Timed ACT English
Struggling with speed and comprehension on the English section of the ACT? Missing points because you can’t get to all the questions in time? Students who have been speaking English all their lives still struggle with this section when they don’t know how standard written English and effective communication are tested or how to tackle the passages quickly. Don’t worry… we can help! In our Timed ACT English class, students review the powerful Chariot Learning strategies for ACT English, then work on official passages and questions under timed supervision. We review after each passage to address both specific grammar questions and test taking techniques. This is a single 2-hour class open to both new and existing Chariot Learning students. The fee is $80 for new students and $70 for current and past Chariot Learning tutoring students. Registration in advance is required. No refunds will be issued on the day of…
SAT Writing and Language Priorities
Back before the ACT adopted Reporting Categories, questions on the ACT English Test were sorted into two content types, basically either mechanical or rhetorical. The former covered grammar and usage, punctuation, and sentence structure, while the latter included the more complex questions on strategy, style, and organization. Both then and now, grammar mechanics contributed more to your ACT English score than rhetorical skills. The SAT has chosen a different path. Questions on the SAT Writing and Language section lean more heavily towards the rhetorical: Expression of Ideas Of the 44 SAT Writing and Language questions, approximately 22 are concerned a passage’s organization and its impact. Test takers will be asked which words or structural changes improve how well a passage makes its point and how well its sentences and paragraphs work together. The Command of Evidence and Words in Context subscores are based in part on the Expression of Ideas…
Pacing for SAT & ACT Passages
Your best scores on test day depend heavily on effective management of one of your most precious resources: TIME. As anyone who has ever been forced to leave the last ten or twenty questions on a test section blank, these exams are not designed for relaxed—or even comfortable—pacing. The designers of the SAT and ACT fully expect many test takers to run out of time. How can you make sure that you don’t suffer that fate on test day? The non-Math sections of both the SAT & ACT are passage-based, requiring students to grasp the essential elements of a block of text, tables, graphs, and/or figures. Those who spend too much time with a passage miss the opportunity to answer all the questions. On the other hand, those who skim too lightly risk a superficial or flawed understanding of what the passage was written to say. Your right-size time management…
How to Use a Semicolon
In a world where most communication occurs through spoken word and snippets of text, the rules governing effective written communication begin to fade, becoming first esoteric and then inscrutable. Punctuation appears most mysterious to the average English speakers, particularly those marks that appear in the middle of sentences. Punctuation marks in general serve to add structure and logic to written communication. Often, this role requires making the right connections between independent clauses (those that stand on their own) and dependent clauses (those that cannot stand on their own). While commas, colons, and dashes may be used to connect clauses, none of these operate as easily and simply as the semicolon. In a world of complexity, semicolon rules are beautifully basic: use a semicolon to connect related independent clauses. That is all. We generally use terminal punctuation marks like periods and question marks to connect independent clauses by making them sentences.…
Does Grammar Count? Can English Count to 10?
A few days ago, my eyes fell on the lead news column, a piece about a terrible attack in Paris, in the New York Times, one of this country’s most prestigious and professional newspapers: Here, on the front page of a paper of record whose famous motto is “All the News That’s Fit to Print,” can be found a phrase that would fail both the English and Writing sections of the SAT and ACT exams. The writing sections of both tests look for clear and concise wording; the job of the headline writer is to be concise to the extreme, but this often comes at the cost of clarity. We have here an example of tautology, ‘a needless repetition of an idea, statement, or word’ according to Merriam-Webster. Terror, in that same dictionary, is defined as a state of intense fear. To state that “Terror is Feared” is to belabor…
Effective Written Communication
Most high schoolers, particularly native English speakers, expect the grammar sections of standardized tests to be easy. Unfortunately, those used to informal spoken English and social media snippets find themselves woefully unprepared to understand the fundamental challenge of any true writing test: effective written communication. What exactly is effective written communication? Forget about fancy vocabulary or flowery phrasing. Only one standard for communication determines its effectiveness: Does the reader understand the intended message? If you as the writer transmit the idea you wanted to get across, your writing is effective. Easy, right? With this standard of effectiveness, we can evaluate all writing through the lens of what we call the 3 C’s of Effective Communication: CLEAR Clear simply means easily comprehended. Word choice and style is specific and appropriate to the audience, with active and direct phrasing. Ambiguity—the enemy of clarity—should be avoided at all times. CONCISE Concise means short…