SAT ? of the Day

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

The fact that MTV, the cable channel devoted primarily to music, provided extensive coverage of the 1992 presidential race demonstrates how ------- politics and popular music culture have become.

1. obscured


2. contradictory


3. interrelated


4. enclosed


5. permeated

The sentence states that MTV, which is “devoted primarily to music,” covered a “presidential race,” which is an example of politics. This implies that politics and music are “interrelated,” or connected.

Difficulty: Medium
Question Type: Sentence Completions
(Critical Reading)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

Of 5 employees, 3 are to be assigned an office and 2 are to be assigned a cubicle. If 3 of the employees are men and 2 are women, and if those assigned an office are to be chosen at random, what is the probability that the offices will be assigned to 2 of the men and 1 of the women?

1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 


5. 

Of the 5 office workers, 3 are to be assigned an office. This is an example of combinations: to find the number of ways of choosing 3 of the 5 workers, you can count the number of ways of selecting the workers one at a time and then divide by the number of times each group of 3 workers will be repeated.

There are 5 ways of choosing the first worker to get an office. Then there will be 4 ways of choosing the second worker to get an office, and 3 ways of choosing the third worker. This is a total of 5 × 4 × 3 = 60 possibilities. In these 60 possible selections, each distinct group of 3 workers will occur 3 × 2 × 1 = 6 times. (There are 3 possibilities for the first worker chosen from the group, 2 for the second worker chosen, and only 1 for the third.) Therefore, there are = 10 different ways the 3 workers who get an office can be chosen from the 5 workers.

How many of these 10 possible groups of 3 workers consist of 2 men and 1 woman? From the 3 male workers, 2 can be chosen in 3 different ways. There are 2 possibilities for the female worker. Therefore, 3 × 2 = 6 of the groups of 3 workers consist of 2 men and 1 woman.

Since there are 10 different ways the 3 workers who get an office can be chosen, and 6 of these possible groups of 3 workers consist of 2 men and 1 woman, the probability that the offices will be assigned to 2 men and 1 woman is , or .

Correct Answer: 4
Difficulty: Hard
Question Type: Standard Multiple Choice
(Mathematics)

SAT ? of the Day

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

According to Burgess, a novelist should not ------- , for sermonizing has no place in good fiction.

1. invent


2. offend


3. inform


4. preach


5. distort

Answer 4

Movie Meeting

Next meeting on Wednesday at 1:15 pm in the Cafeteria (during 6th period).
Looking forward to hearing your ideas on Wednesday,


Snowden Senior Class Movie—Treatment

Segment Name:

Team Members and their Responsibilities:
1.

2.

3.

4.

Where does the scene take place?


Who will be filmed in the scene?


What will the people be doing?



What will the people be saying?




When do you need to film this segment? Time of day? Date?



Step-by-Step What Happens in Your Segment:







What is the message of your segment?

Meeting today 12 Noon in room 202.

SAT ? of the Day

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Like machinery was integral to the development of industrial capitalism, so the rapid transfer of information is the force driving modern business.

1. Like


2. Given that


3. Since


4. Just as


5. Although

Choice (4) is correct. It avoids the error of the original by providing the appropriate phrase “Just as” to complete the comparison (“Just as machinery … so the rapid transfer of information”).

SAT ? of the Day

Part of the following sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Select the option that produces the best sentence. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A.

Woody Guthrie wrote and adapted more than a thousand songs, many of them are about the struggles of workers and the poor in the United States.

1. many of them are


2. many of which are


3. many are


4. which are, many of them,


5. and many of them that are

Choice (2) is correct. It avoids the comma-splice error of the original by using the pronoun “which” in place of the pronoun “them,” thereby turning what was originally an independent clause (“many of them are … United States”) into a relative clause that modifies “songs.”

Question Type: Improving Sentences
(Writing)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

A 25-foot ladder is placed against a vertical wall of a building, with the bottom of the ladder standing on concrete 7 feet from the base of the building. If the top of the ladder slips down 4 feet, then the bottom of the ladder will slide out

1. 4 feet


2. 5 feet


3. 6 feet


4. 7 feet


5. 8 feet

The ladder, the wall, and the ground form a right triangle with a 25-foot hypotenuse. At first, the bottom of the ladder is 7 feet from the base of the building, so one leg of the right triangle measures 7 feet; the length of the other leg, x, can be found by solving 7² + x² = 25², which is the Pythagorean theorem. From this, you can figure out that the other leg measures 24 feet.

After the ladder slips down 4 feet, the 24-foot leg of the right triangle becomes 20 feet long. The other leg then has to be 15 feet long. This length is found by solving 20² + y² = 25², which is again the Pythagorean theorem.

Since the distance between the bottom of the ladder and the base of the building increases from 7 feet to 15 feet, the amount that the bottom of the ladder slides out is 8 feet.

Difficulty: Hard

Question Type: Standard Multiple Choice

(Mathematics)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

Every student who studies art in a certain school receives exactly one of the grades A, B, C, or D. If of the students receive A’s, receive B’s, receive C’s, and 10 students receive D’s, how many students in the school study art?

1. 30


2. 60


3. 100


4. 200


5. 500

The students who receive A’s, B’s, and C’s account for + + of the students, that is, . This leaves of the students receiving D’s. You know that 10 students receive D’s, so 10 is of the total. This means that the total number of students is 10 times 20, or 200.

Difficulty: Medium

SAT ? of the Day

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Besides	conserving	forest resources, recycling
	A

produces fewer pollutants	than does	the
	B

conventional pulping and bleaching processes

that	are normally used	to create	paper.	No error
C		D		E

1. (A)


2. (B)


3. (C)


4. (D)


5. (E)

The error in this sentence occurs at (B), where there is subject-verb disagreement. The singular verb “does” does not agree with the plural noun “processes.” The plural verb “do” is needed instead.

SAT ? of the Day

The stopping distance of a car is the number of feet that the car travels after the driver starts applying the brakes. The stopping distance of a certain car is directly proportional to the square of the speed of the car, in miles per hour, at the time the brakes are first applied. If the car’s stopping distance for an initial speed of 20 miles per hour is 17 feet, what is its stopping distance for an initial speed of 40 miles per hour?

1. 34 feet


2. 51 feet


3. 60 feet


4. 68 feet


5. 85 feet

The stopping distance is directly proportional to the square of the initial speed of the car. If s represents the initial speed of the car, in miles per hour, and d represents the stopping distance, you have that the stopping distance is a function of s and that
d(s) = cs², where c is a constant. Since the car’s stopping distance is 17 feet for an initial speed of 20 miles per hour, you know that 17 = c(20²). Therefore,
c = = 0.0425, and the car's stopping distance for an initial speed of 40 miles per hour is (0.0425)(40²) = 68 feet.

SAT ? of the Day

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Long been	isolated	from	the outside world and
A		B

perched	high in	the Tibetan Himalayas, Lhasa
	C

is the capital of Tibet,	an autonomous region
	D

of the People’s Republic of China.	No error
	E

1. (A)


2. (B)


3. (C)


4. (D)


5. (E)

The error in this sentence occurs at (A), where there is awkward and wordy phrasing. The awkward “Long been” should simply be “Long” (“Long isolated...”).

Question Type: Identifying Sentence Errors
(Writing)

Snowden 12th Grade Meeting Tuesday January 27 1:15

The January meeting will be next Tuesday January 27 at 1:15.
See you there.

SAT ? of the Day

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

It was difficult to believe that the sophisticated piece of technology had ------- through the centuries from such ------- and rudimentary apparatus.

1. developed . . an intricate


2. resulted . . a complicated


3. evolved . . a quaint


4. degenerated . . an obsolescent


5. differed . . an exotic

The phrase “through the centuries” suggests that the first missing term will describe how the “sophisticated piece of technology” developed over a period of time. The word “such” indicates that the second missing term will contrast with “sophisticated.” Only “evolved . . a quaint” satisfies both requirements.

Difficulty: Medium
Question Type: Sentence Completions
(Critical Reading)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

A gasoline tank on a certain tractor holds 16 gallons of gasoline. If the tractor requires 7 gallons to plow 3 acres, how many acres can the tractor plow with a tankful of gasoline?

1. 6


2. 7


3. 7


4. 10


5. 37

In the question, you are told that 7 gallons of gasoline can plow 3 acres and you are asked to find how many acres, call it x, can be plowed by 16 gallons. You can set up a ratio of the number of gallons of gasoline used to the number of acres plowed. Therefore, you have = . Cross-multiplying and solving for x gives you the answer of x = acres, or 6 acres.




• Difficulty: Easy



• Question Type: Standard Multiple Choice
  
  (Mathematics)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

Alice bought m pens for n dollars each, and Ben bought n pens for m dollars each. Which of the following is the average price per pen, in dollars, for all the pens that Alice and Ben bought?

1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 


5. 

Correct Answer: 2

• Here's Why:

  The average price per pen

  
  
  

  Alice spent dollars, and Ben spent the same amount, .
  The total number of pens they bought is . So the average price per pen will be .
  




• Question Type: Standard Multiple Choice
  
  (Mathematics)

SAT ? of the Day

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Mr. Warmington considered himself a connoisseur of fine wines, claiming he could
------- variations in taste and quality among any range of vintages he was served.

1. purvey


2. discern


3. efface


4. mollify


5. debate

Correct Answer: B

Here's Why:
Choice (B) is correct. If this term were inserted into the sentence, the sentence would read “Mr. Warmington considered himself a connoisseur of fine wines, claiming he could discern variations in taste and quality among any range of vintages he was served.” A “connoisseur” has a sophisticated ability to appreciate and assess subtleties. If Mr. Warmington considered himself a connoisseur of wine, he would claim an ability to “discern,” or detect, variations in the taste and quality of different wines.

Question Type: Sentence Completions
(Criti

SAT ? of the Day

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

The tiger	usually	hunts by night and	feeds on
	A		B

a variety of animals,	but it	prefers fairly large prey
	C

such as	deer and wild pigs.	No error
D		E

1. (A)


2. (B)


3. (C)


4. (D)


5. (E)

(E) No Error

Snowden in the News (humor)

I saw this article in the Blogosphere about Snowden:




Click here to read article

-- Dan

SAT ? of the Day

Choose the word or set of words that, when inserted in the sentence, best fits the meaning of the sentence as a whole.

Paradoxically, this successful entrepreneur is sometimes ------- and at other times reclusive.

1. autonomous


2. dispassionate


3. solitary


4. unthinking


5. gregarious

The paradox in the sentence is that the successful entrepreneur can be “reclusive” at times and “gregarious” at others. The entrepreneur alternately prefers isolation and its opposite, the company of people.

Difficulty: Medium
Question Type: Sentence Completions
(Critical Reading)

Party at Mary's 1/2/2009

Great food, Apples to Apples, Ginger Bread Houses, and Play Station III.
Click on pictures to enlarge.

SAT ? of the Day

The following sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence contains no error, select choice E.

Many types of dance music and jazz	call for
	A

special instruments,	which includes	the hi-hat,
	B

a pair of cymbals	operated by	a foot pedal;
	C

a cowbell struck with a wooden-tipped drumstick;

and wire brushes	used on both	drums and
	D

cymbals to produce a swishing sound.	No error
	E

1. (A)


2. (B)


3. (C)


4. (D)


5. (E)

The error in this sentence occurs at (B), where there is an inappropriate verb form. The singular “includes” does not agree with the plural “instruments.” This problem can be fixed by using “which include” or simply “including.”

Question Type: Identifying Sentence Errors
(Writing)

SAT ? of the Day

Read the following SAT test question, then click on a button to select your answer.

If a, b, and c are numbers such that and , then is equal to which of the following?

1. 


2. 


3. 


4. 


5. 21

Answer is 1.

Here's Why:

From is implied that (1)

And from is implied that (2)

If we multiply (1) and (2) together, we have that ( b is canceled out).

• Question Type: Standard Multiple Choice
  
  (Mathematics)