Sentence Completions

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In 1998, Tom Whittaker became the first disabled person to reach the summit of Mount Everest. Whittaker lost his right leg in a car accident in 1979 but he never gave up (he actually refused pain medication so that he could plead with the surgeon to only amputate one of his legs). His resolve and determination make him a great "Excellent Example" for your essay. You can learn more about him here.

6/24 Sentence Completions

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

You should always remember to make a prediction before you look at the answer choices. All of the information that you need to choose the correct answer is given in the sentence. By reading carefully and making a prediction, you can avoid falling for trap wrong answers. 

Bolstered by his unflagging determination and___________physical preparation, Tom Whittaker became the first amputee to successfully climb to the summit of Mount Everest.

Look carefully at the information given in the sentence above. Tom Whittaker is "Bolstered by his unflagging determination and ____________ physical preparation . . ." whatever it is that bolsters him must be positive. Since he climbed Mount Everest, his physical preparation must have been "very good"or "thorough". Now, take a look at the answer choices and see which one matches your prediction.

(A) fortuitous

(B) assiduous

(C) heedless

(D) expeditious

(E) pedantic

(A) fortuitous implies that his preparation was "lucky." That doesn't really fit your prediction (and in fact, it would detract from Whittaker's accomplishment).  (B) Fits your prediction well. Clearly you are mean to admire Whittaker and diligent physical preparation is something to be admired. (C) (D) and (E) don't fit your prediction at all so you can eliminate them.

The correct answer choice is (B).

Vocab tested in this SC:

fortuitous: happening by chance; coincidental

assiduous: hard working, diligent, regular

heedless: unaware, without noticing

expeditious: fast, prompt, speedy

pedantic: overly concerned with formal rules and trivial points of learning

On sat.collegeboard.org 38% of the responses were correct

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