<p>Particularly the sentence corrections. I'm getting everything else on the SAT perfect except for like 5-6 wrong answers on the sentence corrections in the BB. Some say that Writing is the easiest section to prep for, but it seems as if it's also the most subjective section, and whatever I think "sounds right" often is apparently also wrong. Is there a particular strategy or prep style that can help improve this score? Thanks :)</p>
<p>You should never trust your ear to what “sounds right”. Most of the time, CB deliberately puts sentences that sounds weird with weird words like “hitherto” to confuse you. You should learn the specific grammar rules that CB tests (there are prep books for this) and utilize them instead of relying on your ear. Writing IS the easiest to prep for because what it tests is very narrow. You could do the BB and learn all the grammar quirks that CB likes to test.</p>
<p>Writing is not subjective at all. It is an aptitude test. You will do well on writing based on how well you can attack the problems. it’s a game. if you can’t identify the type of error in the sentence, then you can’t shoot. the best way to prep is practice and find out why you got it wrong. as for the essay…that part is subjective</p>
<p>^ Yes, unless you write with a mechanical pencil :D</p>
<p>I dare you. Tempt me again:)</p>
<p>What bothers me the most is that I’ve been perusing through various test books, and some of the sentence correction questions vary depending on how strict they want to be, which is why I think the writing section is “subjective.” </p>
<p>For example, in the sentence “While he thinks the phenomenon is the result of enzyme action, I believe it is caused by a shortage of a neurotransmitter,” Kaplan would say that “while” is wrong and should be changed to “though” while PR would say that the use of “while” is perfectly acceptable. Do you think dissecting only the BB Writing questions will be enough to get an 800? Or is there a reliable grammar book I can pick up?</p>
<p>that’s because Kaplan is a fail-hard company. PR usually gets it right. the only concern is that they **** up on their editing.
and yes, “while” in that sentence is acceptable and not wrong, though there are probably better answers if it’s sentence correction</p>
<p>Well, not meaning to brag, but I improved 550 to 740 for some reason I could hardly explain. I don’t know how I brought my writing up so much, I just reviewed geometry !</p>
<p>However, one thing I did do on test day that I did NOT do on the first attempt, was on sentence corrections: I blotted out (physchologically) the “unnecessary” words in a sentence.</p>
<p>I found this kind of thing VERY common on the test, and saved lots of points by avoiding them, unlike 1st time:</p>
<p>Ryan bought a roll of paper towels from the grocery store only to find that they were of poor quality.</p>
<p>And it asks you to pick what is wrong with the sentence, if anything. Well, on test 1, I would say nothing. Well here, I cut down the sentence when I took the test: I instead read,</p>
<p>Ryan bought a roll from the store and they were of poor quality.</p>
<p>Now, it’s obvious that the words “they were” (are) wrong, and it should be “it.”</p>
<p>you may have caught the error just because of my bad examples, but those are the EASIEST errors you can make on writing under pressure. Just use the tactic I showed: Take out the unnecessary words. You saw how it made the error then jump out.</p>
<p>I agree with Ramned… taking out those prepositions CB use to confuse you helps greatly. Drawing parentheses around them helps you pick out the actual subject + verb.</p>
<p>A bigger killer is (are?) those ever-annoying idioms.</p>
<p>This helps alot and it’s true</p>
<p>75% of the sentences in the Sentence completions are the shortest ones.</p>