Stephen Covey wrote a very succe ful book First Things First

Stephen Covey wrote a very successful book First Things First．The core idea of the book is：resources are so limited that if you hope to do things effectively，you need to do them in a right order―first things first．This method also works in the process of preparing for CET Band 4．

According to Covey's method，the very first thing to do is to find out what you need to do first． There are different parts in a CET Band 4 paper：listening comprehension，reading comprehension，vocabulary and structure，cloze（or short answer questions） and writing．You may not have an equal level on all these parts；there must be some parts that you are comparably good at，while one or two other parts terribly annoy you．
Since time and other resources are limited in preparing for the test， you may not expect to study everything perfectly．You have to make a choice of into which part or parts you are going to put special efforts while paying less attention to the other parts． It's true that you have no certainty of winning on this road，butifnot doing so，you are probably to lose．

The crux（关键，最重要点）of the matter lies not on whether you should choose the important parts or not，but on how to decide on the parts．People usually have misunderstandings of the choosing strategy：some of them choose the parts they are very good at，hoping to get extremely high marks in these parts；some of them choose the parts in which they are doing the worst，hoping to make a boom in these parts．Actually，the proper strategy is to choose the parts，which has the highest function-cost-ratio，in other words，the parts in which you can improve the most applying the same unit of energy．

If you are outstanding in reading and can get a rather stable score of around 36 in reading comprehension（40 points as total）， will it do much good to practice reading comprehension over and over？If you almost have no idea of why the expressions and idioms go that way and the blank is only 0．5 point each，is it worth reading hundreds of books and spending all your time in memorizing the expressions that have little chance to appear in the test paper？Absolutely not． Remember that your aim is to earn a higher score in the exam；neither to make what is already good still better，nor to waste time and efforts on the things，on which you are unlikely to make big improvements compared to other things．Efficiency contributes most to the result of the exam！

As you have finished the first step of preparation，here comes the second step：scheduling．To make a reasonable and effective study schedule，you must assign the most time and efforts to the parts you've decided to put your heart into，and the spare time or other fragmented time to the less important parts．Don't make excuses for occupying your allocatedtime．Your efforts on these chosen emphasized parts，if chosen scientifically，willpay back double．

Now，it is time to work on the parts that you have chosen．Engross in them．Find one or two good books that particularly focused on the chosen parts．“Good”doesn't mean that the book is very big and heavy，or it has very detailed explanations on the whole CET Band 4，or its author is a famous professor，or other people are reading it．Find the books that suit you，those which will help you improve the most in a short period of time．Don't work excessively on the bundles of reference books；time wasted on the duplicated parts of the books doesn't really count．

For example，if you are going to work on writing，read the good exam articles that other people write and follow their examples．It is not difficult to make an article look like an article，but to write a good article request for many skills．Make clear of your main idea and separate your article into proper paragraphs，stating a viewpoint each； use correct vocabulary and sentence structure；add some nice expressions when necessary．A good article attracts readers，because it provides so much useful information that the readers feel like reading it．Practice writing some testarticles before you go to the realexam．No one can make a good score without enough practice．

Listening is probably the most knotty problem to students．They think that foreigners speak too fast，so they can't catch them．Yes，foreigners are speaking fast，but actually there is no need to understand every word they say．You only need to grasp the key words．When I prepare for an English exam，I listen to the tapes that match its level all day long，even when I am lying in bed．Practice makes perfect！My special way of practicing listening is to have no pause during the conversation and the questions，just making answers at the same time as the conversation goes on．As long as you are used to the speed（or even faster speed），you are sure to do a better job．

If you still get enough time to study other parts，study them as well as you can， because classified practices serve as solid foundations for the exam．My suggestion is that you should understand every question that appeared in the previous genuine exams，but make sure that studying these less important parts is not taking up too much of your time．

Simulated tests help you to know your weak points．Time and score them to see how well you can do．You may also find some tips of taking exams in the process of taking simulated tests．For instance，in the part of compound dictation：even if you don't know the exact words to fill in the blanks，try your best to write down the characters that seem to conform to the pronunciations．After the listening part，you may find some time to think the blanks over and guess the exact words according to the pronunciations and grammar．Don't give up any blank unless you do not have a clue． The experience of taking exams also servesas a dependable teacher．

Now，go back to the very first step again and find new or old parts you need to workon especially，and then make a new plan．As the course of evaluation，scheduling，important parts，less important parts， simulated tests and re-evaluation goes on and on，your score rises．You may control the pace of the cycle to meet your need of ex-am．
After all，keep in mind that first things go first！And you will make a noticeable progress if you work in the right way．

东北大学计算机系朱轩彤