The writing and language section in an SAT is one the most important sections. Unarguable, all sections are important. The writing and language section tests your ability in the English language and its fundamentals. How well you know your grammatical structure, how you know how to apply punctuations, how you will understand the context of a sentence, how well you know how to structure a sentence, and how well you know how to speak or write fluently. These are basic skills you need to know and apply in other subject areas, not just English alone.
With an emphasis on its importance, students are expected to prepare extensively for this section. The writing and language section consists of 44 questions you need to answer under 35 minutes. These questions span within the basic rules of the English language. It covers the knowledge of basic English conventions, the development of paragraphs and their flow, and word choice. SAT questions also include questions on charts and graphs.
However, with the right preparation and strategy, it will be easier to pass this section. You can enroll in an SAT class on writing and language. What then is the right strategy? Or How do you prepare for the SAT writing and language section? Below are helpful tips to help you ace this section.
1. Understand Grammatical Structures
This will help a lot when it comes to this section. There will be many questions that will test your grammatical knowledge, and sometimes it may be confusing to reply to them. But having a strong grammatical background puts you ahead to decipher the right answers out of a pool of wrong ones. What is key is applying the rules in grammar to the context of the passage. SAT institute can help in easing the stress of learning this by yourself.
2. Practice SAT Questions
This is one of the key tips to answering questions correctly under this section. This gives you an idea of how the questions will come out. This way, you know the topics SAT sets their questions from, and you also know your strengths and weaknesses. You can point the certain areas to work on. Moreso, practicing questions give you confidence as you will not be as tensed or pressured as you enter the Hall because you are familiar with the questions in front of you. SAT classes can provide these past questions.
3. Know the Fundamentals SAT Focuses On
This follows the second tip in this article. It is one thing to fully understand your grammatical structure, it is another to understand the key area SAT cares about. There are certain rules SAT places above others and they certain questions on these rules often. We have pinpointed some rules that we have observed SAT follow
– Subject-Verb Agreement
– Comma splices
– Pronoun and Number Mistakes
– Conjunctions and Transition words
– False comparisons
– Dependent and Independent Clauses
4. Have a Concise and Relevant Answer
Most times, answers with shorter words that work grammatically well with the passage are the right ones. You should make sure your answers are relevant and in line with the passage. Once you notice an option with too much wordiness that also goes off topic to the context of the passage, you should eliminate them immediately. The right answers are always related to the passage.
5. Answer Questions as your Read
This requires the act of skimming. There isn’t enough time to calm down and answer each question at your own pace. Based on the calculation, there is a rough estimate of 48 seconds to answer each question. You should skim through the passage to understand the style and the context. That way, when you are looking at the various options, you will be able to separate the right answer from the wrong ones.
6. Having a timer
Although we may know that it takes 48 seconds to answer each question, during the heat of the exam, we tend to forget the time and panic. This panicking can cause you to choose the wrong answers even though the right answers may be glaring. It is necessary to have a timer beside you so you can gauge the amount of time you’ve spent in general. You will be able to know how many minutes are remaining to complete that question, to complete that section, and to complete the exam in general.
7. Understand Why Some Answers are Wrong
It is not just enough to know the wrong answer and move on, you need to understand why some answers are wrong. This applies both to past questions and real exam questions. Most questions in this section follow each other, you may have to give punctuation questions preceding each other and if you don’t know why some questions are wrong, you might make a flimsy mistake in subsequent questions.
8. Know the possible connection between ideas
In this section, you will make appropriate connections between ideas. There are more major relationships SAT questions follow and it’s important to be conversant with them. These ideas are reinforcement, contrast, cause-and-effect, and sequence. Knowing these transition words ensures you make the right decisions on the answers to choose.
9. Don’t answer questions based on how you feel
Some answers may be correct, but they do not sound right to you. This is because that may not be the way you talk. Our minds are programmed to a particular way of thinking, and we get confused when we get to the exam hall. You should learn more grammar rules and practice them so you can pick the right answers quickly. Don’t focus on how weird a particular sentence may sound, focus on its grammatical structure.
10. Don’t be Afraid to Skip Questions
Some questions may prove difficult to you even after you may have gone through them repeatedly. In order not to waste too much time on them, you can skip them and proceed to the questions you’re more comfortable with. It is better to do the easier questions first to build more confidence in your ability to answer questions. You may answer ten questions correctly and be able to answer that hard question by the time you come back to it.
Conclusion
These are a few tips you can follow to guarantee your success in the SAT exams. You must read extensively before the exams and you are well composed during the exams. A distorted mind will find it difficult to make rational decisions and choose the right answers.
Overall, you should enroll in an SAT class to make you understand more about the topics to read and prepare appropriately.
