SAT® Skills Insight™

Using SAT® Skills Insight™

SAT Skills Insight is only a general guide. Its goal is to help you determine and improve your current skill levels in the areas tested on the SAT.

Review Your Options: Begin by determining the level your skills are at right now. Look at each score band to see what types of skills it requires. Decide how comfortable you feel with the skills described. Don’t worry if you’re not an exact match for any one score band; it’s normal to have some of the skills in the next higher or lower band.

Make Your Selection: Start by looking at the scores you earned on the PSAT/NMSQT®, SAT, and any practice tests you have taken. Then choose a separate score band for each section of the SAT—for example, 300–390 for math, 400–490 for critical reading, and 500–590 for writing.

Once you’ve chosen your bands, you can look at the areas that need improvement to help you achieve more.

Writing Skill Groups: 1 2 3 4

1. Manage word choice and grammatical relationships between words

Academic Skills

A typical student in this score band can do the following:

SKILL 1: Recognize vague pronoun usage (i.e., the pronoun has no clear or specific referent)
SKILL 2: Recognize appropriate pronoun usage (i.e., pronoun agrees with referent in terms of number)
SKILL 3: Recognize subject-verb disagreement with brief interrupter that does not alter the number considered and that does not shift the focus away from the proper subject
SKILL 4: Recognize inappropriate sequence of verb tenses
SKILL 5: Recognize redundancy (e.g., “Annually each year . . .”)

Suggestions for Improvement

To prepare for the next score band, try the following:

In your reading, focus on specific paragraphs that contain pronouns, noting that pronouns must agree in number and person and must refer to specific nouns. In your own writing, pay attention to the consistency of your pronoun usage.
In your reading, choose a paragraph and identify the subjects and verbs in the sentences within that paragraph in order to see that writers pay careful attention to gender, number, and person. In your own writing, pay attention to subject-verb agreement, even when the subject and verb are not next to each other, to ensure that subjects and verbs agree.

Skill Examples

The example questions below demonstrate the Academic Skills found in this score band. Without looking at the answers, try out the questions to see how comfortable you feel with the skills they test.

Skill 1—Example

Recognize vague pronoun usage (i.e., the pronoun has no clear or specific referent)

The following sentence tests your ability to recognize grammar and usage errors. The sentence contains either a single error or no error at all. The sentence will not contain more than one error. The error, if there is one, is underlined and lettered. If the sentence contains an error, select the one underlined part that must be changed to make the sentence correct. If the sentence is correct, select choice E. In choosing answers, follow the requirements of standard written English.

Among	the discoveries	made possible by	the invention of	the telescope	they found
A		B	C		D

that dark spots existed on the Sun in varying numbers.	No error
	E

Answer: D

Skill 2—Example

Recognize appropriate pronoun usage (i.e., pronoun agrees with referent in terms of number)

The following sentence tests correctness and effectiveness of expression. Part of the sentence or the entire sentence is underlined; beneath the sentence are five ways of phrasing the underlined material. Choice A repeats the original phrasing; the other four choices are different. If you think the original phrasing produces a better sentence than any of the alternatives, select choice A; if not, select one of the other choices.

In making your selection, follow the requirements of standard written English; that is, pay attention to grammar, choice of words, sentence construction, and punctuation. Your selection should result in the most effective sentence-clear and precise, without awkwardness or ambiguity.

Of all the people playing roles in the musical, mine is the smallest part.

mine is the smallest part
the smallest part is mine
mine is smaller than all the other parts
I have a part smaller than theirs
I have the smallest part

Answer: E

Skill 3—Example

Recognize subject-verb disagreement with brief interrupter that does not alter the number considered and that does not shift the focus away from the proper subject

If hordes of insects	attacks	crops, growers	will	not	make	any	profits.	No error
	A		B		C	D		E

Answer: A

Skill 4—Example

Recognize inappropriate sequence of verb tenses

If	Plato had not written dialogues	describing	Socrates’ method of teaching, Socrates
A		B

probably	will have influenced	only	his	contemporaries.	No error
	C		D		E

Answer: C

Skill 5—Example

Recognize redundancy (e.g., "Annually each year . . .")

Bill simultaneously listened to music and	did	homework	at the same time	because
		A	B

he believed that music	enabled	him	to relax while	he studied.	No error
		C	D		E

Answer: B

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