Don’t hate math because it’s intricate and logical. You can love this addition to your brain power. You can use math to startle yourself and others by solving separate, related puzzles. Life issues demand our attention to relationships--not just social relationships.
Just about every decision, whether deciding to stay up longer to watch a movie or deciding which used car to buy, will affect the outcome of other decisions. How does the information from one medical report relate to another? What does the tax form indicate when the "credit" is more than the tax? Oftentimes, we solve several problems before even tackling a larger one.
The Feb. 26 math question requires the solution of small problems to get the answer to the larger question. This briefly stated problem and solution encloses several tips in a very short space. When the question and answer is short, like this one, my explanation can help you to put this pattern in your head to use in other ways. The explanation, in words, tends to look long (I know), but once you follow the visual in your head of the longer explanation, the short problem and answer that I choose for these steps will make a pattern to replace all the words when you see this style of question on a test. You can solve it, but first you have to recognize the real question you are asked.
As I have suggested before, you will be able to use this technique better if you pretend you are walking with me and listening with visualization when I do this particular strategy of choosing a short Q&A to go through as though you have never seen one like this before. The outstanding benefit is due to the visual factor of learning the critical thinking skills from a good, short pattern.
Once you follow the steps of the pattern carefully, noting what your brain is doing while making the connections, you can move through the short pattern efficiently.
The seemingly long explanation becomes a short, visual pattern of critical thinking in your brain. You can use this understanding as a pattern to notice other logical steps in other problems, including non-mathematical problems.
As always, what I am asking you to do is to notice the logic of an alternative way of connecting to answer the problem. The more you do this, the more you will handle aptitude questions, such as those on the SAT with confidence. The question may not look familiar at first, but you will know that your reading of the question and array of answers may still yield the correct answer to you based upon other things you do know.
Words to add to your glossary searches, crossword puzzles, Powerpoint cards, and games:
sum, product, mean (median, mode) and integer.
Here is today’s (Feb. 26) SAT question:
The sum, product, and average (arithmetic mean) of three integers are equal. If two of the integers are 0 and -5, the third integer is
A) -5
B) 0
C) 2
D) 5
E) 10
You have three integers, 0,-5, and x, whose sum, product, and average are equal. Since 0 is one of the integers, the product is 0. So the sum and average are also equal to 0 (zero).
Therefore, -5+x+0=0 So x=5-0 x=5
Know the Words:
Know these words with a quick flash image in your mind: sum,product,mean,integer
Note: I am using ‘I’ rather than ‘x’ for the unknown integer.
Here is what you know: The three integers together result in the same number when multiplied together, added together, and averaged together. (To average the numbers, you add them and then divide that sum by the number of numbers. This is the mean.)
I am calling the unknown integer “I”
So far, you know this much about each problem concerning addition, multiplication, and average of the three numbers. You know what results from the two integers you are given:
0+(-5)=sum=-5
0(-5)=product=0
0+(-5)+i=sum of the three integers
0-5+i=___
I= -0+5=5 i=5 Answer is D
Remember the question! Be careful not to answer another question instead. This is an ongoing strategy for standardized tests in general and the SAT test in particular.
SAT test questions are not designed to trick you. The questions are designed to identify students who will do well in today’s continuing education—into college and beyond.
Tell me again. What is this question?
You are looking for the third integer, not the equal answer. You are testing the ways to find the sum, the product, and the mean because the answer to these three questions is all the same (equal). If by using what you know, you can find the answer to ONE of the three problems that yield the same answer, you will also know the other two answers. Notice that this answer is NOT the answer to the question, just the answer to what you need to get that answer.
What was the question?
New information emerges about the unknown integer because of the relationship of the integers. Keep looking back to remember the directions and the question. Use scratch paper and put a dot in the answer you choose on the test until you have some time to fill these in, according to your pacing. Never go longer than two questions before filling in the scan sheet.
Check: Remember, you are asked to find the third integer. You are told all three answers TO ANOTHER QUESTION are equal. You are not asked to find the equal answer to each problem. You use that number to find the number you need. You are asked to find the third integer.
Notice that the answer possibility ‘0’ IS one of the choices. Don’t go there! Step back from the edge!!!!
This problem is a good pattern to pay attention, to check back, and to prove it.
The sum of the three integers (0,-5,--and, now, +5)
Notice I put that plus in there. Stay focused with some plus signs! Okay, here are the three i-guys (my shorthand for integers): 0,5,-5 in the three problems with the same answer. Add them, multiply them, or add them and then divide by the number of integers (3). The answers are zero, zero, and zero. WAIT! The zero answers are the answers to the three different little problems with equal results.
YOUR QUESTION WAS (look back!): the third integer is _____. The third integer is 5 (D).
0 + 5-5=0 sum
0(-5)(+5)=0 product
0+5+(-5)=0 divided by 3 integers to get the mean 0 divided by 3 = 0 mean
MORE STRATEGIES:
Write this question, answer, and solution on a card. Notice the ways the question tests your aptitude.
Keep on noticing words in every type of book—from baby books to college textbooks.
Sum =the answer to an addition problem. See an image in your mind.
Product=the answer to a multiplication problem.
On your scratch sheet, make a number line with zero in the middle and a few numbers to the left (minus or negative numbers) and a few numbers to the right (plus or positive numbers): Integers are whole numbers and zero.
Enough to know about integers for now: What are integers? Integers are whole numbers to the left and right of zero and zero.
Negative whole numbers are integers. Positive whole numbers are integers. Zero is an integer. Numbers broken into decimals or fractions are NOT integers.
Finding the mean is a quick two-step: Mean is the “average” of two or more integers. First, you add the numbers; then, you divide the sum by the number of integers.
The easiest way to remember how to find the mean is to remember how to find your average for a week of quizzes .
Picture this: You have 10 quiz grades. To calculate the mean, the average, you add all ten grades and then divide the sum (see what I did there?) by 10, the number of quiz grades (integers).
Let’s just say you made a hundred on all but two. On those two, you made 80 on one and 20 on the other one (!). 100 +100+100+100+100+100+100+100+80+20=900
Your average is 900 total points (the sum) divided by 10 grades. You have a 90 average.
Now, look what would happen if you only had five grades, and three were 100; then, you had that 80 and a 20. The total points (sum) would be 400 divided by 5 grades. The average will be 80. Those high grades still helped you to stay with a B.
What if the teacher gives only two grades ? You make 100 on one and 20 on the other. You have 120 points divided over two grades. Your average (mean) is 60. Is that mean? Some students think so.
You have three integers, -5, 0, and x (the unknown—if it helps, label it ‘I for integer’ in your scratch notes).
What you know: There are three integers. You know that one is -5 and one is 0.
The third integer is unknown (i).
If you add the three integers together (-5+0+i), you get -5 + I (the sum).
If you multiply the three integers together (-5x0xi), you get 0 (the product) (Notice, you have part of the answer already right here because when you multiply -5 x 0, anything else multiplied by this 0 will be 0 (zero).
Please keep your wits about you on these little questions with small numbers. You can find the answer, logically, even if you do not know the most efficient way to do it. But you do not have time to hang around a question like this just because you know part of it.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS TO LOOK BACK AT THE QUESTION. YOU ARE LOOKING FOR THE OTHER INTEGER NOT THE ANSWER THAT IS THE SAME EACH WAY THE PROBLEM IS DONE. THAT ANSWER, WHICH IS ZERO, leads you to the answer to the question asked. Notice it is also given as one of the answer choices.
You are looking for the number that results in zero as the answer when the three integers are added together, when they are multiplied together, and when they are averaged together.
You have three integers, 0,-5, and x, whose sum, product, and average are equal. Since 0 is one of the integers, the product is 0. So the sum and average are also equal to 0 (zero).
Therefore, -5+x+0=0 So x=5-0 x=5
The answer is 5. The answer is D.
So check it in the last one by substituting 0 into the answer.
NOTE: This is where you can go astray if you do not know, immediately, how to make a little model. What you know at this point iS NOT THE OTHER INTEGER. IT IS THE ANSWER THAT YOU GET WHEN YOU PUT THAT INTEGER IN THE PROBLEM AS THE THIRD INTEGER (AGAIN, NOT the integer but the sum, the product, the average of the three integers are all the same (all equal).
If you add the three integers together (-5+0+i) or (-5+0+5) = 0 and divide this total by the number of integers (3), you get 0.
The third integer is 5. The answer to each of the three problems is zero every time.
The way to get the 5? You know everything else, so you find 5 as ‘I’ or ‘x’
-5+0+I/0 = 0
I=5 because -5+0+5 divided by 0 is zero.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Private Tutor Guides Focus to March 13 SAT Question for the Day Explanation and Study Guide SAT
Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of Ancient Greece.
C. as Ancient Greeks did.
This sentence is short by standards of the sentences in the part of the test challenging your ability to make corrections in sentences.
I want you to look at the question and answer on the SAT site (http:www.collegeboard.com). When you come to one of my tutoring sites to practice for the SAT, please know the way you were inclined to answer the SAT question for the day.
If you will notice why you answered as you did, you can learn a block of critical thinking skills to help to solve other problems, including the problems you solve every day, to progress in what you want to do. Critical thinking skills transfer from one area to another. When you know what you know, you can build upon what you know. This is true whether you are teaching your own baby how to read or whether you are figuring your tax credit based upon an energy efficient furnace purchase.
I want to remind you each time:
When you went the wrong way for this SAT answer:
When you get the answer wrong, you open an opportunity to get several answers correct on the actual test (and in other areas of your life). You can learn to follow the logic of the correct answer for that type of question if you know when you turned from that logic to a way that did not result in the answer required in this situation. This is a time to look back for an assessment and an adjustment before you propel forward a longer way.
When you are already going in the right direction:
When you understand the answer on your first attempt, you open the same opportunity to allow this correct answer to teach you how to use what you know for other connections. You will realize the patterns involved and apply them to complicated versions of the problem. You build upon your knowledge.
You learn how to learn every day. Critical thinking skills are dynamic. They grow. You actually use your brain in more efficient ways. This is not about memorizing material. It is about using logical, mathematical thinking while you read.
The good news is that the process is fun. You feel pleasure in understanding what you know. The feeling that you are in control of this improvement of your own thinking skills is empowering. That is why a little symbol of a person thinking will sometimes have a lightbulb or a star. You begin to feel that lights are going on inside your head. In a way, lights are going on inside your head. Your brain is responding, in a physical way, to your logical attempts to make connections.
Today, you read the short sentence: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of Ancient Greece."
Know the style of this question, but read the directions every time. You are asked to consider whether the underlined portion should be changed to the form of one of the options given in B-D. If not, you choose answer A to indicate that it is correct in current form. By this choice, you also indicate that the sentence structure is not improved by changing to one of the other choices.
This sentence is not correct in current form. Watch for comparisons in sentences. This sentence compares techniques being used today by “modern discus throwers” to “Ancient Greece.” A comparison of techniques used by people to a country is not a valid comparison.
Consider this possibility using the information in this sentence: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as the techniques of Ancient Greece." THIS, TOO, IS INCORRECT. Ancient Greece is the country of Greece in ancient times. A country does not use techniques. This is an extremely common error.
Some errors particularly targeted in SAT questions are errors made by writers every day. To answer these questions correctly on the SAT, you need to know why the answer they indicate as the correct answer is correct. YOU WILL NOT GET THESE POINTS EVERY TIME BY CHOOSING WHAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS RIGHT IN YOUR MIND. There is a logical reason that you will miss many of the points if you dive to the answer that "looks right." The reason is that you see this type of error in writing, even in well-known magazines, on a regular basis. It will "look right" because it is printed this way in front of you on a regular basis.
To correct this sentence today, you need a choice of substitution for the underlined portion with the following elements: a word to use in comparison instead of the word ‘of’ AND a comparison choice including people (not the country) as the throwers.
The choice, C, is the only fulfillment of the two elements this sentence needs to be correct.
With this choice, the sentence is now: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did."
See the difference? If you do, you will gain more points on the SAT. This is a favorite style of question for writers to ask on the SAT. I believe the reason may be due to the proliferation of illogical writing published today. Publishing is instantaneous, so attention to structure is inconsistent.
An effective self-education method is to try to write a sentence like this one. Correcting this sentence your own way satisfies a part of your brain that knows even more now that you realize what this sentence correction question is testing.
With the correction, this sentence is: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did.”
If you are a test writer, can you write better sentences to replace the original and the best answer?
What do you think about this way to write the sentence? (See below.)
Modern discus throwers use much the same technique that the Olympic discus throwers used to throw the discus in Ancient Greek games.
Do you notice how the SAT teaches about a variety of subjects while presenting questions to you? Can you make up sentences to do the same thing? When you make up your own questions and answers, always use information that you know is correct.
For example, when I rewrote the sentence above, I included the words ‘Olympic’ and ‘Games.’ If you visualize the action in the sentence, you are seeing accurate scenarios: Ancient Greek discus throwers did use their throwing techniques in the early Olympic Games. The Olympics today are styled upon the ancient Greek Olympic Games.judiethcarol&Rocketcat c. Feb 2010 http://www.coolrocketschool.org and http://www.coolrocketschool.com
C. as Ancient Greeks did.
This sentence is short by standards of the sentences in the part of the test challenging your ability to make corrections in sentences.
I want you to look at the question and answer on the SAT site (http:www.collegeboard.com). When you come to one of my tutoring sites to practice for the SAT, please know the way you were inclined to answer the SAT question for the day.
If you will notice why you answered as you did, you can learn a block of critical thinking skills to help to solve other problems, including the problems you solve every day, to progress in what you want to do. Critical thinking skills transfer from one area to another. When you know what you know, you can build upon what you know. This is true whether you are teaching your own baby how to read or whether you are figuring your tax credit based upon an energy efficient furnace purchase.
I want to remind you each time:
When you went the wrong way for this SAT answer:
When you get the answer wrong, you open an opportunity to get several answers correct on the actual test (and in other areas of your life). You can learn to follow the logic of the correct answer for that type of question if you know when you turned from that logic to a way that did not result in the answer required in this situation. This is a time to look back for an assessment and an adjustment before you propel forward a longer way.
When you are already going in the right direction:
When you understand the answer on your first attempt, you open the same opportunity to allow this correct answer to teach you how to use what you know for other connections. You will realize the patterns involved and apply them to complicated versions of the problem. You build upon your knowledge.
You learn how to learn every day. Critical thinking skills are dynamic. They grow. You actually use your brain in more efficient ways. This is not about memorizing material. It is about using logical, mathematical thinking while you read.
The good news is that the process is fun. You feel pleasure in understanding what you know. The feeling that you are in control of this improvement of your own thinking skills is empowering. That is why a little symbol of a person thinking will sometimes have a lightbulb or a star. You begin to feel that lights are going on inside your head. In a way, lights are going on inside your head. Your brain is responding, in a physical way, to your logical attempts to make connections.
Today, you read the short sentence: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique of Ancient Greece."
Know the style of this question, but read the directions every time. You are asked to consider whether the underlined portion should be changed to the form of one of the options given in B-D. If not, you choose answer A to indicate that it is correct in current form. By this choice, you also indicate that the sentence structure is not improved by changing to one of the other choices.
This sentence is not correct in current form. Watch for comparisons in sentences. This sentence compares techniques being used today by “modern discus throwers” to “Ancient Greece.” A comparison of techniques used by people to a country is not a valid comparison.
Consider this possibility using the information in this sentence: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as the techniques of Ancient Greece." THIS, TOO, IS INCORRECT. Ancient Greece is the country of Greece in ancient times. A country does not use techniques. This is an extremely common error.
Some errors particularly targeted in SAT questions are errors made by writers every day. To answer these questions correctly on the SAT, you need to know why the answer they indicate as the correct answer is correct. YOU WILL NOT GET THESE POINTS EVERY TIME BY CHOOSING WHAT LOOKS AND SOUNDS RIGHT IN YOUR MIND. There is a logical reason that you will miss many of the points if you dive to the answer that "looks right." The reason is that you see this type of error in writing, even in well-known magazines, on a regular basis. It will "look right" because it is printed this way in front of you on a regular basis.
To correct this sentence today, you need a choice of substitution for the underlined portion with the following elements: a word to use in comparison instead of the word ‘of’ AND a comparison choice including people (not the country) as the throwers.
The choice, C, is the only fulfillment of the two elements this sentence needs to be correct.
With this choice, the sentence is now: "Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did."
See the difference? If you do, you will gain more points on the SAT. This is a favorite style of question for writers to ask on the SAT. I believe the reason may be due to the proliferation of illogical writing published today. Publishing is instantaneous, so attention to structure is inconsistent.
An effective self-education method is to try to write a sentence like this one. Correcting this sentence your own way satisfies a part of your brain that knows even more now that you realize what this sentence correction question is testing.
With the correction, this sentence is: “Modern discus throwers use much the same technique as ancient Greeks did.”
If you are a test writer, can you write better sentences to replace the original and the best answer?
What do you think about this way to write the sentence? (See below.)
Modern discus throwers use much the same technique that the Olympic discus throwers used to throw the discus in Ancient Greek games.
Do you notice how the SAT teaches about a variety of subjects while presenting questions to you? Can you make up sentences to do the same thing? When you make up your own questions and answers, always use information that you know is correct.
For example, when I rewrote the sentence above, I included the words ‘Olympic’ and ‘Games.’ If you visualize the action in the sentence, you are seeing accurate scenarios: Ancient Greek discus throwers did use their throwing techniques in the early Olympic Games. The Olympics today are styled upon the ancient Greek Olympic Games.judiethcarol&Rocketcat c. Feb 2010 http://www.coolrocketschool.org and http://www.coolrocketschool.com
March 13 SAT Coming Soon Use Date to Focus Today's Question for the Day Wins Points for 76%
76% of the responders answered correctly today. If you answered correctly, mull over the suggestions below about how to continue to 'get' these. If you missed this, be sure to read the example I made up. I think you can make one up like this, too, and understand the clue from the word 'while' and the shift in the sentence. I think you will benefit from visualizing who is in the picture of a question like this one, too. These terms are not everyday terms for high school students, but they are for your teachers.
As you try the word possibilities, the first priority is to make sure the two words fit the meaning of the sentence. For this test, you must note contrasting words. The words signaling you to realize a contrast or comparison is part of your consideration include: yet, but, although, while, and despite. Can you think of others? The SAT writers can. Today, the question used ‘while’ in this way.
In today’s Question of the Day, ‘while’ is used almost the same way the word ‘although’ is generally used.
From the first word of today’s question, you are looking for a shift in the sentence because ‘while’ one thing is a part of the meaning of the sentence, there will be a ‘but’ part of this sentence.
Think of it this way. You ask your parents or guardians or grandparents for money to go somewhere you want to go. You have been studying for the SAT, so you use that fact to try to persuade them. They listen.
Then, one of them says: “While we are pleased to see you studying for the SAT, we think...” Are they about to hand over the money or not? How do you know from this introductory part of the sentence? Can you predict something about the next part of this sentence?
This is EXACTLY what you do to predict the type of words to expect in the critical reading part of the SAT. You PREDICT the type of words you know the writer would be putting into these blanks.
Mom said, “While I ______ to see you studying hard for the SAT, I ______ to give you $50 to relax at a movie today as a reward . You have not finished studying for the test.”
A: hate…..love
B. enjoy…think
C. want…refuse
D. rejoice…prefer
You will notice by trying these in the sentence that both C and D will fit. The correct answer is C. I wrote the question, and I can tell you that I will expect you to realize that D is not the correct answer because the last sentence of this short passage gives the information that this ‘mom’ is expecting the student to continue to study for the test.
By the way, if you try writing a question yourself in every format you will build your skills even stronger. This is not a complicated method to “think like the test maker” in order to outsmart yourself. When you design a question with the purposes in mind, you will understand how to identify the answers faster.
Sentences without verbs can sometimes go on for line after line—finally ending without completion. Writers of standardized tests beg you to identify the reason these sentences are incorrect. But I remind you, the writers of the questions for the Scholastic Aptitude Test are not designing questions they expect all of the test takers to understand. This is why the strategy now is to notice the ones that you do understand and to make sure to get those done correctly on your test.
Call the two blanks x and y. You see by the style of the question and the consistency in the answer possibilities that you need one word in each blank. The ‘formula’ to solve the sentence is to use elimination of the wrong answers and trial and error on the possible answers.
First, eliminate all the words in the second column (for the second blank) that do not indicate action in any way. Everything falls away except for the words ‘expanse’ and ‘implementation.’ You are not seeking a verb, and neither of these are verbs.
You are seeking a word that indicates that the curriculum writers are going to actually do something sometime (to get off their ‘buts’ –but there isn’t enough money; but there is no way to find the right teacher; but….); so that can only be the pair with ‘implementation’ in the mix. ‘Expanse’ is the only other word indicating anything progresses from the plan, but ‘expanse’ connotes a program that is going to grow bigger. This one has not started.
Sentence completion questions—in every format—have unknown values, partial data, and the formula to answer the question (the format of the sentence).
I would love to think all my students read this Question for the day and notice the reasons why the first two answers are not correct. Another incorrect answer is almost flippant in tone. This is entertaining if you know the meaning of all the words, but you have to remember that the purpose of any 'tone' on the aptitude test is to make the point that the sentence is to be logical. In short, more than one answer may fit without grammatical error. There is a ‘correct’ choice despite the fact that another choice of two words would fit the sentence, and the designer of the question will make the wrong answer obviously wrong. If you have to dream up a convoluted explanation for your choice, you are not choosing correctly on this test.
This is an example from the test questions that you should put into the ‘arsenal’ of your personal critical (logical, reasoning) thinking so you will keep thinking in the mode (way) that will garner (reap, get) the most points for you.
First, notice the style of the question. Never tire of noticing the style of questions in practice. The less time your mind is working on the logistics of how to read and to answer the questions, the more your brain will move to analysis resulting in the correct answer.
Visualize the scenario of the question while you are reading a sentence with two blanks. When you read the sentence, make up two possible word choices you think would fit. These will be the same styles of words in tone, meaning, contrast, speech part you are seeking when your eyes move down to where you expect to see a list of words in pairs.
While the faculty curriculum redevelopment committee has drawn up __________ detailed plans, full _________ of the newly devised curriculum program is expected to take three to four years.
Upon reading this sentence and the possible answers, each in combination of two words, you may realize the correct response immediately if the following terms form images in your head:
faculty curriculum redevelopment committee and curriculum program (combined with the words “detailed plans” and ending with “expected to take three to four years.”
Right now, while you are thinking about it, close your eyes and ‘listen’ to the words “faculty curriculum redevelopment committee …detailed plans…expected to take three to four years.”
Can you guess what type of person has a full-blown movie in her mind when reading these words? Teachers and administrators see these words and phrases daily! Not only do we see the words, but we are in the meetings described. Notice things like this and cast your tiny, fast movie quickly. For this one, think of one of your teachers who is always running to meetings with other teachers and the principal and the board members ....Now, Mini-Me (in past life): Be in this picture.
To know what possible words are in these blanks, be in the picture. You are looking for …
Let’s see….’While’ in this sentence means ‘Although’…It is a contrasting word. So the committee has drawn up ________? (long-range? heavily? carefully) detailed plans but full _________(action, getting off their buts –but we don’t have money, but we don’t have time; but we are tired) is going to take those people sitting around the tables writing stuff another three or four years!
I look down at the pairs of words knowing I need a word in the first place that sticks with the idea that they’ve done all the planning necessary. I need a word in the second spot about actions, ‘Yeah, the plans are made; but somebody has to do something!
Now, as a teacher, I would love to think that when you glance over the pairs of words below, you make your fast, efficient decision due to your personal reasons for eliminating all of the answers except C. and D. on your first look. You are ahead of the pack if ‘peremptory’ and ‘auspicious’ sent warning flags to you merely because you are deeply aware of the definition and connotation of every word in these choices.
Fortunately, you do not have to keep running at the head of the pack with your boxes full of flash cards to answer these questions, nor do you have to be Mini-me for your teachers who went to school to be English teachers because we read the dictionary. No, you just need to pull it all together every once in awhile and show what you know. Think of all of this as advanced show and tell, unless you prefer to think, as I do: All of this information about me is useful to me. Let me find out what this is all about, pop the results into my portfolio, and keep on going.
Today, I remind you how to use what you do know when you are working with sentence completion. This is a version of critical thinking much like finding the values for x and for y in a mathematical problem--when the problem provides part of the data and the formula.
A. Peremptory….drafting
B. Preparatory…disengagement
C. Final….expansion
D. Preliminary…implementation
E. Auspicious…conceptualization
(Note: Put the words in your vocabulary cards or PowerPoint notes.)
While the faculty curriculum redevelopment committee has drawn up preliminary detailed plans, full implementation of the newly devised curriculum program is expected to take three to four years.
(Note: I like the first word 'final' rather than 'preliminary' because I read the rest of the sentence as implying that the 'newly devised curriculum program' is complete on the planning part and moving slowly to the acting part. I did not have to worry about this glitch in my opinion about the sentence, though, because there was no way the second word was any of the other second words. Most of the time, I find that if I do have some valid reason for wondering about the answer I think is correct, I can definitely eliminate every other answer in order to check it.
Preliminary is a little different from what I predicted for the first blank because I could not ‘see’ the need for another descriptive word before “detailed plans.” That particular word choice still doesn’t make me feel definite about the combination the way that ‘implementation’ jumps out as the ONLY second word possibility that makes sense to me. Therefore, the fact that ‘preliminary’ works, too, is enough to stamp my approval on D.
A faster solution for you may be to ignore whether you understand the definitions of the answers except for the second word, glancing down the column of second words to find the only two indicating any type of action (expansion and implementation).
When you try C, the word ‘final’ does not jolt me as unlikely in the first space. I can see that word in this spot, even knowing it was not the correct choice. That means that I would eliminate the C by first considering it because it has the word ‘expansion’ in the second spot and then rejecting it because ‘expansion’ indicates some action already going on to expand!
The second word in pairs A,B,and E (drafting, disengagement, and conceptualization) eliminates those pairs without much ado.
Using the pair of words auspicious and conceptualization will result in saying that the committee has drawn up impressive plans s but the plans are going to be ‘conceptualized’ –more thinking and drafting!—for three or four more years.judiethcarol&rocketcat Feb 2010 c.
As you try the word possibilities, the first priority is to make sure the two words fit the meaning of the sentence. For this test, you must note contrasting words. The words signaling you to realize a contrast or comparison is part of your consideration include: yet, but, although, while, and despite. Can you think of others? The SAT writers can. Today, the question used ‘while’ in this way.
In today’s Question of the Day, ‘while’ is used almost the same way the word ‘although’ is generally used.
From the first word of today’s question, you are looking for a shift in the sentence because ‘while’ one thing is a part of the meaning of the sentence, there will be a ‘but’ part of this sentence.
Think of it this way. You ask your parents or guardians or grandparents for money to go somewhere you want to go. You have been studying for the SAT, so you use that fact to try to persuade them. They listen.
Then, one of them says: “While we are pleased to see you studying for the SAT, we think...” Are they about to hand over the money or not? How do you know from this introductory part of the sentence? Can you predict something about the next part of this sentence?
This is EXACTLY what you do to predict the type of words to expect in the critical reading part of the SAT. You PREDICT the type of words you know the writer would be putting into these blanks.
Mom said, “While I ______ to see you studying hard for the SAT, I ______ to give you $50 to relax at a movie today as a reward . You have not finished studying for the test.”
A: hate…..love
B. enjoy…think
C. want…refuse
D. rejoice…prefer
You will notice by trying these in the sentence that both C and D will fit. The correct answer is C. I wrote the question, and I can tell you that I will expect you to realize that D is not the correct answer because the last sentence of this short passage gives the information that this ‘mom’ is expecting the student to continue to study for the test.
By the way, if you try writing a question yourself in every format you will build your skills even stronger. This is not a complicated method to “think like the test maker” in order to outsmart yourself. When you design a question with the purposes in mind, you will understand how to identify the answers faster.
Sentences without verbs can sometimes go on for line after line—finally ending without completion. Writers of standardized tests beg you to identify the reason these sentences are incorrect. But I remind you, the writers of the questions for the Scholastic Aptitude Test are not designing questions they expect all of the test takers to understand. This is why the strategy now is to notice the ones that you do understand and to make sure to get those done correctly on your test.
Call the two blanks x and y. You see by the style of the question and the consistency in the answer possibilities that you need one word in each blank. The ‘formula’ to solve the sentence is to use elimination of the wrong answers and trial and error on the possible answers.
First, eliminate all the words in the second column (for the second blank) that do not indicate action in any way. Everything falls away except for the words ‘expanse’ and ‘implementation.’ You are not seeking a verb, and neither of these are verbs.
You are seeking a word that indicates that the curriculum writers are going to actually do something sometime (to get off their ‘buts’ –but there isn’t enough money; but there is no way to find the right teacher; but….); so that can only be the pair with ‘implementation’ in the mix. ‘Expanse’ is the only other word indicating anything progresses from the plan, but ‘expanse’ connotes a program that is going to grow bigger. This one has not started.
Sentence completion questions—in every format—have unknown values, partial data, and the formula to answer the question (the format of the sentence).
I would love to think all my students read this Question for the day and notice the reasons why the first two answers are not correct. Another incorrect answer is almost flippant in tone. This is entertaining if you know the meaning of all the words, but you have to remember that the purpose of any 'tone' on the aptitude test is to make the point that the sentence is to be logical. In short, more than one answer may fit without grammatical error. There is a ‘correct’ choice despite the fact that another choice of two words would fit the sentence, and the designer of the question will make the wrong answer obviously wrong. If you have to dream up a convoluted explanation for your choice, you are not choosing correctly on this test.
This is an example from the test questions that you should put into the ‘arsenal’ of your personal critical (logical, reasoning) thinking so you will keep thinking in the mode (way) that will garner (reap, get) the most points for you.
First, notice the style of the question. Never tire of noticing the style of questions in practice. The less time your mind is working on the logistics of how to read and to answer the questions, the more your brain will move to analysis resulting in the correct answer.
Visualize the scenario of the question while you are reading a sentence with two blanks. When you read the sentence, make up two possible word choices you think would fit. These will be the same styles of words in tone, meaning, contrast, speech part you are seeking when your eyes move down to where you expect to see a list of words in pairs.
While the faculty curriculum redevelopment committee has drawn up __________ detailed plans, full _________ of the newly devised curriculum program is expected to take three to four years.
Upon reading this sentence and the possible answers, each in combination of two words, you may realize the correct response immediately if the following terms form images in your head:
faculty curriculum redevelopment committee and curriculum program (combined with the words “detailed plans” and ending with “expected to take three to four years.”
Right now, while you are thinking about it, close your eyes and ‘listen’ to the words “faculty curriculum redevelopment committee …detailed plans…expected to take three to four years.”
Can you guess what type of person has a full-blown movie in her mind when reading these words? Teachers and administrators see these words and phrases daily! Not only do we see the words, but we are in the meetings described. Notice things like this and cast your tiny, fast movie quickly. For this one, think of one of your teachers who is always running to meetings with other teachers and the principal and the board members ....Now, Mini-Me (in past life): Be in this picture.
To know what possible words are in these blanks, be in the picture. You are looking for …
Let’s see….’While’ in this sentence means ‘Although’…It is a contrasting word. So the committee has drawn up ________? (long-range? heavily? carefully) detailed plans but full _________(action, getting off their buts –but we don’t have money, but we don’t have time; but we are tired) is going to take those people sitting around the tables writing stuff another three or four years!
I look down at the pairs of words knowing I need a word in the first place that sticks with the idea that they’ve done all the planning necessary. I need a word in the second spot about actions, ‘Yeah, the plans are made; but somebody has to do something!
Now, as a teacher, I would love to think that when you glance over the pairs of words below, you make your fast, efficient decision due to your personal reasons for eliminating all of the answers except C. and D. on your first look. You are ahead of the pack if ‘peremptory’ and ‘auspicious’ sent warning flags to you merely because you are deeply aware of the definition and connotation of every word in these choices.
Fortunately, you do not have to keep running at the head of the pack with your boxes full of flash cards to answer these questions, nor do you have to be Mini-me for your teachers who went to school to be English teachers because we read the dictionary. No, you just need to pull it all together every once in awhile and show what you know. Think of all of this as advanced show and tell, unless you prefer to think, as I do: All of this information about me is useful to me. Let me find out what this is all about, pop the results into my portfolio, and keep on going.
Today, I remind you how to use what you do know when you are working with sentence completion. This is a version of critical thinking much like finding the values for x and for y in a mathematical problem--when the problem provides part of the data and the formula.
A. Peremptory….drafting
B. Preparatory…disengagement
C. Final….expansion
D. Preliminary…implementation
E. Auspicious…conceptualization
(Note: Put the words in your vocabulary cards or PowerPoint notes.)
While the faculty curriculum redevelopment committee has drawn up preliminary detailed plans, full implementation of the newly devised curriculum program is expected to take three to four years.
(Note: I like the first word 'final' rather than 'preliminary' because I read the rest of the sentence as implying that the 'newly devised curriculum program' is complete on the planning part and moving slowly to the acting part. I did not have to worry about this glitch in my opinion about the sentence, though, because there was no way the second word was any of the other second words. Most of the time, I find that if I do have some valid reason for wondering about the answer I think is correct, I can definitely eliminate every other answer in order to check it.
Preliminary is a little different from what I predicted for the first blank because I could not ‘see’ the need for another descriptive word before “detailed plans.” That particular word choice still doesn’t make me feel definite about the combination the way that ‘implementation’ jumps out as the ONLY second word possibility that makes sense to me. Therefore, the fact that ‘preliminary’ works, too, is enough to stamp my approval on D.
A faster solution for you may be to ignore whether you understand the definitions of the answers except for the second word, glancing down the column of second words to find the only two indicating any type of action (expansion and implementation).
When you try C, the word ‘final’ does not jolt me as unlikely in the first space. I can see that word in this spot, even knowing it was not the correct choice. That means that I would eliminate the C by first considering it because it has the word ‘expansion’ in the second spot and then rejecting it because ‘expansion’ indicates some action already going on to expand!
The second word in pairs A,B,and E (drafting, disengagement, and conceptualization) eliminates those pairs without much ado.
Using the pair of words auspicious and conceptualization will result in saying that the committee has drawn up impressive plans s but the plans are going to be ‘conceptualized’ –more thinking and drafting!—for three or four more years.judiethcarol&rocketcat Feb 2010 c.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Certified Teacher Puts You in 67% to Answer SAT Question of the Day Correctly Feb 23
Pass This Way!
Sixty-seven percent, 67% (or .67 or 67/100) of the people who answered today's question were correct.
A lot of people who attempted this extremely visual question did not answer correctly. Why not?
Read the question. Use your scratch paper. Jot down everything you know is true. This one is fast.
Ongoing terminology: You know diameter and radius. You do not even have to know the names of these lines of division to do this problem, but look at this problem to realize how easy it is in relation to those two terms.
First, you look to make sure of everything that you positively know is true. Nothing about this question is difficult or tricky. Additionally, the question is short. That is, there are not many steps, and the numbers are not large. In a question like this one, an important element for the test taker is to be sure to answer the question that is asked and not some other question that pops up in your mind while looking at the figure.
Here goes:
What do you know? The 'P' marks the center of the circle. You do not assume this. You are told this.
That fact makes the line extending from point P to the edge of the circle the radius.
You do know this, but even if you do not know the name for this line, the line is 1/2 the diameter of the circle. Therefore, you are looking for an answer that is close to twice the radius (diameter=2radius) as the longest line that will fit inside the circle.
Word Note: Even if you know all about diameter and radius, look them up and write cards or PowerPoint notes to remember 'di' for two, 'meter' for measurement and all the other information about both words to help with other mathematical concepts and terms.
Some of the answers are smaller than 7.999 and some are larger. Even if you do not know that the diameter line needs a little room to fit INSIDE the circle instead of resting on the circle itself (visualize the longest stick you can fit inside a hoop), the number 8 (4x2) to confuse you. If 8 even had been on the list, I would understand why people missed it. But it is not! All you have to do is multiply 4 x 2 = 8 and look for the number slightly smaller but the longest still smaller than 8! Come on!!! Work with me! You are letting this get to you. In some ways, this is a big riddle! You can get better and better and...better!
Now, I am not expecting you to learn how to answer all the questions on the SAT. The SAT is not a test designed for all students to reach the ability to answer all of the questions correctly. That is not what the SAT is about. But please (please, please) try to rein in what you know. Then, use the information in the question, the illustration, your scratch paper notes, and your reasoning. Eliminate every wrong answer. Put the right answer on your answer sheet.
The diameter is a little bit longer than the longest line that will fit inside a circle. You do not even have to know the name of the 'diameter' to do this problem correctly, but you do need to know what the radius and the diameter are to work with measurement in circles on a regular basis!
The 'p' is in the center of the circle. Therefore, the line from the P, marked with the length, 4, is the radius.
Today's question is math. Lately, I've been adding a lot of helpful information to my notes to you about the Scholastic Aptitude Test, SAT, Questions for the Day. From now until the test date of March 13, review the hints on all of my posts, but concentrate on the SAT Question of the Day postings.
This is a plan of study even if you are not taking the test on March 13 because you can use that date to get certain blocks of understanding. Sometimes a set period of time makes progress easier to measure in other ways. You will have some questions in mathematics about circles. You will have the formulae in front of you. Understand what the letters represent on the formulae, and play with some circle problems. Learn about cylinders, too. A cylinder is just a soup can. If you take off the top and bottom and roll out the rest, you have two circles and a rectangle. Come back to see me. Study a section in your Princeton Review. Do a section of Practice Test One and check your answers. JudiethCarol&Rocketcat Feb 2010c
Sixty-seven percent, 67% (or .67 or 67/100) of the people who answered today's question were correct.
A lot of people who attempted this extremely visual question did not answer correctly. Why not?
Read the question. Use your scratch paper. Jot down everything you know is true. This one is fast.
Ongoing terminology: You know diameter and radius. You do not even have to know the names of these lines of division to do this problem, but look at this problem to realize how easy it is in relation to those two terms.
First, you look to make sure of everything that you positively know is true. Nothing about this question is difficult or tricky. Additionally, the question is short. That is, there are not many steps, and the numbers are not large. In a question like this one, an important element for the test taker is to be sure to answer the question that is asked and not some other question that pops up in your mind while looking at the figure.
Here goes:
What do you know? The 'P' marks the center of the circle. You do not assume this. You are told this.
That fact makes the line extending from point P to the edge of the circle the radius.
You do know this, but even if you do not know the name for this line, the line is 1/2 the diameter of the circle. Therefore, you are looking for an answer that is close to twice the radius (diameter=2radius) as the longest line that will fit inside the circle.
Word Note: Even if you know all about diameter and radius, look them up and write cards or PowerPoint notes to remember 'di' for two, 'meter' for measurement and all the other information about both words to help with other mathematical concepts and terms.
Some of the answers are smaller than 7.999 and some are larger. Even if you do not know that the diameter line needs a little room to fit INSIDE the circle instead of resting on the circle itself (visualize the longest stick you can fit inside a hoop), the number 8 (4x2) to confuse you. If 8 even had been on the list, I would understand why people missed it. But it is not! All you have to do is multiply 4 x 2 = 8 and look for the number slightly smaller but the longest still smaller than 8! Come on!!! Work with me! You are letting this get to you. In some ways, this is a big riddle! You can get better and better and...better!
Now, I am not expecting you to learn how to answer all the questions on the SAT. The SAT is not a test designed for all students to reach the ability to answer all of the questions correctly. That is not what the SAT is about. But please (please, please) try to rein in what you know. Then, use the information in the question, the illustration, your scratch paper notes, and your reasoning. Eliminate every wrong answer. Put the right answer on your answer sheet.
The diameter is a little bit longer than the longest line that will fit inside a circle. You do not even have to know the name of the 'diameter' to do this problem correctly, but you do need to know what the radius and the diameter are to work with measurement in circles on a regular basis!
The 'p' is in the center of the circle. Therefore, the line from the P, marked with the length, 4, is the radius.
Today's question is math. Lately, I've been adding a lot of helpful information to my notes to you about the Scholastic Aptitude Test, SAT, Questions for the Day. From now until the test date of March 13, review the hints on all of my posts, but concentrate on the SAT Question of the Day postings.
This is a plan of study even if you are not taking the test on March 13 because you can use that date to get certain blocks of understanding. Sometimes a set period of time makes progress easier to measure in other ways. You will have some questions in mathematics about circles. You will have the formulae in front of you. Understand what the letters represent on the formulae, and play with some circle problems. Learn about cylinders, too. A cylinder is just a soup can. If you take off the top and bottom and roll out the rest, you have two circles and a rectangle. Come back to see me. Study a section in your Princeton Review. Do a section of Practice Test One and check your answers. JudiethCarol&Rocketcat Feb 2010c
Monday, February 22, 2010
Rock & Scroll to SAT Points! Read all Posts & Follow to March 13 -Private Tutor
For a surefire way to get the points on the SAT about parallel construction, Rock&Scroll through Cool Rocket School Tutor posts for today’s SAT Question for the Day. Too many missed this one! Make it easy.
For more (and more and more) points in every section of the SAT test on March 13, May...or later...scroll through ALL of the archived tips and explanations on this site and practice using Princeton Review.
For a storybook metaphor about the concept of parallel construction in writing, here are some words from Rocketboy the Rocketcat.
Here is a metaphor from Rocketcat, the funlover, about the parallel construction of long sentences. Rocket is an expert in smooth action. He recognizes the value of parallel construction to propel through complicated scenery with shifting action. A long sentence includes a writer's expression of a combination of elements. An aptitude test question is designed to 'test' the reader's ability to recognize when a sentence falters and why.
How can you design a question to find out if I can 'diagnose' certain types of imbalance in a sentence? There are ways to do this testing by using an example sentence with labels under different sections followed by a multiple choice format.
The SAT test question writers use a variety of ways to ask these questions. By practicing the style of questions and by understanding the variety of possibilities to test in this way, you can 'solve' each of the sentence error questions with confidence. Remember: The reading passages in this part of the test are short. The passage is short. The sentences are long. The reading mode to use is critcal. Do not skim the sentence. For purposes of strategic reading styles, use a critical reading style rather than skimming.
Rocket's Imagery
Rocketcat has one sapphire blue eye and one emerald green eye. He never closes them unless he is sleeping. He can imagine with his eyes wide open. You may need to close your eyes.
Imagine riding along a highway in a convertible. You would like to see everything on both sides of the road as you ride. Mountains are along on one side, and the ocean is on the other side. This is not a smooth, safe way to drive. Even if you open your eyes to be the driver of the fantasy, you want to look to the left and to the right. You want to gaze at mountains and dream drift to sea.
Let’s look into a parallel track version to keep this travel smooth.
What if we had a red convertible in a train of convertibles on parallel tracks, wheels on the left track parallel to wheels on the right track? We ride in our convertible cars along the coast. An engineer drives the cars; and we listen, read, look, talk, sing, eat, and dream.
We ride in the parallel construction of the tracks, and we act in parallel verbs. Read, look, talk, sing, eat, and dream are parallel. A writer adds extra words within the series of verbs with risk of interrupting the parallel construction. Try it. Make sure no trash or bumps are on the tracks. Bumps or trash on the parallel tracks are errors. A bump or trash on the track prevents the turning of the wheels on the parallel construction.
For more (and more and more) points in every section of the SAT test on March 13, May...or later...scroll through ALL of the archived tips and explanations on this site and practice using Princeton Review.
For a storybook metaphor about the concept of parallel construction in writing, here are some words from Rocketboy the Rocketcat.
Here is a metaphor from Rocketcat, the funlover, about the parallel construction of long sentences. Rocket is an expert in smooth action. He recognizes the value of parallel construction to propel through complicated scenery with shifting action. A long sentence includes a writer's expression of a combination of elements. An aptitude test question is designed to 'test' the reader's ability to recognize when a sentence falters and why.
How can you design a question to find out if I can 'diagnose' certain types of imbalance in a sentence? There are ways to do this testing by using an example sentence with labels under different sections followed by a multiple choice format.
The SAT test question writers use a variety of ways to ask these questions. By practicing the style of questions and by understanding the variety of possibilities to test in this way, you can 'solve' each of the sentence error questions with confidence. Remember: The reading passages in this part of the test are short. The passage is short. The sentences are long. The reading mode to use is critcal. Do not skim the sentence. For purposes of strategic reading styles, use a critical reading style rather than skimming.
Rocket's Imagery
Rocketcat has one sapphire blue eye and one emerald green eye. He never closes them unless he is sleeping. He can imagine with his eyes wide open. You may need to close your eyes.
Imagine riding along a highway in a convertible. You would like to see everything on both sides of the road as you ride. Mountains are along on one side, and the ocean is on the other side. This is not a smooth, safe way to drive. Even if you open your eyes to be the driver of the fantasy, you want to look to the left and to the right. You want to gaze at mountains and dream drift to sea.
Let’s look into a parallel track version to keep this travel smooth.
What if we had a red convertible in a train of convertibles on parallel tracks, wheels on the left track parallel to wheels on the right track? We ride in our convertible cars along the coast. An engineer drives the cars; and we listen, read, look, talk, sing, eat, and dream.
We ride in the parallel construction of the tracks, and we act in parallel verbs. Read, look, talk, sing, eat, and dream are parallel. A writer adds extra words within the series of verbs with risk of interrupting the parallel construction. Try it. Make sure no trash or bumps are on the tracks. Bumps or trash on the parallel tracks are errors. A bump or trash on the track prevents the turning of the wheels on the parallel construction.
45% Missed Today's SAT Question?! Tutor Makes It Easy! Pass this Way!
SAT Question for the Day: Who got it right? Who got it wrong? Why,oh, why?
Feb 22 2010 Noooooo--You can pluck these sentence error points like daisies! I'll be brief. I promise.
172,406 responses Question of the Day Statistics Number Answered
Correct 96,315 Nice. Fun. Don't Worry. Be Happy. Snooze...
Incorrect 76,091 Auugh! Uh, oh--Let's fix this! What's up with this? (I'm a teacher, okay?) Let's get these. I'll make this short. You know brevity's not my strength. But read on! I will circle these daisies for you.
55% correct includes you!
Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors These are just like the ones on the SAT. Get to know them. Be like that Dr. House. Look for the 'sick' or 'ailing' or weak part of the sentence. The advantage you have over Dr. House is that you can see common symptoms. An extra word is often the culprit when a test question is designed to find out if you know how to make a series of words (especially verbs) parallel to one another.
Rock and Scroll on Down......
Do read the instructions each time--even if they seem familiar. This will be a style of question and answer (Q&A) on the SAT test. I am not always surprised by the statistics about how many people missed an answer, but this one did surprise me today. Only 55% of the answers were correct, so 45% (76,091) were incorrect.
The test: The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.
Me: These sentence corrections are some of the best points to pick up on a test because the reading passages are short. The reading passage is short, but the sentence is long.
Notice this is true for many of the sentences in this part of the test. They are long.
Here is a clue: Long sentences have inherent risks in construction. Look for the obvious weaknesses of long sentences. For this type of question, consider what is often wrong. Find it.
The sentences need attention to construction from the beginning all the way to the end, and the end is a long way to travel with correct construction.
Does the sentence have a subject and a verb? Long sentences often begin with an introductory phrase, and you need to spot the subject and verb.
Do they agree in number? (Early settlers considered the U.S. Army as its, their protector)
Is there a pronoun to note in agreement with antecedent (Angela put it's knife down...)
subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, tense (alert: mixture of past and present tense verbs!!!) and parallel construction.
The sentence in the Question for Today has beautiful parallel construction. Watch the verbs. In verb after verb, the construction is the same. Look at the verbs. They stream smoothly. Then, BUMP, the word 'they' is unnecessary. If you do not understand everything about this right now, know this will probably be one of the errors you encounter. Look for any extra words or verbs in a different form from the others.
Feb 22 2010 Noooooo--You can pluck these sentence error points like daisies! I'll be brief. I promise.
172,406 responses Question of the Day Statistics Number Answered
Correct 96,315 Nice. Fun. Don't Worry. Be Happy. Snooze...
Incorrect 76,091 Auugh! Uh, oh--Let's fix this! What's up with this? (I'm a teacher, okay?) Let's get these. I'll make this short. You know brevity's not my strength. But read on! I will circle these daisies for you.
55% correct includes you!
Writing: Identifying Sentence Errors These are just like the ones on the SAT. Get to know them. Be like that Dr. House. Look for the 'sick' or 'ailing' or weak part of the sentence. The advantage you have over Dr. House is that you can see common symptoms. An extra word is often the culprit when a test question is designed to find out if you know how to make a series of words (especially verbs) parallel to one another.
Rock and Scroll on Down......
Do read the instructions each time--even if they seem familiar. This will be a style of question and answer (Q&A) on the SAT test. I am not always surprised by the statistics about how many people missed an answer, but this one did surprise me today. Only 55% of the answers were correct, so 45% (76,091) were incorrect.
The test: The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.
Me: These sentence corrections are some of the best points to pick up on a test because the reading passages are short. The reading passage is short, but the sentence is long.
Notice this is true for many of the sentences in this part of the test. They are long.
Here is a clue: Long sentences have inherent risks in construction. Look for the obvious weaknesses of long sentences. For this type of question, consider what is often wrong. Find it.
The sentences need attention to construction from the beginning all the way to the end, and the end is a long way to travel with correct construction.
Does the sentence have a subject and a verb? Long sentences often begin with an introductory phrase, and you need to spot the subject and verb.
Do they agree in number? (Early settlers considered the U.S. Army as its, their protector)
Is there a pronoun to note in agreement with antecedent (Angela put it's knife down...)
subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, tense (alert: mixture of past and present tense verbs!!!) and parallel construction.
The sentence in the Question for Today has beautiful parallel construction. Watch the verbs. In verb after verb, the construction is the same. Look at the verbs. They stream smoothly. Then, BUMP, the word 'they' is unnecessary. If you do not understand everything about this right now, know this will probably be one of the errors you encounter. Look for any extra words or verbs in a different form from the others.
When people gave up the hunter-gatherer way of life and began to cultivate the soil and grow their food, they often became less mobile, built more substantial residences, andtheydeveloped more effective means of storage.
gave,began,became,developed--all past tense--all parallel construction
Only the extra 'they' makes this sentence incorrect.
judiecarol&rocket feb 2010c
History Wall Line for March 13 SAT Study - Cool Word for Day NPS site
Resource: National Parks Service: http://www.nps.gov/history
Come Back! http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ and http://www.coolrocketschool.com/
Cool Word
Monday [n. MUN-day]
"Cool Words" begins a tour of the seven-day week with Monday.
Traditionally, Monday is the second day of the week, when everyone goes back to work, presumably renewed by the quiet, restful weekend just completed.
The Anglo Saxon name for the day was Monan daeg (day of the moon), which was a translation of the Latin Dies Lunae, itself a translation of the Greek hemera Selenes (day of Selene). Modern words for this day are similar in many languages. In German we have Montag, Dutch and Swedish have Maandag, and in Danish it's Mandag.
The romance languages acquired the Latin term more directly. In French, the day is Lundi. Italian has Lunedi, while in Spanish it's Lunes. In Rumanian it's Luni. In Russian, Monday is known as Ponedel'nik ("the day after Sunday," or "after do-nothing day").
Cool Word of the Day is from the website: Philomonshomepage.tripod.com
Rocketcat says: notice those references to the Latin root: Lunae –luna (moonsick, moonstruck, lunatic)…
Looney tunes
http://www.nps.gov/history
The National Parks Service site includes numerous links to a variety of sites related to archeological sites, Native American history and photographs of artifacts, maps relating to historical events, including changes in crops, trade, industry, and the terrain: dams, waterways, coasts, deserts, forests, lakes…This is a beautiful and rich website.
Go here to print out information, maps, and more enrichment for your U.S. History ‘Wall’ timeline.
Add archeology to your words.
Come Back! http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ and http://www.coolrocketschool.com/
Cool Word
Monday [n. MUN-day]
"Cool Words" begins a tour of the seven-day week with Monday.
Traditionally, Monday is the second day of the week, when everyone goes back to work, presumably renewed by the quiet, restful weekend just completed.
The Anglo Saxon name for the day was Monan daeg (day of the moon), which was a translation of the Latin Dies Lunae, itself a translation of the Greek hemera Selenes (day of Selene). Modern words for this day are similar in many languages. In German we have Montag, Dutch and Swedish have Maandag, and in Danish it's Mandag.
The romance languages acquired the Latin term more directly. In French, the day is Lundi. Italian has Lunedi, while in Spanish it's Lunes. In Rumanian it's Luni. In Russian, Monday is known as Ponedel'nik ("the day after Sunday," or "after do-nothing day").
Cool Word of the Day is from the website: Philomonshomepage.tripod.com
Rocketcat says: notice those references to the Latin root: Lunae –luna (moonsick, moonstruck, lunatic)…
Looney tunes
http://www.nps.gov/history
The National Parks Service site includes numerous links to a variety of sites related to archeological sites, Native American history and photographs of artifacts, maps relating to historical events, including changes in crops, trade, industry, and the terrain: dams, waterways, coasts, deserts, forests, lakes…This is a beautiful and rich website.
Go here to print out information, maps, and more enrichment for your U.S. History ‘Wall’ timeline.
Add archeology to your words.
CONDENSED VERSION 5 Ways To Chill and Improve SAT Scores: Pass This Way!
ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE!!!!! HERE'S HOW THEY HELP:
For many (many) details about how to get the points, see http://www.coolrocketschool.org/
THE Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a readymade, snap together way:
a) to teach yourself organizational skills;
b) to teach yourself critical thinking skills,
c) to teach yourself planning skills, and
d) to teach yourself knowledge-building skills. ..and
e) to realize (metacognition--self-knowledge) that all of this has resulted in a large body of knowledge added to your education. You are smarter.
To summarize how you do this:
a) You organize around a specific date to take a specific standardized test and increase your performance score;
b) you study the reason and purpose for the test, so you can predict and answer all of the styles of questions on the test;
c) you use the scores on the test for packaging your materials to apply for college or scholarships, grants, contests, or jobs.
You build your ongoing international baccalaureate style portfolio; (For more about this, see my other columns or write to me at cooperhomeschool@yahoo.com or http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ or http://www.coolrocketschool.org
judiethcarol&rocketcat feb 2010 c.
d) if you learn to use the College Board site to your advantage, you can keep an ongoing portfolio there, as well. (Be sure to back up ALL folios. You do NOT want to lose your archives! They are always your responsibility.
e) If you realize, as early as possible, that you are the person who will always understand how you learn, you will use the preparation for this test to add chunks rather than small jigsaw pieces to your knowledge base.
I believe you can learn to look forward to taking the tests just to see what you have improved, as a game with yourself. The main thing I have improved over the years is my rest before a test and my ability to get to the place of testing early enough to go to the restroom and to choose my seat in the testing room, settling in with whatever comforts (water?, tissue?, extra pencils?) are allowed.
As a teacher, I take tests often. (You may have noticed at the top of my column that I keep up nine certifications. I take ongoing courses to keep up on everything from brain-based exercises –go to www.lumosity.com-- for really fun games pretending to snap photos while trying to see a letter in a box. Talk about turning away for just a second! --to using computers for original research (see the national archives website to find notes by some of your favorite authors in their own handwriting). You can see more about my teaching and about my assistant, Rocketcat, at http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ and http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ (this site).
So, as I have said, my favorite comfort is to go to the testing location ahead of time to find out where it is, how to drive there, and where to park—and to get there early on test day. If someone else will drive, that’s good, too. That person has to be reliable, though. For me, if anyone else is in the car on a test day, he or she has to be a positive person or quiet. If you do not have that kind of control over your driver, maybe you can listen to music on the way. I suggest listening to several songs in a row like ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus. If you don’t sleep well the night before, this is not the end of the world. You will find that you will still be fine throughout the day of the test. You will be exhausted that night.
Never, never, never intentionally do some extremely late night partying or extended exercising or nervewracking ANYTHING two days before a demanding test, audition, or interview. That really will put your physical well-being at risk. Sleep deprivation is a serious matter. So is dehydration. Take care of you. Get sleep; healthy food; fresh water. Take some peppermints, water, a banana, an apple, and a cereal bar. Peanut butter and crackers is a good supplement if you are definitely not allergic to peanuts. Some hard cheddar and crackers is also good, if you are not allergic to cheese! Take some peppermints.
The book I recommend for your SAT book club (yes, I recommend an SAT book club, but you can just make it a 'book club') is BIG HELP NO SWEAT NO FEAR MATH. I have a site about book clubs. First thing to do is to call a friend or two and get each one of them to call a friend. Make this one about the SAT. Plan a place and the first meeting. Make it two weeks away. READ THE ENTIRE BOOK. Do not worry about the fact that it includes math problems. When you do the SAT questions for the day, you will sometimes forget that there are math problems that you DO know how to do.
For math, all you need is reminding close to time for the test to be able to do some math problems that you absolutely do NOT remember how to do right now. You just need a five or ten minute reminder to get point after point. This book is written in story form. You need to put an example of several different types of problem into your brain storage areas. What you want are the patterns. You will use the patterns.
Decimals, percentages, and fractions are all the same. One-fourth is the same as .25 is the same as 25%. The Order of Operations is absolutely necessary to get the correct answer. You just have to do what is inside the Parentheses then whatever has to do with Exponents, any Multiplication, Division, Addition, and, last, any Subtraction. The acronym to remember is PEMDAS. When you have the scratch paper in front of you--or if you can write in the book, above the formulae you can use, you write PEMDAS with your version of the explanation. You need one pattern problem that you understand to use as your pattern for using the Order of Operations.
I am a writer, and I have on-line columns, book clubs, tutoring, book reviews, and blogs. You are reading my ongoing private school teaching blog to help you to prepare for the March 13 or May 1, 2010, Scholastic Aptitude Test. If you are planning to do your best work on the May 1 test, you are in the right time frame. If you are going to give your best shot to the March 13 test, you need to get moving on the exercises in the Princeton Review, and read my archived articles. It’s all good, and it’s easy. All of this helps with your other school work. All of it will help with graduation tests and even Advanced Placement tests and Graduate tests. Let me know what you need to study, and I will give you some tips.
SEE OTHER POSTS FOR MORE TIPS FROM THIS NO SWEAT MATH BOOK It's Good! It's published by Barnes & Noble and written by Anna Medvedovsky It is available used and new.
judiecarol & rocketcat feb 20 2010 c.
For many (many) details about how to get the points, see http://www.coolrocketschool.org/
THE Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) is a readymade, snap together way:
a) to teach yourself organizational skills;
b) to teach yourself critical thinking skills,
c) to teach yourself planning skills, and
d) to teach yourself knowledge-building skills. ..and
e) to realize (metacognition--self-knowledge) that all of this has resulted in a large body of knowledge added to your education. You are smarter.
To summarize how you do this:
a) You organize around a specific date to take a specific standardized test and increase your performance score;
b) you study the reason and purpose for the test, so you can predict and answer all of the styles of questions on the test;
c) you use the scores on the test for packaging your materials to apply for college or scholarships, grants, contests, or jobs.
You build your ongoing international baccalaureate style portfolio; (For more about this, see my other columns or write to me at cooperhomeschool@yahoo.com or http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ or http://www.coolrocketschool.org
judiethcarol&rocketcat feb 2010 c.
d) if you learn to use the College Board site to your advantage, you can keep an ongoing portfolio there, as well. (Be sure to back up ALL folios. You do NOT want to lose your archives! They are always your responsibility.
e) If you realize, as early as possible, that you are the person who will always understand how you learn, you will use the preparation for this test to add chunks rather than small jigsaw pieces to your knowledge base.
I believe you can learn to look forward to taking the tests just to see what you have improved, as a game with yourself. The main thing I have improved over the years is my rest before a test and my ability to get to the place of testing early enough to go to the restroom and to choose my seat in the testing room, settling in with whatever comforts (water?, tissue?, extra pencils?) are allowed.
As a teacher, I take tests often. (You may have noticed at the top of my column that I keep up nine certifications. I take ongoing courses to keep up on everything from brain-based exercises –go to www.lumosity.com-- for really fun games pretending to snap photos while trying to see a letter in a box. Talk about turning away for just a second! --to using computers for original research (see the national archives website to find notes by some of your favorite authors in their own handwriting). You can see more about my teaching and about my assistant, Rocketcat, at http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ and http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ (this site).
So, as I have said, my favorite comfort is to go to the testing location ahead of time to find out where it is, how to drive there, and where to park—and to get there early on test day. If someone else will drive, that’s good, too. That person has to be reliable, though. For me, if anyone else is in the car on a test day, he or she has to be a positive person or quiet. If you do not have that kind of control over your driver, maybe you can listen to music on the way. I suggest listening to several songs in a row like ‘The Climb’ by Miley Cyrus. If you don’t sleep well the night before, this is not the end of the world. You will find that you will still be fine throughout the day of the test. You will be exhausted that night.
Never, never, never intentionally do some extremely late night partying or extended exercising or nervewracking ANYTHING two days before a demanding test, audition, or interview. That really will put your physical well-being at risk. Sleep deprivation is a serious matter. So is dehydration. Take care of you. Get sleep; healthy food; fresh water. Take some peppermints, water, a banana, an apple, and a cereal bar. Peanut butter and crackers is a good supplement if you are definitely not allergic to peanuts. Some hard cheddar and crackers is also good, if you are not allergic to cheese! Take some peppermints.
The book I recommend for your SAT book club (yes, I recommend an SAT book club, but you can just make it a 'book club') is BIG HELP NO SWEAT NO FEAR MATH. I have a site about book clubs. First thing to do is to call a friend or two and get each one of them to call a friend. Make this one about the SAT. Plan a place and the first meeting. Make it two weeks away. READ THE ENTIRE BOOK. Do not worry about the fact that it includes math problems. When you do the SAT questions for the day, you will sometimes forget that there are math problems that you DO know how to do.
For math, all you need is reminding close to time for the test to be able to do some math problems that you absolutely do NOT remember how to do right now. You just need a five or ten minute reminder to get point after point. This book is written in story form. You need to put an example of several different types of problem into your brain storage areas. What you want are the patterns. You will use the patterns.
Decimals, percentages, and fractions are all the same. One-fourth is the same as .25 is the same as 25%. The Order of Operations is absolutely necessary to get the correct answer. You just have to do what is inside the Parentheses then whatever has to do with Exponents, any Multiplication, Division, Addition, and, last, any Subtraction. The acronym to remember is PEMDAS. When you have the scratch paper in front of you--or if you can write in the book, above the formulae you can use, you write PEMDAS with your version of the explanation. You need one pattern problem that you understand to use as your pattern for using the Order of Operations.
I am a writer, and I have on-line columns, book clubs, tutoring, book reviews, and blogs. You are reading my ongoing private school teaching blog to help you to prepare for the March 13 or May 1, 2010, Scholastic Aptitude Test. If you are planning to do your best work on the May 1 test, you are in the right time frame. If you are going to give your best shot to the March 13 test, you need to get moving on the exercises in the Princeton Review, and read my archived articles. It’s all good, and it’s easy. All of this helps with your other school work. All of it will help with graduation tests and even Advanced Placement tests and Graduate tests. Let me know what you need to study, and I will give you some tips.
SEE OTHER POSTS FOR MORE TIPS FROM THIS NO SWEAT MATH BOOK It's Good! It's published by Barnes & Noble and written by Anna Medvedovsky It is available used and new.
judiecarol & rocketcat feb 20 2010 c.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Ms. C&Rocket Cat Say Study For U.S. History For SAT THIS WAY!
HERE IS THE WAY I LIKE FOR YOU TO STUDY FOR THE U.S. HISTORY PORTION OF THE SCHOLASTIC APTITUDE TEST. I AM GOING TO WRITE THE ENTIRE WAY TO STUDY RIGHT HERE. THE ONLY OTHER PART IS TO DO THE PRACTICE TESTS.
STUDY FOR U.S. HISTORY:
Unroll a long sheet of wrapping paper, white side out, on a wall you see each day. Start at one end and begin a time line of U.S. History. Use magic markers, crayons, cut out pictures, stick figures, newspaper graphs, maps, and children's history workbook coloring book figures, flags, cards with explanations, words.
Include as many visual figures and cutouts, stick figures or magic marker emphasis words as you can, moving along chronologically, stick up index cards with details about words, terms, events, people, treaties, laws, trials, with dates of treaties, wars, presidents, assassinations, trends, charts and graphs* (such as increased college attendance after WWII, increased women in the workforce, then back home, baby boomers; then, later, more women in the workforce again, put dates when wars ended (WWI, WWII, Japan attacking Pearl Harbor=USA in Hawaii--put an airplane and harbor and the USA map...).
*Note: Be sure you notice all the entries on every chart, graph, and map--including the title, the information written on the vertical axis, the information on the horizontal axis and any footnotes to the presentation. All standardized tests have maps, charts, and graphs in several content areas. These are certain to add points to your grades.
Tonight, read a graph in one of your textbooks--or in a magazine article. A great source of practice is Chapter 4 in the Princeton 2010 Review for the GED. Consider this: These questions are in history, mathematics, social studies, and even, sometimes, in the reading section. Additionally, they are on every other type of test! Get the graph, map, chart reading out of the way. Be happy and relieved to see them!
This chapter gives examples and reminds how questions (in a variety of content areas) from graphs, charts, and maps ask the test taker to read the graph to find information, to measure, to compare, to analyse, and to project. The question will NOT require the test taker to project an upcoming possibility unless the information is there in the graph to support that projection.
Already a popular speaker in person and on radio, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first President ever on television in 1939. Eleanor Roosevelt, his wife, was a key figure during these years. FDR had polio and spent some time in Georgia at Warm Springs for rehabilitation.
As you move from left to right, writing in comments, pasting in photos to help you to visualize the times, notice the periods such as these years when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President and his wife, Eleanor, was a well-known public relations person for his elections and for the progress of people in other areas. So many events happened during this time (World War II, women entering the workplace in greater numbers, the 'baby boom' for people in their 60s now, development of air travel after the air force pilots came back into the work force...). This president served several years and died in office.
As you build your time-line, some people will emerge, including politicians, writers, journalists, civil rights workers, and celebrities. The time line needs color, art, flags (with shapes of the states as they enter the union), fashions, cars, airplanes...(Look at the Dover Publications samplers on line to get paperdoll samples of some of the people on the time line.)
As you reach the 1940s and 1950s, you may talk with some of the older people around you and enjoy some stories with them about what their homes were like, what they did for fun, who was president then, what they studied in school. Do you have a great-grandfather or great aunt or older neighbor to visit? Maybe you can take a copy of Gran Torino and watch it together!
As you get more current on the timeline, do not stop! Aptitude is about understanding what is going on around you! Besides, you can start looking through current magazines and newspapers for the 1960s on. The Baby Boomers keep all of this story (including the music, the politics, and the faith) going.
Keep putting on those photos--now, you can get them from your grandparents or parents or any magazine when you reach the 1960s (hippies, anti-war movement, civil rights movement, Vietnam War); Kennedys (John, Robert, Ted), Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), Martin Luther King (MLK), assassinations, marches, space flights, female astronauts, school teacher astronaut, 9/11, Twin Towers, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, President Obama...Put in more current history from the sixties until now.
The 'aptitude test' has questions assuming that students are attentive members of the community, prospective voters to be. A key feature of your ongoing portfolio is to include community awareness and involvement in making things better for you and for others.
Now, would be a good time to do an oral history interview! Find a good candidate. Look over a few on line (The National Parks Service Oral History Project with the Tuskegee Airmen is full of animated conversation.) Write down some questions, and make sure your recording equipment is well charged. Settle in and talk! (Don't forget to turn the recorder on and to keep plenty of recording space!)
There is an issue of Time Magazine in January that is a good one to read over for the past year. You can buy one in a grocery store or go to the library or get information on the Internet. Keep your timeline current.
THE TIMELINE ON THE WRAPPING PAPER can be your entire study guide for your U.S. History part of the SAT. The social studies will include some charts and graphs. Know how to read the charts and graphs in every part of the test. You can pick up points this way. To learn how to read charts and graphs, use your textbooks and other books in the library to find illustrations and 'read' them.
Make your own charts.
Use data to make charts.
The social studies part of any standardized test is the part to study with a timeline and visual aids. This is the part of the test that the questions will yield some information to help you to answer the questions; but sometimes you will either know the answer or not. This is different from other parts of the test. From the literary passages and in the mathematics section, you can figure out answers because the answers are included within the passages or within the word problems. This is not true in the history section unless the answer is in the map or chart provided.
You may want to look in a bookstore or in a school supply store for additions to your wall time line.
Vivid wall illustrations will come to life in your mind later
Pay attention to the children's workbooks in Target stores, in Walmart, and in bookstores. I have placemats with the United States on one side marked with all the state capitals and on the other side with the state flags and the dates each state entered the Union. They were cheap enough to cut out and to buy duplicates. Buy some materials, if necessary. This timeline is a strong educational tool. Others in your family can use it, too. Be sure to use as much wall space as possible. Chrono is the root word for 'time.' Think of other words with this root.
Unroll more paper to make Word Walls. Word Walls are dynamic ways to learn words. Every teacher is strongly urged to use them and to change them often in the classroom. Words should be all over the place.
The following is are some entries to put in the early part of the time line beginning with George Washington, but there should be some entries about the Native Americans even earlier:
George Washington was President of the United States from April 30, 1789 until March 4, 1797. He represented the state of Virginia. His Political Party was: Federalist; and his Vice President was John Adams.
Move way over on the time line because you should have many other entries about other historical events before these 'Presidential' notes.
Grover Cleveland is the only president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. (He was the 22nd & the 24th President.)
Leave more time line space for other historical and literary entries.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president seen on television. (He was the 32nd President. He served as President from 1933-1945. He did serve more than one term, but (unlike Grover Cleveland), FDR's terms were consecutive (one right after the other). FDR died while he was President of the USA. He was followed in office by Harry S. Truman, the vice-president. FDR had three vice presidents during his term as president: John Garner, Henry Wallace, and Harry Truman.
Words and terms to post with notes and art: tariff, Constitution, Bill of Rights, emancipation, suffrage
Be sure to put terms and words near the points in history when they are noted on the time line.
You can make word art in different ways, but one effective teaching method is to make a graph of the word with the correct spelling of the word in the first slot, a short definition (even if there are many), in the next box, an image related to the word in the next box, and a quotation or sentence using the word in the next slot. This is a graph of a word. Judieth&Rocketcat c. Feb 2010
STUDY FOR U.S. HISTORY:
Unroll a long sheet of wrapping paper, white side out, on a wall you see each day. Start at one end and begin a time line of U.S. History. Use magic markers, crayons, cut out pictures, stick figures, newspaper graphs, maps, and children's history workbook coloring book figures, flags, cards with explanations, words.
Include as many visual figures and cutouts, stick figures or magic marker emphasis words as you can, moving along chronologically, stick up index cards with details about words, terms, events, people, treaties, laws, trials, with dates of treaties, wars, presidents, assassinations, trends, charts and graphs* (such as increased college attendance after WWII, increased women in the workforce, then back home, baby boomers; then, later, more women in the workforce again, put dates when wars ended (WWI, WWII, Japan attacking Pearl Harbor=USA in Hawaii--put an airplane and harbor and the USA map...).
*Note: Be sure you notice all the entries on every chart, graph, and map--including the title, the information written on the vertical axis, the information on the horizontal axis and any footnotes to the presentation. All standardized tests have maps, charts, and graphs in several content areas. These are certain to add points to your grades.
Tonight, read a graph in one of your textbooks--or in a magazine article. A great source of practice is Chapter 4 in the Princeton 2010 Review for the GED. Consider this: These questions are in history, mathematics, social studies, and even, sometimes, in the reading section. Additionally, they are on every other type of test! Get the graph, map, chart reading out of the way. Be happy and relieved to see them!
This chapter gives examples and reminds how questions (in a variety of content areas) from graphs, charts, and maps ask the test taker to read the graph to find information, to measure, to compare, to analyse, and to project. The question will NOT require the test taker to project an upcoming possibility unless the information is there in the graph to support that projection.
Already a popular speaker in person and on radio, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the first President ever on television in 1939. Eleanor Roosevelt, his wife, was a key figure during these years. FDR had polio and spent some time in Georgia at Warm Springs for rehabilitation.
As you move from left to right, writing in comments, pasting in photos to help you to visualize the times, notice the periods such as these years when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was President and his wife, Eleanor, was a well-known public relations person for his elections and for the progress of people in other areas. So many events happened during this time (World War II, women entering the workplace in greater numbers, the 'baby boom' for people in their 60s now, development of air travel after the air force pilots came back into the work force...). This president served several years and died in office.
As you build your time-line, some people will emerge, including politicians, writers, journalists, civil rights workers, and celebrities. The time line needs color, art, flags (with shapes of the states as they enter the union), fashions, cars, airplanes...(Look at the Dover Publications samplers on line to get paperdoll samples of some of the people on the time line.)
As you reach the 1940s and 1950s, you may talk with some of the older people around you and enjoy some stories with them about what their homes were like, what they did for fun, who was president then, what they studied in school. Do you have a great-grandfather or great aunt or older neighbor to visit? Maybe you can take a copy of Gran Torino and watch it together!
As you get more current on the timeline, do not stop! Aptitude is about understanding what is going on around you! Besides, you can start looking through current magazines and newspapers for the 1960s on. The Baby Boomers keep all of this story (including the music, the politics, and the faith) going.
Keep putting on those photos--now, you can get them from your grandparents or parents or any magazine when you reach the 1960s (hippies, anti-war movement, civil rights movement, Vietnam War); Kennedys (John, Robert, Ted), Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ), Martin Luther King (MLK), assassinations, marches, space flights, female astronauts, school teacher astronaut, 9/11, Twin Towers, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, President Obama...Put in more current history from the sixties until now.
The 'aptitude test' has questions assuming that students are attentive members of the community, prospective voters to be. A key feature of your ongoing portfolio is to include community awareness and involvement in making things better for you and for others.
Now, would be a good time to do an oral history interview! Find a good candidate. Look over a few on line (The National Parks Service Oral History Project with the Tuskegee Airmen is full of animated conversation.) Write down some questions, and make sure your recording equipment is well charged. Settle in and talk! (Don't forget to turn the recorder on and to keep plenty of recording space!)
There is an issue of Time Magazine in January that is a good one to read over for the past year. You can buy one in a grocery store or go to the library or get information on the Internet. Keep your timeline current.
THE TIMELINE ON THE WRAPPING PAPER can be your entire study guide for your U.S. History part of the SAT. The social studies will include some charts and graphs. Know how to read the charts and graphs in every part of the test. You can pick up points this way. To learn how to read charts and graphs, use your textbooks and other books in the library to find illustrations and 'read' them.
Make your own charts.
Use data to make charts.
The social studies part of any standardized test is the part to study with a timeline and visual aids. This is the part of the test that the questions will yield some information to help you to answer the questions; but sometimes you will either know the answer or not. This is different from other parts of the test. From the literary passages and in the mathematics section, you can figure out answers because the answers are included within the passages or within the word problems. This is not true in the history section unless the answer is in the map or chart provided.
You may want to look in a bookstore or in a school supply store for additions to your wall time line.
Vivid wall illustrations will come to life in your mind later
Pay attention to the children's workbooks in Target stores, in Walmart, and in bookstores. I have placemats with the United States on one side marked with all the state capitals and on the other side with the state flags and the dates each state entered the Union. They were cheap enough to cut out and to buy duplicates. Buy some materials, if necessary. This timeline is a strong educational tool. Others in your family can use it, too. Be sure to use as much wall space as possible. Chrono is the root word for 'time.' Think of other words with this root.
Unroll more paper to make Word Walls. Word Walls are dynamic ways to learn words. Every teacher is strongly urged to use them and to change them often in the classroom. Words should be all over the place.
The following is are some entries to put in the early part of the time line beginning with George Washington, but there should be some entries about the Native Americans even earlier:
George Washington was President of the United States from April 30, 1789 until March 4, 1797. He represented the state of Virginia. His Political Party was: Federalist; and his Vice President was John Adams.
Move way over on the time line because you should have many other entries about other historical events before these 'Presidential' notes.
Grover Cleveland is the only president to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. (He was the 22nd & the 24th President.)
Leave more time line space for other historical and literary entries.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was the first president seen on television. (He was the 32nd President. He served as President from 1933-1945. He did serve more than one term, but (unlike Grover Cleveland), FDR's terms were consecutive (one right after the other). FDR died while he was President of the USA. He was followed in office by Harry S. Truman, the vice-president. FDR had three vice presidents during his term as president: John Garner, Henry Wallace, and Harry Truman.
Words and terms to post with notes and art: tariff, Constitution, Bill of Rights, emancipation, suffrage
Be sure to put terms and words near the points in history when they are noted on the time line.
You can make word art in different ways, but one effective teaching method is to make a graph of the word with the correct spelling of the word in the first slot, a short definition (even if there are many), in the next box, an image related to the word in the next box, and a quotation or sentence using the word in the next slot. This is a graph of a word. Judieth&Rocketcat c. Feb 2010
Do Register for the March 13 SAT NOW. More about Using U.S. TimeLine.
Alan Alda, as Hawkeye, in the TV version of M*A*S*H, chose the dictionary as his favorite book. The different characters were choosing favorite books to have along if ever stranded on an island alone. As Hawkeye quipped,"I want the dictionary with me because it has all the other books in it."
The dictionary is still the best place to look at a word, the pronunciation, the many different uses, the parts of speech, the origin, the comparisons, the affixes, the root word, the synonym--Proper name parts of the word, if any--Photos, drawings, and maps related to the word. There are visual dictionaries, sound dictionaries, sign language dictionaries, on-line dictionaries, pocket dictionaries, electronic dictionaries.
Learning about words is still the best studying strategy for standardized tests. If you know words, you are hard to stop! Reading is code breaking.
March to the 13th Test Drummer: Routine Beats Time Shortage
a) For the March 13 test, you have time to use the test date as the focus of a plan that is narrowing to the routine: to recall the purpose of the test and the reasoning behind the questions to predict and to review what you know. Words assemble into accessible units according to categories
Add vocabulary already tagged as the cards are pinned to word walls, diagrams, or timelines:
from the glossaries of your textbooks,
from the questions and answers of the practice questions,
and from the books and articles you read and discuss.
The SAT test is to measure your aptitude for learning:
Find a time period each day to complete the Question for the day at the College Board Site, to review a section of the practice questions immediately at the College Board site, to follow up at this blog, http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ and then to follow up on your U.S. History Time line, word wall, and section of Princeton Review.
c) Portfolio: Keep more than one storage backup of all of your study materials. These materials will be useful later..
Keep all materials in your own portfolio, with printouts, and copies on your USB portable drive.
d) Resources, Materals, Supplies, Links: Build your index and 'box' of related work from the additional games, videos, blogs, help sites, and books (No Sweat Math and Princeton Review quizes) and Powerpoint flash cards And the U.S. HISTORY TIME LINE ON THE WALL and the WORD WALL!!! Keep posting on your inventory list where everything is located. (P.S. When you do take the timeline and the words from the wall, roll up the paper and store them. These are review tools for other times.)
e) Body of Knowledge. From now until March 13, you have enough time to learn as much as some people learn in years. Some of what you are doing is remembering. Some of what you are doing is reconstructing, and some of what you are doing is learning for the first time --using the parts that you did understand before.
All you have to do is pay attention to what you already know,
what you know you are expected to know (prediction about the questions and the style of the questions), and what helps you to review:
practice,
visual images,
sound,
video,
interaction with others,
flash cards,
word wall,
time line for U.S. History and American Literature.
If you know words, and if you play with them: hangman, scrabble, crossword puzzles (especially ones you make), http://www.lumosity.com/, http://www.pbs.org/
Sesame Street! Yesterday's word was brush. You brush your hair (verb) and use a paintbrush (noun), an art brush.
As you walk down the Sesame Street clicking your camera on brushes, you make a line of photos at the bottom of the page. Then, you use your arrow keys and/or mouse to move those photos into an album. Word Search pages from the Disney site included: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, explorer, Magellan. Today, go to http:www.bjpinchbeck.com. There are so many links on this site that you merely need to link to which content area you need some practice for 'homework helper.' This site was originally planned and implemented by a nine year old and his dad. Years went by, and links were added. The site won awards. BJ is in college now and recently (2009) won an award from National Geographic for a film. He is a photography major.
BJ Pinchbeck's site has articles for college students now, and the reference books and homework helpers are still excellent. I still have particular links to use for certain things. One of my educational sites besides this one (http://www.coolrocketschool.org/) is http://www.coolrocketschool.com/
When you go to http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ to visit, be sure to click into the coolrocketschool section in the services page. That's where my Thinking Outside Your Socks articles are.
Do register at the College Board site right away if you want to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on March 13. 2010, the next test date. If you are taking the test in May, you should go ahead and register, as well. While you are on the College Board site, http:www.collegeboard.com , go ahead and put the Question for the Day feed on your computer.
Check with my blog after doing the SAT Question for the Day. Do the practice questions, too. You can see the results right then. That's excellent. When you finish everything correctly, look at the question with the correct answer checked and make a mental photograph of the way it looks. This is the style of some of the questions you will see again.
Visualize a study plan as you look at the calendar. You have time for a strong plan before the May test.
For the March 13 test, you have to narrow your focus right away. You need to have a copy of the Princeton Review 2010 'Crack the SAT' and the 'feed' of the SAT questions for the day.
Strategies One and One and One: Know why your strategy is a top one; know how the questions are asked long before the test; and know more words.
Learn shorthand code Pay attention to the reasons for the strategies. Number one strategy for the SAT has always been to increase your use of vocabulary and terminology. Now, knowing the style of the questions is an equally helpful strategy. They tie, in my opinion.
The more words that are familiar to you the better you will do on the SAT, so some strategies are purely to train your eyes and brain to 'know' some words well and to 'know' some words well enough to use them in figuring out meaning by the time you take the test.
Come to this site to read the past columns, and write to me for advice about the best ways to make use of your remaining time before the March 13 test.
For example:
Think about what you already know that will be within questions on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Make predictions and then review those things by writing your own questions and answers in the formats (ALL OF THE FORMATS) used on the test.
Know how to do questions about mean, median, and mode without hesitation. I like these questions. What are these measurements called? They are used in statistical evaluations. When you write an example for yourself, use a list of grades you made in a class (make them up) to find the mean, the median, and the mode of your grades in jitterbug dancing. Let's say you made five grades.
You need to know how to do questions with two blanks--without hesitation except in considering the possibilities. In short, the style of the questions should all be familiar to you. If they are not, all you have to do is practice the question for the day every day and come to this blog--and do the Princeton Review practice tests--in sections now, checking your work, and in whole tests soon.
Continue to predict and to practice what will be on the test.
You need to know how to do a problem relating to ratio.
Make up one of those questions that are about how many chances there are to draw the name of a senior if every senior's name is in the lottery three times and there are three hundred seniors, every junior's name is in the lottery 2 times, and there are 200 juniors, and every sophomore's name is in the lottery 1 time, and there are 100 sophomores. (See the past Questions for the day. There is one like this in the Official SAT questions for the day.)
Hint: On this one, you would triple the number of seniors (900), double the number of juniors (400) and just add in (one time) the number of sophomores (100) to get the total number of names in the lottery (900+400+100=1400). What would your answer list look like for the possibilities of drawing the name of a senior? (300x3=900 out of 1400 or 9/14).
In your 'possibilities,' you should probably include the wrong answers of 5/9 and 5/14, as these would be answers to other questions related to the same material. That would be typical of a standardized test maker, not as a trick, but as an evaluation of your ability to recognize the question. You are not supposed to choose any old available answer to a possible question. You are supposed to be paying attention to the particular question and to look for the specific answer to that question.
You need to know how to do problems with attention to Order of Operations.
PREDICT 20 things that a Scholastic Aptitude Test Writer would ask.
Write them like this in different question styles of the SAT. Follow with the explanation.
1. Which of the following is the same amount as 1/4?
a. .20
b. .25
c. .15
d. .05
e. .10
The answer is b. The decimal .25 is equivalent to the fraction 1/4 and the percentage 25%.
Make flash cards in PowerPoint with images for as many concepts as you can accomplish each day.
Do twenty more questions each day and one section of a practice test (and check it) from the Princeton Guide.
***********
You can also do a more traditional dictionary style of typing the word in an interesting font, indicating the correct pronunciation and the etymology (origin) of the word, typing in some information about the part of speech and usage.
I suggest that you do different types of explanations about words.I like to see students compare the different ways words are used. For example, the word 'coordinate' is used as a verb to mean putting together an event. I will 'coordinate' a party for the book club.
If you look up 'coordinate' in your math glossary, you may find that it is a noun and one of the places where you plot a point on a graph ('plot' used here as a verb when it may be in your literature book's glossary as the story line for a literary work).
As you examine the word 'coordinate,' you will find that it has yet another meaning in physics! Knowing what 'co' means as an affix and what 'ordinate' means as a root can help you to recognize the word in these other contexts, but the meanings are quite different in the different content areas. This is the reason glossary study is another connection study in my tutorials.
If your U.S. History timeline for studying is visual and colorful, you can tack up words to remember and even some cards full of information to take down to study when you are looking at the timeline. The visual should have pictures of clothes, vehicles, planes, advertising...newspapers, products...things to visualize the times when different things were happening. **(Note: See other blogs for more details and specific entries to use on your U.S. History Timeline and Word Walls.)
Put each state on the timeline with the date of entry to the union and the capital of the state. You can find a copy of the flags and the states with the capitals marked with a star. Make copies and cut out the outlines of the states and put them on the timeline in the order they became a part of the USA.
Then, below the timeline, put another copy of the United States with the states all back together.
Look at the map of the United States and look at the rivers and mountains. Look at the description of the regions and which states are considered to be in the South, the Northeast, the Midwest...Where is everything? Where are the deserts? Where is the highest mountain peak? Where is the longest river? How many time lines are there in the USA? What are they called? What is the difference in time, say, between Atlanta and San Francisco?
Use a glossary and index from a U.S. History Book to remind you of some entries to put on the chronology time-line. Don't forget things like the Bill of Rights, women's suffrage (the right to vote), and which states are agricultural, which manufacturing...and which were the original states. Start at the beginning, and look at the things about the Native Americans, and move forward in time, put Washington on as the first president and realize that there were important events on the time line before that...Put on loads of literary elements (Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Carl Sandburg...and some of the famous speeches and poems ...)
Use the timeline in your American Literature Book! Some of the quoted material will be from American literature, so your entries on the time line will help to keep you familiar with some of the quoted material. The timelines will probably be in the front pages of your American Literature book. They are in mine. Load them onto your chronology.
Continue to make flash cards in PowerPoint and to do some games with them with other SAT test takers, if possible. Use the words from the glossaries of your textbooks--all textbooks: science, social studies, literature, and U.S. History. This would be great to do with your SAT book club.
The SAT questions are rich with 'content.' They are likely to have the names of recent astronauts and the telescope that has been adjusted by mission in space. Questions are likely to quote from famous writers and from famous people and from elegant texts. The questions on the SAT are NOT likely to include misinformation, except for the incorrect part that is supposed to be corrected as part of the test.
judiethcarol&rocketcat February 2010 c.
The dictionary is still the best place to look at a word, the pronunciation, the many different uses, the parts of speech, the origin, the comparisons, the affixes, the root word, the synonym--Proper name parts of the word, if any--Photos, drawings, and maps related to the word. There are visual dictionaries, sound dictionaries, sign language dictionaries, on-line dictionaries, pocket dictionaries, electronic dictionaries.
Learning about words is still the best studying strategy for standardized tests. If you know words, you are hard to stop! Reading is code breaking.
March to the 13th Test Drummer: Routine Beats Time Shortage
a) For the March 13 test, you have time to use the test date as the focus of a plan that is narrowing to the routine: to recall the purpose of the test and the reasoning behind the questions to predict and to review what you know. Words assemble into accessible units according to categories
Add vocabulary already tagged as the cards are pinned to word walls, diagrams, or timelines:
from the glossaries of your textbooks,
from the questions and answers of the practice questions,
and from the books and articles you read and discuss.
The SAT test is to measure your aptitude for learning:
- If you practice solving problems and designing questions in the style of the questions on the test, you will see the solution cues quickly.
- If you organize your practice in the sequence of soving the problems, your brain will follow these patterns during test-taking.
- If you visualize the words you are seeing now within the corrected formats of the practice questions and answers, the strategy of connecting what you know with what you need to know will operate.
Find a time period each day to complete the Question for the day at the College Board Site, to review a section of the practice questions immediately at the College Board site, to follow up at this blog, http://www.coolrocketschool.org/ and then to follow up on your U.S. History Time line, word wall, and section of Princeton Review.
c) Portfolio: Keep more than one storage backup of all of your study materials. These materials will be useful later..
Keep all materials in your own portfolio, with printouts, and copies on your USB portable drive.
d) Resources, Materals, Supplies, Links: Build your index and 'box' of related work from the additional games, videos, blogs, help sites, and books (No Sweat Math and Princeton Review quizes) and Powerpoint flash cards And the U.S. HISTORY TIME LINE ON THE WALL and the WORD WALL!!! Keep posting on your inventory list where everything is located. (P.S. When you do take the timeline and the words from the wall, roll up the paper and store them. These are review tools for other times.)
e) Body of Knowledge. From now until March 13, you have enough time to learn as much as some people learn in years. Some of what you are doing is remembering. Some of what you are doing is reconstructing, and some of what you are doing is learning for the first time --using the parts that you did understand before.
All you have to do is pay attention to what you already know,
what you know you are expected to know (prediction about the questions and the style of the questions), and what helps you to review:
practice,
visual images,
sound,
video,
interaction with others,
flash cards,
word wall,
time line for U.S. History and American Literature.
If you know words, and if you play with them: hangman, scrabble, crossword puzzles (especially ones you make), http://www.lumosity.com/, http://www.pbs.org/
Sesame Street! Yesterday's word was brush. You brush your hair (verb) and use a paintbrush (noun), an art brush.
As you walk down the Sesame Street clicking your camera on brushes, you make a line of photos at the bottom of the page. Then, you use your arrow keys and/or mouse to move those photos into an album. Word Search pages from the Disney site included: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore, explorer, Magellan. Today, go to http:www.bjpinchbeck.com. There are so many links on this site that you merely need to link to which content area you need some practice for 'homework helper.' This site was originally planned and implemented by a nine year old and his dad. Years went by, and links were added. The site won awards. BJ is in college now and recently (2009) won an award from National Geographic for a film. He is a photography major.
BJ Pinchbeck's site has articles for college students now, and the reference books and homework helpers are still excellent. I still have particular links to use for certain things. One of my educational sites besides this one (http://www.coolrocketschool.org/) is http://www.coolrocketschool.com/
When you go to http://www.coolrocketschool.com/ to visit, be sure to click into the coolrocketschool section in the services page. That's where my Thinking Outside Your Socks articles are.
Do register at the College Board site right away if you want to take the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) on March 13. 2010, the next test date. If you are taking the test in May, you should go ahead and register, as well. While you are on the College Board site, http:www.collegeboard.com , go ahead and put the Question for the Day feed on your computer.
Check with my blog after doing the SAT Question for the Day. Do the practice questions, too. You can see the results right then. That's excellent. When you finish everything correctly, look at the question with the correct answer checked and make a mental photograph of the way it looks. This is the style of some of the questions you will see again.
Visualize a study plan as you look at the calendar. You have time for a strong plan before the May test.
For the March 13 test, you have to narrow your focus right away. You need to have a copy of the Princeton Review 2010 'Crack the SAT' and the 'feed' of the SAT questions for the day.
Strategies One and One and One: Know why your strategy is a top one; know how the questions are asked long before the test; and know more words.
Learn shorthand code Pay attention to the reasons for the strategies. Number one strategy for the SAT has always been to increase your use of vocabulary and terminology. Now, knowing the style of the questions is an equally helpful strategy. They tie, in my opinion.
The more words that are familiar to you the better you will do on the SAT, so some strategies are purely to train your eyes and brain to 'know' some words well and to 'know' some words well enough to use them in figuring out meaning by the time you take the test.
Come to this site to read the past columns, and write to me for advice about the best ways to make use of your remaining time before the March 13 test.
For example:
Think about what you already know that will be within questions on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Make predictions and then review those things by writing your own questions and answers in the formats (ALL OF THE FORMATS) used on the test.
Know how to do questions about mean, median, and mode without hesitation. I like these questions. What are these measurements called? They are used in statistical evaluations. When you write an example for yourself, use a list of grades you made in a class (make them up) to find the mean, the median, and the mode of your grades in jitterbug dancing. Let's say you made five grades.
You need to know how to do questions with two blanks--without hesitation except in considering the possibilities. In short, the style of the questions should all be familiar to you. If they are not, all you have to do is practice the question for the day every day and come to this blog--and do the Princeton Review practice tests--in sections now, checking your work, and in whole tests soon.
Continue to predict and to practice what will be on the test.
You need to know how to do a problem relating to ratio.
Make up one of those questions that are about how many chances there are to draw the name of a senior if every senior's name is in the lottery three times and there are three hundred seniors, every junior's name is in the lottery 2 times, and there are 200 juniors, and every sophomore's name is in the lottery 1 time, and there are 100 sophomores. (See the past Questions for the day. There is one like this in the Official SAT questions for the day.)
Hint: On this one, you would triple the number of seniors (900), double the number of juniors (400) and just add in (one time) the number of sophomores (100) to get the total number of names in the lottery (900+400+100=1400). What would your answer list look like for the possibilities of drawing the name of a senior? (300x3=900 out of 1400 or 9/14).
In your 'possibilities,' you should probably include the wrong answers of 5/9 and 5/14, as these would be answers to other questions related to the same material. That would be typical of a standardized test maker, not as a trick, but as an evaluation of your ability to recognize the question. You are not supposed to choose any old available answer to a possible question. You are supposed to be paying attention to the particular question and to look for the specific answer to that question.
You need to know how to do problems with attention to Order of Operations.
PREDICT 20 things that a Scholastic Aptitude Test Writer would ask.
Write them like this in different question styles of the SAT. Follow with the explanation.
1. Which of the following is the same amount as 1/4?
a. .20
b. .25
c. .15
d. .05
e. .10
The answer is b. The decimal .25 is equivalent to the fraction 1/4 and the percentage 25%.
Make flash cards in PowerPoint with images for as many concepts as you can accomplish each day.
Do twenty more questions each day and one section of a practice test (and check it) from the Princeton Guide.
***********
You can also do a more traditional dictionary style of typing the word in an interesting font, indicating the correct pronunciation and the etymology (origin) of the word, typing in some information about the part of speech and usage.
I suggest that you do different types of explanations about words.I like to see students compare the different ways words are used. For example, the word 'coordinate' is used as a verb to mean putting together an event. I will 'coordinate' a party for the book club.
If you look up 'coordinate' in your math glossary, you may find that it is a noun and one of the places where you plot a point on a graph ('plot' used here as a verb when it may be in your literature book's glossary as the story line for a literary work).
As you examine the word 'coordinate,' you will find that it has yet another meaning in physics! Knowing what 'co' means as an affix and what 'ordinate' means as a root can help you to recognize the word in these other contexts, but the meanings are quite different in the different content areas. This is the reason glossary study is another connection study in my tutorials.
If your U.S. History timeline for studying is visual and colorful, you can tack up words to remember and even some cards full of information to take down to study when you are looking at the timeline. The visual should have pictures of clothes, vehicles, planes, advertising...newspapers, products...things to visualize the times when different things were happening. **(Note: See other blogs for more details and specific entries to use on your U.S. History Timeline and Word Walls.)
Put each state on the timeline with the date of entry to the union and the capital of the state. You can find a copy of the flags and the states with the capitals marked with a star. Make copies and cut out the outlines of the states and put them on the timeline in the order they became a part of the USA.
Then, below the timeline, put another copy of the United States with the states all back together.
Look at the map of the United States and look at the rivers and mountains. Look at the description of the regions and which states are considered to be in the South, the Northeast, the Midwest...Where is everything? Where are the deserts? Where is the highest mountain peak? Where is the longest river? How many time lines are there in the USA? What are they called? What is the difference in time, say, between Atlanta and San Francisco?
Use a glossary and index from a U.S. History Book to remind you of some entries to put on the chronology time-line. Don't forget things like the Bill of Rights, women's suffrage (the right to vote), and which states are agricultural, which manufacturing...and which were the original states. Start at the beginning, and look at the things about the Native Americans, and move forward in time, put Washington on as the first president and realize that there were important events on the time line before that...Put on loads of literary elements (Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Carl Sandburg...and some of the famous speeches and poems ...)
Use the timeline in your American Literature Book! Some of the quoted material will be from American literature, so your entries on the time line will help to keep you familiar with some of the quoted material. The timelines will probably be in the front pages of your American Literature book. They are in mine. Load them onto your chronology.
Continue to make flash cards in PowerPoint and to do some games with them with other SAT test takers, if possible. Use the words from the glossaries of your textbooks--all textbooks: science, social studies, literature, and U.S. History. This would be great to do with your SAT book club.
The SAT questions are rich with 'content.' They are likely to have the names of recent astronauts and the telescope that has been adjusted by mission in space. Questions are likely to quote from famous writers and from famous people and from elegant texts. The questions on the SAT are NOT likely to include misinformation, except for the incorrect part that is supposed to be corrected as part of the test.
judiethcarol&rocketcat February 2010 c.
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