SAT Question of the Day (ACT too!): Oct. 6, 2013

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=20131006&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.  They sure are being nice this morning and giving us an easy question.  84% of the students are getting it right.  The proper word to use when comparing two items is “as” because it is an adverb indicating degree.  This sentence means the two continents are not equally mountainous.

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 B.  This question reminds us of some major differences between the SAT and ACT.  The ACT will have detail questions while the SAT has very few, if any.  I suspect nobody saw any on yesterday’s test.  That makes the ACT easier for some students but harder for others.  You may wonder why detail questions are harder.  It is because the answers are harder to find.

The SAT gives you line references for the large majority of questions.  I would estimate 80%.  The ACT gives you relatively few references, certainly less than 50% and often less than 40%.  They aren’t going to tell you where to go find answers to detail questions.  Today’s Question of the Day is a perfect example.  That’s exactly what makes it hard.  You will be spending a long time looking for the answer, especially when it is a Roman Numeral Question because you have three answers to find.  You only have 35 minutes to read 4 passages and answer 40 questions.  Time becomes the challenge.

In this example, the answer isn’t even in the paragraph describing compurgation starting on line 23.  It is in the paragraph about ordeals.  The first sentence starting in line 36 tells us that ordeals were for more serious crimes which means that compurgation was for less serious crimes (Roman Numeral II).  The other answers (I and III) are not insertable and violate the Wizard’s Checklist rules.  (Refer to Video #3.)

Enjoy your day.  Do something for yourself!

The SAT & ACT 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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