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.
http://sat.collegeboard.org/practice/sat-question-of-the-day?questionId=20140205&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 A. Just over a third of the students are getting this question correct which means it would be rated as “hard” by the test writers. I think the grammar is easy but how they structured the sentence is what makes it hard.
You can find the grammar explained on my #900 Video series. Just like pronouns, sometimes there are nouns that have to agree with other nouns in the sentence. Because particles and giants are plural they must agree with the noun they represent; they are reflexive nouns. Particles and giants are not underlined; therefore, you have to accept them as the baseline and make the word they represent consistent with their plural form. So, meteorite must be made plural and then, of course, you would have to make shows plural (show).
The reason this question is hard is that it is the antecedent that is wrong. I’d bet if the sentence had started with “meteorites” (plural) and then underlined “particle” (not plural) many more students would have gotten it correct. That is why it is important to review grammar rules and then practice using real SAT (and ACT) questions. If you need help, my program covers what you’ll need to know with clear explanations. Practice is the key to reducing your test anxieties, gaining confidence, and raising 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.
It’s another question that has been used many times before but if you haven’t seen it or don’t remember it, I recommend you read on. I’ll try to write a different set of ideas about it this time.
The answer is G. The Science Test is very much like the reading test when it comes to a successful strategy for raising your score. Use PICK. The “I” stands for insertable and you want to eliminate answers that don’t fit in the passage because they either add to or disagree with what you are told.
Answer F disagrees because Figure 1 shows succession starting with a “bare field” and not “bare rock.” Answer H disagrees because the figure shows the plants getting taller. Answer J disagrees because the figure shows how the changes are slowing down over time when you read the timeline scale. That leaves G as the correct answer.
That was easy. The challenge of the Science Test is the number of questions you have to do and the perceived difficulty of the information you are given. This past Monday, I was tutoring Brad for this Saturday’s test and as he initially looked at some practice Science passages, he remarked how hard, confusing, and intimidating they appeared. However, when he began doing the passages, even the most abstract looking passages were much easier than he suspected they would be. This brings to mind my Pillar VI (Don’t Be Intimidated by the Seemingly Difficult) and the importance of practice. You’ll soon learn that neither the SAT nor the ACT are as difficult as you think they may be. Learn my strategies and you’ll agree.
I am planning our summer tour of the US. Check out the approximate route:
https://maxthetest.com/mary-alice-fund/organizational-application
Let me know if you would like us to stop and conduct our free college admissions and SAT/ACT seminar in your city.
It’s hump day. Enjoy the peak of the week and it will be down hill from here.
The SAT & ACT Wizard
