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=20140325&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 E. This is a wonderful example of one of the SAT (and ACT) test writers’ favorite tricks: put the verb (was) a long way from the subject (All) and test to see if the student realizes they don’t agree. All is plural and it needs a plural verb, were. That leaves us with Answers B and E. However, they is an unnecessary pronoun in Answer B. That makes Answer E better than B.
Be sure when a verb is underlined (in this case was) that you check it for consistency with the subject. You also need to make sure it is the right form of the verb and the correct tense. My programs include a list of these and other common errors you will see on the tests, like misuse of pronouns (they in Answer B). Check out page 92 of Demystifying the SAT & ACT, my free website, or the 900 Video series.
I wonder if the ACT folks have something new for us this morning.
ACT Question of the Day: Use your “back” button to return to my website after reading the ACT Question of the Day.
I think this is a question I haven’t seen before and we could all wish that all of the questions on the test were really this easy.
The answer is C. Here’s a fact you need to keep in mind–the science in the passages and in the questions will always be consistent with the real world. Once in a while, you don’t have to go back and find the answer in the passage; common sense or knowledge will be enough. In this case, you know that if something is half as long, its shadow has to be half as long. Enough said.
Thought for the day:
Confucious: The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
I’d like to add another key to reaching excellence. “The willingness to prepare.” Many students have “the will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach their full potential,” but they don’t have the commitment to prepare. No matter how much you want something you have to do what it takes to achieve it. You will have to forgo other activities in order to take the time to practice for the SAT and ACT. Otherwise, you will not achieve your full potential.
Bob Alexander, the “SAT and ACT Wizard”
