- Hello, everyone,
and welcome to Khan
Academy Live SAT Class.
I'm Erik, and I'm an SAT tutor
and one of the SAT experts
here at Khan Academy.
I'm super excited to join you today
for our third and final
class on SAT Writing.
We had an earlier class on SAT Math
and one on SAT reading,
and if you've missed those
classes, don't worry.
We have those in our YouTube channel.
You can check them out,
but for today, the focus
is all about SAT Writing,
and there's a lot to cover,
so let's take a look at
the schedule for the day.
So for today, the first 25 minutes,
I'm gonna spend on instruction
and practice problems,
and so I'll give you an
overview of the SAT Writing test
so you know what to expect
and share a few tips about
how you can mark it up,
so when you underlining,
boxing, and so forth.
Then I'll cover subject-verb agreement,
and we'll do some practice problems here,
and then I'll wrap up there
with some sentence punctuation.
And so these are two important concepts
that come up quite commonly on the SAT
writing and language section.
And now after that, I'll spend
10 minutes doing Q and A,
and so I'll answer your
questions that you have,
and then I'll share the
badge with you as well
that you earned by completing the class.
Then at that point we have
something a little bit different,
and so you get to pick what
you think will help you most,
and so the first option
you'll have at that point
to wrap up the class is to
head over to Khan Academy
to practice what you've learned,
and at the same time you'll have access
to one on one chat
support from our wonderful
Khan Academy and College Board staff.
Or the other thing you
can do is stay on YouTube
and watch me work
through a writing passage
from start to finish.
And so again, for the last 25 minutes,
you can practice what you learned yourself
on Khan Academy,
or watch me work through
a writing passage.
So that's the schedule for today.
There's a lot to cover, as you can see,
and I'm excited to get started.
So let's jump in.
So what can you expect
on the writing and language test?
Well, it's a 35 minute
section with four passages
with 11 questions each,
and so you've got 44
questions to deal with,
and the passages will have a few topics,
so you can have any of
these topics you see here,
history, humanities, science,
or career-focused ones,
and then you have a few
passage types as well.
And so argument questions
will try and, you know,
argue a point with evidence.
Narrative passages will tell you a story,
whereas informative and
explanatory, as it sounds like,
will just try to educate you about a topic
that you might not have
known about before.
Then I wanna finally cover question types,
which are very important,
and so there are two question
types on SAT Writing,
and the first is the expression of ideas.
And so these ask you to improve
the effectiveness of
communication in the passage.
And so this will ask you to
improve things like the flow,
the order, the logic,
the clarity, things like that,
and the second type of question focuses
on standard English conventions.
And so they'll ask you to
make sentences in the passage
consistent with grammar
usage, punctuation,
and other rules.
And so I really wanna,
before I wrap this one up,
emphasize that the SAT
Writing and Language test
is not just about grammar.
That is a part of it,
but expression of ideas,
clarity of communication,
is also really highlighted.
So let's keep going then,
and now I'll cover how to mark up the test
now that you know what to expect
in passages and in the
different question types.
How can you interact with the test?
Let's take a look.
So how you can mark up the test.
There are broadly four tips
that I would share with you.
So the first is to annotate
the passage as you go,
and so this involves
circling, underlining,
boxing things like transition words
or topic sentences,
so transitions, or topic
sentences are important as well.
The second tip I have is
to underline the question
and the answer choices.
So underlining the question
will help you understand
obviously the question,
but then underlining the answer choices
will also help you break things up,
and if you can't read this,
if it's fuzzy on your screen, don't worry.
We'll get a chance to
practice this in real life
in just a bit,
and then the third tip I have
is to cross out words to
simplify long sentences.
So often you have things
like prepositional phrases,
prepositional phrases,
that are part of sentences,
but they really don't affect the meaning
or the grammatical correctness,
and in fact can make it harder
to understand the sentence.
And so we'll walk through an example
of what it looks like to
spot prepositional phrases
and cross them out to simplify,
and then the final tip I would have
is just to use process of elimination.
So the moment you decide that an answer,
answer choice A is out,
cross it out, or B, C,
so that really saves
you a lot of brain power
and processing time so
you're not going back
and thinking, "Wait, did I already look
"at this answer choice or not?"
And so once you've eliminated something,
go ahead and cross it off the list.
So those are just a few tips
for how you can mark up the test,
and we'll get a chance to apply marking up
and annotating and process
of elimination later today,
but for now, I wanna walk
through subject-verb agreement,
which is a very common
concept that's tested.
And I'm sure you've heard a bit about it
in your reading class,
but I'll give you a refresher,
and then we'll do some practice problems.
So subject-verb agreement,
so to start as a background,
you wanna remember that complete sentences
must have a subject and verb that agree.
Now before I go any further,
a quick reminder, a subject
is the person, place, or thing
that is doing or being something,
so you know, that is
doing or being the action,
and then the verb is
the part of the sentence
that expresses the action.
So those are every complete sentence
has to have both of those parts.
If it doesn't have one of those parts,
it is an incomplete sentence.
Now, when I say agreement, what do I mean?
Well, I mean that singular subjects
have to go with singular verbs
and plural subjects with plural verbs,
and we'll get to do some practice on this
in just minute,
but for now, there are two quick tips
I wanna share with you.
So when I approach subject-verb
agreement questions,
I find it really helpful
to find the subject
of the sentence first,
then check for agreement.
And so this one is very
straightforward, right,
more straightforward,
what is the subject here?
We have the dog, right,
so that's the subject,
and then what is the action?
Barks, so that is the verb there.
This is will obviously
get more complicated,
so stay tuned.
The next tip I'd share is to cross out
unnecessary words to simplify sentences.
So this one's a bit longer,
but it reads the dog along with the cat
was convinced that it was nap time.
So now for those at home,
what is the subject here?
Is it just the dog?
Is it the dog along with the cat?
So answer is that it is just the dog,
so, along with the cat,
is a prepositional phrase
that does not create a compound subject.
And so it's just the dog
that's doing the action,
and then the verb is, was,
so if you cross out the
prepositional phrase,
the sentence is a bit simpler
and just reads the dog was convinced
that it was nap time,
and then you can tell
that the agreement is fine
and eliminating the prepositional
phrase really helps.
So that's a quick overview
of subject-verb agreement.
Like I said, you probably heard this
in your reading or
English classes in school,
but this is a quick refresher,
and now we're gonna do a
little back and forth quiz
to see what you remember
and show you some examples.
So subject-verb agreement,
the game we're gonna play today is
is this singular or is this plural?
And so I'm gonna go
through these one by one
and give you a chance to reply,
and then I'll reveal the answer.
So he or she?
So that one is singular,
and that one's more straightforward.
We're just referring to one person there.
What about anyone or each one?
So that one is also singular,
and the way I remember
it is I see this one.
I see the one.
It makes it a little easier to remember.
Okay, now what about we?
We is plural,
so you know, multiple people.
You've got a few stick
figures here like that.
Now what about everyone and everybody?
Singular or plural?
So this one is actually singular,
and I wanted to include this one
because it can seem like it's plural
because you're referring to,
oh, it seems like I've got a lot of people
in everyone and everybody,
but this is what's called
an indefinite pronoun.
And you don't need to
necessarily remember that term,
but you do need to remember
that everyone and everybody is singular.
Now moving on, what about somebody?
Somebody is again singular,
and so it's the same situation as above,
and it's also an indefinite pronoun,
and so that is, you'll remember that
when you're on the SAT.
Now what about, the turkey
as well as the chicken?
Is that singular or plural?
So this one is also singular.
Now why is that?
Well, the subject of this phrase
is actually just turkey,
and, as well as the chicken,
is one of those
prepositional phrases again
that do not create a compound subject.
And so if you just have one turkey there,
the turkey's by himself.
It's a singular subject.
Now last example here,
James and I, is it singular or plural?
This one is plural.
So the important word here is, and,
so, and, is a conjunction,
and that conjunction
creates a compound subject,
creates a compound subject.
Oh, excuse the handwriting.
Subject and compound subjects
like he and I, she and I,
are all plural since you're
referring to multiple people,
but a conjunction is different
from a prepositional phrase.
And so these are just a few examples
that you wanna make sure you understand,
so there are some easier
ones like he or she,
but you wanna make sure
you understand someone,
everyone, each one, all
of those different cases,
and that will make sure you
cover your bases for the SAT.
So we've done some back and forth now,
but we haven't yet seen an SAT question.
So let's do some practice problems.
So let's take a look at this.
I'll zoom in a little bit
to make it easier to see,
and so what I wanna do
here is read the sentence
and underline it before I go any further.
So, Billy, although he had a great sense
of timing for stand up comedy,
were handicapped by his poor memory.
So again, what I wanna do
here is find the subject.
Subject, where is the subject?
Well, so what or who is doing
the action in this case?
Well, it's gonna be Billy over here,
so that's the subject,
and then I wanna look at the verb here,
so that's, were.
And so then the other thing I can do here
to simplify is cross this whole part out,
and so I know what the subject is.
I know what the verb is,
and so then I have,
Billy were handicapped by his poor memory,
and then that, you can
tell, were, does not agree
'cause that's plural,
and you want it to be singular,
and so this should be, was.
Billy was handicapped,
and so then you can do that,
and what you saw me do there
was figure out what the sentence meant,
what the different parts are.
And then by honing in on
the error and fixing it,
it allowed me to go straight
to the answer choice
and pinpoint the right one here
rather than going through each one,
and so that's one way you can save time,
and it's one way you can speed things up
as you're on the SAT Writing test.
Now that was a good warmup question.
Let's try one a little
bit more challenging
and see what that's like.
So let's take a look at this.
With the help of the Mat
Su Regional Medical Center,
middle school students in Gateway, Alaska
observe intubation and sets bones.
So again, what is my subject?
So who or what or what
thing is doing the action?
So with the help of
Mat Su Regional Center,
middle school students, okay,
so middle school students
here is my subject.
And what are they doing?
They are observing
intubation and setting bones.
So those are my verbs,
and this is the one that's underlined
so I wanna pay extra attention here.
And just to simplify,
I've got another one of those
prepositional phrases here.
So in Gateway, Alaska,
I don't need to worry about that
since it doesn't change
the grammatical structure
of the sentence,
and then even if I take
this a step further.
With the help, all of that is
another prepositional phrase.
So prepositional phrase,
prepositional phrase,
and the way I know it's
a prepositional phrase,
by the way, is that
I've got this, in, here,
I've got, with,
and so these phrases that
start with prepositions
are prepositional phrases.
So now, I'm left with,
middle school students
observe intubation and sets bones,
and since observed isn't underlined,
I can even, you know,
stop worrying about that
and just say, middle
school students sets bones.
So that looks like there's an error there
because sets does not agree, is singular,
but I want it to be plural,
and so this should be set here.
And so I'm left with,
middle school students observe
intubation and set bones.
And so that was a little
bit of a longer sentence,
but if you're organized
and go through the sentence
and cross out prepositional
phrases that you don't need,
it can help you identify
where the subject is,
what the verb is,
and once you're left with
just the subject and the verb,
it becomes easier to read the sentence
and determine if the subject
and verb agree or not.
We'll do one more example,
and then we'll move on.
Let's take a look.
Adventure climbers like
Alex Honnold specializes
in free solo ascents without ropes
up sheer cliff faces,
such as El Capitan in
Yosemite National Park.
So we've got, adventure climbers,
so again, I wanna learn
about the subject here,
and we've got what is the subject?
Is it climbers?
Is it Alex Honnold?
The subject is, climbers,
so that's the subject.
Now, like Alex Honnold,
like, is another one
of those prepositions,
so that's a prepositional phrase,
so, like Alex Honnold, is not the subject,
and then we have this
verb here of specializes.
So adventure climbers
specializes in free solo ascents
without ropes.
Well, specializes is singular,
but I want it to be plural,
should be plural, be plural,
and the plural verb for
specializes is specialize,
and so here we are.
Is specializing, is out
and, has specialized,
is also out,
and so again, this is another example
where dissecting the
sentence that you have
will really help you
simplify and go through
and find the right answer.
Now one thing I forgot to mention earlier
before these practice problems
is that on the real SAT
Writing and Language test,
the context that you see in the passage
is very, very important,
and so with these practice questions,
they just focus on the grammar concept,
and there's no passage.
But on the real thing,
the context is very important,
and so we'll get a
chance to do that later,
but just wanna emphasize
that in the real thing,
make sure you look at
what the passage says
since that's really
important for helping you
figure out what the right answer is.
So for now, we're gonna move on
to sentence punctuation
and shift gears a little bit.
So sentence punctuation,
this is another one of those things
that you've probably heard
about in English class,
but maybe you forgot a few parts of it,
and so I'm gonna give you a quick overview
before we do some practice problems.
So to start, we're gonna start
with a semicolon and the period.
Now these two are used to separate
two independent clauses,
and what are independent clauses?
Well, they need to have
a subject and a verb.
If they don't have a subject and a verb,
they are not an independent clause.
So an example of this is
if you just ignore the
second part of the sentence,
Yoda can read minds, semicolon,
I hate playing card games against him.
So Yoda can read minds,
is an independent clause.
We've got, Yoda can
read minds.
Oh, what happened there?
I lost my ability to write.
Oh, I'm back, okay,
and then the second part of the sentence
is also an independent clause.
So that's how you know
that the semicolon has
been used correctly.
Now a comma and a conjunction
is the next thing,
so these are used to join clauses
by converting one clause
into a dependent clause,
and so an example sentence would be,
George Lucas is a creative genius,
but, comma, but Episode
Three was not his best work.
And so this then is
now a dependent clause,
whereas, George Lucas
is a creative genius,
is an independent clause.
Okay, and the last thing I'll cover
are the dash and the colon.
Now these two are used
to introduce a list,
a quote, or an explanation,
and the part of the sentence
that you wanna remember is that
the part of the sentence
before the dash or the colon
must be an independent clause,
and so that's the part that a
lot of students will forget.
But an example would be,
Star Wars movies always
start with the same phrase,
and so that's an independent clause.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away,
dot, dot, dot, and so this
was a quote example obviously,
and as you can tell,
I'm a Star Wars fan,
and so figured I'd write
whatever sentences made sense to me.
And so this is one thing you can also do,
whatever sentences you wanna make up
to reinforce grammatical concepts.
Make it easier on yourself.
Make it interesting for yourself, right?
So now let's look at
some practice problems
that will allow you to test this concept.
So President Thomas Jefferson
had one slightly unusual dream,
comma, and just to make this clear,
I'll just emphasize the punctuation.
Comma, he hoped to find
a living woolly mammoth
in the western United States.
Think they were all gone by then,
so he was out of luck.
But President Thomas Jefferson
had one slightly unusual dream, comma,
he hoped to find a living woolly mammoth.
And so I wanna look at this comma
and see if there is something to fix,
and if so, how would I fix it?
Well, a comma, let's see.
Well, let's take a look at the first part
of this sentence first.
So President Thomas Jefferson
had one slightly unusual dream,
so that one's an independent clause.
That seems right.
Comma, he hoped to find
a living woolly mammoth
in the western United States,
so that one's another independent clause,
but I've only got a comma
here to separate it,
and so there is an error,
and it's called the comma splice error.
And so you're using a comma
to separate two independent clauses,
and that is not okay.
So to join two independent
clauses like we said,
we need to use this, a
semicolon, or a period,
and so let's take a look
at the answer choices.
We know there's an error,
so colon, no, that does not separate
two independent clauses.
Dream, hoping to find, nope.
(murmuring)
Nope, hoping to find,
had one slightly unusual dream.
He hoped to find,
so then that one is out,
and let me see here.
Had one slightly unusual dream,
this should be a semicolon.
(murmuring)
Actually, this one looks
like it is our winner here.
Oh, I've lost the pen again,
so let me go through that.
And so what was his dream?
Well, he hoped to find
a living woolly mammoth,
and so this is the explanation
for the first part of the sentence there.
And so my mistake here,
and so as you can see,
anyone can make a mistake,
and that's okay,
but in this sentence, we
have an independent clause,
and then instead of this comma,
we can use this colon
to separate this next clause,
which is an explanation for the first one.
And so in that case,
the answer is B.
So we had that one example.
Now let's take the look at another one
and get some more practice.
So, this year's Shark
Week on Discovery Channel
features the rarely seen sharks
of the Cuban coral reefs,
and this is a semicolon
for those who can't see it.
Footage includes in water
and on water activities with sharks.
So again, here I wanna
understand, is there an error?
So is there something to fix?
And if so, how would I do it?
So we have, this year's Shark Week,
and this first clause is
an independent clause,
and then footage includes in water
and on water activities with sharks.
And so that one is another
independent clause,
and we have this semicolon there,
and so I think that
actually works quite well.
And so I have a semicolon to separate
two independent clauses,
independent clause and independent clause,
and so then I think this case,
the answer is gonna be A.
Now just to go through this,
reefs, a semicolon,
or reefs, colon, for in answer choice B,
is not correct,
and it is tempting though
because it looks like the second part here
is related to the first clause.
But reefs, colon, would
be more appropriate
if the second clause were an example
of some of these rarely seen sharks.
So because the first clause talks
about releasing sharks,
and then the second
clause talks about footage
of the water activities,
they're not tied as closely.
And so that one, while tempting,
is not quite there,
and then this is a semicolon and, and,
and so you don't need that
'cause a semicolon is enough by itself.
And then reefs with a comma,
this is that comma splice error again.
Okay, so we've got one final example now
before we wrap up sentence punctuation,
and then we'll do some questions,
but let's take a look
at one more sentence.
It's a little bit longer,
but I think you're up for it.
So contrary to the popular perception
that DNA was Watson and Crick's discovery,
so this is, just to emphasize, is a colon.
Its helical structure
and phosphate backbone
were first recognized by a woman,
and that one is a semicolon,
the English chemist Rosalind Franklin.
Okay, so this is a longer sentence,
and so I wanna break this down
and really focus in on these
two parts of the question.
So let's take a look
just at the colon first,
so contrary to the popular perception
that DNA was Watson and Crick's discovery,
colon, its helical structure
and phosphate backbone
were first recognized by a woman.
So is that a correct use of a colon?
Is that right or wrong?
Check or X?
Well, so if you recall,
the part that precedes a colon
must be an independent clause,
and so let's test that,
independent clause.
Contrary to the popular perception
that DNA was Watson and Crick's discovery,
that is not an independent clause,
and it's namely because of this, contrary,
that we have here.
And so this is a dependent clause,
dependent clause,
so this one I could actually
fix with just a comma,
and so I could do that.
So the colon is not right,
and then let's move on to the next part.
So its helical structure
and phosphate backbone
were first recognized by a woman.
And then we've got the semicolon,
the English chemist Rosalind Franklin.
So a semicolon should separate
two independent clauses,
and so while this whole thing
is an independent clause,
the English chemist Rosalind Franklin
only has a subject.
So no verb, so that means
that's a dependent clause,
and so this semicolon is incorrect,
and so but in this case,
we could use a colon.
And so let's take a look.
We want a comma and a colon instead,
so comma and a colon,
and there we go.
We have that here.
We have this discovery.
Its helical structure
and phosphate backbone
were first recognized by a woman,
colon, the English
chemist Rosalind Franklin.
And so this takes a
little bit of a process,
but if you break down
some of the punctuation
that separates each of the clauses,
it can really help simplify
and help you make sense of the question
that you're being asked.
So we've done some practice questions now.
We started with some that
were a little simpler,
but then started to get
more complex as you go,
and as you saw, I got
sidetracked a little bit there
before coming back on track.
And so this is a topic
where the more you practice,
the better you'll get,
and so don't be afraid to make mistakes
or miss a question here or
there as you're practicing.
So now, I'm gonna pause and take a minute
to answer questions.
So if you have a question about
anything I've talked about,
go ahead and add it in the
YouTube comments there,
and in the meantime,
I'll start answering the questions
that have already come in, okay?
So let's see.
We have a question.
Is the SAT Writing mandatory?
So yes, it is,
so it's one of the three main sections
on the test that you'll have to take,
and it is that, you
know, 35 minute section.
The only part that you might
be getting confused about
is the essay.
So the essay is optional,
but the SAT Writing questions and section
are required for everyone to take.
Let's see, what is a good way
to complete the test on time
while still answering correctly?
So this one, I wish there were
a silver bullet answer here,
but it really just comes down to practice,
and so the more you practice,
the more familiar you'll get
with the format and structure of the test,
the quicker you'll get at recognizing,
oh, this is the error here,
or this is how I can improve this passage.
And if while you practice,
if you time yourself,
that will really help reinforce
your internal clock of, okay,
I've got 35 minutes total.
I need to go at about this pace,
and so once you internalize
and practice more and more,
it'll really help with that.
We also have a number of articles
in our tips and strategies section
on Khan Academy where we go through
time management tips for
math, reading, and writing.
And so take a look there,
and we'll also try and
share those out as well.
Let's see, so many grammar questions
include logic questions
such as whether one should
insert a sentence or not.
Can you go over how to
reason those questions over?
So yeah, great question,
so you're talking about writing questions
that ask you should the
author insert this sentence
into the passage,
or should the author delete this,
or what is an example that will
bolster the author's point?
And there in those questions,
the context of the passage matters,
and so what I like to do
is read around that part of the passage
that is relevant.
So say it's sentence number seven.
Then I'll go back to the passage,
look through and read
a little bit around it,
and try to understand
what is the author's goal
in that paragraph or in those paragraphs,
and one way you can do that
to find that out is to
read the topic sentence,
which is the first
sentence in the paragraph.
Once you read the topic sentence,
you can get an understanding of, okay,
the author wants to talk about amphibians
and how they've spread
across North America.
Then that gives you the background
and context you need to
evaluate the answer choices
or the question of should you add it,
should you add a sentence,
delete it, so forth.
And you almost wanna put
yourself in the writer's shoes
to say, "If I were making this argument
"or informing my peers about frogs
"and their spread through North America,
"would I want to have
this sentence where it is?
"Would I delete it?
"Does it help the case that
I'm trying to make or not?"
And so to boil that down,
it's reread the parts of the passage
to understand the author's
point and the context,
and then put yourself
in the author's shoes
and consider does keeping or adding
or deleting the sentence
most bolster your point?
So that's how I'd approach that.
We also have an article
in tips and strategies
that you can check out
specifically about how to approach
inserting sentences, deleting
sentences, and so forth.
Please explain the difference
between a colon and a semicolon.
So the colon is a type of punctuation,
and I'll go back to the
desktop here to explain.
So a colon leads to
a list, quote, or explanation,
whereas a semicolon is used to separate
two independent clauses,
two independent clauses,
and the other thing is, for a colon,
the first part before the colon
also has to be an independent clause.
So we have an article on
tips and strategies again
about punctuation,
and that you can cover and review there.
How long, or word count,
should your written portion be?
And so this sounds like
it's an essay question,
so for the essay question,
I wouldn't focus on quantity.
Instead I would focus
on following the prompt,
and so the prompt will ask you
to analyze how the author uses evidence,
quotations, and different
rhetorical devices
to build up their argument,
and so you wanna make
sure you focus on the how,
and you are able to analyze
how the author pieces
their argument together.
A common thing that many students will do
is just restate or summarize the passage
and say, "The author says this,
"and then he says that."
What you wanna do instead is say,
"The author's use of research evidence
"and metaphors strengthens his argument
"or claim that blah, blah, blah."
And so I wouldn't focus
so much on the length,
but I would focus on
honing in on that prompt
and making sure you answer that
rather than just summarizing
and restating what the
author's passage was.
How can you stop yourself
from feeling too anxious
before and during the SAT test.
So that's a great question,
and I think there are a
few ways you can do that.
So before the test,
I would encourage you
to make sure you relax,
and so do something that you enjoy,
whether that's sports, or reading,
or hanging out with friends,
whatever you wanna do to relax.
When you're this close to the test,
and if you're taking the test on Saturday,
the most important thing to do
is to relax and not stress yourself out,
so do something that will
get your mind off the test,
and then during the test,
what you can do is think back
to all of the good practice
habits that you've developed,
the skills that you've learned
in school along the way,
and just remind yourself that, hey,
you've done this before.
You can do this,
and then after the test,
if it turns out you didn't feel quite good
about how you did,
or you're worried,
the good news is that you
can take the SAT again.
And so it's not a one chance.
There's not just one chance to do it,
and so if you don't do
quite as well as you hoped,
you can always take it again,
and that's completely okay.
Let's see, okay.
So we have last question.
Due to the more contextualized
sentences or paragraphs,
how do you think we should manage our time
with the reading and questions?
So this is an area where I
encourage you to experiment,
so for some students,
they'll read through the whole passage
and then go to the questions,
whereas other students will go
through the first two paragraphs
and then answer those questions
and then move on to the
next two paragraphs,
and then answer the questions.
And so test out both of those approaches,
and figure out which
one works best for you.
What you'll find is,
try to avoid jumping around too much
would be a good piece of advice.
And so if you're going to
whatever strategy you use,
don't jump around too much
through the questions
because that will force you to jump around
through the passage as well,
and each time you jump
around through the passage,
you'll have to remind yourself,
wait, what was the author saying here?
What was the author saying over here?
So on and so forth,
so however you do it,
make sure you just go top to bottom,
either paragraphs and then questions
or reading the whole passage
and then going to the questions.
So I think those are all the questions
that I have time for now,
but now you have an option.
And so I'm gonna flip back over here,
and right now, you have two options.
You can either like I said,
head to Khan Academy to
do practice problems,
and while there, you'll have access
to the one on one chat support
from Khan Academy and
College Board experts,
or you can stay here on YouTube,
and I'll work through a full
11 question writing passage.
And so this will have all of the context,
and you'll get to see
what a real writing passage looks like.
And so go ahead and decide.
Do you wanna head to Khan
Academy or stay here?
Both are gonna be great.
Both will be really helpful for you,
and so just pick one of those,
and then I'll be back on in just a minute.
Hey there, welcome back.
So if you've decided to stay put
and stay on YouTube Live,
I'm now going to work
through a full writing
and language practice passage.
Keep in mind if you change your mind
anytime throughout,
and you're like, "Ah, I'm over this guy,"
you can head over to Khan Academy,
my feelings won't be hurt,
to practice on your own,
and people will be able to chat with you
one on one if you have any questions,
but we have a full passage ahead of us,
and so let's take a look.
We're gonna start by reading
just the first two paragraphs
of this reading passage.
And so let's take a look.
A high profile unelected official
with the political resources
to influence domestic policy,
so high profile,
the President of the
United States has a wife
known as the First Lady,
occupies a unique position.
Many First Ladies, not content with simply
playing the role of a demure
wife and social hostess,
have taken an active role
in the political sphere.
Even though her power
comes by way of marriage
rather than from the
electorate or the Constitution,
the First Lady or First Gentleman
has a responsibility to capitalize
on her situation and attempt to create
significant lasting change.
If the President of the
United States is female,
her husband's title would
be the First Gentleman.
Throughout U.S. history,
there have been a number of influential,
politically engaged First Ladies
from whom future First Ladies or Gentlemen
can take inspiration.
Okay, so before I move on,
I just wanna make sure I
understand that passage.
So talking about First Ladies
or First Gentlemen today,
and the political role and
influence that they can have
to create lasting change,
and then in this last part,
it sounds like we're gonna talk about
some First Ladies in history.
Okay, so that makes sense.
Let's keep going.
Abigail Adams, the second
First Lady in American history,
was the first to assume a protruding role
in the political sphere.
Unlike her predecessor, Martha Washington,
Adams was outspoken, well educated,
and quickly developed a reputation
of a staunch partisan defender
after openly criticizing Congress
for not declaring war on France in 1798.
Her influence is so well known
that opponents claim the President refused
to make any appointments
without her approbation,
and, comma, and aspiring politicians
sought her endorsement.
In recent years, Adams
has become a popular topic
for biographers because of her thoughts
on gender, slavery, and politics.
Okay, so we're talking about Abigail Adams
in the second one,
and how she was well
spoken, well educated,
so it seems to be quite
positive about her role,
and so she was influential and supportive.
Okay, so pretty positive about her.
Okay, now we're gonna take a look
at this first question.
So question number one,
there's no question here,
so this is what's called
a stemless question.
And so what that means is
that you wanna refer back
to this part of the passage
where you see the one,
and it's asking you should
that part of the passage
be changed or not,
and if so, how?
So let's reread some of
these sentences again
to get the context of the passage.
So a high profile, unelected official
with the political resources
to influence domestic policy,
the President of the
United States has a wife
known as the First lady,
occupies a unique position.
So that probably sounds weird to you,
but why does it sound weird?
Well, there's an issue here
called modifier placement,
modifier placement,
and that really means
that you have a phrase
that's meant to modify an object,
and it's pretty far from
what it's supposed to modify.
So that phrase is, a high
profile, unelected official
with the political resources,
so that's referring to the
wife or the First Lady,
and so but the passage doesn't have that.
It says we have all of this description
about the First Lady
or the First Gentleman,
and then it says the President
of the United States,
and so we're not talking
about the President,
and so to fix that,
what we can do is move this wife
in this case to be a little closer.
And so let's take a look
at the answer choices.
We know it's not no change
because there's that error.
The United States has a, well,
so we're talking about the First Lady,
and if you swap in B,
then it's saying that the United States
is a high profile, unelected official,
and that does not make sense.
A country cannot be an elected official,
and then the United States President,
so again, this one is
talking about the President,
and so we're not talking
about the President.
We're talking about the wife,
and so that is how you can go through
a stemless question together,
and now let's keep on going.
That was one of 11,
and I wanna show you
as many different kinds
of SAT Writing questions as possible,
so let's get right back to it.
So let's take a look.
The writer is considering
deleting the underlying sentence.
Should the sentence be kept or deleted?
So this is an example
of one of the questions
that was asked earlier.
How do I approach a deletion
or addition question?
And so what I wanna do then
is the first decision I try to make
is if I wanna keep or delete,
and what you'll notice
is in these questions
I've got two keeps,
and I've got two deletes.
And so if I can make this decision
about if I should keep or delete,
it helps me narrow it down just to two.
And so what I wanna do is take a look
at this paragraph
and make sure I understand the context
and determine if this really helps
the flow of the passage, of the paragraph,
and reinforce the author's point
or if it detracts from it.
So let me just read from
about here down to here.
So even though her power
comes by way of marriage
rather than from the
electorate or the Constitution,
the First Lady or First Gentleman
has a responsibility to
capitalize on her situation
and attempt to create
significant lasting change.
If the President of the
United States is female,
her husband's title
would be First Gentleman,
and then I say throughout history,
there have been a number of influential
or politically engaged First Ladies
from whom we can draw inspiration.
Okay, so let's think
about that flow there.
Does this second sentence here
add or detract from the author's point
and the logical flow of the paragraph?
Well, it seems like we're talking about
the First Lady and the responsibility
and the opportunity that that person has,
and then about all these
influential historical First Ladies.
And so it feels a bit random to me
to have this blurb about
the First Gentleman
because it seems more like a factoid,
and so I think it doesn't
help with the passage,
and so I'm gonna go ahead
and cross those off.
And then let's look at C and D,
deleted because it
interrupts the introduction
of the passage's main point
with a loosely related detail.
So that's pretty much what I said
'cause so there's the factoid
that I don't think is relevant,
and so that's pretty positive.
Feeling good about that.
Let's take a look at D,
deleted because it weakens
the passage's influence
on the importance of work done
by several influential First Ladies.
So I don't think it does that.
It's a random factoid,
but the real harm of it
is not that it weakens the emphasis,
and so C is the right, final answer.
Okay, let's keep going then
to question number three.
Which choice is most consistent
with the writer's position
as established in the passage?
So which choice is most consistent
with the writer's position
as established in the passage?
And so this is another one
of those stemless questions,
and so I'd look at
question number three here.
So Abigail Adams, the second
First Lady in American history,
was the first to assume a protruding role,
so we've got protruding role,
in the political sphere.
Unlike her predecessor
and all of that, okay,
so and remember, this
paragraph was pretty positive
about Abigail Adams,
and so we wanna understand
if protruding fits
and is consistent with
the writer's position.
And to me, protruding sounded a bit odd
when I first read it,
and so protruding seems like,
the meaning of protruding is
of something that is
sticking out in some way.
And so, given that the
author is pretty positive
about Abigail Adams,
to say that she was the First Lady
to really stick out in
kind of a negative way
makes me think that that's probably out.
So let's take a look at B,
an obtrusive role, so obtrusive again,
also has a similar meaning to protruding
in that it's sticking out
but in a slightly negative way.
So that's negative.
That's negative, and so
we can cross that out,
and then what about a prominent,
first to assume a prominent
role in the political sphere.
So that has a connotation that's positive
and is positive and
roughly means influential,
significant, and so that one, I like.
And then last one, an ostentatious role
in the political sphere,
so that one again is slightly negative
and has a bit more of like
a show off connotation or meaning,
and so then my final
answer here is gonna be C.
Now I like this question
because there were some words in here
that maybe you don't use
in everyday language.
So I don't know.
You probably don't go up
to your friends and say,
"Hey, you're really ostentatious,"
'cause it's not, you know,
so there are some words
that you might not be
as familiar with.
And so vocab is something
that may come up in the SAT,
and so what you can do there
is anytime you encounter a word on the SAT
that you don't understand,
write it down, and go take a look,
and look it up,
and so that you don't come
across that word again.
And then you're like,
"Oh, I didn't look it up
"that one time,
"and I still don't know it now,
"and here it is again."
And you know, you wanna
avoid that situation,
and so that's what I'd
encourage you to do,
and the more you read
and the more you practice on the SAT,
the more familiar you'll get
with some of these words.
So let's keep on going.
So question number four, no change,
so protruding role.
Her influence is so well known
that opponents claim the President
refused to make any appointments
without her approbation,
so is that correct?
Well, what I wanna look at here
is the verb tense in the
rest of the sentence,
and so I've got claimed, refused,
and so those are all past tense.
And so I want something that's past tense,
and so I think, was, would fix it.
Her influence was so well known
that opponents claimed
the President refused,
and so there we go.
I have my answer of B.
Okay, moving right along,
we're running a little short on time here,
so let's see, which
choice most effectively
concludes the paragraph.
So we wanna look here at this part,
and let's see.
We're talking about Abigail Adams,
her prominent role,
and how she's very outspoken,
and we have in recent years,
she's become a popular topic.
So that's pretty positive,
and so but I want something
that links back to this
topic sentence here,
and so this is where I'm looking here.
And so she was the second First Lady
and was the first to
assume a prominent role,
and so I want something positive
that also ties back to
this topic sentence.
Okay, so let's take a look at B.
In a period of limited female autonomy,
Adams demonstrated that the First Lady
could substantially influence politics
in the United States.
So yeah, that is very positive,
and also ties back to
this influence politics
in the United States,
and then in the topic sentence over here,
we're talking about a influential role
in the political sphere.
So I actually think that
one works better than A,
so I can go ahead and cross that one off,
and then a major
component of Adam's legacy
is a collection of more than 1,100 letters
written between Adams and her husband.
So that is another random
fact that detracts,
and so we're not talking
about these letters.
The author is really focusing on, nope,
on, let me zoom in there, sorry,
is really focusing on
Abigail herself, not these letters.
And so then the last part,
I'll just zoom in a little bit more here.
Abigail Adams was not only the wife
of the second U.S. President,
but also the mother of
the sixth U.S. President,
John Quincy Adams.
So again, that one is
talking about the mother,
and rather than Abigail Adams,
and so B is gonna be our final answer.
Got some feedback that
I should zoom in more,
so I will do my best to do that
in the second half of the passage.
First, let's read the
second half of the passage,
and then we'll tackle the questions.
Okay, from 1933 to 1945,
Eleanor Roosevelt was intimately involved
in her husband's domestic policies
during the tumultuous Great Depression.
So intimately involved, for example,
she spearheaded the
establishment of Arthurdale.
Arthurdale was a resettlement community
that combined subsistence farming
and simple industry for
impoverished mine workers.
After convincing her husband
to bring the project
under federal authority,
Roosevelt became the
unofficial project director
and supported the community
through regular visits
and budgetary oversight.
However, she became,
however, that's a funny word to use there.
She became beloved by the American people
who admired her commitment
to helping those in need,
so admired her commitment
to helping those in need.
So this time, we're talking
about Mrs. Roosevelt here,
and the positive impact she had
on policies in the Great Depression,
and she was quite well loved
by the American people.
So I'll draw a heart.
Okay, let's keep going here.
Two decades later,
Claudia Lady Bird Johnson
pushed further into the political sphere
than had any previous First Lady.
She attended legislative strategy sessions
and directly interacted with Congress
to garner support for her
environmental legislation.
Okay, environmental legislation,
Johnson established her legacy
by using her political leverage
to influence the passage of
nearly 200 environmental laws.
Wow, that's a lot of laws
that she helped pass.
So despite the important contribution
these First Ladies made
to American society,
her activism often resulted
in scathing critiques.
Adams was mockingly called Mrs. President.
Roosevelt was ridiculed in newspapers,
and a Montana billboard
read, "Impeach Lady Bird."
Yet as Barbara Bush aptly noted,
the First Lady is going to be criticized
no matter what she does.
First Ladies have a responsibility
to ignore the inevitable criticism.
They should use the position
to create invaluable social
and political change as
they have for centuries.
Okay, so we've talked about so far
Mrs. Roosevelt, Mrs. Johnson here,
and then about the need for First Ladies
to make change regardless.
So let's take a look now
at question number six.
Which option most effectively
combines the sentences
at the underlying portion?
So we're looking at number six here,
so Arthurdale, so four examples,
she spearheaded the establishment
of Arthurdale, period.
Arthurdale was a resettlement community
that combined subsistence farming.
Okay, so it's grammatically correct,
but I think I could
improve the clarity here
and streamline it,
and so I might wanna use a comma,
would be a good one,
and then delete that.
And so that would be the
simplest solution to that,
but let's take a look
at the answer choices.
Arthurdale, and it was
a resettlement community
that combined, not quite,
so not quite.
Arthurdale, comma, okay, so that one is,
combines the sentences effectively
and is very streamlined,
and so I like that one.
Arthurdale, semicolon, it
was a resettlement community.
So that one is okay,
but it's not as streamlined as B,
and so that's out,
and then Arthurdale, comma,
this being the name of,
so you don't need to say that.
It's a bit repetitive
'cause you know that you're
talking about Arthurdale,
and then this is explaining what it is,
and so the answer choice is B.
Let's keep going here onto number seven,
so this is another one of
those stemless questions,
and we wanna look at here number seven,
and say let's read a little bit before
and a little bit after to get the context.
Again, context is super important,
so after convincing her husband
to bring the project
under federal authority,
Roosevelt became the
unofficial project director
and supported the community
through regular visits
and budgetary oversight.
However, she became beloved
by the American people
who admired her commitment to
helping those most in need.
So is that the right
word for in number seven?
So, however, doesn't feel quite right
because all of this
passage is quite positive
about Eleanor Roosevelt,
and so to say, however, indicates
that there should be a contrast,
and there isn't a contrast there.
So we don't want a contrast.
It should be something like, therefore,
so she's done all of these great things,
and she's been influential.
Therefore, she was loved,
would make a lot more sense
than this contrasting phrase,
and so it's not no change.
For instance, she became loved.
That doesn't quite
match my therefore here.
In keeping with this tradition,
nope, we're not talking about traditions.
That's out,
and then as a result of these efforts.
So there we go.
That one almost exactly
matches my therefore prediction
and fits with the flow of the passage
that says, you know, she
was very influential.
She did all of these great things.
Therefore, as a result of these efforts,
she became well loved.
So we are almost through to the end,
only three more questions,
and so we'll keep going through
just so you see a few more question types,
and then I'll close with a few final tips
for those of you who are
taking the SAT on Saturday.
So question number eight,
so I'll just zoom in on the question
'cause this is a lengthy question here.
So you can take a look.
At this point, the writer wants to provide
an example of legislation
mentioned in the previous sentence.
Which choice most effectively
accomplishes this goal?
So we want an example of legislation.
Okay, so we'll come back
to these answer choices,
but first I wanna look
back at the context.
So this is question number eight,
and so we're talking
about Lady Bird Johnson,
so we're looking here.
And so two decades later,
she pushed further into
the political sphere.
She attended legislative strategy sessions
and directly interacted with Congress
to garner support for her
environmental legislation.
So bingo, there is the
environmental legislation
we are talking about,
and okay, so we want an example
of environmental legislation,
and so let's see which
of these answer choices
best accomplishes that,
and I'll move back here for now.
So one such legislative effort,
the Beautification Act of 1965,
improved the environment
surrounding America's highways
by eliminating billboards and junkyards
and adding scenic landscaping.
Well, I've got legislative effort there,
and I've got a act and I've got a bill,
so any time you see an answer choice
that matches a lot of the
language in the passage,
that's generally a good sign.
So I'm feeling good here.
Let's take a look though
at the other ones.
After her husband signed into law
the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
Johnson went on two solo,
multi-state speaking tours
in southern U.S. to
advocate for her husband
and advance his policies.
So we're talking about the
Civil Rights Act in this case,
and rather than about
Johnson's legislation herself,
and it's also not about the environment.
So that's out.
Lady Bird's beautification directive
had begun when she formed
the First Lady's committee,
which focused on urban decay
and planted millions of flowers.
So this one is about the environment,
so I like that,
but it's not as strong
an answer as this one,
and so I don't have the
laws that are being passed.
And so that one's not as strong as A,
and then the last one,
in support of the government's
See America First campaign,
Johnson undertook a series of trips
to national parks to
highlight the natural beauty
of the American outdoors
and promote ecotourism.
So again, this one talks
about the environment,
but then what about the law part?
So that one's out,
and so my final answer here is A.
So just a few more questions here.
Let's take a look, question number nine,
so this is a stemless question,
and so we're gonna take a
look at question number nine.
Despite the important contributions
these First Ladies made
to American society,
and I'll zoom in here,
her activism often resulted
in scathing critiques.
So I'll just focus on this her part here,
so despite the important contributions
these First Ladies made,
her activism often resulted.
So this is a pronoun, her,
and what is the pronoun referring to?
So important contributions
these First Ladies,
so this is the antecedent
or what the pronoun is referring to.
So First Ladies and her,
well, her doesn't quite work
because First Ladies is plural,
so if I go back up here,
I want the plural pronoun,
so, their, would be this one.
And so their contribution,
so they're, this one is wrong
because this is, they are,
so it's not possessive,
and, there, is more like, over there.
Okey doke, and question number 10,
let's go back over here.
Okay, her activism often resulted
in scathing critiques, colon,
Adams was mockingly called Mrs. President.
Okay, so resulted in scathing critiques,
that seems clear,
and I don't see an error here
with a colon there,
and the part before the colon
is an independent clause,
so that seems right.
So I actually don't there
is anything wrong here,
so then you can go ahead and go with that.
And so in this case,
I'm able to choose A because
I was able to confirm that it was clear,
so there's clarity,
and it was also correct.
And so clarity is more of a,
the more you practice, the
better you'll understand
what is clear enough and what is not,
and then in terms of
grammatical correctness,
it's more about familiarity
with the standard English conventions
and paying attention in English class,
but so knowing those two
allows me to hone in on
A a little bit quicker.
And then the last question,
so mockingly called,
impeach Lady Bush,
yet as Barbara Bush aptly noted,
the First Lady is going to be criticized
no matter what she does.
So yet, comma, as Barbara Bush, comma,
aptly noted, the First Lady
is going to be criticized
no matter what she does.
Okay, so is there an issue here?
So yet, comma, looks good.
As Barbara Bush, comma, aptly noted,
so I don't think I need the second comma
because this is all part of
the same prepositional phrase.
So as Barbara Bush aptly noted,
so I don't think I need that second one,
and that should be a fix.
So yet, comma, as Barbara
Bush aptly noted, comma,
okay, yup, so that one gets me there.
So yet as, the comma there,
that placement is wrong.
We know that it's not no change,
and then yet as, well,
I'm missing a comma here,
so that one's out.
And yeah, so,
there we are.
Now we've gone through a
full writing passage now,
and I know there was some jumping around
and some zooming in,
so if it was a bit harder to follow along,
apologies for that.
Hopefully this could give you
a good example of what it's like
to work through a full SAT
Writing and Language passage
and also shows you how important it is
to take the context of the
passage into consideration.
So that's all for SAT
Writing and Language for now,
but to just close things out,
for those of you who are
taking the SAT this Saturday,
I just wanna share a few final tips.
So the SAT is in two days,
so number one, relax.
Don't try and cram.
Don't try and review all 20
pages of your notes beforehand.
Just do something that
will help you relax,
and hang out with friends
or read a book or watch TV.
Play some video games,
whatever floats your boat,
and then the one thing you should do
before Saturday morning is
to prepare your backpack
with everything.
Prepare all of your
materials for test day,
so that is your number two pencils,
your photo I.D., your calculator,
your admission ticket,
and figure out how you're gonna get there
on the morning of
so that you're not rushed or
flustered when you wake up.
And the last thing is just
to get a good night's rest.
Eat well the night before,
and you know, trust yourself,
that you've been practicing,
and you're ready to take the test,
and hopefully you do well,
but if not, remember, you can
always take the exam again.
So that is all that I have for you today.
I hope this was helpful,
today's class was helpful,
along with the SAT
Reading and Math classes
that we hosted before.
For those of you taking
the test on Saturday,
best of luck.
For everyone else, keep practicing.
Keep working hard,
and good luck to you.
Take care.
