{"id":5095,"date":"2016-01-19t10:30:32","date_gmt":"2016-01-19t18:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=5095"},"modified":"2017-10-11t11:28:45","modified_gmt":"2017-10-11t18:28:45","slug":"new-sat-reading-words-in-context-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/new-sat-reading-words-in-context-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"new sat reading: words in context questions"},"content":{"rendered":"

the old sat tested a lot of difficult vocabulary. no more. now the focus is on \u201chigh-utility academic words and phrases\u201d which basically means words that are used in multiple subjects and genres and words that have multiple meanings.<\/p>\n

there are two types of words in context questions. the first type requires you to correctly identify the definition of a word (remember these are typically common words with multiple meanings). the second type will ask you to identify how an author uses a word or phrase to influence the meaning, tone, or style of a passage.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

how the new sat tests vocabulary<\/h2>\n

here\u2019s an example of what a word in context question looks like:
\n 
\nas used in line 22, the word \u201ccontained\u201d most nearly means to<\/p>\n

    \n\ta. sheltered
    \n\tb. suppressed
    \n\tc. enclosed
    \n\td. incorporated\n<\/ol>\n

    contain is not a hard vocab word. so it\u2019s not about knowing what \u201ccontain\u201d means; it\u2019s about what it means \u201cin context.\u201d in different contexts, \u201ccontain\u201d can mean different things. so we need to figure out what it means in this <\/em>passage.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    strategy for sat reading words in context questions<\/h2>\n

    your strategy should be to go back to the passage and read not only the sentence the word appears in but also the sentence above and below it. make sure that you understand how that sentence is supposed to connect to the ones around it.<\/p>\n

    then put a blank in the sentence where the word appears. go ahead and cross it out. come up with your own word or phrase that expresses what the sentence is saying. don\u2019t worry about finding the perfect word, just get something down that communicates what the sentence is trying to communicate.<\/p>\n

    let\u2019s try it.<\/p>\n

    it may seem as if the bubonic plague is a vestige of the middle ages. most high school students have read about it and its mass devastation of european lives in the fourteenth century. but although the plague may occasionally have been contained<\/u>, it has resurfaced periodically in various locations around the globe from the 6th century to the 21st century. it is hardly a historical relic. <\/em><\/p>\n

    if i replace the word \u201ccontained\u201d myself, i might come up with \u201cstopped\u201d or \u201cprevented from spreading.\u201d these match up best with answer choice (b) \u201csuppressed.\u201d we can see how, in other contexts, \u201ccontained\u201d might mean the other answer choices: \u201cthe school contained\/sheltered the students during the tornado.\u201d \u201cthe sheep were contained\/enclosed within the pen.\u201d \u201cthe lesson contained\/incorporated six modules on good writing.\u201d but that\u2019s not what it means here.<\/p>\n

    try not to just start plugging in the answer choices from the very beginning. this turns on the how-it-sounds part of your brain instead of the analytical part of your brain (you can probably guess which one the sat rewards). only plug words in if you are totally confused and can\u2019t come up with your word.<\/p>\n

    remember that the sat often chooses a second (or third or fourth) definition of a word and not the one that you are most familiar with. so always go back to the passage.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    another type of sat reading words in context question<\/h2>\n

    although they are far less common, a word in context question may also ask you to determine why an author chose to use a certain word to achieve a certain effect.<\/p>\n

    here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n

    in line 34, the author most likely used the word \u201cheralded\u201d to:<\/p>\n

      \n\ta. echo the idea that the press release acted like a live messenger.
      \n\tb. emphasize the global acclaim the discovery received.
      \n\tc. imply that the announcement was fortuitous.
      \n\td. highlight the fanfare the press release received.\n<\/ol>\n

      these questions are tougher because you can\u2019t use the fill-in-the-blank technique. rather these questions rely on an understanding of main idea and tone and are really more like analysis questions. they are far more rare than the other type of words-in-context questions, however, but be alert for them. the best way to handle these questions is to remind yourself of the main idea of the passage or section.<\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      the old sat tested a lot of difficult vocabulary. no more. now the focus is on \u201chigh-utility academic words and phrases\u201d which basically means words that are used in multiple subjects and genres and words that have multiple meanings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24868],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nnew sat reading: words in context questions - magoosh blog | high school<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"rather than testing obscure vocabulary, the new sat focuses on words that are used in multiple subjects and genres, and words that have multiple meanings.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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fracchia","image":{"@type":"imageobject","inlanguage":"en-us","@id":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/60578a68f08364eae9072dc9e31af74c","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9dd7c84140858c94c792aa9aae2d486?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contenturl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9dd7c84140858c94c792aa9aae2d486?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"kristin fracchia"},"description":"dr. kristin fracchia has over fifteen years of expertise in college and graduate school admissions and with a variety of standardized tests, including the act, sat, gre, gmat, and lsat, with several 99% scores. she had a phd from the university of california, irvine, an ma degree from the catholic university, and ba degrees in secondary education and english literature from the university of maryland, college park. she was the recipient of the 2013 excellence in teaching award and the chancellor\u2019s club fellowship from the university of california, irvine. she\u2019s worked as a high school 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manager, test prep","worksfor":"magoosh","url":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/author\/kristinkeating\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":24868,"user_id":88,"is_guest":0,"slug":"kristinkeating","display_name":"kristin fracchia","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f9dd7c84140858c94c792aa9aae2d486?s=96&d=mm&r=g","user_url":"","last_name":"fracchia","first_name":"kristin","description":"dr. kristin fracchia has over fifteen years of expertise in college and graduate school admissions and with a variety of standardized tests, including the act, sat, gre, gmat, and lsat, with several 99% scores. she had a phd from the <a href=\"https:\/\/drama.arts.uci.edu\/graduate-programs\/phd\/alums\">university of california, irvine<\/a>, an ma degree from the catholic university, and ba degrees in secondary education and english literature from the university of maryland, college park. she was the recipient of the 2013 excellence in teaching award and the <a href=\"https:\/\/grad.uci.edu\/funding\/fellowships-awards\/internal\/chancellors-club-fellows.php\">chancellor\u2019s club fellowship<\/a> from the university of california, irvine. she\u2019s worked as a high school teacher and university professor, as an independent college and graduate school admissions counselor, and as an expert tutor for standardized tests, helping hundreds of students gain acceptance into premier national and international institutions. she now develops accessible and effective edtech products for magoosh. her free online content and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-junkojw4y4\"> youtube videos<\/a> providing test prep and college admissions advice have received over 6 million views in over 125 countries. kristin is an advocate for improving access to education: you can check out her<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ted.com\/tedx\/events\/27777\"> tedx<\/a> talk on the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pf41qj80vwy\"> topic<\/a>. follow kristin on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/kristinfracchia\/\"> linkedin<\/a>!"}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5095"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5095\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5095"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=5095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}