SAT Prep Midterm

List in order from best to worst the types of examples you should not use on the essay.

academic news/current events popular culture and sports personal hypothetical generalizations

What are the three key terms associated with the "Structure & Organization" part of the ETS Essay Rubric?

1. Transitional elements 2. Topic Sentences 3. Thesis Statement

Explain all three purposes of the SAT.

1. provide one fair, even standard for all those attempting to learn at the university level 2. provides a system of evaluation that enables any university to raise or lower its admission standards to include or exclude various types of students 3. Students may earn money through the PSAT & SAT via the NMSQT program, the Star Student award, and the Page One awards, to name a few

What are the four ways you'll be evaluated in the critical reading section?

1. sentence completions 2. short passages 3. long passages 4. double passages

What are the ETS's four reasons for having an experimental section?

1. test the validity of the questions 2. remove any racial or gender bias 3. test the effectiveness of their tricks 4. determine the order of difficulty

What are the four ways your writing will be evaluated?

1. the essay 2. fix the bad paragraph 3. fix the bad sentence 4. spot the error

Of the six things that detract from your reading comprehension, which three do you have some control over during a real SAT? Explain.

1. wrong temperature - bring layers of clothing to adjust 2. poor posture - sit up in the aggressive, academic posture 3. no pre-reading material - read the italics before and questions at the end of a long passage before you read.

How long do you have to write your essay?

25 minutes

What is the entire format of the SAT?

7 - 25 minute sections: 2 math 2 critical reading 1 writing skills 1 essay 1 experimental 2 - 20 minute sections: 1 math 1 critical reading 1 - 10 minute section: writing skills

Define a thesis sentence, its location, and its purpose.

A thesis sentence is normally the last sentence of an introductory paragraph, which explains what the entire paper is about.

Define a topic sentence, its location, and its purpose.

A topic sentence is the first sentence of a body paragraph, which explains what the entire paragraph is about. It should connect the thesis to the paragraph's content in a meaningful way.

How many points do you lose for an incorrect answer?

- .25 pts

What is the list from best to worst types of vocabulary writers can use.

- using advanced vocab. properly - use simpler vocab. effectively - forcing or misusing advanced vocabulary using slang, symbols, or very informal phrasing - misusing simple vocab.

What is the anatomy of an acceptable body paragraph for any type of academic writing?

A. topic sentence B. supporting detail sentence C. Provide an example. This may take a few sentences. D. follow up (show relevance to the thesis, to your own life, or to another modern application) E. (optional) transition into another example or transition into the next paragraph.

What are context clues?

Any information that appears near a word or phrase in a sentence and offers direct or indirect suggestions about its meaning

Define the term "Developing Mastery"

appears in the 3-4 point range on the rubric. It indicates that a student is trying to use a skill or concept that has clearly been taught, but that student is still struggling to get it right.

What is the recommended method of solving a Double Passage? Why is this method recommended?

1. Look at the questions and divide them at the point where they stop referring to passage 1 and begin referring to passage 2 2. Tackle passage 1 separate and answer all of its questions 3. Go on to passage 2 and answer all of its questions 4. If there are questions referring to both passages then answer them last WHY: The two authors normally agree but for different reasons. Even if they disagree, it is easy to confuse them. By splitting them up, you can keep them separate in your mind.

List the 6 main points for the rubric of the essay.

1. Mastery- of the prompt and the question 2. Point of View- scope of argument, depth of detail, use of appropriate examples 3. Essay Structure and Organization 4. Meaningful Sentence Variety- combine short, choppy sentences 5. Use of Vocabulary 6. Clean Grammar

What are some disadvantages of each of the 3 methods for solving critical reading questions?

1. Method 1 makes your mind have to do two things at once- decode the passage and figure out which parts are testable; offers no pre-reading activities to improve reading comprehension 2. May take a long time 3. Without a proper reading foundation and an understanding of how to solve certain question types, a hunter will miss much information and get answers wrong

What are some advantages of each of the 3 methods for solving critical reading sections?

1. Method 1 provides a sense of security; logical progression 2. By marking the text, the reader alerts himself of an upcoming question and sharpens focus 3. Quickest method

We discussed four ways that you can implement POE on the SAT. List them.

1. Order of difficulty 2. Connotation 3. The Run Rule 4. Eliminate Tricks

What are the 3 methods for solving Critical Reading sections?

1. Read the passage first, then answer the questions 2. Read questions first, make notes in the text, then read, then answer questions 3. Hunting- do not read passage, read question and hunt for answer

How should one quickly solve for the main idea in a long passage?

1. Read the thesis statement and all topic sentences. 2. Read the italics before the passage. 3. Read the first and last paragraph. 4. If that's not enough, read the entire intro. and conclusion.

What are the 4 types of tricks that ETS uses on critical reading sections? List and define them.

1. The distracter - A distracter may try to slip in a misstatement of the author's words. This type of distracter distorts the meaning of the passage. Even a slight change in wording or meaning may make the answer choice incorrect. 2. The shift - This type may try to shift your thinking to choose the correct answer to another question. This type of distracter correctly represents the meaning of the passage, but plays upon the carelessness and rapid pace of the less-savvy test taker. 3. The enticer - This answer choice will try to entice you into choosing it, simply because it seems very appealing, or it appears to contain some universal truth. 4. The extreme - Absolutes or extremes are rarely the correct answer choice. These incorrect choices may include words such as always, never, completely, or absolutely. If you can think of one exception, or if the answer is debatable, then the extreme answer choice is incorrect.

Define the FANBOYS and name them.

Coordinate Conjunctions: For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

What does "ETS" stand for?

Educational Testing Services

What should you consider if you have a coordinate conjunction and a blank together?

Focus on the coordinate conjunction as a middle point Consider the two terms being joined by that conjunction If on one side of the conjunction the sentence suggests something positive, the other side can be easily understood, depending on the type of conjunction used

Define "Grade Inflation". When does it appear?

Grade inflation involves a school or teacher's artificially raising one's grade without academic merit. This concept comes up when considering the three purposes of the SAT.

List the things that detract or improve one's reading comprehension.

Human voice Music with words Instrumental music Temperature Posture Lack of pre-reading activities

Explain how connotation can be used to help you solve Sentence Completion problems.

If the test taker knows that the connotation of the blank is negative, then he may eliminate all answer choices that have positive connotations (or vice versa). It is a very effective way of narrowing down your choices rapidly.

Name the two types of context clues.

Informational & Grammatical Context Clues

What do context clues do?

Involve words or pieces of punctuation that help a reader understand the meaning of any text

What should you think about if you have a coordinate conjunction and a blank together in a sentence completion?

Look on either side of the coordinate conjunction to see which terms are related to the blank, then find the term that fits appropriately.

What does "NMSQT" stand for?

National Merit Scholar Qualification Test

List at least 3-5 ways that a Main Idea question might be phrased

The major purpose of the passage is to... The primary purpose of the passage is to... The passage is primarily concerned with... Which of the following statements best represents a major idea of the passage? The major focus of the passage is on... The passage is best described as... Which title would best summarize the content of the passage?

Define "denotation"

The word's dictionary definition

Define both types of vocabulary we talked about in class. Which is the ETS concerned with?

speaking vocabulary- the words we use in everyday speech sight recognition vocabulary- words we don't normally use in conversation but know the meaning of when we are asked ETS is concerned with sight recognition vocabulary

Define Depth of Detail

the degree to which a writer adds detail to his or her example

Describe the run rule

there will never be more than three answers of the same letter in a row

What is the general statement made about blind guessing?

won't help or hurt your score; for every one question you get right, you will get 4 wrong, so it evens out

Define a transitional element.

word phrase or clause that tells the reader that the focus is shifting

Discuss the process of grading an SAT essay. What problem can occur? How does it get resolved?

- The essays get scanned - There are tables of graders (This is also done across the internet.) - a head grader and his subordinates. - two people grade one essay, each giving a score from 0 - 6. - your score is the sum of the two results. - If the two graders give you different scores that are more than 1 pt. apart, your essay gets sent to the head grader, who works out the official score.

What are the two exceptions to the order of difficulty rule on the verbal side?

1. In Critical Reading- all the questions dealing with the long passages are listed sequentially instead of by difficulty. If they were listed by difficulty, students would be confused about which questions went with which passages. 2. In the Writing Skills section- the questions dealing with "fix the bad paragraph" are listed sequentially instead of by difficulty.

What are the four other things you should know about experimental sections?

1. It's always a 25 min section 2. You don't know which one it is 3. It is never the essay 4. It does not count towards your score

List and discuss each Critical Reading question type for Long and Double Passages.

1. General Information Question- main idea; author's tone or mood 2. Vocabulary-in-Context Question- just like sentence completion questions (solve them with RACE); remember all 5 answer choices are usually correct definitions of the word, but only one makes sense 3. Literal Comprehension- the info is verbatim in the text, but this is a good question type for ETS to slip in some shifts and distractors 4. Extended Reasoning- require the test-taker to draw an inference or read between the lines; one is forced to make a conclusion one information presented in the text; the questions want you to understand the implications of what is stated, follow the logic of an argument, or evaluate an author's assumptions

What are the 4 areas from which Critical Reading passages are taken? Explain what each involves.

1. Humanities- art, literature, architecture, philosophy, and folklore 2. Social Sciences- history, government, sociology (people and cultures) 3. Natural Sciences- geology, biology, zoology, astronomy, ecology 4. Narrative Fiction- Literature- excerpts from novels, poetry, short stories, plays, and memoires

How many points do you lose for leaving a question blank?

0 pts

How many points do you get for a correct answer?

1 pt

How should you split up your time for the essay?

1. 2-5 min. brainstorming 2. 20 min. writing 3. 1-2 min. proofreading

List and discuss the 6 methods of saving time on the critical reading section.

1. Answer questions in order-you know them, which builds confidence as you go. Even though the test is arranged by order of difficulty, some students have been exposed to vocabulary or math concepts that may make some intermediate or difficult-level things easier or familiar to them. Inversely, they may be unfamiliar with some concepts or terms that are in the easy to intermediate range. 2. Don't dwell on the questions that are hard to solve. This drains you of time and confidence while increasing your level of frustration. The test will have some very difficult concepts and terminology to challenge the best of you. Accept this fact; expect it. Then, make a big star or other such mark next to the questions you skip, so you can return to them after having answered all of those that you feel pretty confident about. Now, you can apply the rules about process of elimination, connotations, roots, and, perhaps, ultimately leaving the answer blank. 3. Process of elimination saves time by maintaining focus. Narrow down your choices, so the answer will become clear. Strike a line through anything that you're sure is wrong, so your eye does not have to waste time encountering that choice again as you deliberate. Do not line through things that you haven't completely ruled out as incorrect. Make an educated guess, if you've eliminated some of the choices. 4. On reading passages, assess how well you comprehend as you go, but specifically at the ends of paragraphs. If you lost focus, then take the time to re-read. It is understandable that you might lose focus, given the pressure of a timed college entrance test. You can sharpen your focus by highlighting or circling/underlining significant information in the text. 5. Improve your speed by increasing "chunks." This technique should be practiced daily through your reading in academic classes as well as your reading of magazines, newspapers, and other things of your choosing. Be very conscious of your own ratio of speed to comprehension, but also be conscious of the inversely proportionate relationship between speed and comprehension. 6. Quickly solve for main idea questions by: A. reading the thesis and topic sentences B. reading the sentences in italics at top of the passage C. reading the 1st and last sentences of the entire passage, especially in passages that only have a length of about 1 or 2 paragraphs. 7. Do not experiment on the real SAT. You should already have all of your strategies in place, especially regarding your method of solving a critical reading passage. Do not "try out" new methods of solving problems during the test, as this will lead to frustration and potential problems. Instead, practice enough before hand to know what works and what does not for you. This will give you confidence to succeed.

What does PAM B DAF stand for?

Parallel Structure Agreement Misplaced Modifiers Big 3 Diction Adj. v. Adv. Faulty Comparisons

What does "PSAT" stand for?

Preliminary Scholastic Assessment Test

Most critical reading passages are taken from which university- level courses?

Prerequisites

What does the acronym "RACE" stand for?

R = read the sentence without looking at the answers. A = anticipate the answer by making up one of your own. C = compare your idea to the choices. E = eliminate wrong answers and tricks.

List the 4 ways to quickly solve for Main Idea questions.

Reading the thesis and topic sentences Reading the sentences in italics at top of the passage Reading the 1st and last sentences of the entire passage, especially in passages that only have a length of about 1 or 2 paragraphs Read the introduction and conclusion in longer essays

When would you use the acronym "RACE"?

Sentence Completions

What are the 4 parts of the Critical Reading sections?

Sentence Completions Short Passages Long passages The Double Passage

What is the definition of the order of difficulty rule? Discuss percentages.

States that for each type of question within a particular section of the SAT, they are ordered from easiest, to medium, to hard. On average, 88-90% of students get the easy ones right, while 88-90% get the difficult ones wrong.

Discuss our focus on the ETS's use of boring passages. Why are they there? Why is "boring" a relative term? What do you do about it?

The College Board is trying to put you in a situation that provides similar readings to those you will get as college assignments. If you are academically immature about handling this, then you will probably do poorly and as result, not be allowed to enter their institution. So, the idea is for you to be mature about the passage. You don't have to like it, but you should be able to handle it successfully.

Define "connotation" and its several types.

The connotation is the word's implied meaning based on its context or how it is being used. For the SAT, keep it simple and only focus on whether it is positive, negative, or neutral.

What should you do when you see a sent. comp. with a blank before a semi-colon?

everything after the semi-colon defines what should go in the blank.

Where can you find two pre-reading activities on the SAT?

in the italics before a passage and in the questions following the passage

What is Scope of Argument?

involves the range of perspectives being discussed when stating an argument