In context, which of the following is the best way to combine sentences 1 and 2 (reproduced below)?
Marriage was once a sacred religious institution authorized only by sacred establishments. In contemporary times the concept of marriage has become more of a state convention and less of a holy bond.
Last week, we began a new 5-part series on SAT math tips for smart students who are struggling to keep their SAT math scores high. In Part I we learned that the result is rewarded, not the effort. Today, we’ll take a look at a second tip where tricky problems and specific language can really clue you in. Always read SAT problems carefully!
As the old saying goes, “practice makes perfect”. It is true. Human beings are designed to improve, learn, and excel through rigorous and mindful practice. In addition to teaching, I also dance. When I was younger, dance class was simply a fun activity to do after school. I have come to learn now that I need to practice consciously every single day if I want to excel at dance and succeed.
We spoke with a student the other day over the phone who was near tears. She had a 3.9 GPA, always got A’s or an A- at worst in math class. But she was absolutely devastated by her math score on the SAT before she came to us: 530. How can she, a bright student with a near perfect GPA, have only gotten a score barely higher than average? Surprisingly this isn’t all too uncommon. A lot of very good students struggle with SAT math and underperform to their ability level. The solution is almost always focused preparation for the SAT with strategies that are specifically designed to tackle the types of problems you will see on the test. Here’s part one of our five-series article on why we see good students like the one mentioned above struggle with SAT Math.
It pays to study over summer. Studying for standardized tests during your summer vacation could lead to a big payoff in scholarship money towards your college education. While you may see a disconnect between the PSAT and the SAT, you will soon learn that studying for the SAT can cover all the bases. Take a look through these four reasons why you should prepare for PSAT this summer and how it will help you get ahead of the game.
Your outlook on test day is probably something like this: Oh no; it’s here. The test is this weekend. That big test. The one I’ve been partially dreading and partially waiting for just so I can get it over with. I’m a little nervous, no, a lot nervous. Isn’t this test supposed to decide my life or something? Isn’t this the test that determines whether or not I’ll get into a good college?
Want to know the secret to writing an essay for the SAT? Cuba Gooding Jr., in the movie Jerry Maguire, puts it well when he says, “SHOW ME THE MONEY!”. In the movie the catchphrase is a request to back up talk with cash.
In the case of the SAT essay, the money is in the details. Specific details in an essay support a thesis statement like experimental evidence proves scientific theory. The more substantive detail you include into your writing, the more you support your argument. Here are some tips for how to generate and organize those details into a perfect scoring essay.
On the SAT, you’ll see a handful of permutation questions. Permutation questions deal with the rearranging of existing elements. Let’s look at an example problem. The problem goes something like this “A northeastern (museum/school/restaurant) has four (displays/desks/seats) all in a row. How many different combinations of six (paintings/students/diners) can be made?”
We use pronouns everyday – I, he, me, we, they, she – these words are so common that we rarely think twice about them. Yet, finding pronoun misuse on the SAT writing section is often overlooked. By learning to always match a pronoun with its antecedent (the noun that the pronoun replaces) you can avoid missing these errors. Let’s look at the following example first to ascertain what an antecedent is.
Avoiding Assumptions is probably the best strategy period on SAT Reading. But it will take a long time before you master this strategy. You will need to practice the art of avoiding assumptions over and over on SAT passages until you perfect it.
Remember that an assumption is an induction that is not based on textual evidence from the passage. So how can you avoid making assumptions on the SAT? Well, you can ask yourself one magic question:
Nothing sets my students into a panic more consistently than being asked to describe the main purpose or the author’s intent when examining a passage. “But that’s not fair!” they say, “This is an opinion question.”
Though it is easy to get oneself into a tizzy and wallow in frustration at a question of this sort, it is important to remember that nothing is a matter of opinion on the SAT. Every answer is objectively true and supported by the text. The trick is examining what the passage is accomplishing.
So here we are, the moment of truth. We have been feverishly studying for the last six months. We don’t blink when we see capricious and capacious sitting next to each other in the completing sentences portion, knowing that we are looking for a synonym to whimsical (caprice means whim) not roomy or spacious (capa, like capacity).
Run-on sentences are frequently encountered in the SAT writing section. If you know how to spot them, they are simple to correct. What makes a sentence a run-on? Do you remember when you were young and you wrote your first story? It probably went something like this:
My name is Dani and I like to dance and sing and play, my mommy and daddy are both really nice, I have two little brothers too and they are sometimes annoying but I love them anyway and I love my whole family.
California has been my home for nearly my entire life. I was born and raised in Los Angeles, and at sixteen I knew the ins and outs of the city as if it were etched into the palm of my hand. By the time college acceptances came around, I knew I had to leave. My heart was set on exploring the world, discovering new cultures, and pushing my limits. The choice was between my three favorites: UC Berkeley in Berkeley, CA, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN, and Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.
Good news! Most answers (errors to look for) in the SAT writing section can be boiled down to six general concepts: verb agreement/tense, pronoun agreement, parallelism, run-on sentences, dangling modifiers, and concise expression. If you check for these six things on each question, with a little bit of practice, you should be able to ace the writing section!
Here’s a nice math brain-teaser to start out the week. It seems that our friends in China have come up with a mind-bending animation that seemingly shows you can create extra area in a figure by deconstructing the figure and putting it back together in another configuration.
A vegetarian diet has been linked to many health benefits including a reduced risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, cancer, and obesity. But if that’s not reason enough to eat more animal-friendly fare, here are five vegetarian snacks that will also boost brain power too.
Perhaps it started on a January day in Chicago when elementary school students greeted teacher Frankie Beecroft, recently named Veritas Prep’s Worldwide Instructor of the Year, with an enthusiastic “Good Morning, Teacher of the World!” But maybe it started well before that, in classrooms and at dinner tables in Missouri and Michigan, New Jersey and Norway as the students who would become the leaders of Veritas Prep were inspired by teachers. Whatever the genesis, our lifelong appreciation of teachers and our firm belief that they deserve recognition for their yeoman efforts has led us here.
Hey there College Bound student,
Look, I get it, talking about money is boring with a capital BORING, but it’s just one of those under analyzed aspects of the college preparation and college decision process. For many people, the cost of college gets put off by spreading that lump sum into student loans meaning the full cost of college will not be defrayed until well into a career. So what does college cost? And what do you get for it? And what should you do about it? We will cover all of that! Just take a breath, and lets start with cost.
Welcome to the final segment of a 4-part Veritas Prep College Readiness Series! Each segment will cover what students can do to prepare for college. Today’s blog post will give 12th graders advice on what they can do to make sure they have a stellar college application. Check out our high school freshman, sophomore, and junior readiness articles too!
Welcome to the third segment of a 4-part Veritas Prep College Readiness Series! Each segment will cover what students can do to prepare for college. Today’s blog post will give 11th graders advice on what they can do now to make sure they have a stellar college application. Check out our high school freshman and sophomore readiness articles too!
A common question among those preparing for the SAT: Is there a quick and easy way to learn vocabulary? This is a bit of a tricky question because it is in fact TWO questions jammed into one:
1. Is there a QUICK way to learn vocabulary?
2. Is there an EASY way to learn vocabulary?
Welcome to the second segment of a 4-part Veritas Prep College Readiness Series! Each segment will cover what students can do to prepare for college. Today’s blog post will give high school sophomores advice on what they can do now to make sure they have a stellar college application.
Dear 10th Graders:
A week ago today, few people outside of greater Fort Myers knew anything about Florida Gulf Coast University. What a difference a week makes. #FGCU has been consistently trending on Twitter for days, now, and the admissions website crashed shortly after the Eagles dispatched Georgetown in Friday’s match-up FGCU is on the map now, joining Gonzaga, Virginia Commonwealth, George Mason, and several other schools that built a national reputation on the strength of an NCAA Tournament run.
Welcome to the first segment of a 4-part Veritas Prep College Readiness Series! Each segment will cover what students can do to prepare for college. Today’s blog post will give 9th graders advice on what they can do now to make sure they have a stellar college application.
Dear 9th Graders:
Has studying vocabulary words for the SAT got you down? Memorizing an exorbitant list of words can definitely be a daunting task. Tactics such as “repeat, review, review” can be tedious, but memorizing vocabulary doesn’t have to be so monotonous. Think back to a recent time you were in the car. What do you remember? You probably don’t remember the usual blue, black, or silver cars that passed you by on the street, but what about an ostentatious pink Punch Buggy with a stenciled floral pattern on the trunk? You would probably remember a car like that because it is out of the ordinary. It is something different, perhaps even funny, that stands out in your mind from the other cars on the road each day. What if vocabulary words were atypical and humorous? They would be easier to remember too. Here are some strategies to help make your vocabulary words as conspicuous as a flowered pink Punch Buggy driving down the street.
You know the most frequent question that I get asked by students preparing for the SAT? “Why does this matter? Its just a silly test! It doesn’t measure how good of a student I will be or how smart I am.”
The simple response to this question is that this is a valid criticism. It really is! The SAT does not measure the merit of a student, but other things are also true. Namely, the SAT can help you get into college, and it should be treated as a tool to accomplish this goal.
Every year, high school students choose how they will spend their summer! Whether it be traveling to another country to help people in need, submersing themselves into an intensive language program, or obtaining a job or internship in their own backyard, there are a number of organizations to help students find the right summer program for them.
Last week, College Board CEO David Coleman made waves by sending out an email announcement about changes coming to the SAT. Coleman, who started leading The College Board in October, has wasted no time in making his mark on the organization and on the exam. While the details are murky and the timing is still “TBD,” it is clear that Coleman doesn’t want to wait before tweaking the SAT.
Here’s a big secret about the SAT Writing Multiple-Choice section: the word “being” is almost always incorrect! There are certain phrases on the SAT that are typically unacceptable on the SAT Writing multiple-choice section. “Being” is one of these, and is almost always incorrect on the SAT.
The University of Pennsylvania is a great school – an Ivy League – and I could not be more proud to attend. But, when I first got in, I was dismayed.
I had decided to transfer from Vassar College, a liberal arts school, which is both liberal and artsy. If you have heard of Vassar, you may know this to be its reputation. And it is not exaggerated. With some affection and only slight exaggeration, I can say that there are professors who make Bill Maher seem like Rush Limbaugh and students beside whom Lady GaGa would appear prim and proper. I had made good friends in my first year, but by third semester, I felt claustrophobic. It was too small and culturally extreme for me, and I told my parents I wanted to change schools.
When I got accepted into MIT, I referred to the Institute as “Disneyland for nerds.” I knew it had ridiculously innovative and brilliant people and the resources to cultivate genius. I knew that it was a breeding ground for discoveries, start-up companies, and Nobel prizes.
But I also thought that MIT was really, really, soul-crushingly hard. Despite all of the absolutely wonderful things I had heard about the school, I admit that it had me a little scared.
There is no shortage of opinion and points of view here at Veritas Prep. We’re an opinionated lot, and we’re also not afraid to stick out our necks and make a few predictions about how we see the worlds of test prep and admissions evolving in the coming year. The following are four trends and news items we expect to see emerge at some point in 2013:
At least one Top 20 MBA program will introduce an all-online MBA program.
Right now, Kenan-Flagler’s MBA@UNC is still the only game in town when it comes to top-tier business schools offering real, full-blown MBAs available online. The segment certainly still has a ways to go in terms of burnishing online education’s reputation, and UNC has tried to tackle this problem head-on with ads that go as far as to warn that you probably can’t get into its program. With most of the elite American universities making much more aggressive strides into online education (most frequently with MIT & Harvard’s edX or Stanford’s Coursera), it’s not hard to imagine that another top-ranked business school will soon move to offer a full MBA over the Internet in 2013.
Today we feature a guest post from Veritas Prep SAT instructor Courtney Tran. Courtney is a student at UC Berkeley, studying Political Economy and Rhetoric. In high school, she was named a National Merit Finalist and National AP Scholar, and she represented her district two years in a row in Public Forum Debate at the National Forensics League National Tournament. She was always active in local politics, including speaking against budget cuts in and closings of Oakland Public Libraries.
When I was in high school, I was received over half a million dollars in scholarship offers. Because some of these scholarship offers were school-specific, I ended up actually receiving approximately $237,000 to go to college. Needless to say, these scholarships still covered the cost of tuition, housing, textbooks, food, and all other college-related expenses during my undergraduate career.
Believe it or not, 2012 is almost over. If you’re reading this, it means that the world hasn’t ended, and that at least some of us still have electricity and Internet access, so we’re ending on a good note! As we at Veritas Prep wind down the year, we thought we’d share some of our biggest news, best posts, and most interesting topics from the past 12 months.
Vivian Kerr is a regular contributor to several GMAT and SAT websites, allowing her to flex her intellectual muscle while she is in between film and stage project as an actress.
SAT word problems scare you? Me too! Especially once they start talking about distance, work rates, trains leaving stations, etc. Sometimes the SAT likes to throw a particularly challenging word problem towards the end of a section, and this type of question can often involve a concept called “average speed.” Well, I know what “average” means, so this should be easy, right? Unfortunately, “average speed” has nothing to do with the mathematical average, or the mean. This is the formula to know: Average Speed = Total Distance / Total Time.
High school seniors entering their last semester of grade school often lose motivation. Interestingly, the two main causes of “senioritis” are polar opposites: a lack of goals or no goals left to achieve. High school students who do not aspire to go to college may view senior year as their last chance to socialize in such a setting. As a result, a lack of motivation for further academic development can cause students to wonder “what’s the point?” of their classes in their final school days. On the other end of the spectrum, students who believe they have achieved everything they had planned to in high school (i.e. getting into the college of their choice) may also display symptoms of senioritis. Although not as a worrisome as students without goals, students who are complacent with their achievements may be just as likely to fall behind in their schoolwork senior year.
Think fast: when you hear “SAT” do you:
A.) Feel your heart race and your hands get clammy
B.) Develop an instant inferiority complex
C.) Start to scream and/or cry
D.) Jump up and down with excitement.
Most likely, unless you are stretching the truth substantially, you answered A, B, or C (or your actual answer was some other response similar to one of those). If this is that case, then there is no need to worry: you are quite normal. The SAT, perhaps more than any other test on earth, notoriously conjures up intense feelings of stress and helplessness in high school juniors and seniors. And of course these negative feelings are highly contagious, which means that as SAT season approaches, the stress quotient in most high schools goes through the roof. But I am here to tell you why you don’t have to stress quite so much, and why you don’t need to feel helpless at all.
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maintains a large network of instructors, consultants, and students. Our blog is a way of opening up this
community to new visitors and sharing our knowledge about standardized testing, graduate school admissions, and the business world itself.
