SAT Reading And Writing

Week 2, Day 1: Information and Ideas

By Hafsah M

Grammar Warm-Up

Periods, Semicolons, and Commas/FANBOYS

​What are FANBOYS?

For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So

Used with commas to seperate independent clauses.

​What are independent clauses?

Sentences with a subject and a finite verb.
Begins with a capital letter and ends with appropriate punctuation.

Examples of independent clauses:
She ran. It laughed. It is pretty. The flower bloomed.

Used to seperate two independent clauses.

Indicate the two independent clauses are closely related.

Semicolons

Used to seperate two independent clauses.

Periods

Periods and Semicolons

Used to seperate items in a list when a list item contains a comma.
Example:
I went to three states: Atlanta, Georgia, Seattle, Washington, and Detriot, Michigan.
Corrected Example:
I went to three states: Atlanta, Georgia; Seattle, Washington; and Detriot, Michigan.

Special Semicolon Rule: Supercommas

Used to connect two independent clauses.

Format: ID + , + FANBOYS + ID

Never ID + FANBOYS + , + ID

Commas w/ FANBOYS

Commas

FANBOYS

For, And, Nor
But, Or, Yet, So

Contradict the text
Introduce any new ideas

Don't:

Write down your understanding
Match up the facts
Use Process of Elimination
Reread answer choices

Do:

Inferences: Tips

Volunteers?

Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus ______

Open Ended

What stood out to you as important? What are some facts they presented? (Be ready to share why on mic)

Poll

Let's fact-check. Which answer choices can we eliminate first?

(Get ready to explain why)

• Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census.

• some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.

• Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were.

• the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species.

Multiple Choice

Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ______

• Coll and colleagues reported a much higher number of species than Bianchi and Morri did largely due to the inclusion of invertebrate species that had not been described at the time of Bianchi and Morri’s census.

• some differences observed in microorganisms may have been treated as variations within species by Bianchi and Morri but treated as indicative of distinct species by Coll and colleagues.

• Bianchi and Morri may have been less sensitive to the degree of morphological variation displayed within a typical species of microorganism than Coll and colleagues were.

• the absence of clarity regarding how to differentiate among species of microorganisms may have resulted in Coll and colleagues underestimating the number of microorganism species.

Volunteers?

Marta Coll and colleagues’ 2010 Mediterranean Sea biodiversity census reported approximately 17,000 species, nearly double the number reported in Carlo Bianchi and Carla Morri’s 2000 census—a difference only partly attributable to the description of new invertebrate species in the interim. Another factor is that the morphological variability of microorganisms is poorly understood compared to that of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, and algae, creating uncertainty about how to evaluate microorganisms as species. Researchers’ decisions on such matters therefore can be highly consequential. Indeed, the two censuses reported similar counts of vertebrate, plant, and algal species, suggesting that ______

Open Ended

What stood out to you as important? What are some facts they presented? (Be ready to share why on mic)

Poll

Let's fact-check. Which answer choices can we eliminate first?

(Get ready to explain why)

• find the disruptions more irritating as time went on.

• rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted.

• rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted.

• perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time.

Multiple Choice

Researchers recently found that disruptions to an enjoyable experience, like a short series of advertisements during a television show, often increase viewers’ reported enjoyment. Suspecting that disruptions to an unpleasant experience would have the opposite effect, the researchers had participants listen to construction noise for 30 minutes and anticipated that those whose listening experience was frequently interrupted with short breaks of silence would thus ______

• find the disruptions more irritating as time went on.

• rate the listening experience as more negative than those whose listening experience was uninterrupted.

• rate the experience of listening to construction noise as lasting for less time than it actually lasted.

• perceive the volume of the construction noise as growing softer over time.

Multiple Choice

One theory behind human bipedalism speculates that it originated in a mostly ground-based ancestor that practiced four-legged “knuckle-walking,” like chimpanzees and gorillas do today, and eventually evolved into moving upright on two legs. But recently, researchers observed orangutans, another relative of humans, standing on two legs on tree branches and using their arms for balance while they reached for fruits. These observations may suggest that ______

• bipedalism evolved because it was advantageous to a tree-dwelling ancestor of humans.

• bipedalism must have evolved simultaneously with knuckle-walking and tree-climbing.

• moving between the ground and the trees would have been difficult without bipedalism.

• a knuckle-walking human ancestor could have easily moved bipedally in trees.

Multiple Choice

German theater practitioner Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956) believed that theater should elicit an intellectual rather than an emotional response from audiences, provoking them to consider social and political realities that extend beyond the characters and events depicted onstage. Brecht’s influence can be seen in English playwright Caryl Churchill’s 1979 play Cloud 9: although the play sometimes invites empathetic reactions, it primarily works to engage audiences in an interrogation of patriarchy and colonialism, which it does by placing audiences at a distance, thereby encouraging them to ______

• focus on the characters’ beliefs about social and political issues as revealed by the characters’ actions.

• reflect on social and political phenomena not directly related to patriarchy and colonialism.

• recognize pertinent social and political parallels between Germany during Brecht’s time and England at the time when Churchill was writing Cloud 9.

• be dispassionate as they think critically about the social and political questions raised by the play.

Introduce new ideas
Focus too much on a single detail
Contradict the text

Don't:

Highlight the most important point/overarching theme
Cover most of the points in the text

Do:

Central Ideas: Tips

Just choose an answer because it supports the claim
Add new understanding

Don't:

Highlight the facts
Write down/highlight the claim
Simplify what you are looking for
Exactly what they ask of you

Do:

Command of Evidence: Tips