SAT Question of the Day (plus ACT): May 29, 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=20140529&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.  There’s nothing difficult about this question and you can see that approximately 75% of students are getting it correct.  First, focus on the topic.  Cecily is worried about her computer getting old.  Then predict a word or phrase for the blank.  I predicted “out of date.”  Then I looked at the answers and saw “obsolete.”  All done.

Even if you didn’t know the word obsolete, looking for a word or phrase that means “out of date,” you could see words that you do know that can be eliminated.  What you need to remember on test day is that the right answer will always be consistent with 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 H.  The original phrasing and other answers don’t make sense.  In the original sentence, “commercial possibilities” cannot see!  For answer G, “some” cannot see “organizations of a medium.”  For J, organizations cannot see “commercials of a medium.”

What you should learn from this question is that sometimes it isn’t the strict grammar rules that make answers wrong.  Sometimes it is simply the sense of the writing.  In this case, for example, it is logic that helps you find the answer and not grammar rules.

QotD Words of “Wiz-dom”:

If you haven’t done so already, you need to read my blog about what to eat for breakfast the day of the tests.  If you are taking the SAT or ACT in the coming weeks, you may need to go to the grocery store!  Click on the “Breakfast Blog” to read about what to eat.

Breakfast Blog

We will be conducting our free seminar in Tallahassee on June 3 and Pensacola on June 5 as part of our national tour.  Mark the date on your calendar and watch my blog for further details.

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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