Sentence Completions

Link of the Day

Today’s SAT question references facts.  Facts are the details that are going to make your SAT essay stand out among a number of essays with unsupported opinions.  When used correctly, numbers and statistics are a wonderful tool that will make you sound informed.  You can quickly memorize a couple of numbers, which will hardly take a moment to write down, and impress your graders.  Which sounds more compelling:

(1) Americans should stop wasting so much food because other people do not have food.
(2) Americans currently throw away $165 billion dollars worth of food each day, a squandering of money and resources that is reprehensible in a world with starving children.

Read this article about the amount of food that Americans waste and realize that without concrete facts and numbers this article would have nothing to say.  This issue would make an excellent current event because it includes society, businesses and individuals, the environment and profit, and specific numbers.

8/23 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 cover the answer choices before reading the sentence so that you will not be distracted by wrong answer choices.  Read the sentence carefully and predict an answer.  Then match your prediction to the correct answer choice, making sure to look at all of the choices.  This process should be quick, not more than 40 seconds for most questions, and probably less for this particular question.

A judgment made before all the facts are known must be called -------.

This is a straightforward vocabulary-based question; the definition of the blank is “a judgment made before all the facts are known.”  Your keyword is “before.”  If someone makes a judgment before all the facts are known, it has been made too soon.  You might predict a word like “presumptuous” or “untimely.”  Look down at your answer choices to see which word matches your prediction.

(A) harsh
(B) deliberate
(C) sensible
(D) premature
(E) fair

(A) has nothing to do with the timing of the judgment, and you cannot know whether the decision was too harsh or too lenient.  Perhaps the facts that were unknown would have called for an even stricter punishment for a crime.  (B) is the opposite of your prediction.  (C) and (E) cannot be correct because a judgment made without considering the relevant facts will be neither sensible nor fair.  (D) is the only choice left.  Remember that your keyword in the original sentence was “before.”  The Latin prefix pre- actually means “before,” so the word “premature” means “before maturity” or simply, “too soon.”

Words used in this SC:
Harsh: rough, severe, or cruel
Deliberate: intentional, careful, having weighed facts and arguments
Premature: earlier than anticipated, before readiness or maturity


On sat.collegeboard.org, 85% of the responses were correct.

For more help with vocabulary, visit www.myknowsys.com!

Sentence Structure

Link of the Day

Hawaii has become one of the most popular vacation destinations in the United States, but do you know how this cluster of islands became a state?  President Eisenhower signed a proclamation welcoming Hawaii as the 50th state on August 21, 1959.  This action was not without controversy and intrigue.  Do you know the role that sugar played in the story?  What about the conflicting desires of Queen Liliuokalani and Prince Kuhio of Hawaii?  The difficulties that Hawaii faced on its road to statehood would make a great historical example for your SAT essay.  Read some of the facts here and look at some relevant documents here, but also search for some of the current opinions about this historical event.

8/21 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. 

As you read the original sentence to yourself, listen for errors.  Check the underlined portions of the sentence against the Big 8 Grammar Rules.  If you see an error, mark it, but be sure to quickly check the other choices.

The Sun has been shining for Anearly five billion years and is thought Bthat it has sufficient thermonuclear fuel in its core Cto shine Dfor about another five billion. ENo error

Look first at (A).  The word “nearly” modifies the “five billion years.” It is as close as possible to the words it modifies and it takes the –ly ending that most adverbs take, so there is no error in this underlined portion.  (B) should sound awkward to you.  Take out the words that are underlined and read the sentence.  “The Sun is thought __________ sufficient fuel.” You would not immediately place the word “it” in this blank because you already know that the subject is the Sun.  The word “it” is an unnecessary pronoun.  The correct phrasing is “to have.” Mark this error, but quickly check the other blanks. (C) is idiomatically correct because it uses the word “to;” you have enough fuel to do something.  (D) is idiomatically correct as well because you do something “for” a certain amount of time.   (E) cannot be correct because you already marked an error.

The correct answer is (B).


On sat.collegeboard.org, 59% of the responses were correct.

For more help visit www.myknowsys.com!

Exponents

Link of the Day

Pursuing your dreams takes dedication, particularly when you have to juggle athletic training and school at the same time. 16-year-old Olympic athlete Ariel Hsing has been dreaming of playing table tennis in the Olympics since she was just 8 years old. Her talent and dedication to her sport have helped to make that dream a reality. However, she understands that table tennis is not as popular as other sports (and therefore the endorsements are less lucrative). In addition to striving for Olympic greatness, Hsing also aspires to attend Stanford. You can read more about Ariel Hsing here. Her dedication to both her sport and her academics make her a great "Excellent Example" for your essay.

7/17 Exponents

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

As always, remember to follow the Knowsys method for math. Read the problem carefully and identify the bottom line (what you are looking for). Then, consider your options. How could you solve it? How should you solve it? Next, attack the problem using the method that you selected. Finally, loop back and verify that your answer matches the bottom line.

If  and , and if , which of the following is true?

The key to this question is to know your exponent rules and follow the Knowsys method for math. Start by reading the problem carefully and identifying the bottom line. If you glance at the answers below, you can see that you are looking for the relationship between x and y. Now, consider your options. What could you do? What should you do? Since you only have two variables in the equation (x and y), all you need to do is simplify the equation. Next, attack the problem using the method you have selected. You want to simplify the equation and move x and y out of the exponents. In order to do that, you need matching bases.  Using your exponent rules you can rewrite the equation as follows



Since the bases are the same, you can just eliminate them and you are left with



Now, do a little basic algebra to simplify and get



The final step in the Knowsys method for math is to loop back and verify that your answer matches the bottom line. Since you have followed all the algebra rules, you know that your equation is true. Look at the answers below and choose the one that matches your prediction.

(A) x=y
(B) x=2y
(C) 2x=y
(D) x=3y
(E) 3x=y

The correct answer choice is (D).

On sat.collegeboard.org 51% of the responses were correct.

For more help with math, visit www.myknowsys.com.

Sentence Completions

Link of the Day

Today's SAT Question of the Day mentions the "Red Tail Angels". The Tuskegee Airmen, or the "Red Tail Angels" as they came to be known, were a group of African American pilots who fought during WWII.  You can learn more about them here or, if you are more visually inclined, you can view an excellent documentary here. The "Red Tail Angels" have the potential to make a great "Excellent Example" in your SAT essay.

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 that the answer choices on most SAT questions are there to confuse you. Out of the five listed, four of them are wrong! Use the Knowsys Method: look at the sentence, make a prediction without reading the answer choices, and then compare the answer choices to your prediction to find the one that matches most closely.

A group of Black American fighter pilots known as the Red Tail Angels has the ------- of never having lost any of the bombers it escorted on missions over Europe in the Second World War.