Author: Ellen Hao (STC Class of 2015)
The essay is a beast of its own, so we’re just going to focus on grammar for now. Baby steps, right?
When you're ready to move on, here's our article on the SAT Essay!
The essay is a beast of its own, so we’re just going to focus on grammar for now. Baby steps, right?
When you're ready to move on, here's our article on the SAT Essay!
The grammar section is composed of 3 types of questions:
A note: I think the “No error” answer choice exists simply because the SAT creators are sadists. No question about it. A quick tip: usually there are 3-4 “No error” answers, but sometimes the SAT just wants to screw with you.
The writing section is where explanatory SAT books help a lot. A lot of websites provide really great SAT writing resources, like Sparksnotes and Khan Academy.
- Improving sentences - Choose the answer that provides the most grammatically correct version of the sentence in the question, including the original option (A).
- Improving paragraphs - You're presented with a draft essay with grammatical errors and an odd structure. Pick the answers that fix the text best.
- Identifying sentence error - Each question is a sentence with portions underlined, and you have to find the source of the grammatical error. This also includes the answer “No error.”
A note: I think the “No error” answer choice exists simply because the SAT creators are sadists. No question about it. A quick tip: usually there are 3-4 “No error” answers, but sometimes the SAT just wants to screw with you.
The writing section is where explanatory SAT books help a lot. A lot of websites provide really great SAT writing resources, like Sparksnotes and Khan Academy.
"Grammar is not always instinctual -- case in point, the sentence “The jury is divided” is correct, but “The jury are divided” is incorrect, according to American English. "
With improvement-type questions, always know that for each correct answer, there is reason that the other 4 answer choices are incorrect. Eliminate if you’re unsure, and work from there! For ‘Identifying sentence error’ type questions, you’ll have to flip the process around. Understand why the other answer choices have no grammatical errors, making sure to look out for the subjects and verbs of the sentence, before circling the error-causing answer choice.
"... for each correct answer, there is reason that the other 4 answer choices are incorrect."
The writing section was definitely a portion of the SAT that I struggled with, simply because I've never learnt grammar rigorously in school. However, figuring out the writing section sort of becomes similar to pattern recognition -- when you can understand the different error types, e.g. subject-verb agreement or tense errors, then it becomes a lot easier. Some of the ones that fall into preposition-based errors e.g. "on" vs. "in" or "barred from" vs. "barred to" really only come with practice and memorisation, especially for things like the subjunctive (which I rarely see come up), where the correct grammar is "I wish I were a billionaire", not "I wish I was a billionaire". Don't ask me why, grammar still mystifies me.
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