My Progress Thread

<p>^It’s aides. I typed it incorrectly. Sorry about the Freudian slip there :p. I was thinking of my girlfriend for a moment.</p>

<p><a href=“http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/24260965.png/[/url]”>http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/24260965.png/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/824/38590068.png/[/url]”>http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/824/38590068.png/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Oh okay… I don’t know why that bothered me… :-)</p>

<p>I really do believe Barron’s made a mistake there(a BIG mistake, if you consider its explanation). I just did a quick search, and this problem was discussed numerous times. The consensus seems to be that the answer key is flawed.</p>

<p>Btw, the other question(one about Peter, Betsy, and I) tricked me for a second, but I did get it(thankfully)…</p>

<p>^Yeah, that was a pretty good question, and I choose C (rather idiotically - “me actually received the bad news” … really?).</p>

<p>For some unknown reason I am having trouble with object and subject pronouns…what is the answer to the Betsy and Peter one? Jefferey could you maybe explain it again? You seem to be really good at grammar. I feel like this part of the sentence is wrong… (but the actual recipients of the bad news were Peter and I) Shouldn’t it be Peter and me?</p>

<p>On a side note I did a math section on a psat and missed none!</p>

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<p>You use objective form pronouns after prepositions. You also use objective form pronouns as the objects of verbs. </p>

<p>Armed with just this tidbit of knowledge, we can eliminate choices B, D, and E, since each puts an subjective pronoun after a preposition. Now, it’s down to C, and “me actually received the news” is just plain out incorrect. Therefore, the answer is A.</p>

<p>I’ll leave it to Jeffery to provide a more grammatical explanation :D.</p>

<p>Today I did a Blue Book test yet again:
-6 Critical Reading (with -4 on the Trabb’s Boy passage :slight_smile:
-0 Math (finally a solid 800)
-2 Writing (meh.)</p>

<p>Anyway, here are the writing questions I missed - an easy and a medium:
9) (Though the damage caused by strip mining was often irreparable to the natural environment, it) was once used to supply half the coal produced annually in the United States.
(A) SAME
(B) useless choice
(C) Though strip mining often caused irreparable damage to the natural environment, it
(D) useless choice
(E) In spite of often irreparable damage to the natural environment, strip-mining</p>

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<p>23) (Something of) a phenomenon (in) the entertainment world, political satirists (are admired) by conservatives and radicals (alike).</p>

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<p>^I don’t blame you. The Trabb’s Boy passage slaughtered me as well. Great job on math btw :D! Here are my guesses:</p>

<p>9) C
23) E?</p>

<p>I agree with your answers IceQube but I want to play devils advocate and ask why not e on the first one?</p>

<p>^ E doesn’t have a verb in the beginning. If it had said “In spite of often causing irreparable damage…” it might have been OK. But it doesn’t really make sense as it is.</p>

<p>This is what I got from Crazybandit in an old thread and I find it very clear:</p>

<p>1) There is no correlation between “irreparable damage to the natural environment” and “strip-mining.” We do not know if strip-mining caused the damage.</p>

<p>2) “Often” is an adverb which does not modify adjectives or nouns. It only modifies verbs, which is missing in the dependent clause. Here, this is where it is wrong. Adverbs do modify adjectives. Take the case of: “He drove a very fast car.” Very is an adverb that modifies fast, which is an adjective. </p>

<p>3) Since the verb is missing, the clause relies on nouns: In spite of [strip-mining’s] [damage] to the [natural environment], it…" Because of this, even if we did say that the damage was caused by strip-mining (as in the sentence I just gave), the sentence would be wrong because “it” would not refer to “strip-mining.”</p>

<p>Trabb’s boy passage was my best passage. I missed none on that one. I guess the boost came after reading some of dicken’s works.</p>

<p>Are you sure the answer is D? I remember it is A, since “Betsy and him” is right because it’s in a prepositional phrase and “Peter and I” means the same thing as the subject(recipients).</p>

<p>How has your score improved so far? I’m aiming at 2400 too but the score I got on 3th, Jan astonished me: 2050. Math is the only section that’s 700+. I thought I was doing pretty good at grammar, but I got 5 questions wrong! And at least two of them were stupid mistakes. So I worked through the Barron writing book, but I’ve never had a perfect score on its practice tests. </p>

<p>CR is the most troublesome section for me. SC is not a problem; I only got one wrong. But I got 5-9 wrong on passage reading. </p>

<p>Math is easy but I always make stupid mistakes. Once I got 21+8=30…(so ashamed>_<). </p>

<p>I’m really, really curious about your essay. How can you write so much in only 25 minutes?</p>

<p>The answer is A to the grammar question, which I explicitly stated in an earlier post, and I typed the essays with no time-constraints :p. </p>

<p>Good luck on your 2400 :D.</p>

<p>Dear diary:</p>

<p>Tomorrow it’s Friday! I’ll see if I can stomach another full-length SAT - I feel really exhausted but I know I need to take more full-lengths SATs to up my endurance :. Wish me luck in school tomorrow, and wish me luck on the SAT tomorrow - if I decide to take it :). </p>

<p>On a side note, I just took a Barron’s AP Lang practice test and I got a dismal 33 out of 53 questions correct - and I scored a 790 on the last CR section I took :mad:. I have so much to study for this weekend … ugh! </p>

<p>Thoroughly exhausted, </p>

<p>IceQube</p>

<p>IceQube, if you can’t take the whole test, you can break it up and do sections timed</p>

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<p>I think I’ll just rest and give the SAT all I have on Saturday morning. I’ve already worked on some SAT writing sections - this time using official tests versus the Barron’s Writing Workbook. I aced one writing section and I missed 2 in another writing section. Clearly, I have some work to do in writing, but I think that I’m a long ways from where I was the other day. </p>

<p>I cannot stress enough the importance of using official materials, especially for writing and critical reading. Because I had used tons of official CB materials, I could see the content deficiencies in the Barron’s Writing Workbook. I could see how the Barron’s WB deviated from the real test. For one thing, the sentences present in the Barron’s WB are MUCH longer than the sentences on real SATs. This isn’t a bad thing - it makes the writing section trickier. Second, I haven’t run across a past participle question in the Barron’s WB yet. Maybe I will, as I’ve only been through 3 of the 5 practice tests. But past participles do show up on the real SATs. Overall the Barron’s WB is pretty good as supplementary material.</p>

<p>Ugh missed some sentence errors today.</p>

<p>Here they are and I could use some explanations please:</p>

<p>Because Roberto wants (to help preserve marine life), he intends (on declaring) marine biology (as) his major when he (begins college) next fall. (No error)</p>

<p>This one I thought it might be parallelism but I wasn’t sure. Could someone give me some clarification as to when I need parallelism and when I don’t–I am rather perplexed.
(Opposite to) the opinion of several respected literary critics, Jane Austen (does not make) good taste or manners in themselves sure (signs of) virtue (in her characters). (No error)</p>

<p>This sentence doesn’t even make sense to me; after the comma I am completely lost. Can someone explanation what the confounding sentence is trying to say please and why the error appears at A? Does it need to be “As opposed to”? I think what I was really thrown off by was that I couldn’t understand the sentence at all and still can’t</p>

<p>By virtue of (its) size and supersensitive electronics, modern radio telescopes are unable to gather more waves and (discriminate among) (them) with grater precision (than) earlier versions could. No error.</p>

<p>This one was rather foolish. I put discriminate among them because I thought it should be between but there are more than two waves to it should be between; I didn’t see the subject verb agreement :/</p>

<p>(When looking) at modern photographs of that area of Indonesia, the effects of the 1883 (eruption of) the volcano Krakatau (are) (still evident). No error</p>

<p>This one I am unsure why the correct answer is what it is. I put no error.</p>

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<p>The answer is B - “on declaring” is incorrect. The parallelism is faulty here. “To help preserve” is not parallel with “on declaring,” which should be “to declare.”</p>

<p>In addition, “on declaring” introduces a tense shift. Tense shifts tend to be incorrect - but please note that there will be some instances in which tense shifts are correct. </p>

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<p>Take the following sentences as examples of incorrect tense shifts:</p>

<p>*Katherine felt that she (has not had) (any understanding of) the (highly intricate workings) of the stock market (until) her uncle took her to the NY Stock Exchange. (No error) *</p>

<p>Above, A is incorrect. The sentence shifts needlessly from the simple past (“felt,” “took”) to the present perfect (“has not had”). </p>

<p>Because Lisa expected not to go to college, (she is taking little interest in school and doing poorly).</p>

<p>Again, the tense needlessly shifts. This time, it is from the simple past (“expected”) to the present (“taking”). </p>

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<p><a href=“Opposite%20to”>quote</a> the opinion of several respected literary critics, Jane Austen (does not make) good taste or manners in themselves sure (signs of) virtue (in her characters). (No error)

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<p>The idiom is “As opposed to,” not “opposite to.” </p>

<p>The sentence is saying that Jane Austen, a famous novelist, might make characters who may exhibit good manners but are not good people at heart. </p>

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<p>Watch out for errors early in the sentence. This is something that Kaplan 2400 taught me. When you get E for any Error ID question, mark it, go back, and read the sentence again, this time paying close attention to the beginning of the sentence. And when you get two Es in a row on any official SAT - you are 99.9% guaranteed to be wrong on at least one of your answers. </p>

<p><a href=“When%20looking”>quote</a> at modern photographs of that area of Indonesia, the effects of the 1883 (eruption of) the volcano Krakatau (are) (still evident). No error

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<p>I’m pretty sure the answer is A because the phrase “when looking at modern photographs …” has no subject.</p>

<p>Hugs. Maybe you should take a break. And Don’t Put Too Much Pressure on yourself :)</p>

<p>BTW, what are your tips for CR? I didn’t answer two q because time ran out last time! xD</p>

<p>For the question with “intend”, it’s never “intend on”; the correct structure is “intend to”.</p>

<p>“Opposite to” can only refer to physical things.</p>

<p>The house is located opposite to the warehouse.</p>

<p>The correct phrase to convey contrast should be “as opposed to”, “contrary to”, or even “unlike”.</p>