Bluebook Strategies
How do you get into the test on SAT day?
Open bluebook in Chromebook application and sign in with ticket
Is it necessary to read every word of the questions (particularly questions with graphs)?
No, you should only read the pertinent information.
What is the trap and how do you save time on this question: 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?
Long name - skip the name or insert initials
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 on bluebook?
Enable "eliminator mode" to be able to eliminate options
Where are "words in context" questions found on the test?
They are usually the first 7 questions
Which type of questions uses language such as: "Which choice best completes the text to that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?"
And when should you answer these questions
Standard English Conv - first
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 keep on screen to know how long you have left on the test?
The Clock (do not hide)
What should you read first (particularly questions with charts and rhetorical synthesis questions)?
Read the question first before the passage.
What type of question uses this language "Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?"
transition question - insert a transition word
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 D: When a verb (“is added”) is immediately followed by a preposition (“whenever”), no punctuation is needed.
What can you click to go back to a question you skipped or want to look over at the end of the test?
Mark for Review
About how long do you have to get through each question?
Roughly 1 minute (60 seconds)
Which type of question uses language like this: "Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this student's goal"
Rhetorical synthesis
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.
Which 3 quickest types of questions (and rough location) should you answer first to save time?
Words in context (first), transition (end), Standard English conventions (3rd quarter)
In a question with a table/graph that asks "Which choice best describes data from the table that supports the researchers' claim?" What key word from this question should you hunt around for in the paragraph below the graph?
"researcher's claim"
Journalists have dubbed Gil Scott-Heron the “godfather of rap,” a title that has appeared in hundreds of articles about him since the 1990s. Scott-Heron 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.