<p>I am averaging about four wrong on the multiple choice writing. Where does that put me score wise if I also receive a 9 essay and how do i get those last questions rights?also half of those come from the paragraph fixing questions which I have not focused on entirely.</p>
<p>is barron’s Sat 2400 good for math? i need something to get me from the mid 600s to a constant 750 plus, but cant afford to get dr Chung.</p>
<p>4 wrong and 9 essay is 690-710. </p>
<p>I need help on improving paragraphs too. I usually get 1 wrong. Maybe 2 on a bad day but those are really killing my score.</p>
<p>Can someone explain to me how to tell if the “which” in a FIXING SENTENCES is wrong?
Mainly when its comes after a “phrase” + “comma” + “which” + “phrase.” </p>
<p>pronoun-antecedent kinda deal. Like I can’t tell if it has antecedent or not.</p>
<p>I know the constructions:
1)“Preposition + which” is usually right
2) It usually signifies a non-essential clause when it is surrounded by commas.</p>
<p>But how do you tell Like this example:</p>
<p>The temperature dropped suddenly last night, [which will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost.]</p>
<p>^Is this a Fixing Sentence question or an Error ID question? If it’s the former, what is the correct answer?</p>
<p>Hi everyone! I’m on a quest to 2400 as well MB (medicalboy). Here is how my progress has gone along:</p>
<p>June 2011: 1920 (630w 640cr 650m)
March 2013: 2150 (670w 720r 760m)
Practice test 1: 2170 (760w 640r 770m)
Practice test 2: 2250 (730w 720r 800m)
Practice act: 35 (34e 36m 35r 34s) or a 2310 translated to sat</p>
<p>I’m working on my CR passage based answering skills as well as minimizing personal bias and misconception in CR. For writing I’m trying to just review my problems wrong very thoroughly. </p>
<p>I practice with 80% of the time I’m given. I also don’t believe in prep books and only have the BB and use CC/google for supplementary material. </p>
<p>I recommend exhausting every single practice test you can find (preferably previously administered) and going over your wrong answers meticulously - writing detailed notes on why you got something wrong so you won’t make the same mistake EVER AGAIN.</p>
<p>@neontissure
can you share your STEP by STEP procedure on how to reduce Grammar and CR errors. I have asked this all over but have not found the right way of review a mistake to MAKE SURE YOU NEVER MAKE IT again. And some examples of your most previous errors would most definitely help me. I have taken like 5 Grammar Section Test and the mode of the #of errors i have gotten wrong is like 6. I can’t seem to reduce these errors, sometimes i make even more, but six is my fewest amount of errors–need to reduce to 0-3.</p>
<p>@MyRealname</p>
<p>A. which will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost.
B. which will mean that the frost will kill the shoots emerging from the soil.
C. and this will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost.
D. and the resulting frost will kill the shoots that are emerging from the soil.
E. and as a result, the shoots will be killed by the frost, emerging from the soil.</p>
<p>Answer is D.</p>
<p>@neontissues</p>
<p>“I recommend exhausting every single practice test you can find (preferably previously administered) and going over your wrong answers meticulously - writing detailed notes on why you got something wrong so you won’t make the same mistake EVER AGAIN.”</p>
<p>Can you give examples on what you do? Like I find it difficult to write so much for one question, as long as I know how I got it wrong. And sometimes it’s just a stupid mistake, a math concept or a grammar rule I didn’t know of, or I didn’t read carefully, so I can’t really write anything about that except “Stupid mistake” with a little star next to it.</p>
<p>Freshman PSAT - 153
Sophomore PSAT - 159
Practice SAT - 1950
June 2013 Practice SAT - 2050
July 2013 Practice SAT - 1950
July 2013 Practice SAT #2 - 1930</p>
<p>My progress is being stalled and I don’t know why. I’ve been looking over prep books, doing tests from CB resources, and I’ve been picking up on grammar rules and math concepts and new vocab words. </p>
<p>For CR, I actually do well besides the sentence completion questions. Often, I only get about 2 or 3 questions wrong on passage-based questions. Then sentence completion enters the frame and I get like another 2 or 3 wrong.</p>
<p>For Math, I’m wildly inconsistent, but for the questions I get wrong, most of the time it’s because I don’t get what the question is asking or I’m lacking in a mathematical concept.</p>
<p>For writing, I don’t have much practice in it and have just recently begun learning grammar rules and whatnot.</p>
<p>@slasheer102</p>
<p>I don’t think “which” is specifically wrong in that question, D is just the less wordy and less awkward sentence arrangement</p>
<p>I believe that which has no antecedent. “Which” has to refer back to noun or gerund which the beginning of the sentence doesn’t have. “Which” doesn’t correspond to temperature or night and therefore it is wrong. Cross out A and B. C is a passive sentence so eliminate that. Between D and E(maybe even C if you couldn’t cross that out), D is the best answer. </p>
<p>Can anyone confirm? I’m still in the process of mastering writing myself. :)</p>
<p>@MyrealName</p>
<p>lol I think we both want the same thing from neontissues— how he reviews/improves/reflects on his errors to the point he never makes it again. And we want SPECIFIC examples lol. </p>
<p>Also ima make a thread of my grammar question, i need more grammar specifics on it anyways</p>
<p>^I don’t think it’s that MedicalBoy, “which” doesn’t have to refer to anything at the beginning of the sentence, it’s just that in this case it’s unclear what it is referring to, as it could be referring to the temperature or the night. </p>
<p>Regardless, D is the most clear and concise version of the sentence. Even though I think it’s still wrong, as “will” should be “would”. You don’t even have to know about which’s and their antecedents to see that.</p>
<p>The reason why I say which is ambiguous is that which is referring to the “dropping of the temperatures”, but the sentence never explicitly states the gerund “dropping”. The antecedent has to be a noun, pronoun, or gerund.</p>
<p>acutally what medicalboy said was the explaination for the answer, i know this rule too. I just have a problem finding what “which” refers too. Like in mine, i think it refers to “the fact that the temperature dropped” but it doesnt explicitly say that. It’s a rule from Metzler’s guide i believe. I ask myself " what will mean that the shoots emerging from the soil will be killed by the frost". usually i dont get it until sometimes tells me i got it wrong, and its a which rule. So im looking for tips to notice that. For me, if i see “comma+which” i just assume its right, then get it wrong</p>
<p>@all the eager youngins who want SPECIFIC EXAMPLES</p>
<p>I think I might make a separate mini guide since my method is working well and I’m improving very quickly. Here I will do a section-by-section purview of tips and methods.</p>
<p>CR
I read noitaraperp’s guide to CR ([Noitaraperp’s</a> Critical Reading Method](<a href=“http://criticalreadingmethod.blogspot.com/]Noitaraperp’s”>http://criticalreadingmethod.blogspot.com/)) and stress that EVERYONE MUST READ THIS. It is by far the most effective and speedy method. </p>
<p>If you are good at writing lit papers, then CR should come fairly easily to you. Don’t overanalyze any of the answers. If an answer choice has something that meanders from what is directly stated or implied from the passage, it is wrong. </p>
<p>When I get a passage-based question wrong (I mark questions wrong on my answer sheet and then on my test booklet to make sure I don’t see what the actual correct answer is), I go back and try to figure out the right answer. First, I find evidence in the text that proves why the answer I picked is wrong, then I search for more evidence to support why one of the other answers is right. I also ask myself why I discounted certain other answer choices - did my personal bias or belief influence my answers? Did I not understand what the author was trying to say? Did I get “tricked” by a distracter answer? etc. Here is one of my notes I wrote: “<em>did not understand P.2’s main pt. that this journalism movement is unnecessary + ironic</em>” followed by “unwarranted => refer to first sentence - implies this movement is totes unnec.”</p>
<p>For vocab questions, I find studying huge vocab lists to be highly inefficient and painful. I believe that one should study smart, not study hard. Whenever I get a vocab Q wrong (usually around 1-3 a test), I employ the same method where I try to figure out the correct answer by myself before immediately referring to the answer key. Usually I can’t figure out the right answers simply because I just don’t know a majority of the definitions. Then I proceed to look up the word definitions of the relevant answer choices and then choose the correct answer. This helps me a lot because whenever I make mistakes because I did not know something, I will always remember that mistake (I hate being wrong). Here is an example of a small note I wrote:</p>
<p>(This is a level 5 question) The judges for the chili competition were -----, noting subtle differences between dishes that most people would not detect.
(A) obscure (B) deferential (C)*discriminating (D) sanctimonious (E) unrelenting</p>
<p>At first I picked sanctimonious because discriminating and unrelenting didn’t seem exactly right and I didn’t really know the definition of the word, except that it had a negative connotation. But then afterwards I found out sanctimonious means derogatory and acting morally superior to other people. I wrote “discriminating means most ppl would not judge based on those obscure factors^”. </p>
<p>I will be back with writing and perhaps math in another post. I hope this satisfied some of your questions and helped a bit.</p>
<p>Slasheer, Haha yea that’s where its from. </p>
<p>And never assume. I started noticing this error recently after I saw that I had trouble with it. As for noticing it during the test, it came with excessive practice. I’ve been exposed to SAT grammar for quite a while now and just have to prevent myself from making stupid mistakes. MANY MANY practice problems later, some questions just come with ease.</p>
<p>A Guide would be awesome. You could probably be the first person to make a guide on how to actually improve. There’s bunch of guides on strategies and tips and rules, but none on what to do when you get something wrong specifically. PLease do make one for writing.</p>
<p>Writing section guide:</p>
<p>Historically I have had the most trouble on this section. I’m pretty well-spoken and speak grammatically correctly most of the time, but I didn’t score so well in past tests. Only recently has my MC subscore steadily increased. I recommend going on p. 100 of the BB and looking at those rules. You should also write them down in a notebook somewhere. All of the grammar questions will have a root cause found somewhere in that chart.</p>
<p>Tips for sentence corrections:
On the easy/medium problems I try to use my natural command of English to answer those. I don’t go through and identify which grammar rule it is blah blah blah. To make S-V agreement problems easier, look up the rules, especially the more obscure ones pertaining to each, neither…nor, either…or, etc. (This applies to identify the error type questions as well). </p>
<p>A very useful tip I have (which I derived from math team questions) is to approach a difficult sentence with a simpler case. If the sentence is super long and complex and you’re not sure what’s going on or which pronoun is referring to which antecedent, etc., try to reword the sentence by deleting all the bells and whistles. For example:</p>
<p>Studying the dance for many years, practicing difficult steps every day, and (frequent performances has enabled the young dancer) to secure the leading role in the spring production.</p>
<p>The sentence can be simplified to:</p>
<p>Studying dance, practicing steps, and (frequent performances has enabled the young dancer) to secure the role. </p>
<p>Now you can more easily see that there is a lack of parallelism in “frequent performances.” This is a rather easy case, but hopefully you can see how this can be applied to more complex cases. </p>
<p>This is an example of my note when I got this problem wrong:</p>
<p>Twice as many bird species inhabit Ecuador (as in) North America.
(A) as in
(B) as inhabit
(C) instead of in
(D) when compared to
(E) than</p>
<p>My gut response was B, but I went with (E) than because it was shorter and simpler (95% of the time the shortest answers are the correct ones on SAT writing). But the right answer was E. My note was caveman-ish: “X [crossed out E] only use that w/ comparisons of number like There are a greater number of bird species inhabiting Ecuador that North American”. Alternatively, you could simplify the sentence to “Twice as many inhabit Ecuador (??) North America” and you can easily see that you need an “as” and that as inhabit works best. </p>
<p>Tips on paragraph corrections
I don’t do astronomically well on this section, but usually get 0-2 wrong. The key is to focus on conciseness and purpose. You should choose answers that change the paragraph for the better (obviously). Making it more concise is the number two goal, followed by being grammatically correct. Think of the paragraph as your own essay, and you are proof-reading it to make it as readable as possible. For every choice, you should ponder how that change or addition will contribute to the overall meaning and purpose of your paragraph. </p>
<p>One last tip: when you go through the test, mark up what questions you are iffy about with a star or something. When you correct your test and you see that a previously starred question was in fact answered correctly, write a little note explaining why the answer you debated about in your head was right - and don’t forget to congratulate yourself!</p>
<p>Ok, might do a math one, not sure though.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help neontissues, but it doesn’t address my issues to a tee.</p>
<p>I’m a bit confused about your vocab method? You mention that you usually get questions wrong because you don’t know the majority of the definitions, so how else could you study and do well if you don’t study off lists and memorize these words? For those methods you mentioned, they involve looking up the word definitions afterwards anyways. I’m really looking for a foolproof way of studying for vocab, because it seems as though no one is able to give me a solid, concrete way. People say study from vocab lists, then they say don’t, people say it’s counter-productive while others say it’s important, yet when it comes down to it, you still have to know the difficult words if you want a fighting chance.</p>
<p>I’ll try out your CR method, I’m aiming for as minimal error as I can (nothing over 2 wrong on each section), and from there I want to get complete sections right (nothing over 2 wrong in CR/Writing/Math). So all in all, when I take the SAT the most wrong I will allow is 6 on the whole test. A brash goal for only a 1900-dabbler as myself? Maybe, but in my opinion, my faults are problems that are easier tackled than most other test-takers. My biggest problems revolve around stupid mistakes (occasionally), un-careful reading (sometimes), lack of basic math concepts, lack of grammar knowledge, and lack of vocab. These are all tangible, un-visceral, solid things, so I think I’m in good shape. Maybe, Ionknow.</p>
<p>@MyRealName</p>
<p>I suppose you have to do what works for you. People say different things because they are all at different levels. I have a fairly developed vocabulary and good “word sense” so I think studying off vocab lists would be a waste of time, plus I’m more likely to forget them if I just rote memorize them. </p>
<p>I think my way works for me (and perhaps some others) is that I don’t get that many wrong initially anyway, and the few that I do get wrong are because I don’t know the definition of a couple words (not because I can’t understand signal words, or that I don’t understand a MAJORITY of the words). So when I look up the words after I’ve made a mistake, the memory is must more lasting and impressionable and I feel like I’ve truly LEARNED the word for (maybe) the rest of my life. </p>
<p>Also, there are many improvement threads: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/602755-tips-2400er.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/602755-tips-2400er.html</a> <== this is a really excellent, well-written and inspiring post. :D</p>
<p>This is also super inspirational: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764166-conquering-sat-personal-story.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/sat-preparation/764166-conquering-sat-personal-story.html</a></p>
<p>Yay! Good luck to everyone and their endeavors (especially all the '14ers and their last SAT chance this Oct.)</p>