Jan 27 ACT & SAT Question of the Day

http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?src=R&questionId=20130127 (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 C.  To increase your speed and accuracy, you’ve got to get a list of common mistakes.  When I got to “make,” I immediately checked the subject that would go with this verb before I even looked at D.  I knew it had to have a plural subject and when I saw the subject is “supply,” a singular noun, I knew C would be the right answer.

Darn the English language!  Why do plural nouns have an “s” but plural verbs don’t??  It’s just amazing that anybody can learn English.

I have a list of common errors on my website but if you don’t have such a list, keep doing these SAT and ACT questions, eventually you’ll be able to recognize the grammar and composition errors that show up on the test a lot.  It took me about three SAT tests to figure out what they like to do with the questions.  So, that’s another thing you could do–review lots of practice tests from real SAT tests.  Don’t get me started on the fake tests that book publishers make up to help you prepare.  Some of them simply aren’t very much like the real test at all.  I only recommend the sample tests that are actually published by the SAT and ACT folks themselves.

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 F.  If you had trouble with this ACT question, just look at lines 81-3 and use the “Wizard’s Checklist.”  All of the other answers violate some of the 5 rules about right answers that make up the checklist.  Only F meets all the requirements.  Using the criteria on the checklist makes you a much better test taker since it dramatically speeds up picking the best answer.  The research says students over analyze  answers and end up wasting time and talking themselves into wrong answers.  If this sounds like you (and it probably does), you need a quick and easy way to categorize answers as right and wrong; that is what the “Wizard’s Checklist” does for you.  Register for my program or buy the DVD set and you’ll learn all about it.

Classes start in Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, and Celebration this week. I only have two seats left for the Lake Nona class. Reserve your seat today.

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

 

About Bob Alexander

Bob has been a professional educator starting with teaching biology, becoming a school administrator, and then working as an education lobbyist in Washington, DC. He got his start in national testing by becoming a consulting test writer, later joining Kaplan as a director, and finally starting his own business in 1995. He has written numerous books, consulted for school districts and colleges, developed his website and been featured on a DVD set. He offers SAT and ACT prep classes and tutors individuals and small groups of students in central Florida.
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