SAT Writing: Adverbs

About once per test, an SAT Error ID question will leave the ‘ly’ off the end of an adverb. An adverb is a word, usually ending in ‘ly’ (like ‘clearly’, ‘mostly’ or ‘faithfully’), that helps describe (or modify) an adjective, a verb, or another adverb.

Incorrect:
Researchers examined the constant changing river bed for signs of invasive species.

Problem: The adverb ‘constant’ is missing ‘ly’.
(The river bed can not both be ‘constant’ and ‘changing’ at the same time.)

Correct:
Researchers examined the constantly changing river bed for signs of invasive species.

Tip: The phrase ‘constant changing’ is an SAT favorite when testing adverbs.

From SAT Unlocked, which includes a complete list of the practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Writing rule.

SAT Math: Sets Terminology (w/ example)

Here are the SAT Math ‘Sets’ terms you should know.

Set questions ask you to compare overlapping groups to determine which members are in each set.

Example:

See comments for answer and explanation.

From my SAT guide SAT Unlocked, which includes a complete list of practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Math topic.

SAT Critical Reading: How to Read a Passage

When reading an SAT Critical Reading passage, underline the one or two most important parts of each paragraph. Don’t worry about absorbing every detail of the passage. Just read each paragraph quickly and underline the most important parts.

Even if you are not sure what is truly important, always be sure to underline SOMETHING in each paragraph. Underlining keeps you focused on the passage as well as marks information that can help you answer the questions. Most importantly, the more you practice underlining, the better your reading comprehension will become and, believe it or not, the faster you will actually read.

Re-read the underlined parts of Long Passages. Before answering the questions, quickly scan your underlining to give yourself a mental map of the passage. This quick and easy strategy really helps put the various parts of the passage in context.

Tip: Always read the italicized introduction and any asterisked (*) notes. The introduction and notes are very helpful in giving context to the passage and filling in extra details that help you answer the questions more easily.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Writing: Watch Out for Sentence Fragments

Complete sentences always contain both a subject and a main verb (or “predicate”).

About two times per test, SAT Writing will include question containing a ‘Sentence Fragment’ – in other words, a sentence that is simply not complete.

Incorrect:
Jesse Owens, the first man to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad, and setting world records in three of four events at the 1936 games in Berlin.

Problem: The sentence is not complete because it lacks a main verb.

Correct:
Jesse Owens, the first man to win four gold medals in a single Olympiad, set world records in three of four events at the 1936 games in Berlin.

Tip:
Sentence fragment questions appear almost exclusively on Improving Sentences questions.

From SAT Unlocked, which also includes a complete list of the practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide that test this SAT Writing rule.

SAT Math: Numbers and Operations Terms

A chart of the Math Numbers & Operations terms you need to know for the SAT.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Critical Reading: Mark Line Numbers & Circle Key Words

Before reading a passage, mark question line numbers and circle key words.
Quickly scan the passage reading questions for line numbers (shown in parentheses) and mark these numbers with a check or bracket in the margin next to the appropriate line(s) in passage. Line number questions also often ask about “key words” (shown in quotes in the question). If you see a “key word” in quotes in a line number question, circle that same word in the passage.

Some SAT prep folks tell you to read the the passage reading questions before reading the actual passage. In my experience, this is NOT a good strategy, because you simply don’t have time to read all of the questions, then the passage, then the questions again, and still expect to finish the Critical Reading section within the 20-25 minutes allowed.

What you can do, however, is quickly scan the questions for line numbers and then mark the corresponding line numbers in the margin next to the passage. For a long passage, this process only takes about 20-30 seconds, yet this strategy is extremely valuable because it shows you exactly where in the passage you need to focus your greatest attention.

Line number questions can total up to 3/4 of the questions for any given long passage, so when you mark line numbers, you are also targeting the specific information you need to answer the bulk of SAT Passage Reading questions.

Adapted from my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Writing: Faulty Comparisons

Watch out for SAT Writing questions that compare two things that are not the same type.

Incorrect:

The novels of Patrick O’Brian, which take place during the Napoleonic era, are more realistic than CS Forester.

The sentence above is incorrect because it compares novels (of Patrick O’Brian) with a person (CS Forester).

Correct:

The novels of Patrick O’Brian, which take place during the Napoleonic era, are more realistic than the novels of CS Forester.

Correct:

The novels of Patrick O’Brian, which take place during the Napoleonic era, are more realistic than those of CS Forester.

Correct:

The novels of Patrick O’Brian, which take place during the Napoleonic era, are more realistic than CS Forester’s novels.

Tip:
The SAT often uses authors and writings as the subjects of these ‘faulty comparison’ questions.

From my SAT guide SAT Unlocked, which also includes a list of all of the Faulty Comparisons questions appearing in The Official SAT Study Guide.

SAT Math: When to Plug-in Numbers II (w/ examples)

Previously, we talked about the strategy of plugging in a number whenever an SAT Math question mentions a number or integer. This number plug-in strategy works equally as well for questions with equations in the answer choices – questions that are often among the hardest on the entire SAT Math section.

Whenever you see an SAT Math question with equations in the answer choices, plug in a number.

Pick a number and plug it into the question to get a value. Then plug the number into each answer choice to see which one produces the same value.

Remember:
When plugging in numbers, be sure to pick EASY numbers and ALWAYS plug in for ALL answer choices.

Example 1:

The number plug-in strategy also works great for word problems with equations in the answer choices.

Example 2:

Answers and explanations in the comments.

From my SAT guide SAT Unlocked, which includes a complete list of practice questions in The Official SAT Study Guide for which this number plug-in strategy is effective.

SAT Critical Reading: How to Answer Definition Questions

Common to SAT passage reading, definition questions ask you what a specific word “most nearly means” in the context of a short or long passage.

To answer definition questions:

• First, eliminate answers that are not definitions or synonyms of the word in the question.
• Next, substitute the remaining answer choices into the sentence itself and see which one works best as a replacement.

Remember: a correct definition answer has to BOTH work in the sentence AND actually mean something similar to the word it replaces.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

SAT Writing: How are Writing Sections Organized?

SAT Writing includes an essay question and two sections of multiple choice questions.

• The Essay is always the FIRST section on the SAT.
• The bulk of multiple choice questions then come in one big, 25 minute section of 35 questions, and which appears somewhere between Sections 2-7.
• Additionally, a short, ten minute section of 14 Improving Sentences questions is always the last section of the test (Section 10).

The multiple choice (non-Essay) part of SAT Writing includes three types of questions:

• Improving Sentences (IS):
  Part or all of a sentence is underlined and you have to decide which is the best version of the underlined part.

• Error Identification (EI):
  Four different words or phrases are underlined in a sentence and you have to decide whether any of these underlined parts contain an error.

• Improving Paragraphs (IP):
  Questions on how to improve parts of a poorly written passage.

Improving Sentences (25 questions) and Error IDs (18 Questions) make up the vast majority of SAT Writing MC questions, while Improving Paragraphs account for only 6 out of the 49 total questions.

Improving Sentences and Error ID questions tend to appear in order of difficulty, with the easiest questions of each type appearing at the beginning and the hardest questions appearing near the end. Improvement Paragraph questions, by contrast, do not appear of order of difficulty.

Tip:
On the long Writing multiple choice section, answer Improving Paragraphs questions first. Then go back to the beginning of the section and answer the rest of the questions.

After slogging through 11 Sentence Improvements and 18 Error IDs, test fatigue and time pressure combine to make the Improving Paragraph questions far more difficult at the end of the long Writing section than they would be if they were positioned earlier.

By moving to the back of the section and answering these questions first, you can pick up easy points that other students often miss. This strategy also helps you better manage your time because the final questions will then be shorter Error IDs instead of the longer Paragraph Improvements.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.

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