© Provided by India Today 5 tips and strategies to help students study for board examinations without feeling stressed

We are surely more anxious than ever as we get ready for the board certification or maintenance of certification examination since we have spent our entire lives taking tests with a lot on the line. Unfortunately, students at all levels have erroneous beliefs about how to learn. We frequently use subpart exam preparation strategies since many of us are ignorant of the best study techniques. In order to help you make the most of your limited study time for the boards, we've provided five time-saving strategies from the expert Smt. Raj Rani Goel, Managing Director, Satluj Public School, Ellenabad.

1. DEVELOP STRONG TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Students with good time management skills may do more in less time, leaving more time for intellectual time. Students should stick to the study schedule, fulfil the objectives, and avoid procrastination in order to acquire strong time management skills. Make every effort to spread out your study time over a longer period of time prior to taking the exam. Due to time constraints, you need to make sure that every subject gets an equivalent amount of preparation time. You can prepare more evenly if you divide your time.

1. MAKE CRUCIAL CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS YOUR TOP PRIORITIES

The students' primary focus should be on the chapters that are really crucial and filled with information. Knowing these chapters will help students do better on exams. They should engage their professors ahead of time with any questions they may have to ensure that they are adequately addressed. Students can divide their study time more efficiently by categorising chapters as challenging, moderate, or easy. deliver yourself additional time to work on and revise the chapters that require it.

1. CONDUCT A SELF-EVALUATION

Mock tests are often beneficial to students since they help them recognise their own strengths and flaws. Simulating an exam environment has been demonstrated to significantly reduce students' test-related anxieties. It can also assist to mitigate the detrimental effects of stress on memory by making your brain work harder to recall the correct answers. The test should be taken at the same time as the exam to help one's biological clock sync with the timing of the test. They will gain confidence as they practise in a real-world test scenario.

1. KEEP YOURSELF IN GOOD PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH

The last thing you need is to become stressed out as a result of your studies. Taking a break from your studies might be quite useful. To relieve stress, practice balanced eating, enough sleep, music, early walks or mild workouts, being in a cheerful setting, and meditation. If you don't get enough sleep, your health may suffer. Relaxing  the day before the exam has been shown in studies to be more effective than staying up all night studying.   In reality, a nutrient-rich diet aids in your physical and mental development. These are critical for ensuring your physical and mental preparation for testing. When studying for board exams, the most vital necessity is a clear mind.

1. MOCK PAPERS AND PREVIOUS YEAR'S PAPERS

Solving problems improves your conceptual comprehension as well as your speed and accuracy of thought. Your deficiencies may be more readily addressed with its help. Review past exam papers to hone your study abilities. Thus, the most effective outside study materials are past exam papers. You may learn about the test format and the weighting of questions from various chapters by studying several question papers. This makes it one of the best strategies for studying for board examinations. This method may thus allow you to focus more on chapters that are more crucial than others. This time-saving strategy may also allow you to focus on crucial chapters while saving time.

HERE ARE SOME EXTRA POINTERS FOR PERFORMING WELL ON THE BOARD EXAMS:

• Look for a better learning environment
• Your work should be revised each day
• Make Quick Revision Notes
• Take Breaks for Productivity
• Do not multitask.
• Avoid becoming a procrastinator

The most crucial thing is the fear of receiving lower grades or missing out outweighs the real repercussions. Stop calculating the ultimate outcome and start working on the journey. So, start using the proper procedure and quit worrying about grades. Because a good or bad grade is very subjective. The aforementioned are a few important considerations while deciding on the best approach or strategy.

Exams are crucial events in one's life, and being nervous However, there is nothing to be concerned about if you fully prepare. To succeed in test preparation, each student must play to their strengths, maintain your composure while learning. Try hard to overcome procrastination rather than getting nervous. The greatest strategy for doing this is to avoid stress and concentrate on what you can accomplish.

There’s no question that skills and knowledge related to various networked forms of storage – such as storage area networks (SANs), network-attached storage (NAS), virtualized storage, and even storage as a service (STaaS) – are in high demand. Also, IT professionals interested in data center or network-backbone-related positions are likely to need strong storage chops.

Average salaries for storage engineers are consistent (and lucrative) across several job-related websites. For example, SimplyHired reports the average nationwide salary is a little over $107,600 in a range starting at $74,085 and climbing just over $156,000. Potential earnings reported by Glassdoor are higher: The national average salary is just over $165,800, with the low end of the range at about $110,000 and the high end close to $182,000.

In some ways, the state of storage certification perfectly mirrors in a single subject area (or perhaps a closely clustered collection of related subjects) what occurs across the full spectrum of information technology. Some vendor-neutral storage certifications are available, particularly those from the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and Arcitura. Also, there are numerous vendor-specific storage credentials available from providers of storage systems and solutions, including Cisco, Dell EMC, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), HPE, NetApp and Sun/Oracle, among others.

Like other IT certifications, vendor-neutral credentials recognize broad competency in design, implementation and management, while vendor-specific programs tend to match up with technologies active IT professionals interact within the workplace (or that they’d like to interact with for prospective employers).

How is a storage-minded IT professional supposed to pick a winner here? Name recognition is one factor. Big name and big company certifications tend to attract higher numbers of certified individuals, lending more credibility to such certifications.

Popularity with employers is another consideration when selecting a certification. In our informal survey, we searched several online job sites on a given day for specific storage certifications. Note that the Cisco CCNP swamps the other certifications because its coverage goes well beyond storage. (The CCNP Data Center specialization involves storage to some degree, but it does not focus only on storage.)

Job Board Search Results (in alphabetical order, by certification)

Based on name recognition and job board surveys, our picks for 2019 lie with Cisco, HDS, NetApp and SNIA. One item noticeably absent from the leader board this year is the Brocade storage program. This gap in the lineup isn’t for lack of popularity. In fact, quite the opposite is true as the job board search yielded over 3,000 employers seeking candidates with Brocade experience and certs. Unfortunately for certification seekers, after Brocade was acquired by Broadcom, its exams, accreditations, certifications, and instructor-led training are no longer available. However, many free web-based courses remain that cover Fibre Channel Storage Area Networking products for professionals seeking to expand their Brocade knowledge and skills.

The following sections explore each of the preceding certifications and/or programs.

CCIE Data Center: Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert

Of all the storage-related Cisco certifications, the CCIE Data Center is the most senior and the best recognized. While it is a difficult and demanding credential to earn, it comes with a terrific payoff for its holders.

An expert-level credential, CCIE Data Center professionals are masters when it comes to planning, designing, implementing and managing IT data center infrastructures. exam subjects focus on connectivity (Layers 2 and 3), fabric infrastructure, storage networking and computing, network services, evolving and emerging technologies, and network services and automation.

To earn this credential, candidates must pass both a written and a rigorous 8-hour, two-part practical lab exam. The written exam must be passed before candidates may attempt the lab exam. Lab exams must be attempted within 18 months of successfully passing the written exam. The lab exam is delivered in two parts: The first part consists of a one-hour Diagnostic Module, while Part 2 consists of a 7-hour Configuration and Troubleshooting module. It is reputed to be fiendishly challenging.

CCIE Data Center Facts and Figures

CCNP Data Center: Cisco Certified Network Professional Data Center

Cisco offers a variety of certifications that address storage networking topics, including the Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician (CCENT) and the Data Center versions of the CCNA, CCNP, and CCIE (in order of difficulty). The CCNP Data Center credential hits the sweet spot in terms of warranting an IT professional’s knowledge and understanding of Cisco’s storage networking products and platforms in a data center context.

Cisco requires the Cisco Certified Network Associate Data Center (CCNA Data Center) credential or any Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert (CCIE) certification as a prerequisite for the CCNP Data Center.

Cisco CCNP Data Center Facts and Figures

Hitachi Qualified Professional – Storage Administration

Hitachi Vantara, formerly known as the Hitachi Data Systems corporation, is known for its hybrid storage systems, storage management, and networking solutions aimed at Fortune 100 and Fortune Global 100 enterprises. The company has a well-developed certification program to support its products and services.

Unlike most other IT certification sponsors, Hitachi’s program distinguishes between qualifications and certifications. Qualification credentials aim at the associate and professional levels where candidates have broad knowledge of subjects and concepts. Hitachi certifications are either specialists or experts, where candidates have deep knowledge of and ample hands-on experience with products and solutions.

Both types of credentials fall under various tracks: Administration (professional), Architect (specialist and expert), Implementation and Integration (specialist and expert), Installation and Support (specialist and professional), and Basics and Fundamentals (entry-level), as well as Sales and Presales.

The Hitachi Qualified Professional – Storage Administration credential, part of the Administration track, is an intermediate-level qualification aimed at storage networking professionals who can configure and troubleshoot Hitachi Command Suite products, as well as use Hitachi Device Manager to manage the storage environment. Candidates must pass one exam – Storage Administration HQT-6740 – to earn the credential.

Hitachi Qualified Professional – Storage Administration Facts and Figures

NCDA: NetApp Certified Data Administrator

NetApp has been in the storage business since 1992, and offers a broad line of products and systems for backup and recovery, traditional and virtualized storage and cloud-based data centers. Although NetApp has some stiff competition – Dell EMC, HPE and Hitachi, to name a few – the company understands the value of flexibility and integration with other third-party products. For example, NetApp worked with Cisco to develop FlexPod, which helps customers manage Cisco, Citrix, Cloudera, Microsoft, NetApp, Oracle, Red Hat, VMware, and other applications and environments, and NetApp’s hybrid cloud storage integrates with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, among others.

The NetApp Certification Program (NCP) features several certifications within three tracks: Data, Hybrid Cloud and Converged Infrastructure. All NetApp certifications focus on some aspect of storage hardware or the software that powers these products. The Data track includes the NetApp Certified Storage Associate (NCSA) – Hybrid Cloud, the NetApp Certified Storage Installation Engineer, ONTAP as well as our featured certification, the NetApp Certified Data Administrator (NCDA).

The NCDA recognizes working knowledge of NetApp storage architecture, core ONTAP components, high availability, data clustering, protocol administration, storage performance, security and data protection. Candidates must be able to configure controllers running the ONTAP operating system in NFS and Windows (CIFS) environments, and understand NetApp SnapMirror, SnapRestore and SnapVault technologies.

Candidates must pass one exam to earn the credential.

NetApp certifications are valid for 27 months, and credential holders must meet recertification requirements during this period to maintain their certifications.

NCDA Facts and Figures

SNIA SNCP: SNIA Storage Networking Certification Program

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) is a nonprofit organization incorporated in 1997 and comprises members from various storage vendors and service providers, as well as individuals. The association develops and promotes storage solution specifications and standards, and offers education and certification for storage and information management professionals.

SNIA recently rolled out several changes to its Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP). Most notable among the changes is the retirement of the SNIA Certified Storage Engineer (SCSE) and SNIA Certified Storage Architect (SCSA). The exams for both credentials were withdrawn on January 31, 2019.

Both the SCSE and SCSA have been replaced by the SNIA Certified Information Architect (SCIA). SNIA will continue to recognize the SCSE and SCSA until November 31, 2021. The Storage Networking Certification Program (SNCP) offers several vendor-neutral certifications:

• SNIA Certified Storage Professional (SCSP)
• SNIA Certified Storage Networking Expert (SCSN-E)
• SNIA Qualified Storage Sales Professional (SQSSP)
• SNIA Certified Information Architect (SCIA)

Each certification requires candidates to pass the S10-110 Foundations exam or hold a current CompTIA Storage+ Powered by SNIA certification (exam no longer offered), which earns the Professional (SCSP) credential. The Networking Expert (SCSN-E) requires all of them.

SNIA certifications are good for three years from the date of certification. After that, a certification holder must take the most current exam to maintain the credential.

SNIA SCNP Facts and Figures

Beyond the Top 5: More storage certifications

Beyond the top five storage certifications mentioned in this article, there are lots of other certification programs that can further the careers and professional development of IT professionals who work in the networked storage arena.

Although no EMC storage certifications made our top five list for 2018 or 2019, EMC (acquired by Dell in 2016) has one of the longest-standing certification programs for storage. The program offers credentials for data scientists, cloud architects and administrators, storage administrators, cloud and implementation engineers, and a whole lot more.

In addition, look at the credentials available from Arcitura, HPE, Huawei, IBM, Nimble and Sun/Oracle:

© Photo: Getty Images/Arx0nt A bowl of almonds

Do you get sore and tired after an intense workout? There’s a change you can make to avoid this fitness pitfall, and it involves… nuts!

Almonds are well known to have multiple health benefits, but there’s now evidence that they have fitness perks, too. A new study published in Frontiers in Nutrition has found that adding almonds to your diet can help your body recover from exercise. A study of 64 adults, split into two groups—one that ate almonds, one that ate the caloric equivalent in a cereal bar—showed that the group that ate almonds had biomarkers that indicate improved muscle recovery, including reduced post-exercise fatigue and tension, and higher levels of strength. They also reported feeling less sore.

However, it’s not like the subjects just shoved some almonds in their mouths post-workout and had miraculously refreshed muscles. They ate two ounces of almonds (or about 46 individual nuts) every day for four weeks.

“People treat food too much like a pill, or think that there's a magical effect, but it just doesn't work that way with diet” the study’s lead author, David C. Nieman, DrPH, FACSM, a professor and the principal investigator at the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State University, says. Instead, Dr. Nieman explains, health researchers have found with diet changes in general that “you enter into a pattern and then you stick with it and then you'll receive health benefits. And what we're showing is that there are recovery benefits, too.”

Researchers measured the blood and urine of the subjects for various types of metabolites (the substances produced as a result of our metabolism working, like when a muscle goes through micro-tears during exercise) before they started the experiment, immediately after intense 90-minute workout sessions, and for four days following the workouts. The presence of certain metabolites can serve as “biomarkers” that indicate fatigue or inflammation in muscles.

“We had the good one [metabolite] go up, the bad one go down,” Dr. Nieman says. “It was a very strong finding that was impossible to be due to chance. The almond intake basically shifted the production of mediators that regulate immunity, energy, and inflammation.”

Strength measures, as well as reports from the study’s subjects, were also more positive in the almond group.

Though the study was performed by independent researchers including Dr. Nieman, it was sponsored by the Almond Board of California. However, Roxana Ehsani, RD, CSSD, a board-certified sports dietitian, thinks the methodology and findings are legitimate.

“It’s great news for active people, and shows eating whole foods such as almonds are beneficial for recovery post-exercise, and that there’s no need to rely on highly-processed foods post-workout to get the nutrients needed for recovery,” Ehsani says.

"There's no need to rely on highly-processed foods post-workout to get the nutrients needed for recovery." —Roxana Ehsani, RD, CSSD

Why might the nuts have had this strong effect? Almonds contain carbs, protein, and fat, which Ehsani describes as the “trio of nutrients needed for optimal recovery.” They also have phosphorus, calcium, and magnesium—electrolytes that can get depleted from sweating.

“Magnesium and calcium are essential for optimal muscle function,” Ehsani says. Dr. Nieman also points to vitamin E, amino acids, and “polyphenols” (molecules present in the almond skins) as possible reasons almonds are beneficial.

Dr. Nieman hopes the study inspires people to view nutritious foods, and not just sports drinks or protein powders, as an important part of preparing your body for and recovering from exercise. He notes that the study is in the top five percent of all articles viewed on the Frontiers in Nutrition website. That might have something to do with the rise in optimization culture which so often has us treating our bodies like machines we can fine tune to maximize physical fitness.

But Dr. Nieman says hey, if you’re looking to “optimize,” almonds are a great way to go.

“It's helping your body get through the stress a little bit easier,” Dr. Nieman says. “That's about as much of a life hack as you can get right there.”

Merle Erickson studies the effect of taxes on the pricing and structuring of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures; and the use of accounting information in valuation and contracting. He also studies, among other things, various aspects of accounting fraud. He teaches “Taxes and Business Strategy” at Booth and has taught the course for the last twenty five years.

In addition to numerous articles published in a variety of top academic journals, Erickson is a coauthor of the widely used Taxes and Business Strategy textbook (currently in its 6th edition) and is the author/editor of the casebook, Cases in Tax Strategy. From 2005-2011, he served as a co-editor of the Journal of Accounting Research.

Over the course of his career, Erickson has consulted on complex GAAP and tax accounting issues (e.g., debt versus equity, various ASC 740 related issues, intercompany accounting and consolidation, employee stock option accounting, accounting for mergers, acquisitions and divestitures (e.g., spin-offs, leveraged partnerships, reverse Morris Trust transactions), restated financial statements, etc.) in a variety of contexts (e.g., bankruptcy, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, inversions, structured finance, investment planning, cross border and intercompany financing, partnership and LLC arrangements, tax sharing agreements, shareholder disputes, and various types of tax advantaged transactions). His clients have included, among others, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Internal Revenue Service, Fortune 500 companies in various industries, international financial institutions, law firms, accounting firms, and individual taxpayers. He has also assisted corporations with SEC, IRS and whistleblower investigations. Erickson brings these real world experiences to his “Taxes Business Strategy” and executive education courses at Booth.

Prior to entering academia, he assisted the U.S. Government in its prosecution of the Lincoln Saving & Loan case. He subsequently published an academic article and teaching case relating to the audit failure associated with the Lincoln Saving & Loan case. That teaching case has been used by the Big 4 to train junior auditors. 

He has been given several awards from the American Taxation Association for his research and teaching. He has received the Outstanding Manuscript Award (twice) as well as an award for teaching innovation. In addition to teaching graduate students at Chicago Booth, Erickson has taught courses to Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, General Electric Capital Corporation, Baker McKenzie, Andersen Consulting, Accenture, CareerBuilder, and the IMCA (Investment Management Consultants Association) among others. He also was been named one of BusinessWeek's Outstanding Faculty at the University of Chicago.

Erickson earned a bachelor's degree in accounting from Rockhurst College in 1987, an MBA in 1989 from Arizona State University, and a PhD in accounting from the University of Arizona in 1996. He joined the Chicago Booth faculty in 1996.

In addition to his scholarly activities, Erickson is an avid fisherman. His angling pursuits have taken him from the pristine wilderness lakes of northern Canada to some of the remotest stretches of the Great Barrier Reef. He received the Angler Award from the Billfish Foundation in 2003 for releasing the most striped marlin worldwide that year.

Our skin glows when we're in love. That's thanks to oxytocin, also known as "the love hormone," which our bodies release in response to a loving touch. Sure, this can happen during sex, but also when we hug a loved one or feel a welcomed caress. The effect of oxytocin on our skin is so strong, that board-certified dermatologist Nicole Hayre, MD, can immediately tell when one of her patients is in a new relationship or experiencing heartbreak.

"I get to know my patients really well and sometimes throughout their visits, all of a sudden someone will come in and they look different," says Dr. Hayre. "It could be that they look great all of a sudden or that their skin looks completely depleted, just drained of life and wiped out. That's happened several times over the 20 years I've practiced where I'm like, 'Oh, something's wrong.' And it's not the expression on their face. It's not something that they said, and it's just how their skin looks. And then I get to talking to them and I find out what happened."

The science behind the oxytocin glow

She realized this change was the result of oxytocin. It's primarily produced in the hypothalamus of the brain, but it's also produced in other parts of the body including the keratinocytes of the epidermal layer of the skin. Translation: Your skin makes oxytocin. The hormone also binds to receptors in the skin.

"When it does that, it turns off a destructive pathway that's usually on called the senescence-associated secretory phenotype," aka SASP, says Dr. Hayre. "And this phenotype usually spits out these cytokines that are inflammatory and destructive. And so when oxytocin is present, it shuts that off and gives skin time to rejuvenate and to be healthier."

She combed through research and found that oxytocin has benefits throughout the body (in the gastrointestinal tract, pulmonary system, etc.) "In general, oxytocin is making you healthier," says Dr. Hayre. And she confirmed the role it plays in skin health with a small study in her office. Six women collected urine samples over a 24-hour period so Dr. Hayre could measure their oxytocin levels. Then, she used a standardized photography system and a rating scale to determine how the women's skin looked in relation to their age.

"What I found was there was a linear correlation—the higher the oxytocin, the better they looked for their age," says Dr. Hayre. "And this was in spite of sun exposure because the woman in my study who had the most sun exposure actually had the highest oxytocin level and looked the best for her age."

Dr. Hayre realized that this connection between being socially and physically healthy and having more radian skin is indeed a system. "I coined it the 'oxytocin social-exchange system,'" she says. She shared her research with her patients and was blown away by the response. "We all joke about 'the glow' and all of that, but no one's really proven it before or shown scientific evidence for it. And, honestly, some of the women who really get excited about this are the ones who've had a loss, for instance, were left in the lurch and they were just devastated and drained. Now they feel validated, like 'Yes, he took this away from me. Look what he did to me—I knew it."

Bottling the magic

Based on her research, Dr. Hayre figured out a way to harness the impact oxytocin has on our skin and literally bottle it up. She identified a botanical that has been used in medicine for centuries to mimic oxytocin's ability to turn off inflammatory SASP and is using it as the secret ingredient across all the products in her new brand, Cutocin.

"Because of Food and Drug Association (FDA) regulations, I cannot say for sure that it's shutting off SASP the way that oxytocin does" and getting FDA-approval costs millions, says Dr. Hayre. "But we can say that we are seeing a similar effect, in that skin is behaving as if oxytocin is by rejuvenating really quickly."

So far, Cutocin has three products and they all include the patent-pending botanical. The Social Exchange Balancing Cream ($159), the Social Exchange Balancing Serum ($159), and the Weekly Rendezvous Exfoliator ($130).

Social Exchange Balancing Cream — $159.00

This cream is the first Cutocin product Dr. Hayre created. “The cream is fully loaded—it has your antioxidants, your peptides, a gentle form of retinoic acid. And we put in the patent-pending ingredient and it’s like the secret sauce that was missing all along,” she says. “I’ve sold these all-in-one fully loaded creams in my office for years, and they’re good, but I’ve never seen skin turn around so fast before the way it has with Cutocin. And I’ve never seen the response of the buyers, the patients, the way I have with this. I’ve been selling it out of the office for a couple of years and there were a couple of times, especially post-COVID with supply chain issues that we ran out and people would panic—and I’ve never seen that before with any of the products that I sold.”

Social Exchange Balancing Serum — $159.00

Next up was this serum. Dr. Hayre designed it to be used in the morning and then to use the cream at night. But if you have sensitive skin and can’t use the cream because of the retinoic acid, she says you can instead use the serum day and night. “The serum also has the patent-pending ingredient, azelaic acid, and antioxidants. Plus, it has a beautiful finish,” she says. Azelaic acid reduces inflammation and evens skin tone while the antioxidant niacinamide boosts skin hydration while brightening. The formula also includes sodium hyaluronate (a form of hyaluronic acid) to hydrate and peptides to revitalize and Improve elasticity.

Weekly Rendezvous Exfoliator — $130.00

“We came out with the Weekly Rendezvous pads to deliver your skin a little extra something,” says Dr. Hayre. “They exfoliate with a really nice gentle formulation of mandalic acid, azelaic acid, and salicylic acid,” and of course, the oxytocin-mimicking botanical, she says. “You wipe the pad over your skin and leave the solution on for five, 10 minutes, or longer, and then rinse off. Do that once a week and you’re nice and smooth and your skin-care products penetrate better.”

Expect to see a sunblock, "because I'm a dermatologist and I love the sunblock," and a cleanser that harnesses this same technology coming from Cutocin soon. In the meantime, you can use any of the above self-love potions to deliver your skin that oxytocin glow all by yourself.

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