Charles SHARPTON, Jr. Third Generation (Grandparents): 4. Coleman SHARPTON, Jr. was born 10 Jan 1884 in Florida according to his WWI Draft Registration Card and the SSDI, although this may be inaccurate, as he does not appear in the 1885 Florida State Census with the rest of his family. He died 25 April 1971 in Wabasso, Indian River County, Florida. 5. Mamie Belle JACKSON was born 25 Feb 1891 in Georgia and died 12 July 1983 in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. She is most likely the Mamie SHARPTON appearing in the 1910 Berrien County, Georgia Census, with husband C. Sharpton and son Casey JACKSON. Other SHARPTON siblings are also found in Berrien County in 1910. Coleman SHARPTON Jr. and Mamie Belle JACKSON married about 1910 and had the following children: i. Kate Kanovia SHARPTON b. 1 March 1912 and died 1 December 1979 in Florida. She married Louis Baker, Sr.ii. Remather SHARPTON b. abt. 1914 in Florida and died 1932 in Florida.iii. Jesse SHARPTON b. 23 June 1915 in Florida and died 8 Dec 1973 in Indian River County, Florida. He married Emma WARREN.iv. Charlie SHARPTON b. abt. 1917 in Floridav. Magnolia SHARPTON b. abt. 1918; married Chester YOUNG in 1934 vi. Nathaniel SHARPTON b. 3 May 1920 in Liberty County, Florida and d. 16 June 2004 in Brooklyn, New York. He was fully paralyzed in an accident on 9 September 1951.vii. Ladia Bell SHARPTON b. abt. 1922 viii. Elijah SHARPTON b. abt. 1923; married 1942 Jushita ROBINSONix. Elisha SHARPTON b. abt. 1923; married 1942 Inez COXx. Viola SHARPTON b. 24 Aug 1924 d. 24 Aug 2004xi. Essie Mae SHARPTON b. abt. 1926; married ? GREEN2. xii. Alfred Charles SHARPTONxiii. Leroy SHARPTON b. abt. 1929xiv. Raymond H. SHARPTON b. 24 May 1932 d. 23 Aug 1988 6. Emmett RICHARDS was born abt July 1900 in Henry County, Alabama and died 6 Nov 1954 in Henry County, Alabama. 7. Mattie D. CARTER was born 7 Mar 1903 in Alabama and died Dec 1971 in Eufaula, Barbour County, Alabama Emmett RICHARDS and Mattie CARTER were married abt. 1922 in Alabama and had the following children: i. Ree Dell RICHARDS b. abt. 19233. ii. Ada RICHARDS

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning - Essay Example For this product, the targeted segment to deal with is sports clubs. The segment that has been targeted is sporting clubs within the locality where the entrepreneur seeks to start the company. By sporting clubs, reference is being made to soccer teams, football teams, hockey team, and rugby teams. Characteristically, most of these teams own private fields and pitches that are well gardened and parked with various grasses and flora. Constantly, these grasses and flora are mowed by the teams to keep them attractive and within standards where they can be used for the various sporting activities. It can therefore be said that the robotic lawn mower comes with a functionality that is directly focused on the needs of the sporting clubs, as far as their fields and parks are concerned. Another characteristic is that this segment often has institutionalized organizational structure that put staff in charge of finance and accounting. What this means is that by targeting them, the entrepreneur and the company will be dealing with them on a business to business basis. The reasons for selecting the targeted market are directly reflected in the major characteristics that have been given about the segment above. In the first place, the size and number of these sporting clubs would mean that there will be a readily identified market for the robotic lawn mower. Indeed, the more the machines are sold, the more likely the company will be expanded. It is therefore important to choose this segment which guarantees ready market due to the type of business in which they are engaged in. Again, the financial risk in dealing with business to business marketing can be said to be relatively lower than dealing with business to customer marketing. This is because businesses guarantee quicker and assured payment of their debts than individuals do. This is another reason that makes the selected segment ideal and convenient,

Computer Architecture Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Computer Architecture - Research Paper Example It is important to ensure that all the learners comprehend the extent of the using an operating system before studying in details about the internal implementation algorithms and data configurations. This means that there is a relationship between both the use of operating systems (externals) and the designing and implementation (internals) of an operating system (Ramachandran and Leahy 136). Learning about the internal design has significance in different areas such as algorithm design and implementation, dependable programming, modern device development, caching material across the web, building virtual environments, network management, building secure and safe systems and others The main purpose of this application is to convey a comprehensive understanding of the algorithms and equivalent skill that is used within operating systems, it also involves the merging of the knowledge acquired in the course that would help the learners value the trade-os involved in the process that all ow the designing and implementing an operating system. The OSes are the main software systems that show various s/w engineering issues. Most of the OSes cause problems mainly in concurrency. For this reason, a number of people tend to end up writing OSes and provide modifications to the existing systems for example, Linux. Linux is embedded software for the normal hardware in the operating systems. Various subsystems that complete the functions & structures in the CPU Scheduling as well l as scheduling for the multiprocessors. CPU has different components such as registers (Ramachandran and Leahy 106). These are the transitory storage sites that could store the references to memory locations where the next instruction was carried out. It also allows the CPU to keep its eminence information. It also has the Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). Its purpose is to carry out the real implementation of complex arithmetical functions and logical operations on data. The ALU execute the four functio ns: add, increment, nand, and subtract. The CPU should also have the control unit that controls and coordinate the system’s different applications, codes and the Operating System’s instructions that are being implemented. It also allows the fetching of the code, and in the interpretation of the codes, that supervises the completion of the different instructions set. The control unit establishes the application instruction that is being processed and what to prioritize. It controls when instructions are implemented, and this implementation allows the applications to process data (Ramachandran and Leahy 225). The Instructions that are set are enhanced with interrupt support. The LC-2200-32 is the 32-bit computer that has 16 broad registers and a program counter (PC) register separately. All addresses are normally word addresses. The Register 0 is usually wired to zero. Likewise, it always translates to be zero and written as ignored. The LC-2200-32 processor enhanced wit h interrupt support instructions, and the FSM for its implementation. These guidebooks presume that one has familiarity with the LC-2200 data path. Software is currently all around and the need for individuals to design, develop, test, and retain excellent applications that extend to develop annually. Additionally, Software Design and Development involves the learning of methodologies, concepts, processes, and technologies that contribute to

University Education Is Necessary Essay Example for Free

University Education Is Necessary Essay According to Casse and Banahan (2007), the different approaches to training and development need to be explored. It has come to their attention by their own preferred model and through experience with large Organisations. The current traditional training continuously facing the challenges in the selection of the employees, in maintaining the uncertainty related to the purpose and in introducing new tactics for the environment of work and by recognizing this, they advising on all the problems, which reiterates the requirement for flexible approach. Usually the anagers have the choice to select the best training and development programme for their staff but they always have to bear in mind that to increase their chances of achieve the target they must follow the five points highlighted by Miller and Desmarais (2007). According to Davenport (2006), mentioned in his recent studies that its easy to implement strategy with the internet supported software. Some of the Training theories can be effective immediately on the future of the skill and developments. The content and the access are the actual factors for the process. It is a representation itself by the Access on main aspect what is effective to the adopted practice in training development. As per the recent theories to access the knowledge is changing from substantial in the traditional to deliver the knowledge for the virtual forms to use the new meaning of information with electronic learning use. Every organization needs to have well trained and experienced people to perform the activities that have to be done. If the current or potential Job occupant can meet this requirements, training is not imparting. But when this is not the case, it is necessary to raise the skill levels and increase the versatility and adaptability of employees. Inadequate Job performance or a decline in productivity or changes resulting out of job redesigning or a technological break through require some type of training and development efforts. As the Jobs become more complex, the importance of employee development also increases. In a rapidly changing society, employee training and development or not only an activity that is desirable but also an activity that an rganization must commit resources or to if it is to maintain a viable and knowledgeable workforce. Training, education, and development are three terms frequently used. On the face of it, there might not appear any difference between them, but when a deep thought is given, there appear some differences between them. In all training there is some education and in all education there is some training and the two process cannot be separated from development. Edwin flippo Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an employee for doing a particular Job.

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe :: Amendment Rights Essays Guns

Gun-Control in Charlton Heston’s Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation and Paul Craig Robert’s Unarmed and Unsafe There are three ways to approach gun-control: first, it is the citizens’ constitutional right to own firearms; second, firearms kill - get rid of them; and third, to have no opinion and not deal with the issue. Whichever view people have on gun-control, they must first understand the facts and statistics of these issues. Charlton Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation?† and Paul Craig Robert’s â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe† both study the opposing side of gun-control with facts and logic. In Heston’s â€Å"Is Freedom Lost on the Next Generation,† he writes about how â€Å"we may be losing the next generation of Americans, as they lose an understanding and appreciation of what the Second Amendment is and does† (Heston 1). Heston uses the statistics from a June, 2000 national survey of 1,500 high school students to show that the young adults of America do not have faith in the Constitution or Bill of Rights. He reports that â€Å"64 percent of high school students favor stricter anti-gun laws, 90 percent favor the licensing of handgun buyers, 96 percent said all handguns should be registered at purchase, and 19 percent of high school students do not believe that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to own a firearm†(Heston 1). Heston asks how safe any of America’s freedoms are if twenty percent of high school students believe that the Bill of Rights does not mean what it says? High schools use to have rifle teams along with s occer and football teams, and now even toy guns have the possibility of being banned. He mentions that being able to own a gun does not mean a thing if so many requirements, fees and restrictions practically leave Americans disarmed. Heston claims that being allowed to own, or even use, a firearm is a maturing experience for young people. He also mentions that the trust that goes hand in hand with the gun does more than show the acknowledgement of self-discipline and responsibility, it reinforces those virtues better than almost anything else can. Heston argues that it is the American’s responsibility to maintain the rights of gun ownership and provide the next generation with the same freedoms(Heston 1-2) . In â€Å"Unarmed and Unsafe,† Roberts confirms the saying â€Å"when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns†(Roberts 2) He begins his article with the effects of recent gun-control in Britain.

Projects: Life Insurance

PROJECT FINAL REPORT ON Agency business model of insurance companies â€Å"competitive strategies† BY SUBODH GUPTA (07BS4336) SBI Life Insurance Company Limited Summer Internship Project (Batch of 2009) PROJECT TITLE Agency business model of insurance companies â€Å"competitive strategies† A report submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of MBA program COMPANY GUIDE FACULTY GUIDE Mr. Suresh Kumar V. Prof. T. N. Ramakumar DSM, Calicut branch ICFAI Business School KOCHI SUBMITTED BY SUBODH GUPTA (07BS4336) Certificate This is to certify that the project report entitled â€Å"Agency business model of insurance companies competitive strategies† at SBI Life Insurance Company Limited is a bonafide record of work done by Subodh Gupta, and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of MBA program of ICFAI Business School, Kochi. Prof. T. N. Ramakumar Faculty Guide IBS kochi TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN This is to certify that Mr. Subodh Gupta, doing MBA at ICFAI Business School, Kochi has done a project entitled â€Å"Agency business model of insurance companies competitive strategies† at SBI Life Insurance company Limited, Calicut Branch from February 22, 2008 to May 24, 2008. From SBI Life Insurance Company LTD. Mr. Suresh Kumar V. Divisional Sales Manager Calicut Branch Declaration I hereby declare that this report on â€Å"Agency business model of insurance companies competitive strategies† has been written and prepared by me during the academic year 2008-2009. This project was done under the able guidance and supervision of Prof. T. N. Ramakumar, Faculty, ICFAI Business School and Mr. Suresh Kumar V. , DSM, SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd. , Calicut in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Master Of Business Administration Degree course of the ICFAI Business School. I also declare that this project is the result of my own effort and has not been submitted to any other institution for the award of any Degree or Diploma. Place: Kochi Subodh Gupta 07bs4336 Acknowledgements If words are considered to be signs of gratitude then let these words convey the very same My sincere gratitude to SBI Life for providing me with an opportunity to work with SBI Life and giving necessary directions on doing this project to the best of my abilities. I am highly indebted to Mr. Suresh Kumar V. , Divisional Sales Manager and company project guide, who has provided me with the necessary information and also for the support extended out to me in the completion of this report and his valuable suggestion and comments on bringing out this report in the best way possible. I also thank Prof. T. N. Ramakumar, ICFAI, Kochi, who has sincerely supported me with the valuable insights into the completion of this project. I am grateful to all faculty members of ICFAI, Kochi and my friends who have helped me in the successful completion of this project. I extend my hearfelt thanks to Mr. Sukumaran, territory manger, Mr. Sunil K. Menon, unit manager, and Mr. Vinod P. , unit manager, to help me during this project. |Contents | |Sr. No. |Subjects Covered |Pages | |1. |Project Proposed |9 – 11 | |1. 1 |Objective of the project | | |1. 2 |Methodology | | |1. |Sampling | | |1. 4 |Limitations | | |2. |Introduction |12 – 16 | |2. 1 |Definition of insurance | | |2. 2 |Functions of insurance | |2. 3 |Definitions of life insurance | | |2. 4 |Role of life insurance | | |2. 5 |Importance of life insurance | | |3. |Agency business model |17 – 19 | |3. |Insurance agencies | | |3. 2 |Functions of agency manager | | |3. 3 |Operational work of insurance agency | | |4. |Indian insurance industry |20 – 27 | |4. |History | | |4. 2 |IRDA | | |4. 3 |Changing perception of customers | | |4. 4 |Changing face of Indian life insurance industry | | |4. |Possibilities | | |5. |Global insurance industry |28 – 29 | |6. |Functioning of insurance industry |30 – 36 | |6. 1 |Insurer’s business model | | |6. 2 |Investment management | | |6. |Key ratios and terms | | |6. 4 |Requirements of an insurance risk | | |6. 5 |Various types of insurance products | | |7. |Insurance and economy |37 – 39 | |8. |SBI Life insurance company |40 – 42 | |9. Distribution of insurance product |43 – 46 | |10. |Effective marketing strategies for insurance companies |47 – 52 | |11. |Competitors of SBI Life |53 – 62 | |12. |Comparison of ULIP products |63 – 69 | |13. |Questioner |70 – 71 | |14. Conclusions and findings |72 – 91 | |15. |Recommendations |92 | 1. Project proposed Agency business model of different insurance companies- competitive strategies. Different agencies of different insurance companies are having some strategies to survive in the market. Their strategies may be in the form of: †¢ How they target their customers. †¢ How they make their advisors active. †¢ How they make their operational and sales department effective. How they promote their employees. †¢ How they handle the conflict in age ncy. Objective of the project: – Main objective of the project is to find out the strategies of different insurance agencies and evaluate them. Project is about to penetrate the competitors of SBI life. Conclusion of this project can give an idea of strategies of different companies which may be helpful to the company. Now days all the insurance companies in India are trying to establish themselves in the competitive market. They are introducing innovative marketing strategies to survive in the market. Many other private companies are looking to enter in the Indian insurance market . so it is very essential to a company to innovate their marketing strategies in terms of †¢ Recruiting their advisors †¢ To make their advisors active †¢ Well educated and capable employee in the agency †¢ Marketing of their products †¢ Deployment of their products †¢ Targeting the right and potential customers †¢ Differentiating from other companies †¢ Future plan of the company This study consists of to find out the marketing strategies of different insurance companies which are the competitors of SBI Life insurance. This research requires the interview of branch managers of different insurance companies and find out their branches are working in terms of above mentioned factors. Methodology Research is totally based on primary data. Secondary data can be used only for the reference. Research has been done by primary data collection, and primary data has been collected by meeting with the branch and agency manager of different insurance agencies and branches in Calicut. Data collection has been done through by giving structured questioner. Research has been done after 27 branch managers or agency manager. This study will be based on judgment sampling and this research is skewed to organization level. This is an exploratory type of research. And this research needs further study also Research is a kind of pilot study. Sampling Sample size has been taken by judgment sampling. Judgment sampling is a process in which the selection of a unit, from the population is based on the pre judgment. This research requires the survey of different insurance agencies in Calicut city. So research concentrates on the branch or agency manager of different insurance companies. So the selection of unit for this research has been judged by the researcher. Sample size for this research is 27. Limitations: †¢ Time limitation †¢ Research has been done only in Calicut. †¢ Companies did not disclose their secrets data and strategies. †¢ Possibility of Error in data collection. †¢ Possibility of Error in analysis of data due to small sample size. 2. Introduction The story of insurance is probably as old as the story of mankind. Tendency of a human being to secure themselves against loss and disaster has been from the starting of world. They sought to avert the evil consequences of fire and flood and loss of life and were willing to make some sort of sacrifice in order to achieve security. Though the concept of insurance is largely a development of the recent past, particularly after the industrial era – past few centuries – yet its beginnings date back almost 6000 years as per records. Insurance business is divided into four classes: †¢ Life Insurance †¢ Fire †¢ Marine †¢ Miscellaneous Insurance. Insurance provides: †¢ Protection to investor. †¢ Accumulation of savings. †¢ Channeling these savings into sectors needing huge long term investment. Functions of insurance: †¢ Provide protection: The primary function of insurance is to provide protection against future risk, accidents and uncertainty. Insurance cannot check the happening of the risk, but can certainly provide for the losses of risk. Insurance is actually a protection against economic loss, by sharing the risk with others. †¢ Collective bearing of risk: Insurance is an instrument to share the financial loss of few among many others. Insurance is a mean by which few losses are shared among larger number of people. All the insured contribute the premiums towards a fund and out of which the persons exposed to a particular risk is paid. †¢ Assessment of risk: Insurance determines the probable volume of risk by evaluating various factors that give rise to risk. Risk is the basis for determining the premium rate also. †¢ Provide certainty: Insurance is a device, which helps to change from uncertainty to certainty. Insurance is device whereby the uncertain risks may be made more certain. †¢ Small capital to cover larger risk: Insurance relieves the businessmen from security investments, by paying small amount of premium against larger risks and uncertainty. †¢ Contributes towards the development of industries: Insurance provides development opportunity to those larger industries having more risks in their setting up. Even the financial institutions may be prepared to give credit to sick industrial units which have insured their assets including plant and machinery. †¢ Means of savings and investment: Insurance serves as savings and investment, insurance is a compulsory way of savings and it restricts the unnecessary expenses by the insured's For the purpose of availing income-tax exemptions also, people invest in insurance. †¢ Source of earning foreign exchange: Insurance is an international business. The country can earn foreign exchange by way of issue of marine insurance policies and various other ways. Risk free trade: Insurance promotes exports insurance, which makes the foreign trade risk free with the help of different types of policies under marine insurance cover. Life insurance: Life insurance is a contract under which the insurer (Insurance Company) in Consideration of a premium paid undertakes to pay a fixed sum of money on The death of the insured or on the expiry of a spec ified period of time Whichever is earlier. In case of life insurance, the payment for life insurance policy is certain. The Event insured against is sure to happen only the time of its happening is not known. So life insurance is known as ‘Life Assurance’. The subject matter of insurance is life of human being. Life insurance provides risk coverage to the life of a person. On death of the person insurance offers protection against loss of income and compensate the titleholders of the policy. Roles of life insurance: †¢ Life insurance as an investment: – Insurance products yield more than any other investment instruments and it also provides added incentives or bonus offered by insurance companies. †¢ Life insurance as risk cover: – Insurance is all about risk cover and protection of life. Insurance provides a unique sense of security that no other form of invest can provide. Life insurance as tax planning: – Insurance serves as an excellent tax saving mechanism too. Importance of life insurance:- †¢ Protection against untimely death: – Life insurance provides protection to the dependents of the life insured and the family of the assured in case of his untimely death. The dependents or family m embers get a fixed sum of money in case of death of the assured. †¢ Saving for old age: – After retirement the earning capacity of a person reduces. Life insurance enables a person to enjoy peace of mind and a sense of security in his/her old age. Promotion of savings: – Life insurance encourages people to save money compulsorily. When life policy is taken, the assured is to pay premiums regularly to keep the policy in force and he cannot get back the premiums, only surrender value can be returned to him. In case of surrender of policy, the policyholder gets the surrendered value only after the expiry of duration of the policy. †¢ Initiates investments: – Life Insurance Corporation encourages and mobilizes the public savings and canalizes the same in various investments for the economic development of the country. Life insurance is an important tool for the mobilization and investment of small savings. †¢ Credit worthiness: – Life insurance policy can be used as a security to raise loans. It improves the credit worthiness of business. †¢ Social Security: – Life insurance is important for the society as a whole also. Life insurance enables a person to provide for education and marriage of children and for construction of house. It helps a person to make financial base for future. †¢ Tax Benefit: – Under the Income Tax Act, premium paid is allowed as a deduction from the total income under section 80C. 3. Agency business model In India insurance is sold through mainly four channels. †¢ Through branch †¢ Through agency †¢ Through financial institution †¢ Through banks Independent agency system means of selling and servicing property and casualty insurance through agents who represent different companies. The agents own the records of the policies they sell. Insurance is now governed by a blend of statutes, administrative agency regulations, and court decisions. State statutes often control premium rates, prevent unfair practices by insurers, and guard against the financial insolvency of insurers to protect insureds. In most states, an administrative agency created by the state legislature devises rules to cover procedural details that are missing from the statutory framework. To do business in a state, an insurer must obtain a license through a registration process. This process is usually managed by the state administrative agency. The same state agency may also be charged with the enforcement of insurance regulations and statutes. Administrative agency regulations are many and varied. Insurance companies must submit to the governing agency yearly financial reports regarding their economic stability. This requirement allows the agency to anticipate potential insolvency and to protect the interests of insureds. Agency regulations may specify the types of insurance policies that are acceptable in the state, although many states make these declarations in statutes. The administrative agency is also responsible for reviewing the competence and ethics of insurance company employees. Insurance agencies: Insurance agency can be defined as a group of insurance agents or advisor. These agents or advisors create a distribution channel to sell the different insurance products. These advisors are the strongest distribution channel for an insurance agency. An advisor or agent works as a third party or intermediate between insurance company and customers. All the advisors in an agency work as a team. Main work of insurance advisor or agent is to promote and sell different insurance products of company. Functions of agency manager: a person who governs a group of insurance advisors is known as agency manager. Success of an agency manager depends on the success of their advisors. work of agency manager is to control the advisors in an efficient way. Agency manager is like a creature of two wings. He has to recruit advisors as well as to give sales to the insurance company. †¢ To recruit advisors. †¢ Make them aware of different insurance products. †¢ To give them training session. †¢ To motivate them for efficient work. †¢ To get maximum and efficient work from their advisors. Operation work of insurance agency (SBI Life): Every industry has an operational department which supports the market division. Front office partners (independent agents) Develop insurance products Distribute product CUSTOMERS Plan and manage company BUSINESS PARTNERS Fulfill and service product Claims Back office provider Regulatory institutions In the reference to the SBI Life insurance, development of insurance products, distribution, planning services products and claims are taken care by the head office. Back office providers are those persons who take care of the operational part of the organization and front office providers are the people who brings sell to the organization. Back office has its own hierarchy which is connected to head office, and every policy has to be processed to head office. Unit for the operations is known as processing centre, and processing centre within the city is known as mini processing centre. Proposal forms come through front office and the verification of the proposal is done by manually which is known as scrutiny. After scrutiny the operational staff enters it in SBI Life website, which is done online. the entry of a proposal is done in a sequential order starting with scrutiny, inwards, proposal wise inwards, cashier entry, cashier entry approval, data entry and finally outwards. After finishing all these operations policy issues from the head office of the state. 4. Indian insurance industry History: Life insurance came to India from England in 1818 when oriental life insurance company started in Calcutta by Europeans. After this many insurance companies had been started in India. But these companies were looking after only the needs of European community established in India. Indian people were not being insured by these companies. First Indian life insurance company came as Bombay mutual life insurance assurance. Second company was Bharat insurance company came in 1896. After this the united India in madras, national Indian and national insurance in Calcutta and the co-operative assurance in Lahore were established in 1906. To regulate Indian insurance business first insurance act came in 1912 as life insurance company act and provident fund act. These acts consist of premium rates tables and periodical valuations of companies. In the first two decade of 20th century many life insurance companies were started. So the insurance act came in 1938 to governing life and non life insurance companies and to provide strict state control. In 1956 the life insurance business in India was nationalized. In 1956 life insurance corporation of India (LIC) was created to spreading life insurance much more widely particularly in rural areas. In that year LIC had 5 zonal offices, 33 divisional offices and 212 branch offices. In 1957 the business of LIC of sum assured of 200crores, 1000crores in 1970, and 7000crores in 1986. Indian regulatory development authority: In 1999, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was constituted as an autonomous body to regulate and develop the insurance industry. The IRDA was incorporated as a statutory body in April, 2000. The key objectives of the IRDA include promotion of competition so as to enhance customer satisfaction through increased consumer choice and lower premiums, while ensuring the financial security of the insurance market. The IRDA opened up the market in August 2000 with the invitation for application for registrations. Foreign companies were allowed ownership of up to 26%. The Authority has the power to frame regulations under Section 114A of the Insurance Act, 1938 and has from 2000 onwards framed various regulations ranging from registration of companies for carrying on insurance business to protection of policyholders’ interests. Role of IRDA: †¢ Protecting the interests of policyholders. †¢ Establishing guidelines for the operations of insurers, and brokers. †¢ Specifying the code of conduct, qualifications, and training for insurance intermediaries and agents. †¢ Promoting efficiency in the conduct of insurance business. †¢ Regulating the investment of funds by insurance companies. †¢ Specifying the percentage of business to be written by insurers in rural sectors. †¢ Handling disputes between insurers and insurance intermediaries. Changing perception of Indian customers: Indian Insurance consumers are like Indian Voters, they are soft but when time is right and ripe, they demand and seek necessary changes. De-tariff of many Insurance Products are the reflection of changing aspirations and growing demand of Indian consumers. For historical years, Indian consumers were at receiving end. Insurance Product was underwritten and was practically forced onto consumers on a â€Å"Take-it-As-it-basis†. All that got changed with passage of IRDA act in 1999. New insurance companies have come into existence leading to open competition and hence better products for customers. Indian customers have become very sensitive to Coverage / Premium as well as the Products (read Risk Solution), that is given to them. There are not ready to accept any product, no matter even if that is coming from the market leader, should that product is not serving the purpose. A case in point is ULIP Product / Group Life and Credit Life in Life Insurance segment and Travel / Family Floater Health and Liability Insurance in the Non-life segment are new age Avatar. The new products are constantly being demanded by Indian consumers, which is putting huge pressures on Insurance companies (Read Risk Under-writers) and Brokers to respond. Customers are looking at Insurance for covering Pure Risk now which I have covered in my next section. Another good reason why we are seeing quick changes in the buying behavior of Insurance from mere Investment to risk mitigation is the cost of Replacement of Goods (ROG) or Cost of Services (COS). Now Indian customers are aware of insurance industry and insurance products provided by companies. They have become more sensitive. They would not accept any type of insurance product unless it fulfills their requirements and needs. In historic day’s customers looking at insurance products as a life cover which can provide security against any unacceptable events, but now customers look at insurance products as an investment as well as life cover. So today’s customers wants good return from the insurance companies. The Indian customer’s forms the pivot of each company’s strategy. Investment of Indian household savings (as a % in different sector) |BANK DEPOSITS |39% | |CORP. BANKS |2% | |SHARES AND DEBENTURES |1% | |MUTUAL FUNDS |2% | |NBFC’S |3% | |GOVT. BONDS |13% | |INSURANCE |13% | |PF/ RETIRE FUNDS |21% | |CURRENCY |6% | Source: – www. vivaindia. com Changing face of Indian insurance industry: After the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act have been passed there has been establishment of many private insurance companies in India. Previously there was a monopoly business for Life Insurance Corporation of India (L. I. C. ) who was the only life-insurance company for the people till 2000. L. I. C. still holds 71. 4% of the market share in 2006. But after the introduction of private life insurance companies there is a great competition in Indian market now. Everyone is trying to capture the fresh market here and penetrate it with aggressive marketing strategies. Today life-insurance is not only limited up to just life risk cover and maturity period bonuses but changed to greater return from the investments. With the introduction of the unit linked insurance policies these companies are investing the money in different investment instruments like shares, bonds, debentures, government and other securities. People are demanding for higher returns with the life risk cover and private companies are giving 30-40% average growth per annum. These life-insurance companies have every kind of policies suiting every need right from financial needs of, marriage, giving birth and rearing up a child, his education, meeting daily financial needs of life, pension solutions after retirement. These companies have every aspects and needs of our life covered along with the death-benefit. In India only 25% of the population has life insurance. So Indian life-insurance market is the target market of all the companies who either want to extend or diversify their business. To tap the Indian market there has been tie-ups between the major Indian companies with other International insurance companies to start up their business. The government of India has set up rules that no foreign insurance company can set up their business individually here and they have to tie up with an Indian company and this foreign insurance company can have an investment of only 24% of the total start-up investment. Indian insurance industry can be featured by: †¢ Low market penetration. †¢ Ever growing middle class component in population. †¢ Growth of customer’s interest with an increasing demand for better insurance products. Application of information technology for business. †¢ Rebate from government in the form of tax incentives to be insured. Today, the Indian life insurance industry has a dozen private players, each of which are making strides in raising awareness levels, introducing innovative products and increasing the penetration of life i nsurance in the vastly underinsured country. Several of private insurers have introduced attractive products to meet the needs of their target customers and in line with their business objectives. The success of their effort is that they have captured over 28% of premium income in five years. The biggest beneficiary of the competition among life insurers has been the customer. A wide range of products, customer focused service and professional advice has become the mainstay of the industry, and the Indian customer’s forms the pivot of each company’s strategy. Penetration of life insurance is beginning to cut across socio-economic classes and attract people who have never purchased insurance before. Life insurance is also now being regarded as a versatile financial planning tool. Apart from the traditional term and saving insurance policies, industry has seen the entry and growth of unit linked products. This provides market linked returns and is among the most flexible policies available today for investment. Now products are priced, flexible, and realistic and sustain so people in better position to understand the risk and benefits of the product and they are accepting these innovative products. So it is clear that the face of life insurance in India is changing, but with the changes come a host of challenges and it is only the credible players with a long term vision and a robust business strategy that will survive. Whatever the developments, the future and the opportunities in this industry will surely be exciting. There are 12 private players in Indian life insurance market. 6 bank owned insurers: – HDFC standard life, ICICI prudential, ING Vysya, MetLife, OM Kotak, SBI life. 6 independent insurers: – Aviva, ANP sanmar, Birla sun life, Bajaj Allianz, Max New York life, Tata AIG. Major international insurers are- Prudential and Standard life from UK, Sun life of Canada, AIG, MetLife and New York life of the US. Increasing growth since liberalization: |YEAR |LIC (in bn rs. ) PRIVATE PLAYER | |FY03 |110 |10 | |FY04 |120 |20 | |FY05 |130 |40 | |FY06 |140 |60 | |FY07 |240 |160 | Source: – Insurance Industry (ICFAI publication book) Possibilities for insurance companies in India: Further deregulation of the market. †¢ Greater concern for the customers. †¢ Newer products and services. †¢ Competition and quality consciousness. †¢ Cost effective operations. †¢ Restructuring of the public sector. †¢ Consolidation of domestic insurance markets. †¢ Technology driven shift in product design. †¢ Actual operations and distribution. †¢ Convergence of financial services. 5. Global insurance industry Globally, insurers increasingly are pressured by the demands of their clients. The development of global insurance industry over the past few years was influenced by booming stock markets which enabled considerable capital gains to be made in non life business. Increase in insurers equity capital increased underwriting capacity, while demand did not develop at the same pace, resulting in decrease in insurance policies prices. The stock market boom of the past few years led to demand for unit linked insurance products. The global insurance industry is growing at rapid pace. Most of the markets are undergoing globalization. Lot of mergers and acquisition are taking place in the insurance world. The rapidity in the industry, technological improvement has resulted in pressures on a few economic parameters. The world insurance industry is at peak of its globalization process. Global insurance market is increasing by an average of six percent per year since 1990. Insurance companies have collected $2443. billion premium world wide according to the global development of premium volume in 144 countries in 2005. $1521. 3 has been generated as life insurance premium and $922. 7 as non life insurance premium. The US accounted for 35% of global life an d non life premium, Japan had global share of 21%, and UK was having 10% of global share. Influence on Indian insurance industry: In this era of globalization, insurance companies face a dynamic global environment. Dramatic changes are taking place owing to the internationalization of activities, appearance of new risk, new types of covers to match with new risk situations, and unconventional and innovative ideas on customer services. Low growth rates in developed markets, changing customers needs, and the uncertain economic conditions in the developing world are exerting pressure on insurer’s resources and testing their ability to survive. Now the existing insurers are facing difficulties from non-traditional competitors those are entering the retail market with new approaches and through new channels. India has a rapidly growing middle class and this section can afford to buy insurance products. This shows the attraction that the Indian market holds for foreign insurers who have been putting pressure on developing countries as well as on India to open up its market. Life insurance penetration as a % of GDP United kingdom |8. 9% | |Japan |8. 3% | |Korea |7. 3% | |United states |4. 1% | |Malaysia |3. 6% | |India |3. % | |China |1. 8% | |Brazil |1. 3% | Source: – www. indianinsuranceresearch. com 6. Functioning of insurance industry: Insurer’s business model: Profit = earned premium + investment income – incurred loss – underwriting expenses Insurers make money in two ways: (1) through underwriting, the processes by which insurers select the risks to insure and decide how much in premiums to charge for accepting those risks and (2) by investing the premiums they collect from insured. The most difficult aspect of the insurance business is the underwriting of policies. Using a wide assortment of data, insurers predict the likelihood that a claim will be made against their policies and price products accordingly. To this end, insurers use actuarial science to quantify the risks they are willing to assume and the premium they will charge to assume them. Data is analyzed to fairly accurately project the rate of future claims based on a given risk. Actuarial science uses statistics and probability to analyze the risks associated with the range of perils covered, and these scientific principles are used to determine an insurer's overall exposure. Upon termination of a given policy, the amount of premium collected and the investment gains thereon minus the amount paid out in claims is the insurer's underwriting profit on that policy. An insurer's underwriting performance is measured in its combined ratio. The loss ratio (incurred losses and loss-adjustment expenses divided by net earned premium) is added to the expense ratio (underwriting expenses divided by net premium written) to determine the company's combined ratio. The combined ratio is a reflection of the company's overall underwriting profitability. A combined ratio of less than 100 percent indicates underwriting profitability, while anything over 100 indicates an underwriting loss. Insurance companies also earn investment profits on â€Å"float†. Float† or available reserve is the amount of money, at hand at any given moment that an insurer has collected in insurance premiums but has not been paid out in claims. Insurers start investing insurance premiums as soon as they are collected and continue to earn interest on them until claims are paid out. . Naturally, the â€Å"float† method is difficult to carry out in an economically depressed period. Bear markets do cause insurers to shift away from investments and to toughen up their underwriting standards. So a poor economy generally means high insurance premiums. This tendency to swing between profitable and unprofitable periods over time is commonly known as the â€Å"underwriting† or insurance cycle. Finally, claims and loss handling is the materialized utility of insurance. In managing the claims-handling function, insurers seek to balance the elements of customer satisfaction, administrative handling expenses, and claims overpayment leakages. Investment management: Investment operations are often considered incidental to the business of insurance, and have traditionally viewed as secondary to underwriting. In the past risk management was the most important part of business, whereas today the focus has shifted to fund management. Investment income is a large component of insurance revenues, skilful and careful management of funds. Insurance is a business of large numbers and generates huge amount of funds over time. These funds arise out of policyholder funds in the case of life insurance, and technical and free reserves in the non-life segments. Time lag between the procurement of premium and the payment of claim provides an interval during which the funds can be deployed to generate income. Insurance companies are among the largest institutional investors in the world. Assets managed by insurance companies are estimated to account for over 40% of the world’s top ten asset managers. Returns on investments influence the premium rates and bonuses and hence investment income will continue to be an important component of insurance company profits. In life insurance, benefits from insurance profits accrue directly to policy holders when it is passed on to him in the form of a bonus. In non life insurance the benefits are indirect and mostly by the creation of an investment portfolio. Investment income has to compensate for underwriting results which are increasingly under pressure. In the case of insurance, the difference between revenue and the expenses is known as operating surplus. Revenue =premium. Expenses =sum of claims + commission payable on procurement of business + operating expenses. Operating surplus =revenue-expenses. Net investment income includes income from trading in and holding stock market securities including government securities, special deposits with the central government, loans to several public utilities and service providers in state government. Insurance premium collected is converted in a pool of fund then divided in to four expenses. †¢ To pay the expenses of the management. †¢ To pay agency commission. †¢ To pay for the claims. †¢ Surplus money will be invested in govt. securities. Requirements of an insurance risk Insurance normally insure only pure risks . However, not all pure risk is insurable . certain requirements usually must be fulfilled before a pure risk can be privately insured . From the view point of the insurer, there are ideally six requirement of an insurable risk †¢ There must be a large number of exposure units †¢ The loss must be accidental and unintentional. †¢ The loss must be determinable and measurable. †¢ The loss should not be catastrophic. The chance of loss must be calculable. †¢ The premium must be economically feasible Comparison of Insurance with other Similar Factors 1) Insurance and gambling compared Insurance is often erroneously confused with gambling . There are two important differences between them . First ,gambling creates a new speculative risk ,while insurance is a technique for handling an already existing pure risk . thus ,if you bet Rs 300 on a horse ,a new speculative technique is created ,but if you pay Rs 300 to an insurer for fire insurance ,the risk of fire is already present and is transferred to the insurer by a contract. No new risk is created by the transaction. The second difference between insurance and gambling is that gambling is socially unproductive, because the winner’s gain comes at the expense of the loser . In contract; insurance is always socially productive, because neither the insurer nor the insured is placed in a position where the gain of the winner comes at the expense of the loser. The insurer and the insured have a common interest in the prevention of a loss. Both parties win if the loss does occur . Moreover, consistent gambling transaction generally never restore the losers to their former financial position . In contract ,insurance contracts restore the insured’s financially in whole or in part if a loss occurs ) Insurance and hedging compared The concept of hedging is to transferring the risk to the speculator through purchase of future contracts . An insurance contract, however, is not the same thing as hedging . Although both technique are similar in that risk is transferred by a contract, and no new ri sk is created, there are some important difference between them. First, an insurance transaction involves the transfer of insurable risks, because the requirement of an insurable risk generally can be met . However, hedging is a technique for handling risks that are typically uninsurable ,such as protection against a decline in the price agriculture products and raw materials. A second difference between insurance and hedging is that insurance and hedging is that insurance can reduce the objective risk of an insurer by application of the law of large numbers. As the number of exposure units increases, the insurer’s prediction of future losses improves, because the relative variation of actual loss from expected loss will decline . thus, many insurance transactions reduce objective risk. In contract, hedging typically involves only risk transfer , not risk reduction . The risk of adverse price fluctuation is transferred because of superior knowledge of market conditions . The risk is transferred, not reduced, and prediction of loss generally is not based on the law of large numbers. Various types of life insurance policies:- Endowment policies: This type of policy covers risk for a specified period, and at the end of the maturity sum assured is paid back to policyholder with the bonuses during the term of the policy. †¢ Money back policies: This type of policy is for periodic payments of partial survival benefits during the term of the policy as long as the policy holder is alive. †¢ Group insurance: This type of insurance offers life insurance protection under group policies to various groups such as employers-employees, professionals, co-operatives etc it also provides insurance coverage for people in certain approved occupations at the lowest possible premium cost. †¢ Term life insurance policies: This type of insurance covers risk only during the selected term period. If the policy holder survives the term, risk cover comes to an end. These types of policies are for those people who are unable to pay larger premium required for endowment and whole life policies. No surrender, loan or paid up values are in such policies. †¢ Whole life insurance policies: This type of policy runs as long as the policyholder is alive and is covered for the entire life of the policyholder. In this policy the insured amount and the bonus is payable only to nominee on the death of policy holder. †¢ Joint life insurance policies: These policies are similar to endowment policies in maturity benefits and risk cover, but joint life policies cover two lives simultaneously such as married couples. Sum assured is payable on the first death and again on the death of survival during the term of the policy. †¢ Pension plan: a pension plan or annuity is an investment over a certain number of years but does not provide any life insurance cover. It offers a guaranteed income either for a life or certain period. †¢ Unit linked insurance plan: ULIP is a kind of insurance plan which provides life cover as well as return on premium paid over a certain period of time. The investment is denoted as units and represented by the value called as net asset value (NAV). 7. Insurance and economy †¢ Indian economy is growing in reference to global market. Business of insurance with its unique features has a special place in Indian economy. It is a highly specialized technical business and customer is the most concern people in this business, therefore this business is able to spur the growth of infrastructure and act as a catalyst in the overall development of Indian economy. †¢ The high volumes in the insurance business help spread risk wider, allowing a lowering of the rates of the premium to be charged and in turn, raising profits. When there is a bigger base, the probabilities become more predictable, and with system wide risks balanced out, profits improve. This explains the current scenario of mergers, acquisitions, and globalization of insurance. †¢ Insurance is a type of savings. Insurance is not only important for tax benefits, but also for savings and for providing security. It can be serving as an essential service which a welfare state must make available to its people. Insurance play a crucial role in the commercial lives of nations and act as the lubricants of economic activities. Insurance firms help to spread the potentially financial consequences of risk among the large number of entities, to mobilize and distribute savings for productive use, facilitate investment, support and encourage external trade, and protect economic entities against external risk. Insurance and economic growth mutually influences each other. As the economy grows, the living standards of people increase. As a consequence, the demand for life insurance increases. As the assets of people and of business enterprises increase in the growth process, the demand for general insurance also increases. In fact, as the economy widens the demand for new types of insurance products emerges. Insurance is no longer confined to product markets; they also cover service industries. It is equally true that growth itself is facilitated by insurance. A well-developed insurance sector promotes economic growth by encouraging risk-taking. Risk is inherent in all economic activities. Without some kind of cover against risk, some of these activities will not be carried out at all. Also insurance and more particularly life insurance is a mobilizer of long term savings and life insurance companies are thus able to support infrastructure projects which require long term funds. There is thus a mutually beneficial interaction between insurance and economic growth. The low income levels of the vast majority of population have been one of the factors inhibiting a faster growth of insurance in India. To some extent this is also compounded by certain attitudes to life. The economy has moved on to a higher growth path. The average rate of growth of the economy in the last three years was 8. 1 per cent. This strong growth will bring about significant changes in the insurance industry. At this point, it is important to note that not all activities can be insured. If that were possible, it would completely negate entrepreneurship. Professor Frank Knight in his celebrated book â€Å"Risk Uncertainty and Profit† emphasized that profit is a consequence of uncertainty. He made a distinction between quantifiable risk and non-quantifiable risk. According to him, it is non-quantifiable risk that leads to profit. He wrote â€Å"It is a world of change in which we live, and a world of uncertainty. We live only by knowing something about the future; while the problems of life or of conduct at least, arise from the fact that we know so little. This is as true of business as of other spheres of activity†. The real management challenges are uninsurable risks. In the case of insurable risks, risk is avoided at a cost. 8. SBI Life insurance SBI Life insurance is a joint venture between the State Bank of India and Cardiff SA of France. SBI Life insurance is registered with an authorized capital of Rs 500 crore and a paid up capital of Rs 350 crores. SBI owns 74% of the total capital and Cardiff the remaining 26%. State Bank of India enjoys the largest banking franchise in India. Along with its 7 Associate Banks, SBI Group has the unrivalled strength of over 14,000 branches across the country, the largest in the world. Cardiff is a wholly owned subsidiary of BNP Paribas, which is The Euro Zone’s leading Bank. BNP is one of the oldest foreign banks with a presence in India dating back to 1860. It has 9 branches in the metros and other major towns in the country. Cardiff is a vibrant insurance company specializing in personal lines such as long-term savings, protection products and creditor insurance. Cardiff has also been a pioneer in the art of selling insurance products through commercial banks in France and 29 more countries . In 2004, SBI Life insurance became the first company amongst private insurance players to cover 30 lakh lives. The company expects to carve a niche in the Indian insurance market through extensive product innovation and aims to provide the highest standards of customer service through a technological interface. To facilitate this, call centre’s have been already installed and help lines will be installed and customers will have access to their accounts through the Internet or through SBI branches. SBI Life insurance is uniquely placed as a pioneer to usher banc assurance into India. The company hopes to extensively utilize the SBI Group as a platform for cross-selling insurance products along with its numerous banking product packages such as housing loans, personal loans and credit cards. SBI’s access to over 100 million accounts provides a vibrant base to build insurance selling across every region and economic strata in the country. Under section 88 of insurance act 1961 an individual is entitled to a rebate of 20 per cent on the annual premium payable on his/her life and life of his/her children or adult children. The rebate is deductible from tax payable by the individual or a Hindu Undivided Family. This rebate is can be availed up to a maximum of Rs 12,000 on payment of yearly premium of Rs 60,000. By paying Rs 60,000 a year, you can buy anything upwards of Rs 10 lakh in sum assured. (Depending upon the age of the insured and term of the policy) This means that you get an Rs 12,000 tax benefit. The rebate is deductible from the tax payable by an individual or a Hindu Undivided Family. SBI Life Insurance is currently growing at an impressive rate of 200%. As per the latest IrDA report SBI Life ranks No. 3 amongst the private insurers. The company's market share has increased to 10% amongst the private players and is 2. 25% in the total industry. This year, the company is aiming at a growth of 150%. The new business premium of the company from beginning of the year to September 2006 is Rs 660 crores. The total business premium of the company from the beginning of the year till September 2006 is Rs 765 crores. The company aims to collect first year premium of over Rs 2,000 crores. SBI Life follow a multi distribution channel approach and expect all channels to contribute to the overall growth. Today, the agency channel contributes over 50% and banc assurance channel contributes to 40% of the business. Other channels like Credit Life and Group Corporate are also performing very well. Products of SBI Life insurance: – (Source: – www. sbilife. co. n) |Unit Linked products |(1) Group Employee Benefit Products | |Horizon 11 |Retirement Solutions | |Unit Pus 11 |Cap Assure Gratuity | |Unit plus child Plan |Cap Assure Superannuation | |Unit Plan Elite |Cap Assure Leave Encashment | |Pension Products |Group Immediate Annuity | |Horizon 11 Pension |SBI Life Golden Gratuity | |Unit Plus 11 Pension |Protection Plan | |Lifelong Pension |Sampoorn Suraksha | |Pure Protection Products |SBI Life Group Term Life Scheme In Lieu of EDLI | |Swadhan |Specialized Term Insurance | |Shield |SBI Life Keyman Insurance | |keyman |(2) Group Loan Protection Products | |Protection cum savings products |Dhanaraksha Plus | |Sudarshan |Dhanaraksha Plus SP | |Scholar11 |Dhanaraksha Plus LPPT | |Setubandhan |Dhanaraksha Plus RP | |Money back scheme products |(3) Group Savings Protection Plan | |Money Back |Nidhi Raksha RP | |Sanjeevan Supreme |(4) Group Micro Insurance | | |Grameen Shakti and Super Suraksha | 9. Distribution of insurance products Insurance has to be sold the world over. The Touch point with the ultimate customer is the distributor or the producer and the role played by them in insurance markets is critical. It is the distributor who makes the difference in terms of the qualit y of advice for choice of product, servicing of policy post sale and settlement of claims. In the Indian arket, with their distinct cultural and social ethics, these conditions will play a major role in shaping the distribution channels and their effectiveness. In today's scenario, insurance companies must move from selling insurance to marketing an essential financial product. The distributors have to become trusted financial advisors for the clients and trusted business associates for the insurance Companies. Challenges for insurance companies and intermediaries in India- †¢ Building faith about company in the mind of clients. †¢ Building personal credibility with the clients. Different distribution channels in India:- A multi-channel strategy is better suited for the Indian market. Indian insurance market is a combination of multiple markets. Each of the markets requires a different approach. Apart from geographical spread the socio-cultural and economic segmentation of the market is very wide, exhibiting different traits and needs. Different multi-distribution channels in India are as follows †¢ Agents: Agents are the primary channel for distribution of insurance. The public and private sector insurance companies have their branches in almost all parts of the country and have attracted local people to become their agents. Today's insurance agent has to know which product will appeal to the customer, and also know his competitor's products to be an effective salesman who can sell his company, the product, and himself to the customer. To the average customer, every new company is the same. Perceptions about the public sector companies are also cemented in his mind. So an insurance agent can play an important role to create a good image of company. †¢ Banks: Banks in India are all pervasive, especially the public sector banks. Many insurance companies are selling their products through banks. Companies which are bank owned, they are selling their products through their parent bank. The public sector banks, with their vast branch networks, are helpful to insurance companies. This channel of selling insurance is known as Banc assurance. |INSURANCE COMPANY |ASSOCIATE BANKS | |ICICI prudential |ICICI bank, bank of India, Citibank, Allahabad bank, Federal | | |bank, south Indian bank, Punjab and Maharashtra cooperative bank | |SBI life |State bank of India | |Birla sun life |Deutsche bank, Citibank, bank of Rajasthan, Andhra bank | |ING Vysya bank |Vysya bank | |Aviva life insurance |ABN amro bank, canara bank | |HDFC standard life |Union bank, Indian bank | |Met life |Karnataka bank, j&k bank | Source: – Hindu Business Line, January 08, 2007 †¢ Brokers: Now a day’s different financial institution are selling insurance. These financial institutions are known as brokers. They are taking some underwriting charges from the insurance companies to sell their insurance products. †¢ Corporate agents: Corporate agency is a cross selling type of channel. Insurance companies’ tie-up with business houses in other industries to sell insurance either to their employees or their customers. Insurance industry, during the past 2 years has witnessed a number of such strategic tie-ups and alliances. Corporate agents have become a major force to reckon with in distributing insurance products. Such as- Bajaj Allianz tied up with Maruti Udyog and Ford for auto insurance and Tata AIG life has tied up with Tata tea, khaitan’s Williamson major and bridge foundation for selling rural policies. †¢ Internet: In this technological world internet is also a channel of selling insurance. This can be as direct marketing. 10. Effective marketing strategies Now the Indian consumer is knowledgeable and sensitive. Consumers are increasingly more aware and are actively managing their financial affairs. People are increasingly looking not just at products, but at integrated financial solutions that can offer stability of returns along with total protection. In view of this, the insurance managers need to understand more about the details that go into the introduction of insurance products to make it attractive in this competitive market. So now days an insurance manager requires leadership, commitment, creativity, and flexibility. â€Å"Every family in every village in the country should feel safe and secure†. This vision alone will help to bring the new ideas to the insurance manager. Financial, marketing and human resource polices of the corporations influence the unit mangers to make decisions. Performance of insurance company depends on the effectiveness of such policies. Insurance corporations formulate and revise these policies from time to time to ensure that the performance of the managers is best for the organization. In the competitive market, insurance companies are being forced to adopt a strictly professional approach in marketing. The insurance companies face the challenge of changing the uninspiring public image of the industry. Some of the important marketing elements are- †¢ Marketing mix. †¢ The importance of relationship. †¢ Positioning. †¢ Value addition. †¢ Segmentation. †¢ Branding. †¢ Insuring service quality. †¢ Effective pricing. †¢ Customer satisfaction research. The growth of insurance sector is governed largely by factors external to it. The following factors influence the market and demand of product- †¢ Government policies. Growth in population. †¢ Changing age profile. †¢ Income wise distribution of the population. †¢ Level of insurance awareness. †¢ The p ricing of the policies. †¢ The economic climate of the country. †¢ The aversion to risk. †¢ Social and political features of the country. †¢ Growth scenario in the world. Different companies adopt different approaches in their marketing strategies. One approach is focus upon product quality which can give confidence in the mind of customers that they are offered by best featured products. And other approach is focusing on customer’s needs, which involve a heavy investment in developing relationships with policyholders. Under this approach customer can expect a range of products and service offered to him. Third approach is market segmentation under which the population can be divided into several homogeneous products and groups, the effort should be tie clients to the company by customized combination of coverage, easy payment plans, risk management advice, and convenient and quick claim handling. An insurance product can be classified in three phases: Core product: In insurance industry the core product is the policy that provides protection t

English Aussie Slang Short Stroy

Well it’s another day again in Broady*, and my relo and I went down to the bottle-o to pick up some grog for the big* game of* *aierial* *pingpong* *this arvo* between the mighty pies and the dons*. When we got down there we realised that we spent *all *our *moula* at the servo. â€Å"ey* cobber *ya* old bastard*,* we better mull u*p, we got no cash† *â€Å"true* blue *ya* dag, *haha* no cash no problem† *â€Å"better* grab the metho as well *fella*† *â€Å"no* time knackers, *weve* got get home before everyone else *karks* it down there† â€Å"what* other dills are coming over for the pies v dons game *ya* donger*† â€Å"just* the *fellas* from the waterhole*† â€Å"bullshit*, fair dinkum, better have the ambos on speed dial† *â€Å"S*orry Jimmy† *â€Å"Dont* worry about it* *Bazza*,* *im* busy like a one legged bloke in an arse kicking contest, will call past* the shops to pinch a few snags†* We quickly called pa st Woolies* to pick up some snags and *sangers*, was an easy five finger discount but we had to piss bolt home *to set up. * I was surprised the dickheads at *Woolies* couldn’t see us knick anything, I mean two *yobbo’s* like ourselves, you should never leave us unattended*. Anyway *Bazza* and I chewed the fat while I drove back to our crib. As we got back to our shack, Bruce was waiting at the door in his *jarmies*. Nice guy* a real *whacka* *thoe* but behind him was a 24 pack of *buddys*, what a hero! Soon after all the boys were down and ready for the b*ig game. *Bazza* fired up the BBQ and the snags were roasting. *â€Å"Hey bruce* could you finish the BBQ off mate† â€Å"Cock and bull, Ya* old bastard* I don’t know how to use one† *â€Å"Give it a burl ya* dill† *While they were sorting out the barby I turned on the idiot box to the game. By now there were alot* of dead marines* and durry butts everywhere, no sign of liquid laugh in sight. I screamed out *â€Å"ay* alfs games on† *All the dongers c*arted there asses in the lounge like billy kids *wanting a *sucker. *Every bogan* in my lounge room was tripping out, *i* was surprised any one could see the scores. â€Å"Carn the pies† *I yelled. W*e got off to a beaut of a star*t, with Diddy (Alan *Didak*) to a bonzer start as well as *clokey* (Travis *Cloke*) thumping 3 goals through in the first quarter*. You never know with the Dons, they always come back with their sandgroper Lovett Murray the *boonga*, his too fast for every other digger out there. Nothing that â€Å"Neon Leon† (Leon Davis) can*’*t handle, will be right! The second quarters just started and some fucken* *cruddy’s* just pushed the door bell. I got up and saw trouble at the door, it was an electricity *employer. Straight away I thought bummer, *i* knew what this was about. â€Å"Ay you the owner of this establishment† *â€Å"Yeah ya* bastard† *â€Å"Good, Im* here to cut off your power† â€Å"Get fucked† Bazza herd what was going up and go up immediately and said *â€Å"whats* this about? This guy giving you curry† *â€Å"Yeah fuken* yobbo’s cutting of the power† *â€Å"what* about the pies match† Then the electricity worker said *â€Å"tough* titties *ya* bogans† *The electricity dill choked the electricicity* and we were unable to watch the game. â€Å"Cunning as a shit house rat† I screamed out as he left in is donga mobile *We where now all at rockwood* end now we were going to miss the game for sure now. *Until i* thought of running a cable to the neighbours across the road. *â€Å"you* sneaky *boonga* they all said† *â€Å"shud* up *ya* bastards this is an important game, id brawl with a bull to watch this match† *So I ran the extension cord from my house to the neighbours without them knowing. Slid through the back gate of there* crib and plugged it into their garage. The Idiot boxed turned on and the yobs screamed like yanks from across the road, I ran home like a lost *joey* but had missed all the second and third quarter. I had spat the dummy*, *i* was* spewing*. The pies were wining and killing it. Soon after the siren went and we were stoked, running around lick head less chicken. *COLLINGWOOD had* a ripper of a game* *thrashing the Bombers by 6*5 points at the G. *The pies *creamed* the dons 18. 12 (120) to 8. 7 (55 In front of a crowd of 90,*000. Th*e Pies seized control with a stunning first quarter* as far as *i* was concerned*. * Everyone went home and started recovering from the big day. I was about to catch some Z’s on the couch as I herd* some sirens *i* got up to go outside and see what was going on as *i* got to the door the pigs were there, with hand cuffs. They had looked back at the *Woolies* tapes and court us stilling. Luckily *Bazza* had got away, but that *wasnt* all. Bacon was frying*. T*hey looked around the house and found the cord*. They took me too the cop shop and sent me to jail for a few weeks. Nothing to serious thank fuck.

The Best Prep Books for SAT Writing

The Best Prep Books for SAT Writing SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Are you planning on buying a book to help you prep for SAT Writing? In this article I will discuss the top prep books for SAT Writing on the market today, and why you should or should not buy them. These books can be found at bookstores, the library, or online. If you make use of all these books and practice effectively, you'll be sure t o improve your SAT writing score. Who should use these books? Books are a great way to study for students who are serious about their prep and who are able to motivate themselves. Keep in mind that studying from books is not the most effective method for all students. It’s important that you know how you study best. Buying a book is not going to track your progress or motivate you to study – so you need to be able to do that for yourself, and you also need to be able to understand and evaluate your own mistakes and progress. If that sounds like you, these books will be great for you. In order to take full advantage of these books, you also need to be willing to make a time investment. Just buying a book is not going to make a difference to your score – you have to be willing to commit and spend time – we’re talking at least 10 hours, or much more depending on where you’re starting from - going through it in order to get the benefits. So if you’re looking to invest a good deal of time and want to make a significant improvement in your SAT Writing score, read on to see which books can help you! Foundational Books There are two books that all students should have before taking the SAT. The Official SAT Study Guide from the CollegeBoard Sold on Amazon from $11.81. It’s critically important that when you study, you are using real questions that actually appeared on the SAT. Why? Many test prep companies have people who don’t really understand the test writing their practice questions. There is a good chance that if you only study questions written by prep companies, you will not be seeing the kinds of questions that actually appear on the SAT. The Official SAT Study Guide provides you will 10 full-length practice tests. For the Writing section, that’s 490 multiple choice questions to practice with. When you buy the book, you also get online access to explanations to all of the answers. Additionally, many of the books I will mention below make references to the questions in this book as examples. Where it could be improved: Unfortunately, this book does not work as a complete study tool. It gives little to no explanation for the different concepts that are tested on the test, and only gives the most basic strategy tips – some of which are quite debatable (such as when to guess). Similarly, the online explanations for right and wrong answers aren’t the best. They tend to expect a high level of comprehension of the basic concepts, so you’ll need to understand your own mistakes to make the most of this book. Because of this, it’s best to pair this book with another one or two from the list below, depending on what your score goals are. SAT Prep Black Book by Mike Barrett Available on Amazon from $17.97. This book is critically important because it teaches you how to think about the SAT. It aims to teach students that anyone can succeed on the SAT, as long as they approach the test the right way. For example, the test is predictable in that the material tested is always the same, but has to be difficult enough to stump some students. Therefore, the fairly straightforward grammar rules on the Writing portion of the test will be presented in unexpected ways. If you are ready to view the test this way, it will be easier to see where the College Board is trying to trick you. It contains a lot of practical strategies for how to approach each type of question, and then also explains the answers to several of the questions in The Official SAT Study Guide in depth. In particular, this book gives great advice for how to tackle the essay section of the test. Where it could be improved: This book does not give a clear set of guidelines for how to approach each question, which might make it confusing for some students. I would recommend reading this book for general strategy and learning how to think about the test, and pairing it with other books if you want a more straight-forward list of rules. The end of the book gives a â€Å"Grammar Toolbox† that outlines all of the major grammar concepts you will need to know for SAT Writing. However, these are not paired with example SAT-style questions, so it won’t be the best resource for many students. Best SAT Writing books for high scorers (650 – 800) Blackstone Review’s Maximize Your Writing Score on the SAT Available new at Amazon from $21.95. This excellent prep book focuses in on only the grammar rules covered on SAT Writing. There are several features that make this book stand out. The grammar skills are ranked by the frequency they appear. Each grammar point is ranked between one and three stars, depending on how frequently the concept is tested on the SAT. This is helpful because it helps you focus your studying. You can just cover the most important (3 star) concepts if you're in a rush, or you can focus on the 1 star concepts if you already know the basics andare aiming for a high score. While other test prep books do tell the frequency of grammar rules, this book does it in a very visually-friendly way, which a lot of students may find helpful. The realistic diagnostic test will help you make an effective study plan. The book starts with a diagnostic test. Now, students can always make their own diagnostic tests. I’ll talk about this more below. But I particularly like this diagnostic test because it gives example sentences that test grammar concepts in a very similar way to the SAT. Even better, it gives detailed explanations for each answer and pinpoints which grammar concept is being tested in each question (along with where to find that concept in the book), before showing how the sentence could be revised to be grammatically correct. Though, again, you can do the same process on your own with the practice tests in The Official SAT Study Guide, this could save you a lot of time and help you to quickly see which concepts you are struggling with. This also means you can save all ten practice tests in The Official SAT Study Guide for later practice. Every concept is explained very clearly. The grammar points in this book are laid out in a way that is very easy to read and understand. The grammar rules are explained clearly, briefly, and directly. After each rule, the book gives at least one SAT-style question with an error of the grammar concept just introduced, an explanation of why the error is incorrect, and then gives a revised version of the sentence with the error corrected. I like the immediate reinforcement of each idea, and the revised sentences can help students get used to what correctly-used grammar looks like. Similarly, the end of each chapter gives you additional well-written practice questions with clear explanations. Students who don’t want to get bogged down with a lot of extra words should really like this direct and simple approach. It gets to the point quickly and makes it easy to stay on task. Additionally, the instruction in this book focuses on grammar concepts instead of technical grammar terms. It won’t bog you down with things that you don’t need to know to do well on SAT Writing. The study guides and appendixes at the end of the book provide added depth. The end of the book has two useful review sections. The â€Å"Study Outline† briefly goes over all the grammar concepts covered, and the â€Å"Super Quick Study Guide† gives an overview of just the most important and most frequently-tested grammar concepts. Though this is an unnecessary feature, these sections are nice bonus tools with example sentences that you canuse to get your mind in the correct mode right before the test. The book has several very helpful appendices on topics including â€Å"Common Irregular Verbs†, â€Å"Confusing Word Pairs†, â€Å"Common Prepositional Idioms†, â€Å"Common Diction Errors†, and â€Å"Wordiness and Redundancy†. These are very thorough and go into much greater detail than most SAT Writing test prep books. A lot of these topics, such as prepositional idioms, are things you will need to study if you are aiming for a high score. There is an excellent guide to the essay section. Finally, this book has a guide for the essay section of the test. This is especially valuable because some other Writing SAT prep books completely ignore the essay portion. The essay guide gives some good tips about how to approach the essay, which is something a lot of students struggle with. You’ll get tips for how to start the essay with a strong statement, how to effectively use notes, and what kind of examples you will need. It’s especially good for talking about the mindset you need when you approach the essay, and I think that this combined with the tips given in the Black Book would well prepare stronger writers for the test. However, if you are a weaker or very not confident writer and need a lot of hand-holding and instruction for the essay section of the test, you should probably get an additional guide. Of course, this book is not for everyone. Here’s where it could be improved: The end of the book has example test questions with detailed explanations for each answer. Though these are quite well-written and test grammar in the same way the real SAT does, the questions are pretty limited. There are only 40 Identifying Error questions, 25 Improving Sentences questions, and 7 Improving Paragraphs questions. Many students will not find this to be enough practice. As noted above, this book addresses each grammar topic in a concise and to-the-point fashion. I think these explanations are more than enough for students who have at least a decent understanding of grammar basics. While this will appeal to some students, it will be a turn-off for others who prefer to have things explained in more detail. Finally, the essay tips will not be thorough enough for students who need a lot of help with their writing. The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar and the accompanying workbook by Erica Meltzer Available new at Amazon from $27.86. The workbook sells from $28.45 here. Meltzer has a great understanding of the grammar that appears on the SAT and does a good job of explaining the concepts in detail. She goes through everything that you will need to know in order to aim for a perfect score. There are a lot of things that make this book a great pick. Itexplains concepts from the first principle. Metzerdoesn’t assume any prior grammar knowledge, and gives enough information (starting with an overview of the different parts of speech) to help out those who are not confident in their grammar skills or need a refresher of what they learned in grade school and high school. It's comprehensive but focused. The book covers all of the grammar concepts that you will need to know for SAT Writing. Unlike some prep books which leave out the more complex and less-tested material, Meltzer gives a great amount of detail on even the rarest types of question, such as diction questions, for which she also includes a list of commonly confused words that have recently appeared on the SAT. All of the concepts have this level of thoroughness, which means this is a great resource for students who are looking for a book that will help them drill the most difficult types of questions. Going along with the previous point, Meltzer only covers minimal additional material that does not appear on the test. Most of this is foundational knowledge-type material, and she clearly notes that it won’t directly be tested. After introducing each grammar concept, Meltzer gives several example sentences of the concept being used both incorrectly and correctly. This is a great feature because it allows students both to see some common mistakes, and to see how they can be fixed. The practice questions are excellent. At the end of each concept-based chapter, Meltzer gives several practice questions. For the most part, these questions ask you to find a grammar mistake in the sentence and fix it. She also has very good cumulative tests after every few sections. Though these tests don’t follow the SAT format, I think they are very helpful because they gives students the chance to first make sure they really understand an individual grammar concept (with no help or guessing from multiple choice options!) in the chapter tests, and then follows that with good practice of finding different types of grammar mistakes, which is the skill you have to develop for the SAT. Additionally, she gives some of the best-written SAT Writing-style practice questions that you will be able to find outside of The Official SAT Study Guide. Her SAT-style questions test grammar concepts in the same way that the SAT does, and her writing style is extremely similar to the style used by the writers of the actual test. This means that you will have a valuable extra resource of practice questions, in addition to those in The Official SAT Study Guide. She explains every grammar question inThe Official SAT Study Guide. Some of my favorite resources in this book are Meltzer’s very detailed appendices. She goes through all of the practice tests in The Official SAT Study Guide and breaks them down by grammar concept tested. This is immensely valuable for students because when taking those practice tests, they can use these appendices as a guide for understanding what kinds of questions they are missing. Also, if you have a certain grammar concept you want to have more practice with, you can look up the specific questions in the Study Guide that cover that concept. Of course, this book could also be improved. Here’s how: This is a very dense book. While some students will love this writing style, others will find it very difficult to get through. While treating less important topics with a lot of thoroughness is what the highest-achieving students will be looking for, for most others it will simply be too much information. Going along with that, unlike Blackstone Review’s book mentioned above, Meltzer’s book is not very visually-friendly. For example, while she does tell which question types most frequently appear on each part of the test, you will need to read closely to get that information, which makes it more difficult to skim and skip around to cover the most important concepts. The example sentences she uses to explain and test grammar concepts do not look like the questions on the SAT. While this won’t be a negative for many students (and I personally think they are very effective at testing the grammar concepts), some students may want to stick to SAT-style questions. While Meltzer does give answer keys to all of her questions in the main text, she does not give detailed explanations for why the answers are right or wrong. This will not work very well for students who need more hand-holding to understand grammar mistakes. The workbook that accompanies the text gives additional practice that really should be included in the main book. As it is, it's expensive to have to buy two books to get what should be included in one. Finally, this book does not cover how to approach the essay, and the main text does not include practice questions for the Improving Paragraphs questions. So if you want to focus in on either of those sections of the test, this will not be the best book for you. Best SAT Writing Books For Mid-range Scorers (400 – 650) Barron’s SAT Writing Workbook by George Ehrenhaft Available on Amazon from $10.99 (Kindle) This book is great if you are a middle-range writer because it holds your hand like no other for the essay portion of the test. More advanced writers, however, will probably find some of the advice to be simplistic. There are a lot of things that make it great for a student at this level. It starts with a good, lengthy overview of each question type on SAT Writing. If you are less familiar with what you are going to see on SAT Writing or are particularly intimidated by the structure of the test, this will give you a good grounding to work with. It includes a full diagnostic test with SAT-style questions. After the explanations, this book gives a full diagnostic test of the Writing section of the SAT, including a practice essay question. The questions are very reminiscent of questions that have appeared on past SATs, so they should be helpful for students to understand their strengths and weaknesses. The best part of this is the detailed answer section, which not only gives several sample essay responses, but also goes through each multiple choice question in detail, telling why each correct answer is correct, and what grammar rule is violated by each incorrect answer. It gives in-depth instruction for the essay. This book dedicates a whopping 82 pages to how to write the essay. It takes you through everything you could possibly want to know, in detail. If you pair this with the basic strategy found in the Black Book listed above, you should have no further questions about how to improve your essay score. The grammar explanations are straightforward. All of the main grammar concepts that you will need to know for the test are briefly explained. This book does not go into as much detail as Meltzer’s book or the Blackstone Review book, but it is more than enough for what you will need for a mid-range score. After each grammar explanation, the book gives an SAT-style multiple choice question. It’s helpful for students to be able to immediately see the concept put to use in the way it will appear on the test. All of these multiple choice questions are followed with detailed answer explanations. There are also several practice questions that are not in the style of SAT questions, which are good for nailing down grammar concepts without the prop of having answer choices. The grammar concepts are divided by what you are most likely to find on each section of the test (Improving Sentences, Identifying Errors, and Improving Paragraphs). While there is a lot of overlap in the grammar concepts, this could be helpful for students to pinpoint where they are struggling if they tend to do worse on one section. This book also goes into greater detail on the Improving Paragraphs questions than many other test prep books do. There are a lot of opportunities for practice. Finally, the end of the book has four well-written practice tests, which will be good additional practice if you need more than the ones in The Official SAT Study Guide. All of the questions have detailed answer explanations. Where it could be improved: Many of the practice questions are not in the style of SAT questions, and some students will prefer to have more SAT-style questions to work with. The grammar explanations do not go into a lot of detail and can be vague. This lack of detail means that you may not get everything you need to master the trickiest concepts. Also, some of the grammar is repetitive because it is found in multiple sections (ie., both in Identifying Errors and in Improving Sentences). For SAT Writing Books for Low Scorers (400 and below) If you are getting a very low score on SAT Writing, it may be because you are a non-native speaker of English or are otherwise missing a fundamental understanding of how English grammar works. Since you can’t run before you walk, I would recommend starting with books that are not specifically aimed at the SAT, but are going to give you a strong grammar foundation that you can build upon with further study. English Grammar in Use by Raymond Murphy Available on Amazon from $16.78 English Grammar in Use is great for helping struggling students get to terms with grammar basics, especiallyverb tenses, their uses and special constructions. It also includes lessons on trickier subjects such as â€Å"may† vs. â€Å"might†, idiomatic preposition use, relative clauses, and participles. The pages are all written in simple, easily understood English. Every lesson is illustrated to further aid comprehension, and they're followed by a full page of practice exercises. This text has been popular for a long time for students learning English as a foreign language, but it is a helpful resource for anyone who needs a refresher of important grammar foundations. Easy Grammar Plus by Wanda C. Phillips Available on Amazon from $28.52. Phillips effectively teaches the basics of grammar and sentence construction by breaking them down into the different parts of speech. Every new topic has several pages of exercises for extensive drilling. It's this repetition that really helps the new concepts stick with students. This book is especially good for students who find the wording of other grammar books to be too complex. It is written with a 4th grade vocabulary, so you can focus your attention where it matters - on the grammar. How to use these books If you are a mid-range or high-range scorer, start out with reading through the Introduction and Writing sections in the Black Book (apart from the explanations to questions in the Official SAT Study Guide). This will help you get in the correct mindset to approach the test and is good to build general strategy. Take a practice Writing test from The Official SAT Study Guideand score it. Make a note of each question you got wrong or had to guess for. Mark down which section it was in (Improving Sentences, Identifying Errors, or Improving Paragraphs) and also what grammar concept it was testing. To do this, you can either use the appendix in Meltzer’s book, or you can use the explanations for The Official SAT Study Guide that can be found online. (Note that if you have chosen to use a book that includes a diagnostic test, you can use that instead and the answer explanations may make understanding your mistakes a lot easier!) In whatever book you choose, skim through the grammar concepts you are most comfortable with to make sure there is nothing that surprises you, but really focus your studying around the concepts that you missed in the practice test. Keep taking the practice tests in The Official SAT Study Guide to check how you are improving. If you are a low-range scorer, start studying a long time in advance (at least 6 months). Ideally, you should cover the material in the foundational books and then move on to one of the other books that focuses specifically on the SAT. Once you have given yourself time to get the basics down, follow the steps above. What’s Next? If you're not sure that book studying is for you, check out our test prep program. PrepScholar starts with a diagnostic test and then helps you focus your studying on what you need the most work on. Also check out our free resources to start prepping for the test. Our blog covers every grammar concept you will find on SAT Writing, as well as general strategies for each section. Aiming high? Look at these key strategies to score an 800 on SAT Writing, written by a perfect scorer. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points? Check out our best-in-class online SAT prep program. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your SAT score by 160 points or more. Our program is entirely online, and it customizes what you study to your strengths and weaknesses. If you liked this Writing and grammar lesson, you'll love our program.Along with more detailed lessons, you'll get thousands ofpractice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Check out our 5-day free trial: