http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?src=R&questionId=20130129 (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 B. This is a pretty simple SAT question if you are using my strategy. What is the topic of the sentence? What does it tell us about the subject “she?” She loathes public appearances. Well, if she doesn’t like public appearances she needs to be left alone–privacy is the answer.
If you don’t know what loathes means, you can’t tell if this is a positive or negative answer. A, C, and E don’t make any sense in either case since they aren’t about the topics of either liking or hating public appearances; so, eliminate them. You are down to two answers and you have to guess since you’ve eliminated at least one answer. Here’s a couple of hints to make you a better guesser. First, read the sentence and substitute each remaining answer. One usually sounds better than the other; that’s the one to pick. Second, there’s another thing that is a pattern in the questions on the SAT: sentences about women are more frequently positive than negative. In this case, it doesn’t sound so good for a woman to have a great need for devotion; she comes across as self-centered. Rather than simply guess, pick the answer that isn’t so negative.
Keep in mind that the previous paragraph was about how to guess. Don’t use these two techniques until doing the standard strategy of using the topic of the sentence first to eliminate as many answers as you can before guessing.
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 B. Since the ACT test writer wants you to write a concluding sentence, you need to summarize the paragraph just like your English teachers have taught you. This is a paragraph about things in the radio industry being out of control–everybody was doing their own thing. The test writers give you a big hint because the last sentence defines “chaos.” They usually aren’t so nice! That leads you to the right answer.
What if you didn’t get their hint? D makes no sense because you are told that the government wasn’t in control before the Radio Division was created. C is too bland–the paragraph tells you that the problems were much larger than “some” problems. That leaves B since the paragraph is about needing control over the radio stations which is the topic of the paragraph. It is explaining why the Radio Division was created.
Here’s a big shout out to all my new students at Lake Nona High. Welcome to the Wizard’s Workshop. Hope you and your parents enjoyed the College Admissions night. Thank your parents for joining you on your journey to finding a great college.
Classes start in Dr. Phillips and Celebration this weekend. 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
