I will be posting in this thread my questions, since I cannot edit the post later to add more of them and I do not want to flood the forum.
First one: critical reading
Darwin was not alone in his beliefs that dogs possess
15 human virtues. The characteristics of loyalty and obedience,
coupled with an expressive face and body, can account
for why dogs are such popular and valued pets in many
cultures. Depending on the breed and the individual, dogs
can be noble, charming, affectionate, and reliable. But
while all dog owners should rightly appreciate these and
other endearing traits in their pets, nothing says that the
cleverness of a highly intelligent primate such as a chimpanzee
is part of the package. Scientists generally believe
the reasoning abilities of chimps to be considerably greater
than that of dogs. But many people nonetheless [believe] that LINE 25
dogs are smarter than chimps precisely because of our
familiarity and emotional ties with the dogs that we love.
We apply the same secret rules to our fellow humans: the
old in-group, out-group story. People in your in-group are
those who are similar to you, either because they belong
to the same organizations as you, or enjoy the same
activities, or, and this is the kicker, because they are simply
around more often. Dogs, because of their proximity to
their owners, are definitely in. The intensity of our
relationship with dogs causes us, quite naturally, to imbue
them with high-level mental abilities, whether they have
earned those extra intelligence points or not. We like them,
so we think well of them.
I think the reason D is incorrect is because in nowhere in the passage does it mention a theory. It seems like a trap answer where the passage compares intelligence of dogs and chimps so “controversial” makes answer D look appealing but “theory” drops it.
for your critical reading question, read the line after believe “because of our
familiarity and emotional ties with the dogs that we love.” which is rephrased in choice D.
for the grammar question, i would also had picked C, may i ask what source you are taking this test from?
(A) a misguided idea that is becoming obsolete - there is no mention of the idea becoming obsolete
(B) a negative view that scientists adopt toward lay
people the passage says nothing about scientists’ negative views, at most one scientist’s negative view can be inferred
(D) the controversial nature of an alternative theory - there is no mention of controversy in the passage
(E) the intensity of a conviction based on sentiment - intensity is mentioned, the belief is clearly a conviction and the mention of emotional ties indicates that the conviction is based on sentiment
By the way, if you’re looking to increase your CR score you should be doing an analysis at least this thorough for every question you get wrong on a practice test
Hi @CHD2013! Thank you so much for the explanation. Yes, I do that for every mistake I get wrong on CR sections, but I wasn’t able to work out that one^
What confused me is that while scientists do not believe, people DO believe… isn’t this controversy?
Critical Reading: There is absolutely NO mention of controversy in this passage. If there was, it would talk about two opposing positions in a supposed argument, but this is more of an informative passage if anything.
Writing: Your grammar question is all about parallelism…“to treat your friends badly” and “(to) have no one notice”. Choice C is awkward, wordy, in the passive voice, and altogether wrong in a million levels. If you practice enough, you will immediately browse over wrong choices like these ones.
Math: This is basic algebra, but many students forget how to solve problems like this one so I will give you a refresher, but you have to solve the rest. Start by assigning variables to the posts and boards…let say a=boards and b=posts therefore our equation would be 6a+8b=208. Every time 1 post is added, 2 boards are added so we can relate this equation as 2(b-1)=a. Then substitute, plug in, solve and voila. You should get a=20 and b=11.
@BethanyD: No problem! It is my pleasure to help you out in any way for the SAT.
Lol it’s fine I can see how the equation can be a bit confusing. Forming this equation is all about the diagram. It would’ve been a whole lot easier if the equation was just a=2b, but the fact is that the ratio of the boards to the posts is not 2 to 1. So when is the ratio 2 to 1? It is when you remove the last post in any given fence size. So for example in the given diagram, there are 3 posts and 4 boards pictured which is definitely not a 2 to 1 ratio. But excluding the last post there is a 2 to 1 ratio (4 boards still and 2 posts remaining). Try that out with any size fence and it will work. So the equation is simply subtracting 1 post and multiplying that quantity by 2 to get the number of boards. You can also just plot data points of # of posts to boards: (2,2),(3,4),(4,6),(5,8),(6,10),(7,12), etc. From these data points we can see that subtracting 1 from the x-coordinate and then doubling that resultant value will give the y-coordinate.
The whole point is that you are trying to find an easy relationship between the posts and the boards to substitute into the original equation (6a+8b=208).
doesn’t “to state” explain why they made the rules?
improving paragraphs question - usage of after all? correct answer: meanwhile
Such skeptics will probably never be convinced by anything less than direct evidence. (after all or meanwhile?) Believers in extraterrestrial life can take encouragement from an ever-increasing body of indirect evidence, as astronomers contiue to learn more about planets outside our solar system.
can’t we say after all meaning “anyway”, which would be correct in this case?
Then there would be better, clearer ways to say that, like “They made the rules in order to state.”
“Anyway” as in “despite evidence to the contrary” is not often put at the beginning of sentences. If you put it there anyway (see what I did there?) it will sound more like “To return to a prior conversation topic…” Which isn’t what you mean.
@bodangles thanks a lot! I understand its usage now. (y)
But just to make sure - here we’re only showing two different points of view - but we are not returning to a certain topic, right?
and @CHD2013 if my range is somewhere in the 650s will dissecting the questions this way (I do that but I want to make sure of something…) will I be able to reach the low 700s soon? My score in CR is stagnant… in the mid 600s range.
@BethanyD - if you thoroughly review every question on practice tests, and understand why each right answer is right and why no other answer could be right - and you haven’t been doing that before, I think you should be able to icnrease your scores into the 700s
I always work with real SATs.
