Sentence Completions

Link of the Day

Getting a job might not be your top priority in high school--or maybe it is! This link has some good advice. As a student, it is easy to think that you don't have any qualifications, but that isn't true. Think about your personality, your favorite classes in school, any leadership roles you've held, and so on. Some teachers set up Classroom Managers to help with daily tasks, and students often put these positions on real-life job applications as well. Are you exceptionally friendly? Outrageously smart? Good with computers? Do you speak (or even take classes in) another language? Any of these can help you stand out in an application or interview. You have a lot to offer! 

5/16 Sentence Completions

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted into the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

I wonder sometimes whether you get tired of reading these explanations of the instructions or skip them entirely. I hope you don't. Reading them repeatedly, day after day, is a great way to internalize them so you don't need to waste time on the exam reading the directions--you'll already know what they say. For sentence completion questions, the first thing you should do is cover the answer choices. Next, read the sentence and predict the correct answer. Then look at the answer choices and determine which one best matches your prediction.

His ------ experience notwithstanding, David was judged by the hiring manager to be ------ the job.

This one is a little trickier than most. The sentence does not give enough information to predict either blank with certainty, but you can draw come conclusions about the relationship between the two omitted words. The word "notwithstanding" is your clue here, and it indicates that the two blanks are opposites. It means nevertheless, although, or in spite of, so either David had abundant experience and was still found inadequate, or he had meager experience and was found suitable anyway. Look at the answer choices:



A) illustrious . . entitled to

B) limited . . qualified for

C) applicable . . assured of

D) useful . . overqualified for

E) irrelevant . . perplexed by

Only B demonstrates the opposite relationship needed for this question.

His limited experience not withstanding, David was judged by the hiring manager to be qualified for the job.

The answer is B.

Words tested in this SC:
illustrious: dignified
entitled: having the right to own, demand, or do something
applicable: suitable, relevant, appropriate
assured: guaranteed, confident
useful: having a practical or beneficial use
overqualified: having too many qualifications to be deemed appropriate for a job
irrelevant: not related, not applicable, or unimportant
perplexed: confused or puzzled


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