<p>Dear Diary:</p>
<p>Today I went through a math and a writing section of a PSAT. I got a few wrong but I now understand my mistakes (well once Jefferey clarifies the parallelism :p). This week I will finish going through PWN THE SAT and continue to study my vocab so that I will have Grubers 2400 memorized by the time the SAT rolls around and I will also continue to do practice sections. Off to draw and do an AP Comp Sci assignment!</p>
<p>I’m having a hard time comprehending the parallelism error that you speak of… </p>
<p>Let’s just take a look at the second part of the sentence(after the semicolon):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Since this is a compound sentence, I can simplify this further:</p>
<p>
and
</p>
<p>These clauses can stand alone. There is no grammatical error.</p>
<p>The clause “it is fixed” does not have to be parallel with “to suppose it changeable”.
“to supposed it changeable” must be parallel with “to be foolish”, and it is.</p>
<p>PR Math problem:
since HI and GH are equal length, I drew the two right triangles for which they are each the hypotenuse.<br>
-From G, you go up 6 and over 2 to get to H.
-From H, you go over 6 and down 2 to get to I.</p>
<p>Hey guys here’s a technique I use for lengthy Double Passage questions in CR:</p>
<ol>
<li>Read the questions first to mark off line references.*</li>
<li>Read Passage 1 and attempt its individual questions.</li>
<li>Then read comparison questions again.</li>
<li>Read Passage 2 and attempt comparison questions.</li>
<li>Attempt individual questions of Passage 2.</li>
</ol>
<p>This sounds like a very time-consuming method but actually its very efficient once you practice. It works great for me.</p>
<p>*you can skip marking of line numbers if you prefer that.</p>
<p>^Good Strategy AirFan
Here is Mine, it might be a little bit similar:
<p>I find this a very simple strategy that works for me. CR works best for those who skip around a little bit when it comes to the two passage or monster passage sections. I also read each passage while I am answering the line inference questions. I read the line, answer question, and keep reading on until I get to the area where the next line question is. It beats reading the whole thing and going back after.</p>
<p>Airfan and drac, great methods, made my 5 mistakes to a 2 mistakes. Thank you!</p>
<p>Since I said I would…:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The details summarizing Glenn Gould’s unconventionality is remarkable. I don’t know anything about Glenn Gould, yet I understand everything. Although the details are great, this paragraph can and should be more concise; you will not be able to write this much, and some of the descriptions are not necessary.</p>
<p>The third paragraph is entirely about your personal opinions. This is great, but I think your personal input is too long.</p>
<p>You can combine second and third paragraph into one single beautiful paragraph:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I don’t think the use of first person pronoun “I” is really necessary in your essays(most cases). The same thing goes for your fourth paragraph. Your fourth paragraph is really solid. However, there is a sentence that makes the essay slightly weaker(I’m personally thankful as well – I thoroughly enjoy listening to Beethoven’s moving music). Since this is a persuasive essay, you want to refrain from “I” as much as possible(most of the time, the use of “I” weakens your argument).</p>
<p>The conclusion is great. Just don’t use second person pronouns.
</p>
<p>I like your essay. I’m nit-picking. If you wrote this as a real SAT essay, I have no doubt that you’ll receive double digit essays(these were far better than my two previously graded SAT essays).</p>
<p>Dear diary:</p>
<p>Today I did not get through any PWN THE SAT but I promise I will do 50 pages of it tomorrow. I did a practice CR section from an old PSAT and I missed two questions; both questions I switched from the correct answer to the incorrect answer and I should have looked back at the text as the answers were clearly there. I also went over my previous practice test and reviewed my mistakes. Jefferey I have a grammar question but I will ask you tomorrow because I am exhausted. Also, the word unctuous was on the test! Never heard of that word in my life lol I would be duly impressed if someone knew that off the top of his or her (yes I am a subject verb agreement pedant ) head. Weird word for the SAT, or PSAT rather, none the less. Good essays IQ, but I would admonish to not type them as while it may be good practice for writing, it is not representative of how much you can write down and my language tends to be more mellifluous when I am typing. Goodnight.</p>
<p>Nice subject/verb agreement error, Jeff ;)</p>
<p>Oops. Sowwy…:o</p>
<p>@drac313 Thanks man! for sure skipping always helps in CR. Enough practice and you can skip text just by glancing at it. Saves bunch of time.</p>
<p>Studying vocabulary: trying to do at least 30 a day including a cumalative review
Apparently studying vocab and getting better at sentence comps helps with passage based questions?</p>
<p>I’m not sure if this is true, but lets hope so. Also usually if you get all the sentence comps right its easier to score a 600+. And you need to get all sentence comps right if you are aiming for a 700+</p>
<p>Dear diary: </p>
<p>Today I had TONS of schoolwork to do. Fortunately, the semester is wrapping up and it looks as if my 4.0 UW GPA will die another day :). I just have a few more assignments, tests, DBQs, FRQs, and quizzes to ace, and I can put my 4.0 in the bank :D. Wish me luck guys!</p>
<p>On a SAT related note, I handwrote an essay today and worked on a little grammar - nothing serious. I really should have done more, but I just had no time :. I’ll try to be more efficient tomorrow :).</p>
<p>IceQube</p>
<p>I’m working through a practice test atm…and I happened upon the Blue Book passage about Trabb’s boy…on which I got -4. Anyone else have problems with that one? I was literally cluesless as to what was going on. D:</p>
<p>^I remember the Trabb’s boy passage. That passage killed me too. You are not alone. </p>
<p>Anyway, the Barron’s Writing Workbook problems are insanely difficult. Hyperbole aside, the Barron’s Writing Workbook problems can really tear someone who thinks he or she has a solid grasp of grammar apart. Try your hand:</p>
<p>3) Dumb mistake on my part, but it’s still a pretty complex sentence. </p>
<p>The letter was intended for Betsy and him, but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I. </p>
<p>b) Betsy and I, but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I
c) Betsy and him, but Peter and me actually received the bad news
d) Betsy and he, but the actual recipients of the bad news turned out to be Peter and me
e) Betsy and I, but the bad news was actually received by Peter and I </p>
<p>21) This one I’m confused about. The answer is D, but according to silverturtle’s guide, the verb should agree with the closest object in a neither … nor construction. Therefore, the verb “were” should agree with “any,” which can be either singular or plural. Example:</p>
<p>Are there any questions?</p>
<p>Is there any more? </p>
<p>Both are perfectly valid sentences, and the sentences demonstrate that any is an indefinite pronoun - it can be either singular or plural, depending on the context. </p>
<p>However, the Barron’s Writing Workbook says that neither is the subject, and since neither is singular, the verb “were” does not work. What do you think? Here’s the original sentence. Is any being used as a plural or singular in this sentence? And is the Barron’s explanation valid? </p>
<p>To the disappointment of the crowd, neither the president nor any of his aids were able to attend the ceremony.</p>
<p>^ It is supposed to be “the president nor any of his aids /was/ able to attend the ceremony.”</p>
<p>I don’t know about Baron’s explanation, but this is how it goes on in my mind…
The subject is “president” and the correct verb should be “was able to attend the ceremony.”
Do not be misguided about “aids.” I consider these as “space fillers” that try to play tricks :P</p>
<p>^I wasn’t misguided by “aids,” I was questioning the validity of the assertion that “neither” is singular, and therefore “were” should be “was.” I was under the impression that in a neither/nor construction, the last noun decides whether the verb is singular/plural, and in this case, the last noun would be “any.”</p>
<p>^ I’m pretty sure “any” is singular. Sort of like “each.” </p>
<p>1) Any of the books is good.
2) Any of the books are good.</p>
<p>I think 1) is correct. So the verb would be “was” in the question you were wondering about (proximity rule).</p>
<p>Edit: After looking it up, it seems that “any” can be either singular or plural. So I guess both “were” and “was” work.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I hope that the prescient silverturtle will step in and help us solve the problem :D!</p>
<p>I think Barron’s is wrong. I agree that “were” is correct. I’m more concerned with the word “aids”. Did you type this incorrectly, or am I just mistaken? Shouldn’t it be “aides”? I thought the correct term was president’s aides.</p>