A Test Prep Tutor’s Advice Based on a Recent SAT

The tutors at Marks Education take the SAT, ACT®, GMAT, GRE, and LSAT on a regular basis. Here is a report on the Writing section from Senior Tutor Anthony Celino, who took the October 2016 SAT and debriefed the test with our team. (We have published his report on the SAT Reading section here and we will publish his report on the Math next week.)

Please note that while we cannot reveal specifics about the test until the College Board releases it, we are happy to answer general questions regarding SAT preparation. Please post your questions in the comment section, and we will try our best to respond as soon as possible.

SAT Writing

First, it’s important to note that none of the Writing passages are as difficult to understand as the SAT Reading passages. For most students, these passages are easier to read.

However, test-takers must be ready to see the following:

1) Transitional word questions

These questions can be tricky as they tend to look like grammar questions, but they are actually reading comprehension (or, in College Board terms, Expression of Ideas) questions. You have to be careful to read the sentences before and after the transition word to understand their meaning.

Then ask yourself if the transition should help readers anticipate a change in the author’s argument or the inclusion of a piece of conflicting evidence. If so, “however” or one of its synonyms should be used. Or do the sentences after the transition supply additional information that supports the argument? “Furthermore” and “Moreover” might fit in that case. Or, finally, should the transition signal that one thing is causing another? “Consequently” is a good SAT transition word for this purpose.

Think about what transition word you might use if you were writing the passage, and then look for the word with a similar meaning in the answer choices, eliminating incorrect answers as you go.

2) A larger number of parallel structure questions than on the ACT®

Maybe 3 or 4 of the 44 questions will test students’ understanding of parallel structure. For these questions, try to make sure that each part of the sentence follows the same grammatical structure.

Can you spot the parallel structure error in the following sentence? If so, post the correct version in the comments below.

“Running as fast as she could, Trisha overtook three of the runners – Samantha, Joanna, and she also passed Paula.

3) Many verb tense and agreement questions

Can you spot the verb tense and agreement errors in the sentences below? If so, you are doing very well on this topic. Post the corrected sentence in the comments below.

(a) At the beginning, Karla appeared to be close to the front of the pack, but by the fourth lap of the 1600-meter race, it was clear that she had been flagging in intensity.

(b) Soon after the race started, my friend Anjali took the lead and maintain it all the way to the finish line.

(c) Katharine, who is part of a group of friends who all like scary movies, sometimes like to go to scary movies alone, so she can get really scared.

4) “It’s” vs. “its”, “who’s” vs. “whose”, “you’re” vs. “your,” and “they’re” vs. “their”. Remember that you use apostrophes with contractions such as “It’s my life” and NOT with possessive pronouns such as “Its tail is red.”

Let’s look at the following correct examples to understand the differences between these pronouns and possessive pronouns.

• The salamander slips out of my hands and scampers toward the snake hole on its speedy little feet.
• It’s dark outside, and I can’t see too well, but I try to stop it from entering the hole and meeting its almost-certain death.
• Unfortunately, the snake, whose reflexes are faster than mine and who’s been lying patiently in wait, has also seen this amazing opportunity.
• “Poor little salamander,” I say softly. “You’re scared of me, but your fear is misdirected.”

Every student should take at least a couple of full practice SATs to prepare for the actual test. Marks Education Test Prep offers a FREE practice test! Click here to enroll!

As always, feel free to ask any questions, and remember to comment your answers below. All the best!

The next blog will cover SAT Math!

Kate Hallgren and Anthony Celino contributed to this post.