Part I: Sentence CompletionPart I: Sentence Completion

Critical Reading is broken down into two parts:

sentence completion and passage-based reading.

First we’ll look at how to handle the sentence completion questions, which should amount to 13 questions on the actual test.

Critical Reading

Ravens appear to behave _______________,

actively helping one another to find food. a. mysteriously b. warily c. aggressively d. cooperatively e. defensively

“Definition” sentences

Both ________ and _______, Wilson seldom

spoke and never spent money. a. vociferous . . . generous b. garrulous . . . stingy c. effusive . . . frugal d. taciturn . . . miserly e. reticent . . . munificent

“Definition” sentences

Most of the time, the blank will not be merely

matching a definition as the past two examples were.

You will need to look at “Key Words” to determine how the word in the blank fits in with the rest of the sentence.

Logic/Relationship Questions

In a “contrast” sentence, the blank will hold a

statement that is opposite or in contrast to the rest of the sentence.

Look for “Key Words” like: however although rather than but despite instead yet even though

Contrast Sentences

Although in captivity the birds appear fragile,

studies indicate the species is actually quite _________ in the wild.

a. delicate b. rigid c. cautious d. vigorous e. attractive

Contrast Sentences

I was amazed to hear that my friend, who I

knew to be __________, was described by her teacher as quiet and shy.

a. benevolent b. sedate c. circumspect d. verbose e. credible

Contrast Sentences

Underline the important words of the

sentence. Predict an answer, even before you look at the

answer choices. This will help you avoid the dreaded SAT traps.

See if any of the words match your prediction. At the very least, you should be able to scratch out a few that don’t.

Sentence Completion Hints

Keep in mind that introductory and transitional

words are very important. Be aware that some of the most difficult

sentence completion questions contain negatives, which can make it hard to follow the logic of the sentences.

Remember that the instructions ask you to choose the best answer.

Sentence Completion Hints

Although these animals migrate, they are not

______; they remain loyal to their established ranges and seldom stray into new areas.

Most art critics regard her early style as conventional, utterly devoid of technical or artistic ________.

Predict Answers

Even if you don’t know what a word means,

you can sometimes tell if the word is positive, negative, or neutral just by looking at it.

Likewise, you can read a sentence with a blank and figure out what the tone of the missing word should be.

Try to match tones. If you can eliminate a few clearly incorrect words, this can be a great way to guess.

Look for tone of words

If a sentence has two blanks, don’t try to pick

both words at the same time. Look for the blank that has the most context

clues to go with it (usually the second blank), and try to figure out what should go there before moving to the remaining blank.

On sentences with two blanks . . .

The haiku, with its _______, its reduction of

natural and everyday events to their mere essence, seems to economically depict the _________ of even the simplest human experience.

a. casualness . . . destructiveness b. optimism . . . barrenness c. capriciousness . . . rigidity d. digressiveness . . . precariousness e. conciseness . . . poignancy

On sentences with two blanks . . .

Look for prefixes (don’t worry about suffixes as

much; they aren’t as helpful) that you might know, and roots from words you might recognize. A list of the most common word roots will be available on Schoolwires.

Prefixes & Root Words

Mnemonics -- generates a detailed phrase or

image that burns the meaning of the word into your memory. The more outlandish the image or rhyme, the

better. Sacrosanct -- Imagine the scene in Raiders of the

Lost Ark when everyone’s face melts off because they dared to touch that holy, sacrosanct object. You won’t forget melting faces!

Conundrum -- Having only one drum is a conundrum for a rock drummer.

Tips for Learning Vocab

If you hear or read a word you don’t know, try

to guess its meaning from context, then look it up to see if you were right and create a mnemonic.

Don’t study your words in the same order. Switch them around, shuffle your flashcards, or change the order of the words in some way. Then you can be sure you really know the word!

Tips for Learning Vocab

1. He was treated like a ____ and cast out from his community.

A. ascetic B. prodigy C. prodigal D. pariah E. tyro

Clue: He was cast out. An outcast is a pariah.

ascetic = one who lives a severe existence without indulgences; prodigy = genius, or very talented; prodigal = wasteful persontyro = novice, beginner

D. pariah

2. The teacher accused me of ____ because my essay was so similar to that of another student.

A. procrastination B. plagiarism C. celerity D. confusion E. decorum

Clue: ‘because’ gives a reason for the word that is needed. If the essay is so similar it looks as though it is copied. To copy without giving acknowledgement is plagiarism.

procrastination = putting off, delaying;celerity = speed; decorum = good and correct behavior

B. plagiarism

3. We live in a ____ age; everyone thinks that maximizing pleasure is the point of life.

A. ubiquitous B. propitious C. sporadic D. corrupt E. hedonistic

Clue: The part after the semicolon explains what kind of age we are talking about.So, since we are told that maximizing pleasure is the point, the word we need is hedonistic (pleasure seeking).

ubiquitous = found everywhere; propitious = favorable; sporadic = intermittent, not continuous

E. hedonistic

4. Thankfully the disease has gone into ____ ; it may not recur for many years.

A. treatment B. sequestration C. quarantine D. remission E. oblivion

Clue: The part after the semicolon explains the first part of the sentence.So, something that may not recur for some time would be in remission.

sequestration = isolation; quarantine = isolation; remission = temporary improvement in a disease; oblivion = state of being unaware

D. remission

5. People from all over the world are sent by their doctors to breathe the pure, ____ air in this mountain region.

A. invigorating B. soporific C. debilitating D. insalubrious E. aromatic

Clue: Since the air is described as ‘pure’ we need a positive word. Also, since doctors recommend it, the air must be good for health.Therefore, we choose invigorating which means energizing.

soporific = sleep-inducing; debilitating = weakening; insalubrious = unhealthy; aromatic = pleasant-smelling

A. invigorating

6. As were many colonial administrators, Gregory was ____ in his knowledge of the grammar of the local language, though his accent was ____ .

A. deficient - poor B. competent - adequate C. faultless - awful D. well-versed - effective E. erratic - eccentric

Clue: ‘though’ indicates the need for opposites.Therefore, we say that he was faultless (perfect) in his grammar, though his accent was awful. [This is the only pair of opposites.]

erratic = unpredictable; eccentric = odd

C. faultless - awful

7. Though Adam Bede is presented to us by the author as ____ fiction, there are none of the life-like meanderings of the story of Amos Barton.

A. realistic B. romantic C. imaginative D. educational E. entertaining

Clue : ‘Though’ indicates the need for opposites in the two halves of the sentence. Also, ‘life-like’ indicates realistic is the word needed.The sentence means that, though there are no life-like meanderings, the work is presented as realistic fiction. [Note that to get the meaning out of the sentence it sometimes helps to turn the parts around.]

A. realistic

8. There is a general ____ in the United States that our ethics are declining and that our moral standards are ____ .

A. feeling - normalizing B. idea - futile C. optimism - improving D. complaint - deteriorating E. outlook - escalating

Clue: ‘and’ usually joins things of similar meaning or weight. This suggests that since ethics are declining, moral standards are also declining (deteriorating). Almost any word except ‘optimism’ would have fit the first blank.

futile = useless, ineffective; escalating = increasing

D. complaint - deteriorating

9. Homo sapiens, the proud splitter of the atom, inventor of the electronic computer, ____ of the genetic code may be humbled by a lowly ____ of the sewers and soils - the microbe.

A. designer - inhabitant B. discoverer - rodent C. writer - organism D. decipherer - denizen E. author - purifier

Clue: The first blank requires something that conveys what man has done to the genetic code - the only two suitable words are ‘discoverer’ or ‘decipherer’. But since a microbe is not a rodent, we can eliminate that pair.

rodent = animal like a rat or mouse; decipherer = someone who decodes; denizen = inhabitant

D. decipherer - denizen

10. After centuries of obscurity, this philosopher's thesis is enjoying a surprising ____ .

A. dismissal B. remission C. decimation D. longevity E. renaissance

Clue: The sentence tells us that the thesis has been in obscurity (forgotten or neglected) but now it is being revived. We can say it is undergoing a renaissance (revival).

remission = temporary cessation of a disease; decimation = destruction; longevity = length of life

E. renaissance

11. The threat of war, far from ____ , lay heavily in the air, and the villagers, while ____ going about their normal activities, were unable to shake off the feeling of impending catastrophe.

A. receding - ostensibly B. diminishing - contentedly C. increasing - apparently D. escalating - joyfully E. subsiding - felicitously

Clue: ‘Far from’ indicates that an opposite point is being made. So, since there is a feeling of impending catastrophe the threat of war is far from getting less. This indicates that ‘receding’, diminishing’, or ‘subsiding’ might be suitable. We can eliminate these last two since their partner words ‘contentedly’ and ‘felicitously’ are inappropriate for a feeling of danger. So the villagers are only apparently (ostensibly) behaving normally.

escalating = increasing ; felicitously = happily, suitably

A. receding - ostensibly

12. Although alarmed by the ____ , Professor Symes had no reason to doubt the ____ of his student's results, for this student was nothing if not reliable.

A. conclusions - folly B. deductions - impudence C. implications - veracity D. errors - truth E. inferences - invalidity

Clue: ‘Nothing if not’ means ‘very’. So if the student is very reliable the professor would not doubt the ‘truth’ or ‘veracity’ of the results. Since the student is reliable we can eliminate the ‘error’ choice, and choose ‘implications’.

folly = foolishness; impudence = cheekiness; veracity = truth; inferences = something we can deduce)

C. implications - veracity

Writing Prompt #1 We would like to think that progress causes problems to be solved

completely, and sometimes that happens. For example, some diseases that once posed a serious threat are no longer a problem, thanks to modern medicine. Some problems can be solved, and they go away. But as often as not, problems exist in a chain of cause and effect: for each problem solved, a new one develops. Adapted from Gregg Easterbrook, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel

Worse

Assignment: Does progress reduce the number of problems in the world, or does solving old problems just lead to new ones? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #2 Common sense tells us that people tend to get along

better with those who are like them, who think and act as they do. Many people, however, get along very well with people who are very different from them and may prefer to associate with those whose views and actions are different from their own. In fact, some people even complain that they are bored and irritated by those who are too much like them.

Assignment:

Do people tend to get along better with people who are very different from them or with those who are like them? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #3 “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the

attribute of the strong.”-M.K.Gandhi

Assignment:

Is it true that only weak can never forgive? Or in this modern world, forgiveness is attributed to the ones who are weak? Plan your outlook on the issue and then formulate the essay with substantial evidence from your daily observation or experiences. Support your argument.

Writing Prompt #4 From early childhood, we are encouraged—pressured,

even—to be in the company of others: we are urged to belong to this or that group, to join this or that club, to spend time with this or that friend. People do everything to avoid being by themselves, treating solitude as though it were the equivalent of loneliness. And yet it is only when people are by themselves that they can truly achieve their most important goals.

Assignment:

Is solitude—spending time alone—necessary for people to achieve their most important goals? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #5 “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not

absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

Assignment:

Courage, is it only resistance to fear? Is absence of fear possible? Plan your essay after clearly understanding the issue under discussion and then proceed to write an essay with suitable examples that can support your essay.

Writing Prompt #6 Although most of us do not like being criticized, it is said that we can

always benefit from being told what we are doing wrong. We may lose a valuable learning opportunity if we do not listen to the criticisms expressed by others. Yet criticism, even when honest and well-intended, can be more harmful than helpful. We have more to gain by ignoring or shielding ourselves from the criticisms of others.

Assignment: Are people better off if they do not listen to criticism? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #7 “Discipline” is a negative word for many people because it is associated

with rigorous training, strict rules, and strong self-control. But we fail to realize that freedom comes only through discipline. Discipline compels us to sacrifice immediate rewards and pleasures, but it also gives our lives structure and prevents us from making costly mistakes. It keeps us from being subject to our impulses and weaknesses and thus frees us to achieve our true goals.

Assignment: Do people need discipline to achieve freedom? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #8 The making of illusions—misleading images or ideas that appear to be

authentic or true—has become the primary business of our society. Included in this category are not only the false promises made by advertisers and politicians but all of the activities which supposedly inform, comfort, and improve us, such as the work of our best writers and our most influential leaders. These promises and activities only encourage people to have unrealistic expectations and to ignore facts. Adapted from Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image

Assignment: Are people overly influenced by unrealistic claims and misleading images? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #9 The word “uncompromising” is often used as a compliment, especially

when it describes someone who is completely dedicated to certain principles and values. Uncompromising people have indeed recorded great achievements. But being uncompromising is not always a virtue. People who are uncompromising tend not to consider other people’s views, seeing themselves as right and everyone else as wrong. All in all, it is better to be flexible and make compromises.

Assignment: Are people more likely to achieve their goals by being flexible or by refusing to compromise? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.

Writing Prompt #10 We are often encouraged to stop worrying about making mistakes and

advised not to dwell on those we have already made. But without analyzing mistakes—decisions and actions that made a project fail, for instance—how can anyone be successful? Besides, there are some well-known mistakes others have made that seem worth studying carefully. Perhaps these mistakes could have been prevented if those responsible had been more concerned about making mistakes in the first place.

Assignment: Do people have to pay attention to mistakes in order to make progress? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.