SAT Question of the Day (and ACT): May 5, 2014

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=20140505&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.)

Reading this blog is 10% about learning how to answer today’s questions and 90% learning how to apply strategies and analyze questions you may see on test day.

The answer is B.  I usually write about the importance of the topic and predicting words for the blanks prior to looking at the answers.  So, let’s take a look at another element of the Sentence Completion strategy: look for key words and phrases to guide you in determining the topic.  This sentence starts with “although” which signals there is going to be a change in direction in the sentence; that is, the words for the two blanks will be opposite of one another.  In fact, given the answers for this question, that’s all you really need to know!  The rest of the sentence isn’t even necessary.  Answer B is the only pair of words that stand out as antonyms.  So now that you have these strategies, knowing the vocabulary could be the only challenge.

I’m not suggesting that when you see a key word you should pick your answers without reading the entire sentence to determine the topic.  I’m simply pointing out how important and valuable they are.  So, keep an eye out for the key words and phrases that help you identify the topic of the sentence.

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 C.  Because this essay focuses only on radio, it would not meet the requirement of the assignment which is “modern technologies.”  Writing only about radio is too narrow.

QotD Words of “Wiz-dom”:

I’d like to congratulate the Vero Beach High School girl’s lacrosse team for winning the Florida state championship yesterday and all the other teams in all sports that have earned their championships this year.  They serve as great examples of a blog that I wrote a few days ago: the will to prepare.  To achieve your goals the will to prepare is more important than the will to become successful.  It is true in sports, it is true for your SAT/ACT scores, and it will be true for the rest of you life.  The Boy Scout motto says it best: “Be Prepared.”

Bob Alexander, the “SAT and 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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