If you are reading this in an email you received from me, do not click the link to sat.collegeboard.org below. Use the link to my website that is farther down on the email. If you are seeing this in my blog, do the SAT Question of the Day by clicking on this link:
http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?src=R&questionId=20130418 (This link takes you to today’s question. If you use my archive, you will see the question related to my SAT explanation for that date.)
The answer is D. “Parallelism” is one of the most common topics that is tested by the SAT and ACT tests. This is a perfect example. The sentence tells us Marshall was known for “his quest,” “his opposition,” and “his support.” Oops! Instead of “his support,” the sentence says “he supported.” That’s not parallel or consistent with the other structures following “known for.” We needed objects of the preposition “for.” “He supported” isn’t parallel and is wrong. Circle Answer D in the book, bubble it in, and move on to the next question. (Did you notice how the structure of this last sentence is parallel? “Circle,” “bubble,” and “move” are all verbs that indicate actions that you should take.)
Let’s move on to the ACT question.
http://www.act.org/qotd/ (The ACT staff does not put a date on their questions so if you click on an archived blog, you’ll get today’s question and the old explanation. Sorry. The SAT staff has dated their questions; so, the archive is helpful. The ACT folks simply don’t do that.)
The answer is B. The initial strategy for this question is to be sure you are using the right figure (#2) which can trip you up on the test. Because this is primarily a test about reading diagrams, be sure you choose the proper one when answering questions. Then make sure you use the correct measurement — in this case, the width of the bars (for plant diameter, rather than the height of the column. :-)
The phrase “progressive increase” eliminates horseweed since it starts at 0, then is present (year 1) and then goes back to 0 in years 2 and 3. Aster starts out at 0 and increases through year 2 but then decreases in year 3. Broomsedge starts at 0 and then increases in size for every year through year 3. That makes Answer B the best choice. Circle it in the test booklet, bubble it in on your answer sheet, and move on to the next question.
I hope you have a great day. I’ll be thinking about you while I’m having a great day fishing! Tune in tomorrow for a fishing report.
Wizard
