SAT Strategies
Is it necessary to read every word of the questions (particularly questions with graphs)?
No, you should only read the pertinent information.
When Mexican-American archaeologist Zelia Maria Magdalena Nuttall published her 1886 research paper on sculptures found at the ancient Indigenous city of Teotihuacan in present-day Mexico, other researchers readily _______ her work as ground breaking; this recognition stemmed from her convincing demonstration that the sculptures were much older than had previously been thought. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) acknowledged
B) ensured
C) denied
D) underestimated
A) acknowledged - recognized
Astronomers are confident that the star Betelgeuse will eventually consume all the helium in its core and explode in a supernova.
They are much less confident, however, about when this will happen, since that depends on internal characteristics of Betelgeuse that are largely unknown.
Astrophysicist Sarafina El-Badry Nance and colleagues recently investigated whether acoustic waves in the star could be used to determine internal stellar states but concluded that this method could not sufficiently reveal Betelgeuse’s internal characteristics to allow its evolutionary state to be firmly fixed. Which choice best describes the function of the second sentence in the overall structure of the text?
A) It explains how the work of Nance and colleagues was received by others in the field.
B) It presents the central finding reported by Nance and colleagues.
C) It identifies the problem that Nance and colleagues attempted to solve but did not.
D) It describes a serious limitation of the method used by Nance and colleagues.
Choice C: The second sentence then introduces a problem: astronomers aren’t certain when Betelgeuse will explode because they don’t have enough information about the star’s internal characteristics.
A member of the Cherokee Nation, Mary Golda Ross is renowned for her contributions to NASA’s Planetary Flight Handbook, which _______ detailed mathematical guidance for missions to Mars and Venus.
Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) provided
B) having provided
C) to provide
D) providing
Choice A: Relative clauses, such as the one beginning with “which,” require a finite verb, a verb that can function as the main verb of a clause. This choice correctly supplies the clause with the finite past tense verb “provided.”
What strategy can help you to narrow down answer options?
Process of elimination
Like other tribal nations, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation is self-governing; its National Council generates laws regulating aspects of community life such as land use and healthcare, while the principal chief and cabinet officials _______ those laws by devising policies and administering services in accordance with them. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) implement
B) presume
C) improvise
D) mimic
A) Implement - to carry out
The following text is from Jane Austen’s 1811 novel Sense and Sensibility:
Elinor lives with her younger sisters and her mother, Mrs. Dashwood. Elinor, this eldest daughter, whose advice was so effectual, possessed a strength of understanding, and coolness of judgment, which qualified her, though only nineteen, to be the counsellor of her mother, and enabled her frequently to counteract, to the advantage of them all, that eagerness of mind in Mrs. Dashwood which must generally have led to imprudence. She had an excellent heart;—her disposition was affectionate, and her feelings were strong; but she knew how to govern them: it was a knowledge which her mother had yet to learn; and which one of her sisters had resolved never to be taught.
According to the text, what is true about Elinor?
A) Elinor often argues with her mother but fails to change her mind.
B) Elinor can be overly sensitive with regard to family matters.
C) Elinor thinks her mother is a bad role model.
D) Elinor is remarkably mature for her age.
Choice D: The text indicates that although Elinor is “only nineteen,” she gives good advice and exhibits such a high level of understanding and judgment that she serves as “the counsellor of her mother.” Thus, Elinor is mature beyond her years.
Typically, underlines, scribbles, and notes left in the margins by a former owner lower a book’s _______ when the former owner is a famous poet like Walt Whitman, such markings, known as marginalia, can be a gold mine to literary scholars. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) value, but
B) value
C) value,
D) value but
Choice A: This choice correctly uses a comma and the coordinating conjunction “but” to join a main clause (“Typically…value”) and a subordinate clause (“when…Whitman”) that precedes a main clause (“such… scholars”).
What should you read first (particularly questions with charts and rhetorical synthesis questions)?
Read the question first before the passage.
In the Indigenous intercropping system known as the Three Sisters, maize, squash, and beans form an _______ web of relations: maize provides the structure on which the bean vines grow; the squash vines cover the soil, discouraging competition from weeds; and the beans aid their two “sisters” by enriching the soil with essential nitrogen.
Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) indecipherable
B) ornamental
C) obscure
D) intricate
D) Intricate- complexly interrelated
Believing that living in an impractical space can heighten awareness and even improve health, conceptual artists Madeline Gins and Shusaku Arakawa designed an apartment building in Japan to be more fanciful than functional. A kitchen counter is chest-high on one side and knee-high on the other; a ceiling has a door to nowhere. The effect is disorienting but invigorating: after four years there, filmmaker Nobu Yamaoka reported significant health benefits.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
A) Although inhabiting a home surrounded by fanciful features such as those designed by Gins and Arakawa can be rejuvenating, it is unsustainable.
B) Designing disorienting spaces like those in the Gins and Arakawa building is the most effective way to create a physically stimulating environment.
C) As a filmmaker, Yamaoka has long supported the designs of conceptual artists such as Gins and Arakawa.
D) Although impractical, the design of the apartment building by Gins and Arakawa may improve the well-being of the building’s residents.
Choice D: although the design is impractical, it may improve the well-being of the apartment building’s residents
As British scientist Peter Whibberley has observed, “the Earth is not a very good timekeeper.” Earth’s slightly irregular rotation rate means that measurements of time must be periodically adjusted. Specifically, an extra “leap second” (the 86,401st second of the day) is _______ time based on the planet’s rotation lags a full nine-tenths of a second behind time kept by precise atomic clocks. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) added, whenever
B) added; whenever
C) added. Whenever
D) added whenever
Choice: When a verb (“is added”) is immediately followed by a preposition (“whenever”), no punctuation is needed.
About how long do you have to get through each question?
Roughly 1 minute (60 seconds)
The work of Kiowa painter T.C. Cannon derives its power in part from the tension among his _______ influences: classic European portraiture, with its realistic treatment of faces; the American pop art movement, with its vivid colors; and flatstyle, the intertribal painting style that rejects the effect of depth typically achieved through shading and perspective. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) complementary
B) unknown
C) disparate
D) interchangeable
c) disparate - dissimilar
Given that stars and planets initially form from the same gas and dust in space, some astronomers have posited that host stars (such as the Sun) and their planets (such as those in our solar system) are composed of the same materials, with the planets containing equal or smaller quantities of the materials that make up the host star. This idea is also supported by evidence that rocky planets in our solar system are composed of some of the same materials as the Sun.
Which finding, if true, would most directly weaken the astronomers’ claim?
A) Most stars are made of hydrogen and helium, but when cooled they are revealed to contain small amounts of iron and silicate.
B) A nearby host star is observed to contain the same proportion of hydrogen and helium as that of the Sun.
C) Evidence emerges that the amount of iron in some rocky planets is considerably higher than the amount in their host star.
D) The method for determining the composition of rocky planets is discovered to be less effective when used to analyze other kinds of planets.
Choice C: because stars and planets begin forming from the same gas and dust, astronomers believe planets should be composed of the same materials as their host stars, but in equal or smaller quantities. The finding that the amount of iron in some rocky planets is much higher than the amount in their host star would weaken the astronomers’ claim because it would show that some planets contain the same material as their host star, but in higher quantities.
After the United Kingdom began rolling out taxes equivalent to a few cents on single-use plastic grocery bags in 2011, plastic-bag consumption decreased by up to ninety _______ taxes are subject to what economists call the “rebound effect”: as the change became normalized, plastic-bag use started to creep back up. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) percent, such
B) percent and such
C) percent. Such
D) percent such
Choice C: In this choice, the period after “percent” is used correctly to mark the boundary between one sentence (“After… percent”) and another (“Such…up”).
Name on additional strategy you can use to be successful other than process of elimination and reading the question first.
Answers vary: skipping around questions, try to insert an answer before reading selections, etc.
New and interesting research conducted by Suleiman A. Al-Sweedan and Moath Alhaj is inspired by their observation that though there have been many studies of the effect of high altitude on blood chemistry, there is a _______ studies of the effect on blood chemistry of living in locations below sea level, such as the California towns of Salton City and Seeley. Which choice completes the text with the most logical and precise word or phrase?
A) quarrel about
B) paucity of
C) profusion of
D) verisimilitude in
b) paucity of - lack of
In the early nineteenth century, some Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States used agricultural techniques developed by the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people centuries earlier, but it seems that few of those farmers had actually seen Haudenosaunee farms firsthand. Barring the possibility of several farmers of the same era independently developing techniques that the Haudenosaunee people had already invented, these facts most strongly suggest that _______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
A) those farmers learned the techniques from other people who were more directly influenced by Haudenosaunee practices.
B) the crops typically cultivated by Euro-American farmers in the northeastern United States were not well suited to Haudenosaunee farming techniques.
C) Haudenosaunee farming techniques were widely used in regions outside the northeastern United States.
D) Euro-American farmers only began to recognize the benefits of Haudenosaunee farming techniques late in the nineteenth century.
Choice A: According to the text, some Euro-American farmers were using these techniques in the early nineteenth century despite few of the farmers having seen Haudenosaunee farms.
Journalists have dubbed Gil Scott-Heron the “godfather of rap,” a title that has appeared in hundreds of articles about him since the 1990s. ScottHeron himself resisted the godfather _______ feeling that it didn’t encapsulate his devotion to the broader African American blues music tradition as well as “bluesologist,” the moniker he preferred. Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?
A) nickname, however
B) nickname, however;
C) nickname, however,
D) nickname; however,
Choice C: In this choice, the commas after “nickname” and “however” are correctly used to separate the supplementary adverb “however” from the main clause (“Scott-Heron… nickname”) on one side and the supplementary participial phrase (“feeling… bluesologist”) on the other.