<p>Is it just me or do their official SAT online course’s explanations contradict each other? Here’s an example (#8 of section 10 in test 1 of the official SAT study guide):</p>
<li>Surface mining is safer, quicker, and cheaper than deep mining, but [the greater is its toll in human misery].</li>
</ol>
<p>(A) the greater is its toll in human misery
(B) it has a greater human misery toll
(C) in its human misery toll it is greater
(D) there is the greater toll in human misery
(E) its toll in human misery is greater</p>
<p>The correct answer is E, but here is the explanation for B from the official SAT online course:</p>
<p>“Choice (B) involves unclear pronoun reference. It is not clear whether the pronoun “it” refers to “surface mining” or “deep mining.””</p>
<p>Well, how funny because E also uses the pronoun ‘it’.</p>
<p>the SAT doesn't like it when you use nouns as adjectives. the main noun in that phrase is "toll," and (b) modifies "toll" with "misery," which is another noun.</p>
<p>in order to make that SAT-acceptable, you'd need to stick "misery" to "toll" with a prepositional phrase, change "misery" to an adjective," or something along those lines. (e) takes the first option, by changing "human misery toll" to "toll in human misery."</p>
<p>
[quote]
in order to make that SAT-acceptable, you'd need to stick "misery" to "toll" with a prepositional phrase, change "misery" to an adjective," or something along those lines. (e) takes the first option, by changing "human misery toll" to "toll in human misery."
[/quote]
</p>
<p>An SAT acceptable phrase is not necessarily English teacher acceptable. *get to the point!</p>
<p>E also sounds better because the verbs in both phrases (is) agree.</p>
<p>Also (as xitammarg said) in B "human misery" is an adjective phrase. It's a powerful concept (human misery) and it comes across better (in E) as a strong, noun phrase -- the emphasis is on the misery and it's clearer in the reader's mind than as a weak, descriptive phrase for something else.</p>
<p>According to one of my teachers, the collegeboard online course is the worst thing you could use to study for the SAT.........if the collegeboard reveals all their secrets to acing the test....then everyone will start aceing it.....and ultimately.....colleges will start degrading the value of the SAT in the admissions process....and the collegeboard will lose tons of money......</p>
<p>So........their tips and tricks aren't really reliable....because collegeboard wants the current trend to continue....because the more people do bad on their tests, the more colleges consider them an important criteria in the admissions process....</p>
<p>According to Grammatix, the only collegeboard resources to be used are their practice tests and sample high scoring essays...</p>
<p>i think we might all be talking about different things:</p>
<p>this particular explanation for the question cited by pick is, i think, indisputably awful, since its explanation for (b) being wrong would also have to make the correct answer choice wrong. so while the College Board gives an accurate indication of the correct answer choice for any particular question in its practice tests, the explanations it provides along with those answer choices can be somewhat lacking.</p>
<p>i don't just think that the college board knows how to do well on the SAT and doesn't tell us. i think it has no idea what it has actually created. throughout the first half of the blue book you can find statements to the effect that the SAT tests the basic reading, writing, and math skills you've been learning since kindergarten. i think the college board really believes that. but if you look at the SAT, and look at who does well on it, there's absolutely no way a rational person can conclude that it does the things the college board claims to want it to do. the essay instrument is one glaring example--in the words of the director of undergraduate writing at MIT, the SAT essay rewards exactly the kind of behavior you'd want to punish if you were teaching someone to write, and punishes the behavior you would want to reward. so, to me, taking the college board's advice on the SAT is a bad idea, even if their practice questions (not the explanations to those questions) are the only ones that should be used.</p>
<p>Well, their practice tests ARE reliable.......That I agree with.........I'm just talking about the tips and tricks that they suggest...and the information they give you on the SAT in general.........</p>
<p>If you want practice tests, they're probably one of the best....since they are the ones who write the actual test, their questions will be more test-like..</p>
<p>avik, I'm wondering if it's worth the $70 extra to get 6 more real tests. I thought at least the essay analysis would be somewhat worthwhile, since there is no other place to get that (except for guesses by one's parents! lol).</p>
<p>xitammarg--interesting about what the MIT director said about the essay. I'm not seeing what is so bad about what (it seems?) the SAT rewards -- organization, concrete, relevant examples, clear intro and conclusion, some analysis, decent length...?</p>
<p>his exact words were "It's exactly what we don't want to teach our kids." (by the way, i incorrectly said he was <em>the</em> director of undergraduate writing at MIT, but actually he's only <em>a</em> director of undergrad writing at MIT.)</p>
<p>the problem, in a nutshell, is that the SAT essay allows writers to invent facts and punishes concise expression.</p>
<p>but it's not just the essay. the reading section claims to reward the type of in-depth reading english students do in college, but actually rewards pure literalism. the writing section enforces grammatical rules no longer in current usage (and, in some cases, just makes things up--the rules about tense and time expressions and the rule about antecedents appearing in the same sentence with their pronouns are both straight from some CB employee's imagination). the math section tests ideas that many top math students haven't seen since 9th grade, and does so in ways that most high school teachers don't use.</p>
<p>i'm not saying the SAT isn't a good test--i actually think it's a great test. it just doesn't test what the CB says it does (ie, the skills that help you succeed in high school and college).</p>
<p>I figured that since the SAT writing sample has only been in use for about one year, it will probably be modified in various ways (or the assessments modified) before it reaches its final format (or grading scheme).</p>
<p>That's why it's tricky for students taking the writing portion now, while it's new. You just have to figure out what's being sought. I heard about the length corrolation -- which is what I tell my son -- at all costs, fill every line if you can. He's not verbose, so it's usually w/something substantive (fortunately).</p>