<p>@000ooo000ooo</p>
<p>It’s a sequence problem. If you look at the given information (1/n)-(1/n+1) you can realize a pattern when you begin adding them up.</p>
<p>(1/1)-(1/2)+(1/2)-(1/3)+(1/3) … … -(1/50)+(1/50)-(1/51)</p>
<p>Everything cancels out so that you get…</p>
<p>(1/1)-(1/51)</p>
<p>Therefore, Answer B (50/51) is the correct answer</p>
<p>IceQube, I really think a 2400, if not a 2300+, is within reach for you.</p>
<p>IceQube, mind if I join you on this quest?</p>
<p>I’m also trying for a 2400 this January…we can work together towards this goal!</p>
<p>I took a practice test yesterday, and my score range was 2160-2340…but this is with a perfect on the essay. I still haven’t started practicing for the essay :/</p>
<p>And similar to you, I find that math usually isn’t too difficult…it’s the CR that trips me up. </p>
<p>Let’s work together for this 2400! Btw, are you a junior?</p>
<p>Maybe you two should take one of the first three practice tests AND write an essay. That way, you can go back to your essay after you finish the test and compare it to the other essays written previously. I’m SURE that you can look at yourselves critically.</p>
<p>Furthermore, the first three tests have predetermined scales since they were administered previously. You can get a totally accurate representation of your current position on the SAT by doing this. After all, you get a score, not a range.</p>
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<p>Thanks :D! </p>
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<p>Great! Let’s both get 2400s! I don’t mind if you post in my thread - in fact - I think it would be great for us to post in the same thread so readers don’t have to constantly jump from thread to thread :). </p>
<p>And yes, I’m a junior.</p>
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<p>Great rule. I usually spot subject-verb agreement problems, but this one just slipped by. Sneaky sneaky :mad:!</p>
<p>A couple of hard CR questions:</p>
<p>Schoolbook cherry trees swim up to fill her eyes, their blossoms mad. They wave the dazzle of their pollen bait, and in this snowstorm of petals, fuse with every Easter when they ever unfolded their promissory color.</p>
<p>“Mad” most nearly means</p>
<p>1) angry
2) inexplicable
3) wild
4) hilarious
5) insane</p>
<p>I think it’s “3. wild”.</p>
<p>It’d be great to actually have the entire passage, though…</p>
<p>You are right, but why is it “wild”?</p>
<p>Here’s a grammar question. Why is the possessive + gerund considered incorrect? </p>
<p><a href=“http://i.minus.com/jRrMC233AhCLm.png[/url]”>http://i.minus.com/jRrMC233AhCLm.png</a></p>
<p>You can eliminate insane and hilarious because they are extreme answers, and CR answers are never extreme. Angry doesn’t make any sense because there is no sort of negativity throughout the passage. Then you get down to inexplicable and wild. I lean towards wild because inexplicable would lead to a description that would cause him to ponder the blossoms, rather than simply describe them. Therefore wild is the best choice by elimination</p>
<p>MasterYster, are you sure that CR answers are never extreme? This could help me a lot. I’m also aiming for a 2400 this January.</p>
<p>Also, about that question you were talking about, usually in questions like these where they ask the meaning of a word there is a word that means what we most commonly use the word to mean. In this case, the choice is “angry,” because if you hear the word “mad” without any context, you’re most likely going to think of the “angry” meaning. I’ve never seen the correct answer be one of these, if I made any sense at all.</p>
<p>99.999999999% of the time, the answers will never be extreme. Another fun fact, all answers will be politically correct i.e. the answer would never put down a women or black, etc (odd fact)</p>
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<p>I’m sorry. I don’t think I really follow your explanations. If you consider insane and hilarious as extremes, why not inexplicable and wild? I personally think inexplicable and wild more extreme than other choices. I think this is why I don’t really buy the “don’t pick the extreme” explanations. Perhaps the “no extreme” policy works best when grouped with words such as “always” or “never”. I don’t think it works in this particular question.</p>
<p>As for IceQube’s question as to why wild is correct, I think “wild” was just the best choice.</p>
<p>Their blossoms (are) mad.</p>
<p>In this particular sentence, I believe the verb “are” is implied. Now, you can ask yourself: do any other choices fit?</p>
<p>I believe the “possessive + gerund” doesn’t work here because if used in this sentence, the sentence should read: </p>
<p>Rita Moreno gained fame and won an Academy Award for her portraying(portrayal) of Anita in the film adaptation of the groundbreaking Broadway musical West Side Story.</p>
<p>It should be either for portraying or for her portrayal(or portraying) of.</p>
<p>^Edit: I see were you are coming from. I think that the possessive + gerund is technically correct, but wordy given the alternatives - such as the ones that you proposed. </p>
<p>The problem with the sentence I linked to was that “for her portraying” is redundant. </p>
<p>True, using a possessive with a gerund is correct, but in the linked sentence, doing so is redundant. Heavily paraphrased:</p>
<p>She won for her portraying …</p>
<p>She won for portraying …</p>
<p>Realityisadream provides an excellent explanation of possessives with gerunds - one should use a possessive with a gerund to alter the subject of the gerund. </p>
<p>E.g. </p>
<p>Anne recalled her hearing a ghost. (Technically correct, but wordy - and therefore incorrect on the SAT).</p>
<p>Anne recalled hearing a ghost. (Correct, and less wordy without the possessive).</p>
<p>Vs.</p>
<p>Anne recalled his hearing a ghost. (Correct - and note how the possessive modifies who heard the ghost).</p>
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<p>I love this fact. When I don’t know what the sentence in a SC section is trying to say but it discusses a black person or a woman, I just choose some vocabulary word that is positive. I find this to be absolutely true.</p>
<p>I agree that realityisadream’s explanation is excellent. However, I doubt that CB marks “wordiness” as incorrect.</p>
<p>On a side note… Why am I always compelled to add the extra “of” when I use “possessive + gerund”?</p>
<p>I am also aiming for a 2400… I see that is a common goal for CCers… :)</p>
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<p>Another little known fact: the shortest answers tend to be correct. And yes, wordiness/redundancy is a cardinal sin in CB’s book.</p>
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<p>What do you mean? Possessive of gerund?</p>
<p>Dear diary:</p>
<p>Tomorrow, when I wake up, I plan to practice with the Blue Book. I will do all the CR sections. I will carefully read each passage, even if I have read the passage before, and pick the best answer. I will try to mentally justify each answer. </p>
<p>After that, I will check my answers and read the College Board’s explanations for all the CR sections. Hopefully, I will end the day with a better understanding of the sometimes esoteric critical reading sections. </p>
<p>Good night</p>
<p>IceQube</p>
<p>P.S. “No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.” - Voltaire. Maybe you and I will end up dropping this quote on our January SAT essays :D.</p>
<p>Indeed, the shortest answers tend to be correct in the Improving Sentences section. However, I don’t think redundancy is necessarily wrong in the Identifying Sentence Errors portion of the Writing section. If it is wrong(extremely rare), the error tends to be extremely obvious. Ex. “annual + every year”</p>
<p>You can ignore my other comment about the “of”…</p>
<p>@IceQube: the possessive-gerund question should be “her portrayal of”</p>
<p>It could be:</p>
<p>1) “Her portrayal of”
2) “For portraying”</p>
<p>Right?</p>
![http://i.minus.com/jRrMC233AhCLm.png[/url]](http://i.minus.com/jRrMC233AhCLm.png%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
