2010 PSAT - Saturday - Section 5 (Writing)

The following are TestTakers' suggestions for answering the questions on the October 16th, 2010 PSAT, Section 5 (the writing section). Click "Read More" to view!

Test 6 Section 6 - #12 (page 719)

Here's the rule: If you're comparing things using words like "more" or "less," you use "than." So, "I make more money than Josh" or "Your XBox gamerscore is less than mine." But when you say "as much" or "as little" or, in this case "as expensive" you need to use "as" again. "I make as much money as Josh." Or, "the latter are not nearly as expensive as brand-name drugs."

Test 7 Section 4 - #19 (page 776)

This is a Verb Agreement question.  The verb here is "is." What is the subject?

The subject is not "mountain range."  That's where the sources of the river are. One of the SAT's favorite tricks is to put the subject after the verb in hopes of tricking you.

The subject, here, is sources, which means our verb should be are, not is.  You could rewrite this sentence to say (prepositional phrase crossed out to make the subject/verb relationship more clear):

The sources of a river whose course was not fully mapped until this century are in the foothills in that large mountain range.

The answer is (A).

Test 7 Section 4 - #22 (page 777)

Whenever you see the word "being" in the Writing section, alarm bells should go off in your head.  There's just something about that word that lends itself to gobs of misuses that, on first glance, look OK.  So, the SAT loves to use "being" to try to trick you, but don't fall for it!

Here, if you want to get technical, it's breaking down parallelism.  The sentence is listing two things about the Mount Isa mine complex:

• one of the most mechanized in the world
• largest single industrial enterprise in Queensland

So we need parallel structure in that list.  "The Mount Isa mine complex is..." sets the stage for the list, so we don't need another verb in the second part of the list.  That first "is" covers it.  (C) is the answer because "plus being" should be simply "and":  "...mechanized in the world, and the largest..."