<p>I'm doing all these practice writing sections and am getting like 12 wrong on the 35 question section, while i was getting around 3-4 wrong on the BB writing sections.</p>
<p>Barron's has so many odd questions, with even more confusing answers.
I wanted to use this book for practice, but i'm really confused now as to whether my answers should be right or not. I think i'm going crazy!!</p>
<p>for example, in one question, the correct answer actually begins the sentence with "but". Now i know some writers actually do this, but come on! SAT isn't going to do that, right? </p>
<p>example: It is typical of military service for a skilled technician to be inducted and "then you spend your whole tour of duty" peeling potatoes and cleaning latrines.</p>
<p>I know you can't have "you" refering to technician, so i chose "to spend their whole tour of duty"
but Barron's says the answer is "then spend HER whole tour of duty". </p>
<p>Another example: He interviewed several candidates "who he thought" had the experience and qualifications he required.</p>
<p>I chose "whom he thought" because I thought the candidates were objects because "he" is interviewing them. apparently it is "who he thought" (correct as it is). Can someone explain if this is wrong or right. Can you have multiple subjects in this case? </p>
<p>Can someone explain this bizarre answer, and whether or not CB tests these kinds of things??</p>
<p>Can someone also please explain the difference between "due to" and "as a result of", another thing i got wrong from barron's book. DON"T BUY BARRONS!</p>
<p>“A skilled technician” is singular. “Their” is plural. In common usage, “they” does get used the way you used it, and I have a friend who has talked me into it for more colloquial writing. But on the SAT I would expect them to be looking for “his tour of duty”, “her tour of duty”, “his or her tour of duty”, or “her or his” tour of duty" in that sentence.</p>
<p>In the second sentence, he chose candidates to interview. Why those ones? Because he thought they had the experience. The object of “interviewed” is “several candidates who he thought had the experience and qualifications he required.” And you’re right: if you were figuring out whether “they” or “them” fits in that space you would get “He interviewed them.” You want to think whether “they” or “them” would fit in the sentence “He thought several candidates had the experience and qualifications he required,” in the place where “several candidates” is. And there you would say “He thought they had the experience …” I realize that that is an absolutely horrible explanation, but it’s the best I can come up with. “Who” versus “whom” was something I was taught at home years before it came up at school, and I have no memory of how it was taught at school.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what your problem with “due to” and “as a result of” is. Can you offer more context?</p>
<p>The barrons questions are slightly more difficult. Its good practice, but don’t kill yourself if your getting a lot of them wrong- Their questions require you to pick up on the smallest details. Most of the time.</p>
<p>the crowd got angry as a result of the long lines. </p>
<p>I can kind of see how “as a result” sounds better.
Overall, a lot of the questions in Barron’s will never appear in SAT’s, mainly because they are poorly written.</p>
<p>I just never use practice questions that aren’t from CB. There’s enough CB questions around that you would never need to practice from Barrons or PR.</p>