Writing Strategies for SAT

#1 - Do not trust your __

ear. Don’t over rely on a question sounding good when incorrect answers often sound right and correct answers sound awkard.

#1 - Focus on __ rules, common grammar __, expert __, and __ reading

grammatical, concepts, strategies, and literal. Apply grammatical rules to select a correct answer and categorize each question based on the categorical error that is being tested; familiarize yourself with common grammar concepts like idioms, singular-plural mismatches, parallelism, and verb tense; practice Prep Expert Writing Strategies; and take a literal approach to spot grammatic errors

#2 - Skip reading the __

instructions. Skip reading the instructions to conserve time.

#2 - Familiarize with certain question __, have good __ management, and use the __ app

types, time, bluebook. Review and understand the directions for different question types; save time by not reading directions to questions; and use the Bluebook app to read and understand the directions for SAT Reading and Writing modules

#3 - Read the whole __

paragraph. It is crucial to read the entire paragraph and not just the singular sentence to understand the context to answer the questions correctly.

#3 - You need to avoid __, utilize __, and use a __

skimming, context clues, and systematic approach. Skimming will lead to not knowing the full context needed for a question; surrounding sentences provide helpful context clues to answer fill-in-the-blank questions correctly; and a systematic approach when reading the whole paragraph ensures understanding of context clues

#4 - Ignore __

prepositions. To effectively identify grammatical errors, prepositions need to be ignored.

#4 - Prepositions are __, know the types of __, understand __, and simplify to identify __ more easily

words that indicate relationships between words in a sentence, grammatical errors, nonessential appositives, and errors. Ignoring prepositions make grammar errors easier to spot; nonessential appositives are unnecessary to understand the meaning of sentences so they should be avoided; and ignoring prepositions and nonessential appositives generally simplifies sentences

#4 - Prepositions are __ that shows the relationships between __

words, subjects/objects/actions. Location, direction, time, etc.

#4 - Examples of prepositions are __ and nonessential appositives are __

In, at, to, from, with, about, through, of, and a lot more. Nonessential appositives are sentence fragments or words that are not required to understand the full meaning of a sentence.

#5 - Avoid __ mismatches

Singular-plural. Subjects and verbs always have to match in number/amount to prevent these errors.

#5 - Have correct __ pairing, understand __ characteristics, and ignore __

singular-plural, verb, and prepositions. Singular subjects should be with singular verbs, and plural subjects have to be with plural verbs; singular verbs end in -s or -es while plural ones do not; and ignoring prepositions highlight the sentence’s main subjects and verbs

#6 - Preserve __

parallelism. Ensure parallel structures are correct in sentences for clarty

#6 - Use __, have right sentence __, and find the __

Applications, elements, benefits. Parallelism has to be maintained across different sentence elements for verbs, nouns, and adjectives; parallelism needs to be conserved in contexts, lists, conjunctions, and related sentences; and consistent use of parallel structure will bring in a higher score

#7 - Maintain __ __ agreement

verb tense. Verb tenses are consistent within sentences to avoid disagreement and to convey the correct meanings.

#7 - Establish a variety of __ __, disregard __ names, use __ and __, and have practical __

verb tenses, tense, consistency, logic, and applications. Remember when simple (present, past, and future) and complex (perfect, progressive, and continuous) tenses; knowing tense names isn’t useful; utilize consistent verb tenses within sentences and paragraphs; and use logical reasoning to ensure temporal coherence.

#8 - Check __ precision.

pronoun. These pronoun errors happen when the noun doesn’t match the number, gender, or case.

#8 - Identify __ errors.

pronoun. Pronouns being used incorrectly happens all the time.

#8 - Singular-plural pronoun errors

pronoun’s number (singular/plural) needs to match the noun it is replacing

#8 - Lost pronouns

Pronouns should have a clear, identifiable noun for it to refer to

#8 - Relative pronouns

use the right pronouns based on context (who for people, when for time, where for place, and more)

#8 - Subject versus object pronouns

Subject pronouns perform an action, while object pronouns receive the action

#8 - Ambiguous pronouns

pronoun’s reference is clear and not ambiguous

#8 - Common pronouns are __

he, him, it, our, they, we, her, I, me, she, us, and you

#8 - Who/Whom/Whose

Who is used when it’s her or she, whom is used when it’s him or her, whose is used to indicate possession

#8 - When

is used to refer to time

#8 - Where

Used to refer to geographic locations. Whereby is used like “by which” to not refer to geographic locations.

#8 - Which

must refer to inanimate objects

#8 - Subject pronouns include __

I, you, he, she, it, we, and they

#8 - Object pronouns include __

me, you, him, her, it, us. and them

#9 - Use __ possessives

accurate. Possessive errors are more emphasized now

#9 - __ formation, __ pronouns, __ adjectives, __, and differentiate __ and __

possessive, possessive, possessive, contractions, possessives, and contractions. Possessives are formed with apostrophes (‘) to indicate ownership; possessive pronouns like mine and yours lack apostrophes and replace nouns; possessive adjectives like my and your lack apostrophes and describe nouns; contractions use apostrophes to shorten phrases and combine them like I’ll for I will; possessives like its and your are totally different from contractions like it’s and you’re even if they sound the same.

#9 - I’ll becomes __, can’t becomes __, and you’re becomes __

I will, cannot, and you are.

#9 - Possessive examples include __

its, your their, and whose

#9 - Contraction examples include __

it’s, you’re, they’re, and who’s

#10 - __ correctly

Compare. Comparison errors on the SAT can occur where there are consistencies in the construction of comparisons.

#10 - avoid __ and know common __

errors and errors. Use clear and precise language, employ correct comparative and superlative forms, and ensure that things being compared are equal or comparable; common comparison errors include double comparatives (using more and the -er suffix together), double superlatives (using most and the -est suffix together), unequal comparisons (comparing incomparable things), and misplaced modifiers.

#11 - Use __ transitions

logical. Transitions are words/phrases that connect ideas or sentences that ensure a smooth flow that are vital for showing changes in topics for detailing, contrasting, emphasizing, and illustrating the sequence of events.

#11 - Understand SAT __ questions, know __ errors, know __ errors, and know __ versus __

transition, transition, conjunction, conjunctions, and transitions

#12 - Read the goals of the students __

first. Rhetorical synthesis or notes questions test the ability to integrate information from bullet points to achieve a specific writing goal

#12 - have an __ approach and know the __ of order

optimal and importance. The order which needs to be read in is the student’s goal, the bullet point notes, and selecting the answer which aligns with the goal; reading the student’s goal first makes it better to identify which bullet points are relevant to focus on

#12 - What are the 4 steps in order?

Skip reading the blurb on the top, read the student’s goal, read the bullet point notes, and selecting the answer that effectively achieves the student’s goal

#13 - __ appropriately

punctuate. Punctuation clarifies sentence meaning and structure. It plays a vital role in effective communication

#13 - Know common SAT__, know punctuation __, find __ punctuation, find __ and __ punctuation, find __ and __ sentences.

punctuation, errors, misplaced, missing, inconsistent, fragment, and run—on. The SAT tests knowledge on periods, commas, colons, semicolons, question marks, exclamation points, quotation marks, parentheses, and dashes; punctuation errors can involve misplaced punctuations, missing punctuations, inconsistent punctuations, fragments and run-on sentences; misplaced punctuation can lead to sentence ambiguity or changes in the meaning of sentences; missing or inconsistent punctuation can make sentences a lot harder to understand; and run-on sentences can combine multiple sentences without the right separation which is often due to incorrect puncutation

#13 - Purpose of Periods (.)

Indicates the end of a sentence or an abbreviation

#13 - Purpose of Comma (,)

Separates clauses within a sentence or items in a list

#13 - Purpose of Colon (:)

Introduces an item or a list

#13 - Purpose of a Semicolon (;)

Connects two independent clauses that are closely related in meaning

#13 - Purpose of an Exclamation Point (!)

Indicates strong emotion or emphasis

#13 - Purpose of a Question Mark (?)

Appears at the end of a sentence to indicate a direct question

#13 - Purpose of Quotation Marks (““)

Indicate direct speech or enclose titles of shorter works

#13 - Purpose of Parentheses ( () )

Enclose additional information that is not essential to the sentence

#13 - Purpose of a Dash (-)

Indicates a break or interruption in thought or to set off an appositive

#14 - __ appropriately

modify. A modifier is a phrase that adds info about a certain noun in a sentence. It can be placed before or after the noun. Modifiers essentially remove any type of confusion.

#14 - __ errors are challenging, remember the __ __ process, __ modifiers at the beginning, __ modifiers at the end

modifier, two-step, misplaced, misplaced. Modifier errors often sound correct in everyday language, making them hard to spot and these questions should never be judged by how things sound; there is an important two-step process: determining the noun that the modifier should modify (intended noun), and ensuring that the noun is actually next to the modifier that matches the intended noun; misplaced modifiers at the beginning of sentences occur when the noun adjacent to the comma is not the item the beginning modifier is describing; misplaced modifiers at the end of sentences occur when the noun adjacent to the commas is not the item the ending modifier is describing

#15 - Apply __ appropriately

appositives. The digital SAT test appositive errors frequently.

#15 - Know the __ of appositives, know common appositive __, understand the __ of appositive errors, and always __ appositive errors.

definition, errors, impact, correct. Appositives are phrases that renames or explains another noun, appositives typically appear in the middle of a sentence and are set off by commas, parentheses, or dashes; errors related to appositives include missing commas, incorrect punctuation (parentheses or dashes), incorrect order in sentences with multiple appositives, unnecessary pronouns, and unnecessary appositives; appositive errors result in confusion, ambiguity, redundancy, or wordiness in sentences; to correct appositive errors, use proper punctuation, maintain logical order, eliminate unnecessary pronouns and appositives

#16 - Avoid __ voice

passive. The English language prefers active over passive voicings.

#16 - Use an __ voice, don’t use a __ voice, know how to identify __ voices,

active, passive, passive. An active voice is more direct and engaging and active sentence constructions are when the subject performs the action described by the verb; passive voices are more indirect and vague and passive sentence constructions are when the subjected is acted upon the verb; to identify passive voices look for clues like the use of “by” and forms of “to be” (am, is, are, was, were, been, or being) in sentences to identify passive voice constructions

#17 - __ infinites

Avoid. Infinitives are the base form of a verb, they are often with the word “to” and it is not conjugated for tense. It provides a general description of an action or state of being without specifying the doer.

#17 - Know the implications of SAT and __ verbs, know the __ of infinite verbs

infinitive, infinitive. It is generally advised to avoid choosing answers that have infinite verbs; infinite verbs include “to be”, “to get”, “to know”, “to see”, “to come”, and more, there are many infinitives in the English language, and they typically have “to” before the verb

#17 - What are examples of infinite verbs?

to be, to come, to do, to get, to do, to have, to know, to make, to say, to see, to take, to think

#18 - Avoid the __ suffix

-ing. The -ing suffix is commonly added to the base verbs in English to create continuous verbs, gerunds (noun forms), and adjectives, it basically transforms base verbs into various linguistic forms;

#18 - Continuous verbs

The “-ing” word acts like a noun (I am studying)

#18 - Gerund

The “-ing” word acts like a noun (studying is boring)

#18 - Independent adjective

The “-ing” word acts like an adjective (studying is boring)

#18 - Know SAT and __ suffixes, know certain __

“-ing” and examples. The SAT does not prefer answer choices with the “-ing” suffix, it prefers a clearer language in formal writing and overusing the suffix can lead to a lack of clarity but there are some exceptions; the “-ing” suffix can be used to create continuous verbs (present participles), gerunds (noun forms), and independent adjectives, familiarity with these different uses can be helpful in recognizing when to avoid the “-ing” suffix.

#19 - Avoid __

excess. Excess refers to the writing errors that go beyond accepted grammar norms, leading to unclear and imprecise sentences

#19 - Know the 3 reasons to avoid excess on the SAT

Clarity, efficiency, and aesthetics. Concise language enhances clarity, succinct language is more efficient, and the SAT values aesthetically pleasing sentences.

#19 - Know the types of excess errors on the SAT

Redundancy, wordiness, and awkward phrasing. Unnecessary repetition of words or ideas, use of long and convoluted sentences with unnecessary elements, use of unnatural or confusing sentence structures

#20 - Avoid the __ __ of Death Phrases on SAT writing.

5 Kiss. These phrases are always incorrect on SAT writing questions, “being”, “is why/because”, “there is/there are”, “it is”, and “very”

#20 - “Being” leads to

weak or passive sentences

#20 - “Is why” or “is because” are

informal and redundant

#20 - “There is” or “there are” makes sentences

wordy and can lead to passive voice

#20 - “it is” is

wordy and sometimes unclear

#20 - “Very” is

seen as less formal or professional

#20 - Sometimes you might need to use the

5 Kiss of death phrases on SAT writing for 1% of the time