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Contents v
Contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
How To Use This Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
PART 1: OVERVIEW OF THE SAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
What Is the SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
What Is the New SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
How Does the New SAT Differ from the Old SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Why Do I Need to Take the SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
What Do I Need to Take the SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
When Do I Take the SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
How Do I Register for the SAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
How Do I Get My Score? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Five Great Ways to Prepare for the SAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Multiple-Choice Questions:Should You Guess? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
PART 2: DIAGNOSTIC VERBAL SAT AND ANSWER KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
General Directions for the Diagnostic Verbal SAT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Section 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Section 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
vi Contents
Section 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Section 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Section 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Diagnostic Verbal SAT Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
PART 3: STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
ON THE CRITICAL READING TEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
What Strategy Should I Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
How Can I Figure Out What a Passage Means? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
How Do I Answer Vocabulary Questions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
How Do I Answer Questions on Style? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Practice Critical Reading Passages and Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
PART 4:STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
ON SENTENCE COMPLETIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
What Are Sentence Completion Test Items? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
The Basic Five-Step Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Strategies for Tackling Sentence Completion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Using Contrast Clues to Answer Sentence Completion
Questions with Two Missing Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Using Support Clues to Answer Sentence Completion
Questions with Two Missing Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Using Summary Clues to Answer Sentence Completion
Questions with Two Missing Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Using Cause-and-Effect Clues to Answer Sentence Completion
Questions with Two Missing Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Practice SAT Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
PART 5:STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
ON THE MULTIPLE-CHOICE WRITING QUESTIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
What Are the Multiple-Choice Writing Items? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
The Basic Five-Step Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Contents vii
How Do I Get a High Score on Identifying Sentence Error
Questions and Improving Sentence Error Questions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
How Do I Get a High Score on Improving Paragraph Questions? . . . . . . 109
Practice Multiple-Choice Writing Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
PART 6:STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS
ON THE ESSAY QUESTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
What Will I Be Required to Write? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
What Are the Qualities of a Successful Essay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
How Are the Essays Scored? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Top-Ten Hints for High-Scoring Essays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
How to Write a High-Scoring Persuasive SAT Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
How to Write a High-Scoring Expository SAT Essay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Practice Writing Prompts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
PART 7:TWO SAMPLE VERBAL SAT TESTS FOR PRACTICE . . . . . . . . . 147
Practice Test 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Practice Test 1 Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Practice Test 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Practice Test 2 Answer Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
How To Use This Book xi
How To Use This Book
No matter how you decide to study,be systematic in your approach.Set up a
routine and stick with it.I recommend that you study for a set amount of time
every single day,at the same time.Aim for about half an hour a day,but be
sure to start early enough in the year to get through this entire book.
Cramming the last week may help you pick up some useful test-taking tech-
niques,but it won’t help you raise your scores as much as a sustained course of
study will.
The following method has proven successful for many students:
1. Work through the book from start to finish.
2. As you work,analyze your test scores to figure out which aspects of the test
proved the easiest for you and which the most difficult.For example,did
you find sentence completions easier than critical reading? Did you have a
difficult time writing the essay?
3. Isolate the areas where you need more practice.
4. Concentrate on improving those skills.Go back to those sections of the
book,review the material,and work through the test questions again.
5. Stick with it.Make a commitment to study and improve your skills.
Preface ix
Preface
Although college admissions counselors weigh many factors when they evalu-
ate your application—your grades,classes,extracurricular activities,letters of
recommendation,personal statements,and SAT scores–the SAT scores are the
most dependable element in your application.Grades are inflated;class
descriptions can be misleading.You know that descriptions of service time may
not accurately reflect your contributions,and teachers do not always express
themselves clearly in writing.Further,you may have received help writing your
personal statements.While far from perfect,the SATs are the most constant
measure available to admissions counselors.As a result,college admissions
counselors are increasingly giving your SAT scores a great deal of weight.
Adding a writing component to the English part of the SAT just adds to its
significance.
This book will help you become familiar with the SAT English test.Working
through the model test questions,taking sample SAT English tests,and analyz-
ing the answers and explanations will help you increase your speed,compre-
hension,and test scores.In addition,the in-depth writing instruction will
better prepare you for writing the new SAT essay.Here’s a bonus:As you learn
to write for the SAT,you’ll also master the skills that you need for success in all
college—and real-life—writing assignments.
In addition,this book provides useful test-taking tips that will help you
make the most of your study time and find the test-taking approaches that
work best for you.Doing well on the SAT English test is well within your
reach.It just takes some practice and determination.
McGraw-Hill’s
SAT 2400!
A Sneak Preview
of the New SAT I
Verbal Section
1
P A R T
Overview of the SAT
Copyright © 2004 The McGraw-Hill Companies. Click here for terms of use.
PART1: Overview of the SAT 3
Overview of the SAT
What Is the SAT?
The ScholasticAssessment Test (SAT) is a standardized test used by many
colleges and universities as part of the admissions process.It is the most
widely used college entrance exam.About 75 million Americans have taken
the SAT for college admission since the ScholasticAptitude Test (as it was
thenknown) was firstadministered in 1926.In 2000–2001 alone,morethan
2 million students took the SAT,which is given several times a year at different
locations worldwide.
What Is the New SAT?
Starting in March 2005,the SAT will undergo the most drastic changes in its
history.The total point count zooms from 1600 to 2400,analogies and quanti-
tative comparisons will be dropped,and the math section will be expanded to
include topics from Algebra II.Most radical of all,a new Writing section will
be added.This section will require students to write an essay as well as answer
multiple-choice questions about grammar,usage,and style.The new SAT will
test three key areas of academic preparation—reading,writing,and math.
The Critical Reading Test
The old SAT Verbal section will become the new SAT Critical Reading section.
It will nowinclude a greateremphasis on analytical reading with passages
from natural sciences,humanities,and social studies.Shorter reading pas-
sages are being added in place of the analogies.The sentence completion
questions remain.
4 SAT 2400! A Sneak Preview of the New SAT I Verbal Section
The New Writing Test
As the scoring scale indicates,the greatest change is the addition ofthe new writ-
ing component.Described by College Board officials as a way to “improve predic-
tive validity”and “encourage writing in the schools,”the new Writing section
allows students another way to show they are prepared to do college-level work.
The new Writing test is 50 minutes long.During that time,you will have to
write one essay (25 minutes) and answer multiple-choice questions (25 minutes)
on improving sentences and paragraphs and identifying errorsindiction,
subject-verb agreement,properword usage,and precision inwriting.
How Does the New SAT Differ from the Old SAT?
The following box summarizes the changes you can expect on the Critical
Reading test.
CRITICAL READING TEST
Old SAT Length New SAT Length
Time 75 minutes 70 minutes
Form Two 30-minute sections Two 25-minute sections
One 15-minute section One 15-minute section
Content Analogies Sentence completions
Sentence completions Short critical reading passages
Long critical reading passages Long critical reading passages
Score 200–800 200–800
The following box summarizes the new Writing test.This part does not
appear on the current SAT.
WRITING TEST
Component Time Content
Essay 25 minutes Organize your ideas, express
your ideas clearly, support the
main idea, use standard written
English
Multiple-choice 25 minutes Identify errors in grammar,
questions mechanics, usage, and style;
improve sentences and
paragraphs
Note: The College Board has not yet announced the number of multiple-
choice questions on this part and how much each question will be worth.
