SAT Prep: Critical Reading

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SAT Prep Critical Reading

• Part I Sentence Completion

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Critical Reading

• Critical Reading is broken down into two parts
  sentence completion and passage-based reading.
• First well look at how to handle the sentence
  completion questions, which should amount to 13
  questions on the actual test.

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Definition sentences

• Ravens appear to behave _______________, actively
  helping one another to find food.
• a. mysteriously
• b. warily
• c. aggressively
• d. cooperatively
• e. defensively

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Definition sentences

• Both ________ and _______, Wilson seldom spoke
  and never spent money.
• a. vociferous . . . generous
• b. garrulous . . . stingy
• c. effusive . . . frugal
• d. taciturn . . . miserly
• e. reticent . . . munificent

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Logic/Relationship Questions

• Most of the time, the blank will not be merely
  matching a definition as the past two examples
  were.
• You will need to look at Key Words to determine
  how the word in the blank fits in with the rest
  of the sentence.

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Contrast Sentences

• In a contrast sentence, the blank will hold a
  statement that is opposite or in contrast to the
  rest of the sentence.
• Look for Key Words like
• however
• although
• rather than
• but
• despite
• instead
• yet
• even though

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Contrast Sentences

• Although in captivity the birds appear fragile,
  studies indicate the species is actually quite
  _________ in the wild.
• a. delicate
• b. rigid
• c. cautious
• d. vigorous
• e. attractive

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Contrast Sentences

• I was amazed to hear that my friend, who I knew
  to be __________, was described by her teacher as
  quiet and shy.
• a. benevolent
• b. sedate
• c. circumspect
• d. verbose
• e. credible

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Sentence Completion Hints

• Underline the important words of the sentence.
• Predict an answer, even before you look at the
  answer choices. This will help you avoid the
  dreaded SAT traps.
• See if any of the words match your prediction.
  At the very least, you should be able to scratch
  out a few that dont.

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Sentence Completion Hints

• Keep in mind that introductory and transitional
  words are very important.
• Be aware that some of the most difficult sentence
  completion questions contain negatives, which can
  make it hard to follow the logic of the
  sentences.
• Remember that the instructions ask you to choose
  the best answer.

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Predict Answers

• Although these animals migrate, they are not
  ______ they remain loyal to their established
  ranges and seldom stray into new areas.
• Most art critics regard her early style as
  conventional, utterly devoid of technical or
  artistic ________.

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Look for tone of words

• Even if you dont know what a word means, you can
  sometimes tell if the word is positive, negative,
  or neutral just by looking at it.
• Likewise, you can read a sentence with a blank
  and figure out what the tone of the missing word
  should be.
• Try to match tones. If you can eliminate a few
  clearly incorrect words, this can be a great way
  to guess.

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On sentences with two blanks . . .

• If a sentence has two blanks, dont try to pick
  both words at the same time.
• Look for the blank that has the most context
  clues to go with it (usually the second blank),
  and try to figure out what should go there before
  moving to the remaining blank.

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On sentences with two blanks . . .

• The haiku, with its _______, its reduction of
  natural and everyday events to their mere
  essence, seems to economically depict the
  _________ of even the simplest human experience.
• a. casualness . . . destructiveness
• b. optimism . . . barrenness
• c. capriciousness . . . rigidity
• d. digressiveness . . . precariousness
• e. conciseness . . . poignancy

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Prefixes Root Words

• Look for prefixes (dont worry about suffixes as
  much they arent as helpful) that you might
  know, and roots from words you might recognize.
  A list of the most common word roots will be
  available on Schoolwires.

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Tips for Learning Vocab

• Mnemonics -- generates a detailed phrase or
  image that burns the meaning of the word into
  your memory.
• The more outlandish the image or rhyme, the
  better.
• Sacrosanct -- Imagine the scene in Raiders of
  the Lost Ark when everyones face melts off
  because they dared to touch that holy, sacrosanct
  object. You wont forget melting faces!
• Conundrum -- Having only one drum is a
  conundrum for a rock drummer.

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Tips for Learning Vocab

• If you hear or read a word you dont know, try to
  guess its meaning from context, then look it up
  to see if you were right and create a mnemonic.
• Dont study your words in the same order. Switch
  them around, shuffle your flashcards, or change
  the order of the words in some way. Then you can
  be sure you really know the word!

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• He was treated like a ____ and cast out from his
  community.
• A. ascetic B. prodigy C. prodigal D. pariah
  E. tyro

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D. pariah

• Clue He was cast out. An outcast is a pariah.
• ascetic one who lives a severe existence
  without indulgences
• prodigy genius, or very talented
• prodigal wasteful person
• tyro novice, beginner

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• 2. The teacher accused me of ____ because my
  essay was so similar to that of another student.
• A. procrastination B. plagiarism C. celerity
  D. confusion E. decorum

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B. plagiarism

• Clue because gives a reason for the word that
  is needed. If the essay is so similar it looks as
  though it is copied. To copy without giving
  acknowledgement is plagiarism.
• procrastination putting off, delaying
• celerity speed
• decorum good and correct behavior

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• 3. We live in a ____ age everyone thinks that
  maximizing pleasure is the point of life.
• A. ubiquitous B. propitious C. sporadic D.
  corrupt E. hedonistic

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E. hedonistic

• Clue The part after the semicolon explains what
  kind of age we are talking about.So, since we
  are told that maximizing pleasure is the point,
  the word we need is hedonistic (pleasure
  seeking).
• ubiquitous found everywhere
• propitious favorable
• sporadic intermittent, not continuous

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• 4. Thankfully the disease has gone into ____ it
  may not recur for many years.
• A. treatment B. sequestration C. quarantine D.
  remission E. oblivion

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D. remission

• Clue The part after the semicolon explains the
  first part of the sentence.So, something that
  may not recur for some time would be in
  remission.
• sequestration isolation
• quarantine isolation
• remission temporary improvement in a disease
  oblivion state of being unaware

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• 5. People from all over the world are sent by
  their doctors to breathe the pure, ____ air in
  this mountain region.
• A. invigorating B. soporific C. debilitating
  D. insalubrious E. aromatic

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A. invigorating

• Clue Since the air is described as pure we
  need a positive word. Also, since doctors
  recommend it, the air must be good for
  health.Therefore, we choose invigorating which
  means energizing.
• soporific sleep-inducing
• debilitating weakening
• insalubrious unhealthy
• aromatic pleasant-smelling

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• 6. As were many colonial administrators, Gregory
  was ____ in his knowledge of the grammar of the
  local language, though his accent was ____ .
• A. deficient - poor B. competent - adequate C.
  faultless - awful D. well-versed - effective E.
  erratic - eccentric

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C. faultless - awful

• Clue though indicates the need for
  opposites.Therefore, we say that he was
  faultless (perfect) in his grammar, though his
  accent was awful. This is the only pair of
  opposites.
• erratic unpredictable eccentric odd

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• 7. Though Adam Bede is presented to us by the
  author as ____ fiction, there are none of the
  life-like meanderings of the story of Amos
  Barton.
• A. realistic B. romantic C. imaginative D.
  educational E. entertaining

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A. realistic

• Clue Though indicates the need for opposites
  in the two halves of the sentence. Also,
  life-like indicates realistic is the word
  needed.The sentence means that, though there are
  no life-like meanderings, the work is presented
  as realistic fiction. Note that to get the
  meaning out of the sentence it sometimes helps to
  turn the parts around.

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• 8. There is a general ____ in the United States
  that our ethics are declining and that our moral
  standards are ____ .
• A. feeling - normalizing B. idea - futile C.
  optimism - improving D. complaint -
  deteriorating E. outlook - escalating

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D. complaint - deteriorating

• Clue and usually joins things of similar
  meaning or weight. This suggests that since
  ethics are declining, moral standards are also
  declining (deteriorating). Almost any word except
  optimism would have fit the first blank.
• futile useless, ineffective
• escalating increasing

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• 9. Homo sapiens, the proud splitter of the atom,
  inventor of the electronic computer, ____ of the
  genetic code may be humbled by a lowly ____ of
  the sewers and soils - the microbe.
• A. designer - inhabitant B. discoverer - rodent
  C. writer - organism D. decipherer - denizen
  E. author - purifier

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D. decipherer - denizen

• Clue The first blank requires something that
  conveys what man has done to the genetic code -
  the only two suitable words are discoverer or
  decipherer. But since a microbe is not a
  rodent, we can eliminate that pair.
• rodent animal like a rat or mouse
• decipherer someone who decodes
• denizen inhabitant

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• 10. After centuries of obscurity, this
  philosopher's thesis is enjoying a surprising
  ____ .
• A. dismissal B. remission C. decimation D.
  longevity E. renaissance

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E. renaissance

• Clue The sentence tells us that the thesis has
  been in obscurity (forgotten or neglected) but
  now it is being revived. We can say it is
  undergoing a renaissance (revival).
• remission temporary cessation of a disease
• decimation destruction
• longevity length of life

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• 11. The threat of war, far from ____ , lay
  heavily in the air, and the villagers, while ____
  going about their normal activities, were unable
  to shake off the feeling of impending
  catastrophe.
• A. receding - ostensibly B. diminishing -
  contentedly C. increasing - apparently D.
  escalating - joyfully E. subsiding -
  felicitously

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A. receding - ostensibly

• Clue Far from indicates that an opposite point
  is being made. So, since there is a feeling of
  impending catastrophe the threat of war is far
  from getting less. This indicates that
  receding, diminishing, or subsiding might be
  suitable. We can eliminate these last two since
  their partner words contentedly and
  felicitously are inappropriate for a feeling of
  danger. So the villagers are only apparently
  (ostensibly) behaving normally.
• escalating increasing
• felicitously happily, suitably

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• 12. Although alarmed by the ____ , Professor
  Symes had no reason to doubt the ____ of his
  student's results, for this student was nothing
  if not reliable.
• A. conclusions - folly B. deductions - impudence
  C. implications - veracity D. errors - truth
  E. inferences - invalidity

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C. implications - veracity

• Clue Nothing if not means very. So if the
  student is very reliable the professor would not
  doubt the truth or veracity of the results.
  Since the student is reliable we can eliminate
  the error choice, and choose implications.
• folly foolishness
• impudence cheekiness
• veracity truth
• inferences something we can deduce)

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Practice Writing Intros
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Writing Prompt 1

• We would like to think that progress causes
  problems to be solved completely, and sometimes
  that happens. For example, some diseases that
  once posed a serious threat are no longer a
  problem, thanks to modern medicine. Some problems
  can be solved, and they go away. But as often as
  not, problems exist in a chain of cause and
  effect for each problem solved, a new one
  develops.
• Adapted from Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress
  Paradox How Life Gets Better While People Feel
  Worse
• Assignment Does progress reduce the number of
  problems in the world, or does solving old
  problems just lead to new ones? Plan and write an
  essay in which you develop your point of view on
  this issue. Support your position with reasoning
  and examples taken from your reading, studies,
  experience, or observations.

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Writing Prompt 2

• Common sense tells us that people tend to get
  along better with those who are like them, who
  think and act as they do. Many people, however,
  get along very well with people who are very
  different from them and may prefer to associate
  with those whose views and actions are different
  from their own. In fact, some people even
  complain that they are bored and irritated by
  those who are too much like them.
• Assignment
• Do people tend to get along better with people
  who are very different from them or with those
  who are like them? Plan and write an essay in
  which you develop your point of view on this
  issue. Support your position with reasoning and
  examples taken from your reading, studies,
  experience, or observations.

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Writing Prompt 3

• The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the
  attribute of the strong.-M.K.Gandhi
• Assignment
• Is it true that only weak can never forgive? Or
  in this modern world, forgiveness is attributed
  to the ones who are weak? Plan your outlook on
  the issue and then formulate the essay with
  substantial evidence from your daily observation
  or experiences. Support your argument.

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Writing Prompt 4

• From early childhood, we are encouragedpressured,
  evento be in the company of others we are
  urged to belong to this or that group, to join
  this or that club, to spend time with this or
  that friend. People do everything to avoid being
  by themselves, treating solitude as though it
  were the equivalent of loneliness. And yet it is
  only when people are by themselves that they can
  truly achieve their most important goals.
• Assignment
• Is solitudespending time alonenecessary for
  people to achieve their most important goals?
  Plan and write an essay in which you develop your
  point of view on this issue. Support your
  position with reasoning and examples taken from
  your reading, studies, experience, or
  observations.

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Writing Prompt 5

• Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear -
  not absence of fear. Mark Twain
• Assignment
• Courage, is it only resistance to fear? Is
  absence of fear possible? Plan your essay after
  clearly understanding the issue under discussion
  and then proceed to write an essay with suitable
  examples that can support your essay.

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Writing Prompt 6

• Although most of us do not like being criticized,
  it is said that we can always benefit from being
  told what we are doing wrong. We may lose a
  valuable learning opportunity if we do not listen
  to the criticisms expressed by others. Yet
  criticism, even when honest and well-intended,
  can be more harmful than helpful. We have more to
  gain by ignoring or shielding ourselves from the
  criticisms of others.
• Assignment Are people better off if they do not
  listen to criticism? Plan and write an essay in
  which you develop your point of view on this
  issue. Support your position with reasoning and
  examples taken from your reading, studies,
  experience, or observations.

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Writing Prompt 7

• Discipline is a negative word for many people
  because it is associated with rigorous training,
  strict rules, and strong self-control. But we
  fail to realize that freedom comes only through
  discipline. Discipline compels us to sacrifice
  immediate rewards and pleasures, but it also
  gives our lives structure and prevents us from
  making costly mistakes. It keeps us from being
  subject to our impulses and weaknesses and thus
  frees us to achieve our true goals.
• Assignment Do people need discipline to achieve
  freedom? Plan and write an essay in which you
  develop your point of view on this issue. Support
  your position with reasoning and examples taken
  from your reading, studies, experience, or
  observations.

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Writing Prompt 8

• The making of illusionsmisleading images or
  ideas that appear to be authentic or truehas
  become the primary business of our society.
  Included in this category are not only the false
  promises made by advertisers and politicians but
  all of the activities which supposedly inform,
  comfort, and improve us, such as the work of our
  best writers and our most influential leaders.
  These promises and activities only encourage
  people to have unrealistic expectations and to
  ignore facts.
• Adapted from Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image
• Assignment Are people overly influenced by
  unrealistic claims and misleading images? Plan
  and write an essay in which you develop your
  point of view on this issue. Support your
  position with reasoning and examples taken from
  your reading, studies, experience, or
  observations.

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Writing Prompt 9

• The word uncompromising is often used as a
  compliment, especially when it describes someone
  who is completely dedicated to certain principles
  and values. Uncompromising people have indeed
  recorded great achievements. But being
  uncompromising is not always a virtue. People who
  are uncompromising tend not to consider other
  peoples views, seeing themselves as right and
  everyone else as wrong. All in all, it is better
  to be flexible and make compromises.
• Assignment Are people more likely to achieve
  their goals by being flexible or by refusing to
  compromise? Plan and write an essay in which you
  develop your point of view on this issue. Support
  your position with reasoning and examples taken
  from your reading, studies, experience, or
  observations.

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Writing Prompt 10

• We are often encouraged to stop worrying about
  making mistakes and advised not to dwell on those
  we have already made. But without analyzing
  mistakesdecisions and actions that made a
  project fail, for instancehow can anyone be
  successful? Besides, there are some well-known
  mistakes others have made that seem worth
  studying carefully. Perhaps these mistakes could
  have been prevented if those responsible had been
  more concerned about making mistakes in the first
  place.
• Assignment Do people have to pay attention to
  mistakes in order to make progress? Plan and
  write an essay in which you develop your point of
  view on this issue. Support your position with
  reasoning and examples taken from your reading,
  studies, experience, or observations.