On June 4, 2016, a question in the writing and language section of SAT helped to dismay more 80% of the students. Still, the other 20% on that day spells luck more than know. The question asked us to choose one of the provided connecting words: Italy’s Tower of Pisa has been leaning southward since the initial stages of its construction over 800 years ago. [Indeed/Therefore/Nevertheless/However] if the tower’s construction had not taken two centuries and involved significant breaks due to war and civil unrest, which allowed the ground beneath the tower to settle, the tower would likely have collapsed before it was completed. Almost all students were able to eliminate one option (Therefore) that suggests a consequential relation between the two sentences. Some savvy readers among the students were able to eliminate a second one (Nevertheless) that doesn’t seem to belong to the context. They didn’t know why. At last, all who come down to choose between However and Indeed felt it a mission impossible. We have no doubt that SAT has raised its standard in the language sections. Choosing a connection word is one of toughest job even for the professional writers. Question above calls you to tell apart among the connection words. First of all you should have known that these words are divided into big functional groups such as addition, opposition, condition and conclusion. For example, “therefore” spells a connection from condition to result whereas “after all” spells conclusive summary after much of details. When it comes to within a functional group, words are often embedded with their subtleties. It is exactly the situation among however, indeed, nevertheless and although in spelling the contrasting relations between two sentences or clauses. 1) ALTHOUGH is general use connector in the opposition group, linking two complete sentence structures in contrasting. As long as the two linked with although are complete in their sentence structure, we are good. See the example below: - Although I've been to his house several times, I still can't remember how to get there. - Although I haven’t been to his house for many years, I still remember how to get there. Occasionally, although may be used to lead an adjective, participle or noun term, these terms can be easily transformed into a complete sentence by assuming the subject of the main sentence. This use is rather a style of abbreviation than a grammar rule. For example: - Although (yogurt was) disgusting initially, yogurt soon became my favorite desert. - Although (Steven was) a college student, Steven discovered a cancer drug that earned him a national fame. 2) HOWEVER, next in this roll, is a general use connector that often leads the message from a positive tone/feature into a negative tone/feature. Unlike although that only leads the first idea within a transition, however only leads the second idea. When people tend to give the first idea a positive tone and the second a negative one, it creates the illusion that however often leads a transition in one direction. For example: - Steven has made all As in math throughout the semester. However, he failed his final in that class. - Steven failed his final in math. However, he still made it an overall A with his hardworking throughout the semester. - For thousands of years people had thought the Sun orbits the Earth. However, Copernicus found it is opposite. This rule is not always, but often, in reality. If you use however in transition from negative to positive, you would not be necessarily wrong. So I would also treat this as a style, rather than a rule. But remember, SAT is increasingly test you on style. 3) NEVERTHELESS and INDEED are both used in transition from a negative tone or feature to a positive one. There is a subtle difference between these two. Nevertheless denotes the negative feature of something whose main feature is still positive. Indeed, on the other hand, denotes a negative feature that somehow can also be regarded as positive. Here are the examples: - Steven failed his midterm and final in math. Nevertheless, his hardworking throughout the semester has earned enough As and extra credits to make an overall A for the class. - Steven failed his midterm in math. Indeed, the test gave him an opportunity to reassess and improve he studied and finally succeeded in the final. Go back to the Pisa Tower question in the beginning of this blog article. It is a negative thing that the construction of the tower took too long. But there is a positive effect of this negative—allowing the ground to settle thus preventing its otherwise collapse. So it is a positive side of a negative feature, indeed is the best.
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It can be a deadly loss in your SAT grammar section when a pronoun does not have an antecedent to refer to. This particular kind of error is hard to discern because it is abundant and allowed in America’s daily communication. Teachers and parents are making the same mistakes all the time. No doubt students make it too.
(1) You heard mom and dad talk like this: Mom: Did you call the hotel to make a reservation? Dad: Yes, I just did. They didn’t answer. I will call them again later. He sounds alright. But, who does “they” refer to? It seems that “they” refer to the hotel, which is a singular noun and must be referred by a singular pronoun. In this case the pronoun “they” and “them” do not have a correct antecedent. (2) You also read the teacher commenting your final project: You are a really talented artist. I am sure you will find more use of it in your life. She also sounds great. But what does “it” refer to? Sounds like it is your art talent, but the precedent sentence never mentioned your talent. It only mentions “talented artist”. Here, the pronoun “it” does not have an antecedent. No-antecedent mistakes are abundant in speaking because the right antecedent is generally easy to be assumed. This kind of mistakes does not confuse us daily. Since they’ve made along with us well, I suspect that they will become part of the English convention one day. But, before it happens, you have to remember that they are still wrong at least for the sake of SAT. * * * * * However, there is one more form of no-antecedent that is totally wrong. And even a most liberal mind in terms English grammar like mine won’t be able to take it as part of the grammar. The presence of it in the language is always utterly confusing. Here is a couple of examples: (a) High energy uv rays may alter the molecule components, which is harder to reverse. This is from a practice SAT test. The pronoun “which” leads a clause, but what it defines is an absence. Neither “molecule components” nor “uv rays” is not something considered to be reversed. The only thing that can be the reversed is the fact referred by the entire main sentence. Therefore it must be corrected into the following: High energy uv rays may alter the molecule components, creating a problem harder to reverse. (b) Jefferson…exploited government power to the fullest in purchasing a vast piece of land that would double size of the United States. This example comes from a high school ELA class, and is considered a student writing piece of high marks. The pronoun “that” also leads a definitive clause, but the subject it defines has a problem. "That" must define “land” preceding it, but a "land" cannot double size of the country. It is the purchase of the “land” that doubled the size of the country. So this must be revised into the following: Jefferson…exploited executive power to the fullest in purchasing a vast piece of land, an government action that would double the size of the United States. In both examples, the pronouns that lead the clauses refer to something, although related to, not exactly designated in the preceding sentence. We have to introduce an antecedent noun to refer to the information, thus make the sentence cohesive. This is most deadly form of no-antecedent because it not only sounds ok but also sounds good to most of us in most of the time. Many often even the proficient and most sophisticated language users make such mistakes. They are hard to diagnose. Stay alerted when you see a definitive clause led by a pronoun underlined in your SAT. Every new idea experiences criticism. The unified models featured in mind2learn SAT prep course as no exceptions. The doubts come in two folds. The first group brings an ideological one – how can one model solve all problems. While taking all reading passages through one CRM model is just hard to imagine, solving all math problems by mere EMM sounds totally insane. There is also a second group posing the practical question – show me the stats. Answers to both can come in one, the real results. Here are the stats. In the SAT boot camp I am teaching in Naperville IL, students were given an entry test that is a less-known SAT mock by a well-known publisher. Then the students were lectured 5 Sunday afternoon classes covering reading and math, and provided a grammar handout for self-study. A midterm of same quality as the entry were done after the completion of five lectures, which add up to 15 hours in reading and 6 hours in math. Here below are the stats of both tests. Stunning growths in the test scores among all students are marked in the graphs in comparison. On average, the sub-score of math increased by 110, while that of verbal by 45. Every student saw their growths on at least one subject if not both. Several students who entered the camp with mid 600s in reading saw their 700s. Surprisingly, one student who began with a 450 in math and a 520 in reading and found 690s in both subjects in the midterm. I am sure that the students have never seen the test before they were given. Isn’t it amazing? While criticism settles, I started to ponder. There is a problem, still, when I looked at the number. Why isn’t it same 100 growth in verbal as in math? My students and their parents can be happy with the current results, but I, as the teacher, am not satiated if I see rooms to improve.
Unlike math on which all students saw significant growth in this camp, reading and writing saw mixed results. While most of students increased by more than 50, a third of the class didn’t see significant improvement. Looking into the two sections in verbal, I found the answer. Slightly more than half did not see any growth in grammar, and some of them got even worse on it. The reason is simple – we haven’t spent time in grammar during lecture hours. I have been deeming grammar something my students can improve on their own. Spending any lecture hour on grammar is an abuse of the tuition. As a result, students were provided an 80-page grammar handout in beginning for self-study. Clearly, most of the students didn’t (want to) spend time self-study. To them, there is plenty of fun outside the books. In trying to be most helpful (in terms of score points), I summarized the most popular losses in grammar among the students and published them in three blog articles as Top Losses in SAT Grammar (1/3), (2/3) and (3/3). These information generally covers 10-15 questions in the grammar section where each question counts 9 points to the verbal sub-score. These students were added a lecture hour based on these write-ups. If you read these carefully, you are guaranteed to see at least 50 points back in your next report. Even 100 points, if you are really careful. Good luck! Concise rules may be broken in case of... As we noted in the concision rules, there must be some exception. Students often blindly choose the shorter option and find their mistake later. Concision rules are not always true, especially when they are in conflict with consistence rules. Here are the most common examples that concision rules can be broken: 1) Consistence is needed when there is a parallel structure
2) Consistence to be kept when there is an apposition structure
3) Consistence to be kept with other part of the sentence
4) Consistence with general tone of the passage When the general tone is in certain verb tense, voice, mood, or other style choice of the author. (Sorry, no example provided here!) Concise rules: SAT loves keeping sentences shorter and structures simpler Shorter and simpler language options are generally (exceptions follow) preferred in SAT grammar. Redundancy within a sentence and across the same paragraph must be deleted. "To-do" is generally considered simpler than "for/in doing". Active voices are also determined better than passive voices. Here are some examples of concise rules. 1) Subordinating one term to another adds one more layer in structure, thus not optimal.
2) A phrase or clause in redundancy with another part of the sentence/paragraph
3) When it comes to forms of verbs, "to-do" is preferred over "doing"
4) Active voice is preferred over a passive one
Consistence in pre-position and parallel structures are very common loss in SAT writing and language section. 1) Consistence in pre-position structure: pre-position phrases lead by "like", "unlike", or "contrary to".
pre-position phrase lead by "verb-ing", "verd-ed", or "having verb-ed"
2) consistence in parallel structure: “and”, “or”, and “as well as”, and “from…to” connected terms
…not only…but also…
multiple terms separated by commas (each maybe long)
Sometimes several independent sentences can be parallel too
In awareness of many, efficacy and efficiency are the two top killers to one’s test taking as well as test prep. Efficacy stresses on the students’ capacity of knowing effective solutions to the test question. When presented with a quadratic function, students should know that it can solved by calling the quadratic formulas. Efficiency, on the other hand, requires the students to work on the solutions as quickly as they can, often within 1’25” for typical math problem. When complicated process is involved, the time limit is definitely not your odd. These killers are not selective in math. They are even more formidable in the reading section for which no standard solutions like quadratic formulas for math are even available. For this reason, the best way of test prep have been practice as much sample questions and mock tests as possible. It was reported that 50 hours of practice is required for growing the score from 650 to 700.
However, this situation can be stopped. Students do not have to go through lengthy practice to grow their standard test scores if they know mind2learn unified models. These models are created to unify the solution models for most if not all types of test questions, thus simplify the test taking strategy. The models include a Critical Reading Model (CRM) for all reading and an Experiment Math Model (EMM) for almost all math. Employing these models, students are simply led through 10 reading passages and 80 math questions for practice before mastering the tests. The sample reading are carefully choose from a wide range of sources covering all major genres of topics popular in the tests. The math problems are also choose from the most popular math prep sources with each marked the highest difficulty level. One good question you must still have here. How can it be that just one simple model solves all major problems in these hard tests? It is because the test are not hard at all. It is because the way that students have been taught in preparing for them makes them so hard. When you learn that the traditional way of teaching and learning consistently shoot for an average SAT score no better than 550, your conclusion can be that such a way is neither effective nor efficient. Teaching is generally a deductive process, whereas learning may or may not. In fact the most effective way to learn is an inductive one. When you see a common link among all learnt instances, your learning is elevated. Contact frank@mind2learn.org for more details. mind2learn is nonprofit organization based in Chicago area. Frank Feng, founder of mind2learn have 20 years of experience in education including language learning, test prep, K-12 education content publishing and educational program operation. Find mind2learn on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/mind2learn, or visit us on Facebook b at https://www.facebook.com/mind2learn/. The question has been asked by every students and parents in the beginning of their game plans. It has been always asked prior to the 2016 SAT reform. And it is being asked even more furiously since 2016. The question is which test, SAT or ACT, should be taken. The answer you receive is pretty much the same from all of the test consultants. They tell you: it depends. SAT allows more time per question in exchange for asking you harder and deeper thinking questions. ACT seems easier but you are required to give systematically better first shots at the questions. It is a crime of such an answer, regardless whether it be paid or not. The statement is true, but answers no question. You are not asking to compare or contrast the two popular tests. You only want to know which one. Here is my single crystal clear answer. If you understand and take it to your action, you will benefit. My answer is, to take both — SAT first, then ACT. SAT is harder than ACT in terms how the questions are made. Should only ACT be yours, you’d better prepare for SAT because the above reason. It will be always beneficiary to use SAT materials in preparing ACT. Well, you prepared for SAT, why shouldn’t you take it? Prepare for SAT first, take it; then take a short gap, say a month, to allow you adjust for ACT. Thus, you bring the best of yourself in front of the tests. Since 1990s, taking a harder prep for the easier test is always my advice. And many who took mine, benefited. SAT prep process is your next strategic decision. You have to know that the average score boost out of America’s most popular SAT programs is about 20-50 points optimistically. That translates to merely an addition of 2-5 questions to the correct answer list in your final report, or 1-3% of the entire test. How can 30-50 hours of $3000+ prep work only help in such tiny fraction of test? Inefficiency is all their problem. They help you to re-learn or re-study on the math and reading and grammar facts that you have been taught for years. Can Geometry be re-learnt in a few hours when you didn’t learn as much as you should in a whole school year of that course? You have to ask. The facts that you have not learnt tend to be the harder parts of the course that reasonably need more work time of you. How can you overcome that shortage of knowledge within a limited time, often in a couple months? Mind2learn has the answer. Our unified models can help you score your additional 100 points in ten hours of reading practice, and five hours of math work. These models are called unified models because they can be tuned to most situations in their respective subjects. Instead of having you learn the quadratic operations, data measures, complex formulas, and similarity and congruence, we teach you one model for all the math. Similar model for reading. You practice simple rules in tuning such models and you are done within a short time. We believe, no one should put more than 20 hours of quality work in order to strike 700+ in SAT or 32+ in ACT. + + + Take Away + + + Prepare SAT, take it; Adjust for ACT in a month then take it. To best prepare yourself for SAT and ACT, take advantage of mind2learn’s unified models. + + + A Commercial Message + + + Unfortunately, we are only in the Chicagoland currently. But if we receive more than 10 inquiries from your area, we can organize a ten hour class in one weekend in your area. If you help to recruit the other nine students minimal for such a class, you will receive half tuition off.
The average SAT verbal score of American high school students has slid from 550 to 500 since 1960s. This average, out of 800, represents 50% accuracy in the test. If we count in the fact that the test is all based on multiple choice, some of the accuracy are result of chance not competence. In plain language, students on average are unable to finish more than 50% of reading and writing questions! Experts and guidebooks take the students to every mistakes they tend to produce in the test. Some may be unable to discern key ideas from evidences; others may fall short in inferring through the logic. Attention is also paid to content areas such as the genres of passages, graphics, rhetoric, and so on. Granted, mistakes of any kind cost the students score points. But what accounts for the abundance of mistakes? It is ironic to say that students make mistakes because they are making those mistakes. Nothing can be counted as the cause of itself, except our creator. Talking to many students, I noticed that almost all of them mentioned the same feeling—they don’t know what the materials are talking about. Many keep on reading till late, but still fail to understand. By insisting to try to understand what they eventually not, students use out their time allowance for one part and squeeze that for the rest. When they miss their chances on some easier questions in other parts, the result is disastrous. Many others give up reading at all. They take up guessing to the best of their knowledge. This second approached are widely taught by the experts and guidebooks as a way to avoid the first disaster. It sounds wise, but is embedded with an erroneous assumption that the students’ best of knowledge will do them good. SAT reading materials are not supposed to repeat what has been presented in the textbooks or taught in the classrooms. Best of knowledge are generally inefficient for students to guess the test. In fact, SAT is increasingly deploying texts of controversial issues and ideas in its reading section. These materials are most likely the hardest for students to understand. The best of knowledge they acquired from classrooms can lead them to totally wrong directions. Comparing both approaches, the difference—to read the hardest or to guess to the best—is minor. The students are all guided to one same direction—try to understand what they do not. It is assumed that they must understand the reading materials well in order to produce good answers. This assumption is wrong. Students are not learning but reading in the test. They should not be put into a position other than to produce the answers from the reading. Should they be required to learn there, they must be provided the time as much as they have been in the classrooms. The better approach is to have the students focus on what they know. On stories and ideas that are not already theirs or can’t become quickly, take them as is. Do not read too hard into the material. Neither should they think too far beyond the materials. Their chances of understanding correctly is likely to diminish as they read or think too much. Here by “too much,” I mean to use more than their time allowance. A passage of ten questions is allowed ten minutes to read and answer. To read it for more than 3 minutes before answering any questions is considered “too much.” What they read is only what they know. Then apply logical reasoning on the know. + + + Take Away + + + I’ll steal a concept from Socrates to sum up here: know the knows but not the know-nots. You should read to know, instead of read to learn. When you combine this advice with mind2learn’s critical reading model, the result is what you will love. The language and writing section in the new SAT has caught many students, even those who have mastered SAT grammar book. Their scores on reading and writing typically fall behind expectation by 20-50 points. By looking into the details, we are likely to see that one of the subareas hits their scores hardest—the expression of ideas. The score can be anywhere between 9 and 12 out of a total of 15. Really! What is it? The quality of language can be understood in three levels. Base level quality is everything within a sentence where grammar rules govern. There is also a super level, or inter-paragraph quality on which passage structure is all about (refer to idea progression model). In the middle of these levels is the medium level quality. That is within a paragraph, or inter-sentences. This is where expression of idea mostly concerns. Expression of idea means how well you can express one single idea. That is how you’d play with the information within a paragraph. It includes a key idea of the paragraph, evidence and reasoning to the idea, and often interconnections with other paragraphs.
Like logical reasoning, expression of idea within a paragraph falls in an overall structure either inductive or deductive. Inductive structure tells the key idea after its evidence and reasoning details. Deductive structure is just the opposite. There are more deductive paragraphs than inductive in general. This is quite simple. However, much of the variety in expression lies in how the evidence and reasoning details are laid out. The order of details depends on the intrinsic relation among them.
To determine the order the details, you have to read the paragraph carefully. Where numbers in brackets are marked in the sentence, typically [1] to [5] (or 6), you shall read the paragraph and determine the structure and order. To many students, I found that the most confusing type of order is logical reasoning order. Here is an example that the order of the sentences are messed up. You can determine the structure and relation to find out the real order of them.
First, determine the key idea of the paragraph. 1, 4 and 5 are clearly details, not key idea. The key idea is certainly about Box’s research because most of the sentences are about it. So 6 is ruled out. Because 2 further explains 3, 3 will be a better candidate to represent the key idea. Next, determine the structure of the paragraph. Paragraphs in scientific writing are generally deductive. You can always try to put the key idea sentence in the beginning. In this case, 3 sounds perfect in the beginning. If you are not sure, try to place 3 in the end. It sounds very awkward. So this paragraph cannot be inductive. It must be a deductive one and 3 should be placed in beginning. Last, let’s determine what relation are the details. 1, 4 and 5 seems to have a logic order, 5>4>1. Box need to do something next step, and he is currently organizing it, then others can also track and help. There is no better way than this. Between 2 and 6, 2 connects with 5>4>1 better than 6. So, the entire paragraph must be 3>6>2>5>4>1. One question you may come at here is whether 6 can be deleted from the paragraph, since 6 is the only sentence that says nothing about Box’s research and its further step. But, let’s see if 6 reveals any relevant information to the paragraph as a whole. 3>2 tells that the 2012 fire Box researched may happen again and harm the ecosystem. Then 5>4>1 tells what Box will do next relating to melting of ice. By now, it may sounds ok that the harm is ice-melting by possible fire-again. However, 6 means rising temperature makes Arctic greener, then more fire-prone. So it becomes a self-reinforcing effect of the 2012 fire. The harm is not just fire-again, but fire-again by self-reinforcing effect of the fire. 6 contains concept progressive to that conveyed by 3>2, and makes Box’s further research on fire more important than without 6. Therefore, 6 is better kept in. + + + Take Away + + + This example is an excerpt from SAT Official Guide 2016. But the exercise we did above is beyond the level of the questions in the Guide. Generally, expression of idea questions in the new SAT requires you to determine the following three things. Be sure what SAT asks before you make your choices.
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