by Erica L. Meltzer | Apr 11, 2011 | SAT Grammar (Old Test)
On the SAT Writing section, there are five conjunctions that must always be preceded by a semicolon when they are used to begin a clause.
However
Therefore
Moreover
Consequently
Nevertheless
The first two appear very frequently while the other three are less common, but the rule is the same for all of them. The inclusion of these conjunctions is usually a dead giveaway that a question is testing semicolon usage, so if you see one of them, first check whether there is an answer that includes a semicolon; it will virtually always be correct. For example:
Researchers believe that genes could affect the amount of caffeine people consume, environmental factors are known to play an important role as well.
(A) consume, environmental factors are known to play an important role
(B) consume; but environmental factors are known to play an important role
(C) consume, an important role is known to be played by environmental factors
(D) consume; however, environmental factors are known to play an important role
(E) consume, with environmental factors being known to play an important role
If you can recognize the original version of the sentence as a comma splice (two sentences separated by a comma), you’re already ahead of the game. What you may not realize, however, is that you don’t actually have to reach each answer through word by word, trying to find the best way to fix the sentence.
Since semicolons are one of the most common ways to fix comma splices, any answer that contains one has a pretty good chance of being right. Furthermore, any answer that contains “semicolon + however,” is usually going to be correct. So if you scan through the answers and spot that choice D contains just that, you already know that you’ve probably found that right answer without even having to read through the other options.
To be on the safe side, you do need to plug the answer back into the sentence and check that it makes sense (it does), but working like this can save you an awful lot of time and worry.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 30, 2011 | Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
Very often, test-takers get stumped on “tone” or “attitude” questions because they look at each answer choice individually and ponder whether it could fit the passage. In other words, they try to fit the answer to the reading — always a bad idea.
Very often, test-takers get stumped on “tone” or “attitude” questions because they look at each answer choice individually and ponder whether it could fit the passage. In other words, they try to fit the answer to the reading — always a bad idea.
The process for breaking down tone questions is actually pretty simple: the first thing you always want to determine is whether the author’s attitude is positive or negative.
Say, for example, you’re dealing with a passage about the California gold rush, and you see the following question:
In lines 47-51, the author’s attitude toward the process of “staking claims” could best be characterized as:
(A) skeptical
(B) vitriolic
(C) approving
(D) elated
(E) ambivalent
The first thing you need to do is to figure out whether the author considers “staking claims” a good thing or a bad thing.
If it’s a good thing, you can automatically eliminate anything that is either negative or neutral, in this case A, B, and E. If it’s a bad thing, you can get rid of C and D.
Notice that we don’t care about the actual words at this point, only whether they’re good or bad.
Let’s say that the author considers “staking claims” a good thing, so we’re left with C and D.
In general, extreme answers tend to be wrong (if the tone of the passage were too obvious, you wouldn’t have to read closely, and the test would be too easy!), so right away, you know that there’s about a 90% chance the answer is C.
But unless you’re absolutely certain, go back to the passage and check!
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 22, 2011 | Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
One of the things that continually amazes me is the following situation: a student is working carefully through a reading question and begins to cross off answers. First one, then another, then a third. And then…nothing. The student continues to stare at the two answer choices. “Is there anything in the passage that clearly points to one of the answers?” I ask. The student scrunches up his or her face in concentration, staring off into space, trying, trying to remember….
At which point I oh-so-politely suggest that perhaps the student might want to consult the passage…because, you know, there’s an off chance the answer might be in there. As opposed to somewhere on the wall across the room. To paraphrase Jane Austen, it is a standardized testing strategy universally acknowledged that if you are down to two answer choices, you should guess. (One answer is just as likely to be right as the other, right?)
Except that you really shouldn’t.
As a matter of fact, there are a couple of very specific things you should do instead. First, you should reiterate your main point (which, ideally, you should have written down as soon as you finished reading the passage), or at least the point of the lines in question. Is there an answer that rephrases it? If there is, chances are it’s right. If that doesn’t work, you should go back to the passage and read it very, very carefully, making sure to start a couple of lines above and read to a couple of lines below.
With the exception of questions that ask about the passage as whole, the information you need to answer the question will always be located in the immediate vicinity of the lines you’ve been given. It might not be in the lines themselves, but it’ll almost always be very close by.
In addition, when you do go back and read (instead of, say, waiting for the heavens to open and an angel to descend and inform you of the correct answer), you need to pay particular attention to any important transitions or explanations that appear in the text. Chances are they’ll give you the information you need. Usually when students go back to the passage, they’re astonished to discover that the answer was right there all along.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Bonus question (scroll down for the answer):
Throughout this article, my tone could best be characterized as
(A) perplexed
(B) hostile
(C) appreciative
(D) facetious
(E) ambivalent
Answer: (D)
by Erica L. Meltzer | Mar 17, 2011 | ACT Reading, Blog, SAT Critical Reading (Old Test)
If you have timing issues on reading, you may want to try the following:
1. Read the introduction slowly until you figure out the basic point of the passage. Underline it.
2. Read the first and last sentence of each of the body paragraphs; if you can skim through the rest, do; if you’re too afraid you’ll run out of time, don’t bother. The goal is to establish a mental outline of the argument being presented. 1 Paragraph = 1 Idea, and the first (topic) sentence will give you the point of the paragraph, which the remainder of the information in it will most likely support.
3. Read the conclusion slowly and underline the last sentence, which usually restates the main point.
As long as you can keep in mind the important shifts (for example, the places where an author switches from criticizing one idea to proposing her own explanation), you’ll have plenty of context when you go back and answer the questions. In fact, working this way can actually make it easier to answer them because you won’t be so caught up in the details.
by Erica L. Meltzer | Feb 27, 2011 | SAT Grammar (Old Test)
Collective nouns are one of the SATs favorite ways to trick you — even though they refer to groups made up of multiple people, they are always singular.
Common examples of collective nouns: Jury, Team, City, Country, Agency, Company, Committee, School, University
Whenever one of these words appears in a sentence, you need to check both the verbs and the pronouns that it corresponds to. If either of these is plural, you’ve found your error.
Subject-Verb Disagreement
Correct: The jury has finally returned a verdict after many days of deliberation.
Incorrect: The jury have finally returned a verdict after many days of deliberation.
Pronoun Disagreement
Correct: The jury finally returned its verdict after many days of deliberation.
Incorrect: The jury finally returned their verdict after many days of deliberation.
If, on the other hand, a group noun appears in a sentence in which all verbs and pronouns are correct, the answer is likely to be “No Error.”
