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?questionId=20130912&oq=1 (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. This is a pretty easy question; about 3/4 of the students are getting it correct. The verb sings has to be changed to indicate something that had happened prior to her becoming a rock star. The proper form of the verb would be “had sung.”
What can this question tell us about the SAT (and ACT) test? It is just one of the many grammar rules you had better review and then watch for on test day. You can find lists on the Internet. I have a list with some hints about them on Video #9 and in my book Demystifying the SAT and ACT. No matter where you find them, it is going to be important to do a review. It will help you raise your confidence and improve your score.
Let’s see what the ACT folks have for us today.
ACT Question of the Day: Use your “back” button to return to my website after reading the ACT Question of the Day.
The answer is F. As with all the reading questions on the ACT and SAT, I used the Wizard’s Checklist to quickly and accurately answer this question. “Step #1: Does the answer ADD to the passage” easily finds the right answer. F does not add to the story and the other three answers do. F has to be the right answer.
Yes, taking the reading test is this simple but you have to practice. You must see at least a few hundred reading questions to become proficient with my Checklist. I know that sounds like a lot of questions but consider there are 40 reading questions on every ACT test and 48 on every SAT test. There are 5 tests in the Real ACT Prep Guide and 10 tests in the Official SAT Study Guide. Then there are a couple more free tests available in your counselor’s office. That’s about 800 practice questions. If you do half of them and review your right and wrong answers using the Checklist, you will see a terrific increase in your reading score. My students who do this have an average score increase of over 100 points on the SAT Reading test. Is your future worth it?
When you are prepping for the SAT and ACT, you should keep asking yourself, “Is my confidence improving? Am I learning things that will raise my score?” If your answer is “no” or you aren’t sure, then you had better adjust what you are doing. Change your test prep plan. Talk with your teacher. Email me with your questions and concerns. Do something different. I learned long ago that if your confidence isn’t improving, your score isn’t improving either!
Do something nice for yourself today. You deserve it.
Wizard
