|

Remember last week’s talk on Text Completions?

TWO correct answers?

Reminder: Don’t waste time if you don’t know the words!

You have 60 seconds! Save the time to use on Reading Comprehension.
 |

Principles of Answer Choice Analysis

Answer choices can be grouped into pairs.

Most sets of choices have two pairs (and two unrelated answers).

Other possibilities: three pairs or one pair (and four unrelated answers).

A common trick is the “false triple” – looks like three synonyms, but one is
actually different in some tricky, important way (and the other two are likely
the correct answers).
terse
succinct
brusque

If you know all six words, answer choice analysis generally gets you a 50/50 chance.
(Random guessing has a 1/15 chance of being correct.)

What we’ve been doing so far is “Sentence Analysis.” If you want, you can do
“Answer Choice Analysis” first. Try both strategies over the next few weeks and see
which works best for you.

Answer Choice Analysis: Find the Pairs

Recap of Sentence Equivalence

Basic Approach Read only the sentence.

Find target, clues and pivots.
Write fill-ins and match to answers.
Writing Fill-Ins Anything that gets the idea across.
OR
Answer Choice Analysis Usually two pairs – one is the answer.
Nuance is important – watch out for the false triple.
Elimination Don’t be afraid to guess an unknown.
Don’t know the words? Don’t waste time!
Watch Out for Traps Spin Trap, Theme Trap, Reversal Trap