http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?src=R&questionId=20130201 (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. Begin SAT Sentence Completion questions by asking yourself, “What is the topic of the sentence?” The “author” refutes/disagrees with the claim that expressing anger reduces it; so, would claim just the opposite. We can easily predict his position would be that expressing anger increases its amount. What answers are synonyms for expressing and amount? Now it’s important to do one word at a time because it speeds you up. Let’s look at the second prediction, amount. Only answer D, intensity, has to do with amount: A, impact has to do with effect; B, importance doesn’t have to do with size; C, the author isn’t talking about likelihood or the chances of something happening; and E, he certainly isn’t addressing increasing the benefits or good things that come from expressing anger.
So, we are really done with this question because we’ve eliminated all the wrong answers without even looking at the first word! However, it’s a good idea to check our work by looking at it anyway. Venting means releasing. If you didn’t know the word venting, think about words that sound like it. I bet you know about A/C or heating vents. They release air. That makes sense. To release anger would be consistent with the topic of “express it.” All done; move on.
Let’s see what the ACT folks have in store for us this morning.
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 H. Hey, look! You don’t need to know any science in advance; the ACT folks teach you the science. You just need to read and understand what they tell you. Be sure to look at the right graph, Figure 3. The “oak-hickory” dotted line is at 15,000 at an age of 150 years. No problem.
Be sure you don’t waste time learning the information in the charts and graphs before you get to the question. Just get the “main idea” of each one. Doing so would have alerted you to the fact that if there were any questions about “age of stand” and density, you would come back here. The ACT staff was nice since in this question they told you where to look anyway. That’s when you’d pay attention to the details that would answer the question.
Happy February!
Classes start in Dr. Phillips and Celebration this weekend. Some of you have called or emailed me to reserve a seat but remember I only guarantee a seat if you’ve completed and submitted your registration form. So, take care of that if you haven’t done so already.
If you are taking the February ACT, time is running short. I recommend you watch my online Tips and Tricks videos to help you prepare. In addition to the free ones on the home page, it only costs $3 to watch an hour of my best test-taking techniques for taking the SAT and ACT tests.
The Wizard
