Getting Ready For Test Day

You’re all set to take your GAT! Now here are a few things to remember for test day:

Get there early. Know exactly where the test will be held and how you will get yourself there. Pay attention to traffic reports so that you can compensate for any unexpected issues on the road. Leaving early will mean that you’ll be more relaxed; red traffic lights won’t raise your stress level, and you won’t be pulled over by the first officer who has to fill his speeding ticket quota. And most importantly, you’ll have time to use the rest room.

If you’ve got butterflies in your stomach, feed them! You’ve already done all the practice tests you can do, and you’ve had a good night’s sleep. Now it’s time to get a good, healthy breakfast - though it is wise not to overeat. Your body and mind will need the energy; plus it’s distracting to listen to your stomach growl.

Give yourself a massage! Rub your head, neck and shoulders. Place your hand over your heart while taking a very slow, deep breath.

Stay on track. Remember, you don’t want to rush, you only want to perform in a timely manner. Although there are time restrictions, if you misread direction, accidentally fill in the wrong answer-choice, or think illogically due to rushing, it won’t be worth all the time you save. Remember, haste makes waste! Also, keep in mind that incorrect answers don’t count against you, so you can always guess at any answers that you are unsure of. Remember, an educated guess is

better than no guess at all! Moving through a test methodically and efficiently will likely mean that you’ll have more time at the end than if you were to rush and stumble, or dawdle over questions that you’re struggling with.

Most importantly (at least to your sanity), remember that once it’s over, it’s over. Clear your mind of it, because you did your best. Go treat yourself to a hot chocolate or an ice cream cone, catch a movie with some friends and relax!

Post GAT

After the GAT, when you’ve had the time to rest and relax from the stress you put your brain through, take the time to critically evaluate your test performance. This will help you gain valuable insight into how you performed, what sort of score you should be expecting (and therefore what schools will be within your scope for application) and the sort of mindset you’ll be expected to utilize when you’re actually in graduate school.

Remember, this is neither an opportunity to over-inflate your ego, nor to put yourself down. The main idea is to make your self-evaluation objective and critical, so that you will achieve an accurate view of how things will pan out.

This doesn’t mean that you should begin a session of “if only I’d…” or “I shouldn’t have…” This will only depress you. The point of this exercise is to keep you grounded, open minded and optimistic.

Soon enough, you’ll receive your score, and the applications will start rolling out. Make it an organized procedure, keeping as prepared and informed as you were with your GAT, and this will only lead to a bright, successful graduate career in your future!

Ending at the Start

Many essay writers will start off by writing their introductory paragraph, along with the main ideas and supporting ideas that will be used, and then force fit the essay into the guidelines that they have predetermined for their essay.

The problem with this is that many of the best ideas will occur to a writer while writing the essay. Rather than immediately jumping into writing your introductory paragraph, take the brainstorming ideas that you’ve developed and begin writing your essay, by expanding on each

of the supporting ideas that you’ve chosen and writing your body paragraphs first.

As you write your body paragraphs, new ideas may occur to you that you would prefer to use. Rather than having to go back and make changes to your introductory paragraph, since you haven’t written it yet, you can just adopt the new ideas as you write and incorporate them into your body paragraphs.

When you’re finished writing your body paragraphs, which should each include at least one primary supporting idea, then you can go back and write your introductory paragraph and make sure that it matches up with each of your body paragraphs and covers the overall topic you are discussing.

Additionally, don’t make the mistake of writing too much in your introductory paragraph. The introduction is not where you explain your reasoning. Save your logic for the body paragraphs, and only use the introductory paragraph in order to briefly outline what you are going to discuss. Brevity is better than wordiness in an introduction.

Staying Consistent

A lot of writers write their introductory paragraph, then their body paragraphs, and then their conclusion at the end. The problem with this is that often the whole focus of the essay may have morphed as the writer wrote the essay and the conclusion seems to have a completely different focus than the introduction and the body

paragraphs seem to lead take the reader through a tortuous path that changes course with every sentence.

It is vitally important that the introductory and concluding paragraphs are consistent with each other and that the body paragraphs match the introduction and conclusion. You want your paper to be consistent throughout.

Writing your introduction at the end, after you’ve written your body paragraphs, and then following it with your conclusion will be a huge help in maintaining the consistency, but always look back over your essay when you’re finished and make sure that the essay keeps the same focus all the way through.

Maintaining the Flow

Part of maintaining consistency in your essay is the proper use of transition words while you’re writing. Use transition words to maintain the essay’s flow. Transition words such as first, second, third, finally, also, additionally, in conclusion, in summary, and furthermore all give the reader an understanding of how the paragraphs flow together.

Example:

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Paragraph 2: First of all, …

Paragraph 3: Secondly, …

Paragraph 4: Finally, …

Paragraph 5: In summary, …

Backing up Your Points

If you make a point or statement in your essay, make sure that you back it up with clear examples from your personal experience or observation. Don’t let your points remain unsupported, but ensure that they are provided with some back up substance.

Example: You make the statement, “Renovating older downtowns can be expensive, but is definitely a worthwhile endeavor.”

While many readers may agree with this statement, it shouldn’t be made without backup support:

Consider the following as backup for that example statement: My own hometown created a ten year plan to renovate their downtown area. A higher sales tax was passed in order to pay for the renovation, which ultimately cost $1 million dollars. But once it was finished, the sales tax was removed and the antique shops, which now fill much of the downtown, attract tourists and collectors from hundreds of miles away. The downtown is now completely self-supporting and is a constant source of both pride and new tax revenue to the town’s residents.

Using Proper Grammar

Remember that this essay is your chance to write and make yourself look good and well educated. It is not a test of your knowledge of grammar rules. You don’t have to demonstrate knowledge of every nuance of grammar. Therefore, if you find yourself wondering whether a given phrase should have commas around it or not, rewrite the

phrase such that you’re confident it doesn’t need commas or does need commas. There is no need to have any punctuation in your essay that you are only 50% confident of being correct and conforming to the rules of grammar.

Example: You write, “Each of us must choose which path to take in life, whether to strive for improvement, or to settle in to their surroundings.”

You aren’t sure whether you need a comma or a colon after the phrase “to take in life” in the preceding sentence.

Simply rewrite the sentence until you are confident in how it is phrased. Change it to something such as:

“There are two paths: strive for improvement, or settle into surroundings.”

At this point you know you are using the colon properly, and so you can feel free to move on in your essay without fear of having made a grammar mistake.

Watching Your Vocabulary

Many essay writers feel that they have to impress the reader with the vocabulary that they have at their disposal. While a good vocabulary can be impressive, and the right word used at the right time can make an essay appear much more professional, they should only be used with caution.

Often a big vocabulary word will be used out of context and it will have the reverse effect. Rather than looking impressive, a vocabulary word used improperly will detract from the essay. So, if you think of a word that you don’t commonly use, only use it if you are absolutely positive of its meaning and are sure that you are using it at the right place. Most of the time, you will be safer by sticking with words you are familiar with and accustomed to using.

Avoiding Tunnel Vision

Remember that the goal of your essay is to properly cover a topic and write an essay that is somewhat exhaustive in showing every angle and perspective. A lot of writers get tunnel vision. One particular angle occurs to them as the most important and they hammer away at that angle of the topic throughout the entire essay.

Discussing the same angle of a topic at length is considered essay depth. Discussing different angles of the same topic is considered essay breadth. Your goal is to have greater breadth than depth. This isn’t a 20-page thesis written on a specific, obscure topic. Your topics will be fairly generic and broad-based and should have lots of different angles to consider and write about. You want to touch on as many different angles as you can, while still providing supporting backup for each statement you make.

Don’t get stuck in a rut with tunnel vision. Be sure you are spending proper amounts of time on each angle you intend to discuss and not spend the entire essay writing about the same angle.

Example: The topic is whether or not athletics represents too much a part of today’s academic institutions, and you intend to take the side that athletics is not too much of a part.

Your main angle is that an education is far more than simply academics and that athletics programs foster a richer, more diverse education. However, don’t get stuck talking about that one angle. Consider writing about how athletic programs create ties to the community that academics does not. Discuss how athletic programs also encourage donations that benefit academics, as well as athletics.

Always try to consider multiple angles and avoid getting tunnel vision.

Just Do It

Some writers will begin their essay by rephrasing the question and talking about the different possibilities. Rather than stating what you’re going to do: just do it.

Don’t use the introduction as a chance to expose your mental ramblings. The introduction should be concise and to the point.

Example – Bad introduction: In this essay, I am going to discuss the thing that I consider to be the most important quality in an individual. It was a difficult decision to make, because there were so many qualities to choose from. Good looks is only skin deep, but intelligence, character, and personality run much deeper. I think the one that is most important is character. Character is the most

important because it defines a person, exposes their true nature, and provides strength to overcome any obstacle.

Example – Good introduction: While every characteristic in an individual is important, one stands alone: character. Character defines individuals, and exposes their true nature. When obstacles arise, character provides the strength to overcome them.

Notice how this second example is clear, concise, and does not ramble on about the decision or ideas that are occurring to the writer.

Conclusion is Review

A conclusion is just that: a conclusion. It wraps everything that you’ve written thus far up into a neat summary paragraph. This is not the time to begin introducing new arguments and new reasoning. You want to make sure that you are quickly and concisely reviewing what you’ve written and have a solid ending in which you come across as having proved your point, and made your case effectively.

So, when you’re ready to begin your conclusion, make sure that you’ve flushed out all the new angles you want to cover. Then go back over what you’re written and tie it all together at the end, hitting briefly on all the angles that you’ve discussed.

Additionally, a conclusion is not an apology. You should never apologize for not knowing more or writing more. End your essay with purpose and definitively summarize what you have stated.

Communicating Reason, not Passion

The readers that read and score your essay are not looking for passionate essays that are full of hot air and lacking in reason. They are interested in well thought out essays that communicate reasonable arguments and logic, backed up by sound examples and observations. If the topic you choose is one that you are passionate about, make sure that you present more than just heated emotion, but also cool logic.

Example: The topic is about school uniforms, and you are passionately opposed.

Rather than writing, “School uniforms is a stupid idea, and will never work,” try writing, “School uniforms have been an admitted failure by their original sponsors in all three implementation efforts during the last decade.”

The first statement may be full of passion, but clearly lacks reason, while the second statement contains solid facts as examples.

Answering the Why?

While it’s important that you communicate reason, misguided reason is ineffective. Always make sure that the examples you are providing and the reasoning you are using is being directed at answering the topic question.

Flawless logic that doesn’t answer the question and doesn’t contribute to the point you’re trying to make is completely useless. As you think of main ideas and supporting ideas to use, take a few seconds and confirm that they will adequately answer the topic and veer off down a tangent that is not directly related.

Example: The topic is about what was the most important thing you have ever learned in school and asks you to discuss why.

Your answer is a quest for knowledge. Your supporting ideas include having been forced to work on large projects and do exhaustive research into topics that you normally wouldn’t read about, which expanded your mind.

A tangent that you would not want to pursue might be to provide statistics on how many hours you worked on a research paper in elementary school. While factual, those facts do not help answer why a quest for knowledge is the most important thing you have ever learned in school.

Make sure that the facts and reasons you are stating directly help you in your goal of answering the topic question.

Focus on What You Know

Many test takers are panicked when they realize they don’t know what a word means. The key is to use what you do know. Does the unknown word have any prefixes or suffixes that you recognize? Do you know of any familiar words that have the same root word? You’ll be surprised what you can determine about a word when you dissect it appropriately.

If you aren’t able to dissect the word, there are still lots of other words in the other answer choices that you do know and can work with. Since there are only five choices to choose from, if you are able to eliminate the other four, then even if you don’t know all the words in the fifth answer choice – it must be right. Also, if you are confident that another answer choice is correct, you can immediately move on, without worrying about a word that you don’t know.

Sentence Completions

The sentence completion section will offer you a sentence that has a blank that must be filled in. The word(s) that best complete(s) the sentence will be correct. The sentences may either have one or two missing words and blanks.

Try Every Choice

Just because you think that one of the answer choices sounds best, go ahead and try all of them by plugging each of them into the blank(s) and seeing which one sounds the best. The test writers will be sure to put in additional choices that may sound “close enough,” but you want to make sure that you pick the one that is the absolute best possible answer choice.

Read Carefully

Don’t make the mistake of reading through the sentences carelessly. A prepositional phrase or a tiny word can alter the entire meaning of the sentence.

This is particularly true for transition/hedge words like if, then, therefore, also, sometimes, never, not, and always. These words are particularly critical to watch for, as a word such as “not” can make an answer choice directly opposite of the correct answer choice sound correct.

Multiple Blanks

Instead of being intimidated by the sentences that have multiple blanks, you should be excited, because they give you more data points to use to determine which answer is correct. The additional information required to answer the question actually helps, as if you aren’t sure about one of the words in an answer choice word pair, you can still check the other word and see if it is right or wrong.

Analytical Writing Test

The Analytical Writing Test will require you to:

-articulate complex ideas clearly and effectively

-examine claims and accompanying evidence

-support ideas with relevant reasons and examples

-sustain a well-focused, coherent discussion

-control the elements of standard written English (this factor plays a role only to the extent that poor writing skills impede readers' understanding of the argument)

You need to know that in evaluating your essays, readers are looking for your essay to be well organized and properly developed. All of the main ideas should be clearly outlined and explained. They should be

error free and contain a variety of examples and reasoning to explain your ideas.

Planning Stage

You should spend a few minutes planning and jotting down a few quick notes. Consider the position you are taking, determine a few good reasons for making your choice, some evidence or explanation that support the choice, some effective details you might include, and what order you should use to effectively present your points.

Sticking to the Plan

You should spend the bulk of your time writing your essay. Refer back to your plan, remembering that the topic requires you to make a choice or take a position, and explain your reasoning in some detail. You should also consider the criterion specified so that your essay is convincing to the addressed audience. Make sure that the language you choose communicates your ideas clearly and appropriately.

Reviewing the Plan

You should spend a few minutes reviewing your writing, adding or removing as necessary and making any changes needed to enhance clarity.

You should make clear the answer and angle you will choose for your essay, offering a few good reasons for your choice and explaining your reasoning in some detail. As you explain the reasons for your choice, you should develop explanations for each, including such things as evidence, examples, or observations.

Brainstorming Smart

Brainstorming is a process of directing your mind toward idea generation.

Every book on essays will advise you to brainstorm. It’s a method proven to be successful for several reasons. This is the point at which different writers will begin to disagree about how to brainstorm.

The method of brainstorming that is recommended here is two-tier. First you have to brainstorm about what you are going to write about. You want to determine what is going to be the focus of your essay.

Example:

Sample topic: “If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Discuss why.”

Example Brainstorming Level 1: What should I write about?

Intelligence, looks, personality, wealth, family, friends, time, fame, etc.

Your first impulse, and honest reaction, might be to respond with something such as making yourself more beautiful, more intelligent, or more popular. But remember that you want to be able to write at length about this topic. If you choose an answer that while truthful, may sound shallow to an essay reader, such as to become more beautiful and better looking, then you probably won’t win any points with the reader.

Don’t automatically go with your first impulse. The scorer is not giving points for essays that are the most honest, but for essays that are the best written. A well-written essay needs substantial support to explain the reasoning behind your choice.

A choice such as more intelligence could sound shallow, but with a little creativity, you can turn this into an excellent essay. Instead of stating that you want to be more intelligent in order to get better grades, use deeper reasoning. Explain what you would do with that added intelligence. Give examples of how your side research into molecular biology and genetics would be greatly improved with added

intelligence and enable you to have a greater chance at your goal of contributing to finding a cure for cancer or diabetes.

If you choose “more popularity” as your topic, you could discuss how you would use your popularity in order to persuade more people to support your humanitarian causes and to be a positive role model for others.

After you’ve decided which topic you are going to write about, then you should begin the second wave of brainstorming, which will be about what you want to discuss about your chosen topic, which examples you want to use and which observations you hope to present.

Example Brainstorming Level 2: You’ve chosen to write about having more free time. Now you brainstorm about what you should say to support that choice.

spend more time with friends and family, work at a local homeless shelter, write a novel, open a new business, adopt some children, enjoy your hobbies, etc.

You have to have a proper balance at each level. If you spent too much time at brainstorming level 1, then you won’t have time to decide on what you want to use as examples in level 2. But if you spend too little time at brainstorming level 1, then you may not come up with a really good topic to use for your essay. A good strategy is to practice using this two level brainstorming process until you get comfortable with using it and quickly generating lots of ideas.

Making the Cuts

Once you’ve finished the brainstorming level 2 process, you should look over the supporting ideas you hope to use and the examples you’ve written down from the brainstorming process. Look back over the ideas and see which ones look the best. Which ones could you write the most about and would give you the most sound reasoning and logic to back up your initial decision of what to write about?

Make mental notes about which supporting ideas from brainstorming level 2 you hope to use, because those will be the ones that will comprise your successive body paragraphs.

Your goal is to hit the high notes. Pick the best ideas you’ve developed and write about those. You only need 3-5 good ideas to write about and may have a loss of focus if you try to write about more than a few important supporting topics.

Using Sentences

The most commonly used strategy for solving analogy problems is still the best. You should try to put the word pairs into sentences that make it easier to understand the meaning of the relationship. The sentence doesn’t have to be complicated, but it needs to explain the relationship between the two words.

Example: joey: kangaroo ::

You wouldn’t want to create the sentence “A joey and a kangaroo are both mammals.”

A sentence that explains the relationship would be “A joey is a baby kangaroo”.

To solve the problem you would want to plug in the other answer choices into the sentence that you’ve created. A ____ is a baby ______ . This sentence with its blanks is the template that you will use. By inserting each analogous pair answer choice into those blanks, you should determine which is correct.

Analogies and Antonyms

Some characteristic analogies will focus on a characteristic of something else.

Dog: Paw – The foot of a dog is its paw.

Lady: Lovely – A lady has a lovely personality.

Some characteristic analogies will focus on something that is NOT a characteristic of something else.

Desert: Humidity – A desert does not have humidity.

Job: Unemployed – A person without a job is unemployed.

Quick: Considered – A quick decision is often not very considered.

Source

Casting: Metal – A casting is made from metal.

Forest: Trees – A forest is composed of trees.

Slogans: Banners – A slogan is printed on banners.

Location

Eiffel Tower: Paris – The Eiffel Tower is a structure in Paris.

Welsh: Wales – The Welsh are the inhabitants of Wales.

Pound: England – The pound is the monetary unit of England.

Sequential

One: Two – These are consecutive numbers.

Birth: Death – These are the first and last events of a life or project.

Spring: Summer – The season of Spring immediately precedes Summer.

Reciprocal

Parent: Child – A parent cannot exist without a child.

Power: Work – Power is a function of work.

Owner: Possession – For possession to occur, there must be an owner.

Cause/Effect

Storm: Hail – Hail can be caused by a storm.

Heat: Fire – Heat results from a fire.

Monotony: Boredom – Boredom is a consequence of monotony.

Creator/Creation

Carpenter: House – A carpenter builds a house.

Painter: Portrait – A painter makes a portrait.

Burroughs: Tarzan – Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the novel Tarzan.

Provider/Provision

Job: Salary – A job provides a salary.

Therapist: Treatment – A therapist treats patients.

Army: Defense – An army enables national defense.

Object/Function

Pencil: Write – A pencil is used to write.

Pressure: Barometer – A barometer measures pressure.

Frown: Unhappy – A frown shows unhappiness.

User/Tool

Carpenter: Hammer – A carpenter uses a hammer.

Teacher: Chalk – A teacher uses chalk.

Farmer: Tractor – A farmer drives a tractor.

Whole/Part

Door: House – A door is part of a house.

State: Country – A country is made up of states.

Day: Month – A month consists of many days.

Category

Door: Window – Both a door and a window are parts of a house.

Thigh: Shin – Both a thigh and a shin are parts of a leg.

Measles: Mumps – Both measles and mumps are types of diseases.

Synonym or Definition

These are analogies in which both terms have a similar meaning.

Chase: Pursue – Both of these terms mean to “go after”.

Achieve: Accomplish – Both of these terms refer to the successful attainment of a goal.

Satiate: Satisfy – Both of these terms mean to gratify a desire.

Antonym or Contrast

These are analogies in which both terms have an opposite meaning.

Disguise: Reveal – To disguise something is not to reveal it, but to conceal it.

Peace: War – Peace is a state in which there is no war.

Forget: Remember – The word “remember” means not to forget something.

Intensity

These are analogies in which either one term expresses a higher degree of something than the other term.

Exuberant: Happy – To be exuberant is to be extremely happy.

Break: Shatter – To shatter is to strongly break.

Deluge: Rain – A deluge is a heavy rain.

Word Part/ Meaning

These are analogies in which one term explains what the other term means.

Pre-: Before – The prefix “pre-“ means before; for example, predetermine means to determine before understanding or seeing all of the facts.

Excessiveness: -ard – The suffix “-ard” means to do something excessively; for example, a drunkard is someone that drinks excessively

Mis-: Poorly – The prefix “mis-“ means to do something poorly; for example, to misspell a word is to spell it poorly.

Different Viewpoints

with the viewpoint of other experts or other individuals. This can lead to trouble in answering questions though. If asked for the viewpoint of the author, you might go back to the passage, find where a certain viewpoint is expressed, answer the question based on what you read and move on.

For most passages, that would be fine, but when other viewpoints besides the author’s are expressed, you have to discern who is expressing their opinion in the passage. Make sure that if multiple individuals are giving their viewpoint on a topic, that you sort them out

for any questions and associate the right viewpoint with the right individual.

Factually Correct, but Actually Wrong

A favorite ploy of question writers is to write answer choices that are factually correct on their own, but fail to answer the question, and so are actually wrong.

When you are going through the answer choices and one jumps out for being factually correct, watch out. Before you mark it as your answer choice, first make sure that you go back to the question and confirm that the answer choice answers the question being asked.

Don’t be a Perfectionist

If you’re a perfectionist, this may be one of the hardest strategies, and yet one of the most important. The test you are taking is timed, and you cannot afford to spend too much time on any one question.

If you are working on a problem and you’ve got your answer split between two possible answer choices, and you’re going back through the passage and reading it over and over again in order to decide between the two, you can be in one of the most frustrating situations possible. You feel that if you just spent one more minute on the problem, that you would be able to figure the right answer out and decide between the two. Watch out! You can easily get so absorbed in that problem that you loose track of time, get off track and end up spending the rest of the test playing catch up because of all the wasted time, which may leave you rattled and cause you to miss even more questions that you would have otherwise.

Therefore, unless you will only be satisfied with a perfect score and your abilities are in the top .1% strata of test takers, you should not go into the test with the mindset that you’ve got to get every question right. It is far better to accept that you will have to guess on some questions and possibly get them wrong and still have time for every question, than to work on every problem until you’re absolutely confident in your answer and then run out of time on the last few problems.

Finding your Optimal Pace

Everyone reads at a different rate. It will take practice to determine what is the optimal rate at which you can read fast and yet absorb and

comprehend the information. This is true for both the flyover that you should initially conduct and then the subsequent reading you will have to do as you go through and begin answering the questions. However, on the flyover, you are looking for only a surface level knowledge and are not trying to comprehend the minutia of details that will be contained in the passages.

You can practice with any form of reading material. Read an article at your normal pace and then after you’re finished, ask yourself some questions about what you just read and see how well you can comprehend. Experiment with reading articles faster and slower and always gauge how well you comprehended what you read at the end. Train your brain to remember the details and absorb the facts.

With practice, you will find the pace that you should maintain on the test while going back through passages. It should be a comfortable rate. This is not a speed reading exercise. If you have a good pace, and don’t spend too much time on any question, you should have a sufficient amount of time to read the different sections of the passages at a comfortable rate. The two extremes you want to avoid are the dumbfounded mode, in which you are lip reading every word individually and mouthing each word as though in a stupor, and the overwhelmed mode, where you are panicked and are buzzing back and forth through the passage in a frenzy and not comprehending anything.

You must find your own pace that is relaxed and focused, allowing you to have time for every question and give you optimal comprehension. Note that you are looking for optimal comprehension, not maximum comprehension. If you spent hours on each word and memorized the passage, you would have maximum comprehension. That isn’t the goal though, you want to optimize how much you comprehend with how much time you spend reading. Practice will allow you to determine that optimal rate.

Understanding the Intimidation

The test writers will generally choose passages that will be completely foreign to most test takers. You can’t expect the passages to be on a topic with which you have any familiarity. If you do happen to come across a passage that you are familiar with, consider yourself lucky, but don’t plan on that happening.

The passages will also frequently be drawn from longer passages in books, articles, journals, etc. Therefore, the passage that you will face on the test may almost seem out of context and as though it begins in the middle of a thought process. You won’t have a nice title overhead explaining the general topic being covered but will immediately be thrown into the middle of a strange format that you don’t recognize.

Also, while the topics chosen may have originally been interesting reading in their original state, after a particular section is pulled and used for the test passage, it will likely be dry and boring.

Getting hit by strange reading topics that you don’t recognize, of which you may only have a small part of the original selection, and that are dry and boring can be a bit intimidating if you’re not adequately prepared. Just remember that the passages themselves will contain all the information necessary to answer the questions and you don’t need any prior knowledge of the topic in order to succeed and do well on the test.

First Word Analysis

When asked for main ideas that best summarize the passage, an easy strategy is to look at the first words in each answer choice and without looking at the rest of the answer choice, see if you could make a decision based on those first words alone.

Example:

Question: Which of the following best explains the author’s primary purpose?

A. dispute…

B. describe…

C. condemn…

D. convince…

E. criticize…

If you know that the passage is fairly neutral about the subject, then even if you know nothing else, you can probably eliminate the stronger verbs used in answer choices A, C, D and E, leaving you with “describe” or answer choice B as being correct.

Breaking Down Passage Organization

In trying to understand the author’s perspective, you will sometimes be asked about how the passage is organized. Many times, the

simplest way to find the answer is to note how the opening sentence in a passage or paragraph relates to the rest of the passage. How does the author’s main idea get developed and broken down into supporting ideas and statements?

As you go through the answer choices for these organization problems, quiz yourself on each answer choice.

Example:

Question: Which of the following best describes the organization of the author’s discussion of this topic?

A. He provides an example – Ask yourself, is there an example in the question? Don’t work exclusively from your memory. Make sure you can go back and actually find the example in the passage.

B. He makes a comparison – Ask yourself, is there a comparison in the question? Again, go back to the passage and actually find the comparison being made and verify that it exists.

C. He makes an acknowledgement – Ask yourself, where is the acknowledgement made and to whom?

D. He discusses a theory – Ask yourself, which theory is being discussed?

E. He praises the research – Ask yourself, where is the praise mentioned?

After each of these initial questions, remember that it is not enough for them simply to be true, they have to answer the question. Simply because the author provided an example, doesn’t make choice A correct. The example provided may have been to support a

comparison that he was making and the comparison may be the main method of organization, which in this case would make answer choice B correct. So always read all the answer choices and only choose the one that is the best, not just the first one you read that is factually correct.

Using Context Clues

Context clues are a valuable aide in helping you understand difficult phrases or words in the passage. A number of questions will ask you about the meaning of words as they are used in a given passage.

If you already know the definition of the word, or have some familiarity with it, a common mistake is to go with your first impulse and choose the answer that you immediately recognize. However, the reason the test writers may have chosen that particular vocabulary word is because it is used in an unusual context. Therefore, return to the passage and find where the word is used and make sure that you understand how it is being used in the passage.

Once you’ve made your choice of a good definition go back again to the passage and reread that particular section, but mentally replace the answer choice you’ve chosen for the word being asked about.

Example:

 

A passage states: “He was notorious for making decisions on the spur of the moment…”

Question: Which of the following words, if substituted for the word “notorious” would introduce the LEAST change in the meaning of the sentence?

A. evil

B. disturbed

C. famous

D. despised

E. powerful

If you knew that the most common definition for “notorious” meant being known in an unfavorable sense, then you might be tempted to choose choice A, “evil.”

But once you review back over the passage, choice C, “famous” fits in better into the context of the sentence of passage. Read the sentence again and substitute your chosen answer choice for the word it replaces. This gives you:

““He was famous for making decisions on the spur of the moment…,” which makes sense and is correct.

Applying Ideas for Generalizations

Generalization questions are similar to inference questions in that you have to go beyond what is directly stated in the passage by the author. It helps to put yourself again in the author’s shoes. If you were the author and believed in what you had just written, how would you feel about another similar situation? What would either strengthen or weaken your argument. How would you apply the information you have just expressed to a completely different situation?

Making Proper Inferences

Questions that ask you to make an inference from the passage will require you to use your own personal judgment. Anything directly stated by the author is not an inference. You will need to understand the main idea of the passage in order to make a proper inference about the author’s intent and mindset.

The obvious will not be enough to answer an inference question. You must logically deduce what follows from what the author has stated in the passage. You are looking for what can be inferred by the passage, not what is directly stated in the passage.

Finding the Key Words

The strategy of finding certain “give-away” words does not only apply to adjectives in questions about emotions or attitude. Many questions about specific details will have key words that hold the “key” to finding the right part of the passage to look in for the answer.

Rather than answering based on your memory of the passage, you always want to have support for your answer choice rooted in a specific part of the passage. To gain that support, it follows that you have to identify which part of the passage to look in. While reading back over the entire passage may be the most foolproof method of finding that important part of the passage, it definitely is not the most time economical method of finding that part of the passage.

A better route is to find key words in the question or answer choices that are likely to stand out in the passage and will enable you to quickly narrow your search down. These key words will be nouns or verbs in the question or answer choices. Once you’ve identified possible key words, then you should scan through the passage quickly looking for either those key words to be repeated in the passage, or their synonyms to appear in the passage. Once you find a particular part of the passage that either has the exact key word repeated or a synonym of the key word, you have probably identified the particular part of the passage that will contain the support or justification that you need to correctly answer the question and will allow you to be confident in your answer choice selection.

One warning that should be made here is that often question writers may use the exact same word or wording in their answer choices that are used in the passage, but have done so in such a way as to mislead you. So, simply because a particular word or phrase appears in an answer choice and also appears exactly the same in a passage does not make that answer choice correct. Be sure that you reread the answer choice and consider the context that it is in, to ensure that you are not misled by a cheap trick.

In conclusion, always try to connect the question to the right words in the passage that will allow you to save time in finding the right part of the passage to look in for the answer and will give you the key to the correct answer choice.

Emotional Words

Each question will be about a different angle of the passage. For questions asking about the author’s emotions, find words in the passage that are adjectives describing emotions.

So, if a question asks what sort of attitude an author had towards the passage or subject, then look throughout the passage for attitude words that might convey a positive or negative attitude. Are words such as brilliant, excited, delightful used, or are words such as depressive, gloomy, disappointing used?

A lot of questions could be answered correctly simply by going through and circling all the adjectives in a passage. Without looking at anything else except for the adjectives in a passage, most questions about attitude or emotion could be answered correctly.

Another way of handling these situations is to arrange all of the answer choices in a list going from most negative to most positive.

Example:

Question: The author’s attitude on this topic is best described as:

A. indignation

B. eagerness

C. impartiality

D. fear

E. consent

Now arrange these in order from negative to positive:

( - ) indignation, fear, impartiality, consent, eagerness (+)

This will help sort out the different choices and keep you from overlooking an answer choice and making an easy mistake.