skills tested in this section

knowing good vs. bad organization

you might be tired of hearing about “body paragraphs,” but they are important here. pick out the building blocks: topic sentences, supporting details, and transition sentences. are these components there? how are they being used? are they adhering to a basic structure?

coherence over content

you just need a general understanding of what the topic is. beyond that, don’t worry about making inferences or deciphering what the author is trying to say about the topic. the priority is making sure that everything is in the right place and that it flows. if you find the paragraph topic, how can the paragraph be re-arranged to make it a little clearer?

how this can help with your essay

this is a “don’t let this happen to you”-type deal. all of the writing multiple choice questions have an overlap with the essay; grammar is an important part of both. however, the paragraph correction sentences are especially relevant because they focus on organization. studying for this helps you practice your essay. the paragraphs display examples of poor writing to avoid when writing your essay.

do you recognize the mistakes displayed in these questions in your own writing? have you made the same mistakes? practicing these questions gives you a chance to proofread and check for organization, which is precisely one of the things your essay scorer will be doing.

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the english language contains over a million words,

but you’re not expected to know them all.

for this part of the exam, is it in your best interest to be well-read and have a solid vocabulary? of course, but you also need problem-solving skills that are specific to this task. while vocab lists are important, you won’t succeed by just memorizing hundreds of flashcards.

think about it—8 questions in sentence completion. some have 5 words in the answer choices (single-blank) and some have 10 (double-blank). then there’s a smattering of vocab in the sentences themselves. so expect around 75 vocab words. these are chosen at the college board’s discretion. some are more likely to show up, but for the most part, it’s all fair game.

if/when you run into a new word, it’s ok. this isn’t just about your lexicon. in sentence completion (and every other part of the sat), the college board is testing 1) your key skills and 2) your familiarity with the test itself.
 

key skills & strategies

to improve your speed and chances of answering correctly, take these steps before looking at the answer choices.
 

context clues

• cover the answer choices and read the entire sentence.
• identify the descriptive words, phrases, and punctuation that hint at the answer. these give imply relationships between different words, tell you if the answer has a positive/negative meaning, or give you synonyms/antonyms.
• also look out for transition words, contrast words, negative words, and double negatives. you need this to know the overall meaning and logic of the sentence. that way, you have context for what kind of word goes in the blank. now, we have to make an inference:

inferences

• based on the context clues and what they imply, take an educated guess about what kind of word you need.
• put your own word/phrase in the blank. it can even be a word that’s already in the sentence; the point is to have some sort of guide or target when you finally look at the answer choices.
• now you can try a through e, one at a time. plug them into the sentence and eliminate ones that don’t match your own word.

common pitfalls

all sections of the sat test your knowledge of…the sat. that’s just a reality, so be wary of the college board’s favorite traps and how to avoid them. notice that in all of these tricky scenarios, knowing the word definitions isn’t going to save you. that’s why strategy and familiarity matter.

time

it’s no coincidence that sentence completion is at the beginning of critical reading. students may spend too much time here and compromise the rest — over 8 questions! since these are in order of difficulty, knock out the easy ones and don’t obsess over the last few. if you can’t guess with confidence (or narrow down to 50/50), skip and move on. you need that time for passage-based questions.
 

long, confusing sentences

you get lost in a sentence, miss the context clues, come up with a guess word that’s totally off, and pick the wrong answer. it’s important to break the sentence into parts. use transition/contrast words to determine the meaning and flow.

topic: don’t take the bait!

a word is related to the topic of the sentence and looks appealing, especially if you’re rushed or nervous. trap! the meaning of the sentence is what matters, not the topic.

example: since kelly didn’t expect anything for valentine’s day, she was ___________ by the bouquet of roses on her desk.

1. intrigued
2. astonished
3. love-struck
4. disappointed
5. irritated

the correct answer is b. kelly didn’t expect anything so she was astonished, or surprised. if rushing, you might choose “lovestruck,” since that word is associated with valentine’s day (…sometimes).
 

“close enough”—don’t take the bait

a word may look or sound like the one you’re looking for (or have the same word root), but has a completely different meaning. careful—these are often wrong.

example:

working on the history class project, the group neglected to verify facts, check timelines, or consult textbooks; therefore, the final product was highly _____________, full of easily avoidable mistakes and inaccuracies.

1. lackluster
2. anachronistic
3. enthralling
4. erratic
5. precise

the correct answer is b) anachronistic, which means that something has a historical error, or reports an inaccurate time/place. this definition is literally in the sentence (right after the blank) and it’s a huge context clue. however, let’s say your guess word is “errors” (which is fine) — but because that looks/sounds similar to “erratic,” you choose d. wrong—“erratic” actually means unpredictable or inconsistent. it’s a negative word, but not the one we need.
 

double-blanks: intimidation

these look harder than they actually are, so students spend more time. that’s not always necessary. double blanks give you two chances to answer correctly, making elimination easier. if you know for sure that the first word in a pair doesn’t fit, you don’t have to worry about the second one. eliminate. since the sat is a game of odds, finding reasons to eliminate answer choices is arguably more useful than knowing exactly why an answer is right. the more you can confidently eliminate, the better your chances.
 

double blanks: tempting words (don’t take the bait!)

in this scenario, one of the words in the answer pairs will be absolutely perfect. it might even be your guess word! you get tempted and choose it. don’t! mixing and matching is not allowed. if you like a word, great—but check the other one. if you don’t know what it means, be extra careful! try to eliminate the other choices before answering.

example:

a great swimmer must be exceptionally _________ and quick; for instance, michael phelps won medals due not only to his physical force, but also his remarkable ________ in the water.

1. fit…fortitude
2. powerful…technique
3. poised…speed
4. strong…pace
5. rapidity…powerful

the correct answer is d. the trap answers are b (since “powerful” fits the first blank) and c (since “speed” fits the second blank). in both pairs, one word is a perfect fit but the other one is wrong.
 

double blanks: switched up

an answer will have two suitable words, but in the wrong order! one example of this trap is answer choice e (rapidity…powerful) in the above question. those words would work, but only if switched around. toss it.
 

image credit: pixabay, giphy

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i know someone* who picks out grammatical mistakes wherever they show up: flyers, menus, signs, newspaper articles, instruction manuals, etc. she’s often tempted to circle them. on occasion, she has given into this temptation.

noooo! do you see it?!

whether or not you share this error-hunting attitude, you should adopt it for the writing section. in school, someone reads a draft of your essay and (among other things) will circle/underline any grammar mistakes for you to correct later. on error identification questions, you are now the grader and must pinpoint the mistakes that need fixing.

in the 1st section of writing multiple choice, questions 12—29 are error id (chris often calls these “identifying sentence errors” questions – different name for the same thing). for most test-takers, these are the quickest and easiest ones. the bulk of your time will (and should) go into the other multiple-choice questions (sentence/paragraph improvement). this chunk of error ids (18 questions total) is an opportunity to speed up your progress and boost your score with less effort. yay!

i can’t decide if this is cute or terrifying.
 

what’s required

spot-the-error. that’s it. read the sentence with a sharp focus and find the weakness, or decide that the sentence is already perfect as is (about one-fifth of questions have no error). repeat 18 times.
 

advantages of error id questions

• easier than sentence improvement—instead of reading 5 sentences, you’re only reading one.
• you don’t have to correct the errors. you only have to find them.
• punctuation is rarely tested here. if anything, it usually involves commas.
• spelling and capitalization are not tested at all.

potential disadvantages (or: reasons to study)

• some of the errors are very subtle, and therefore commonly missed.
• “(e) no error”— this often messes with students’ minds. your confidence is always being tested, but even more so here. so don’t panic—practice to develop a sense of when “no error” is appropriate.

do not push.

• with the exception of (e) no error, the right answer will be grammatically wrong. this is a deviation from the other question types, and can be tricky at first.

one suggestion: do them first

some test-takers go straight to questions 12—29 and finish as many as they can. then they do questions 1—11 (sentence improvement) and 30—35 (paragraph improvement). i’ve seen a number of students do this. for them, error id was sort of a “grammar warm-up” before tackling the tougher questions. this strategy gave them the satisfaction of knowing they quickly knocked out 18 questions first. it also helped them manage their time more effectively.

you can try this method and see if it helps. it’s not a one-size-fits-all, but does work for some. remember: different strategies work for different test-takers. to study effectively, you have to know what kind of test-taker you are.
 

how to answer

• read the entire sentence (you’d be surprised—some test-takers don’t).
• look at each answer choice separately and carefully. imagine that you have a grammatical magnifying glass.

it sounds silly, but it does help.

• re-read the sentence. it forces you to look more closely at the sentence and maybe catch something you missed. even if the sentence looks fine, re-read it; do not immediately jump to e) no error.
• use standard process-of-elimination to boost your odds by 30%. with 5 answer choices, you start all questions with a 20% chance of answering correctly. ideally, you can eliminate 3 answer choices and be left with 2, thereby giving you a 50% chance. at this point, it’s a coin toss, and not a bad place to be on a timed test.
• if you’ve gone over the sentence twice and really can’t find an error, don’t doubt yourself. choose e and move on.
• don’t dwell on these. if you spend too much time on error id questions, you lose time on the others (which take longer)!
• prove it to yourself: when answering, quickly ask yourself: “if this is the error, what should replace it?” if you can give a clear answer, you can move on with confidence.

substitute with…?

that last one is especially important, especially for studying. determining “what it should be” will further develop your sense of right vs. wrong grammar. when practicing error id, write in the correction or make a mental note of it. although this isn’t required on the actual test, it’s very helpful during prep.
 

want to practice?

of course you do. try this set of 18 error id questions.

*this person may or may not be me.

images from: pixabay, wikimedia, flickr, daily genius, and daily edge.
 

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