{"id":5874,"date":"2016-03-12t15:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-03-12t23:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/?p=5874"},"modified":"2016-03-10t15:41:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-10t23:41:57","slug":"5-tricks-for-the-sat-writing-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/5-tricks-for-the-sat-writing-test\/","title":{"rendered":"5 tricks for the sat writing test"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the <\/span><a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/new-sat-writing-introduction-and-basic-techniques\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">writing section of the sat<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> has undergone one of the most obvious changes of the whole exam. <a href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/new-sat-writing-introduction-and-basic-techniques\/\">all of the questions are now within the context of a passage<\/a>, which makes the test much more like the real-world task of editing a paper or article. this might make this section seem daunting, but we have some tricks that\u2019ll help you face it with confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>tip #1: know your enemy.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in this article, we won\u2019t get into each type of writing error that the sat includes, but you should know that there are two general types of questions on the writing section: narrow-focus questions and broad-focus questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>narrow-focus questions ask about diction (word choice), sentence construction of one particular sentence, and mechanical details such as punctuation.<\/li>\n<li>broad-focus questions ask you to judge and make changes to the organization within paragraphs and the passage itself; they include questions about tone, topic sentences, and conclusions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>trick #2: start with the details.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">it\u2019s a good idea to answer the narrow-focus questions first. they require very little reading and can be answered quickly, letting you rack up those precious points. the idea is to lock down the easier\/faster points first. if you run out of time, you can guess on the questions you didn\u2019t get to, but you don\u2019t want to miss out on some you could have answered easily because you got caught up on a hard question. plus, getting these right can give you a nice confidence boost as you approach the more complex questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>tip #3: tackle the broad-focus sat questions strategically.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">read the question, then re-read the section of the passage that it refers to. decide what you think needs to be done <\/span><b>before<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> you look at the answer choices. then look for an answer choice that matches your idea. if there isn\u2019t one, test out each answer choice in context. finally, always read your choice back as part of the paragraph or passage to make sure it flows logically. following this sort of strategy will take some of the stress out of these questions and help you avoid getting stuck on them. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>trick #4: don\u2019t be afraid to pick no change.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">many questions on the writing section provide no change as a possible answer. many students hate picking this answer, because they always feel like it can\u2019t possibly be fine and they are missing something. it is true that most questions will include an error of some kind, but there will always be a couple of correct ones, too. a good rule is that if you get 5 or more no change answers in a single passage, take a second look at them, since it is rare to have that many concentrated in one selection. the best way to build confidence on these questions is to study the types of errors the sat will make. if you\u2019re sure that the selection makes none of these, no change might just be the right choice.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>tip #5: pay attention to tone on sat writing.<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">understanding the tone of a passage can help you on a variety of question types. broad-focus questions will often ask you to choose an appropriate sentence to be added to the passage. several of the sentences may be on the correct topic, but only one will include the right topic and the right tone. tone can also be useful on narrow-focus questions such as those that ask you to pick the correct word in context. the options often have similar meanings but different connotations. use your knowledge of the passage\u2019s tone to select the best word for the job.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">editing long passages may seem daunting, but arming yourself with knowledge and strategy can help you go into the writing section of the new sat ready to do battle and win!<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>the sat writing test has a new look. here are some tricks to help you navigate it with confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":149,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[24916],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- this site is optimized with the yoast seo premium plugin v21.7 (yoast seo v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>sat: 5 tricks for the writing test<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"the sat writing test has a new look. here are some tricks to help you navigate it with confidence.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"\/\/www.catharsisit.com\/hs\/sat\/5-tricks-for-the-sat-writing-test\/\" \/>\n<meta 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