Verbs

Identifying Sentence Errors

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Remember to check all the answer choices against the grammar rules you know, and don't just select an option that sounds strange to you--sometimes, things sound strange that are actually grammatically correct because they are rarely used.

Among the Aearliest telescopes Bwere Galilean telescopes, modeled after the simple instruments Cbuilt by Galileo, the first person Dhaving used telescopes to study the stars and planets. ENo error

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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. 

Read, predict, match. If these three steps become habit, your SAT score will go up.

Enrique did not take Marisol seriously when she told him she was going to bed to sleep for a week: he knew she was prone to ------.

What clues are given in this sentence to help you predict? First, we know that unless Marisol is seriously ill, she is not actually going to sleep for a week. Since the sentence gives no indication that Marisol feels poorly, "illness" will not work as a prediction. However, someone who tends to overstate the facts might still say she was going to sleep for a week. You could predict "overstatement," "exaggeration," or "aggrandizement." If a specific word doesn't come to mind immediately, you could go with "stretching the truth" or "a kind of lying." Now look at the answer choices.

Circles and Triangles

Geometry: Circles and Triangles

Read the following test question and then select your answer.

When you read, make sure you read carefully so that you don't miss anything important. Write down the bottom line, then assess your options and attack the problem with the most efficient method you know. Finally, loop back to make sure you answered the right question.



The circle shown above has center O and a radius of length 5. If the area of the shaded region is  , what is the value of x?

If this problem seems impossible at first glance, don't panic. It will have several steps, but it is far from impossible. Keep in mind that you don't need to know the entire path to the right answer when you start working, and in this problem that would be incredibly difficult. Just follow the steps of the Knowsys Method.

Before you start, notice that the picture says "not drawn to scale." That means that the test makers deliberately distorted it so it wouldn't help you as much, but you can still get some useful facts out of it. For example, O is both the center of the circle and one corner of the triangle. The fact that it is a right triangle is also likely to prove useful.

Prepositions

Writing: Improving Sentences

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Remember to read the sentence first and make a prediction to improve the sentence. Then check your prediction against the answer choices.

The gong, believed to have originated in Western Asia, reached China in the sixth century, where it continues to be used for a wide range of purposes, including as a military signal, a rhythmic accompaniment for vocal performance, and a ritual instrument.

Does anything pop or grab your interest? Besides the interesting tidbit of Chinese culture, that is. In this sentence, nothing should stand out as wrong or strange because the selection follows all the rules of grammar. The predicate "including" introduces a long modifier for the word "purposes." The preposition "as" is needed to describe the purposes for which the gong is used. It is possible that A is the correct answer, but be sure to check the other options before committing that choice to your answer document.

A) including as

B) which include

C) which includes

D) including

E) they include as

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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.

As always, remember to read carefully and predict the answer before looking at the answer choices.

Numerous illnesses that were once difficult to ------ may now be diagnosed through ------ blood tests.

This sentence has two blanks, so the first step is to choose the easier blank and make a prediction for it. In this sentence, start with the first blank. "Illnesses that were once difficult to [blank] may now be diagnosed..." It is reasonable to assume that the illnesses were difficult to "diagnose".

Numerous illnesses that were once difficult to diagnose may now be diagnosed through ------blood tests.

You could start with the second blank if you prefer, and in face a prediction comes to mind. The contrast between "once" and "now" suggests that something has changed. While the clue is too vague to predict exactly what the word will be, "easy" will suffice as an opposite of "difficult."

Numerous illnesses that were once difficult to diagnose may now be diagnosed through easy blood tests.

Keeping in mind that "easy" is a vague prediction, take a look at the answer choices:

Exponents

Mathematics: Exponents

Read the following SAT test question and then select your answer. 

According to the Knowsys Method, the first thing you should do when facing a math problem is to read carefully, then note the bottom line, assess your options, and attack the problem.

If , what is the value of ?

At the top of your scratch work, write the bottom line.  

In most problems you would want to solve for x, but here you need to solve for instead. How do you do that?

First, notice that the given exponent is very similar to what you need to find. To correct negative exponents, convert each term to its reciprocal. Since you do not have a fraction to start with, simply put 1 in the numerator.

Idioms

Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Always remember to make a prediction before selecting an answer choice. Predicting keeps the answer choices from distracting or confusing you, and it allows you to solve problems faster. The first step here is to read the sentence to see if anything "pops."

Encouraged Afrom her teacher, Vanessa Bdecided to enter the short story contest Cwith a story about her experience growing up Din Canada. ENo error

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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.

Remember to read and predict an answer before looking at the answer choices. Match your prediction to the answer choices.

In her review of a recent novel, the book review insisted on discussing details of the author's life, in open ------ the current trend in criticism, which eschews any consideration of biographical matters.

The first step in the Knowsys Method is to read the sentence carefully and predict a word (or words) that could fill in the blank. The sentence says that current critics "eschew," or shun, "any consideration of biographical matters." However, the critic who reviewed this particular novel apparently spoke of little else.You can conclude that the reviewer's practices are in opposition to "the current trend in criticism."

In her review of a recent novel, the book reviewer insisted on discussing details of the author's life, in open opposition to the current trend in criticism, which eschews any consideration of biographical matters. 

Probability

Mathematics: Standard Multiple Choice

Read the following SAT Question and then select your answer. 

Remember to take the time to read carefully, to note the bottom line, to choose the fastest way to solve the problem, and to match your solution to the answer choices.

Of 5 employees, 3 are to be assigned an office and 2 are to be assigned a cubicle. If 3 of the employees are men and 2 are women, and if those assigned to the office are to be chosen at random, what is the probability that the offices will be assigned to 2 of the men and 1 of the women?

First, read carefully. There is a trap lurking here; it is easy to assume that the 3 men will get the offices and the 2 women will get cubicles just because the numbers match up. However, the question says that the offices are assigned randomly, not based on gender, so you will need a more sophisticated way to solve the problem. What is the bottom line? The question asks for "the probability that the offices will be assigned to 2 of the men and 1 of the women," so abbreviate that and put it at the top of your scratch work.

prob m,m,w=?

Sentence Structure

Writing: Improving Sentences

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select Choice A.

First, read the sentence to see if anything sounds wrong. Predict by trying to correct the error. Then, match your prediction to the answer choices. Focus on differences among the answer choices to help you narrow down your options.

Unlike an acoustic guitar, whose hollow body acts as a sound box to project sound, there is almost no sound when a solid-body electric guitar is not amplified. 

The underlined section starts right after a comma, so consider what needs to be there. "Unlike an acoustic guitar" is an introductory phrase, and "whose hollow body acts as a sound box..." is a relative clause (it has a subject and a verb, and it relates to or describes one word in the sentence). Neither of them contains the subject of the sentence. After an introductory phrase, the very next independent noun is the subject of the sentence, so the first thing you will need to do is replace "there" with "guitar."  

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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.

Always remember to cover the answers before you read a Sentence Completion question. Since most of the answers are wrong, it's unlikely that looking at them will help you. After you read the sentence, predict an answer for the blank and compare that to the given answer choices. 

The ------ of trees in East Africa has caused the number of native antelopes to ------ sharply because the can live only where the forest is most dense.

The sentence points out that the antelopes can only live where the forest is most dense. If you cannot think of a prediction for one blank or the other, you can reason that the number of trees is linked to the number of antelopes. If there are more trees, there will be more antelopes; if there are fewer trees, then the antelope population will drop. Check the answer choices to see which preserve this relationship.

Mathematics

Mathematics: Standard Multiple Choice

Read the following SAT test question and then select your answer. 

The SAT instructions are so simplified, they leave out the most important parts of what you need to do. Remember that you need to disregard the answers, carefully read the question, mark the bottom line, and THINK about the most efficient way to solve the problem. Then do the math, check your answer against the bottom line you wrote down, and finally select the correct answer choice.

To make an orange dye, 3 parts of red dye are mixed with 2 parts of yellow dye. To make a green dye, 2 parts of blue dye are mixed with 1 part of yellow dye. If equal amounts of green and orange dye are mixed, what fraction of the new mixture is yellow? 

First, note the bottom line at the top of your scratch work. The problem asks for a fraction of the whole mixture, so write:



Next, assess your options. Ask "what could I do?" and then "what should I do?" The trap here is to simply add the parts together. Add up all the numbers to give the denominator, then add up the yellow parts to give the numerator. However, what that misses is the word "equal" in the question. The mixture you just added up would not have equal amounts of orange and green dye.

Verbs

Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains, select choice E. 

Identifying Sentence Errors problems are simple in concept. All you have to do is find the part that is wrong and mark it--the challenge lies in identifying which part of the sentence contains an error. 

Dance Aoften involving movement Bbeing taken to an extreme, with, Cfor example, the arms being flung Dor stretched out, the head lifted back, and the body arched or twisted. ENo error

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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.

Remember to first cover the answers, read the sentence and predict an answer. Then try to match your prediction to an answer choice.

The editor denied any knowledge of the reporter’s alleged unethical interview techniques, claiming he had been ------- her finished work but not of her journalistic practices.

I admit, I had a difficult time coming up with a prediction for this one. A quick (very quick!) glance at the answer choices shows that they each have not one but two words. The second one is a preposition. Now, looking back at the sentence, a prediction springs to mind.

The editor denied any knowledge of the reporter’s alleged unethical interview techniques, claiming he had been aware of her finished work but not of her journalistic practices.

Now look at the answer choices.

Quadrilaterals

Geometry: Quadrilaterals

Read the following SAT test question and then select your answer.

Remember the Knowsys Method: Without looking at the answer choices, read the question carefully, note the bottom line, assess your options, attack the problem, and loop back to check that you found what the question wanted.

What is the maximum number of nonoverlapping squares with sides of length 3 that will fit inside a square with sides of length 6?

At the top of your scratch work, summarize "the maximum number of nonoverlapping squares":

max squares = ?

Idioms

Happy Valentine's Day!

Improving Sentences

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A. 

Remember to cover the answers, read the sentence, and predict the best answer. 

A Raisin in the Sun won for its author Lorraine Hansberry the distinction of being the first African American to receive the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

Normally, the word "being" is a red flag. Since it implies on-going action, it often doesn't make sense in a piece of writing. Omitting the word or replacing it with "to be" usually results in a better sentence. Here, however, “being” cannot be deleted, and the substitution of “to be” sounds odd: 

A Raisin in the Sun won for its author Lorraine Hansberry the distinction to be the first African American to receive the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

What to do now? Look at the answer choices.

Sentence Completions

Critical Reading: 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. 

Remember to stop and cover the answers before you read the sentence. Two-blank sentences have twice as many wrong words, so the answer choices are even more likely to cost you time. Read the sentence and predict the answer instead. 

The play, which features ------- mix of comedy, pathos, and music, was correctly described by one honest critic as a -------.

The catch is, predicting is not always easy. The hardest thing about this sentence is that the two blanks are connected to each other--predicting one would be easier if we knew more about the other. That means that coming up with a perfect prediction is impossible. Instead, think about how the two relate to generate a general prediction. Your clue is the phrase "correctly described." Whatever the two words are, they need to have the same charge and related meanings. Look at the answer choices:

Algebra Equations: Solve

Mathematics: Standard Multiple Choice

Read the following SAT test question and then select your answer. 

If  , then Q=

Read the question carefully and note the bottom line at the top of your scratch work. The nice thing about short questions like this is that they make the first two steps of the Knowsys Method absolutely effortless. At the top of your scratch work, write Q=?

Next, assess your options. What could I do? What should I do? The two most obvious choices here are to work backwards by plugging in the answers or to rearrange the equation to solve for Q. It will be faster on this problem to solve for Q.

Idioms

Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E. 

First, read through the sentence to see if anything sounds wrong. Then apply the rules of grammar to see what actually is wrong. That way, you will improve your feel for grammar as you prepare for the SAT. 

Wynton Marsalis Aemerged as one of the great trumpeters Bof the late twentieth century, Cwinning Grammy awards for both his jazz Dand even classical works. ENo error